A Case of the Runs

I don't like making these, it's a fun tradition, right? Key word: fun . This means I won't stress over these too much. These are more like... guidelines! I get the sense that 2011 will be a good year, whether or not I adhere to these. I have always liked odd-numbered years more than even. ------ Before we get to 2011, let's talk 2010. Here's what I wanted to accomplish : "2010 will be yet another busy year, and an important one at that. My main goals... are pretty obvious: progress in school and career... Other things I want to do are to keep racing, read more non-management books, become more aware of the world, watch less "junk TV," cook more, and take better care of my health. These are all things I had been doing in 2009 and just want to intensify in the upcoming year." How did I do? Well, I took the loosey-goosey route last year, so I can't cross off items (which is why I did it differently for 2011). But... - school: Wrapped up some c...

Here's another installment of my Random Photo Entries (this is a long edition -- click photos to make them larger)! I haven't felt much like blogging over the holiday (I have means of posting still), but I am falling behind on my photo-posting, so here's the scoop: Above: Elf hat = volunteering to hand gifts out with Santa for about 300 disadvantaged/special needs kids. There was a wide array of reactions such as skepticism, crying, cuteness, and gift-giving. Above: Walking out with Santa. Above: A few days later, Mammoth -bound in the rain... I found this fruity oatmeal at McD's... wow! Above: Bakery in Bishop, CA. Along with their delicious homemade bread, their veggie sandwich (shown here) was truly the best veggie sandwich I've ever had. It was simple -- lettuce, tomato, alfalfa sprouts, red onion, avocado, swiss -- but grand. Above: The store-front. Above: It was sooo snowy that chains were required, and even then, it was slippery. Thank goodness for handy...

Still catching up on dining I did in October. =/ In honor of Mrs. McWang's (undisclosed number) birthday, "The Ukrainian," Mr. McWang, and I went to Maison Akira in Pasadena, CA for dinner. Here are all the fancy-pants dishes we had. This restaurant was Frenchy and not really "Akira"/Japanese at all, in my opinion. Thanks to Mr. McWang for his flashlight (gotta start carrying around one of those for dark restaurants like this one!), which made the pictures look so much better. Wish we'd thought of that sooner! Above: Our free appetizer: potato-mozzarella balls. Above: Having just run nearly 22 miles that morning , my hungry self ordered two half-sized salads. On the left is a truffle oil one that was just plain greens in some pretty fragrant oil. And the right is a candied-walnut salad in an Asian dressing. Above: I can barely remember who ordered this, but doesn't it look fancy? Above: Mrs. McWang's lobster bisque. It smelled very muc...

Update: written 7/15/10 This item has gone from a "wish item" to a "gear review" in a mere two years! For "The Ukrainian's" birthday in July, I decided to order him an Endurance Bag. He had mentioned that he was thinking about a new gym bag. I saw him looking at some as we were shopping together. As luck would have it, the Endurance Bag warehouse was closing for the summer, so I got free shipping. However, this compelled me to get a bag of my own. So given the size and weight of this package, it was a savings! The "ultra" version of their bag is $49.95. Not cheap for a bag, but it's not like I've ever bought a gym bag before. My first was from my company and the second from my sisters (see picture below). Plus, the ones we were looking at in the store were already in the $30-range... Above: Three years ago... (pic credit goes to Tea Time) Above: The shipping shot. Above: All (over)packed! So here's a picture of my packed Endurance...

Remember the term "baller"?? It cropped up when I was in middle school, and basically anything that was cool was "baller." I suppose it's because basketball players invented this term to bolster their coolness factor. So baller! I think I'm going to take another break from sugar soon, but before I do, check out these "ball"-shaped desserts made recently: Above: Perfected macaroons , Take II. This is NOT vegan, though the other treats in this post are. Added to half the "dough" was cocoa powder, which gave them a subtle chocolate flavor. This batch was a bit drier than the last because the coconut shreads were old and drying. :( Above: Next, I tried to make Fig Truffles a-la Food Network . The original recipe is for fig-ginger truffles, but "The Ukrainian" somehow used up all the crystallized ginger. Dried cranberries were a substitute.... Above: The outcome. Not bad for my first try at truffles... healthy ones at that...

Attention, everyone! Here's a picture of my nerdy high-school self with my Track & Field coach. He was my second coach, after my first coach decided to focus on his football coaching. My first coach will ALWAYS be my coach , even if he's been gone for two years now, and once I find an acceptible pic of him with me, I will post it up here! Like the swirl effect I used to anonymize my high school's name printed on my jersey?? Here's a brief summary of my high school Track & Field career: - joined because I ultimately wanted to try out for the basketball team - made friends (including my high school bestie, E) and decided I was too short for basketball, anyway - ran 2 seasons; my team won the league twice during that time - have competed in: high jump, 100/400m relays, 100/200/400m individual, 100m hurdles - my bad hurdling debut resulted in the temporary nickname, Tumblina - however, I've tried ALL events except pole vaulting - best event was the 200m but was ...

On a cold Saturday evening, "The Ukrainain" and I finally went to Dumpling House after long-existing intentions of doing so. If I could rank my favorite foods of all-time, dumplings would be somewhere within the top five. Above: Upon walking in, free tea and this celery/tofu mixture are given while the dumplings are cooking. Since the dumplings are homemade, this process can draw out a little depending of the traffic in the (small) place. Above: "The Ukrainian" ordered three kinds of dumplings. Most had pork in them. This was one variant. Above: The second variant. Above: The third variant. Due to the thick skin on these fried ones, they can get filling!!! Above: My only veggie option was these tofu/mushroom ones. I wish I had done a better job showing you the fillings , but these were indeed delicious with a skin of correct firmness. The prices are not that bad... Each dish comes in around $6, but you get ample dumplings for the amount. (The ...

I have always been an iPod person. See my entries about my iPod#1 , iPod#2 and iPod#3 . I also had a 256MB one by Creative before any of these before my sisters got me the first one (which still was totally the most expensive and awesome gift I've ever received). Yeesh, have I gone through a lot of mp3 players! However, iPod#2 went to "The Ukrainian" when I got iPod#3 . (Can you believe he'd never had an MP3 player?) And iPod#1 is with my little sister. So really, only one remains in my possession. So you can imagine how redundant I felt buying yet another MP3 player. Meet the Sony W Series Walkman . Yes, "walkman." I used to carry those walkm(en) around high school and thought they were already old-fashioned. But this is totally cutting-edge. Above: Ha ha... don't mind the cat butt in this pic!! :) You may have seen these promoted at running expos lately. This looks like a double-bluetooth device that goes on your head to wirelessly play music. But i...

Back in June, I had purchased a pair of custom-fit insoles from a running store. I will not give any names, since I had a great experience with them, but the insoles simply did not work out. Still, as an overpronator and person who still hasn't seemed to be able to find the perfect running shoes : OrthoLite contacted me about trying their insoles. The first things that caught my attention about these are that they are made from recyclable materials and are anti-microbial. Their advertised features: - Designed to fit all athletic and outdoor shoes or boots - Made with open-cell foam, allowing air to circulate around the foot, keeping it cooler and drier inside the shoe - Wicks moisture away from your foot leaving your foot cooler and drier - Unique spring-back technology ensures that your insole won’t flatten out and it will retain over 95% of its thickness over time - Our patented anti-microbial formulation (approved by the EPA and FDA) fights fungus, bacteria and shoe odor - Li...