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A thought

3.29.2007
I'm in SoCal right now for a procedure my mum had today for her heart. My mum has atrial fibrillation, which according to the American Heart Assocation:

the heart's two small upper chambers (the atria) quiver instead of beating effectively. Blood isn't pumped completely out of them, so it may pool and clot. If a piece of a blood clot in the atria leaves the heart and becomes lodged in an artery in the brain, a stroke results. About 15 percent of strokes occur in people with atrial fibrillation.


My mum's been taking medication for her afib(medical lingo) but today underwent a procedure which reset her heart. The procedure is called an electrical cardioversion where an electric shock is applied to the heart in the hopes of resetting the electrical impulses which causes the chambers of the heart to pump.

Thankfully the procedure went perfectly and my mum's heart beat is back to normal, however she's still on medication for the time being. She'll also be monitored for the next few weeks just in case her heart reverts back to it's afib state. The doctor applied the full energy capable by the defibrilator, yep a similar machine they use to revive heart attack patients like the one unsuccessfully used on my dad. Normally a 50 Joule shock is applied but the doctor went in full force and well, it worked.

I really hope my mum learns from this whole thing. She's overweight, has diabetes, hypertension, and high blood pressure. My dad died of a heart attack, and I don't know what I'd do if my mum went too, much less if she went in the same way. My mum's stubborn though, and no matter how many times I say to her "you have to eat better and exercise", but she barely registers what I say. She's tried a few times to eat better and exercise but all her efforts have been half hearted. I don't know what I can do to make her change her life for the better", and I just don't want to lose my mum. I just hope that this event inspires my mum to change her life.

Although I have many friends, I've never been really close to my family. I grew up in England with only my mum and my dad and had minimal contact with my extended family. I've been to the Phillipines twice, once in 1986 for vacation and once in 1992 after my dad died. When we went for the first time in '86, the time was around Christmas. My mum's family has a tradition of having a huge family reunion. When we showed up at the party, I was amazed by all the people. I never knew I had so much family! Although initially I clung to my mum, I eventually ended up talking to an Aunt an Uncle for what seemed like hours. It might have been only a half-hour, since at my age 30 minutes was an eternity. However, the conversation and the whole reunion was just one of the coolest things ever. I mean still recall it fondly to this very day, even though I was just 7 at the time.

Anyway, I have my Lola(grandmother) and a few Aunt's here in Southern California but I'm not really close with them. I've never been able to develop that bond that other people have with their families either due to the aforementioned geographical influences, my mum's relationship with her family(tenuous at best except with the next youngest sister after her), or the way my mum's extended family develop relationships. My mum's brothers and sisters all seem to live in their own separate worlds. It's really strange. I don't mention my dad's family because we sort of lost touch with them after my dad died and my mum had a falling out with my dad's sister after he died.

I've always been jealous of those who've had that tightness and familiarity with their extended family and it's something I want my kids to have, whether it be my own or my wife's. I'd love for my mum to live long enough to see her grandchildren and just be there for them. I want for them what I didn't have myself.

Wow, this turned into a post I didn't expect.

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Posted at 18:54

Back Home

3.28.2007
Well Jenn, Russell, Liz, Dave, Glos, Mason, and I all got home yesterday around 4pm. The flight was good and went by quick due to some relatively good movies, The Prestige, Night at The Museum, and Deja Vu, and having a bunch friends I could walk around and talk to. I was up probably 26 hours yesterday and am feeling rather jetlagged right now, and I know I'll be dragging later this afternoon when it's around midnight in Italy.

Rome was busy but mostly what I expected from a big European city, and it reminded me a lot of London and Paris. I don't know if I'd go back there, but I would make a brief stop in Rome again.

Florence was by far my favorite portion of the trip. The atmosphere was so much more relaxed than Rome, and I finally felt like I was on vacation when we got to Florence. The city, the surrounding area, everything about Florence and the Tuscan area I liked. Next time I go, and there will most definitely be a next time, I'd like to visit around the October/November or May/June timeframe. Late fall early winter because it's just after harvest and the food is good and you can taste some of the newly bottled vintages. May/June just for the weather and the famous Tuscan sun.

