Real Life Experiences...

I Rocked 13.1 Miles

2011-11-06T21:43:00.001-08:00

13327 EdeleeRosal Fremont CA 02:13:50

Yawzaaa! I did it again! another half-marathon under my belt! Janice and Maida kept telling me to sign up for the San Jose Half. I've debated the thought of running another one since I was scared that I'll injure myself again. I've been complaining from my previous post that my knees haven't been the same; well not after I got a new pair of running shoes! I went to Road Runners, got fitted and now a proud owner of a Saucony Mirage running shoes in size 9! (yikes GIANT feet - I was wearing a size 8 all along) For some reason

the aches and pain I felt prior to changing shoes were gone. I guess it makes a HUGE difference when you're wear the right shoes.

And so I signed up and put my goal to finish in 2.5 hrs. Yah soooOo the training commenced. It felt so good to run again. I was putting in 14-18 miles a week which I've not done in a veryy long time! The training wasn't as bad as the training I did for the SF Half (hilly) just because the SJ Half was on a relatively flat terrain. I'll admit though, there were days were I just don't feel like running and there were those days were I can run forever. We trained at Coyote Hills for 2 months.

Oct 2, 2011 - the day finally came! I felt the jitters, oh yes! I was running with my friends at first but their pace was too slow for me so I took off. I had to pee twice (!) which kindof annoyed me because there were ALWAYS lines in the filthy porta potties! Yuck! I kept my pace though and tried to find runners and pacers that were on my target time. And yup! I did it!! 2 hrs 13 mins!!! Way below my goal but 5 seconds slower than my last half!! Ugh! If only I held on to my pee! It's all good though, at least I can tell myself that I did it again and I am proud I did!!!

Havasupai Hike - Sept 15-18, 2011

2011-11-03T22:43:00.000-07:00

Hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon

The Mooney Falls

The Havasu Falls

The magnificent Grand Canyon

The new Navajo Falls

The Havasu Falls

This past September, I had an epic adventure hiking to the secluded Havasupai Native American reservation in the bottom of the Grand Canyon.Seeing the blue green waters of the creek,stream & the stunning many waterfalls, scaling down 200 ft cliff using a system of strategically placed chains and ladders to get to the bottom of Mooney Falls, descending the HARDEST and final 1000 feet of switchbacks carved cliff-side.

Sept 15 - Thursday:
We flew in to Phoenix on Sept 15, drove for about 3 hrs and stayed at Seligman on our first day. It's a sleepy little town. It seriously looks like a movie set with just 2 lane highway also known as Route 66, restaurant, gas station and nothing else. We checked-in at the Historic Route 66 motel. It's actually really clean and nice and even has flat screen TV! The doors on each of the hotel rooms have a sign saying which famous (or semi-famous) person had stayed in that room. I forgot which one was ours but we totally scared each other off by saying she might visit us during the night. LOL! We also ate at this restaurant which for some reason the name escaped my head...and was just across the street from the motel. Food was awesome, Janice and I shared a country friend steak and it had the best country gravy I've ever had! the mashed potatoes were as authentic as it can get. We even had the homemade carrot cake which the waitress gave to us in a HUGE slice. We decided and swore to come back to eat there after we hike Havasupai on our way to Phoenix on our last day. We called it a night around 10 since we are getting up early the next morning.

Sept 16 - Friday:
Got up super early! and when i say super early, I mean 3 AM early! It was hard to wake up but at the same time excited to embark and see the Havasupai Falls. We drove on Route 66 on the way there. The drive was about a little over an hour to the Supai parking lot at the Hualapai Hilltop which is at the edge of the canyon. We got there at 6:30 and found that there were so many people already preparing for the hike. Apart from our backpacks, we had some other stuff that we had to leave so the horses can take them down to the village. Adrenaline takes over my body as I try to engulfed the entirety of the Grand Canyon that's surrounding me. It's vastness is overwhelming and I feel so lucky to actually see it and hike it. The hike was 8 miles one way to the lodge where we're staying in the Supai village as opposed to staying at the campgrounds which would've been another 2 miles. Hualapai Hilltop is at 5200 ft elevation and in the first mile we descended 2000 vertical feet in steep switchbacks. I felt it right away on my knees which is always the case when I go downhill. I took some pain killers and felt a lot better after. The trail becomes narrow that you have to make way for the horse and mule pack when they pass. It was an amazing sight and scary at the same time because you don't really hear them until they're almost behind you and you're struggling to find a space to the uphill side of the trail to scoot over to make way for them. It was kinda funny because we were constantly on hyper alert if horses were behind us. The trail is also very rocky and sandy so you can't just lollygag because one wrong step and you can twist your ankle. We took so many pictures of the canyon and the red cliffs towering over us. It felt like we were hiking forever, it was hot, our backpacks were heavy and the trail was so rocky it was a torture on our feet until we hear and see the creek water, which was a sign that were near the village. The water was blue green in color! Ahhh-mayzing! If the creek is this color, I cannot wait to see the waterfalls! As we crossed the bridge to the trail leading to the village, the tiredness I felt earlier left me. We were actually there! The sight of the village appears before us. There were houses, a store, school, church, clinic, police station, and post office. I noticed that they have a lot of horses and dogs! There were stray dog everywhere but they all seem friend coz they're probably use at seeing people all the time. I didn't even hear them bark at all! We finally checked in to our lodge and fatigue finally settled over me. After resting for a bit, we decided to hike to see the waterfalls that's closer to the village - Navajo (1 mile) and Havasu Falls (half more mile from Navajo). The first one we saw is now called Rock falls. The original one (Navajo Falls) was wiped away during a flash flood in 2008 and what remained of it was this new one. We met several people who were hiking to the campgrounds. It was amazing to see the waterfalls and to actually be so close to it. The power of the water cascading down into the pools underneath it was unforgettable. We took lots of pictures. All of a sudden it started drizzling but we kept going until the drizzle turned into a pouring rain complete with thunder and lightning! Also since we're inside the canyons the roar of thuder somehow reverberates a lot louder and it was kinda scary! But we pushed through. The rain was pouring a lot harder so we started running. We had a laugh about it because we had an impromptu mud run since the trail started getting muddy. We *almost* decided to turn around since it didn't seem like the rain was going to stop when we hear the sound of another waterfall! Turns out, it was Havasu Falls! I didn't realize we were running for half a mile! The waterfall was great (see picture above), the turquoise water was amazing! I looked around the canyons, the waterfalls and felt lucky to be standing next to these amazing creations. It was mind-blowing! After taking like a million pictures, we decided to head back since it was almost getting dark.

Sept 17 - Saturday:
Woke up early again today to hike and see Mooney falls (2.5 miles) and go back to Havasu falls and swim. We were on the trail at 6 AM and already it was warm. We passed by the Rock and Havasu falls on the way to Mooney. We also passed the campground which was packed with campers. The sound of the stream was so inviting that we decided to have a little break literally with the picnic table next to the it. It was pretty cool. The water was a little on the cold side too but it felt good because it was hot. Took more pictures and started hiking to Mooney falls. I changed from my hiking boots into my hiking sandals (or as a suggestion - use those barefoot type of shoes i.e Vibram type of shoes). The reason: in order to get to the base of the falls, you will need to scale down a 200 ft cliff using a system of strategically placed chains and ladders. I don't fear heights (I've done Half-Dome twice) but this was different. The stones were slippery from the mist and I had to remind myself: 3 points safety: that both of my hands are holding on to something and one of my foot is safely placed on a crevice of some sort. I've cursed myself so much and actually almost turned around but Janice helped me placed my foot on somewhere stable and guided me down. Whew! After what felt like forever climbing down, I was literally a stone's throw away from Mooney falls and it's mist enveloping my still shaking body from that horrific descend. We explored the falls, took a swim (cold water, brrr!), took some more pics and had lunch there. It was very beautiful. We probably stayed there for a good hour. And then I was dreading the ascend on the cliff once again. (why can't they have elevators!) lol! the climb up wasn't as bad, yes I got some scrapes here and there but I made it! We hiked up back to Havasu falls and dove in some of it's little pools. I couldn't get pass how freezing the water was, i seriously almost felt hypothermic unless I was under the sun. Early in the morning we saw people diving down the Rocky falls - which is about 30' high. I told myself they're daredevils. Well Nicole wanted to try it so she tired to coax Janice into doing it with her. Once we were there though and they surveyed the height, Janice chickened out and they decided to dive from a lower part of the falls. By the time we hike back to the village it was close to getting dark. We went to their general store and bought some post cards that we said we'll send to each other. Mails from the Supai post office goes out on the ONLY pack train mail in America! and I have a postcard that proves it!!! After getting back to the lodge it felt bittersweet because we were leaving the next day.

Sept 18 - Sunday:
Once again another early day. Because we had to make it to Phoenix (5 hours) early enough to return our rental car and make it to our flight which was at 9 at night, we started out on the trail at 6 AM for our 8 miles hike back to Hualapai Hilltop. We were doing really good covering almost 6 miles in under 4 hours until we reach the switchbacks. It was getting really really hot and there was not a lot of shade. Also it became reasonably steep that we were taking breaks every 10 mins!!! Sweat were pouring out of me like the waterfalls that I've just visited. This felt like the hardest part of our entire hike that when we reached the top we were all teary eyed and proud of ourselves for overcoming that and experiencing the best hike we've had. Until.....we reached our rental car and our tire was FLAT!!! TOTAL BUZZKILL! man! we had to beg for guys to help us change it to our spare. Needless to say, that was another adventure.

I've read so much blogs and scanned through so much pictures on the internet before embarking on this adventure but nothing can top what I saw with my own two eyes. These magnificent places can only be appreciated when you see it in person, no pictures can justify what I saw. I'll highly recommend this place to be visited...at least before you die.

New Blog Design

2011-11-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

ooohh..laaa laaa.. I love my new blog template! I've been so lazy at updating it lately and I swear to myself that I'll try to do it more often but alas! procrastination takes over and that's the end of that! *sigh. Anyway, feeling a little sleepy and bored earlier at work, I decided to visit my blog and pop came all these new templates. I got so excited at trying...and changing all the new templates and finally decided on this new one that I have. It just looks up to date. Ok now I'm more inspired to write!

Brazen 10K Run

2011-04-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

119

Edelee Rosal

Fremont CA

706

9/28 30-34

16:22

1:01:30

1:01:53

00:23

9:54

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April 16,2011 - I ran my first 10K for the year and I have to say I was pretty impressed with myself. I've not ran a 10K in over a year so I was surprised when I saw the results and I ran under a 10 min/mile pace! I have to admit though that it was hard, my knees are bad now and I can totally feel it. But it doesn't matter, I ran through it and finished strong. SOooo here's to more running!

Traffic School

2011-03-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

Great right?! just great! Brand new year and the first day of the year...the FIRST day of the year...I got myself a ticket! It was such a long story...basically to make it short (because it irritates me when I think about it) someone told me to pull over AND park behind the officer's car because she was worried about her boyfriend who was in the other car that was already pulled over on the shoulder. Yeahhh hopefully you guys are following so far...so anyhow the officer said I voluntarily pulled myself over. Alright I guess I am guilty granted I was speeding however I could've gotten away but too late. I already "volunteered myself"! And so, here I am taking the freakin' traffic school! Ugh! 8 hours to finish this ish! OooppPss...look at I'm actually on the topic of road rage...LOL! I might learn something from this!

Let's Eat!

2011-03-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

Eversince I moved into my own place, I surprised myself when I actually found out I *may* have some hidden cooking skills LOL! Back when I lived at home with my parents, I would cook every now and then...well I take that back, more like once in a blue moon! One perk of living with them was that there was always some home cooked meal when you wake up and when you come home from work or the gym. Wellll..all that changed when I moved out. There's actually no other option but to cook or we'll just be burning money if we were to eat out. Turns out, cooking is fun! I now even own a pressure cooker! LOL!..and what'd they say..."the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" ...the boyfriend always appreciates what I serve in front of him (at least that's what he tell me...I'll never know if he's just forcing himself to eat it LOL!)

Here are some home cooked meals I've made:

Kare-Kare (oxtail)Thai green chicken curry

Filipino spaghetti and friend riceChicken stir-fry

Filipino sopasNilagang beef

Fitness DVD craze

2011-03-20T23:08:00.000-07:00

I go through some random phases in my exercise regimen where I try some kind of fitness video program but never really finish it. I mean to be honest, exercising alone, in front of the TV, AT home is not really very....motivating. I tried a lot of workout videos out there including the free ones on our on-demand channel. You know...I'll do it for a couple of weeks then I get tired of it and that's the end of our relationship LOL! And yet the cycle repeats itself and I am now the proud owner of Jillian's 6 week six-pack and Jackie's Xtreme training:

I have to admit though that I like the workouts, I really feel a lot tighter and since my vacation to Mexico is in 2 months I gotta keep up with these workouts. I actually have a reason to do it now. No excuses.

