Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Weekend, Planning, Book of the Month & Fastest Time Ever!

Weekend
This past weekend was pretty chill. Basically went surfing both days, laid out on the beach, swam in the pool for about 2 hours. Yup, I am getting really dark and toned! Also went to the $1 theater saw Jumper, which was pretty entertaining. Surprising thing of all is that I don't think I spent more than $20 the whole weekend! I am being super thrifty. I have to book my tickets from Lisbon to Marrakesh. I need spending $ for a couple of trips coming up, not to mention I want a new surfboard for my birthday.

Planning
Whew, planning things can be quite exhausting. I want my Vegas/LA/SD trip to be fun filled. I am thinking Catalina May 31st ($60 R/T-pp) if you wanna go, departing out of LB harbor and hopefully Sea World the day prior. I want to book a couple of shows for Vegas. Not to mention FOOD! I want to go to Bobby Flay's restaurant in LV. Here are my official travel dates: Las Vegas: May 24-27, LA: May 27-29, San Diego: May 29 - June 2. Let's start planning dinner dates!

Book of the Month - April
I read about 2 books every month. My pick this month is "Remember Me" by Sophie Kinsella. I read this book in about a 1.5 days. Its basically a story about staying true to yourself, how events in your life change but at the end of all of it, don't forget who you are. Its a cross between How the Devil Wears Prada and Time Travel. I would suggest picking this up. Really entertaining.

Fastest Time Ever!
Today, I clocked in my fastest mile ever. Considering that my knees were bothering me, I really can't wait to push the envelope and see how fast and far I can go. Hopefully soon, I'll be down to 6 minute miles.


Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Travel Plans, Gels, and My Hair!

Travel Plans

I am not heading to Australia in June. (awwwwww) Instead, I will be visiting Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego to eat, dance, party, and to visit family, friends, and of course gamble, and see my BFF OMG its been like 15 months (WTF?! Yup, its been since March of 2007)! I am SOO excited! Here I come: Target! Olive Garden! Mexico!? I can't wait to see you all! I'm going to take a lot of pictures (oooh, I need to buy teeth whitening, or how about a waterproof digital camera... I need my eyebrows did)! :) Contact me! Let's make some plans!

Gels - To be reviewed
Well, I finally received my order for gels. Ummmm, I will have the review available in about 2 months. I ordered these from REI because they were one the few companies that had gels ala carte. Most of the running stores sell them by the box. Buying a box of 24 (they don't have a variety pack, so boo!) with just 1 flavor, yeah not really my thing - is this a sign that I am non-committal? - Not to mention there are so many brands now and so many flavors. There are PowerBar, GU, Hammer Gel, Stinger, Clif Shot blocks, and as you can see each brand comes with lots of flavors. I didn't even order all the flavors available.
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My Hair - O.O.C Part Deux
My hair is getting really long?! I love it. Every morning, I wake up and it really has a life of its own. Sometimes, it lays flat, sometimes its just O.O.C, sometimes its wavy...
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Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Health... What does it really mean? & Shipping & more running!

Since I came out and announced that I am HIV +, everyone has been asking about my health. What does that really mean, HEALTH? I am sure that everyone wants me to be physically healthy, but how do people define health? and at what costs? Would you just eat what's completely healthy and never satisfy that sugar craving? Is an occasional treat ok? What if it becomes the norm? Does health = true happiness?

My motto is just everything in moderation and burn what you eat. If you're craving sweets, have some. If you're hungry, eat. Don't deny yourself pleasure, when you do, that is when you will binge on it. So.. what's my point... well, here is a sneak peak into what I eat in a normal day.

Breakfast:
If I am running late, I will have a bowl of cereal. If I have time, I love cooking myself a breakfast. I always have a 3 egg omelet (with 1 yolk only), some sort of sausage (whether its a veggie patties or pork links), and 1/2 a bagel (with cream cheese - I like the salmon flavor, as well as strawberry and honey oat)
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Snacks:
I never deny myself a snack. NEVER. If my stomach is grumbling, I'll eat. Well, here at my snack choices. All of this is from Costco. I also buy the kids fruit cups that has like 20 fruit cups. I always have my desk stacked, so I don't make any bad choices. I like the fruit cups a lot, and chocolate soy milk also. The snack bar is high in fiber.
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Dinner:
I pretty much cook dinner every night of the week. I like a eat a lot of veggies. This took about 10 minutes. I had brown rice (made from before), I just steamed some broccoli, and fried a chicken apple sausage. YUM!
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For dessert, I have chocolate soy milk or a cup of sorbet/sherbet, and I never eat past 8:30PM.

Shipping:
Oh no these hoes didn't?! This is why I get charged SOOOO much for shipping. I purchased 25 items from REI. I bought all different kinds of energy gels for running. I wanted to try all different brands, and all different flavors. REI was the only company that had a large single (buffet) selection and affordable prices. The shipping wasn't too bad. But why did you monkey ass send me 1 in a box on its own. It cost $.92, and I was probably charged $5 for shipping. This was the only thing in the box along with a lot of paper. WTF! You really couldn't fit this in the other box with 24 small gels?!
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Running:
My run yesterday, my right knee was giving me a really hard time. I had a doctors appointment today, but I canceled it. My knee is feeling a lot better, and I am going to try walking/jogging on it.


Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Spring Cleaning, Travel Plans, Farthest Run, and MORE!!!

Spring Cleaning

I decided it was Spring Cleaning time... Online Spring cleaning. I may have gone overboard, but I don't think most people will notice. I updated my Gmail contacts, I had 996, now down to 78 (I updated everyone's full name). I have deleted myspace, cyworld, yahoo, picturetrail, friendster, WAYN and ringo accounts. With all of the online technology available today, I just find that people create false sense of relationships. Is the friend on your top 8 a friend if you leave each other 1000s of comments, but never talk on the phone? My answer is no. As much as I love technology, there are certain things that takes things too far. Yes, I am guilty of blogging about my life, or writing heartfelt emails to friends, but it doesn't end there. Its supplemented by phone calls, Christmas cards, birthday cards and gifts. Not just a e-greeting. Technology should supplement your life. Not replace it.

Travel Plans

Just to update everyone on my travel plans for the rest of the year! I have a ticket to Argentina in May which I will be postponing. Instead, I am heading to Las Vegas for Memorial Day Weekend. I am taking off the 1st week in June to head to Australia, I decided that I am only going if I can get a buddy pass from someone to head down there. If not, I might just extend my Vegas trip for a week, and head to LA and visit family and friends or head to Maui for a week to clear my head and decide what to do with life. My big trip of the year is to Europe, I have a confirmed ticket to Lisbon, Portugal for September. I haven't 100% decided which other countries I will be visiting.

Farthest Run in 2008...
Saturday morning, I decided to run. Ok, I have to deviate on why I woke up earlier than expected and why I felt the need to run (the answer, relieve stress). On the 15th, I placed an order with Nike.com for new shoes, a singlet, and lots of headbands. Since I spent over $175, I qualified for free shipping. After receiving my order confirmation, I realized that it was for UPS ground, so I called immediately and a gentleman named Mike assisted me. He informed me that since I was in Hawaii, my order was going to be shipped via USPS Priority mail. After leaving him a great feedback, low and behold! I get a tracking number on the 18th that the items have been shipped via UPS ground. Oh, I was livid. Their customer support center was already closed, so I decided to email them. Saturday, I woke up at 6AM! I called Nike. I was informed by the agent since the item have been shipped, there is nothing they can do about it. They can't call UPS and change the shipping to 2 day air - I call BS -, so she didn't offer me any solutions whatsoever, just wait until my items arrive which was expected to be the 28th, which will be later than that because I am in Hawaii. Racking my brain for answers, I came up with a solution! I duplicated my order, had her ship it 2 day air (at no charge), and email me a return label for the other items (also free), after that, I set my Nike + for 10 miles, and yes, I completed 10 miles. I thought i was never going to finish. There was so much headwind on the way home...For some reason the flash isn't working (so i can't post my run), but needless to say, I ran 16.25 Km. I am almost ready for the 1/2 marathon!


MORE (about my weekend)!
Saturday, I checked into my hotel. Yes! I got a hotel for 1 day, because I didn't want to try to find parking in the morning for the AIDS walk. So I checked in, went to the beach, got some sun. Decided I needed to go surfing, so I went surfing. Well, its been 5 months, since I last surfed last, and oh yeah, its something I really miss! After we went surfing, we ate at Chili's. They have a new huge cheeseburger which is awesome! Then we went to Hula's! It was great. It was my first time drinking in ages! I only had 3 drinks though and I was pretty buzzed. After that just went back to the hotel, and pretty much passed out. I woke up at 6:30, as usual, and yup, went surfing, and oh yeah, I got my ass whooped. Great fun! I was riding a 8'9" that didn't have wax on it, but still caught a couple of good waves. Time just really passed me by, I didn't realize what time it was 8. I had to haul ass back to the hotel, grab and shirt and run to Kapiolani park for the AIDS walk.

The AIDS walk was so much fun! There were soooo many people there (see pic), they had everything. A cheerleading group, a warm up session with an instructor, water points, free starbucks, bananas, various booths (I got a pedometer at one), and a grab bag upon finishing. After the walk, ran back to the hotel, checked out, went to Ward, ate a Loco Moco at Big City Diner! Saw an awesome movie, The Forbidden Kingdom! Then went back to the beach for 2 more hours of sun, ate an early dinner at Spaghetti Factory and here we are, doing laundry and getting ready for the week up ahead.

2008 Honolulu AIDS walk pic, this doesn't even show 1/3 of the people there.
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Team Max (3 absentees, 1 was drunk, and 2 couldn't find parking)
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Picture at the beach on Sunday (yes I am getting dark =^_^=)
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Life is good.

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Ranting, Raving and completely Random!