Venice I would again make a brief stopover like Rome. It's a nice city but a little too touristy for my liking. I did love exploring all the alleyways though but in the day and not at night. It's very freaky and disconcerting walking around Venice at night with the long dark secluded alleyways.

Overall a great trip. I loved the food, the wine, the sights, but most of all the people with whom I went. No way would this trip been half has fun if it were not for the people. If you're going to travel some place, then go with some good friends or your significant other, or in some cases both. I really can't think of a better way.

I'm working on a Venice post right now and should have it up later...

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Posted at 08:09

Siena Slumber

3.24.2007
Yesterday was a lazy day. Jenn, Russell, Liz and I went to Siena by bus. We walked around for about five minutes but then found the main square and sat around for a couple of hours doing nothing but enjoying sun. Russell and I did get a frappe(milkshake) while the women got cappucinos. They drink so much coffee that I swear they have caffeine coming out of their pores. Well after the two hours in the sun, we managed to pry ourselves from the seats we had made our homes and made our way over to Il Duomo. I think I'm becoming numb to all the religious iconography and imagery because all the churches look the same. I'll tell ya one thing though, Italians sure like their religion and displaying it to everyone who can see.

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Well after the short trip to the religious place aka Il Duomo, we headed back to the square for lunch(~2pm) and bumped into our friends David, Glosselle, and their son Mason. We then headed over to one of the many little restaurants on the perimeter of the square and had some pizza. Yesterday was actually the first time I ate a pepperoni pizza. The pepperoni here is a little different from back home in that the pepperoni is much more spicy but still very good. The crust here is also very thin, but I'm a fan of very thick crust pizza.

We meandered back to the bus station and on the way bumped into Dave and Glosselle again. They joined us back on the bus ride back to Firenze of which I don't remember much because I was half asleep.

We didn't spend much time back at home because we all went out to grab stuff for dinner that night. We were supposed to make dinner for Dave, Glosselle, Mason, and the tour guide who took us around the Chianti region on Wednesday. However it ended up only being the six of us staying here in the apartment, which was still awesome. I had a great time cooking, drinking wine, and eating. My idea of a perfect evening is having a few people over for some good food, drinks, and music while we enjoy each other's company. I know it sounds a bit cheesy but damn it's hard to think of a better way to spend time. If I'm cooking too, then all the more better.

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Posted at 07:02

Post Wine Tasting Daze

The next day after wine tasting, we were all pretty tired so most of us decided to sleep in. After some breakfast. Jenn, Liz, and I went out for a run. We took a kind of circuitous route not really knowing where we were going, which consequently led us up some rather steep inclines, a number of steps, and a run along the old city wall as well but we eventually made it up to Il Piazzale di Michelangiolo. A little piazza dedicated to Michelangelo. All our climbing paid off in the form of some awesome views of the city.

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We ate our lunch relatively fast because we had to make our way back down into the city to see the David. We had made an appointment through Liz's contact who took us on the wine tour to see the David but only had 15 minutes to make the appointment on time. We couldn't find a single taxi any, so being that we're runners, well, we ran.

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We did eventually find a cab and made our appointment with a minute to spare. The David was pretty cool if not a little intimidating since he's got that huge penis. It'd make Ron Jeremy proud. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the David sinece photography was not allowed, so here's a stock photo:



I know, you can feel the immensity and grandeur of the statue just from looking at the picture...

Anyway after the David we walked around town, did a bit of shopping and called it a day.

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Posted at 01:18

Firenze from Afar

3.23.2007
Posted at 15:40

Wine Tasting Part Dué

3.22.2007
This wine tasting was only sampler to whet our palettes for the winery we were headed to called Casa Emma. Casa Emma produced Chianti Classico and a Supertuscan Merlot. We got a brief tour of the facilities, where one of the winemakers Paolo gave us a little talk about the wine making process and the history of Casa Emma.

