Two weeks ago I ran the San Diego Rock N Roll marathon. Being my first marathon, I had no idea what to expect. I was anxious and nervous because this was the largest physical undertaking I had ever attempted. I was excited because I was running this race with my friend Nolan, my brother Mikey and a few of my cousins. I’m proud to say that I finished the marathon in 5:41:35.

Since I participated with Team in Training all of our accommodations in San Diego were taken care of. If you have a chance, I HIGHLY recommend at least doing one event with TNT. The experience is a very rewarding one and you are doing it all for a great cause. I met a lot of great people along the way. My only regret is that I wished I participated in more practices. My knee kept me from running the majority of this spring season.

The morning of the marathon started when some people are calling it a night. We met at the lobby of our hotel at 3:45 AM. I’ve had nights end later than that. From the hotel they shuttled us over to the starting area where we waited for about 2 hours before the race started. Once we lined up, it seemed like forever before our corral was let loose. Once we were let go it was on! The first 3-5 miles I was worried about my knee. I could feel it tighten up ever so slightly but once I got the jitters out of me and got warmed up, it felt fine. From miles 6 to about 9 or 10, Nolan and I hit a pretty good groove. We had a nice steady pace going and we spaced out a couple of walking breaks. Once the course took us on to the 163 freeway, trouble started. Part of the course took us from downtown San Diego to Mission Valley along the 163. If you’re familiar with this stretch of freeway it is all uphill for about 4 miles and goes downhill from Washington St. all the way to Friars Rd. Not only that but the freeway is banked so you’re also trying to compensate for the slope of the freeway. This, along with weather that was hotter and more humid than usual, contributed to severe cramping in my legs. I’ve never felt cramping like that since my days of playing high school basketball. So from about mile 11 until the end of the marathon, I had to alternate between running, walking and stretching out my cramping legs.

Once we crossed 20 miles, I totally felt like I wanted to chop off my legs because they were hurting so bad. No amount of sports drink, water, GU or salt could take the pain away so we just had to finish. Once we made the final turn toward the finish line, the sound of the crowd made me forget all about the pain in my legs. I knew I had friends and family waiting for me at the finish line and I couldn’t wait to see them. I still don’t think it’s fully hit me that I’ve completed a full marathon.

After running my first marathon, I can definitely say I will remember the experience the rest of my life, especially with my involvement with Team In Training. I thanked everyone in a previous post but I’ll do it again because I don’t think I was able to do it with all of your support. I’m already thinking about doing my next event, the inaugural LA Rock N Roll Half Marathon. I brought my camera along with me and you can check out the pictures here.

After 5 months of training and fundraising, the day is almost here. This Sunday is the San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon. Just the training and fundraising has been an experience and I can’t wait for the race. I learned a lot in these past 5 months. I learned that although I think I’m in good shape, I’m not. I’m also not as young as I used to be. My training has been hampered by a nagging IT Band injury. It’s a sobering thing to learn that your body can succumb to any type of injury when all your life you thought that you were practically invincible. I have TONS of respect for long distance runners and people who have run multiple marathons. It’s not the easiest thing to do.

I also learned that when you’re doing something for a cause, a lot more weight is placed on the task at hand. I’m no longer running this marathon for myself. I’m running for all those suffering from Leukemia and other cancers. I’m running for all the people who have donated their own money to help fight these diseases.

I’ve learned that a lot of people are willing to help if you just ask. I think that’s what surprised me the most. At the beginning, I was kind of scared to think that I had to raise $2,500 to participate with Team In Training. I was seriously amazed at what a few emails, letters, blog posts and Twitter posts could do. Old friends, far off relatives, and even people that I did not know donated in my name. I’m not the type to ask for anything from anyone but when I asked for your support in this cause, you all didn’t hesitate. For that, I thank you. I’ll be keeping all of you who supported me in my thoughts as I run this Sunday.

See you at the finish line.

Last Friday I celebrated my 30th birthday. I decided to keep it simple and do what I did last year; I had people over at my place to begin and continued the party at The Crosby. I’m not kidding when I say I have the best set of friends and family in the world. Thanks everyone for coming out and celebrating. You can check out the madness on Flickr or in the slide show below. Enjoy!

When I first started this site, I used to write about all the things I did during college. I used to post frequently but now that I look back, I can’t believe I wrote those things thinking people would actually want to read that I took a final or studied at the library yet again. I got away from that for whatever reason and started posting links or wrote about topics that I found interesting. I’ve always said that I like the fact that this site serves as a digital documentary of my life since college. So every once in awhile I’ll write a post to catch up on what’s going on in this life of mine.

