The Year in Review

It's New Year's Eve! Today means a lot of different things to different people. To some, it signifies the end of a year they'd like to forget. To others, it's the end of a year that they wish would never end. I'm somewhere in the middle.

2009 had a lot to offer to me. For starters, I was single for the entire year. And some people look at this as a bad thing, but I don't. It allowed me to do a lot of things I probably wouldn't have been able to do if I had a demanding girlfriend. I started working out and running to help get myself into better shape (beer belly gone). I was able to spend lots of time with my friends as well as reconnect with friends I hadn't seen since high school. Most of the friends I reconnected with were girls which might not have been as easy to do with a girlfriend.

This past year was also a good year for me at work. For the most part my job is pretty easy, but it's going to get much more difficult with the start of the new year. It will be more difficult because I was challenged by my boss to take on new responsibilities. As mentioned before in this blog, I will be studying for my CCNA certification. This means that I will be doing a lot of reading and might have to skip a few nights out with friends. We'll see about that though. I was also asked by the owner of the company if I would be willing to track our trademarks. To be honest, when I was asked if I could do this I said yes because some training would be involved. Also, I can't tell the owner of the company that I am not willing to learn something new. That would be career suicide! So with some training, that will be another responsibility that I'll be taking on next year.

Another great part about this past year was the fact that I finally moved out again. I had been living at home ever since I graduated college in 2004. There are certain reasons that I didn't move out before now (condo, car, etc.) but I wouldn't change my purchasing decisions given the chance. I love my car and I love being able to roll out to Vegas and not have to worry about a room whenever I want. Being single is good for that too because it's usually a last minute decision to head out to Sin City. And you all know how much I hate to plan in advance. The roomies have been loads of fun and our house is looking great. We've only got a one year lease but if things go well, I'm sure we'll try to extend it. Hopefully next year I won't be talking about moving at the end of the year because that would just be way too stressful during holiday season.

Even though I know this blog is does not have hundreds of readers (or even ten for that matter) I'd like to take a moment to thank all my friends, new and old, for helping me enjoy a great year. Thanks to all my Rowland Heights friends. You guys have been there from the start and I'll never forget it. Thanks to my new Upland, Rancho, and La Verne friends for always providing loads of fun no matter what. Thanks to all my old high school friends who I reconnected with this year either through another friend, or at the reunion. Seeing you guys again was one of the highlights of my year. Thanks to all my OC friends down in Newport and the ones who have moved away up north. I really need to get down there more often. Someone needs to start the happy hour thing up again. Thanks to my old college friends from San Diego. Even if I haven't seen you in a while, you still influenced me in some way this year (i.e. facebook and aim).

Finally, I hope everyone has a great time tonight at their New Year's Eve parties. Be safe, and ring in the new year with style! Cheers!

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 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?

Me? Exercise?

Being newly single can really change your outlook on your life. When I had a girlfriend, I really didn't have any free time. Pretty much every free minute I had was spent with her. Now that isn't necessarily a bad thing, we usually had some good times. But being single has given me a lot of extra free time now. Being single has also motivated me to use that free time for something good. I used to be extremely lazy whenever I had free time. I still can be, but I've turned a new leaf.

I've started working out and running at least 3 times a week. I've been on this routine for about 4 months maybe more. There are times when I get lazy and don't run or I take a week or two off, but for the most part I've stuck to it. I've definitely noticed a difference in my arms and chest from the workouts which is also motivating. Most days I try to run at least 2 miles, sometimes I run 3 miles. I run on a treadmill or outside some days depending on the weather and if the Lakers are on tv. Treadmill with the tv on when the Lakers play or it's too hot outside.

Even though I've noticed my pants fitting a little looser, I still haven't gotten rid of my slight gut. The problem is that I have a major sweet tooth and love all kinds of fast food. I don't drink too much soda anymore, but I can't pass up a frosty cold beer or pizza. That's why I keep running. To make sure I don't blow up. =)