The Emerald 12K Run

2011-03-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

Alright so I've been on a long hiatus from running. The last run I did last year was in July at the Run to the Lake at Lake Chabot and that was a very painful run for me. My friends and I planned to run the San Jose Half in October last year but I opted out because my left ankle hurt badly at that time that I swore I'll give myself some time to rest my feet. But I missed running... so I when my friend reminded me to sign up for the Emerald 12K run for today, 3/20 I did it just to prove to myself that I can run longer than 3 miles again. Well first of all though, last night it was storming hard and I was praying that the run will be cancelled because who wants to run when it's storming outside? but nope, rain or shine the show must go on, as they say. I must say despite the cold wind, the rain on the first 2 miles of the race, overall the run was great. It just feels soo good to be outside running again, it was a very scenic run in SF (by far the best run I've had in terms of views). Had to report though that my ankle is not feeling any better, and I am beyond sore today and that's partly because THIS is really a long run for me. My time wasn't great, I walked and run with my friends (they don't really run for time) but as soon as I get back on the swing of things again, I'll try to beat my time from my previous races. Here's some pics during the run:

HOLYYY CRAAAPP!!!!

2011-03-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

Got in to work today, opened my inbox and I see an email from the State Board of Equalization with a subject heading that read "Notice of New Sales and Use Tax Rates", so I opened it unsuspecting of what's about to unfold before my very eyes....

New Sales and Use Tax Rates
Effective April 1, 2011
Voters in 13 cities in California have approved new district taxes (transactions and use taxes) that become effective April 1, 2011. The new rates apply only within each city’s incorporated limits. The tax rates outside the incorporated city limits will remain the same.
In addition, the City of Scotts Valley Transactions and Use Tax (SVGF) will end on March 31, 2011, resulting in a tax rate decrease within the city limits of Scotts Valley.
In Sonoma County, the countywide Sonoma County Open Space Authority (SCOS) 0.25 percent district tax will end on March 31, 2011. Beginning April 1, 2011, the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation & Open Space District (SAPD) 0.25 percent district tax will take effect. Therefore, the tax rates throughout Sonoma County (exception: City of Santa Rosa) will remain the same.
The table below summarizes the new sales and use tax rates.
District Tax Area County Acronym Code Old Rate New Rate
City of San Leandro Alameda SLGF 238 9.75% 10.00%
City of Union City Alameda UCGF 240 9.75% 10.25%
City of Concord Contra Costa CNCD 242 9.25% 9.75%
City of El Cerrito Contra Costa ELCT 244 9.75% 10.25%
City of Placerville El Dorado PLST 246 8.50% 8.75%
City of Eureka Humboldt ERST 248 8.50% 9.00%
City of Santa Monica Los Angeles STMA 250 9.75% 10.25%
City of South El Monte Los Angeles SEMT 252 9.75% 10.25%
City of Novato Marin NOVT 254 9.00% 9.50%
City of Marina Monterey MRNA 255 8.25% 9.25%
City of Tracy San Joaquin TRCY 257 8.75% 9.25%
City of Scotts Valley Santa Cruz SVGF 216 9.25% 9.00%
County of Sonoma Sonoma SAPD 259 9.00% 9.00%*
City of Santa Rosa Sonoma SRGF 264 9.25% 9.50%
City of Wheatland Yuba WTLD 265 8.25% 8.75%
*The rate is higher in the following cities which have additional district taxes and their codes have changed: Sebastopol (260), Cotati (261), Rohnert Park (262), and Santa Rosa (264).

As you can see, I specifically highlighted Union City (I'm from there) because I just can't believe effective April 1 and that's 16 days from now, we are going to be slapped with a 10.25% sales tax rate! That's STEEP!!! Union City??!! really??!! what's in freakin' Union City! I guess this is due to the budget deficit that California has and this is part of the restructuring of finances. As to why Union City gets the hit and not, say Fremont where I feel like there's more businesses, still escapes me. SooOO what does this mean for me??? well less shopping in Union City now, not like there's anything there anyways but in terms of buying groceries and stuff like that, I will now drive myself one district down to Fremont or a district up to Hayward to pay lesser sales tax on my purchases. But then again, it's not like I'm saving money since gas prices are high anyway! ahhh!! consumers just can't win!

InterState Trip in 2010

2011-03-15T23:50:00.000-07:00

Note: This post is long overdue just like the previous ones I have here.
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Last August 2010 my friends Janice, Maida and I set out on an interstate trip to Nevada, Arizona and Utah for 4 days. First stop...

UTAH (ZION NATIONAL PARK)

Yesss my friends and I found ourselves driving for 12 hours to Utah...it was very tiring but the road trip was fun. Thank goodness there were 3 of us driving! We got to Springdale, Utah at 9 in the morning. You know you're in Utah if all you're surrounded with canyons. It's amazing how they look, it's all orange. Anyhow as soon as we got there, we went on a short hike to the Riverside Walk which leads to the Zion Narrows. It was a short hike so it wasn't too bad, it actually involved river hiking which I thought was cool. I was still tired from the drive but I guess my adrenaline was on high gear knowing that I'm at a new place and in awe of the canyons around me and that I'm actually in Utah! LOL! The next day we did the Angels Landing, it's a strenuous 5 miles uphill hike. Now, I'm OK with heights, I did the cables at Half Dome twice and on both occasions, I confirmed and reconfirmed that the ascend up was scary....The last half mile of the hike to the Angels Landing is something else...you basically climb up on a sandstone with sheer cliffs on both sides! If you're scared of heights then it's not for you.THIS was REALLY SCARY because it's so narrow, the cables doesn't really make you feel safe either because it doesn't go continuously, like there's gaps in between. I took one good look at the sandstone... convinced myself it's *probably" not too bad then off I go but I didn't got too far, I figured my chances of being alive gets slimmer as I climb up further. It's basically a death trap! LOL! All in all, it was a good hike. We also did the trail called Weeping Rock which is the shortest trail in the park, it's only half-mile round-trip. They called it the Weeping Rock because it is where water seeps out from the sandstones above it. They said water from the rock has been there for 1,200 years! The water gave us a break from the hot weather. Another trail we did was the Lower Emerald Pools. Somehow the waterfalls didn't have lots of water, I guess because it was still summer. So at this point we've been hiking for almost the entire day and all I wanted was to sleep or take advantage of the sun in Utah and lay out by the pool of our hotel and get a tan LOL! Yes, I am a tan addict. Another thing I noticed about Utah's weather is that, it can be sunny one minute and then rainy the next. I swear, it was all warm then all of a sudden it started raining complete with the sounds of thunder then up from the canyons forms a waterfalls because of the sudden downpour! Unbelievable!

OK --- sooooOooo because we just can't get enough of the canyons, we also went to drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona which is about 3 hours drive. It was a lot colder and windier up there! But sooo amazing to see such a beautiful creation. It's indescribable, you have to see it to believe how wonderful and great this place is.

...and that concludes our trip...after Arizona we drove to Nevada to stay at Maida's grandparent's house before we head back to the Bay early in the morning and drive another 10 hours home. It was a lot of fun, memorable sights and just spending time with good friends.

Found and Love!

2011-03-13T23:55:00.000-07:00

My sister Sharon as you know is getting married next year so that leaves me as her maid of honor. These past few months we've been looking for bridesmaid dresses, tried on a few but haven't really found "the one" LOL! I sound like I'm looking for my wedding dress! It's not easy as I thought it would be, there's a ton of dresses out there and the only way to narrow it down is if the bride knows what she truly wants. Fortunately my sister is good in that department. Yeaahh... these dresses can be costly though. Can you imagine if you have tons of girlfriends who are getting married in a year and they choose you as one of the bridesmaid?! Man! I will be in debt for sure! Anyhow, we found a dress in San Jose which I liked but it would set me back $220, I just can't justify paying up that much over a dress that I will wear in just one day! I'm sorry but I just can't. So anyway I didn't commit myself to that dress and once again...the search is back on. Thank goodness I didn't because finally, this Saturday, I found it! YAY!!! and to make it even better, the dress is on sale with a price tag of $129 woohoo! Suhhh-weet! I really really love the dress, the design, the material and everything about it. Here's a pic of me with it on. It won't be in this color though, it'll be in light brown. Ahhh...I love it! I can't wait to wear my actual size.

Renter

2011-03-11T22:09:00.000-08:00

I am now officially a renter! not at my parent's house but at an actual apartment complex LOL! I finally moved out! well...mmm...7 months ago! lol! My friend Marisue recommended the complex to me and I fell in love almost instantaneously when I came to visit her spot. I called the office the very next day and asked for pricing and availability and of course a tour of their model homes. I had a one bedroom in mind so I thought that'll be very likely available but nope...they had a wait list! I was actually bummed out because I just don't have the patience to wait! LOL! But I agreed to be put on the wait list. I've looked at other places while patiently waiting for my name to get bumped up on the list but I kept on coming back to Ardenwood Forest for one reason: you get a bang for your buck! The units here are actually condo units, the one that I wanted is a 1 bedroom, 531 sq ft, washer and drier inside your unit, free water, garbage annnddd... has your own garage! It was priced at $1140, the lowest of all the places I've seen around here in Fremont. One manager from one of the complex that I've seen actually told me to just wait for my name because that's the best I can ever get around here. So I did...for a month...I remember I made it my mission to call the office weekly to ask my place on the waitlist. I'm sure they're very irritated but whatever...persistence is a good trait with a better reward...and lo and behold...the call finally came that yes, I got the spot! I'm sure for homeowners out there it's a different feeling when it's REALLY your OWN home. I was beeyonnd excited. Finally INDEPENDENT! Keep in mind, being Filipino means you're never too old to be living in your parent's home that's just the way it is, unlike here where they kick you out when you're 18 or something. So, I moved in my place last August. I went on a shopping spree buying all the home stuff that I need since I've nothing except my bed at my parent's house. It was sooo exciting and kinda scary at the same time to be on my own but was totally looking forward to furnishing the place lol. Fast forward to now....ding dong...7 months in here and I'm totally loving it. I was by myself for a good 2 months until the boyfriend moves in and there goes the independence hahaha, I'm kidding, I love it still...happy to report that the rent they gave me was even lower than what they advertised! sweet! Here's some pics of the place:

Back!...once again!

2011-03-11T21:52:00.000-08:00

I know...I know... my last post was from 2010 and I swear that I was going to blog more but I guess that didn't happen till...NOW! (8 months later!) LOL!

It's Friday and I'm just staying in...what else is there to do but go to Facebook...except...it's not working somehow...so I figured I'll visit my blog and re-vamp my layout hoping that I'll be more inclined to write again and whaddya know it worked!! I'm really loving this whole new design I have, it kinda goes with my blog title..."true story"..."books (background)"...get it??? well anyhow I have a lot of things that I'll be sharing here again, 8 months is a pretty long time and a lot has happened since then so you can say I've been very very late on my postings.

Blogging on my iPhone

2010-06-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

I think I will be blogging more again! It's been such a long time since I've written anything here but no excuses now coz I just downloaded this blogging app on my phone. You see I don't buy iPhone apps that are not free (yes, I am stingy like that) lol! But I was willing to pay $2.99 just so I can blog on the go. So welcome back to me! Lol!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Fall

2009-10-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

the aftermath of the fall

Last Friday I ran the Moonlight Run for the 3rd year now. I decided to do the 10K (6.1 miles) this time around since when I ran the 5K last year, it was too crowded, there were so much kids running that it was hard to actually run at your pace. The weather was comfortable, there was actually a full moon, it wasn't raining and cold compared to the previous years. It was nearly perfect, we were about a mile from the finish line when I was bowled over by this stupid ass effin jerk!!! Now I haven't fallen for a long time....since I was in elementary actually...so it really took me by surprise. And the effin' worst part! the jerk didn't even help me nor even apologized and he even had the nerve to tell me to watch out when he was the one who freakin' hit me! Arrghh! I was livid! So I was laying there on the ground trying to take in what just happened and was in pain from the impact of the fall. Stan, my co-worker who ran together with me, helped me out and we walked for a little bit. The walking didn't help as much though since I can feel the pain from the impact more so I just decided to run through the pain. I still finished at a descent time (1 hr 3 mins) despite the set-back. I was so determined to find that jerk but I didn't see him! Damnit! I hope karma gets him! And they advertised that this was a fun run! well I say NOT! Some people are just born to be jerks!

Half Dome All Over Again

2009-09-03T14:31:00.001-07:00

So I did it again, it took me a good year to forget how hard this hike was but I was back on top of Half-Dome on 8/29/09!!!

It was fun albeit the 15 hours, yes my friends, your eyes did not betray you just now, you actually did read 15 hours! of beeeyond exhausting hiking! We started at 5 AM, we actually were an hour behind our schedule but it was still a good time to start. Typically the hike which is 17 miles RT will take about 10-12 hours however since we're the picture-happy type of people, we were just happily snapping pictures away without paying attention to time. There's a justification to this though - the views are amazing! you just have to stop, admire and take more pictures LOL! I swear, eventhough I've done this a year ago, the views never cease to amaze me. Also, it was super hot that day - 97 degrees! so of course we were taking breaks too often. Mind you, we were lugging 4 liters of water in our backpacks, so it was really heavy. By the time we got to the sub-dome it was almost past noon and cables were packed with people. We were actually hanging on for our dear lives on those cables for 45 mins! I could've sworn I thought my hands were bleeding. We spent 30 mins on top of Half-Dome and on the way down the cables were, as usual, packed again! I remember hiking so fast on the way down because we only had 3 hours of daylight left plus I just wanted the hike to be over. Hahaha! Note: for those planning on hiking HD anytime soon, DO NOT TAKE JOHN MUIR TRAIL ROUND-TRIP! it's very long and honestly neverending! LOL! take it going back. We finished at around 8:45 pm and was just super tired. To make it worst, our cabin was in Groveland and because of the fire, I-120 was closed to traffic so our drive from Yosemite to Groveland via I-140 was 2 hours! I felt bad for Marlon who had to drive. But being the responsible sister that I am, I had to stay awake for him while everyone else was already snoring away.

