Cheers to The Gamecock

I just got invited to USC's Student Media's 100th Year Anniversary Celebration. I used to work in advertising for the student newspaper, The Gamecock. Wish I could go :( Would be fun to bump heads with some of the editorial staff and my advertising buddies. And I'd love to see what my old manager is now up to. He used to always have me running around to get him Goody's, the powder pain releiver, he swore by it as a cure-all for his ever-present hangovers. Makes you wonder how the newspaper actually made any money?! Hat's off to The Gamecock!

TV or not to TV?

I've never been all that occupied by television but there really isn't ANYTHING on tv these days. If I get the chance to watch, I'm surfing. Lately, I find myself watching the latest updates on the presidential candidates, the TRAVEL channel: I enjoy Anthony Bourdain's show; Discovery Channel: that series with Anderson Cooper was pretty interesting; and sadly, I've resorted to some trash programming...The Girls Next Door, Meet the Real Housewives of Orange County, and a few others.

What I dont understand though is ROCK of LOVE? Who seriously wants to get with Brett Michaels? That's just sick and those girls are disgusting. Another new show I saw advertised, which sounds RIDCULOUSLY terrible...PetFinder on Animal Planet. If you really need to hire someone or seek outside advice on getting a pet, you're pathetic. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. AND lastly, MOMENT of TRUTH...WHY? What a hurtful show, why would you ever agree to go on there and tell your deepest secrets to the world?

Mint.com

Want a breakdown of how you're spending your TRUMP fortune? Well, thanks to my co-worker Grant, I have officially given all my passwords and login info to MINT.com so that I can track my spending. It's a cool site and I was bit skeptical about giving out too much info, but I'm gonna ride it out for now. Check it out... www.mint.com. It'll break down your spending in pie charts and tell you where you spend the most money and where you can save money.

Can you guess the number one retailer where I spend a small fortune? A: Target.

Weekend...

Friday night, Deena and Dean had the cousins over for dinner. Dean made homemade pizza, YUM. Got to see Nyla, Nick and cutie Dalya. She's a doll.

Saturday was a bit slow moving, except the run. Tina met me at my house for our 15mi run. Great run, took the W&OD trail out 7.5 miles which from my house places you about 1.5mi past the Whole Foods on Maple Ave. Great run. Immediately following the run, I met up with my mom. I'd fallen behind in acknowledging her bday (it was overshadowed by Deena's wedding) and wanted to take her out. So for her post bday celebration we went to dinner and a movie. The bday gal wanted to see Atonement, with Keira Knightly. My mom now says she wishes she had spelled my name like hers. I like the simplicity of my name though. Anywho, I think we were both a little disappointed. It was a little too long and slow moving for me and my mom said she was hoping for a bit more romance. Tough love Mom ;)

Sunday, we went to church and afterwards hit-up Al Nakheel's with the family. For those of you wanting a great little Lebanese dive, this is a good place in Vienna. It will never measure up to the cute little old men and shwarmas at Fetoosh in Gtown. RIP Fetoosh. I loved that place, now I must succumb to late night Gyro's/shwarmas at George's (which is right down the street but also not as good).

Meet the RUNNERS

Come out on March 29th to see us in action! Tina has so graciously volunteered to run this marathon with me and to help me train for it. She's a pro, I'm a wimp and a novice.

I was looking for some pics of the 2 of us and sadly, just couldnt find any decent ones. Here's what I came up with!

As the photos imply, I think we are in for trouble ;) That first photo was taken in Charleston in 2006 (Tina, the high school cheerleader was pretty sure she could carry me on her shoulders) and that 2nd photo was at Kristen's Wedding in Sparkle City where we were rockin' out to Pour Some Sugar on Me.

Anywho, here's a little running info on the 2 of us.

Tina -- She ran the Marine Corp Marathon in 2006 and 2007, and improved her time this past year. She finished right under the 4 hour mark, at 3:59. Go girl! She's also run the Capitol Hill Classic 10k 2005, 2006; the Back to School Classic 8k in Kensington, MD in 2005 & 2006; The Annapolis Striders B&A Trail Half Marathon in 2006; and lastly the Komen Race for the Cure 5k in 2006.

Kera -- Rock n' Roll Half Marathon 2006 & 2007, finished in 2:15; Capitol Hill Classic 10k 2005; George Washington Classic 10 miler in 2006; and Komen Race for the Cure 5k in 2005 & 2007.

PS: Tina is gonna kick my arse!

The Wizards minus the Main Man

Two of my favorite Wizards players are still benched for the season due to injuries. My main man, Mr. Gilbert Arenas is still recovering from knee surgery and poor Etan Thomas is still in training after having heart surgery for a leaky valve. Gilbert has been on the scene, he seems to take this opportunity to strut his stylish wardrobe on the court while cheering/encouraging his teammates. Etan on the other hand, just made his first appearance back at the game on Monday night. Luckily the Wizards have been able to do quite well without ball-hog G-A--which surprises me. High fives to Antwan Jamison, Haywood (Dadiani--high five to your UNC boyz and when are we going to a game together?) CARON, and Daniels...they've picked up the slack and have played really nicely together minus the natural team leader, Arenas.

However, the game just isnt the same without my favorite lineup. I was at the Friday night game against the Knicks and had pretty good seats in the Acela Club but without my Great Falls buddy and poetry-writing Thomas, it's not the same for me.

So for now, I think I'll wait it out...

