Runners High

I love watching KQED. There's always something interesting to watch. I do DVR a few series, one being 'Truly CA.'

The latest episode, Runners High, is a truly inspiring story about an organization called Students Run Oakland (SRO) in which High School kids are trained to run in the Los Angeles Marathon. They get free running shoes to start off in their journey. However the ultimate goal is completing the marathon in Los Angeles. These kids aren't given many opportunities and at the end of the episode you get to see how several of the students progressed beyond High School.

The interesting thing is seeing the diversity of students - both physically and mentally - and how they approached the training. Some were larger, some were smaller. Most were out of shape to begin with. Many people bitched and moaned but were ultimately surprised with how much strain they could put on their body. It's a mental game. The documentary isn't so much about the Marathon as it is an analogy for life. You're gonna be faced with challenges, road blocks and other things in life. It's really about how you handle them, set goals and train your mind to get through them.

I definitely want to train to run a marathon, but start slow.

I know I can run a 5K (a little over 3 miles) in a little over 30 minutes. Next goal will be a 10K. I'll practice on the treadmill. :D

The Trailer

The Mole on ABC tonight!

So you have no idea how much I'm excited for The (real) Mole to be back on the air. Real Citizens, not sub-lebrities. Jon Kelley is taking over as host. He should be an improvement over Ahmad Rashad, but Anderson Cooper will always be #1 in my heart.

Bring it ooooooon, Mr./Mrs. Mole. :)

Thinking 24/7: These topics are on my mind

My mind is a bit off today. I didn't get any sleep and tried to recover this afternoon, but with that said, I have a lot of thoughts running through my head:

• I'm happy to be back in California. It's home and always will be. But I still have the desire to live many other places.
• I'm excited to have a social life again. Not that I didn't have a social life in MIchigan, but it wasn't MY social life to some extent. Again, it's the being taken out of your comfort zone thing. Dating, movies, working out, dining out in SF... all things I'm looking forward to!
• The Staph Infection hitting the Castro is scary. Although the drug resistant bug has hit LA, Boston, and New York, it seems to be making the biggest impact in the gay community in San Francisco's Castro District. As reported in the SF Chronicle, one out of every 588 is infected with the drug resistant form of MRSA. This is super scary.
• Strangers have been super nice to me. I try to help out where I can. But I've been in a lot of random binds lately and complete strangers usually step up and help me out. I'm not sure if it's Karma, but I truly believe what comes around goes around. I had an unbelievable amount of luggage to carry around via mass transit, and many people helped me out today. It was cool.
  
• I like mass transit... a lot. Even thought it's not the most time efficient necessarily, I love living in an area where I can get around via Mass Transit. I got from SFO to my car in Mountain View for around $12 -- mixing BART, CalTrain and a Cab. How great is that?
• I'm sad I left Michigan a bit earlier than I wanted. This week is very big in Michigan. You have the Republican Presidential Primary and the Detroit Auto Show in one week. I found it pretty cool to see the Republicans duke it out in Michigan... via Advertising on Radio and TV. The Detroit Auto show is a huge deal. It's all that's covered on the news and it's all people are talking about. It's very cool. And the best part? I feel optimism in the American Car Industry.
• I've added the Volvo C30 to my Test Drive list. I saw an ad in a magazine for the Volvo C30. I thought, what a cool little car! It's pricey, but I love the modern Scandinavian interior. So far it's hit most of my future car requirements... hi tech advanced features, awesome audio, available sunroof, power but still decent gas mileage, smaller design for city living, ipod connectivity and something visually unique (stand out from the crowd).
• I'm excited for MacWorld! So when flying from Detroit to SFO, I sat next to Troy, who was heading to MacWorld. We bonded and he reminded me how excited I am for whatever Apple has up it's sleeves tomorrow. I'm most excited for the new ultra thin laptop. Wired has mock photos of what it thinks Apple will release.
• I'm excited to put my Digital SLR to good use. I got a Nikon D40, an entry level Digital SLR camera. That might require me to travel around the bay more.
• Sunnyvale gets an Art Institute of California! The newest Art Institute of California is in none other than my current home of Sunnyvale! I saw an ad on TV and I got a little excited. If I ever wanted to take classes on the side, I'm excited to have a legit institution nearby. :) It joins the other California Art Institutes in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, the Inland Empire, San Francisco, and Sacramento.
• American Gladiators on NBC. Even thought it's one big testosterone fest --- an overload to some extent --- American Gladiators is entertaining and reminds me of my childhood. I'm not sure how I feel about Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali as hosts. I do like some of the over the top effects... like when the bullseye is hit during Assault. Explosions and Water Drops, oh my!

ABC's 'The Mole' Returning to TV after 4 Year Hiatus

ABC is resurrecting 'The Mole,' one of the first competitive reality television shows from early in the decade. It hasn't been on TV in over 4 years. The host is still TBD. If only Anderson Cooper weren't being all professional on CNN during a presidential election year. He is to this day, my favorite Reality TV show host. He's also my favorite news anchor. ;)

The best part: they're casting soon. I'm totally gonna apply! It's my DREAM to be on The Mole.