All in all though, it was a fun trip. The next day before heading home we had a picnic at the lake by the cabin and played cards and ate ice cream!

Run to the Lake 2009

2009-07-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

This is my 3rd year to run this race and I still feel like the course is just as hard and unfamiliar. Maybe that's coz I'm not really running as much lately...regardless though, I still finished it at a descent time - 58 mins 29 sec. Not too shabby. I placed 5th in my age division. This year, too, there were a lot of us who ran it. It used to be just me, my brother, Janice and her brother. Our running club has expanded. LOL!.

Random Things About Me

2009-06-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

If you have Facebook account (who doesn't?), you must've seen this note from a few of your friends who had tagged you. Basically the rule was:

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

Since I am just plain bored right now, I figured I'll give it a shot. Don't know if I can come up with 25 things but here goes nothing....

1. I have road rage. It's really not that bad but when someone cuts me off or is too slow, I turn my high beam lights on them.
2. I used to collect DVDs, which I've labeled and arranged by number.
3. I'm a pack rat. It's hard for me to part with my old stuff.
4. I procrastinate too much.
5. I can never sleep in. I'm wired to wake up at 6 ish in the morning every single day even on the weekends!
6. I've recently discovered that I enjoy the outdoors.
7. I enjoy running. I hope to do a marathon before I turn 35. LOL.
8. I'm a gung ho when it comes to exercise. I hit the gym as much as I can.
9. I've always wanted a puppy but don't want all the responsibility that comes with it.
10. I love to eat. I wish food won't make us fat. Japanese and Indian top my list.
11. My last food on earth though will have to be: curly fries with buttermilk sauce from Jack in the Crack (Box!). French fries in general is my weakness!
12. I'm a stubborn person but I'm not at all difficult to deal with. Once in a while I'll give in but not without a fight.
13. I love to travel. If I have more money and more vacation hours available, I'd be on vacation every month.
14. I love Hawaii and any place that's tropical. Sun + beach + tanning oil = heaven
15. I am a shy person. Really.
16. I enjoy reading books. Non-fiction mainly. "Master of the Game" by Sidney Sheldon is my all time fave.
17. I randomly record shows on my DVR but really don't find the time to watch them.
18. I wish that I can be a contestant on "The Amazing Race"
19. I'm lactose intolerant but I loveee cheese!
20. I've never been back to the Philippines since I came here in '98.
21. I'm scared of flying. I don't like being inside the plane. It makes me anxious, maybe that's part of the reason why I never went back to the Philippines, I can never be inside that plane for 14 hours or however long the flight will be.
22. I stole a headband from Forever21. I think that was 2 years ago. It didn't have a tag, I tried it on and completely forgot to take it off. Hahahaha! Karma got the best of me though - 2 weeks later it broke!

Damn...3 more...can't think.....TBC.....

23. Alrite! as of 6:45 this morning, I've realized that I am getting addicted to Mickey D's iced coffee.

24. I'm still getting over my fear of riding a bike.

25. I know how to swim but I can never thread water. Maybe I should learn that this summer...

S*@&! Bomb!

2009-06-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday early morning, as I was getting ready to go to the gym, my dad comes inside the house laughing hard...I asked what's funny...he told me to look outside and taadaa...THIS was the surprise....BIRD SHIT all over my frikkin' car! ugh! and why is it all in my car??!! my dad's had a little bit of some but my car, man! oh man! it totally looked like they were flying directly above my car and just decided that it needed some shit rained on it! My mom said it's good luck and that bird shit = money, ahhh yeahhh... I guess so...first things first though was to clean all that mess. Needless to say, after that I went to a nearby liquor store and got myself lotto tickets! *BIG grin* I hope I win! but wait...I washed the shit away...does that mean I've thrown the money away????

P.S. click on the pictures to enlarge them to get a clearer view of the mess that those birds left on my car.

Graduation

2009-06-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I went to my cousin Janinne's graduation. She graduated from middleschool. Gosh! it just seems like yesterday when we first came here to the US and she was only 3 and we were babysitting her. Yesterday, while I was doing her make-up she just seemed so grown-up already. I even found myself asking her if she has a boyfriend now! LOL! she said no. Dang! now I feel old! Ahhh...time really flies by sooo fast.

Congratulations again to all my cousins who graduated this year: Justin, Jannine, Mina and Mark!

Long Hair...

2009-06-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

Five months ago I decided to cut my hair short. The decision came about because I've always had the same long hair. I had it layered here and there but I never had it cut above my shoulder. Anyway, when I went to the hairdresser back in January, I brought with me a picture of what cut I wanted. Well...believe it or not, even with the picture that I showed, she still gave me a different cut! What the hell right?!! I swear this was not the first time that she had cut my hair, she'd done the layers on my long hair and I've always loved it! I guess short haircuts are not her forte! I vowed never ever to go back to her after that. (LOL! Yeah, I'm mean!) Anyhow, since I wasn't gaga over my short hair at that time, I ended up going to another hairdresser like 2 weeks after which made my hair even shorter. Now it's been 5 months and my hair is growing but not as fast as I wanted it to! I know! I know! patience is a virtue! LOL! Just that every time I see pictures of me with my long hair...I totally miss it so bad! Everytime I see girls with long hair and they curled it...I miss doing that with mine. Right now, the only thing I can do with it is to put it in half pony-tail! ugh! I actually even contemplated on using prenatal vitamins because according to my co-worker, it helps with hair growth. Ahh yeah! I didn't try it because I just couldn't bring myself to buy one. LOL! Grow...grow...grooow already! waiting...drumming fingers...waiting...drumming fingers...

Some Random Catching Ups...

2009-05-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

I am so behind on posting some blog-worthy posts these days...somehow I just didn't have the desire to write about anything in general. So today's Friday and I am at home...yes! on a Friday nite...dang! I don't go out anymore! Oh well...I guess I'm officially boring and a homebody for sure! Anyway to kill time I figured I'll write about all the random stuff that I've failed to blog about during the past few weeks.

The day before I turned 30, I ran a 15K at the Big Basin in Boulder Creek. This is my 2nd year to run this trail run. I almost forgot how easy it is to run on trails but somehow what made it unbearable this year was the fact that it was probably and easily in the 90s (temperature-wise) inside the park. All I wanted was a nice, cold drink after the run. I've also managed to get myself some mosquito bites! crazy! Anyway, I finished 2:15:28, that's 6 minutes faster than my time last year! (yay!) Next year, I will totally be in a different age group...hopefully the 30-39 age group runners won't be as fast as the runners on the 20-29s. Here are some pics below.
So Monday, May 18th I turned 30. Dang! I'm officially and actually 30 now! LOL! It's been 12 days and all I can say is that I don't feel any different. I feel like I'm still in my 20s. Hahaha! Ok, I'm kidding. Anyway, I celebrated my birthday with a Happy Hour at Chevy's with my cousins and some friends.

More pictures if you click on the Pictures tab above.

So after that, on May 21, my cousins and I went to Vegas....Ok to be continued on my next post. Hahaha.

I'm 30!

2009-05-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

I am officially 30 today! Just wanted to thank everyone who sent in birthday greetings! Thank you so much!

Early B-day Gift

2009-05-07T08:25:00.001-07:00

Yipee! I got my early birthday gift!!! I just want to thank my sister and mom for giving me my first ever designer purse. It's actually my most prized possession! Believe it or not, I don't own any expensive purses like all other girls have. This is my first!

Now, for those people who know me I have the tendency to cram my purse with just about anything hence I have a preference for large purses. I swear my purse before this is huge, my friend Maida told me it can pass for a gym bag. I guess I just love the convenience of having all my stuff in there - even if I don't really need them. LOL! One time I tried weighing it and it was over 7 pounds! Dang! all that strain I'm putting my shoulder through! *sigh. This new one that I got is a medium sized one, and yes it is still roomy soOOoo I'm so tempted to put more things in there but I'm not going to. Hmmm I'm just saying that now, soon it'll be filled with unnecessary stuff again.

Anyhow, Sharon - thank you again! I really appreciate it! *BIG grin*

Pink Eye

2009-05-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

Totally out of the blue...I got myself a pinkeye! Woke up this morning and my left eye was hella red and had this yellowish drainage. Plus it felt like there was something in my eye, like a stray eyelash or something but there was none. I didn't think anything of it. I just thought that maybe I had rubbed my eyes while I was sleeping. Anyway, I went to work and I asked my co-worker about it and she looked at me and declared that I have a pinkeye. LOL! So I called Kaiser, they asked me questions and yup! the advice nurse said I do have an eye infection. Ugh! They said pinkeye is contagious and can spread very easily. SooOoo now I'm quarantined in my room! Sucks! no gym or running or any activities for 2 days! I guess that's my body's way of telling me to slow down. Hahaha! OK I got the message!

OK time to put some eye drops in my eye!

Easter Egg Hunt Prize!

2009-04-30T17:13:00.001-07:00

Sooo unexpected! we had an Easter Egg Hunt here at work back on April 10 and I never got anything except for some candies :-( well all that changed today! While taking out some of my packaged food from our employee's fridge, I found one egg next to my bag of food! I opened it and BAM! I found this:

Whooo hoo!!! $20 cash baby!!! who knew!!! oh man! I am beyond happy! Free money. Enough said! That made my day!

Mission City 5K Run

2009-04-26T22:49:00.001-07:00

Sharon, me, Maida, Noretta and Janice at Great America

5K - 3.1 miles
Finished: 27 mins 22 sec

This morning, we did the Mission City 5K Run for Fun at Great America. This was my friend Maida's first ever 5K run. She took up running after I've encouraged her in the very beginning of the year that we should run together. She finished in 29 mins 48 seconds! HELLA good for a first-time runner! I'm very proud of her. The run was at Great America - yes! it was inside the theme park and it went around the parking lots. Very family friendly run since all entries come with a complimentary free admission to the park. However, I didn't use the pass since Sharon and I had to go home early for another engagement. Sharon tried "selling" our tickets to some people on the parking lot but to no avail. LOL! apparently! there's no bandit runners on that run! They're all registered! Damn! Oh well! It wasn't entirely a waste of money though, since it went to a great cause anyway.

So first run for 2009...now I'm just waiting for the next one in May - Big Basin here I come....

Big Basin Hike

2009-04-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

My friends and I at the exposed sandstone ridge

Total Distance: 10.4-12.0 miles RT
Elevation: 1,900 feet
Hiking Time: 6.5 hours

Last Sunday, my friends and I hiked the Big Basin Redwoods State Park. We left around 5:45 a.m here in the East Bay. Since we knew it was going to be hot that day, we decided to start early. It was such a nice hike because even though it was really hot, the redwood trees kept us under the shade. Not for very long though, by noon, we can feel the heat inside the trail. I normally don't drink as much water but for this hike I finished an entire liter and a half of water. The coolest part was seeing all the three waterfalls: Berry Creek, Silver and Golden Falls. Surprisingly, there were plenty of water on the falls. Thank goodness! otherwise I would've been soooo disappointed.

Banana slugs are common on the trail and I saw 8 of them! Hehehe! One downside of hiking for this long hours are blisters...ugh! so annoying but whatever, it didn't kill me! LOL!

Here are more pics:

Hike

2009-04-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone!

It was such a nice day today...finally it's warm and dry...my kind of weather! I'm crossing my fingers that it won't rain anymore...I know! I know! we need the rain but there's really not much to do when it's yucky outside! SoOoo taking advantage of this nice one today I went hiking at Mission Peak with Maida. It was really hot because we went around 2pm. HAHAHA! Believe it or not, there were hella people hiking too! It felt so good since we haven't gone on a hike in a while plus I kinda wanted a break from running even for just a day. One highlight of our hike was this lady who hiked with her jeans and platform shoes! OMG! at first we were betting that she wouldn't go all the way to the top but man! we were dead wrong, she hiked all the way up wearing those freakin' shoes! I thought to myself that she must've gotten some major blisters wearing those. I mean seriously??!! who wears jeans and platforms to hike? just wearing jeans alone seems really uncomfortable add a platform shoes - ehh no thanks! I give props for her though.

We're going hiking again this coming Sunday either in Mt. Tam or Big Basin. Woohoo! I can't wait!

Not again!

2009-03-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

If it's not a dead toenail from hiking, a knee pain from running, it's a sprained thumb from snowboarding! Yesss! my friends, I've suffered yet another misfortune. Ugh! It's all good though, what doesn't kill me, make me stronger! Bwahahaha! So I'm going to suck it up and be a man...errr woman about it!

I had fun so much fun spending time with my cousins, despite the swollen thumb, which btw, was soo hard to get in my snow gloves.

Ugh!

