It’s true. We found out on our 2nd wedding anniversary (April 17th). It’s exciting to enter into this next stage of our lives.

We know it would be better to tell everyone in person, but this is just so much more efficient. Here are some anticipated FAQs:

Q: When is the baby due?
A: 12/22/06

Q: How far along is L?
A: A little over 12 weeks.

Q: How is L feeling?
A: She gets “afternoon/night sickness” (general nausea) rather than morning sickness.

Q: Are you having a boy or a girl?
A: We will find out in a couple of months.

Q: Do you have names picked out?
A: We like Nathan for a boy, not sure about a girl’s name yet. Suggestions welcome.

Q: How is D feeling?
A: That depends. If the baby turns out to be like little D back in the 70’s and 80’s then we have a problem. However, if it turns out like little L, then we should be good.

I work at Mazda North American Operations in Irvine, and was going to wait to announce it when I got my new 2007 Mazda 3 five door by showing a picture of it with me posing (think AKL Berkeley frat guys). However, I have worked for about 2 months and it will probably 2 more months before I get it. I am currently driving a 2005 Mazda 6 V6. It is a loaner car before I get my Mazda 3. It has good acceleration and great handling. It also has a spoiler which is new to me because none of my prior cars had one.

History of my cars…
#1 1992 – 1993; 1989 Jeep Cherokee Limited – V6 – Charcoal
#2 1993 – 1999; 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo – V8 – Green
#3 1999 – 2006; 1999 Toyota Camry LE – V6 – Green (we still have it – L drives it)

The Jeep’s that I drove were cool to go to Tahoe, however they were not reliable. I had major problems with them. However, it didn’t really matter because my parents paid for most of the repairs until I started working. So then when I was paying $000’s in repairs my parents decided that I should get a reliable car. So they paid the majority of my new car and I ended up with a Camry. It was reliable but did not have the cool factor and it was hard to find my car in a parking lot. So now with the Mazda 6, things are looking up. However, I am really looking forward to the Mazda 3, since the fuel economy will be better.

I started out my Saturday running, however, I didn’t get to the track till after 6:30. It was already not that cool. I had prepared for my long run today by drinking 8 glasses of water yestersay. I told L that I usually don’t drink that much water, probably usually 2 glasses a day. And she got mad at me and said that I am going to get kidney stones. I also drank 2 glasses of water before I ran. I forgot my watch, so I decided that I would turn on my car and check the clock and then walk over to the track and then subtract 2 minutes off my time. (1 minute to get there, and one minute to get back). I ran 6 miles, slowing down (walking) to drink and rest twice (after every 2 miles) and finished the run in about an hour. (less than 1 hr and 2 minutes) I felt sluggish my first couple of miles, and then my last 2 miles my right calf hurt. I am glad I drank a lot of water.

Yesterday D got a haircut during lunch at Fantastic Sam’s. It isn’t too short, but he has a fade in the back. I told him he looked like Max Headroom, and he had no idea what was I talking about. So, I looked him up online, and his hair isn’t exactly how I remembered. D’s hair doesn’t look like this in the front/top, so I guess I was wrong about the similarity.

We just got bck from the Pasadena Summer Fest at the Rose Bowl. We didn’t stay too long because it was too hot. They had different booths set up for “A Taste of Summer” and we had a Jamaican chicken kebab, pad thai, and a peach italian ice. All of the seating was on the grass and it was bring your own blankets/lawn chairs which I always think is fun. We heard the Pasadena City College Studio Jazz Ensemble:

Their band leader sang on one of the songs, which I thought was strange. They also played a Gordon Goodwin tune, which D and I recognized from the Gordon Goodwin concert we went to a couple months back.
We also heard a little bit of Afro-Cuban Timbre Jazz:

Here’s D reading Business Week (again!), trying not to roast.

The Indy 500 was an exciting race. At the end a 19 yr old rookie almost beat out Sam Hornish Jr. He won by less that 0.1 of a second. If you are not a fan on IRL, I want to let you know that it is the largest (by attendance) one day sporting event. The race is watched by 300,000 people live. I was rooting for Marco, but it was cool to see Hornish win.

The time until my half-marathon.
I can’t say the training is going as planned. I started running on the treadmill until the stuffyness of the gym drove me outdoors. That and the fact that dirt tracks are one of the best surfaces to run on. I noticed that running outside allows me faster times as well.
I ran barefoot on the beach 2 days ago, and my calfs hurt. However, I was able to run today. I started out too quickly because there was another runner and I got competitive. However, I found my pace and was able to run 20 laps (4.97 miles) in under 48 mintues. Which is a 10 minute mile pace. That is a personal best for me. I wanted to run 24 laps(5.965 miles) but I like to get fast times. So running under 50 minutes was exciting, however I might have been able to do 5.965 miles in under an hour. I really need to up the distance though. I have run around 5 miles 5 times. I probably should be at 8 miles now. So I have to get crackin. I have definitely improved, but I wonder what I could accomplish if only I worked harder to maximize my limited running ability.