For the first time ever, I’m playing in an organized football league. I’ve always liked watching NFL games and playing football for fun. Now that I’ve gotten a taste of organized “competitive” football, I can see myself doing this every season. In our team’s first season together, we’re a respectable 2-5 in our division but being our first year playing together as a team and having over half of our team having some form of injury doesn’t help us.

This past weekend, we celebrated Lisa’s early birthday and her going away party. She’ll be doing a travel nursing assignment in New York City. A small group of friends came out to The Crosby for dinner and some drinks at my and Nino’s new apartment. More significantly, it was the first time in almost 2 years that the Original Mango house tenants were all together at the same place at the same time. Just goes to show how busy we all are.

March 13 was the date of the Pacquiao vs. Clottey “non” fight. Aside from that, we watched the main event at Yaz and Edwin’s new loft in Anaheim. Very nice set up. To keep us entertained, because the fight did nothing for us, we took shots of whatever Edwin decided to hand us.

About a month ago, I moved out of my Apartment 395 into my new place at Apartment 454. Yes, I moved up one floor. It was the easiest move I’ve ever had to do. From the pictures, it looks like the same apartment. In fact, the last picture is the new apartment. It’s the same exact layout but there is now an extra bedroom.

If you really want to hear what I have to say multiple times a day, you should follow me on Twitter.

If you would’ve told me at the beginning of the year that everything about my life would be completely different by the end of the year, I would have a hard time believing you.

Two weeks into 2009, I was laid off. I invested four and a half years into a job where I worked my way up from an afterthought hire to an inside sales assistant to a fully commissioned outside sales engineer. I completely remember the events of that day.

I got an email from my boss asking if I was going to be around after our weekly Friday sales meeting saying that he had some things to discuss. My boss NEVER asks to speak with me. He pretty much let me do my own thing and occassionally he’d stick his head into my office making sure I WASN’T there and I was out visiting clients. So when I got his email, along with rumors of layoffs, I couldn’t help but freak out.

After talking to a coworker, I grew the balls to go in and ask him if we could talk about it immediately as I couldn’t stand to obsess over what he needed to talk to me about overnight. As soon as I walked in and brought up the email, he quickly said, “No, it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.” I even asked if he could tell me what it was about. At this point my voice was quivering and I was breaking into a sweat. Again I got, “Nope. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” What. The. Fuck.

By now, I pretty much knew what all this meant. Later that day at around 4pm, he stopped by my office as he usually does but instead of just checking in, he came inside and closed the door behind him. He ended up doing the decent thing by letting me know I was getting laid off since he knew that I wasn’t stupid and that I probably figured out what was going on. So he gave me all my papers the day before and spared me the humiliation of having to clean out my office the next day in front of all my coworkers. In the end, being laid off wasn’t so bad. I got unemployment, I was able to find a new job quickly and with the time off I was able to take a “vacation”.

Shortly after starting my new job, I took the leap and decided to move into an apartment on my own. No longer would I be living in a frathouse-style living arrangement. I’d be paying the rent and the utilities all by myself. I found a great move in special in the Artists Village area in Downtown Santa Ana. In retrospect, it was totally an impulse move and if I sat down longer to think about it, I wouldn’t have done it, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. I enjoy having an entire space to myself and the bars and restaurants that are within walking distance are about as unique as you’ll find in Orange County.

Those were the two biggest changes for me in 2009 but a lot of other things happened as well. I snowboarded for the first time in Mammoth. I had my own housewarming party. I attended two weddings this year. My good friend, and old coworker, Christian got married in August. And my parallel Van literally had her dream wedding in Washington, D.C. in September. Two more of my close friends got engaged in 2009 so that’s at least two weddings to look forward to in 2010. Throw in a Vegas trip, a camping trip, and multiple drives down to San Diego and that pretty much describes how I spent 2009.

I found out first hand that A LOT can change in one year. Here’s to looking forward to all the changes and events I’ll encounter in the next year.

I received an anonymous comment on my previous post and after rereading it, I realize that I come off as bitter. Jaded and cynical, yes, but I don’t feel sorry for myself. He/she suggests that I have family set me up with someone. While I appreciate the comment, (it means I have people reading my site lol), I actually am enjoying being single (again). I never have to check in with anyone. I never have to make sure my plans don’t interfere with “our” plans. I never have to worry if hanging out with someone will make the other feel jealous. I do whatever I want, with who I want, whenever I want.

The previous post was not me complaining or feeling sorry for myself. It was merely a bunch of words that I typed out when I took a step back and realized that right here and now, a relationship isn’t for me, and probably won’t be for me in the foreseeable future.

Being twenty nine, I realized that I’ve had a little under fifteen years of real relationship experience (grade school crushes don’t count). Hindsight is ALWAYS 20/20 and if I knew the things I’ve learned up until now, I would’ve approached things differently. Notice how I said approach. I’m not saying that I regret any decisions I’ve made in the past. I wouldn’t be the person I am now if it weren’t for the decisions I’ve made. All I’m saying is that after experiencing different types of relationships, I would have approached some of them differently and I will definitely change the way I look at women and relationships from now on.