Introducing the newest German Cousin

Introducing the newest cousin, Leopold from MUNICH! Actually, this is the 2nd surname baby...my little nephew Dallas being the first, Leopold being the second. He was born to my cousin Taufig & Sandra on Jan 19th in Munich, Germany. He's apparently 4000 gramms or 4 kilo and 53 centimeters --someone care to do the conversion for me?

For those of you who may remember my trip to Europe a couple of summers ago, I visited Taufig & Sandra in Munich before spending time with his dad (my Uncle Mufid) and mom in Austria, and finally meeting Chris in Krakow. Taufig & Sandra were wonderful hosts. Taufig, a former radio sportscaster in Munich, had some fun connections and one of the perks was getting to drive with him on his VESPA (I heart VESPA's)right onto the field of the Olympic soccer stadium. AMAZING.

Anywho, congrats to proud parents Taufig & Sandra!

Tuesday nights in the city!

It might snow again today and into the evening, I am excited. Perhaps my stinking GMAT review class in DC will be cancelled/postponed. I like the class, dont get me wrong, but jamming algebra, trig, and geometry into 3 hour cram sessions is not fun immediately following work. I should shut up though bc it's only 1x a week and the teacher is actually a pretty cool guy. There's only 3 of us in the class, which is good since I am a SLOW learner and can ask retarded questions. The instructor cracks me up, he's originally from CA and recently moved out here to DC. We'll be in the middle of a problem and he'll be like "Now look, this is the way your f***ing teachers taught you to do this in high school, F*** that! There's an easier way and all you gotta do is this s***!" No one else seems to think his mannerisms are funny but I sure do. And I'm pretty sure that the Brazilian chick who barely spoke english probably didnt understand his use of such vulgarity. She was having a tough enough time trying to understand the Brazilian equivalent of PEMDAS (order of operations). She's no longer in the class. We traded her for a metrosexual Nigerian guy, named Nee, who's pretty darn cool. Wow, writing about this class really makes it seem like I'm in some sort of circus act...it actually isnt all that bad.

Gotta hand it to Mr. Vedder...

I know Pearl Jam is kinda a band of the past, but they are pretty darn amazing. And lead singer Eddie Vedder, is also STILL pretty amazing (musically). I used to have a crush on him back in the day.

Anywho, Eddie wrote a bunch of new songs for the movie, Into the Wild, and they ROCK. The soundtrack is awesome. The movie, which was based on Jon Krakauers book, Into the Wild, tells the true story of a local Northern Virginian, Chris McCandless and his adventures into the Alaskan wilderness. Great book, great movie and great SOUNDTRACK. Check it out.

Weekend Recap

Tina and I are at it again (training)...we started our training together today for the DC Wirefly Marathon on March 29th. We've agreed to follow the same training schedule which over the past couple weeks we decided we'd start running together at the 13 mile mark. So, after a couple weeks of getting back into the swing of things, we did it. A great run actually, we ran Rock Creek Parkway North and back. Just a few miles short of hitting the MD border, but a totally serene and beautifully wooded trail following the creek (mostly still snow covered). Of course, our luck has it that we picked the coldest DC day yet to begin our training--22 degrees outside, with a wind chill of 9 degrees. NICE. I hate the COLD but after a quick warmup, surprisingly we were not bothered by the cold at all. Jeff, I took your advice and SACKED UP! Thanks ;) Only until we stopped running to cool down did I realize how frozen my fingers were! Seat warmers are the bomb and I am quite thankful for them on days like today. I am also quite thankful for Moby Dicks--the best kabob place in the area. Yes, I stopped there on the way home to pick up dinner...truly a delicious staple and a well-deserved treat post-run.

So last night, I met the ladies (Christina, Erin, Karen, Jen, and Gina) in the city for dinner at Aria Trattoria. This past week was DC's winter Restaurant Week and luckily Christina was able to score us a reservation. Fortunately the gathering was a fun crowd, because I think the overall consensus was that the food was pretty sub-par or at least just average. We did go out with a bang though bc the dessert was pretty heavenly...some pretty decent Tiramisu. Can't say it's as good as the little shot glasses of Tiramisu at Vapiano but it certainly left me in a pleasant mood. Or maybe it was just the 3 glasses of wine ;) After dinner my friends twisted my arm to join them for a DC firefighters fundraiser at Adams Mill. Gotta respect the firefighters, but to our dismay this wasn't the calendar squad...and now we all know why DC doesnt have a firefighters calendar. And it's probably a wise decision and we are thankful for that. But we did support their Polar Bear Plunge--an event next weekend where they jump in the Potomac to raise money. I asked if I could participate, but was denied...unfortunately I already know that when you're not permitted to swim in the Potomac, you get escorted out by the Coast Guard. Oh and long lost, Beglis and Herndon met us out, which was so great to see both of them! Anywho, fun night and I couldnt leave Adams Morgan without Big Slice...yes, I got BIG Slice by myself before hailing a cab. I offered to share with my cabbie named Bereket, who by no big surprise turned out to be Ethiopian Orthodox. It's great being Orthodox in a city where half of the cabbies are Ethiopian and almost all Orthodox. The Orthodox discount rocks! May have a new friend coming to Ss. Peter & Paul soon.

That about wraps up my weekend...I did manage to get another run in yesterday, helped the newlyweds set up their new place and got to see their HM pics, and now I've got some studying to do...

That's all my friends.

Thanks to my coworkers...

Thanks for reminding me Ms. Espinoza!

Not a good day for me. And he could have had all the RV Park connections he wanted. What a shame! And they call it a LOVE child...barf.