I am writing this post from our bedroom/office. That’s because last weekend my family helped us move some furniture. What was once our office will become the baby’s room, and our “office” is now in our bedroom. Now I don’t have to yell for D to get off of the computer to go to sleep because he’ll already be in the bedroom 🙂 With all of the shifting around, I feel like we’re moving again, but I like the feeling of having a fresh new start. I am determined to “get organized”, especially before the baby comes.

As we all know, D likes lists/rankings. I am famous for my best travel destinations list. However, I have decided to extend my list line to a different category; restaurants. I was thinking about a hotel list, however I haven’t had the opportunity to stay in many great hotels recently. Below is my initial draft of best restaurants by category.

#1 Steak
– Flemings (Manhattan Beach)
– Rutherford Grill (Napa)
#2 Hamburger
– Father’s Office (Santa Monica)
– The Counter (Santa Monica)
#3 BBQ
– Montgomery Inn at the Boathouse (Cincinnati)
– Tony Roma’s (San Francisco)
#4 Pizza
– Giordano’s (Chicago)
– Zachary’s (Berkeley)
#5 Italian
– Don Giovanni’s (Napa)
– Biba’s (Sacramento)
#6 Fine Dining
– Casanova (Pebble Beach)
– George’s at the Cove (San Diego)
#7 Mexican
– Old Town Mexican Cafe (San Diego)
– Papasito’s (Houston)
#8 Seafood
– Fishwife (Pebble Beach)
– Stillwater (Pebble Beach)
#9 Asian Fusion
– Roy’s (Pebble Beach)
– Sam Choi’s (Honolulu)
#10 Breakfast
– Hash House a Go-Go (San Diego)
– Rick & Ann’s (Berkeley)

Waiting in the Corral

This Sunday in the early morning I ran the Disneyland Half Marathon. Lauren was a good wife and stayed with me from when we got there at 4:15 a.m. to the start at 6 a.m. and then met up with me at the end. I was in corral D since when I signed up 6 months ago I estimated a slow pace; corral A is for the fast runners and E for the slow runners.

There were some runners dressed up as Disney characters; The Incredibles, Tinker Bell, Mickey, etc. It took about 12 minutes to cross the start line since there were 12,000 runners. However, it doesn’t matter when you cross the start line since you have a chip on your shoe to start the clock for your time. I did have to run around a lot of slow runners/walkers. The first 4 miles we ran though California Adventure and Disneyland. I had to slow down when people got water so I decided to walk a little during every water station. I think I acidentally skipped water stop 2.

Then once I hit mile 4 and we were out of Disneyland, I saw my wife with a couple of other ladies from WPC. I gave a halfhearted wave since I was conserving my energy and they got a good laugh out of that one. I then hit my stride and was running well and with people at the same pace as me for the next 5 miles. Then when I hit the river trail by the Pond and Angels stadium I started to cramp up in my calves. I ran through it and got to run through Angels stadium around the warning track on the first base side and then the third base side passing the dugouts.

The last few miles were tough, but I was able to run slowly and the music playing from bands and speakers helped me keep the energy level up. Also I had a Power Gel before the race, one after the 4 mile marker, and then one at the 9.5 mile marker. I ran though Disneyland again and finished the half-marathon in 2:19:11 That is under 11 minute miles. My latest goal was to run it in under 2 hrs and 30 minutes, so I am happy about my time.

I finshed in 3,259th place!

Last Friday my co-workers threw me a surprise baby shower-lunch. Even though I don’t like being the center of attention, I had a good time. Everyone chipped in for a gift card to Babies R Us. Now I just have to figure out which brand/model of things to buy. Apparently, a lot of the car seats work best with the LATCH system, which our Camry does not have. Who knew? I’m also uncertain about the stroller and crib.

Friday night I hung out with some of the moms and other moms-to-be at WPC. There’s something like ten pregnant women altogether (not all of them were there). I guess our daughter will have a lot of playmates around her age!

D and I just returned from what will probably be our last “weekend get away” before the baby arrives. Saturday morning we woke up nice and early to get an early start, only to be stalled by construction on the 405 freeway (the four left lanes were closed!) I guess we should’ve checked the traffic report beforehand. We stopped at the Original Pancake House in Laguna Hills to fuel up for the day. Despite our unexpected delay, we made it to San Diego a little past 9 a.m., so we were back on schedule.

Our first activity was taking a two hour narrated cruise of San Diego Harbor. The first hour was enjoyable because it wasn’t too crowded. We had to pick up more people for the second hour, and there were waaaay too many Asian tourists taking pictures. We were able to get some nice views of downtown San Diego, however. D and I got a good chuckle when the narrator mentioned that the Beach Boys had recently played in San Diego, and that they “could satisfy anyone’s musical needs”.

The Midway

San Diego Skyline

Afterward, we headed to the trendy Hillcrest neighborhood and picked up a picnic lunch at Bread and Cie. We then drove to Balboa Park, spread out a mat on the grass and enjoyed our turkey and roast beef sandwiches, bread chips, a slab of lemon cake and a Sprite. The sandwiches did not have enough meat for D’s taste, but the bread was good (always important!) and the cake tasted surprisingly healthy, like it had whole grains, or something. The weather was perfect–a little sunny and breezy, and we had a hard time getting up to go on with the rest of our day.

