My first post high school organized race!

On the 4th of July I did my first organized race! I was pretty excited...I had been training for a good couple weeks, so I knew I was prepared. It was called the Kenwood Foot Race and it's in the small town of Kenwood just outside Santa Rosa (you may have heard of Kenwood wines) nestled amongst the vineyards. There were over 2,000 runners, so I was a bit intimidated to say the least...but I got in the top 75 averaging just over 7 minute miles! So I hit my goal, a total time of 13 minutes 57 seconds (my goal was to be under 14 minutes)...the race was a 3k :) I almost caught a 10 year old girl in front of me, but I just couldn't do it! (But karma was on my side because she puked afterwards, haha). Maybe I'll tackle a 10k next. After the race, there was a pancake breakfast at a nearby church that we hit up...some of the best pancakes I've had!

Steven on the left and Gary in the middle, my coworkers, also ran. (Steven did the 10k).

A Voice of Reason in a reasonless world :)

So there was an article today in the Santa Rosa newspaper breaking down the financial support of residents of Sonoma county to the presidential candidates. Not surprisingly, Obama was by far the most supported ($500,000...wow). I found the following excerpt from the article interesting...

"Graves, who described herself as a conservative on interpreting the Constitution and a liberal on social issues, said she likes the fact that Obama is black, saying she believes it's time that a minority led the nation.

'It represents that we're not a prejudiced country anymore,' she said. 'I'm sorry that we were. This sort of helps cure that.'"

So let's reword this statement in the negative (because it's saying the same exact thing)...

"Graves, who described herself as a conservative on interpreting the Constitution and a liberal on social issues, said she doesn't like the fact that McCain isn't black, saying she believes it's time that a minority led the nation."

Now that sounds kind of racist! Or can you imagine this printed...?

"Graves, who described herself as a conservative on interpreting the Constitution and a conservative on social issues, said she likes the fact that McCain is white, saying she believes it's important to have someone leading the nation who racially represents the majority of the people."

Interesting how one point of view is considered to be so acceeeepting and progreeeeeesive. And the opposite view point with the SAME reasoning is racist and close-minded. Just some food for thought from A Voice of Reason!

And I'm proud to be an American...!

Just when I thought the Supreme Court couldn't be any more in step with the communist liberal agenda....they go and totally redeem themselves! That is, it was only yesterday they ruled in favor of child rapists, and last week they ruled in favor of the terrorists that attacked our country who are being held at Guantanamo Bay, but not today. Today they upheld my freedom as an American to bear arms! The first Supreme Court ruling on the 2nd Amendment in the history of its existance (until now common sense kept them from having to rule on it) and it flies in the face of the liberal agenda (sorry Barry O)!

If you don't understand how big of a deal this is, let me paint a picture. Imagine a country where only the state militia, police, etc are allowed to have guns...if you pictured Nazi Germany, you're correct! The first thing Hitler did as a dictator was take away the rights of the people to bear arms, that way, when his Gestapo went through the country to eradicate the Jews, none of the citizens could stop him. Not in America baby! I can shoot down the Gestapo with my Glock. Maybe Barry is right, we should have the audacity to hope! Now go crank up "God Bless the USA" (or your patriotic song of choice) and echo Michelle O's sentiment of finally being "proud of [your] country!"

California is burning...so is my stand-up career

So I've been exposed to a new natural disaster. No, not earthquakes...yet...but wild fires! There are over 800 first burning in California! In the county just to the north of me there are 117 fires and only 20 of them are contained! There was a huge lightning storm this weekend that started the ones in northern Cali. It's crazy...there has been a haze over Santa Rosa for the last two days. I drove north yesterday morning and thought it was fog, but then after the campfire smell didn't go away in the 75 miles of driving, I realized it was smoke from fire...my clothes and car reaked. People are being told not to spend much time outside because of the hazards of the smoke. I just hope I don't get the black lung!

On another note, I crashed and burned in my first stand-up comic try this weekend! I was in a wedding this weekend was asked to give an announcement that the bouquet toss was going to happen and to have the single girls come forward. Well, this was a Seventh Day Adventist wedding reception...no alcohol, meat, or dancing, and it was on a Sunday evening, so it's a tough crowd. But when I got in front of the microphone I couldn't help myself! I said, "Can I have all the single ladies come forward please...I need a date for a wedding I'm going to next weekend!" Ya, silence and stares! So then I was like, "Um...please come forward for the bouquet toss." Whew...crash and burn! But I'm holding onto the hope that I didn't speak loudly enough into the microphone and no one heard my joke :)

The answer to the previous blog question is the musical Westside Story.

Officer Krupke, Krup You!

I'm so pissed! After returning from a nice trip back home last weekend, I was greeted with a letter in the mail from San Francisco Traffic Violations Bureau. On my way to SFO airport to go skiing in Vail last month (wow it seems like so much longer ago than that), I was photographed going through a red light. Since a month had passed, I figured they must have just let it slide...well I thought wrong! And I couldn't believe the amount...$400! Ya, to put that in perspective, I flew to NYC and had $100 cash in my pocket for that! Ugh...I felt like I had just been raped (well, not literally, but if money could rape you, I think that's what it'd feel like)...



Another bonus blog question...The title of this blog is a line from which musical?

East meets West!

This was it (a couple weekends ago)...my much awaited weekend to NYC to visit Aaron and B-Black! I caught the red eye from San Fran at 11 PM Wednesday night and landed in Newark at 7 AM. Luckily, I took my benedryl and was able to catch a bit of sleep on the plane. Enjoy my picture blog of NYC!

I gotta see my homeboy Joba Chamberlain pitch an inning at a Yankees game!

Us at Central Park...that place is huge! We got interviewed by the Discovery Channel on a special they're doing on the rainforest. They were pretty impressed with our knowledge...they'll probably be calling us for future specials :)


Time Square at night is a sweet place!


This was our Broadway show of choice (my choice). The biggest regret of the whole trip was that I didn't choose Phantom of the Opera (across the street). The consulation was that our tickets were amazing...8th row in the center!

The sweetest pub ever! It was no surprise that the chugging champion was yours truly :) We were all having a good time until Black took out our old Irish waiter with his drunken elbow!


We lost Aaron's two umbrella's during our night of debauchery, but luckily, I found this sweet one at Grand Central Station!

Ground Zero...


If you squint you can see Lady Liberty! (Aaron, did you know if you use the zoom feature, you can make far away objects look bigger? :)


Damn eagles landing on Aaron's head!


NYC...no place like it

I can't wait to go back! Aaron was a great host, putting up with my indecision about which Broadway show to go to, chosing Xanadu, and then whining that we didn't go to Phantom (I'm sure no one can picture this!) And Black was a trooper for sleeping on the couch so I could have the air mattress (Black sleeping on a couch in his underwear with the TV on...can anyone see this happing? :) With all the changes that happen in life (i.e. friends spread throughout the US)...it's good to see that some things stay the same!