I’ve decided to post reviews of movies/books on our old xanga. That is the one feature I miss on blogspot. Just click on the link to the right, “D + L’s Former Blog” to access it if you’re interested.

Even though it did not win in D’s poll, we spent the day at Huntington Beach. We left our place around 9:15 a.m. On our way, we filled up our gas tank, picked up a couple of Lee’s Sandwiches (grilled chicken and grilled pork, $1.95 each). Then we continued down Beach Blvd. to PCH.

We were able to find parking at the beach lot that is a couple blocks South of the pier ($10, all day). It was still early, so there weren’t too many people out. Plus, it was overcast, with just the slightest of sprinkling, so that kept the “posers” away, according to D. We set up camp, which consisted of towels for me to lay out on, a chair for D to lounge on, and an umbrella, for which I forgot to bring the extra pole extension. Look at how short it was:

At least I was able to lay out underneath it.

D had fun reading his Business Week and I too brought an assortment of magazines.

D went for a run on the beach and I took a nap 🙂 By noon, it warmed up, and the ocean breeze felt so good!

Here’s D with his sunglasses. I can’t find mine…I guess I haven’t worn them since last summer, hmph.

D: Hi just wanted to add some comments. L is a good listener especially at low volumes. She was able to hear some interesting conversations. There was a family of four with a boy around 10 yrs old and a daughter around 8 yrs old. The dad told the boy that he and his sister gained weight and that the boy should suck in his stomach. But the boy said that he only weighs 96 pounds and only gained one pound since his last docter’s appointment. The 10 yr old’s dad said, we are honest with each other. Would you tell you your kids if they were fat?

Later, the boy was talking to the parents of another family and their son, around 4 yrs old, said to the 10 yr boy, “you’re a fat boy.” The 10 yr old said that’s not very nice and walked away. The parents of the 4 yr old boy told him off and lectured him. The 10 yr old boy was not very fat, I did notice he had a kinda round stomach, but was pretty average weight. He definitely wasn’t really fat. Anyway, it was strange that the 4 yr old said it matter of factly especially to an older boy. BTW, the 10 yr old’s parents weren’t there when the 4 yr old boy said what he did.

Another conversation was among a set of parents and three teenage girls. The mother took a picture of the girls and one said she didn’t like the way her top looked. Then the mom said to the girls that she didn’t want to see any butt-cracks. And the dad said yeah, no butt-cracks. That is pretty funny. If I am blessed with a daughter I will make sure she doesn’t show off any crack.

Finally, there was a group of guys that set up nearby us. One of them got the brilliant idea to try to do back flips off of this ledge of sand and then some of the other guys tried it too. Then they wanted this guy to take pictures of them all doing backflips at the same time. A couple of of them were in pretty good shape, but there was one guy with a bit of a paunch that also did it, even though he admitted he didn’t have good “hops”. They were making it look easy, and D said he wanted to try it, (which I strongly discouraged) but then we heard one of them talk about an injury he had while doing the vault, so apparently these guys were gymnasts and D realized that he shouldn’t try it.

Around 3 p.m., we packed up our stuff, put it in the car and headed over to the pier where there was an AVP beach volleyball tournament going on.

We were able to get pretty close to the action, and caught a game with Karch Kiraly!

Nice flourescent pink hat, Karch!

We saw Karch and his partner win one game and then lose another. One of their opponents, Rosenthal, had his own cheering section of some rowdy guys. They were chanting, “Let’s go, Ro-sie!”

Nice serve, Rosie!

D: Couple random notes. L thought I looked dorky with Teva’s. But I asked her “have you ever worn Teva’s?”. Teva’s are really comfortable. I am representing NorCal ruggedness. HB is the best beach in SoCal. I forgot about the volleyball tournaments in my past blogs. There are 3 SoCal beaches where they have AVP tournaments, Manhattan, HB, & Hermosa. The tournament was great and HB’s beach really is long. It blows Santa Monica out of the salt water. K, my brother-in-law says there are a lot of bums in HB, you should check out Santa Monica. I love the close walking to the restaurants from the beach. I do like Hermosa for that reason, but the selection of restaurants/bars is not large. Hungtington is a great every weekend beach. It is close by to our place as well.

Finally, we ate an early dinner at Hurricanes. It’s mainly a bar, so I wouldn’t recommend it for families, but we had a really good hamburger and chicken sandwich (with our Entertainment Book coupon).

There were a lot of people out and about on the main drag:

All in all, it was an excellent day–sooo relaxing.