It looks like Brazil will not be my only travel destination the next couple of months.

Because of some family business concerns, for the first weekend in June, I will be heading back to my birthtown: Tulsa, Oklahoma! I was concerned about taking more time away from work, but I got final approval this morning after staff meeting. It helps that the majority of my project crunch-time will be in the late summer months.

It will be my first time returning since we moved out in the summer of 1980, right after I finished 1st grade. I know that it will be strange to see the old childhood home again. Such interesting memories I have of the place.

Well, it was a fun gathering at my apartment on Monday. It was great having a lot of people stop by, some whom I had not seen in a while. Only thing that would have made it even better was a UCLA victory.

The team suffered a terrible defeat to the Gators, but they shouldn't be ashamed about their season, far from it. I am sure that a lot of us Bruin supporters (myself included) did not have UCLA going into the Final Four. My grateful thanks to the basketball team, coaching staff, and trainers for a good run! And with a majority of the talent coming back, we should be poised to have another shot at championship glory next year!

I am trying in haste to learn Portuguese for my (long-awaited) upcoming vacation trip... to Brazil next month! I got inspired to visit that country last August, after a great bossa nova evening at the Hollywood Bowl. Plus, I told myself that I needed a post-marathon training reward!

I'm heading out with a old travel buddy, Josh. We will definitely hit up Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Not sure about other possible destinations (i.e Iguacu Falls). I'll tell you one thing though. Vacationing can get expensive, so time to put those budgeting skills to use again!

Hey local Bruin readers and fans!

A bunch of us will be gathering at my apartment tonight to watch the championship game (6:21 pm on Channel 2 KCBS). Feel free to stop by, and could you RSVP here by leaving a comment? That way, I have a better idea on how much snacks/dinner to prepare. Thanks!

Let's hope that if the Bruins win, there will be no crazy riots or van-flipping in Westwood like last time! Now that was one insane day!

GO BRUINS!

and I'm finished...

Yesterday evening marked my absolute last training run before the big race Sunday morning. An easy 3 mile stroll through Beverly Hills, which capped my training mileage at 486.93 miles, just half a marathon short of 500!

People at work (and some of you readers) have been asking me various questions concerning the marathon, so I'll answer them here.

1. What bib number are you and what will you be wearing? #8500, and you'll see my name written on the bib. The second part on the question sounds like I'm on the Academy Awards red carpet. I'll be wearing Nike (navy shirt and gray shorts).

2. Are you going to color your hair to be more "noticable"? Unfortunately, I will not. Temporary hair coloring solutions will streak out when I run, and I don't want to permanently change it for one day, just to dye it back to black. Plus, the weather is projected to be cold that day, so I'm wearing a hat to keep the body heat in!

3. Is the LA marathon going to be televised?  Yep. KNBC. Channel 4 for you Angelinos.

4. Can we track you online? Good question. I think you can go to the marathon website, and look me up on the "raceresults" menu selection. It should show my split times (10K, half, and 30K). You can also get info on the course route there too, in case you want to brave the traffic and see friends along the course.

And finally, here are some pix of us Roadrunners from our last Saturday training run, thanks to my running buddy, Lilia. "Fire it up!"

All Aboard!: My running group (Group 5: 9:30 mile pace) in front of the Santa Monica Pier. Our pace usually has the most runners out of any group.

Halfway done!: Midpoint of our tapering 8 mile run at the Totem Pole, nearby the corner of Ocean Ave. and San Vicente Blvd.

The Fantastic Four: My group pace leaders (from L to R): Yen, Donny, Joan, and Senior Pace Leader David (Why is he looking off-camera?). With the exception of Donny, who is around my age, the other three are veteran runners approaching the big 5-0! I hope I can be like them down the road!

Crash! Wow, what a surprise for Best Picture!

And who expected underground rap group, Three 6 Mafia, to win the Oscar for Best Original Song ("It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp")? I guess that the Academy voters have become more accepting of hip-hop since Eminem won two years ago.

Another fine Oscar party by my neighbors, Stan and Robin. Ended up in 3rd for the Oscar pool this year, but still took home another noteworthy DVD prize (See "Currrently Watching").

Law and Order: Trial By Jury

So, the last time I served in jury duty was around 10 years ago. I was placed on a disturbing criminal trial (one count of kidnapping, three various counts of sexual assault) and spent 13 days in court with 3 days in deliberation. We had a mistrial because we couldn't obtain a unanimous verdict on any of the four counts). An educational but extremely frustrating experience.

I had that on my mind as I was waiting in the Santa Monica courthouse jury room last month for my second "tour of duty". While the surroundings were absolutely comfortable and modernly decorated (they had a TV room with DVD's, and a separate quiet "reading" room!), I was uneasy, because the jury room clerk announced in advance that this civil trial would last 15 days!

Obviously, this was going to be a problem, as I didn't want to be so far behind in my work. So, when the clerk starting going down the list of asking people whether they could serve as juror, I was hoping enough people would say "Yes" before my name came up. Thankfully, that happened, and I got to leave early with credit for a day's service! I won't have to worry about jury duty for another year!

It's an interesting time for hoops fans. Locally, the Lakers are a Kobe Bryant injury away from becoming a lottery team. UCLA is playing Berkeley tonight for first place in the Pac 10 conference. And the NCAA tournament is coming up.

But, all these events pale in comparison to a recent article I read about an autistic kid who scored 20 points for his high school basketball team. Impressive and heartwarming.

It seems that regularly this past month, when I reply to people that I work for an educational furniture company, people are not quite sure what that means (including most recently, my Mom!). So, when I went home after church this Sunday to help out on family tax concerns, I made sure to bring along a product catalog, and some company shots I took off the digital camera.

Heading in to Work: Front of my workplace in Torrance. I work as a web developer in the corporate offices. Unfortunately, since I don't have a wide angle lens, you will not be able to see the 500K+ square foot manufacturing quarters to the right of this picture. Sorry!

Wait a minute, aren't you a web developer? Yes, I am. And I also have the unique position of working with the great marketing department. Here's a shot of half of my cube. I have those Japanese scenic pictures up so that I can daydream of heading back someday. I think it's pretty obvious why I have that Laker sign up!

Safe for the Kids: So, like I mentioned earlier, our company specializes in educational furniture. We just recently renovated our showroom, and here are some products from our Early Childhood product line.

Catching the Wave: These last shots are from our most recent classroom furniture product line called Zuma.

Time to get some sleep. I've got one last 22 mile run to to do tomorrow before the big race on March 19!

I know (and I'm sorry loyal readers) that I haven't posted in a while. I'll try to make up for it with upcoming stories and pictures from the past two plus weeks, such as...

1. Kid A's Other Crib (My workplace)

2. Law and Order: Trial by Jury (My very brief time at the Santa Monica courthouse)

3. Animal House Reunited (2006 JEMS volleyball tournament)

The KNBC (Channel 4) crew shot some footage of my marathon training group 2 months ago. Didn't realize until Coach Pat told us a couple of weeks back that some feature stories were available online.

Here's a link to see my 2 second profile shot. You'll see me pop up about a minute in, when you hear one lady say something about "staying positive" and "not saying anything negative". Yeah, it's not much, but I'll take what I can get! And I can say, "Hey Mom, I was on the news! And I wasn't committing a crime!"

Enough of this silly self-promotion. And now, an old picture of Biscuit, to acknowledge the Year of the Dog.