2009-03-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

you know what/who irks me? this so-called friend of mine who seems to makes it his personal mission to persuade me to settle down soon because (in his words) "we're getting old"! Ugh! super annoying! Just because he has his little boyfriend who will live with him in his own new house and supporting them both with his six-figure salary doesn't mean that I have to pattern my own life to his! Last time I check, I didn't see any manual laying around somewhere with a checklist that says: When you're looking at 30 you need OR must have: 1) a significant other b) a house c) a six-figure salary. I mean it's ideal but it's not just realistic for me...not yet anyways. I appreciate his concern also for my declining egg count but I think I can manage to pull off an Angelina Jolie move when worst comes to worst or to keep it local, I'd find myself a Juno by posting my picture on the PennySaver: "Lonely 30ish woman in dire need of an infant to make her life complete" LOL! Okaay, kidding aside...honestly, I don't need someone to dictate to me what I should be doing at this point in my life. I think I'm mature enough to handle that on my own. So to shut him off, I told him that I'm in no hurry to settle down...heck I'm not even with someone! He tells me that I'm very independent. Then, without missing a beat he goes on and tells me that HE too, can be independent and that he doesn't want to settle down yet. What a ginormous contradiction!!! Okaayyy...Frickin a! man!

I want to end this post by saying that of course he won't be hearing from me anytime soon.

BART

2009-03-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

Today I went somewhere in Oakland and decided to take the BART. The last time I took it was August last year, I've already forgotten how it smells... horrible. How much will the government need to spend to change those seats? OR will they have to raise the fare in order to get some funding to change those seats? It seriously reeks of people's sweat and whatever else...I don't even want to think about it! Barf! I swear sometimes you can even make out some stains from it. God knows what kind of body fluids those are! Yuck! I remember when I used to work in SF, I took the BART everyday. I don't know how I managed to get through the entire ride without even yacking, I guess at some point I actually got immune to the smell. But after not using BART for a while, the smell is just plain disgusting. It's funny 'coz while browsing the internet I found this website that is dedicated for BART riders who wants to share their good or bad experiences. It's called BARTrage - very appropriate. If I was a regular rider I will bombard that forum with my daily rantings. But for now, I'll just vent out here on my blog. Ugh!

Running again...

2009-03-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

So far I've only registered for one race this year. I've signed up for the 17K (10 miles) Pacific Coast trail run at Big Basin on May 17. Yes! that's the day before I actually turn 30! I guess it will be my birthday run....ya know...running from being 30 and getting old! hahaha! I'm kidding! So I've been actually on a training schedule for a week now and today was my first Sunday long run. I was scheduled to do 6 miles today. Totally not looking forward to it since the longest run I've ever done this entire winter was 3. But with the training I've been logging in some 3 and 4 milers this week so I thought what's another 2 right? It actually was not that bad. I finished at 1 hour 1 minute. Not too bad. I just wish it was sunnier and warmer, the winds earlier were challenging at times coz I have to work hard running against it. I actually got a new running partner too, my friend Maida. She took on running as part of her new year's resolution. So far she's doing a good job. Anyway, now that spring and summer are just around the corner I'll be boring you with some running posts soon...so stay tune or ....not! LOL!

Step & Sculpt

2009-03-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

In an effort to find a new routine at the gym, Sharon and I tried the "Step & Sculpt" class earlier today. Holy cow! I swear I am the most uncoordinated person in this world! Hahaha! I liked the sculpt part of the class...the step aerobics part (stepping on an incline) -- not so much! Waaayyy too much steps to follow...step left, step right, doubles, around the world, half-turn...yadi..yadi..yadi... hahaha! I couldn't keep up, man! I have to admit though it's really tough for me to take aerobics classes that involves any choreographed moves. It frustrates me when I can't keep up. LOL! But I'd like to give this class another try, I just read that the impact of the body from step workout is comparable to that of running. Great! I'm there then!

Dogsitting Duties

2009-03-07T15:37:00.000-08:00

Today I get to dogsit my favorite puppy, Molly. She's super adorable. I walked her at the park and everyone seemed to think she's super cute! I think we walked pretty far 'coz when we got home, she dozed off right away hehehe...she must've been tired. I don't think I wanna return her anymore LOL! i'm kidding!

Some vacation

2009-03-06T15:34:00.000-08:00

I am finally blogging again...man! that was a long hiatus!

Oh-kaay...so just came back from Hawaii last week. As you can see from my pos t 2 months ago, I was really looking forward to this trip. I don't know why but I always have this notion that Hawaii is warm and nice all year round...I was like "we're going Feb...psshh it's fine, it'll be nice and warm"...well it was everything but that! It was kinda cold (think nippy fall day here in CA), and windy and cloudy and drizzly at times. We really did not expect it to be like that at all! OK so we get some sun BUT with the wind, it's really not much warmer. Here's a picture of me at the Waikiki beach - towel around me. I never ever do that when I'm out in the sun, I'm a total sun hog. LOL!
See how it's cloudy...yaahhh...that was pretty much how it was when Sharon and I "tried" to get some tan for like...let's see...3 hours...mmmhmmm....I gave up and I told her to just fuhgetaboutit LOL! after all, even the damn water was freakin' cold!

SoOooo then we flew to Maui early Wednesday morning...it was drizzling and windy when we left our hotel...not a good sign...but I tried to think positive thoughts, after all this will be my first time in Maui so I was really excited...who knows how it is over there, after all it's another island on it's own...so while in the plane, it seemed like everything outside is sunny and bright...our flight was only 20 mins. love it! so our plane starts to land and what do you know...it was freakin' windy as hell!!! I could've sworn, it was almost like gale force winds! so here's a pic outside the Maui Airport: (notice the trees being blown in one direction)

Per Mr. car rental guy, it's only like this on the North side of the island, thank goodness our hotel was on the South side of it. So there was a flicker of hope...hehehehe...LOVE our hotel! we stayed at the Grand Wailea Resort...super nice! We got this totally nice view from our room: (notice how it's sunny but super windy):

Since it was sunny (but windy) we went to the beach to get some photo-op...well that didn't last coz the wind was just blowing the sand all over the place and when it hits your eyes and legs...it hurts! Not fun! Sharon and I decided to just tan the next day since we were going to a Luau that night...

SooOooo, this is the most interesting part out of all these interesting stuff going on already...LOL!...we went to the Royal Lahaina Resort in Lahaina for the luau. We got there and it was windy (of course) and drizzling already...we were handed out some plastic ponchos (uh-oh! not a good sign) but whatever I was totally looking forward to the buffet and free drinks! A little drizzle will be just fine...well what do you know...the drizzle never stopped! Here's a funny picture of us eating...errr...trying hard to eat and not get our food all watered down from the rain...

and so here's Sharon and I with our very stylish plastic ponchos! LOL! We had a good laugh about this though because for all of us, this was our first luau in Maui and first that we got rained on...very unforgettable...nonetheless, the food was ah-mayzing! I swear! This is my 3rd luau now and by far this is my favorite!

Okay so Sharon and I finally braved the wind the following day and got some descent tan at the hotel's pool. The pool water was cold but I really don't care much about that since I was more into tanning than playing in the water. LOL! The result - it wasn't the tan that I wanted, which to me, should scream "I-just-came-from-a-vacation-at-a-tropical-place-tan" hahahaha...it was just an OK tan but I'll take it.

I think I might...actually not might...I think I need another vacation...

Here are more pics:

New Look

2009-01-26T22:43:00.000-08:00

As you can see I changed my blog template, I like it but I don't know how to customize the tabs! Ugh! I will ask my go-to tech guy tomorrow...ahemmm...paging...paging...Jan!!! Help!

Update:

Woohoo! finally! it's been fixed! Thank you Jan for your help - as always you're the best!

Aloha!

2009-01-15T22:56:00.000-08:00

I can't wait to go somewhere warm right now. Winter is not my favorite season, I'm always bundled up that I feel like my legs are now...pasty. Anyway, that will be taken care of coz we're going to Hawaii!!! woohoo! My mom, my aunt, Sharon and I are going on Feb 23-27! Just 5 days but that's all I needed to escape the winter weather here in the "mainland" LOL! I got our tickets sooo cheap too! Something that I'm very excited about. I've actually been keeping a close eye on the prices for a while waiting for it to drop and it finally went down to $320 pp (that's with tax included) for a RT to Oahu AND the best part of this coming vacation is that we are also going to Maui and the other BESTEST! part (LOL!) is that airfare from Oahu to Maui came out to only $68 pp! YAHHHH! how awesome is that!!!! *BIG GRIN*

I'm actually very excited to see Maui since I've never been there before. This will be my 3rd time in Oahu so a change of scenery will be nice. Ahhh! I can't wait.

I'll start my vacation countdown now! LOL!

Random thoughts...

2009-01-07T22:05:00.000-08:00

Today at the gym I noticed that there were a lot more people (new faces too!) at our abs class, same goes with the spinning class. Our teacher, Carol actually reminded us to write our names on the sign-up sheet for the class (which we've never done before). Hmmm...yah! definitely the new year...ya ya ya...the new year's resolution of every person: lose weight, burn all the holidays calories, get in shape...train seriously...Don't get me wrong, I'm all for that but I bet my money on this, I won't be seeing these people in the next two or three months. Why do people do that? They have these resolutions and yet they don't stick to it! I mean honestly, they are only cheating themselves. Anyway, this sudden-wave-of-people-at-the-gym phenomenon(as I call it) also happened the week before Thanksgiving. Then what happened right after? ehhhh EMPTY gym, less people at the group classes. I think of resolutions like crashed diets, we all want instant gratification and when we don't get what we want within a certain month(s) we lose our interest, we get disappointed and go back to our old habits. My friend Jorge told me for his resolution he wants to lose the weight he'd gained over the holidays so yesterday he brought salad for lunch then today what did he have - Mexican food! Mmmhmmm what happened to lose-the-weight-resolution? falling off the wagon already? wow! fast! All I'm saying is that I think it's better to make micro changes in our lives as the year goes by instead of just simply trying to do some spur of the moment changes just 'coz it's the new years.

The New Year!

2009-01-04T21:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

Wow! it's been a while now since I've blogged. I will not jot down my excuses or lack thereof but I am back! Sooo it's the New Year again...unlike other people I am not one to make resolutions...we all know those often last...like what?...the first 2 weeks of January??? SooOoo in honor of the new year I figured I'll write down here what I've done in the past year and what I can't wait to do this year.

2008:

I'm Proud Of... having been able to reconnect with my friends whom I've not seen for 10 years...discovering that I do love running and the competitiveness that it brings out in me - the races, the free shirts, the free foods and the adrenaline and all other good things that come with it...learning that a lot of dedication and focus leads to real sense of accomplishment -- training and running my first half-marathon and hiking Half-Dome...finding that I enjoy the outdoors and taking on hiking as another form of activity...taking a memorable vacation in the US Virgin Islands...signing up with a personal trainer who kicked my butt and pushed me beyond my limits until I thought I saw birds flying over my head.

2009:

I Can't Wait To...learn how to snowboard and hope to be good at it...take a Hawaii vacation with my mom and my sister - totally mom & daughter bonding...learn to not be afraid to ride the bike in the spring...go to Florida for my cousin's wedding - it will be more of a reunion...

There are more stuff but the BIG thing for me this year is that I am turning the big 3-0! (there I said it!) LOL! I don't know what will change or what THAT will bring me but I guess it's up to me to find out.

Molly

2008-12-21T22:11:00.001-08:00

Isn't she adorable??? No...no...no...sadly she is not my puppy and it breaks my heart saying that...hmp! because i wish, want and hope that she is MINE!!! She is my cousin's new puppy. She actually just adopted her from the animal shelter in Stevenson. We met her today after we all had lunch and I can't get enough of her, not once did she bark while we were playing with her. She seemed to be that kind of puppy that wants to be held most of the time (which is what I want). So I've never heard of her breed before, maybe because I was just too interested in the Maltese. LOL! Anyway she is a Lhaso Apso, which are very popular in the dog show ring. Her cute little face kinda reminds me of the "Ewoks" on the Star Wars movie hahahaha!!! Anyway, gosh! my cousin is so lucky to find her at the shelter, I wish I can get one too, not that I'll adopt soon but maybe someday. I haven't lose all my hope yet - not after I was rejected for a Maltese at another shelter. I didn't want to let her go when we had to leave...I actually think I had separation anxiety LOL!

Merry Xmas!

2008-12-18T13:45:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Mt. Tamalpais Hike

2008-12-01T07:16:00.000-08:00

Me at On top of East Peak

A view from the Dipsea Trail with Stinson Beach right behind

Mt. Tamalpais
Elevation: 2,571 feet

When we were hiking at Mission Peak the weekend before Thanksgiving, Satish, our hiking buddy suggested we hike Mt. Tamalpais. I've never been there so I thought I'd be cool to check it out. I couldn't ask for a better day when we went to hike Mt. Tam yesterday. The state park is located in the Marin County. The weather was great, a little cool but it was really clear -- it was kinda hard to believe, considering that we were in the SF Bay, that no fog was in sight. It was perfect!

We left the East Bay at 6 in the morning and got there at 7:30 and started hiking shortly thereafter. We started at the Matt Davis trail which was a heavily wooded trail. We hiked through a lot of rolling hills and open grasslands. And we even spotted 3 deers running.

