the hills

anyone else as addicted to this installment of MTV's trash TV as I am? I guess you can put it in the "guilty pleasures" column, but I actually find this one entertaining. (guess these days, I am too easily amused.)

How is Lauren going to be betrayed by her friends this week?
Will Heidi ever have the balls to ditch Spencer?
And more...

And the season finale is next Monday. Damn. That's ok, the next season of The Bachelor is coming soon to fulfill my trash TV fix...

wall street will be more crowded than usual this year

so when I let our company captain know that we were shut out of this year's overcrowded race, we tried to find something else in lieu of that...but the catch was that it had to be a weeknight to cater to commuters and hangovers...

we came up with what will probably be another overcrowded race-I have a feeling that a lot of other companies may follow our lead...

But the real, burning question-how long or short will the course be this year? I do intend to send an email to all my co-workers running this saying "If your time seems off, it probably is." (Though when I ran it in '04 the distance was supposedly right...who knows!)

Now I got 2 months to get my groove back so I can defend my title of finishing first among my co-workers...but it ain't going well at all. More to follow in another post...just not right now.

now playing: "temperature" ~ sean paul

i guess everyone can tell that i need a drink

i leave my desk for 15 minutes and find a bottle of rosé brut champagne mysteriously sitting on my chair.

coincidentally, this one project that has been the bane of my existence for the last month has finally gone live (quote from a programmer-"the Messiah will come before this goes live") apparently the champagne was a gift from the salesperson on the project (who i hope was able to tell that i have been none too happy for the last month!!)

nice, but still doesn't make up for the lost personal time (not to mention the domino effect on other projects...)

and oh yeah, this is my 300th post. i dont know whether to thank all readers or apologize :-p

before glamour blogged about dating

was looking through a back issue of Cosmo that I had and saw my old favorite column-the monthly Dating Diary. written first by a couple NYC women, then a NYC guy, then a Chicago guy, it's pretty entertaining.

i was able to re-read some of it thanks to the wayback machine...check it out here or here. it's good stuff...

(though unfortunately makes my dating life look sad in comparison...)

new traffic guidelines?

Have there been new traffic guidelines set in NYC for pedestrians and bikers last time I checked?

Is it now OK for bikers to run right into pedestrians while the pedestrian had the right of way-meaning having the walk signal?

(ok, I did have the iPod on and didn't hear the biker honking, but that should be a non-issue because he did NOT have right of way. or so I thought.)

I'm OK, just a little shaken and very pissed off. Like this week is not going bad enough...

a girl can dream

OK, call me crazy, but I actually really like this commercial...besides the song being one of my favorites...well...a girl can dream that Derek Jeter-esque hotties look at me like that when I'm running, right? :)

(key word here is "dream," kids.)

in the blink of an eye...

whoa!!

Am I reading this right? This year's Corporate Challenge maxxed out registration in one day??? I didn't even know registration was open!! (And I doubt anyone in my company did...at least no one said anything.)

Now I have an excuse to not do it this year!! (though last year actually wasn't so bad-since I got a decent start and my colleagues actually got our act together for post-race drinks.)

spot the bloggers

how the Flyers spend a snowy Friday night the night before a cancelled points race...

(and yeah, I know either myself or someone else has used the title before...)

pointless race

as much as i hate winter, never have i been so glad that it came when it did.

tomorrow's NYRR 8000-which was at the ungodly hour of 7:30 am! (i can understand it in August, but in mid-March? though I bet that was because of the 8K champs afterwards) has not only been pushed back a half-hour, but will no longer be a club points race. which honestly was the only reason I signed up. whether i actually run it or not will be a game-day decision, but at least that pressure is off...

still doesn't mean I'm thrilled with this weather. I'm not. especially after those 2 spring teasers this week.

update 3/17:

looks like the decision was made for me, today was turned into a "fun run," but considering how it was a workout walking through the snow last night, i didn't even bother setting the alarm this morning...and seems that quite a few others at last night's Flyers happy hour were relieved too that it became a pointless race...

