hey crosstrainers!

crosstraining announcements can be found at:
http://www.livingword.net/2-crosstraining.html

you guys rock.

I SURVIVED!

i'm back from wildflower and my first sprint triathlon!  the photographers for wildflower were all over the course and managed to capture some really nice shots:

but during the race, this is how i actually felt:  ouch.

do i really run like that???

so for the swim portion, we start in waves.. i was with the pink swimcaps, 3 minutes later the green caps take off and then 3 minutes after that, the white caps start...  notice in the picture of me getting out of the water:  yes, surrounded by green caps!  i was so tired at one point, i was doing the ol' backstroke and a swimmer in a white cap comes up and says, "good job!  you can do it!"  so encouraging.. guess she knew i needed it.  hehe.

everyone was so great, i finished the race with a gal that wouldn't let me walk.. she's my hero!  albeit a little bossy.  and the orange slice at the end?  the best orange slice i've had in my entire life.

the latest in my life is me frantically preparing for my mini-triathlon in 2 WEEKS!
boy did this one sneak up on me.. dang it.  i went swimming this morning and almost drowned.  maybe the wetsuit will be buoyant enough to keep me afloat.. 

me and my new goggles:

and i need to figure out how to wear my swimcap...  it popped right off my head!  maybe i have too much hair but those things are supposed to be one size fits all i think.  tomorrow i try taking the bike out for a spin.. hope i have better luck than lisa on her bike. hehe.

in other news.. i have a new job!!!! woot woot!  i know, most of you will say it's long overdue, and i would have to agree.. but God is awesome and so far it seems like the most perfect opportunity for me so i'm just so grateful..  and it happened so quickly there was no time to stress out...  life is great.

by the way, the birds are back.. trying so hard again to build that darn nest above the neighbor's doorpost (they've given up on mine thank goodness) .. when will they learn? 

close to a thousand people met up in San Francisco last night for a
pillow fight!  people just showed up with pillows and started
bashing each other in honor of valentines day...  a possible annual trend?  who wants in next year?!?!

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/15/BAGCJH8EI11.DTL

i love it.

ok, so i've been cooking way more sporadically than i thought i would..
but my little recipe book has been officially started!  i have 12
recipes, 4 of which are tried and true.. i've scheduled a night to cook
some chicken on february 26 and i successfully cooked up some galbi
jjim last friday!  looks like i manage to cook about every 2
weeks?  not bad, not bad....  at this rate, i'll make it
through the rest of my recipe book by june!  aw yeah... some are
desserts and whatnot, so i'm sure i'll finish way before june but i'm
always looking to add some more.. 

here's a picture of my galbi jjim creation:
(recipe taken from xanga.com/koreancooking)

i
even bought kimchee and ya'll know how much i hate to stink up my
fridge with kimchee even tho i like the stuff..  i think i might
buy me a little mini fridge or one of those special kimchee fridges
they have out now..  anyone know anything about those suckas?
gotta keep my milk tasting like milk...

btw,
have i mentioned before how awesome brown cow yogurt is?  i highly
recommend it to yogurt-fans and yogurt-haters alike.  this stuff
is GOOOD!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

in honor of valentines day, here are some quotes by real
people overheard by the writers of the san francisco chronicle in
regards to relationships:

"I was looking for someone for just a really good time, but then I peeked
at his iTunes playlist. He'd be serious baggage.''

"She's gross. He's gross. They're both gross. It's a good couple.''

"It didn't work out because a) he's 39 years old, b) it was Friday night,
c) his mom was with him.''

"I said I love you and think I want to spend my life with you, but right
now I'm in Safeway and I can't find anything, so I'll call you later.''

and my favorite:

"There won't be a second date. That girl ate way too may noodles.''

i am the biggest goof in the kitchen but one of my resolutions is to
try cooking more often!  it doesn't help that all my kitchen
appliances and tools resemble those of a college student.. ie: broken
knives alladin style; no food processor so i'm forced to use my "magic
bullet" to chop; and pots that are the first to be volunteered for
church retreats cuz they're already in bad shape... BUT tokhui has
inspired me to create a log of successful recipes that i've tried:
sueann's test kitchen!  so for every recipe i like, it's getting
laminated and placed lovingly into my new recipe binder.  uh, so
far i've got ONE:

last night i tried hongkykong's
mac & cheese suggestion.. turned out PERFECT.  even with the
magic bulleted bread crumbs...  definately add the ham, makes a
huge difference.

next on my list?  kenny's chili con carne!

