SATC

Just watched Sex and the CIty movie with some girlfriends. I had fun! It was like watching four episodes of SATC all in a row. The writing was not a sharp as a lot of the TV episodes but I didn’t mind. I still enjoyed it.

Surprise trip

I was reading my emails, as I normally do first thing in the morning. One email had a subject of “Houston visit” and in the message, it said “I think ideally myself, Nathan and Liezel should attend.” I stopped and read the line again. Attend what? I looked at the subject line. Houston? I haven’t been told about any of this. Hmmmm....

Turns out there’s a strategic meeting next week with a customer of ours. Houston, here I come. As I said in my previous post, unpredictable...

Good thing I’m gone Tuesday to Thursday, which means I won’t have to miss my dragon boat practices on Monday and Friday.

Not what I thought

Funny how things turn out sometimes. Last fall, I had a tentative goal of trying out for the False Creek OC6 team competing in the Moloka’i Hoe in Sept 2008. This is a 41-mile open ocean race which crosses the channel between Oahu and Molokai. I signed up in a gym and got small boat coaching throughout the fall.

Fast forward to Jan 2008. Due to his failing health, I had to accompany my dad back to the Philippines. I stayed for four weeks. Then a few weeks later in late March, just as I was getting back into paddling shape, I had to go to London for two weeks. By the tme I got back in April, I had missed quite a few time trials already and I was not in shape at all to do time trials. It’s amazing how in just a few weeks, I lagged so far behind the other paddlers.

Also spending time with my dad made me question what I am doing with my time. Maybe I should spend my time doing other stuff, aside from just paddling. How about all the other stuff I want to do, like photography and learning a new language? Perhaps I need more balance.

It is now mid-May and I am happy to say that I have been learning French for the last seven weeks. I also joined a book club (thanks, Yvette). I have been paddling, too. I was going out 2 to 3 times a week. But as of last week, I was asked by my dragon boat team to paddle (I was just going to call for them) so now, I have to train for Alcan which means I’ll have to be on the water at least 5 times a week.

So far, this year is not what I thought it would be. I didn’t think I’d be dragon boating but now I am. I thought I’d be paddling OC6 more but I’m not really. I didn’t think I’d be travelling a lot but I have. But it’s all good. I’d rather have unpredictable than boring...

Schmap: California Photo Shortlist

Two photos taken during our 2005 trip to San Francisco and Napa Valley have been short-listed for inclusion in the Schmap California Guide. I got an email in Flickr asking me if we’d like to submit the photos for consideration. Although I don’t think these photos (this and this) are particularly great shots, it’s still kinda cool to be considered. Maybe they’ll even pick them for their site! Keep your fingers crossed...

10K Sun Walk

On April 20, I walked the Sun Run route with my colleagues Yvette, Patrick, and Yiting. This is my third year participating in the Sun Run but this is the first time that I’m walking it. And no training, no GPS, no time-to-beat goal, no nothing. In fact, Yvette offered me the opportunity to join her only a few days before the actual event! I figured I walk 10km when I go shop at an outlet mall anyway, so I should be okay.

The Sun Run is a whole different experience when you walk it. I was able take pictures along the way and actually soak in the sights and sounds. In previous Sun Runs, my entire focus was being on pace to finish in my target time that really, all I saw was my virtual partner in my Garmin GPS telling me to “Go faster...”.

It was quite a cold day and I was very glad it was not raining. Once we started walking, the cold didn’t bother us too much at all. I enjoyed the walking experience. My hip flexors were sore but otherwise, I felt fine. Our time was 1 hour and 42 minutes. Not bad!






More pics here...