Casting Information Soon on www.molecasting.com.

News Source: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20169920,00.html

Top Chef: Miami Finale

I know this entry is super late, but I'm very happy to see Hung with Season 3 of Top Chef on Bravo.

I was rooting for him throughout the season, even though people thought he was a major a**hole. He's a cocky son-of-a-b*tch, but at the same time, he's very passionate about his food.

I personally wouldn't eat a lot of his stuff (he's into fish and duck), but I do respect him as a chef. I would probably eat more of Dale's stuff. So I'm glad he was in the top 3

The reunion show is tomorrow at 10pm on Bravo. See what's cookin'. :)


Hung Wins Top Chef

Crap TV Night

I got out of work kinda late because I decided to work out with Nai. Dinner was slim 'pic'in's (referencing the new cafe on my Campus 'PIC' -> Pure Ingredients Cafe) on Crittenden (Googleplex #2) this evening. So after the workout, Nai and Audrey (Nai's GF) went to main (Google lingo for 'main campus') and I met them there. Now didn't you like that lesson in Google Lingo 101?

I'm thinking about getting a personal trainer sometime soon. Since the new gym on our campus opened, trainers are giving out some trial sessions to get some clients on their plate. Now that I'm about 15-20 pounds from my 2nd weight goal... I need to Step It Up!

After work, working out and dinner, I ventured home and watched a load of crap TV. Somewhere in the middle of watching all the crap below, I chatted with Norm. Awww.

TV Consumed:

• SYTYCD -> I Watch Yesterday and Today's episodes. I'm glad Dominic stayed but I was sad to see Hok's old partner go. And Mia Michael's was nominated for an Emmy? Weird. Mary Murphy is as crazy as ever. And what's with having to watch the same dance 10 times? Kinda boring. And my cubemate extraordinaire brought up the point that if Cat Deeley didn't have a British accent, she'd be super boring to watch. Vickie thinks that Cat has a tendency to add r's to the end of words randomly. Haha.
  
• Two Episodes of 'True Life' on MTV -> 'True Life: I'm celibate' and 'True Life: I'm moving back in with my parents.' Both were relatively entertaining. I never knew there could be 3 different reasons for being celibate: (1) Finding Jesus after a car accident, (2) As Revenge for being Cheated on, and (3) To Prove you aren't a whore when you once were. Go Fig. I don't want to knock the other episode of 'True Life' because who knows... one day I might move back home. Yikes!
• Big Brother 8 -> The results of Thursday's episode was good. Dick's probably squirming a bit.
• Welcome to the Parker -> Episode 1 on BRAVO was rather entertaining. My favorite part was the quality control aspect of the show. It's pretty much my daily life at Google. Quality Quality Quality! Who knew they threw random 'room service' tests like that to their staff. I just realized that if I were to move into quality control in any other industry, It would be rather difficult. Oh... and this just reaffirmed my loathing of stupid drunk straight men when they're not around women. They need to be bitch slapped!
  
• Sex in the City -> I caught a random episode on KRON 4 in the Bay Area. The topic? Sexpectations. Why is it always something?
  

Whew... I'm spent. Nighty!

Graham Norton Back On BBC America

I was excited to hear that Graham Norton's new show, The Graham Norton Show, will be playing on BBC America starting June 2nd, 2007. I really liked his old stuff when they played it a few years ago. I saw him when he made a week long appearance in Hollywood for his V Graham Norton (UK) series back in 2003. The guest that episode was Shirley MacLaine.

Snip Snip

Friday was really chill. I just needed some time to relax. At night, I headed to Lauren and Stephanie's place to watch some trashy TV in Milpitas. After browsing through their huge pirated movie and TV collection, we decided to watch my legit DVD's of Nip/Tuck.

I bought them at Target for really cheap a while ago and just now removed the plastic from them. We watched the first two episodes of Season 1. Oh man... this show is brilliant. We laughed our pants off and closed our eyes like little children when things were really rough to watch. Squirting fat from lipo and self-circumcision were just some of the frightening sights in these episodes.

Now I'm hooked and will watch all 3 seasons I have on DVD sometime soon. Yay! Oh... and Yes I know I'm late on the bandwagon... *sigh*

Are You F**kin' Kidding Me?

Seriously. America. You're racist... On American Idol.

A.J. Tabaldo was for SURE in the Top 3 Men. He got PRAISE across the board from the judges. I think he's half hispanic/half asian. I really don't think America likes Asian singers... err... I guess Indian is Asian too, but Sanjaya needed to GO!

It's probably the Midwest. *Sigh*

Season 6: Top Male American Idol Contestants

After watching the past few weeks, I think my favorite 3 male American Idol contenders are (in no particular order):

A.J. Tabaldo
Blake Lewis
Chris Richardson

I will report back later on the females.

American Idol Season 6: The Top 24

Yay! I'm so happy the Asian guy Paul Kim made it! American Idol needs a bit of Asian flavor.

Not only that, but he won my heart over by singing a Bee Gees song ('How Deep Is Your Love') during this round.

Woot!