so what the hell do i do with the extra days?

i got a surprise when I was emailed my '07 attendance history today...

so since i am in my 5th year of torture tenure here, apparently i get an extra week of vacay this year...so 3 weeks instead of 2 (in addition to 5 personal days, 4 summer days, and about a month's worth of banked sick days from the last coupla years that I probably will never use up...)

and i'm not even excited about it. seriously, what will I do with an extra week? i can't even use up the 2 weeks I have previously been given, I always carry at least 5 days over each year...

"we hope this letter finds you in last place"

Episode 4 of Amazing Race All-Stars will forever go down in history as the best.elimination.ever.
(Moz...I know you agree!) Talk about karma being a bitch...now just please stay off the TV screen forever.

And let's see...the Great Danes have bettered last year's 16 seed, and the Terps have a better seed than Dook!! should be one interesting tournament...

hmmm...both of these things almost make up for the craptastic performance this morning. in case anyone is wondering, i am not doing a re-crap, it's not exactly something I want to "re-live." All I know is I am calling the doctor this week, as I cannot take any more of this crappy running...

guess there's another way to hit the wall...

yeah, guess i got off too easy in the marathon :)

ok, even though i did have a conversation with my boss last month, I'm still not completely out of the woods, especially on one project (which is one that is also trying the patience of several others) let's see...Monday i was at work til 10pm, Tuesday until midnight, Wednesday until 8 pm. you can imagine what Thursday was like, right?

Repeat of this day. I really felt like I hit a mental and physical wall...my body was so exhausted that it just said "stop" (well after i turned on the computer to email my group and say I was taking a sick day) and slept until about 2 and barely left my bed all day.

Well the fact that this has happened twice in two months I think is a warning sign, and I'm tired of feeling like crap day in and day out, not to mention my running being affected too. I'm also tired of doctors (primary care physicians) who tell me that nothing is wrong with me and pretty much treat me like I'm a couch potato, when I know runners/athletes/active people do have different needs...so if anyone knows of any good doctors in the NYC area, I'm looking for recommendations!! (I do have a suspicion of what's going on, but I have yet to have a thorough test for it...partially because one said doctor says I don't have it if I were able to run the marathon...)

And to think I'd be more excited about Daylight Savings Time coming earlier. I'm just more bummed about losing an hour of sleep. Thank god for 10:15 am race starts...

and on the topic of chocolate...

found this one courtesy of Madame LaBlog...I guess the fact that this is my favorite type of chocolate makes this quiz somewhat accurate...

You are White Chocolate

You have a strong feminine side with a good bit of innocence thrown in. Whether your girlish ways are an act or not, men like to take care of you. You are an understated beauty, and your power is often underestimated!

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

shades of college

yeah, even though i went to a "party school" for college, i rarely partook in the activity of drinking earlier in the day (e.g., "kegs and eggs" around St. Patrick's Day)...ok, there was ParkFest in the spring...and opening ceremonies for Greek Week...but today kinda felt like a throwback to those college days.

Today was the Coogan's 5K (I'm too lazy to write out the full name) and as you all know, short races are not my favorite, especially when I have to travel a distance for it (5K's in NJ were an exception since I stayed at the parentals and could drive instead of rely on public transportation.) BCG was trying to talk me into running and I struck a compromise-only if we front-loaded. It's 4 miles up Broadway from the west 80s, so why not? We got the "frontloading queen" Runner26 to join us too.

