Beethoven In Trance - Episode 23

Night before 2007.

Just sent off her brother and sister-in-law back to Canada early this morning (talking about 5am here). Came back and slept couple more hours. Got up, had a bowl of noodle (bad idea, but couldn't turn down the offer from inlaws - another long story). Spent the rest of the morning and noon cleaning up the kitchen. The countertop, the stove, the kitchen floor. My kitchen must be clean!

Went out for a run in the afternoon despite the rain. It was a good run. Not much people in the park. Air was humid and cool. Finished it just before another downpull.

Called my friend, and asked him about new year resolution. 'Stay healthy' he replied. What is my new year resolution? That's a good question. I haven't asked myself yet.

Looking into 2007, what is in it?

Well, we have a garage roof to fix, a wet basement to deal with, a garden to put down, a lawn of weed to kill, and an arguement of whether or not to move the tree in front of house to win, a busy schedule at work, and, to make things more interesting, in laws are going to be with us for 5 month.

It sounds like a busy year. Well, speaking of busy, last week was an example too.

In the last week, we rent a SUV, drove to PA for shopping, bought two gigantic lobster, deep fried three packs of frozen blue crab, opened three bottle of wines and finished two bottles of them (one of them was opened only to show in laws that I was not trying to save it for myself instead of sharing with everyone), finished another bottle of champaign, boned a pack of chicken thigh, bought 10 pounds of ground pork (are you nuts?), seasoned wok over and over again (and in laws kept cleaning it again and again), cleaned the kitchen like maniac almost every night. Slept on the sofa bed and didn't went into sleep a single day.

Forgot where did I heard it from, it was talking about people get involved into more relationships over time. The relationship with neighbor when you move into a new house, relationship with in laws when get married, in my case. These are the new experiences that I haven't really spent time thinking about it.

But, we are talking about 2007, right. Before we say good bye to 2006, let's see what happened in this good year.

In 2006,
I was transferred to a better department at work,
we bought a new car,
we bought a house, which has problems
we got married,
we finished our first half marathon in Vegas,
we went to Disney World with my mom,
I got smashed by cake on the face again on birthday,
we finished our 5k 'run for the cure' again in Cleveland with a better record,
my wife got a new and better position,
we got billed $500+ for not cleaning up the carpet in the apartment,
we still don't have the paycheck from our friend who bought our car,
my wife lost her cell phone, and we are still looking for a new one,
we didn't spend a dime on slot machine in Vegas
mortgage rate is going down,
and things that I forgot already

So, in 2007 my resolution might look like,
get a better pay,
fixed the problems in the house,
not get smashed my cake again at birthday,
finished 'run for the cure' with a better record again,
get the check from our friend who owes us money,
found a new cell phone for my wife,
run a marathon,
and not to forget so many things,

2007 ...

Beethoven In Trance - Episode 22

so we went to the 2nd Las Vegas Marathon (also the first half marathon).

It was our first half marathon. We came up with this idea about last month when we were thinking about how to celebrate our wedding. Half marathon sounded like a very daunting quest to us at that time as we didn't have any training for that long distance. Neither of us has ever run longer than 7 miles at that time. We were not in the best shape either.

First thing came to her mind is that it's a great idea, second though follows along is 'it's crazy, we can't make it'. Third thought is 'if we don't do it now, we won't do it forever'. So we booked the hotel, flight, and registered ourselves to the marathon. That was 4 weeks ago.

I trained myself the week we booked the tickets, and I hurt my knee. 'Runner's knee', that's what they call it. Rested for couple days, and reduce the distance. Bought the running shoes. Tested them on the road. Didn't do any long distance, wondering how to complete this race?
Checked some website and got some tips about warm up, strech, and how to run strong by run slow at the begining. Key strategy it turned out to be.

Meanwhile, she had blister on the toe and have to wear my shoe (because it's a large size).

We went to Las Vegas with only one mission - to finish the race.

Checked in Luxor late at night, the hotel is totally smoked. The room has good view, but it doesn't have an individual air condition. It's dry in Vegas. Drunk lots of water, and went to bed right away. Got up 6am next morning and tried to get accustomed to the local weather. Toured around the strip and visited some casinos, took some pictures, and got to the Expo for the race bib and goodie bag. Got back to hotel later and went to sleep around 6pm local time.

Waked up around 11pm, when the night just started in Vegas. We could heard the noise from the lobby, as people started to pull into the casino. Kept sleeping till 3am, woke up.

