~frequent biker program

rules:
1. i bike and log the number of miles with the aid of googlemaps.
2. every mile i bike, i earn miles.
3. i use miles to buy upgrades for my bike with the ultimate goal of 1000ish miles for a road bike. mile to dollar conversion is 1 to 1.
4. miles do not accrue if i skip two consecutive days, and i must bike 5 miles to resume accruing miles.
5. if i eat out during a weekday, i lose miles at a rate of 1 mile per dollar spent.

today i biked 3.6 miles and it took approx 25 mins = 8.64 mph

TOTAL MILES: 3.6

FIRST UPGRADE GOAL


















Kenda Kwest tires: $18.95 x 2 = 37.90 + shipping...

i'm gonna go with 50 miles.. just in case..

~meaningful

something happened yesterday. i'm not entirely sure of its significance quite yet, so i have to reflect on it some more. but i hope it doesn't just fade away into that murky realm of half memories that is the past. i just wish i could reconcile what i feel with what i see. also with what everyone else sees..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQHcIQs8XqM

in other news, my workouts have slowed a bit. probably due to the intensity of them, but i worked out on 4/9 and then didn't work out until 4/16. i'm still sore as hell from this past friday's workout that i did with candrew. but i've been seeing a lot of his progress in the last month or so. i guess i'm easing my way back into it. but i like the results that i've been seeing. just have to make it more consistent i guess. i plan to work out again on tuesday and hopefully friday again. definitely have to put in less overtime for that to happen.

the last paycheck i got was fatty, but since putting that 5k away, my checking account looks sad again. it's gonna look especially sad after i pay off the chase card cause i've been eating out a lot. oh, that reminds me.. i gotta return that snowboarding jacket. not going to matter much because i'm thinking about buying a wetsuit but.. i guess this next paycheck is gonna be monster too and that comes in on friday. woot! note to self: stop eating out so much. it adds up!!

i'm kind of discouraged about buying a house. houses are so expensive, even in crappy places to live in [ie next to dairy farms]. there's no way i can afford one unless i live super duper frugally. two incomes would be so freaken nice.. but that's still some years away. i can feel the 18,000 tax credit slipping away..

finally, i'm really looking forward to this wknd. thuy's wedding in san diego.. woot woot!!

~anniversary

so yesterday was my one year anniversary with state farm. i can't believe it's already been a year since i've started working there. my new boss gave me an envelope with a hand written card and a keychain from the boss's boss's boss. i put the card on my desk and i proudly put my keys on the keychain. this past year flew by. i definitely learned a lot, met a lot of interesting people and started my life as a grownup.

yesterday, i went to camarillo for this work party at andy's new house. candrew and i stopped by the outlets, and i got three polos and a button-up short sleeve for pretty cheap. my wardrobe definitely needed a boost for the transition from winter clothes to spring/summer clothes. i'm still lacking in a lot respects, (dressier work clothes, jeans, khaki's), but i'm going to hold off on those until i lose some weight. the work party was pretty low-key. candrew and i got a bunch of beers and a bottle of vodka/sake ? that was cool because it lit up, but hardly anyone drank. we just ate and played pictionary where candrew and i dominated. still, we left around 1130/12 and got home at 1.. >_<

today i took the jack3d i got for the first time and went to 24. i started off with a wimpy version of "fran" doing the thrusters with a 35 lbs barbell and pulldowns at 70 lbs. it took me about four pretty intense minutes, and i definitely felt winded/tired/demoralized by the end. after that i just did random bullshit [one or two sets of different body parts] for 20-25 minutes until i couldn't take it anymore. i think sleeping at 4am last night could have a part of why my workout was so short. also, doing the ritual earlier that day. still, since i don't have any physics class this week [spring break woot!] i'm going to try to work out everyday or at least pretty much every day and hit wimpy versions of crossfit's benchmarks. man, i really need to quit smoking too.

either jack3d or working out had some really awesome benefits today. i came home feeling like shit, but after taking a shower, eating some fruits and taking some protein powder.. i got a lot done. i cleaned my room, cleaned out my car, organized my desk, bought some hdmi cables online.. basically did a bunch of things i've been putting off for a while. i can't wait until i get healthier and thus have more energy/initiative even after weaning myself off the jack3d.