Matt Davis trail

The view was very scenic, we can see and hear Stinson Beach from a distance plus the smell of fresh air inside the wooded trail was amazing. The first part of our hike was going downward towards Stinson Beach, where we stopped to have our snacks and people-watched.

Stinson Beach

After lunch we hiked up the DipSea Trail to go back to the Pan Toll and instead of hiking up another 4 miles to East Peak we all decided to drive up to go there instead. When we reached East Peak we then made another brief hike up to the summit. It'd taken us about 4 hours or so to complete the entire hike. It was all worth it - the view of the entire Bay Area up on the summit of East Peak was spectacular, we saw Mt. Diablo, the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and SF from the distance. Breathtaking!

More pics:

SV Turkey Trot

2008-11-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

What better way to start the Thanksgiving eating extravaganza than to run a turkey trot! And that's exactly what we did the morning of Thanksgiving. It was so cold that morning and frankly I didn't feel like running a 10K (6.2 miles) but then I thought about all the food that I will eat that day so it will be a good excuse to eat whatever. Besides, like I've mentioned on my previous posting, it's a charity event raising money for health, hope and home. I was really surprised at the turnout of this event - there were so much people!!! That said, running was especially difficult. The course which on some parts becomes narrow, were also very crowded which made it harder to pass people. (Think: runners + walkers + runners with strollers = congestion). And omigosh! since I hardly run now, the 6 miles felt like 10! What a struggle! Nonetheless, I finished it in 1 hr 1 min. (what is up with that 1 minute?!) It wasn't really a good time for me. I wanted to beat my PR of 58 mins from my previous 10K run but obviously that didn't happen *sigh*. Note to self: run more

All in all, the run felt great. This makes this race my 7th run for this year. Also, they gave out this really nice organic t-shirt! It's the best one I got so far.

Pain at the Pump No more!

2008-11-13T09:21:00.001-08:00

I've never been excited about the price of gas until now. I went to fill-up today and it only cost me $22.71 for 9.7 gallon! WOW! To me this is soooooo exciting *big grin* considering that I drive to work coming from Union City all the way to Sunnyvale... soOooo can you imagine my savings compared to what I was paying this past summer when we were at $4 something a gallon??!! HUGE HUGE SAVINGS! I don't know when the last time I paid $22 to fill up...back 4 or 5 years ago maybe??? What a relief! It's worth checking out the prices of gas at stations near your area at Gasbuddy.com.

What the F!

2008-11-08T16:13:00.000-08:00

This morning was our second week of personal training. So Lawrence, our trainer wanted to see if our body fat percentage went down compared to the number that he got when we first started. And what's the low-down: well apparently I lost a measly 1 pound and my freaking body fat percentage went from 26.5 to 27! What the F!!! Did that freakin' machine just spit out some bogus number??? I've been killing myself for 2 weeks and my BF% went up! what was that about??! URK! I guess I can account the weight loss from the weekend bikram yogas - so yah I guess that was just water weight that I lost. Woohoo! I'm jumping up and down (sarcasm). So I never really let the numbers bother me before but somehow because I know that I've been working hard at the gym, been hiking, doing yoga and *trying* to eat healthy (our trainer makes us keep a food log) I thought for sure that my body fat will at least go down but ehh not the case. I was a tad disappointed. Essentially, my goal with this entire personal training was to tone up, I guess losing some pounds here and there is an added perk but I am really happy with my weight. I just don't understand the increase in my body fat %, was it the KitKat I had for Halloween??!! oh man! must be. LOL! So no more cheating because I am only cheating myself. But you know what, I feel good and I feel stronger and I think that's what counts. Everytime we do the workouts I push myself to give my very best. My biggest accomplishment from this training so far is that I can now do 10 full push-ups! yeaaaa! not the girly ones anymore I can do the manly ones now! To me that's big!

Change has come!

2008-11-04T22:32:00.000-08:00

I am proud to be part of our new president, Barack Obama's historic win! I actually got the chills and a little teary-eyed when he gave his acceptance speech especially when he said this on his speech: "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer".

I am very excited about the change that will happen and optimistic for the future.

Sopas

2008-11-01T14:27:00.000-07:00

When we were young my mom used to cook this macaroni soup for us especially during those monsoonal days in the Philippines. Well since it definitely won't be a sunny California this weekend I figured I'll cook it. So tada...my home cooked soup...*yummy. For some reason after I cooked it, I didn't have an appetite for it but 3 hours later, I tasted the soup and I was definitely feeling nostalgic.

Sarah Palin

2008-10-31T19:55:00.000-07:00

Woot! woot! I met Sarah Palin! Although I didn't vote for her I thought it'll be fun to get a photo-op. Just look at me hesitantly holding the "McCain-Palin" sign!

LOL!

I thought Chrystina totally nailed it! I know everyone is thinking that Tina Fey owns the Sarah Palin impression but I think Chrystina did a pretty darn good job!

Sidenote: Sarah Palin errr...Chrystina approved this message.

Finger Food

2008-10-30T23:17:00.000-07:00

In keeping up with the spirit of Halloween (pun intended) , earlier today a co-worker brought these "finger foods" (cookies) which I really liked! How creative is this? I easily devoured 2 "fingers" tasteyyy!

I don't know if I've said this enough but...

2008-10-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

Please don't forget to go out there and V-O-T-E on Nov. 4. I voted because I wanted to see some changes to our current economic situation. Why will you vote?

Urk!

2008-10-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

I know this is probably not even blog-worthy but I just needed to vent...today I drove for an hour and a half from Sunnyvale to home!!! 1 hour 30 minutes! not cool! Normally it will only take me 20 minutes. There were no accidents that could've caused the slow down of traffic...there were just too much cars I guess. What a headache! Does that mean everyone is just out...driving???

Bikram Yoga

2008-10-27T23:53:00.000-07:00

I first read about this from Joy's blog and I've been wanting to try it out for a while now but I didn't want to go by myself. It so happened that, while we were hiking a weekend ago, Maida mentioned that she is a member at the Bikram Yoga place in Fremont. So this past weekend after hiking in the morning Janice and I went with Maida to finally try it out. Oh my goodness! first thought that crossed my mind when we went inside the studio was "I am going to pass out!" Hahaha! The room was super hot! Man! the minute I took my first step I was starting to sweat. I read in their website that it was 105 degrees and about 60% humidity. Henry, our teacher was super nice! He is Filipino too! Hehehe! I thought I will be intimidated by the poses but they were not at all that hard to follow. I mean I'm not as flexible as the rest of the people in the class but I thought the poses were all doable. He said it's normal to feel nauseous or dizzy during the first class but I didn't feel anything like that. Whew! Anyway, I was next to this guy that kept on breathing so loud from his mouth that it was pretty distracting. So I tried to stop myself from laughing but when we did this move where we were laying down and had to roll up to touch our toes, the guy next to me farted! LOL! oh man! so I had to think of something not funny so I wouldn't laugh so hard! LOL! Thank goodness it didn't smell! Anyway aside from that minor gas slip out, the class was awesome! I didn't mind how hot the room was after a few poses. Although I have to say I was sweating bullets the entire 90 minute class. I am so glad I took Maida's advice to freeze 2 bottles of water the day before, it totally came in handy and it felt so good to drink an iced cold water. I'm going back again for another session this Sunday.

Bridge School Benefit Concert

2008-10-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we went to see the Bridge School Benefit Concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater. The concert is an annual non-profit event wherein the proceeds assists children with severe physical impairments and complex communication needs. Anyway, it was our first time to see a concert at the Shoreline and we totally went unprepared. First, we forgot to bring blankets to sit on the lawn thank goodness they have lawn chairs rentals. We should've known better since when we bought our tickets we chose the lawn section. And second, we didn't realize that outside foods are allowed hence we didn't bring any. As expected all foods sold there were overpriced so we settled for the $5 pretzel. LOL! The lineup of performers were great: Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco, Sarah McLachlan, Norah Jones and Jack Johnson. They each performed like 5 songs. That day I had a really bad nasal congestion and it didn't help that we were seated next to people who were smoking cigarettes and weed! LOL! also it got really cold during the night and I was more than willing to just go home than finish the rest of the concert. We left around 10 and went straight to Jack-in-the-Box and pigged out. It beats having to pay $8 for just the garlic fries at the amphitheater.

HappySlip

2008-10-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

Lately there's just been nothin' good to watch on TV... soooOoo what do I do??? I go on YouTube and randomly search for good videos...and my favorite find are videos from HappySlip. She's Filipino and her name's Christine Gambito and she makes these hilarious videos where she acts/impersonates her family members. My favorite so far is titled "Chill Pill"...I am LMAO watching this: LOL!

Early Voting

2008-10-22T22:10:00.000-07:00

I have officially voted! Tomorrow I am mailing my Official Absent Voter Ballot. This year is a very important election so please, everyone, don't forget to vote.

A view from top

2008-10-19T18:49:00.001-07:00

Finally! after hiking Mission Peak in Fremont for several weekends now, today was the first time that I really reached all the way to the top of the peak. I went with Janice and Maida today and the weather was perfect! The other weekends it was either too hot, too windy or it was drizzling. It was foggy when we started at our usual time (7:30 am), it was so thick climbing up that we can hardly see anything but when we reached the top, the view was amazing! The background on my picture above are all clouds hovering the entire place with Mt. Diablo looming over it. Also, no rattlesnakes sighting but we did see 3 coyotes today! Thank goodness they were kinda far from where we're at. Total time today: 3 hours.

Personal Training

2008-10-18T18:50:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, on a whim, I joined Bally's Fitness. I guess I got tired of our little gym at work. No offense to my work's gym but, these days that I am hardly running outside, looking out at the same window facing the parking lot and staring at the bushes while running on the treadmill gets reallyyy tiring. Also, I'm usually the only person there. I guess to some people that might be a good thing but being competitive in nature I feed off of the energy of other people. So anyway, the membership comes with a free personal training session for a day. Taking full advantage of it, my free session was at 8:30 this morning with Lawrence. Sharon never signed up for the free session when she became a member so we decided to do a tandem training. Boy! did we work our asses off!!! LOL! Lawrence really kicked our asses! He made us ran, jumped on steps, did a gazillion lunges, squats, abs, legs, arms and all that good stuff. And a few hours after we were done, I was feeling the burn! It seriously hurts right now to just even sit down and so much more climbing up and down the damn stairs! Having a personal trainer is awesome, they pushed you beyond what you're capable of and that is what I like since I'm not getting the results that I want no matter how long I stay at the gym. I think he is hired! Besides, I could use some help before Hawaii....

tearful

2008-10-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

...not sure if it's the hormones but lately I get tearful when I watch certain shows on TV. OK fine, granted that I watch a real tear jerker show called "The Locator" on WE TV which is essentially about this man who does pro-bono cases and helps reunite people who got separated by adoption, divorce and other disruptions. Oh man! I am seriously bawling when they get to the reunion part at the end of the show! LOL! And ohhh, it's not just this show, tonight I watched the grand finale of this year and last year's season of "Project Runway" and everytimeeee... I cry on the part when they announced the winner! I swear! What is up with that??? I think it's just the raw human emotion. Yah, I think so...not the hormones...or is it both?

Howdy Y'all!

2008-10-12T23:45:00.000-07:00

My mom's work had an employee service recognition party yesterday and it was a cowboy-themed one. They even have a mechanical bull! LOL! Pretty awesome, fun and kinda scary riding that thing! I didn't know that to get on it you had to freaking jump up! and yah I was wearing a dress so hopefully I didn't pull a Britney! LOL! The party was great! The hors d'oeuvres were delicious, wines on each table, tortilla chips, $5 drinks, steak for dinner, cheesecake for dessert, line dancing and a whole lotta country music! yeeehaaa! and ohh there was this one cute server there too but obviously I didn't talk to him which only goes to show that I don't have any game *sad. LOL!!!

Turkey Trot

2008-10-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

So here I am again with another...run! LOL! Some of the people from our running club at work will be doing the 10K run on Thanksgiving. Yes! that's right it'll be on Thanksgiving Day! I know! crazy! but just look at it this way "What better way to start Thanksgiving than to burn off all those calories *before* you eat them?" Mmmhmm! Riighhttt??!! Hahaha! On some serious side, this run is a charity event raising money for health, hope and home.

Interested? Please click here ---> Silicon Valley Turkey Trot

LOL!

2008-10-08T22:07:00.000-07:00

Hahaha! So random, I found this pic of me and my friends up in Twin Peaks when they came to visit back in March. LOL! hmmm...we're wearing pajamas???!!! LOL!

Wordtwist

2008-10-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

If you've never played Boggle - you gotta try it!!! It's so addicting! Thanks Janice for introducing me to it. Anyhow, as everyone knows Boggle is a word game. So essentially there's a grid of lettered dice and the players need to search for words from the cubes of letters that are adjacent to each other. Minimum is 3 letter words. One time I played with Ge and Sharon and Ge came up with all these words that for the life of did not even believe those words existed and yet they do! Well since I really don't have people to play with sometimes, Janice (yet again!) introduced me to Wordtwist.org - which is "an online variant of traditional Boggle" - although to me it doesn't seem any different to Boggle. What's crazy is once you've searched a word and type it, Wordtwist will categorize it as being a "common", "wide", "rare" or "ultra rare" word. According to their info they rely on the dictionary called SOWPODS Dictionary. I swear I played this game once and they have a word spelled as "C-L-Y" cly? wtf is that?!!! and i clicked on the word for the meaning and it meant "to steal" LOL! really?! wow didn't know that! Hahaha!

