One Full Year

Hi again all! No, I didn't forget about this blog. Ok, maybe I did for a little while. But I'm back again.

November 8th just recently passed and that date holds special meaning for me. It's the one year anniversary of my good friends Jeff and Beth. I had a great time being a part of their wedding down in San Diego last year. We all had a lot of fun! I'm not sure what they did for their first anniversary but I did manage to send them my best wishes. I'm sure they had fun.

That date also marks the one year anniversary of me being single again. Bittersweet day don't you think? Since that day I've been working out and running on a regular basis. Being single gave me a lot of extra time and I've put it to good use. In that time I managed to work off most of my beer belly and I'm now able to run 4 miles without stopping at a pretty good pace. Losing 10 pounds in one year has got my weight down to a svelt 147! That's very close to what I weighed my senior year of high school which was over 10 years ago.

Speaking of one full year, 2009 is almost at an end. It's about time to start working on those new year's resolutions right? I had three resolutions that I made this year and I'm proud to say that 2 of the 3 will be completed.

1. Run a 5K

On December 5th I will be in Las Vegas for the Great Santa Run which is a 5K for charity. I was a part of this run a couple years back, but I didn't actually run the race. I jogged/walked with my mom, but had a great time. How could you not have fun when you're surrounded by close to 10,000 other people in santa suits? Visit http://www.lasvegassantarun.org/ for more info.

2. Move to the beach

This one is a partial completion. I am in the process of moving out with a few friends right now, but I don't think we are going to end up near the beach. The beach is expensive and pretty far from all of our jobs. I wouldn't mind the commute because you always get to come home to the beach! But I'm alone on this one. Oh well.

3. Get my CCNA certification

This is the one that isn't completed but I have started the process, finally! CCNA stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate. It's a certification that applies to working on Cisco networking equipment like switches and routers. I've bought a couple thick books that are guides to everything I need to learn to pass the test. I'm on chapter 5 of 36 total. I hope to have the certification by the end of next year.

How are you guys coming on your new year's resolutions? To be honest, I think this is the first year that I've actually worked on one of my resolutions. That's why I'm kinda proud of it and writing about it here in the blog. If you haven't started, the year isn't finished yet. Still a month and a half to get working. If you at least start one, it'll feel great I promise!

Staycation Lunch Day 4: Subway???

Yeah, Subway. Lunch today wasn't spectacular, but the day in general was a lot of fun. I wasn't planning on doing much today because I was pretty worn out after yesterday's fun in the sun. But I ended up being invited out to Venice Beach by Natalie, so I went! We picked up her friend Matt and stopped for Subway sandwiches before heading out to Venice. I had never been to Venice Beach before today and really didn't know what to expect but I knew that it would be an adventure

We got lucky and found great free parking about 20 paces from the beach. After that it was straight to the boardwalk to check out all that VB had to offer. We passed by muscle beach and saw some guys working out. They really need to wear more clothes. Some outfits leave nothing to the imagination. Then we passed by the basketball courts from the classic movie White Men Can't Jump. I was then asked to sample 3 different hip hop cds by unknown artists, but refused.


There were some rather interesting "performers" on the boardwalk. There was the Worlds Best Wine-O who had a shirt that said "Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Help me get drunk today!" He also sang it. There were some homeless people with funny signs like "At least I'm not your kid" and "Kick my ass for $1." Then there was a guy playing guitar on roller skates with a portable amp who would follow people around as they were trying to make phone calls. He made for some great entertainment while I enjoyed a strawberry banana smoothie.


From Venice, we headed up to the Santa Monica Pier to check out things there. Again, I'd never been to the Santa Monica Pier before, so I was stoked to check it out. I snagged a slice of pizza and a soda for a quick bit of energy (very healthy, I know) then we cruised down the pier to check things out. I fought the urge to pay $6 for a picture of me with a wood cut out of Van Damme and watched some kids at the trapeze school on the pier. We saw a band playing a concert and a couple break dancing crews then headed back to the car.


It was prime traffic time, so we decided to not go straight home yet and stopped at Amoeba Music in Hollywood first. This place was the third first for me today! As I walked into Amoeba, I was just in awe of the massive selection in front of me. Racks and racks and racks of new and used music, dvds, and even VHS tapes! (For anyone under the age of 20, those are movies) There was even a free live concert in the store. The Sa-Ra and Creative Partner gave a 25 minute performance that was being filmed by MTV2.


After spending an hour in Amoeba Music and picking up 6 or 7 cds and dvds I ended up buying only 3. I bought used dvds of Fight Club and The Prestige as well as a cd by The Faint. All three for under $30. That's one great deal! I'll definitely have to go back there when I have an actual shopping list so I'm not so overwhelmed. Maybe tomorrow I'll stick to my plan of staying local. We'll see.


Since I didn't really eat anything worth taking a picture of, I'll show you guys the sign we saw while walking back to our car in Venice Beach. I can't decide if it's a clever way to meet a girl or just a pathetic attempt. You decide.

Staycation Lunch Day 3: Fred's in Huntington Beach

Originally I intended my lunch tour to be me visiting places I'd never been before. But when the weather is so nice and I'm on vacation, how can I not go to Huntington Beach for a day?

Today I went down to a familiar place called Fred's on Main Street. Fred's has great mexican food and margaritas which I've had in the past. Today I felt like a big mug of Shock Top. It's a great tasting beer which has become a new favorite for me. I'm not sure if that's because it tastes so good, or because I discovered it at Dodger Stadium. Either way, I like it and I'll keep ordering it whenver I can.

After my huge caloric intake yesterday at Pink's Hot Dog stand, I decided I'd better run. So when I arrived at Fred's with my stomach growling I wasn't surprised. I ordered some chicken taquitos to go with my giant beer. Not a huge meal, but I knew that the beer would fill me up. The taquitos had some melted shredded cheese on them as well as a good helping of guacamole. My stomach was thankful and stopped growling.

After lunch, I cruised around Main Street and bought a couple new RVCA tshirts. One was on sale, the other just looked to good to pass up. Then I rented a bike and apparently thought I was Lance Armstrong because I went on an 8.8 mile ride. The bike that I rented was a beach cruiser which means riding home against the wind is hard as hell! My legs were burning for the last couple miles.

The workout was good preparation for the night though. I met up with Michelle, who lives in HB, and I got to hang out with her and some of her friends for the night. We had a few drinks, talked about her birthday celebrations, and laughed it up at a cool dive bar called Suds. It was good being able to catch up some since we hadn't hung out in over a year.

Today took a lot out of me. So I'm probably going to stay closer to home tomorrow and just relax by the pool. Gotta work on my tan some more, you know?