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After the tour we were served lunch and the best food I've had in Italy so far. For Antipasti we ate bruschetta, homemade prosciutto, salame with figs, roasted eggplant slices, beans mixed with parsley, olive oil, salt, pepper, served on small bread slices, and roasted yellow peppers with garlic, parsley, olive, salt, pepper, served on top of bread as well. Now that was only appetizers. For the main course we ate a penne with a pine nut, tomato, basil, olive oil sauce that almost tasted like a meat sauce. The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente and is the best pasta I've had so far in Italy. For dessert we had a vin santo served with cantuccini, what Americans call biscotti. The cantuccini is meant to be dipped in the vin santo, of which the latter was very reminiscent of port. I was pretty much a beached whale after lunch.

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Oooh, I totally forgot that we were served wine with each of our courses. Our first wine was a recent harvest Chianti Classico with our antipasti. We were next served a Chianti Classico Riserva and then a Supertuscan merlot with our primi patti, and then with dessert we had the vin santo whicn I mentioned earlier. I ended up buying a bottle of the vin santo I liked it so much.

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After another short drive, we headed to the hamlet of San Gimignano. The hamlet is supposedly the best preserved medieval town in the Chianti region. It was literally like stepping back in time again.

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I would really recommend a wine tour if you make your way to the Chianti region. You get to see so much it's awesome.
Posted at 10:12

Wine Tasting Part I


It's a nice Spring morning here in Florence. The sun is just peaking out over our apartment villa. People are making their wake to work and the aroma of coffee and freshly baked sweet pastries is wafting through the air enticing the senses.

I might have used a bit of poetic license, the smell of maple syrup oatmeal is permeating the air rather than sweet pastries, but that's basically the entire picture. We're all enjoying a rather lazy morning. I got up about a half-hour ago at 9:30 and most of the others staying here got up pretty late as well. We all had a rather long day of wine tasting in the Chianti region in Florence.



We first went to this tiny little medieval village that's been around for hundreds of years. It was awesome walking around the village because it was almost like stepping back in time. There were a few reminders that the village wasn't actually still in medieval times but there were very few.





We next went to the town of Greve which is just down the road from the little village. The town was interesting but it seemed like it was populated with shops geared towards tourists. Although I've realized that all these towns and villages since their inception have been geared towards commerce in one form or another, but now the shops are now a tad more civilized. However, shops like macellerias(meat shops), textile shops, and bakeries still exist.



After a brief walk around town we went down to a wine tasting cellar where we tried a few different wines from the region. We sampled some new harvest chiantis, reserves, and a few supertuscans. The wine tasting process was a little different than most because to taste the wine we first put money on a debit card, we then inserted the card into a slot where the wines were and pushed a button to pour out the wine. I've seen these types of wine tasting places in and around the bay area but apparently I'm the only one.



Posted at 02:09

Vagina Rings

3.20.2007
So I'm sitting here right now surrounded by a sea of estrogen with an islet of testosterone in my vicinity.

One estrogenite was quoted as saying "The wine finished me off nicely"

To which the islet of testosterone replied "That's what she said."

Drunk blogging is awesome.

Important note about vaginal smells:


  1. Accoriding to estrogenite numero uno, a bread like smell is bad indicating a possible yeast infection. A sweet musky aroma however, is normal and aphrodisiac for most men, i.e. it's time to make babies. Awww yeah!!!
  2. Men are genetically engineered to spread their seed. We like spawning. I know that's not related to vaginal smells, but it felt good to put in here.
  3. Estrogenite number four purportedly states that women release oxytocin during intercourse, copulation, fornication, gettin-it-awn, which stimulates feelings of cuddling, nurturing, and all that touchy feely crap.
  4. Europeans don't believe in dryers.


I don't have any pictures of vaginas, but here's a picture of a covered penis:

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Posted at 14:57

Firenze is not fiery

3.19.2007
So I guess I really like running because Sunday I initially intended to only do an 18 mile training run, but ended up running the "entire" Rome Marathon instead. Probably the most fun I've had in a marathon ever. The first 13 miles or so we ran at a relatively slow pace but then a group of us picked up for the next 7 or so. The final 6 miles we took easy and a friend of mine and myself eventually finished in 4:30. My slowest marathon ever by more than an hour but easily the most fun.

