My New Book

I read a lot but not necessarily books. I'm always on the internet; blogging, facebooking, tweeting, reading news at sfgate, cnn and other miscellaneous websites. I will be at Wikipedia looking up subjects I've read or learned about from my netflix movies. I've even started using the internet in my bible studies - sometimes my bible is hard to understand but I found a site where I can read passages in all the available translations. I also have a stack of magazines collecting dust. Oh and a small library of audiobooks and podcasts. Nothing like a good book though. I grew up on books. When I was a child I lived in a part of the Philippines where there were only 3 channels and only two of them clear. I was an only child with no toys because I kept taking them apart. So I spent my days day dreaming to the music of my uncle's record collection, drawing and plotting world domination on notebook paper and reading books from the school library.

Last Sunday at a dinner party we talked briefly about a book and it turned out that a friend had it and was gracious enough to lend it to me. It was a gift given to him shortly after his dog passed away. The book is called "The Art of Racing in the Rain". Some of you know I'm big on running so no this has nothing to do with running in the rain. It's about a dog. I just read the first chapter at lunch and now I just want to stop working, pick up a mocha at the coffee shop downstairs and read on my couch. I even forgot the annoying sound of a generator that has been running for most of the day at the building next door while I was reading.

The Camera's Name is Lazarus

I have this Nikon snapshot camera that is about 4 years old. One day it just stopped working. No this isn't the one with the broken screen that is still somewhere in Southern California. I turned it on, the lens came out, the picture on the view finder was blurry, I got an error message, the lens retracted and the camera turned itself off. Not knowing anything about lenses, well really the whole camera, I just gave up on it and bought a new one. These cameras are so cheap it's not worth having them fixed.

I never threw it away. The camera body is scratched, the silver finish is buffed off in many places revealing the light gray plastic of the camera body underneath – this is why they are so light and perfect for running, but I kept it. I just couldn't throw this one away. We had done many training runs together, a couple of triathlons, even a couple of 100-mile races together.

Today I was playing with it; turning it on, waiting for the lens to come out, get the error message then turn itself off. I kept doing this over and over again then once while the lens was out I banged it on the desk lightly. It turned itself off but when I turned it back on, the picture on the screen was clear and no error message. The camera is fixed. Oh yeah an old favorite is back in action. Maybe I take a few pictures and post them here to prove it.

By The Way

I'll be here more often with random stuff. The running thing, still love it, working harder than ever but nothing exciting to talk about right now.

Ginger, It's Not Just For Nausea

I am rediscovering ginger. I hated it when I was a kid but I am slowly coming back to it. It's great for nausea. In these long trail run races that I do, some people get really bad stomach problems and nausea and one of the things that work is ginger. Thankfully I am one of those that has a pretty strong stomach. I'm starting to like it but I don't love it. This evening I found that flavored carbonated water mixed with lemon ginger juice is crazy good and that drink in turn reminded me of a childhood memory that seems so crazy now.

When I was a kid growing up in the Philippines there was a belief in our part of the country that if a fever lasts for more than 5 days a spirit has chosen to dwell in the person's body. The only way to get the said spirit out and end the fever is to call the local witch doctor and have them pray on you. I had these done regularly when I was a kid and I actually enjoyed them which doesn't explain my aversion to ginger... well my former aversion. Basically this person, usually an old woman, will pray on each of your hands and feet. She will have a thumb sized piece of ginger that's peeled and she makes the sign of the cross on each hand and foot with the ginger as she finished each prayer. Then she prays over your head and then blows away the offending spirit by blowing on the top of your head a couple of times - this was my favorite part. Afterwards you had to wear the piece of ginger, bobby pinned on your shirt, for a couple of days. I guess body invading spirits like ginger as much as vampires like garlic. Since I enjoyed these sessions I was always eager to have the procedure done whenever I had a fever. Of course it didn't really help when I turned out to have more serious ailments like the one time I actually had typhoid fever. No amount of prayer, ginger and hot breath on the top of my head helped that one. Typhoid fever... the cure was more painful than the illness.

So yeah kind of random I know. Last week a made a big pot of chicken and rice soup with lots of ginger but no ginger related flashbacks. Today I make a lemon ginger soda and bam, trip to memory lane.

Back to Normal

I think I am finally over the holidays. Yup just now.

I had a fun filled and exhausting running season and so after my last race in the first week of December I pretty much just plunked down on the couch and ate a few bags of chocolate. Rest and reward, but then I also spent a week with my mom and relatives in Southern California during the holidays and the rest and reward thing was taken to a higher level.