so paternal relations have been pretty good, and so i decided to use my dad's premiere techniques on him. i declared to him on saturday, "i'm not going to talk to you until you read siddhartha". i felt like an idiot because when i said it in korean, it sounded pretty awkward, i think i conjugated the verb wrong. i'm kind of scared because he's really good giving the silent treatment, and i'm really bad at it. pretty much every time it happens i'm the one who pesters him until he responds. still, this whole day i haven't said a word to him or even made eye contact. wish me luck!!

shoot, i wanted to tabulate my spending for the past two months, but i'm pooped.. time to hit the sack early so i can wake up tmrw..

~spring

finally it's here, and there's so much more daylight. i've been looking forward to it all winter.

for the past month, my eye has been twitching when i get less than 7 hours of sleep. this is annoying, especially when you're in a meeting with your boss.

i have a new boss. he is much quicker at getting back to me and DWHSHW, but talks a lot and seems like a rubber stamp. i wonder what my raise is going to look like this year.

being a grownup is a process for sure. haven't done my taxes yet, but my mom's pressuring me to buy a house. i wouldn't mind since she'd front the 20%, but i don't know if housing prices are gonna go up enough in a few years to justify putting myself in six figure debt.

i bought a wii and a ps3. but i don't have enough time to play ffxiii or fallout 3. this makes me sad.

i've been splurging this past month though since November or so i've been semi frugal. i've have enough to put the max for a year into a IRA, but i'm heistant to do so cause then i'd be broke. mammoth trip put be back more than $300, i got a snowboarding jacket for $120 [honestly thinking about taking advantage of REI's return policy and returning it] , and although i don't have to pay the full amount until a year and a half from now, i still spent like $800 on the ps3 and wii. also i spent some dough on fees and textbooks for physics.

i'm taking physics at fjc. kind of random. i was doing really well in the class but i've been slipping these past couple weeks. still, i can get an a if i shape up. i like this professor's mindset. he knows most jc kids don't have study skills and procrastinate. solution? have a "exam" every week and a quiz every week. this way it's tougher to fall behind cause it reflects in your current grades.

i saw wilmar and sarah and some other 'tones this past weekend. it was nice hearing some good accapella, even though the judging was bullshit. also seeing old 'tones faces and hearing their voices.. it's been a while.

stuff i've been listening to:
minus the bear - my time
-finally, a minus the bear song where you can hear the bass
paramore - playing god, brick by boring brick
-love the lyrics and chorus to playing god. brick by boring brick is just so catchy
kings of convenience - homesick, misread, i'd rather dance with you
-kind of soft, soothing music. i love the lyrics to homesick, especially when i'm driving to work and dreading the day
phoenix - 1901, fences
-lol cadillac commercial
alicia keyes - love is blind
-i like how she changes her voice for this song, and how dark it sounds too
nicole willis and the soul investigators - soul investigators theme, keep reachin' up, blues downtown
-can't believe these songs were recorded in the 2000s, sounds like a blast from the past

~

god, blogging is nice. why did i stop?

~nightwish

so i got into a fight with my dad this morning and listened to nightwish on the way to work. which helped, but didn't help as much as how busy work was today. everybody's on vacation or sick. it's amazing how big of a hit we took. supposedly it's going to be like this until new years. at least time will pass quickly.

sergio's sick as hell. i brought him some grapes and perrier. i hope that helps.

worked out today. just did the elliptical and dips and pullups. there have been changes to my body, but i don't think they're too apparent quite yet. i did def improve on the dips tho.

in other words, debt blows major balls. it's like fuck, how nice would it have been to come out of college not in the red? but if i penny pinch like crazy, i can make it disappear in a year and a half or so. that's not too bad. i just have to spend my time not spending money. like working out, or reading books.

i started beloved and the bell jar. which shall i finish first?

i had other shit to say, but dota just sucked the remaining brainpower i had. freaken computer games.. if i didn't play them.. imagine the possibilities!!