During the race, aid stations handed out sponges, from which we made a game. Whoever could kick a sponge over a person's head would get a drink. I got a few good kicks with some nice air and managed to kick a sponge directly at someone's ass which garnered a funny touch to the bum of said kickee. I don't think he knew what hit him.

I can't believe how much manfunk there was in the race. It made me cry.

Even though I didn't officially enter the race I still snagged a medal at the end. Two race officials almost caught me but I just tucked in behind the guy I with whom I was running, and we crossed the finish line together. He told me to take off my shirt to hide the face that I didn't have a bib and walked bare-chested, hairless, and shiny up to the medal givers. A nice little Italian lady put a medal and walked off proudly with my first ever banditted medal. I think I might try to do my long runs in race just because the atmosphere is so cool and makes running the long miles much easier.

Oooh! At the beginning of the race music was playing in the background and initially there were a few random songs playing, but then the Olympic theme music came over speakers, which was a bit cool. The next piece of music that came over the speaker system was just awesome. They played the finale music from the first Star Wars movie. I had a total geek moment and giggled like a little school girl. It's been a dream of mine to receive a medal with that music playing in the background. Just to even hear the music at a race was awesome. Yeah, I totally geeked out.

Here's a couple of random pictures I took, more to come later:





I have a lot more to type but I'm sleepy and my fingers won't allow me to type anym

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Posted at 13:05

It's Alive!

Well I've got some time on the internet and I've found a place where I can put some of my thoughts down. Blogger wasn't working properly on the computer I'm using, but Facebook seems to work.

Had a long day they other day. I really can't say yesterday because Wednesday and Thursday sort of just bleneded into one extremely long day. Vivek an I traveled for at least 26 hours from the time we left my aparment until the time we got to the hotel. A few things of note.
  1. The Frankfurt airport sucks. All the signs are horribly misleading and there isn't a good map in the entire place. the maps that were available were bare bones and didn't give you any point of reference. Basically Vivek and I had to ask periodically which way to go. At one point we were told "There is no possibility of going down here" when we really wanted to go down.
  2. The "restaurants" in the Frankfurt airport suck too. Vivek and I ended up going to a grocery store in the airport and buying food there instead. At least I got a beer though.
  3. I tend to devolve into a bumbling idiot when I only get a couple of hours sleep within a 24 hour period. Couple that with a different language and you might as well just write me off. I sort just mumble incoherently and walk around aimlessly. It was awesome.


Apart from the sleep deprived travel ordeal everything else has been great here. A bunch of friend and myself went to the Vatican and Sistine Chapel, which was a lot more touristy than I thought it would be. We had some great pizza for lunch(4:30pm) at this tiny hole in the wall. My favorite type of place to eat, we then followed lunch with dinner(9pm), after a brief stop at the Spanish steps, at a really fantastic restaurant where I had home made maccheroncini, like long skinny rigatoni, with porcini mushrooms accompanied by an excellent chianti. I can't say enough about how good the food is here. After a bit of walking and a delicious creme-de-caramel gelato, we hit up the Trevi fountain and finally went back to our hotel rooms.

The Vatican reminded me very much of The Louvre, and much like The Louvre I was overwhlemed by sensory overload. There's just way many things to see and absorb that my brain just turned off. i'd really need much more time in the Vatican so I could admire all the art fully. However, much like The Louvre I'd need at least a week to do that.

I'm already itching for Florence because Rome seems like all the other European cities I've been to. Too many people, too many cars, and just too much city. Florence should be a lot more laid back, so I can relax better. Venice should be awesome too.

I've taken about a 150 photos already and i've only been here a day. I like photography.

My Italian is improving. My friends think I sound Italian. Now if I can get an Italian person to agree with them, then I'll be set.

I'm going to try and sign up for the Rome marathon. I'm not going to run it all, but I'd like to say that I've run it.