SoOooo if you guys are looking for something to do to kill time then I say go and wordtwist away!

Danville Heart Walk

2008-09-29T14:32:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we did the 5K 2008 Start! Danville Heart Walk by the American Heart Association. This event emphasizes the importance of walking as heart-healthy exercise while raising funds to help the American Heart Association in its fight against heart disease and stroke, the #1 and #3 causes of death in California and the United States. We walked as part of the Ross team - thanks Rizzi for making us part of your team!

Mission Peak Hike

2008-09-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

Looking for some good lower body exercise, my friend Janice and I went hiking up to Mission Peak in Fremont this morning. We got there around 7:30ish surprised to see that the place was packed! Even more surprising was that when we were just starting to ascend, a lot of people are making their way down. WOW! and I thought we were early! what the heck time did these people start? 5 a.m??? You'll never truly see the Bay Area until you get a good view of it on top Mission Peak. It looks amazing! Anyway, some interesting stuff about the hike:

We saw two baby rattlesnakes (on two different spots)- they were not that scary but I was thisclose to stepping on one of them. Whew! good thing Janice saw it and she started to scream which scared the bejesus out of me and I jumped! LOL! I saw the second one and warned Janice early on. Scary! if there were 2 babies there must be the mommy out there!
We met Mr. Bike Patrol (hehehe) - well actually we met this guy who told us that he has been hiking there for 21 years! and he introduced us to him. A little fact that we learned: Don't hike on areas where it says "public access closed" - people sometimes use these areas because they think these are shortcuts. Well Mr. Bike Patrol says if he catch people doing this, he gives them a ticket and that ticket will show on your DMV records! Gulp! so stay on the trail, people!

So we finished the hike in 2.5 hours, feeling good, a little darker, and I am definitely feeling it in my thighs and glutes!

No more Woo Hoo!

2008-09-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

On to some serious note, I'm sure I'm not the only person who has heard about Wamu being sold off to J.P Morgan which they said is by far the largest failure in U.S Banking History. I care about this because I do have all of my accounts with them. I'm an exception though for not being among the wave of *former* customers who went out there and withdraw their monies. Was I not scared? Of course I was but I have a good faith in Chase and that whatever I have in the bank will be OK. In the news this morning they mentioned that the buy-out will not have any effect (read: interruption of service) on the bank customers accounts and it will be a seamless transition. True, there was no interruption of service when I went to a WaMu branch this morning however the bank was packed with customers (!) I was standing in line and I was eavesdropping while the guy behind me was talking on his phone - he was telling the person on the other line that he plans on leaving a little of his money on his WaMu account and pulling out the rest to open an account with Wells Fargo until the dust settles. I was so sure that every customer standing in line was rattled by this crisis and they were all out there to withdraw. So much for Wamu's slogan of "Woo Hoo!"...Chrystina says it's more like "Boo Hoo" now!

Good-Bye Summer

2008-09-22T15:57:00.001-07:00

"Goodbye summer I hate to see you go
I wasn't ready for the autumn wind to blow
So lonely

We had fun time holding hands in June
Warm in the sunshine, watching loving bloom
Where are you now?

My heart is frozen in this place
Waiting for another summer's day
To bring you back my way"

-India Arie's "Summer"

I love this song by India Arie, everytime I listen to it in my car it's a constant reminder for me that summer is coming to an end and soOooo today is officially Autumn. Summer is really o-v-e-r! *tear
In honor of the lovely summer that I had this year I thought I'd do a recap of the things that I did:

:: I ran 6 races - I guess I was gung-ho when it came to running this time around! What did I get out of this? some good cardio, a nice tan (mostly uneven), free race shirts, tons of freebies after the race, a bronze medal, and a knee pain LOL!

:: I ran my first ever Half-Marathon - I may not have finished this with a good PR but I still pushed myself even with the knee pain throbbing and refused to walk the remaining 5 miles into the run. It was painful for the next couple of days but it was all worth it.

:: I hiked Half-Dome - probably one of the biggest triumph I did not just this summer but my whole life! who in their right state of mind will hike 17 miles and for 11 hours and climb a steeply 400 ft rock ascent using cables as handholds? well, I did! LOL! After a minor slip, some scrapes in my hands and a dead toe nail, I think I can safely say that I lived to tell the tale.

:: I went to the U.S. Virgin Islands - well Hawaii is still my favorite but this place is awesome - but then again, I love any tropical places LOL! I miss the white sand, the turquoise colored water, the warm water *sigh BUT not the overpriced taxi fares!

and last but not the least...

:: I went river rafting - we did class 2 and class 3 up in Tahoe - so much fun and exciting even though the water was cold it felt good after sitting in the raft for almost 2 hours. I was scared of falling out of the raft but that didn't happen!

whew! writing all these now, I can't believe I did all of these this summer! hahaha! now I really feel like singing "goodbye summer i hate to see you go......"

Moonlight Run

2008-09-12T19:45:00.000-07:00

Taking advantage of the mild weather yesterday and before it gets really cold outside, I ran my 6th and maybe...just maybe...my final race for this year, the Palo Alto Moonlight Run. I love this run because it takes place during the night and they feed the participant's Hobee's blueberry coffee cake at the end of the race! yum! yum! It's my second year to run this race - I did the 5K again. The weather was perfect this year which was a fry cry from last year's because it rained during that time. It totally defeated the entire purpose of the race, they might as well call it "The Moonless Run" last year. LOL! It was great this time around, the moon wasn't shining as brightly as I thought it would but IT was there. There was a little breeze but it felt good while you're running. I have to admit, it really is hard running in the dark. Granted that the moon was there, it was still hard to see at night. I tried to run in front of people who had headlamps or flashlights with them. LOL! Also the paths are narrow at times making it harder to get around the people who were running slow. I finished the race at 31:36 mins. ehhhh! I was 30:22 last year! whatttt?!!! I was slower this year! LOL! oh man! I'm kidding. It's all good, it was fun overall and everything ended on a good note after I had my bite of the blueberry coffee cake!

S-H-O-E-S!

2008-09-04T23:34:00.000-07:00

I love Payless just as much as I love my sister! She always seem to find some nice shoes at the store and they're cheap! I don't know of any girl who does not like that combination. Who says you can't find some good deals nowadays??? Now you be the judge: are the shoes below screaming "Payless" in your face? LOL!
And honestly, they're very comfortable too! I bought the brown boots last fall and Val had told me a lot of times that she still can't believe I got 'em at Payless! That was pretty funny! Payless had totally revamped their shoes, they actually now have designer brands for less just like at Target. And that is why I loveee Target as well! Hahaha! Yes! it used to be uncomfortable, I can honestly say that, but now it's a completely different story. But whatever, there's a line by Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City which I find hilarious: "These shoes pinched but they look good."

Napa all over again!

2008-08-31T21:48:00.000-07:00

I went to the wine country again yesterday with Sharon, Leiyan and Janice. First stop was at the V. Sattui Winery, I know I know, I was just there, but Janice haven't been and I just loveee their Gamay Rouge so it was just another excuse to go there again. We got there at a perfect time just an hour before lunch so it wasn't pack yet; which we were somewhat anticipating since it's the start of the 3 day weekend. We tasted 6 wines total and this time I found another favorite: the 2006 Muscat, a dessert wine. It tasted so refreshing that I just have to buy one. We brought some bread, cheese and margherita pizza and had a picnic style lunch at the winery. The weather was perfect to eat outside on their picnic tables. After lunch, we headed to Calistoga at the Sterling Vineyards. Ohh! I love this place! It looked really beautiful - the trees on the long driveway, the hilltop location, the tram ride - ohhh sooo gorgeous! It was $20 for the wine tasting fee which includes the tram ride which will take you up to their hilltop location. I swear it was so nice it almost felt like we were in Greece because of all the white walls. It was a self-guided tour so we were taking our sweet time enjoying the wine and the view. The view on top was awesome - you get to see Napa Valley. Gorgeousss! except that it was sooo hot outside we were just longing for some air-conditioned room asap! We also got in their Reserve Room (read: VIP room) thanks to Leiyan for hooking us up hence we got to taste more of their finest wines at no cost. Sweet! After Sterling, we walked around Downtown and ate dinner. This time around, I was the designated driver so I drank responsibly. LOL!

Twilight

2008-08-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

Je ne peux pas attendre le crépuscule du film de sortir!

Pardon my French - LOL!

Translation: "I can't wait for the Twilight movie to come out!"

It's been 3 weeks now since I finished reading this book and I just got people hooked on it! Joy, Rizzi, and Sharon. Yey! I knew it! The first time I picked a copy of this book at Borders and started reading a few pages before deciding whether to buy it or not, I was instantly captivated by the story. So whether it was categorized as a young adult book, I went ahead and bought it. It was worth it! You'd think that it'll be all cheesy since the characters are in highschool but no, it's full of emotions. At that time when I was reading the book, I thought "someone should make this into a movie" and Bam! someone did! Woot! woot! Gosh! I can not wait. I hope it will not be a disappointment though because this happened to me with the book "Da Vinci's Code" - I was totally smitten by it then I got so hyped to see the movie and it turned out to be the most boring movie I've seen. I slept for the most part of it. SooOoooo...I am hoping this one will live up to the hype. There's just something interesting about vampires.

Chichacorn

2008-08-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one addicted to this sucker??!! For my non-Filipino readers - Chichacorn is basically a Filipino version of the Cornnuts. However, unlike the Cornnuts which will seriously cause some major jaw damage because those damn things really are just waaay tooooo hard, the Chichacorn is very crunchy. The downside: it's super salty and I bet there's MSG on that one too! Ahh! it's a product from the Philippines so obviously yah! Anyhow, I Googled "chichacorn" and I actually found their website (just click on the word "chichacorn" above). Cool! Anyhow on their website, they said Chichacorn was derived from "a coined word "chicha" meaning to eat and "corn"as the word implies." Hmmmm....I've never heard of the word chicha before not in Tagalog anyway. Too bad there's no way to order some of these crunchy munchies on their website! Urk! So I guess I have to wait until one of my aunties or uncles goes home to the Philippines and ask them to buy me some of this! *sigh*

Vegging Out

2008-08-24T16:50:00.000-07:00

...ahhh! it's Sunday yet again! Typically I do my long runs on Sunday mornings, so I'd get up before 8, eat, stretch and I'm gone for an hour to run. BUT today, I decided to change my routine. Only today though! Believe it or not, I have an inability to sleep in. On the weekends, I wake up at about the same time that I do on the weekdays. It sucks! So what'd I do differently this time? I actually put the curtains down. *grin* Obviously my room was darker than usual and yesssss, I actually got to sleep in till 9 a.m. Bwahahaha! that's still early to most people but that's late to me! And to top it off, I didn't run so I didn't have to worry about getting that done. So I was laying in bed till maybe noon, watched "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" (I read the book too!) on Lifetime Channel *tear* I was seriously sobbing like a crazy woman. Cooked some pasta, ate in my room, watched more TV, took a shower and took another nap around 3 p.m. I actually surprised myself for being....errrrrr...lazy today. But what the heck, even the Bible said: "God rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done" so I did the same thing...Woohoo! to getting adequate rest today. I feel recharged like the energizer bunny! Hahaha!

Who's your mommy?

2008-08-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

Cam and Nat

Today I babysat my two favorite girls! Cameron (Chrystina's baby) and Nathalie (my brother's girlfriend's daughter)! Sharon and I picked Nat up around 11 and she started crying when we left without his "Tito*" (my brother, Marlon). I asked Sharon if I should drive to Toys R Us so she'll stop but we opted to go to my aunt's house instead since my cousin Jannine has a lot of toys that Nat can play with. Of course we have to coaxed her into going there by telling her that we will go to Chuck E Cheese right after. LOL! Chrystina dropped Cameron off past 3 and I told my brother Marlon that we (me, Nat, Cam, my cousins Jannine and Noel) should all go to Chuck E Cheese to entertain the two kiddies. We went to the one in Fremont and holy smokes! the place was packed! It's like a madhouse, a club - you get in line, they stamped your arm and you get in! LOL! And it was freakin' hot in there too! I had to look after the two kids while Marlon kept a close watch at our belongings and our table. I was seriously breaking a sweat there. Not only because the place was sweltering but also because I had to look after 2 kids making sure I don't lose track of Nat while she's playing at one of the machines and holding Cam at the same time. Whew! Then of course when it came to feeding them, I had to blow the pizza first for Nat because it was hot; as for Cam I had to cut the pizza in small pieces. I didn't even get to eat till we almost left. After Chuck E Cheese, Marlon took Nat home and Cam stayed with me. Sharon and Ge played with her so I can eat dinner (thank goodness!) I'm so glad she's such a quiet kid. She never cried at all. She sang to herself too! (I didn't understand anything!) I fed her, changed her diaper twice, read a book to her 4 times! and we watched the Olympics together! LOL! Ahhh! so adorable! Anyhow, they picked her up around 9:30 and I was just pooped that I slept around 10ish. Man! mommy duties are exhausting! Kudos to parents out there! All I have is pure respect for them! Which made me wonder...am I cut out to be a mommy? Hahaha! I have no freaking idea.........