any other tried and true recipes out there that i can test out in my ghetto kitchen?  do tell!
the fewer the ingredients, the better.  and definately no complicated tools, i probably won't have it...

hellooooooo.....
feeling the itch to update:

this past weekend a handful of folks from my church tagged along with
the prison ministry team from Noel.  we didn't know what to expect
and i just remember the nervous hysteria i felt when i discovered i was
going to be a part of a practically all female skit to be performed at
a men's prison..  aack.

i cast myself as the pot smoking, suicidal clown because it was the
most random role to play but in the end i found out that it affected a couple of men in the audience who went through similar
situations.. God is so cool!  this whole thing started out shaky
and with me very relunctant but in the end i was hugely blessed, esp.
touching was the head pastor of Noel who showed up to give the message
even though it was obvious what kind of toll cancer was taking on his
body.  amazing and completely humbling.  i can't wait to go
again.. worship in that prison sanctuary was awesome.  (thanks CENT for the skit!!)

anyhoo.. looking forward to 2006:  i gets to go to seattle to make
friends with my niece and nephew.. costa rica for my mom's 60th
birthday in march.. new york at the end of march to cheer on aeri and
symong (woo hoo!).. and a sprint triathlon in may.  life is good.

edit:
was chatting with lisa just now and she said she felt "ddap ddap hae" 
what the?!?!  the really sad part is, i had to ask her what it
meant... i recognized that it was korean, but couldn't remember the
exact meaning.  lisa is teaching me korean...  crazy.

went to the chris tomlin / matt redman / louis giglio concert (the indesribable tour) last night with equal
parts young adults and youth kids... so awesome!  i even gave in
and bought a too-expensive t-shirt to remember the night.  amazing
praise and one mr. giglio reminding us that we are teeny tiny
insignificant beings .. "on a mote of dust suspended in a
sunbeam."  not to make us feel small, but to remind us that we
are small, compared to all of God's infinite glory. 

not to be forgotten:
at the very core of what i call the "ugly galaxy" (actual name: the
Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and Companion Galaxy... that little one just
snuck into the picture)

is this:  the "X" Structure

a cross! 

God's glory shown in the heavens, literally...

these pics are complements of the HubbleSite: http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/exotic_collection/pr1992017a/

and thanks benny for finding them for me!!

stinkin' amazing.

for all the youth kids looking for pics from the concert, here's a source:
http://geohsia.smugmug.com/gallery/957473

i never noticed this personally, but in college lecture classes candice
used to laugh at me because during class i would start randomly humming
while taking notes.

just now as a work meeting was ending, my coworker pointed out that i
was humming while my manager was speaking, making it pretty obvious
that i wasn't really into what he was saying.

eh?  i didn't notice.  that is SO weird!

i was tagged by ms. thang and since i'm a golden retriever and don't like to let people down, here goes!


10 years ago... 
my 3rd year at UW: dang, that was a long time ago..  i was living
off campus, paying $350 a month in rent for my half of a 2 bedroom
apartment, driving the 1.5 block distance to church. 
5 years ago...  in
new york, working at atlantic records with the lights off, chillin'
with my qpem cronies on the weekend and living with the best roommates
a girl could ask for..
1 year ago...  here in cupertino, working across the street, driving the 1.5 block distance to work every morning..
Yesterday...  walked
to work, gas prices getting the best of me; teacher's meeting at
benny's house, ate some yummy chicken dish and some pumpkin pie.. life
is good..

5 snacks i enjoy... 
fuji apples dipped in caramel
mini bite-size snickers
edamame
brown cow yogurt
olives (limocello, you can order those spanish olives online by the gallon!)

5 songs i know all the words to...
"butterfly in the sky... i can go twice as highhhhhh....."
"you take the good, you take the bad, you take them all and there you have..."
"dancing bears, painted wings"  song from anastasia. i used to make jen song sing the soundtrack duet style with me...
most backstreet boy songs..  but jylee knows them better than me..
song currently on repeat:  morcheeba's "rome wasn't built in a day"

5 places i'd run away to... 
greece
oahu .. i never get tired of it..
new york in the fall
dublin
anywhere where there's a hammock in the shade and a good book

5 bad habits... 
staying up too late
procrastinating and then stressing out
nagging
shopping
slouching

5 biggest joys... 
God
reading a good book
spending time with friends
naps in the afternoon
traveling   

5 favorite toys... 
my laptop
ipod
my car
my books
my tv

5 ppl i tag to do this...  limoncello, shallowgal, bestill75, hongkykong, jenifaly, bennyhan (bonus)