Massage Envy: Check It Out!

If you've recently gotten back into a solid workout routine and are suffering through the pains, or merely need a little stress relief from being crammed in a cubicle for 9+ hours a day laboring away in Excel spreadsheets, I highly recommend checking out Massage Envy. Last night I received a full hour massage for $49. Pretty decent, especially for a downtown La Jolla location. A membership costs $59 a month and comes with one massage and afterwards each additional one-hour massage is $39. It's a pretty good deal and the massage I received was actually good. My body is slowly coming back to life....

Week 2 With Archaic Spin Instructor

Yes, I am a glutton for punishment. I went back for week two with the joker spin class instructor and this week was actually worse. A whopping five people showed up for class this week and apparently this particular spin class is typically more of a social event than an actual workout. However, I learned during class that the spin instructor does not own an iPod, nor does he have health insurance. Due to the latter factoid, he couldn't go to the doctor to ask about his leg injury which occurred when he fell out of his grandfather's apricot tree. I wanted to ask him if he bumped his head also but managed to refrain.

Throughout class as we were "hitting the beat" to 80s classics from the likes of Berlin (not 90s music as I suggested last week), I learned more about the tragic death of MJ and how his doctor didn't have an AED on-site, which was appalling to the other people in the class. Wow. If I make it back to another class, it will be a miracle. It was quite ridiculous.

Fiesta Island

This weekend, Reggie had a ball at Fiesta Island with Gracie and new-found friend Shiloh. We are really blessed to have so many fun, furry friends that like to get out and have a good time. Above is the best pic from the day. Reg is turning out to be a bit of a playful bully. At six months old and 51 pounds, we'll see how she behaves when she's fully grown.

LJSC Adds Insult to Injury with 6am Spin Class Instructor

Monday morning’s spin class at La Jolla Sports Club (“LJSC”) was a quite a trip, with a whopping three people showing up for the 6am class. This was a welcome change from the evening classes, which pack the room full of sweaty people toiling away on their spin bikes. Usually by the time I get there for the evening classes, I’m stuck with a pretty crappy bike. For the 6am class, no crappy bike for me, but the instructor was possibly the most annoying spin class instructor I’ve ever had. Okay, I was already irritated based on the Monday morning 6am spin class time, but he was pretty bad.

The music selection was not favorable, with selections from Protégé, Crystal Waters and other 90’s tunes. Plus, he actually used CDs and had to get up and change music in the middle of class. What other spin instructor at a nice sporting club doesn’t have an iPod? I think he’s stuck in the 90’s. He wore a tight yellow Under Armor-like sleeveless shirt, which he tucked into his bike shorts. Yuck. And we constantly had to hear, “Hit the beat” during our sprints.

Although I’m a fan of morning workouts, I can’t decide if I’ll be going back to the 6am spin class at LJSC. More to come…

The Hill at Torrey Pines State Park Kicks My Butt (Again)

This Saturday afternoon, I took off for my long run from the intersection of Torrey Pines and La Jolla Village Drive roads with the goal of running north toward Del Mar through Torrey Pines State Reserve Park. I was hoping to get to see the golf course and some of the park but maybe not make it all the way down the hill. I ended up making it all the way down the hill and then part of the way up the hill in Del Mar. Running back up that hill more than six miles into a long run is a challenge. Yikes. That hill just keeps on going...

I have to say that the views from some of the trails in Torrey Pines State Reserve are amazing. You're basically running along the cliffs overlooking the ocean, which tends to re-energize you after the hill has been kicking your butt. If you live in the San Diego area and haven't done a run through these trails, I highly recommend it!

I ended up running the 10.5 mile loop at just about a nine minute mile pace. Not too shabby but I'm hoping to get closer to 8:20-8:30/mile pace for the AFC half. Still have some work to do.

Happy 50th Birthday, Mark!

Last night I had the pleasure of driving up to Newport Beach to have dinner with my old Cincinnati family, the Bodnars, in honor of Mark's 50th birthday. We had a great meal at a seafood place call Wildfish, one of the restaurants in the chain of Eddie V's. For those of you that choose to venture up to Newport Beach, I highly recommend it. I had a seafood salad with shrimp and crab and it was delicious. We also shared some fabulous desserts, with the pineapple upsidedown cake winning the award for most delicious. I found that kind of surprising and am not sure I've ever actually had pineapple upsidedown cake (other than as a shot).

Marissa is finishing up her internship with the Ellen DeGeneres show and Bo is on break from college in Minnesota. Marissa and Julie are driving cross-country back to Cincinnati on Monday and then Marissa is flying to Greece with a group of kids from her school later next week.

