Browse Author: beakatude

Genius

p1000284a.jpg

It’s T minus 2 days until the half marathon and I’m feeling excited to be running my one and only event this year. With that excitement also comes a sense of skepticism. When I first registered for this race two years ago, I was one of the first among my circle of friends to know about it and thought it would be an interesting race to sign up for. Now in it’s 4th year, the race has gotten a lot of hoopla and has lost a bit of its athleticism (at least in my mind). Sure, it’s for a good cause and you still have to train (sorta) but there’s something about this race that some purists would scoff at. Nowadays, it seems more like a fun excuse to buy really cute workout clothes and pay 80 bucks (registration) for a Tiffany necklace that you receive after “running” 13.1 or 26.2 miles with hundreds of other women. Yes, I am guilty for using the finisher’s necklace as a part of my motivation but running is running and that’s what I’m really here for.

On Wednesday night, ClubRunSF held their last training run of the season with a 3-miler and then big carboload party, which was quite a spectacle. Just imagine 500+ women in a 5-story NikeTown fueled with excitement, money to burn, and a little alcohol and you’ve got one of the best marketing schemes ever.

This year’s race colors are pink, white, and plum, which make for a very cute line of running shirts, shorts, caps, jackets, and anything else running-related. To make matters worse they give us a 20% discount off of all purchases made that evening and a chance to win a pair of $900 Tiffany diamond earrings. Let me give you a little perspective on the “devotion” these ladies have to the event and their Nike “madness”. In the middle of the party, the fire alarm went off. As a result, the entire store needed to be evacuated. Everyone was asked to put down their merchandise and go downstairs and hang out on the sidewalk. You’d think that this would lower their overall sales but think again. I’d have to say there were at least 475 of the 500 women still outside and waiting in the cold for a good 30 minutes for the chance to file back into the store to continue shopping. That’s devotion for ya.

At the end of the night, I too bought something. I got myself a hoodie to make up for the one I did not get the first year I ran this race. The race was still in its infancy two years ago and sold out of almost every item by the time I had arrived in SF for the weekend. You may think I’m being silly but most girls who have entered this race once before will continue to register (regardless of whether they plan to train or not) and purchase a new race outfit each year. As I’ve said time and time again. Whoever came up with this race for Nike is a genius.

Oh yeah…and let me share with you the additional marketing twist to this crazy race this year. They’ve decided to incorporate Apple into this marketing scheme by introducing their faker Nike+ challenge. Basically, if you didn’t get a spot in the actual race, you can register with Nike+ and use your iPod sensor to log 13.1 miles on the actual race day for a piece of the excitement. I am one of those suckers and will be running (unofficially) alongside Susie and Vyl on Sunday for a Tiffany keychain (not necklace) and a loser-time t-shirt that both get mailed to me 4-6 weeks after the race. Fortunately for me, registration costed half the price and I may actually walk home with a finisher’s necklace too if I’m sneaky enough. Yes, I admit it. I’m a sucker for great marketing too. Now if only I could figure out a way to get a piece of all this…

what a waste…

p1000178b.jpgThis post is a little reflection of my first experience flying with Virgin America. I’m a frequent Southwest and JetBlue customer and this airline was worth checking out.

First of all, I scored $39 one-way tickets from SFO-LAX. Plus. However, they have only 5 daily flights to LAX right now, which seem to fill up quickly for peak travel days/times. Minus. They fly out of SFO, which has a direct connection to BART and have assigned seats. Plus. When I arrived at the gate (on time) they were delayed about 20 minutes. Minus. They had plush leather seats and power outlets in coach along with personal entertainment with DirectTV. Plus. I was pretty hungry and they didn’t give out any snacks. Minus.

p1000186b.jpg

The TV and video game remote is tucked away in the arm rest. That’s pretty cool.

p1000204b.jpg

Who doesn’t enjoy TV on a flight?! They also use Google Maps to track the flight.

Overall impressions of Virgin? It’s good and comparable to JetBlue minus the snacks and reliable entertainment. It has power for your mobile devices, which is a definite plus (esp. for cross-country flights). The purple mood lighting and loungey music is a cute touch but completely unnecessary. I would have to say that it’s a good competitor with JetBlue. Just beware of the rising prices as the airline becomes more mainstream. Until then, expect a half-empty plane (on off-peak flights) with a few kinks they have to work out. Would I fly with them again? Sure. At least I know that I have another option when I fly home or to New York.

Now for my return flight…

On my return trip today, my expected 4-hour journey (including drive time, flight, and commute on BART) turned into 7. It’s not all Virgin’s fault but it definitely tainted my first flight back with them.

My flight was scheduled for 11:40 am. We left the house at 10:15 with plenty of time to get to the airport and for check-in. We got to the airport exit around 10:40 and that’s when the day turned sour. The exit was closed and my dad and I had to circle the airport for another 45 minutes trying to find a way into the terminals. A couple of wrong turns, a closed off intersection, and unusually congested streets resulted in me getting through security and to the gate by 11:30 where the plane had already pushed back. *grr* I was booked on the 1:55 pm flight and had to hang out in Terminal 6 (probably the worst terminal ever) for another 2 hours.