Got breakfast, esspresso, energy bar and gatorade. Stretched, unloaded the system. Went down to lobby at 5am. It was a crowd there already. Went off the road to the start line and it was chilly. Got into crowd way back from the start line around 5:30am. There was fireworks, and bluemen's group. Waiting... waiting in cold, and with an urge to go to bathroom...

The people in front of us started to move, and it moved faster than we expected. Running slow and steady, warmed up the boddy bit by bit, eyes on every mile mark to see if there is a long line for the bathroom. Miles 3, water break. Had a cup of Gatorade, and waited in line for the bathroom. 10 minutes lost.

Got back on the road, and still running slow. Felt better and better as body started to warm up and sun started to come out. It was very windy though(supposed to be 50 mpg).

Mile 5, the 'run through wedding chapel'. A group of people is going to get married in this chapel and it attracted some crowd. There are 'I dos' shout out. We stopped by for some pictures, then went back on road.

Mile 7.5, the full and half marathon split, and a group of 'Elvis' joined us in the race.

Mile 9.5, enjoying the songs from Elvis

Mile 11.5, stomach started to complain, nothing huge, but getting uncomfortable, knee started to complain too.

Mile 12, crowed on both sides of the road, people were cheering, realized it's time to put on some speed for the final rush.

Mile 13, saw the finish line, and speeded up a little bit

Finish line, kissed just before step on the finish line. We did it.

Our bib says 'JustMarried'

Took off the chip on the shoe (the timer), and took some pictures, got the medal and got in line for the finisher photo. Took two photos and went to get some water and banannas.

Legs and knee were complaining.

Went back to hotel and took a shower, rest, then go out for food. Had vietnamese noodle (price is suprisingly reasonable). Went back to hotel, rest again. Then went to the Spice Market buffet at Aladdins. Had some great food. Stuffed. Came back out, watched fontain shows in front of Bellagio.

Went to La Village buffet at Paris the next day for lunch. Food was good.

Sick of the casino buildings, went to Tj Max, found a Lenox plate for $2, good deal.

Returned the car, then went to airport.

Loaded the pictures to computer, then to the website. Talked to people on MSN, waiting for the boarding.

Finally, leaving Las Vegas.

Got back to Cleveland around 6am. Drove back home, took a shower, and sleep. 3pm, got up, went out grocery shopping. Had dinner, went to bed again.

We are back to Cleveland lives now.

Beethoven In Trance - Episode 21

Couple days ago I was sitting in my cube and thinking about the conversation I had with one of my friends back home in China the night before.

It wasn't a smooth conversation, we disagree on the 'meaning of life' type of topic as usual. I sense Shanghai has became so competitive that people there are getting squeezed enough to twist. I bet I will be looked as a 'country boy' now in Shanghai (or maybe not). I can somehow imagine myself in Shanghai, living with parents, thinking about finding the next job for a bigger pay everyday if I am not here. I don't think I will develop the interest in cooking or travelling, because I will be too busy with thinking about money. Reality there doesn't allow me to think about anything else.

Or maybe I am wrong. I become less and less competitive due to lazyness. This 'country style' living has dulled my edge (if I have had any). I have indeed become a 'country boy' with no ambition bigger than putting down a vegetable garden before next spring...

What's wrong with me or him? This is a live example of how the environment can change a person. I am suprised to see how differ we are on this subject of life.

It all comes down to money, a measure of success around the world. Though most of us understand money is not the only thing that makes a person happy. But without money will be a pain (unless you are homeless person who don't work for money. The song 'Mr. Wandel' by Arrested Development described that).

Am I getting better or worse? I think this is the essential question that I want to and I am afraid to ask myself. I can say for certain that I become a different person since I came to US. But am I becoming a better person? In which areas? Are those improvements substantial enough to lift me to another level?

Hum... lots of questions...

I used to miss the days in high school when I 'work hard and play hard'. But not lately. Maybe I was too busy playing 'Titan Quest'. Job has become less painful.

When I was in Shanghai, I always felt that 'something' is missing. I thought 'it' was that I wasn't here in US. Now if I was asked this question, I will have a different answer. What's missing in my life now? I can't really tell. I have lovely wife, a house, a new car, a job that I can actually handel, people at work are nice enough to work with. Friends, are less here as we don't social that often. Our friends are still those who we met at school.

to be continued...

Beethoven In Trance - Episode 20

Haven't blogged for a while, opened it today and found this:

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