A couple of things have happened to me in the past four years that have totally changed the way I approach relationships and women in general. I spent most of my college years in a relationship. If I remember correctly, I was single for only one summer in the five years I was in college. I was always in a relationship. I remember being totally into whatever relationship I was in. I did thoughtful things, I spent almost every moment with my significant other and was overall a hopeless romantic. Fast forward a few years and a couple experiences have turned me into a jaded cynic, a barely recognizable shadow of who I was before.

After what happened in my last relationship and what happened to me so far this year, I have pretty much lost all faith in relationships with women. I no longer hope that whoever I meet over the weekends may turn into something meaningful. In fact, I no longer go out to seek new people. I mean, if I meet someone new, that’s fine but I already have enough friends. I go out to maintain my current friendships.

I’ve shared my feelings with some of my closest friends and they understand where I’m coming from but also offer some encouragment, which I appreciate but it’s going to take someone special and someone willing to make the effort to change my outlook.

Three weeks ago I celebrated my 29th birthday. I’m extremely thankful for my friends and family showing up to celebrate not just my birthday but moving into my own apartment. All the mayhem was recorded and has been posted on my Flickr page.

I’ve been wanting to post something about my birthday on my site but never got anywhere past posting that Flickr link. For me turning 29 is probably the next biggest thing until I turn 30. Turning 30 is, well, turning 30. But turning 29 puts everything into perspective. This will be my last year in my twenties. While I did most of my physical growing up from ages 10 to 20, I did A LOT more growing up in the past 9 years by far. I got my inspiration to post about my birthday when I ran across this article which I found on Kottke’s site. If you haven’t bookmarked him, it is THE best site for finding great little reads like this.

My friends and I have come a long way since our days of being newly full time workers still desperately holding on to our college lifestyles. We notice a lot of things that are different now in our late twenties than when we were in our early twenties. That Tomato Nation article literally hit home on every point. Along with those 20 points, I’d like to list my own, in no particular order.

• Until you get married (which is when you should DEFINITELY get your own place), the largest number of roommates you should live with is ideally one other. Two other roommates is the ABSOLUTE limit. If you can, live on your own. There’s nothing more satisfying than saying that you “have your own place.” The college frat style housing arrangement is definitely fun for awhile, but it’s not fun cleaning after someone else’s mess and it’s definitely NOT attractive to your date when you show her where you live.
• Learn how to cook. Not only does it impress the ladies, it’s good for you. Eating out is generally unhealthy and it can get expensive. I’m not saying NEVER eat out. Eating out is a very social activity by nature. It’s always good to meet up for lunch to catch up with a friend or go out to dinner to celebrate a friend’s birthday or to treat yourself and your significant other to a fancy meal. I like to say once or twice a week is a safe limit.
• Stay active. I truly believe that if you can incorporate an active routine into your lifestyle, it’ll go a long way into helping you lead a healthy life. You don’t have to buy a gym membership, but pick up an active hobby. I have friends that go bike riding, snowboarding, stand up paddle surfing, running, etc. It’s another great way to stay in touch with friends by having a similar hobby. Which leads into…
• Never burn bridges. Ever. I had the misfortune of being laid off earlier this year but by keeping in touch with former colleagues, I was able to land my current job. It’s important not just in your professional life, but your personal life as well. When in relationships, you’ll meet a lot of people because of your significant other. Even if that relationship doesn’t last, don’t forget the people you met through him or her. You will have met a lot of great people and you don’t have to end those friendships. Remember, you broke up with just one person, not everyone you met along the way.
• Take turns buying rounds of drinks or driving places. This is a big one with my friends. You don’t always have to be the one to buy the first round but a reciprocation is almost always expected. Driving with your friends has its own set of unwritten rules. I believe that the person who drove does not have to pay for parking and never has to buy the first round of drinks. As for the driver, asking for gas money is so high school. Just buy me a drink at the bar.

I know I’ll probably think of more but I was able to bang these out in 15 minutes. I’ll add more to these if I can think of more. It’s crazy to think that in the US we are legally considered adults at 18, legally allowed to drink at 21 but I only now feel that I am finally growing up at 29.

It’s been 2 months and one day since I moved into my new place so I thought now would be a good time to post an update. It’s been sort of an adjustment from living in a 6 bedroom house with 7 roommates (at one point) to living by yourself in a one bedroom apartment. You go from constant commotion in the house and always having someone to bother or bother you to living by yourself and seeking any sort of social contact even if its with the resident weirdo in the elevator. Not saying that those are bad things, just different. I like having the TV and couch all to myself. I like knowing the only dishes and stray pee splashes I have to clean are my own. I like saying finally that “I have my own place”.

