Piano

I've been back in CA for 6 months now (time flies! O_O) and yesterday was the first time I touched the piano. I am both ashamed and proud of myself. -__- But, I promised myself that I would play the piano first before playing video games from now on. We'll see how long that lasts... :p

Deal w/ the devil?

If this was true, we wouldn't, or at least shouldn't, be loosing money. ^_^

New car!

Yesterday I decided to finally go test drive a Prius. And ended up getting a silver one. :p The Jetta was starting to have some problems and I guess the bells and whistles (and gas mileage) got to me. ^_^

My first marathon!

I finished my first marathon! I did the Disney World marathon on Sunday, 1/11/09, with Shelly and Aqeel. It was a lot of fun. Painful, but fun. :p

The run began with a bang, with fireworks. After winding through Epcot center, the run proceeded to the Magic Kingdom. We got to run out from under the castle. The run then winded through Animal Kingdom, made a short side trip to the Wide World of Sports, before going through Hollywood Studios and ending in Epcot. One of the best part was going by the costuming department in Hollywood Studios, in my opinion. 

I really wish I had brought a camera with me on the run. All along the run characters like Goofy, Donald, and Mickey, showed up at various intervals. People lines up to take pictures with them. There were also people dressed up in costume running. There were many Disney employees lining the route cheering us on at the beginning, who were replaced by spectators as the day wore on.

I didn't have a finish time in mind, but I was trying to maintain a 11 or 12 minute pace. When it looked like I could break 5 hours around mile 18, I made that my goal. I finished with a time of 4:38:15, a 10:46 pace. I pushed really hard for the last three miles and flew through the last mile. I guess that meant I was holding back and could have ran faster earlier. :p There were many water, food, and aid stations available. I ate everything and didn't hit the wall at all. My hamstrings did tighten up between miles 18 and 22, and I had to use Biofreeze and stop to stretch. Aqeel hit the wall at mile 18 unfortunately and couldn't accomplish his 4 hour goal. Shelly did pretty well despite not having had the chance to train and doesn't know how to feel about that. ^_^ 

Lastly, there is apparently something called the Goofy Challenge here, which is to run the half-marathon on Saturday and then the marathon on Sunday. Crazy... This event is also really popular and fills up fast. Apparently the sign up for next year begins on Monday! O_o

2008 Vacation to Spain

This winter I joined Shelley and Pablo on their trip to Spain. Two more of Shelley's friends joined us as well. Pablo graciously planned out our itinerary, which was a tour of Southern Spain and spending New Year in Leon with his family.

I left San Jose on 12/25 and I met up with Pablo and Shelly in the O'hare airport in Chicago. We were on the same flight to Madrid. Thankfully there was no delay whatsoever.

After arriving in Madrid in the morning, we decided to walk around. We started it off with a snack, some brocadillo calamares, which was basically fried calamari in a sandwich roll. It was so good. We visited the Plaza Mayor, the Plaza del Sol, the royal palace, and other places. We also had chocolate con churros, which was fried dough with a very thick chocolate. We met up with Ryan after lunch while Helena arrived in the dead of night. :) We spent most of the afternoon w/ Elena, Pablo's friend in Madrid. The next morning we had reservations at El Prado, which was a fantastic museum, featuring El Greco and many other artists. After lunch we got on the train to Grenada.

At Grenada the big show was of course Alhambra. It was very intriguing and beautiful, and personally I think the Muslim portions outshone the Christian parts, with the possible exception of the Palace of Charles V. We also went up Albayzin for the view of Alhambra. We concluded with a visit to the cathedral.

Next up was Sevilla. The cathedral of Sevilla was very impressive. It also holds the supposed tomb of Christopher Columbus. The first night Pablo wasn't feeling well, so Ryan, Helena, and I wondered around for a long time before trying our best to order dinner for ourselves. I must admit I think we did fairly well. The second day we visited Alcazar and its gardens. We also visited the Plaza de Espana. Pablo says it was used to film part of the Star Wars prequel. I vaguely remember it from one of the scenes cut out of Episode 2.

We finally head for Leon on 12/31, New Year's Eve. We arrived just before lunch. Ryan and I were fairly tired, and with a long night ahead of us we decided to take a siesta that afternoon. However, since Helena would be leaving Spain that night/early next morning, Pablo and Shelley took her around Leon on a tour. That night Pablo's mom put on an incredible spread for dinner, which lasted 3 hours. ^_^ We also participated in the Spanish tradition of consuming one grape on each ring of the New Year bell. Then we headed out to the bars before concluding with chocolate con churros at 5 in the morning. I think we would be considered to have stopped early. O_o

Everyone took it easy on 1/1. On 1/2, Pablo's parents took us to Astorga where we visited the sights and had an INCREDIBLE lunch. We also stopped by a small village on the way back. Ryan left that night. The next day I joined the family at the "Presentation of Shelley" lunch with family and friends. :) 

I was originally going to leave in the early morning of 1/5 by bus for the airport, just like Ryan. However, Pablo commented that Leon is a small town and suggested that I might want to look into visiting other cities instead. So we scoped out what's available and I ended up heading down to Madrid on 1/4 in the morning. I attended a Real Madrid vs. Villareal game, which was exciting and good. And I went to Restaurante Sobrino de Botin for dinner, which is certified by the Guiness Book of Records as the oldest restaurant in the world, established in 1725. I originally wanted to go to La Broche, but they weren't open on Sundays.

In conclusion, I had an awesome time. Without Pablo, I think our culinary experience would not have been as terrific. Also having 5 people meant we could order and share many different dishes. I will definitely want to go back. After all, I still have at least Barcelona to visit and so much more food to eat. ^_^

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