*Tit0 - Tagalog word for an uncle

Jo's Portraits!

2008-08-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

Today, Sharon and I had our portraits taken by our talented friend, Jo. She just graduated from high school and will be majoring in photography at Sac State. We had to start early - 8:30 am because she said the light at that time is not that harsh. I had to get up at 7 on a Saturday! It's all good since I really don't sleep in during the weekends anyway. Our pictures were taken at the picturesque Don Edwards Regional Park in Fremont. For the record though, posing is definitely hard! LOL! it was just very unnatural for me, hence I ended up being an accountant and not a model LOL!!! I was just not cut out to be one. Hahaha! Jo was awesome though at giving directions. She ended up taking about 200+ pictures and we were out posing for about 2 hours! whew! It was a such a blast doing the photo shoots and we love all our pictures. She's so great she didn't even charge us anything so I treated her lunch! Thanks again Joanna! Check out her other pics at her website at xanga: JoboPhotography.

Here are some of the pics:

Patellofemoral Pain

2008-08-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, after taking 6 days off from running I decided to run again. So I woke up bright and early Sunday morning, drove to Coyote Hills and was just looking forward to a good run. I started really slow since I haven't run for 6 days straight. About maybe a mile or so into my run I felt the pain on my right knee once again. The same pain from the half-marathon a week ago. I tried ignoring the pain but it was just too uncomfortable. The entire hour that I was out there at Coyote Hills, I probably spent 30 minutes running and the other half just stopping and stretching. On the way back I had to walk a mile and a quarter to the parking lot, and secretly wished that I had run with someone so he/she can just take the car and pick me up from where I'm at. The damn knee just wouldn't bend when I try to pick it up! Going down the flight of stairs at home was just torture! Anyhow, I was worried sick that it was something serious so I booked an appointment to see a doctor today. I got there, told her that I've been running a lot lately, described the pain that I felt, she touched my knee, pulled my right leg on different directions and then she announced that I have Patellofemoral Pain. That's it! I was expecting some x-rays! LOL! Whew! so it's not that serious then! Anyway, patellofemoral pain, I was told is very common among athletes participating in running and jumping sports. Overuse, injury and aging are factors that predispose to this pain. The doctor didn't even tell me to rest lol! or to stop running for a week or so. Instead she prescribed me Ibuprofen (600 mg) which I have to take 3 times a day for 2 weeks. I took one today and I felt better already that when I ran this afternoon I didn't even feel the pain at all! Wow! amazing! I just can imagine taking 2 more of that pills on the same day! Must be heaven! pain-free! LOL! Okaaayyy...so now I can rest assured that nothing serious is going on with my knee. Cool!

My first Half-Marathon

2008-08-03T23:34:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! After 3 months of training it all culminated to this: the 13.1 miles run today at San Francisco's Half Marathon. That's me and my running partner, Rich on the picture above after our run.

Woke up early today around 5:30 a.m, took a nice shower to wake my muscles up, ate breakfast and did some good stretches. We were at the starting line at 8, met up with my co-workers and started running at 8:30 a.m. We ran the 2nd Half Marathon. The run was great, the course was even better, I thought there'd be a lot of hills but it wasn't bad at all. It was great until I hit mile 6 when my right knee started hurting. It was the same knee that hurt when I did my 10 miles run a week before this. Anyhow, when Rich asked me how I was feeling, I lied and I said I was OK. I figured I'll just keep my mind off of the pain. It worked for the next 2 miles and when we stopped for water at mile 8, that's when I had to stop and get some Tylenol and had Rich massaged some pain relieving gel on my knee because it was just so painful to lift it up. There was no way, I was walking the rest of the course. So even though it was very painful, I sucked it up and ran the remaining 5 miles, all the while Rich telling me to not think of the pain and use my hips to help move my knee up. It did work! I was in and out of the pain but still uncomfortable nonetheless. I love having a running partner, that's what they're there for: Help you and encourage you. Thanks, Rich! Through it all, I finished at 2 hours 13 minutes just a few seconds behind Rich. It felt so good afterwards and all in all it wasn't too bad even with my knee problem. What made it even better was my sister, brother and Ge were there to cheer us. Sharon even made a sign for us! Hehehe. Thanks guys!

Pics below:

Napa Countryside Tour

2008-08-03T21:31:00.000-07:00

Our company, RTI, embarked on a tour to the Napa Valley wine country last Friday, Aug 1st. This was my first offsite at work since I didn't attend last year's so I was pretty excited. First stop: Beringer Vineyards. Beringer is the oldest operating winery in Napa Valley. Our tour guide taught us the basics of wines , which for someone like me who has zero knowledge when it comes to wine, was very useful. We tasted 5 great wines at this place. After only having a banana and a piece of biscotti for breakfast, the wines left me feeling tipsy. LOL! am I lightweight or what? And to think that we just started and I only sipped most of the wines hmmm...well OK except for the Sauvignon Blanc - I had 2 glasses of that. LOL! After the tasting, we were then given a tour of the caves where the barrels are. Pretty interesting. Next stop: V. Sattui Winery. We tasted 5 wines here as well but I don't know how else I would describe how much I love love love their Gamay Rouge. It's a Rosé wine - sweet, light and fruity. Too good in fact, that I had five sample tasting glasses of it even before lunch started! Now I was beyond tipsy but not drunk! LOL! We had our picnic lunch at this winery as well. Roast beef, turkey sandwiches, pesto pasta and for dessert - tiramisu. Yummy! Last but not the least: Domaine Chandon. This was my second time to go to this winery. Five wines were up for tasting here as well but I only helped myself with 2 samples. For me, who is not a wine drinker, it was just too much wine in a day! LOL! Overall, the tour was great! Spending time with my co-workers and seeing some of them drunk was priceless! Hahaha! I won't mention names though.

Below are the pics:

Emergency 911???

2008-07-31T22:15:00.000-07:00

Driving home from work today, there was smoke all over by the Thornton Ave. exit. The closer I get I realized that the smoke was coming from a car which was, at this point, on the shoulder of the freeway. So first thought that ran through my head was that it was overheating but NO! there was (and I could've sworn) flames at the bottom of the car AND worst...the driver was still inside the car! He probably didn't realize that there were flames! Anyhow, feeling bad for the driver, I dialed 911 to report the incident.

Ring...Ring...
(Recorded message picks up): "You have reached the CHP emergency service, if this is an emergency press or say 1)

So I said "1"
(Another recorded message: "All operators are busy assisting other calls, please stay on the line for the next available one. Please be prepared to state your cellular number when asked"

WHHHHHATTTT THE HELLL???!!!

I gave up holding and hang up because it was taking forever BUT the point was: we call 911 to get immediate help not to be put on hold. The worst thing was, they never even called my cell back! I thought they'd map people's location and number when they dial 911? Apparently, not!

I just hoped someone on the freeway had called as well and their phone call went through for that guy. Hopefully he was OK.

I'm mourning...

2008-07-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

for my dead toe nail *tear*. After much debate between myself and I (LOL!) whether I should remove my nail polish or not, I finally gave in today and decided to see what's underneath it. Lo and behold, I was faced with a grim reality, a suspicion that I've had all along since that last painful run that I did in Coyote Hills last Tuesday, a hunch, a feeling, an intuition that something was wrong with my big right toe nail, *tear* it's...dead...dead...dead...*tear*. It all started after that excruciating hike down Half-Dome. I convinced myself that my toe nail will die. Frankie said it'll feel like it but really it won't. So I believed her. My red nail polish concealing the darkness lurking underneath. LOL! Then came the agonizing Tuesday downhill run which made it look like I was limping the entire run , I blamed my shoes for it - the same ones that I used during the hike. But being stubborn, I never bother to remove my nail polish to see if something was wrong. I was in denial, I absolutely and positively knew it was dead but I don't want to see how ghastly it looks. My half marathon is coming up this Sunday and I just don't want to face the reality that it may affect my run. Arrggghhh! Anyhow, today I decided to sucked it up and just look at the damn thing and yaaaahhhh...yupppp...ahaaaa..my toe nail was black and it was indeed what I thought it was. It's not pleasant to look at and surprisingly it doesn't hurt yet. I read something on the internet that says if it doesn't hurt it is still alive. So I'm gonna leave it as that and we'll see how it will fare on my 10 miles run tomorrow and my 13 miles next Sunday. Tsk! Tsk! man oh man!

Jury Summons

2008-07-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

I was rummaging through our mail yesterday and found a Superior Court of California envelope addressed to me. Freakin' A! not again! Another Jury Summons! Dang! I alwaays get it every year!

It's so unfair because I feel like I always get one while other people don't. I've asked a few of my co-workers if they receive one every year as well. Chrytina said the last time she received one was years and years ago that she doesn't even remember when the last one was. Jody said she only received 2 in her lifetime! What is up with that? Anyway, my inquisitive head led me to search at Powerset about Jury selection. Ha! *grin* I know I'm a nerd! SooOoo, I read that jurors are randomly drawn from source-lists of registered voters and licensed drivers. Prospective jurors are then sent summons. Hmmm... I find it hard to believe that names are randomly selected. I get picked every year! Sure! raaaandom...yeah riiight!!! I'm sure I'm not the only registered voter and licensed driver in the county of Alameda am I?

I'm a little off today

2008-07-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

I feel awfully tired and just not in the mood to do anything today at work. This morning I got up even before my alarm went off...it was probably around 5:45 *sigh*. I had to bring my mom to work this morning since she didn't have her carpool and that meant driving all the way to Hayward and back. When I got home I tried going back to sleep but that didn't work so I went about with my morning routine instead and decided that I will leave the house at 9 just so I can get away with the traffic and the carpool lane will be open by then. Ahhh...yeah...wishful thinking...I get on 880 and it was t-r-a-f-f-i-c! Man! how could it still be traffic at that time? Did everyone wake up late? There were waaay too many cars this morning for some reason. Worst- my freaking eyes stung because I didn't get that much sleep and I was thinking to myself that I have maybe about 25 more mins to go before I can actually get to the office. And yeah there were 3, not just 1 but 3 cars that cut me off today! Was I really driving that slow??? oh man! Then I get to 237 and it's also traffic! 880 and 237 are hands down the worst freeways you can ever get into. Eventually I made it to the office in 45 minutes! Sometimes I wonder how I can stand it. Then at work I was just of course...yawning away...I need some sleep!

Happy B-day Jorge!

2008-07-23T23:57:00.001-07:00

I want to wish my dear friend Jorgito-mojito Feliz Cumpleanos!

My love and hate relationship with my eyeglasses

2008-07-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

I always prided myself for having a 20/20 vision up until about a year ago when I finally have the need to wear a reading glasses. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with wearing a fancy schmancy eyeglasses especially if it set me back 3oo something freakin' bucks BUT at the same time I really don't want to be dependent on it. So sometimes I'd trick my eyes and train them to be less dependent by not wearing the eyeglasses at the beginning of the work day. Does it work? Yeah. No. Because after maybe a good 2 to 3 hours of staring at my monitor, I find myself squinting and my eyes feeling really tired and blurry, so I take that as a sign to wear the eyeglasses. I know! I know! why can't I just cave-in and just wear 'em, you might ask. Well because it's just really irritating, maybe it's just me but I'm still not used to wearing them all the time I suppose. What about contacts? Ehhhh! I'm not one to deal with the inserting and removing of the lens on the eyeballs. Just the thought of doing it makes my palms sweaty. Hahaha! I look forward to the end of the workday when I get to take them off. But when I get home and spend more time on my laptop and watch TV, I find that I need to wear them once again because everything just seems blurry. SooOOoo now, believe it or not, I have two eyeglasses: one for work and one for home. I guess I really need them as much as I hate wearing them. They make me see the world clearer. LOL!

My First Ever

2008-07-22T22:54:00.000-07:00

Yay! I got my first bronze medal from the Run to the Lake - 10K run that I did on July 13! Woohoo! This is the first medal/award I've ever gotten throughout all the 5Ks,10ks and 12ks that I've done for the past 3 years that I've been running. Feels so good. Dang! if we had only stayed longer after the race or until the presentation of awards then I would've gotten the chance to go up the stage and claim my medal. LOL! Now THAT would've been a surreal moment for me. LOL! Oh well! I missed that moment...

Not to brag or anything, and just because I'm so proud of my accomplishment...hehehe!!! here is my medal, which I'm still contemplating as to where to put or hang it...for now, it's sitting on my table.

LOL!

2008-07-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

I love love this:

Thanks Sharon for sending me this!

Sidenote:

Everyone... I am not that bitter okaayyy!...LOL!

Is it really necessary?

2008-07-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

So I was at my dentist last Saturday and I just don't get it:

a) you're sitting on the dentist chair,
b) with your mouth fully open,
c) and the dentist is probing an instrument into your wide-open mouth,
d) and yet he still tries to make a conversation with you,
e) for which the answer to his questions are not just a mere yes or no but a full out sentence

LOL!

Don't they know that it's really uncomfortable to do that? LOL! Heck! I couldn't even understand the words that were coming out of my open mouth but it seemed like he understood everything that I said! Man! they must've took some speech class for that! Something that would help them decipher what their patients are saying. LOL!