It was great to catch up with them. What a fun bunch. Happy birthday, Mark! You don't look a day over 48....

The E.N.D. of Boring Music

Last night on my drive up to Newport Beach, I finally listened to the Black Eyed Peas' new album, The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies). As with all previous BEP albums, I have to say I'm very excited about it. It's a bit more techno-y than their prior albums but it is GREAT for running to and working out to. As a matter of fact, I listened to it this morning during my run. Hopefully when my legs are a little less tired (from the 10.5 mile run yesterday), it will make me run faster...

In a sign of just how bad the economic times have been lately, one of the songs actually refers to Lehman Brothers' collapse. In "Imma Be," the song says, "Imma be a broker but my name ain't Lehman." Hilarious. Clever and a great for dancing, running, etc. Check it out! Two of my favorite songs are "I Gotta Feeling" and "Rockin to the Beat."

The Action Shot

I love beef marrow bones, Mom! Please give me that now...I don't care if you're trying to get a picture of me!

Dear Bryson and Bailor:

Thank you very much for the elephant toy. It is my new favorite and keeps me from chewing on things I shouldn't be, like the new couch Mom just bought. As you can see, I have done some good work on its trunk and legs so far...come visit us in California soon!

Mexico’s Drug Trafficking Has Gotten So Bad…

…they’re hiding cocaine in shark carcasses. Seriously. Check out this article from BBC Online: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8104397.stm

Ode to Hagar

Windan’sea is a really cool place to reside if you can get over the cost of living and are comfortable being a renter for the near-term future. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to ever get my head around paying $800,000 for about 1,000 square feet of living space with no garage. It’s a total bummer because the beach is close (and quieter than other beaches in San Diego), the neighbors are cool, and there’s an awesome dog park at Draper and Gravilla. Even though it’s not officially a dog park, all the locals bring their pups to the park to socialize in the evenings.

Little Reggie’s best friend is a 140 pound Newfoundland named Hagar. He is supercool and super laid back, which is fortunate because lil’ Reg isn’t shy about wrestling with him. His mom Jen is also super cool and has puppy sat for Reggie a couple of times. Fortunately, they live just a hop skip and a jump away, which is awesome for play dates. The downside is that Reggie gets so sad when we leave, she refuses to walk home and ends up choking herself. Last time she choked herself so bad, she projectile vomited water all over the place. It was very sad (and reminded me I need to invest in a Gentle Leader collar).

Hagar is the sweetest big dog I have ever been around. Here is a little ode in his honor:

A big black dog with a great personality,

His name is Hagar and he lives just up the street from me,

We met at the park and he immediately became friends with Reggie,

It’s been quite a joy to see,

Two dogs of such disparate size play together so gleefully!

Despite his great size, Hagar is very gentle,

With a puppy’s energy, it’s been instrumental,

To find patient and kind friends for little Reg,

Who can take a bit of abuse and aren’t on edge,

Because a six month old puppy can be quite trying,

But Hagar’s had no problems complying,

With Reggie’s mounds of energy,

And as soon as we go for a walk, she can’t wait to see,

Her best friend Hagar.

I Need New Music!

S.O.S.! My iTunes playlists and iPod Shuffle have been playing the same songs for too long. Most recently, artists like Sufjan Stevens and Ra Ra Riot have been added based on referrals from Pandora Radio. I’ve also recently purchased the new album from the Black Eyed Peas, “The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies).” However, it’d be great to get some new tunes to introduce to my iPods. My gracious little sister, Elle Belle, has been a great source of new tunes so hopefully she reads this blog soon and sends along some good suggestions.

American Express: The Worst Junk Mailer Ever!

After several days of not retrieving my mail, I was unpleasantly surprised by the wad of junk mail that I found waiting this evening when I finally opened my mail box. I don’t think I actually received one piece of real mail (which might actually be a good thing because a large portion of real mail is typically bills), but I did receive no fewer than five pieces of junk mail from AmEx. I’m a big fan of getting in on special offers based on a rewards program from a credit card company. American Express, however, pushes the limit and sends me so much crap that I no longer even take their mail seriously unless I know it’s a bill I have to pay.

So I pose these questions to AmEx: WTF? Why do you spam all your loyal, paying on time customers? Do you not know this will aggravate them and encourage them to consider switching to a new credit card company that doesn’t load their mail boxes with junk mail? Argh…so that’s my rant on AmEx’s junk mail. I would think AmEx would try to be a little more environmentally-conscious and stop killing so many trees with junk mailings that go straight to the garbage.