My place is far from “finished” and I don’t think it ever will. The first thing I did was set up my TV and computer desk in the living room. Since I work from home, my living room will double as my home office. I got a couch and coffee table from IKEA a couple weeks after I moved in. I would like to get some sort of bookshelf in the living room and a dresser for the bedroom and I would be content with that. The walls are pretty bare but I hope to put up pictures or maybe even wall decals soon.

The cool thing about my neighborhood is that it’s in an area that with shops, bars and restaurants walking distance from my complex. Every Thursday and even Fridays and Saturdays, I’ll have friends come by and have a predrink before heading down to the bars. This definitely helps with keeping in touch with friends. I just have them all stop by on Thursday as a warm up to the weekend.

And finally, a little over 2 months into the new job, I’m still trying to get adjusted to working to a smaller company, working from home, and starting over again with a new product and new accounts. With this ongoing recession, it’s kind of tough finding new projects to work on, but I’m using this time to lay down groundwork and build relationships with my new accounts. The fact that my company is smaller is kind of exciting knowing that I have a chance to help this company grow.

It’s always fun to play the “one year ago” game so let’s see where I was last year.

On February 20, 2009, three pretty big things in my life came to an end. Two of the things may seem unimportant but when I really think about it they played a part, not a big part, but a part nonetheless, in my everyday life.

Friday was the last show of Late Night with Conan O’Brien. For those that know me, I’m a pretty decent fan of Conan. I was a fan during his stint as a writer and producer on The Simpsons (the years he was there, I think, were the best years of the show. Ever.) Once he made the jump to Late Night, I hated the fact that I had to sit through Leno before I could watch Conan. And I never really watched the whole show. All I was really interested in was his monologue and the little bit they did before the guests came on. Where some might think his sense of humor and wit comes off as weird and disturbing, I think it’s genius. I loved all his bits on Late Night, from “In The Year 2000″ and “If They Mated” to the Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog bits, they all made me laugh and even if they weren’t funny, just his delivery and self deprecation found a way to make it funny. I’m glad that he isn’t going anywhere and that he’s taking over Leno. I’m also glad that he confirmed that even though he’s on earlier at 11:30pm, he’s not going to stop being weird or “too out there” for the wider audience that he’ll be getting. I can’t wait.

Friday, February 20 was also the last episode of Frosty, Heidi and Frank on 97.1 FM. I’ve mentioned before that I hate most radio stations because they get paid to play the same Top 40 crap over and over. An old coworker turned me on to FHF back in 2005 and over the years, I grew to like them more and more. It was definitely better than listening to Power 106, KROQ or god forbid KIIS. The current recession, however, has taken the toll on everyone, even those in radio. KLSX can no longer bring in enough advertising to pay for the current talk radio format and has been forced to switch to a Top 40 format. I know, ANOTHER FUCKING TOP 40 STATION in Los Angeles! What is that? Like six stations?! Seriously, WHAT THE FUCK? That’s another post for another day, however. Frosty, Heidi and Frank were on from 10am to 2pm and while I listened to them at work at my desk, I listened even more once I got promoted to outside sales. I’d be out driving from client to client and I’d be listening to them while I was stuck in traffic. The more I listened, the more I got to know each of their personalities. Frosty was the guy that everyone made fun of because it was so easy but he was loyal and he was still your friend at the end of the day. Heidi was the chick that even though she wasn’t that hot, she wasn’t ugly enough to kick out of your circle of friends so you kept her around just to have a girl around. And Frank was a man’s man. You’d want him as your wingman or as your back up if you were ever to get into a fight. Over the years, I felt like I got to know them and when they went off the air, it was like losing some close friends. Their last show and farewell video almost brought me to tears. Nowadays, it feels weird not tuning in and listening to them from 10a to 2p. Until they end up at their next gig, I have old episodes to hold me over and even though I’ve listened to them before, they still make me laugh.

And finally, on Friday I signed lease papers for my own apartment effectively ending my time at 14512 Mango. Where do I begin? So many memories during my time at this place. In the future, when I think back to this place, it will remind me of my mid-twenties and all the great times we had here. From all the Tuesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday nights we would all get ready and go out drinking to the annual Thanksgiving and Christmas parties we had with our huge circle of friends, there are WAY too many stories to tell in one blog post. One thing that I do realize is that while it was fun and I wish I can live like that forever, there comes a time to grow up and become more responsible. That doesn’t mean “be boring and never go out”. To me, it means be independent, take care of your shit financially, and find time here and there to maintain the relationships that mean the most to you. Although it’s the end of a great era at Mango, I’m already excited with this new chapter in my life. One thing is for sure, this new chapter has some big shoes to fill.