Don't get me wrong conversations are good but not on this situation. Save that after... LOL!

Whole wheat apple muffins

2008-07-20T13:01:00.001-07:00

Ever since Frankie brought those whole wheat apple muffins when we went hiking, I was just itching to make them myself. SoooOOOooo this lazy Sunday morning, I got up and was off to a baking frenzy. Unlike my cupcakes that I make straight from the package, my muffins were all made from *ahem*... scratch. Yup! The recipe was taken from the website called smitten kitchen.
In case you're wondering, the muffins turned out really well just as I wanted and expected them to be. And they smell pretty darn good too! I wished you guys can smell our kitchen...yummmyyy.. for now I hoped I fed your eyes with all these pictures.

If you want to try the recipe and I assure you it's supeerrrr easy, please click on this link:
RECIPE FOR WHOLE WHEAT APPLE MUFFINS.

I made it!!!

2008-07-15T23:55:00.001-07:00

Woohooo!!! I hiked and went up Half-Dome! Here are the pictures...below is the blog post...

Half-Dome Trek

2008-07-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

*Smile* I made it on top of Half Dome!!!

Yesterday, July 14, 2008, I've earned my bragging rights to say "I've been on top of Half Dome!" Our day started at 3 early Monday morning since we camped at Groveland and we weren't sure how far it was from the valley. We got lost coming out of the campground but eventually found our way and we were at Curry Village at 5:30 am. We started the hike at 6:20 am and took the Mist trail up which gave us a full view of the Vernal and Nevada Falls. These waterfalls were spectacular, in fact almost everything that you see around are beautiful and breathtaking scenery. It was so overwhelming to take it all in. Hahaha! But hiking up to Half-Dome is painful. I thought I was fit but I still struggled along the way! There were sloping trails, steep steps which were long and strenuous. It felt like I was doing the StairMaster for 5 hours! Seriously! I definitely felt it in my quads, glutes and calves after a while; they were begging for me to stop walking! LOL! We were hiking on stone steps after steps all the way up. The most challenging part for me were the exposed switchbacks which seemed to take forever and was very tiring that I felt like my lungs were going to come out of my chest. But I managed to get through it and we finally reached Half Dome at about 11 am. Then of course there's the 400 feet ascend to top! It looked really intimidating and if you're scared of heights then this is not something you'd want to climb up. From below it actually looks 90 degrees straight up! Honestly, I was scared to climb up because I didn't know if I can actually make it on top but being competitive in nature I started the climb up using the cables. There's no way I'm giving up now, I didn't hike those steep steps to give up that easily. Hahaha. By the way, those cables are no joke too. It was really hard, it takes a lot of upper body strength to pull yourself up and rest on the wooden planks for a brief minute or so and start to pull yourself up again! AND when you look behind you it seemed like the people were all climbing up vertically! It was scary hahaha! BUT when you get on top you'll be treated to all these stunning view of Yosemite National Park, the valley and Glacier Point. I almost forgot how sore my arms were from climbing that cables. I just wanted to give a big sigh of relief and pat myself at the back for making it on top! It was ahhhmazing!!! So we stayed up on top for more than an hour and had lunch there. Going down the cables was entirely another story, it wasn't as hard as climbing it up but while coming down I accidentally slipped and I had to hold on to the cables so tight that I ended up with scraped and blistered fingers. But it's all good. I lived to tell the tale. LOL! So anyway, on the way back we hiked the John Muir trail, still a lot of switchbacks but it wasn't as hard although at this point my toes were all crammed into my shoes because it's all downhill and all I really wanted to do was just to sit down and rest already. Anyway, so after 11 hours of hiking we were officially at Curry Village a little after 5 p.m. Officially done and proud of myself for having done this task. For me this was an adventure worth every step.

10K Run to the Lake

2008-07-13T23:25:00.000-07:00

I did my race #4 of the year! My second time to do this one which is sponsored by Eden Medical Center where my brother works. The run goes to Lake Chabot. I didn't run for 2 days before this race so I was definitely feeling good even though I was dreading the hills that we have to run that day. For me this is still challenging since hills are always...alwaaayss...a killer!!! But what I like about this race is that it's small but is well organized. And the volunteers are so friendly and cheerful which really helps a lot during races because they motivate you to run and finish stronger. Anyway, I lucked out on this race and placed third in my age group with a 58:16 mins finished! Woohoo! I'm sooOoo HAPPY!!! That was a first for me. Yey! *Grin*

Chihuly at the de Young

2008-07-12T06:14:00.000-07:00

I finally went to see the Dale Chihuly's exhibit at the de Young Museum this weekend with Jorge. The exhibit definitely has a "WOW" factor to it. The glass sculptures were amazing! It was very colorful and the hand blown glasses were shaped fantastically. My two favorites were "The Boats" - it was just a stunning array of colorful balls overflowing one of the boat and "The Mille Fiori"
- which is a 56 foot garden of glass with brilliant colors and shapes.

Like I mentioned before, I'm really not an art person but I learned that you don't need to be one to appreciate this extraordinary work by the artist. It was such a pleasure to see this wonderful work of art. This is a must-see exhibit.

Information about the exhibit:

De Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
Tickets are only $15
June 14 to September 28, 2008
http://www.famsf.org/deyoung/

Here are more pics from the museum and some other places that Jorge and I visited while at Golden Gate Park:

Shoe4Africa

2008-07-10T16:21:00.000-07:00

One day I was reading an article about Natalie Portman on InStyle Magazine and she talked about her charity work for Shoe4Africa. I went to the website and was immediately drawn to their mission statement: Empowerment through sports & education, creating unique health initiatives, and promoting Aids awareness. As everyone knows running is very synonymous to Africa as it is their celebrated sport but as I watched the CNN video "Running for Peace" it was mentioned that there are a lot of talented individuals there in the training camps but they are missing opportunities and the most important equipment for running - shoes. What touched me was how some of them has to borrow running shoes in order to win a pair for their own. You can watch the video when you click on this link: Running for Peace.

Anyway, I am organizing a shoe drive at my work and I've asked some of my co-workers and friends to donate some of their gently used shoes that I can send to Shoe4Africa. If you would like to donate a pair or two just please let me know. I plan to send those shoes on July 21st.

For more information about the organization, here is their website:

http://shoe4africa.org/

Hike Half Dome

2008-07-09T17:34:00.001-07:00

I'll be hiking this on Monday! I'm stoked because this is my first time to go to Yosemite (believe it or not) and hike Half Dome. Looks scary though...look at how steep that climb up is! I'm now doubting myself if I can actually do it. We'll be hiking all day Monday. Frankie said that when she hiked this 2 weeks ago it took them 11 hours! Man! whew! Hopefully I'll have enough stamina to keep up with the 11 hours of walking! We'll see....

24 Hours Fitness Pass

2008-07-07T21:31:00.000-07:00

Since all I've been doing lately was to run, I felt like I needed to do something else aside from that soooOOOooo enter spinning class. I haven't done it a while so last Thursday I attended Pete's class at 24Hours. Since I'm not a member at that gym, our work has this single visit Corporate VIP passes which we can purchase for only $4! So I bought two and off I went to 24Hours at Newark feeling really excited and looking forward to the spinning class ahead. Until I showed the pass ...I get there and gave the guy at the front desk my pass, he looks it, inspects it and passes it to the girl next to him, who then does the same thing he did. The girl calls this short Asian guy who I guess was a manager - I didn't even bother to look at his name. I should've tsk tsk -and showed it to him. This "short" manager was very cocky - I guess he was trying to compensate his lack of height. LOL! Anyway, he looks at it front and back and reads out loud all the information on the pass (see pic above) and he rudely asks me "where did you get this from?" I told him I got it from work - didn't the pass say that?! dumbass! and ah hello! it says 'corporate'!!! He then proceeds to look at the pass questionably once again, and finally gave me a guest form to fill in. While doing this he asks me where I work?!! OK for the life of me I wanted to slap his face when he asked me that - first of all he was staring at the damn thing for the longest time, reads out loud everything that's written there and now asks me where I work, did he not figure that one out yet??? Grrrrr!!! I was irate at this point because it was taking too long to figure out what the heck that piece of paper was. So I scowled at him and gave him the stern answer he deserves, I said..."like what it says on the pass!" Ha! take that!

Doesn't 24 Hours educate their employees as to what kind of passes they give out??!! I mean honestly no one at the front desk knew what it was and it was such a BIG INCONVENIENCE. It was a good thing I came early. And while at it, I think they should train their employees not to be rude too!

I mentioned the story to our HR manager last Monday and she e-mailed our sales rep and told her about the hassle I went through. We got an e-mail back from her apologizing and saying that she will give Newark branch a heads-up and straighten things out. Good! and they better...

Ok sorry, I needed that out of my system.

Long Weekend

2008-07-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

Dang! 3 day weekend is almost over, it feels like it went by so quick. Anyway, this past weekend was all about pigging-out...hey! it's the weekend anyway so that's an excuse to pig-out... right? Hahaha! Actually it even started Thursday night - dinner at my uncle's house for his b-day; then Friday - buffet brunch for Norlyn's graduation party; BBQ, dinner and fireworks at Joy's house; then Saturday - hotdogs, burgers and chips at Santa Cruz. Whew! Talk about running, hitting the gym and just sucking on ice cubes this week. I'm kidding! Ok enough about pigging out. We went to Santa Cruz Beach on Saturday. I haven't been there in a long time. Aside from the breeze it was really nice and sunny that day. I probably am a shade or two darker again! Anway, just having been to the Caribbean a month ago, the beach in Santa Cruz just looked alright. LOL! there were trash everywhere from I guess the night before (4th of July). BUT being in the company of nice people - Ge's cousins - was priceless! They were super nice! I also got to ride the Giant Dipper - that's the signature red and white roller coaster at the boardwalk. Man! that was really exhilarating! Anyhow, here are some pics from the weekend:

Chihuly

2008-07-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

Kevin asked me a while back if I like art. I'm not a creative person myself so it's hard for me to appreciate art hence I'm so-so about it. Anyway, he asked me if I heard of Dale Chihuly. I was embarrassed to say that I've never. Little did I know that I'd seen his work already!!! Yes! I really did - it's all that spectacular handblown glass flowers at the Bellagio's lobby ceiling in Las Vegas! The exhibit was called Fiori de Como. Here's a picture below so you'll know what I'm talking about. I'm sure everyone has seen this:

I remember being at awe when I saw this the first time. It really was great! So eventhough I was very clueless as to who Chihuly was, I was excited when Kevin mentioned that his exhibits are being shown at the de Young Museum which is in Golden Gate Park. Admission is really cheap - $15 and the exhibit will run through Sept. 28. I plan on seeing it because I know it's all worth it to see something like this:

Hands Free Law

2008-06-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

So last Saturday while on lunch with Armando and Aldwin we got into talking about the new "hands-free" cell phone law which officially starts tomorrow, July 1st. Anyway, Armando, who used to work for Helio mentioned that since they got purchased by Virgin Mobile, they're getting rid of some of their inventories and his manager told him that he can come in to the store that day and pick up some bluetooth if he needs some. And of course just as luck would have it, we do need it! So we told him to get some for us too and we'll just pay him. Hella good! he picked up one for each of us (me, Aldwin and Sharon) and the best thing was, he told us to just give him 5 bucks!!! Niceeee!!!
Anyway, he picked up 2 different brands and I chose the Samsung WEP 420. The box that it came with looked hella fancy, it had a black case like as if you just bought a freakin' watch! Anyway, I was curious as to how much it cost in retail and I was surprised to see the prices. Damn! Armando hooked us up BIG TIME!
Soooo, I am now all set for the new law...let it take effect!
Sidenote:

Thank you so much, Armando!!! you're the best!

BlackJack

2008-06-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I finally decided to buy a new phone since I was due for upgrade and I needed to renew my contract. So ta-daaa! I got myself the Samsung BlackJack - the red one for $60. Yup! $60! can't beat that!!! I was super excited when it finally arrived today. Yey! new toy! So I started charging it so I can play with it. I was charging it for 2 hours and yet it would not turn on! The manual said that if the phone is charging the red light should be on to indicate that it is being charged. There was no light at all. Hmmm...something is definitely wrong here. Man! I got excited for nothing! I called AT&T and told them about it and they're going to overnight a replacement phone and I'll have it by Friday. Yey!!! fast! Can't wait to play with it. The phone will have an internet so I can blog on my phone. Wohoo!!!

...and yet another workout video!

2008-06-16T22:14:00.000-07:00

I'm a sucker for workout videos as you can see above. I like trying new exercise routines every now and then so I'm always on the look-out for some videos that I can do at home. Plus videos are so much more convenient because when you get tired you can pause it, then go back to it or you can do two exercises back to back! Anyway, the latest addition to my library is "The Workout: One-on-One Training with Jackie". I'm a huge fan of the show "The Workout" which I religiously record, so when I watched one of their episodes and learned that Jackie was coming up with an exercise video, I just had to have it. Soooo....I tried the video last night after I came home from running at the gym. The videos allows you to choose what part of your body you want to work on - I did upper body and core. I have to say it was hard! and my core is actually sore! So I guess it's working! Hahaha! So far I'm loving it. Tomorrow I plan on doing the lower body exercises. Need to work on my boo-tay!!! LOL!!!