Finally, we strolled over to the Robert H. Fleet Science Center. We checked out the educational exhibits and caught an IMAX movie in their dome theater called Into the Deep. God’s creation is truly amazing!

Balboa Park Fountain

After checking into our hotel, D got sucked into watching the second quarter of the Cal game. Since we were already recording it at home, he let us leave for dinner at half-time. We decided to check out Old Town and we went to Old Town Mexican Cafe, even though it was listed as “overrated” in our Frommer’s book. Since there was a 45 minute wait, we were able to check out Old Town. Part of it reminded D of Old Sac, but there were a lot of people out and about so it seemed more lively. We enjoyed our dinner (beef fajitas and rotisserie chicken) and the handmade tortillas were very good. All of the food came out piping hot, just like D likes it.

Hand-Made Tortillas

Old Town Mexican Cafe–Not Overrated

With full stomachs, we returned to the hotel room, where D proceeded to watch more college football.

This morning we returned to Hillcrest to eat at Hash House A Go Go. The hostess was going to put us at a small corner table, but when she noticed my stomach, she asked if I would fit! Then she told the busboy, who was giving us water that she thought we should move to “Table 12”, which ended up being a table for four! I guess she was just being nice, but I had to laugh. That was the first time a stranger has acknowledged my protruding stomach. The restaurant was industrial-chic, and the portions were ginormous! D had a scramble with bacon, avocado, and cheese, and I had a blackberry granola pancake. Too bad we couldn’t take the leftovers, since we weren’t going straight home.

Scramble Big Enough for 2

A Lot of Pancakage

We were able to walk off some of our breakfast when we stopped at Mission Bay. There were a lot of people running even though it was pretty warm. Then we made a stop at the Carlsbad outlets, where D found some deals (I sadly, did not). Finally, we stopped at Gelson’s in Irvine to redeem some coupons D had received at his work. When we got home, guess what D did? Watched more college football, of course! Overall, I really enjoyed my time with D this weekend. Lately I’ve become more aware of other couples with kids and have seen how all of their attention seems devoted to the kids, rather than to each other. I hope that we will be able to achieve a healthy balance.

Although it’s been a while since I’ve gone “back to school,” I still look forward to this time of year. It brings back memories of the promise of a fresh new start, new teachers, new clothes, new school supplies, etc. I enjoy the “nip in the air”, as mentioned in the Berenstein Bears book my sister and I used to read with my Mom. Good luck to one of my dearest high school friends who will be starting school tomorrow, as a teacher at our alma mater! I visited her classroom and the campus last weekend and it brought back a lot of memories. Even though it has changed, it still feels the same.

L & I went to Huntington Beach. It was warm today so we decided to go to the beach. Also we hadn’t gone since probably July. Note: This is the beach that I have visited the most in my entire life.

There was some BoardFest event on, and we saw a Hello Kitty display, so of course we needed to take a photo.

P.S. I received my Mazda 3; finally! A nice employee benefit. This is the best car I have ever owned or leased! Sorry Jeep Grand Cherokee! Better handling and gas mileage. Chicks still dig it. Well at least my wife, since it has an I-pod plug in.

WPC is experiencing a mini baby boom. Last Saturday I went to a baby shower for my friend D, who is expecting in October. There were three other pregnant women there, including me! We posed for this picture, in order of when we’re due (L–>R = October–>January):

This morning D and I found out that we are having a girl! D and I both took the morning off and went to my ultrasound appointment together. The technician said she was “90% sure” that it is a girl, which is good enough for me. I guess this means we have to get more serious about picking a girl’s name. I was wavering, but put it off since I figured I wouldn’t have to worry about it if it turned out to be a boy. I am also excited to start thinking about how to decorate the nursery and deciding what to register for. I was hoping for a girl, perhaps because I am pretty much a girly-girl. I also had a feeling it would be a girl, as girls tend to run in my family. My parents have three daughters, no sons, and my grandma has five granddaughters and no grandsons!

I have 3 weeks till my half-marathon. I was thinking about tapering off my training, but my co-worker said I should run longer. So I decided to run another 10.5 miles. Another co-worker told me about energy gels and how I should have one before I run. I did feel lightheaded when I last ran 10.5 miles, so I decided to buy some energy gels. Further, my co-worker said “don’t change anything on race day”, and since I was planning on eating something on race day, I decided I better try it out now. So L & I went to REI on Friday night. I bought 3 PowerBar Gels, 1 GU, and 1 Cliff Shot. I looked at all three makes, and all were made in Berkeley, CA. Interesting. I had the Cliff Shot right before I got out of my car to run. It didn’t taste good, and I needed to drink a lot of water to wash it down. When I ran I felt stronger and my legs had more kick. Further, I didn’t feel lightheaded and I didn’t cramp up. I felt like I needed another energy gel mid way through coming back. I ran it in 1 hr and 44 mins. Over 8 minutes faster than my previous best 10.5 mile run. So I am excited that it worked. However, I am not too sure if it was all due to the gel, because I did cut my hair really short. I have run 3 10.5 mile runs, and I am thinking on tapering it down now that I only have 3 weeks left. If I ran what I did today and then power walked that last 2.6 miles, it should get me under 2.5 hours.