Once aboard the plane, I nearly knocked at guy in the head with my backpack and had to sit next to a really snobby lady who kept scowling at me. As we pushed off and started our taxi, the plane paused with an announcement from above. There was rain in SF and we were ordered to sit on the runway for another 25 minutes. What?! By the time we took off, it was 1:30 and a half hour past the landing time of my original flight. Argh. The flight was bumpy and the DirectTV was not working the entire time. Thank goodness for the power outlet because I was then able to sort through this weekend’s photos. We landed at 4:00 pm and I was restless. I rushed over to the BART station, which is actually IN the airport and got home by 5:00 pm. I can’t believe I spent my day off traveling.

homecoming

I made my first trip back to Cerritos (and Irvine) this weekend and it was a lot of fun. I got to sleep in my old room and in my old bed. I got to wake up in the Magical House where breakfast was ready as soon as I got up on Sunday.  Woohoo!

p1000241b.jpgOn Sunday, I drove down to Irvine to pick up some supplies for my inservice and stopped by the old neighborhood to say “hello” to my old neighbors. Luckily they were home and we got to do a little catching up. Later that day, I had lunch with Patti and it was so nice to hang out with her again. In the evening, I went to my uncle’s retirement dinner. I also got to meet little Brandon for the first time, which was a special treat. Cole is growing up fast and pretty soon little Brandon will be running alongside him as his sidekick. That evening I spent the night at the Suminos’ in preparation for my presentation in Irvine the next day.

On Monday morning, Kenji dropped me off on his way to dropping Cole off to work and it was a pretty early morning for all of us. I got to ECLC and it was just like old times…going into work and messing with the photocopiers in a rush to get everthing done before 8 am. It sounded like my presentation went well. I had to present the same material to two different groups within the span of 3 hours, which ended up being pretty tiring. My throat was so sore afterwards and I was pooped. I got to catch up with old co-workers and had lunch with the OT team. Everyone is pretty stressed out already and it’s only October! The girl who filled my spot is pretty frazzled at this point and I spent about two hours consulting with her about certain sticky cases. Dave gave me a ride home that afternoon and it felt like old times. Later in the evening Brother and I took my parents out for a Lawry’s dinner. It was an early birthday dinner for my mom and a great time for the four of us to just be together again.

Here are photos from my weekend.

quite a pair

My dad introduced me to this Japanese-made show. The premise of this video is a monkey and dog trained to deliver a package across town. The monkey is trained to remember the path (turning at certain intersections, crossing a small stream, etc.), keep the package in his doggie’s backpack, and deliver the package to a friend. The dog actually belongs to the monkey and they work together to accomplish their goal. It’s so cute that he holds the dog’s leash, puts the package back in the backpack when it falls out, and has to problem-solve his way through the route. You can see him trying to remember which way to turn and coaxing his dog across the water.

In other episodes, their assignments include buying a certain pair of shoes at a store down the street, take photos of animals at the zoo, picking up a certain type of cheese from the store, and going through a park and into a forest to gather a certain type of mushroom. The monkey has been trained to tie up the dog before going into a store and throwing away trash that he sees along the way. He even carries a bag that holds money and he knows to pay the lady at the counter with the money in his bag. This all sounds pretty silly but you just have to watch it to understand. That’s Japanese TV programming for ya.

And the weekend continues…

My weekend started on Thursday night and it’s still going.  On Friday we went to a Happy Hour/Fundraiser.  The drinks were cheap and I gave $5 to a good cause.  The bar reminded me of one of my brother’s art shows.  It’s a large gallery filled with art and photographs with a DJ spinning on the 1s and 2s.  I think this is what I prefer over the bar we went to on Thursday night.  I could actually see and hear my friends without straining your eyes or ears and I wasn’t disturbed by guys and girls trying too hard to impress one another.

Since Happy Hour started right after work, we didn’t get to eat dinner until late.  Instead of going home for a bowl of cereal or stopping by the McDonald’s on the way home, we ended up at the Food Court in Berkeley.  This weekend is also a little 10-year reunion for a bunch of my friends who went to Cal and they were in the mood for a stroll down memory lane.  So, we tagged along for a late night meal of Korean BBQ and hot donuts.  It was another late night but I got to sleep in this time.

I’m SO over it.

On Thursday night, we picked up Dayantha from SFO at 11pm and headed straight for a bar in the Marina.

When we arrived at the bar, I looked at my watch and it was just before midnight. I thought to myself, “Hm…this is going to be a late night and a rough morning at work.” But I endured and had an interesting time people watching. As I sat on one of the plush suede benches located in the center of the bar, it was clear that at least 75% (if not more) of the people there were at least 5 years younger than us. It was also interesting to watch the dynamics of the crowd. There were boys and girls of all sizes and varieties. Over to my left, I was a nerdtastic group of people bumping and grinding each other as if they had been repressed for years and finally had a place to express their sexual frustrations. Behind me on the dance floor was a group of cougars dancing with a bunch of random guys. Over to my right was a group of guys oozing with hair gel and cologne trying to pick up on any female in its path. Awesome. This is when I decide that I’m too old for this. It’s late, I’m not drinking, and Shua is asleep next to me on the bench. The best part of the evening, I think, was the late-night slice of pizza we had before heading home.