There are tons of Irish people here for the 6 nations rugby tournament. We were at a wine bar tonight, and a bunch of Irish folk just burst out in song outside. It was cool. Saint Patricks's day is going to kick ass.

My brain is tired and so am I. I'm headed off to sleep. I'll probably be on a computer again soon with another update for anyone who is reading. Is there anyone out there?

I also must apologize for any typos or spelling mistakes. The keyboard I'm using is horrible and seems to only pick up every other letter I type, so if you see the word fck or sht, you know what I mean.

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Posted at 12:57

Getlatos are awesome. Crapp internet sucks. I have to type everything in the subject line.

3.16.2007
Posted at 16:51

There was a great post here, but the internet ate it.

3.15.2007

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Posted at 15:29

1200s

3.08.2007
I did 4x1200m this morning. The rest of the crew did 10x400m, but I had done 8x400m on Tuesday and really didn't want to do them again. I felt pretty good on them and averaged around 4:35 min/mile pace, which is equivalent to about a 6:08 mile. Much like my 400s, I'd like to bring my mile average to around 5:45. The weather was a bit chilly this morning but still great for running.

The weather was absolutely perfect on Wednesday however. I did a little under 6 miles and finished in a time that completely surprised me because I didn't think I was running that fast. I had an awesome run. The weather was actually good enough that I ran without my shirt. Unfortunately I scared a few children and some small animals, however most people prudently averted their eyes. One old guy did sort of wink at me funny too...hmmm.

I'm supposed to do 6 again tomorrow and then 15 Saturday. I'm running with someone on Saturday, so I'm going to run to where we're meeting up. I should be able to get 15 in easy on Saturday. Sunday is supposed to be an off day but I have soccer, so I might take it easy on soccer. Although that might be a bit hard to do since I really get into it.

I've been playing defense lately, usually right or left back, something I used to do when I was a kid. I actually forgot how much fun it was to defend. Being the last line before the goalie is cool. Although I need to work on my positioning more, but that'll come quick.
Posted at 16:27

back to training

3.07.2007
Well I'm officially back on the training wagon.

The race: San Diego.
The date: June 3, 2007
The goal: To qualify for Boston and also erase all the bad memories from last year.

I did 8 x 400 last night. I was only able to do them at around 80 seconds with the penultimate 400 clocking in at 75. I've never been able to run my quarters fast, but I'd like to get my average down to somewhere between 70 and 75. I'm pretty tired from a boxing class I took on Monday and also from fighting off this pseudo-cold. I'm not exactly sick but I feel just a little off to know that I'm not exactly one hundred percent well. Today I'm running 6 miles. I'm going to train with a variation on this program:

http://runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=5997&c=36

I'll probably only run 5 days a week instead of 6, but I was very strong last year when I did run 6 days. Consequently, I might be running a lot again, but I don't want to feel run down or tired. I'm also only going to run track once a week as opposed to twice since I always seem to get little injuries when I run on the track too much. I hope to get down to around 160 before race day, so I need to strike a balance between fueling correctly and not starving myself.

Training can be very scientific, but I never really meticulously monitor my training as a scientist would monitor their experiment. I'm more of a run how you feel type, so if I'm having a good day I'll run hard and vice-versa. I sort of have the same approach to running as I do with cooking. I'll take a recipe, or in this case a training program, and modify the ingredients to suit my needs. At least I have one thing in common with a scientist. I do like to experiment.

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Posted at 08:13

Bubbly

3.06.2007
So I'm in the process of brewing beer, and every morning I wake up and check how my beer is doing in its primary fermenter. Well I was adjusting the blanket I had put around when the thing started bubbling...a lot. Every couple of seconds my bucket would burp. I'm thinking to myself, shit, what the hell did I do? The past few days not even a whimper, but now suddenly after adjusting the blanket it starts burping like a soda drinking baby. Water is literally gurgling out of the airlock, so I jump online to track down any information about this bubbling. I finally some blurb that says it's okay. I would have called the beer place that sold me my stuff, but it was 6:00am and they're closed on a Tuesday. I'm just happy nothing's wrong with my baby. At least I hope.

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Posted at 09:15