~funny day

so i guess today was a funny day.

i woke up really late, because the day before yesterday i only got four hours of sleep and yesterday i wasn't able to catch up either. i guess it just builds like that. but i made it to work in one piece, thinking that i would just come home. so i didn't pack my workout clothes or anything and just went to work.

work was supposed to be a little different today because my boss's boss's boss was coming to visit. most everyone wore business casual or a tie. he came by my cubicle, but i didn't even get to talk to him because SOMEbody took up all of his time blabbering away. this was the same person who helped me put paperclips in my shirt because i forgot my collar stays which i asked her to do, but criticized me for wearing a wrinkled shirt which i did not ask her to do. still, it was funny seeing some people who ALWAYS wear something super casual wear something a bit more formal, just because someone from upper management was there.

he came to basically conduct a meeting with all the managers and also meet the new fire claim reps. they enjoyed his visit as we did a couple of months ago. he's a really cool guy, been with SF for years and years. basically worked his way up the corporate ladder by being mobile and working in all kinds of offices around the country. still, if you look at the big picture, even that guy boss is super low on the whole ladder. my boss's boss manages the fire people in our building, and her boss [the guy who came today] manages fire claims people in our area. his boss manages claims in both fire and auto in our area and THAT guy has five vice presidents above him and THEY have the big boss of california above him. and this california guy has people all across the country who are his equal and then the there's another ladder in bloomington above THAT! it's crazy to think this company has like 85k employees and that's not including agents. it makes me feel small, but i feel that wow.. if i'm able to rise through this company.. that'd really be an achievement.

and because he was there, my boss was busy the whole day which in turn gave me a lot of time to do whatever with. she didn't even notice that i was an hour late [although attendance of her new reps is probably really low on her priority list]. sweet. i did get some work done today, but the time i spent on it was definitely a minority compared to the other stuff i did.

like read this article.

even though i didn't get much sleep, for some reason i felt like i had a lot of energy today. it's like that i guess when you exercise because i've been pretty consistent this week. last week i didn't work out as much as the week before and i definitely felt a drop in energy. i'm still sore from monday's bicep workout, so i guess it was okay that i rested today.

our sf agent called me today to ask me a question about if tree root damage to a block wall was covered or not. i told him that they're not covered and then he divulged to me that my mom asked him to set me up with somebody. LOL that came out of nowhere. he gave me his email address and asked me to send him a picture of me and that he would send me a picture of her. that was pretty random.

i ended up going to my coworker andrew's house after work. we ate at this restaurant in corona. their shrimp cocktail had these HUGE shrimp, for sure must have been u-10s. because they were so big it felt like i was taking a bite out of a huge chunk of meat, and that was unusual for a shrimp experience. their ribeye was pretty good tooad either. it reminded me of bloomington when we ate out pretty much everyday and a lot of those meals were steak. still, i have to try the ribeye at ruth and chris's. i've heard good things about it from a lot of people.

in other news, today is the first day of the rest of the year. i'm pretty much going to be focused from now on on something i'm working on. wish me luck because i'm going to need some discipline to finish this. but then 2010 is going to be a good year. i can feel it. i just need to save some money and learn some skills.

F to the OCUS

~exercise

it's a natural high, it really is. today i woke up late, ate a shit ton of enchiladas at my mom's friend mary's house and took a nap. the whole time i felt tired and impotent. but then i rode my bike to 24 and back and now i feel great. cooked dinner, ate it, took a shower. otherwise a pretty uneventful day. oh, i did play some games of dota. but the satisfaction i got out of that was dwarfed by the bike ride. i was supposed to return a bag at sports authority today, but i'll do that tomorrow on the way back from work.

i wish they allowed flip flops at work. shorts also.

but i guess i'm lucky that they allow jeans and such. it would be such a drag to have to wear business casual everyday.

some other things i have to get done before leaving for bloomington..
1. order transcripts for my cuzn
2. call proactiv
3. call dell and tell them they forgot to include a dvi cable in my monitor order
4. return the duffel bag
5. meet up with june

also, this week i'm going to try exercising in the morning. supposedly it burns more fat because u don't have glycogen stores or some shit.. lol and it'd be great to start off my day feelin goooooooooooood