This morning I was like "why the hell am I doing this..." Running up Broadway felt like mountain climbing and my legs were just not getting with the program. Finally we made it up to 168th and Broadway with plenty of time to drop our bags and line up (and just want to add, all 3 of us looked like triplets with our matching black Flyer long-sleeve shirts. I just wish I had decided to wear a white hat too! :) )

The starting horn sounded, somewhat unexpectedly. Part of me really didn't want to race this thing, but the other part of me was discouraged by the sluggish miles beforehand and just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible (and I didn't even have my iPod on me!), so I just decided to try and tempo it as I did last week. I can say, there are 2 reasons why this would not be an ideal PR course-course is way too crowded (especially the parts where we are restricted to one side of the street) and monster hills, worse than Central Park. Both those factors slowed me down, though the downhill mile 3 + .1 was welcomed.

Splits according to my watch: 8:55/9:01/8:12/:46-26:54, 8:40 pace (dammit, the jig is up, NYRR fixed the times...)

OK run, I guess...though still missing my motivation to race...

...but not the motivation to partake in the post-run festivities at Coogan's. The Flyer turnout was quite low and they left on the early side, but I hung out with Uptown Girl, Sempre Libera and a bunch of their other TRD teammates and downed 3 pints of beer (or something close to that) in 2+ hours...a leisurely brunch on the west side later (I was kinda wary of sampling the Coogan's food), before we knew it, it was 3 pm...a shower and a nap or 2 later, where the hell did the day go?

But I guess I need it every once in awhile. And I may even be convinced to do this one again next year...

there is such thing as being too rich...

IMG_4464
Originally uploaded by weapong.

So even though I worked in the area for 5 years, and frequented City Bakery for things like coffee and cherry muffins, I had never sampled their famous hot chocolate until the other day.

OMG-was way, way too rich, even for me...like drinking a melted chocolate bar. I almost felt like I would go into a sugar-and-chocolate coma.

I think I will be sticking to the coffee and muffins from now on...

devil with the blue dress on

yeah, i figure the title was appropriate given my attire for Club Night-and don't anyone start about how I really am the devil. (Oh, and this was the other dress I was deciding between for the Flyer awards gala.)

If anyone remembers, I organized the Flyer tables last year and was a sucker and volunteered to do it again this year. Though I did have a teammate help me out, it was a little bit more of a task this year, betweeen getting down to the wire to get recruits and communications between NYRR and us being not as good as they were last year...but whatever, we got the job done. Fellow blogger BCG joined me and 18 others to celebrate our team yet again!!

Our teammates had done good this evening...not only did our men get an award for second in the Open B Division (guys, this year will be your year!) but our veteran superstar won the award for her age group...I thought she was robbed last year, so was very glad to see her get it this year!! :) (and also inspiration that hitting the next age group does not always mean you slow down...as she had improved greatly the last couple years.) And once again, I think our tables' cheering had the highest decibel level :)

and eventually came the dancing part...same DJ as last year, and I think same songs as last year (well, except for "SexyBack" since I always have to request it...it's a thing.) Wasn't as impressed with the DJ this year...I think the one at the Flyers awards gala played much better music (more 80s stuff, and more current stuff too.) Flyers FR, PD, SC and JD were my dance partners for most of the evening...well when guys twice my age were not trying to hit on me. Yes, I like older men, but there is a limit!! (I know I hit a new age group last year, but this was ridiculous...why can't guys my age be interested, dammit!! But one of them was quite persistent...after me, he tried hitting on BCG, then Madame President, then Madame President's husband!)

Unlike last year, when I think I was the last Flyer standing, we had quite a lively group this year that stuck it out til "New York, New York" (the last song of the evening.) JD was intent on keeping the party going and suggested we all hit Faces & Names for a round of post-party drinks. Which we did, and had a coupla more hours of drinks and lively conversation, and I don't know how the ass photos got inspired (see BCG's blog for a hint) but it was still pretty funny. (If a certain few of you are reading...memories of a certain someone's b-day, perhaps?) Before we knew it, was about 2 am and we all headed home.

Was a pretty fun evening...but in a way, a little bit...bittersweet...but hey, as the song goes, "i get by...with a little help...from my friends..."

now playing: "show me what you got" ~ jay-z