Last night, I was sort of cleaning and doing some laundry, and yeah... I am so Filipino. You know you are Filipino, when you have a collection of toiletries from various hotels. Oh, the memories. Las Vegas, roadtrip from CA to Florida. Here is my ultimate collection (I had to hide the duplicates or else it wouldn't have fit in the pic):
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Ok, well I've been doing a lot of Bikram and running, so today, I thought I'd treat myself to Jamba Juice (yum!). Hmmmmm, so how about when I got my order, I nearly lost it and bit my tongue so hard, it almost bled. How am I going to buy a 16 OZ cup and its like 2/3 full, so yeah, no more Jamba Juice for me. I'll buy the Bolthouse Farms Strawberry Banana Fruit Smoothie from Costco.
JAMBA 04172008
Finally, I saw this and yeah... that's my true happiness, so I thought I'd share. I laughed so hard I cried.
TRUE 04172008

Also, if you have a blog, let me know, I'd like to place a link to it from my blog, and mahalo for your emails and comments back. Keeps me young and sane. :)

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

My Hair is O.O.C

My hair - 1 (taken 10 minutes ago)
HAIR - 1
My hair - 2 (taken 10 minutes ago)
HAIR - 2

Well, my New Year's resolution was not to cut my hair. As you can see, Its a promise I have kept. Though, it is getting out of control. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I am just like, damn... LOL.

Nothing else new to report. I bought 4 CDs via la internet, and yeah, I am over the Mariah Carey's new CD. I bought one of her old CDs (the self-titled album), Elliot Yamin's CD, and Kellie Pickler's. I've been listening to a lot of country for the last year, and I really like Kellie's album. Particularly the song "I Wonder", its just a really touching song. A story about her and her estranged mother. Click here for the official video.

Here is the most heartfelt performance I have ever seen.



Well, its almost bedtime.

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Lucky You Live Hawaii

Koko Head - 1 - 04122008
KOKO HEAD 1
Koko Head - 2 - 04122008
KOKO HEAD 2

"Lucky You Live Hawaii"

This is something I've been saying a lot recently. Its a phrase we use when you just realize how grateful you are to live in Hawaii. Whether its another beautiful sunny day, a beautiful sunset or you're at the grocery store and they know where and what furikake is.

On Saturday, I did the MS walk in the morning and in the afternoon, I decided I need more of a workout, so I hiked up Koko Head. I decided to take these photos as I was inspired. Most people don't make it to the top, and I can't believe I did because it has been a while since I last hiked Koko Head.

Today, I woke up and I went for a jog. Then, I went to the brunch for the March of Dimes and yes. I threw down! I must have had at least 20 strips of bacon, 10 slices of Portuguese sausage, 5 scoops of rice, a plateful of fruit, 4 pancakes (banana, chocolate chip, macadamia nut and blueberry), and a mimosa. Yum Yum. I even won a gift certificate at the silent auction.

Other than that, nothing much to report. I bought a XBOX 360 game - mass effects which returned, because I am not coordinated enough to play. You actually have to use all the buttons and such.. lol. I like RPGs. I played over 60+ hours of Lost Odyssey got most the collectibles and beat the game.

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.


Sunday.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

2008 - So good so far!

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I wanted to post a picture on my blog that sort of sums up what 2008 has meant to me so far. Well, it hasn't been a perfect year, the mortgage industry is in turmoil, the weather has been on the weird side, things are just happening that are unexpected, but you know what, that's alright. This picture symbolizes my life coming together My good friend gave me a magnet and it states, "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself", and now I see it all falling into place. I've had to be the way that I am to discover who I am, to expel all the negativity in my life. I have my health. I am paying off debt. I am truly blessed to be able to travel and do the things that I love to do in life and most of all I can count my true friends in more than 1 hand.

So if you're reading this, get your 4 closest friends, and make a star.

Cherish Life.

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

A Typical Weekend

Well... now that I don't drink and party, what do I do on the weekends? Well, in the morning, I like to either run, surf, do bikram, or hike. This weekend was a running weekend. I have started a challenge on Nike + on who can log the most distance before Memorial Day Weekend.

Saturday was a pretty cool day. I went running in the morning. Played some Xbox 360 (gamer tag - hawaiiinsomniac), then I went to see Run, Fat Boy, Run (awesome movie) starring my favorite actor - Simon Pegg! (Go see Hot Fuzz!) Afterwards, I had early dinner with a friend at my favorite Chinese place on the island, Little Village in Chinatown. Then we walked around Ala Moana mall, and then off to see the play, "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change!" at the Moana valley Theater. It was the final showing (after they added an additional week of performances) and it was sold out for good reason, I didn't stop laughing throughout the whole performance, which was about 2.5 hours. I wish they had it on DVD, I would really buy it.

Today, I went running. Fortunately it was overcast, and even rained a little. I was only planning to run only 5K, but it was so nice and cool that I just kept running and running and running and running, so I ended up logging in over 13km. After my ritual of an Epsom salt bath, its DVR/Netflix time. I watched Dan in Real Life, along with rerun of ANTM, and did household chores. Cleaned, did some laundry. Yup. Nothing too exciting.



Saturday:

Sunday:


Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.