Well for the first few days the rest was lacking but great on the reward part. There was 21 of us in a six bedroom house and activities were going on till the wee hours of the night and the kids were waking us up early in the morning. Not as much sleep but the eating was out of control. There was dishes upon dishes of food and saying no was not really an option. You say no to one thing and they came back with something else and once you give in that was it. Once the floodgates are open as they say. It was a really great time though. The last 3 days was spent with my mom at her place, more quiet and I had some time to visit some friends in LA. A roundtrip to LA took 3 hours because of the traffic, so much traffic in LA. It wasn't so bad. Good to see these guys, hang with them in a couple of their hangouts.

When I got home I did feel like I needed a vacation from that vacation and indeed it took me a couple weeks to get back into rhythm. It was tough getting back into running after a four week break but getting back into has really helped me in establishing my usual routines. I'm still wishing I could eat like it was still the holidays though and I miss all the authentic Filipino dishes - homemade or bought. Wouldn't it be grand if all the tastiest things were also good for us?

It's been cold but now that the rains are back not as much. Nice and quiet now too without all the holiday craziness. Good to be back. My old camera is somewhere in Southern California, it has a broken screen but the memory card had 1GB of holiday pictures and videos. Oh well, I do have a new camera though so I'm not too bummed.

My mom and I Christmas Eve.

With two of the kiddies, the two who would wake me up in the morning!

With two of my Tita's (aunts).

Kickin back.

Food and Drink

Carrie, kicking back and chillin'. An afternoon spent at my favorite wine bar with Carrie, Dan and Jessica. It's not for everyone but I find it cozy and I like the wine.

This year I only sent out a handful of Christmas cards. I had been scouring all my photo folders from this year because I wanted to print some pictures and enclose them in the cards. To my dismay I've found that pretty much all of my images were running related; running a race, spectating and volunteering at one. I need to do a better job next year of having pictures from other activities. Now on my mobile phone however, I found a bunch of pictures that made me laugh because most of them were food and drink related. Shows you were my mind is at when not at work or working out. I thought I'd share them here. I haven't had lunch yet and this post made me hungry!

Enjoy the pictures.

Jessica, keeping me away from Bob's Donuts.

At Gitane, the new bar down the street from Cafe Claude, same owners. Great wine from Europe. I don't know much about wine but I know the characteristics I like, know enough to ask the right questions.

Hanging out at the wine bar again. It really is called just "the wine bar".

At Jochen's place for a BBQ. Jochen is a fellow ultra-marathoner who I've come to know more this year. He and his girlfriend Kaori are in the neighborhood too, only 5 blocks away. Grimacing in the left corner is a fellow ultra-marathoner, Beat, who twisted his ankle earlier in the day. He's not happy because he has a big, big race the weekend after.

At a new Filipino restaurant that friends took me too. Like the atmosphere, love the food. Good thing it's not close.

At Asuka Ramen.My friend John Branderhorst is half Japanese, has lived in Japan and is quite the ramen connoisseur. I don't know where this place ranks on his list but it is literally just across the street from my building and I like their Tonkatsu Ramen (ramen noodles in pork broth). It's tasty, hearty and usually what I order. They also have good chicken katsu. This was a day when I was particularly stressed with a project and needed the break, good food and away from the computer.

At Pacific Catch. One of things I miss most about Hawaii is "ahi poke", a raw tuna dish. Pacific Catch's is the best I've tasted here in the city and I go back whenever I get the urge. The sweet potato fries is also very good. Unfortunately my camera things so too, it focused on the fries:)

Mmm...Philz Coffee. If it was closer I'd be in trouble. I would go all the time. Not that far about a 20 minute walk. It's not cheap at $3+ a cup but it's good and the staff, at least in the Van Ness location, is very friendly and helpful. A more welcoming atmosphere than Blue Bottle. I prefer their house brand which is called "Tesora", sometimes I'll have the mocha version which is only a quarter more.

New Volunteer Position

So after a stint as the Run Director for my triathlon club in 06, a failed attempt to become the club president in 07, hiatus in 08 and 09, I am now the Design Director for 2010. What does that mean? Well I advocated for this new position and fulfilled it's duties back in 06 along with my run director stuff. What it means is somebody who is in charge of the club's marketing assets; the logo in all it's various forms, artwork for all the merchandise, creation of brochures, flyers, posters, etc. and a possible help to the web director. It all got started when the Merchandise Director needed to track down the logo and have it resized for stickers and shoe bags. I helped out and was soon creating other design related items for the club. I also played photographer and took lots of pictures which came in handy for more communication materials later. I'm no photographer, I only had two classes in photography during my school years but I take a lot of pictures, do a lot editing and know Photoshop.

This year I plan to help out in the same capacity but I also have a couple of new ideas. I have to flesh them out before our January meeting. Last year's Board of Directors was a successful one and I'm hoping the 2010 board will be just as successful.

John's Campaign Poster/Shirt. It used to say "For GGTC Social Director". He won so now it just has the date.

Dave is our new Bike Director in the triathlon club and a good friend.