Weekend Update

This weekend I officially signed up for two big San Diego events coming up in August. One is the AFC (America’s Finest City) Half Marathon. This 13.1 mile jaunt begins near Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma, wanders on the coast line near the airport, through downtown San Diego and finishes uphill to Balboa Park. It should be a good time but I’ve heard the last several miles are killer. I’ve boldly claimed I would like to run at an 8:20/mile pace. Hopefully that’s not too ambitious.

I also bought my tickets to San Diego’s Street Scene, a music festival at the end of August. This year’s Street Scene features The Black Eyed Peas, Modest Mouse, M.I.A., The Dead Weather, Silversun Pickups, Band of Horses and Ra Ra Riot, amongst others. It should be fun. I’m excited for the return visit to show. Last year, I thoroughly enjoyed The National (and I’m sad they’re not returning), Vampire Weekend and TV on the Radio.

The SeaWorld Visit

SeaWorld San Diego…what a wonderful place to spend an afternoon! By purchasing a “SeaWorld Fun Card” for just $65, which, ironically, is the same price as a day’s admission to the park, I can return for free until December 31, 2009. I plan to go several times. There are some quality shows – including the Shamu show, the dolphin show, the sea lion and otter show, and the Cirque de la Mer Show, which I think is for aspiring Cirque du Soleil performers who didn’t quite make the cut.

The Shamu show is the highlight of the park for a good reason – it is truly amazing to see an 8,000 pound animal glide through the water and splash fans sitting in the “Soak Zone” on command. The show we saw featured four of the orcas performing although a SeaWorld worker informed me that SeaWorld San Diego has seven orcas. Wow. I had to fight the urge to dive into the tank and swim around with them because it looked like a ton of fun. However, I heard that one of them got angry with its trainer over the last year and pinned him to the floor of the aquarium. That would be horrifying.

The dolphin and sea lion shows were also very entertaining. Dottie the dolphin can jump like 16 feet and the stunt they pull with the little kid feeding the dolphin (and then wiping her fish-dirtied hands all over her shirt) is also a hoot. The sea lion and otter show featured spoofs on TV shows including American Idol, Rachael Ray and Survivor. All in all, it was very creative and entertaining.

In addition to the shows, we checked out the Clydesdale horses, the Manatee Rescue, the Shark Encounter, the penguin and beluga whale display, and got to observe the dolphins up close and personal. Although it is a fantastic place to spend the afternoon, it’s hard to believe that SeaWorld was started by a group of four UCLA graduates in the mid-1960s whose initial idea was to start an underwater restaurant. Can you imagine trying to pitch investors on the idea of building an amusement park showcasing giant whales and dolphins? Only in southern California…

I’m still a bit unclear to SeaWorld’s future. It is owned by Anheuser-Busch, which was recently acquired by InBev for $52 billion. I’ve heard that InBev isn’t too keen on keeping SeaWorld. Hopefully Shamu finds a new owner soon. SeaWorld San Diego is a great place to spend the afternoon and needs to be kept alive so that future generations can come enjoy the wonderment of the sea life there.

The Parents Visit La Jolla…

It was a wild and crazy end of last week and weekend. Mom and Dad flew in from Virginia to hang out for a couple of days and meet Reggie. Reggie, of course, was a huge hit. We spent some time at Fiesta Island and the Budman worked with her on her retrieving skills. Her skills are much improved but we still have work to do.

One of my favorite parts of their visit was our trip to SeaWorld. I will write more in a later blog on SeaWorld because there is just too much to write here. The orca is a fascinating creature and SeaWorld San Diego has seven of them. Each of the orca each eat 250 pounds of fish a day for a total of 1,750 pounds of fish a day. That’s 638,750 pounds of fish a year. Yikes.

My parents also checked out the San Diego Zoo, Fiesta Island, Pacific Beach, La Jolla, the Gliderport just south of Torrey Pines State Park, and Del Mar. It was quite a packed trip and by the time Sunday afternoon rolled around, they headed to the airport and I headed to the couch. One note for visitors is that May and June tend to be gloomy in the mornings (which my parents thought was “cold”) but we actually had good weather for walking around in – not too hot, not too cold, but “just right.” It was great to get to spend time with them and hopefully they return to SoCal soon!

Are We Done Yet?

This is Reggie at City Dog after I washed her and dried her. She was relatively well behaved but is very scared of the stairs and not too keen on the drying machine. This is at the very tail end of the drying experience...