While I am grateful that my company is sending me out on their own dime to receive training, it only took me one day to miss home. It is difficult to enjoy my time here in the ATL, because when I am finished with a full-day of intense training, followed by my running workout, I don't feel motivated to get out to enjoy the town. Plus, it would help if I had friends in the area to hang out with. Perhaps things will be a little better when I travel to the Bay Area on December 17-21 for even more training!

There were a couple of things that made me smile last evening. Running outside and seeing the mutli-colored foliage. And hearing this statement from my Nike+ system.

"Hi. This is Paula Radcliffe. Congratulations on passing 500 kilometers!"

Yes, faithful readers. I have been in serious neglect of my blog, and I do apologize. I had a lot of things going on these past 4 weeks, but every time I had the inkling to sit and type, I chose instead to get some extra Z's. Now that the big SAP upgrade project has been successfully completed, I can relax again and stop drinking the free sludge that they call coffee (Although it may have helped me in my recent 5K run. More on that later). So, let's do a recap on some highlights, shall we?

Saturday, 10/13 - David Crowder Band at the Wiltern: Great show at a cool venue (We were up near the front. Standing room only). And they are a quirky group of musicians. I don't know too many bands that would reverse-engineer a Guitar Hero controller for a performance!

Sunday, 10/14 - Touch Football and Toni's B-day Dinner: Some of the church members gathered after service at the nearby Veteran Park for a game. It was a load of fun on the damp field as I got some dirt on my clothes and a muddied right shoe after accidentally stepping into a puddle! Filthy and all, I went afterwards to the local Chili's to celebrate a church intern's birthday. Below is a funny picture from the dinner, as Grace (also an intern) and I look like we are giving each other "the glare"!

Image courtesy of chungabunga. Used with permission.

Friday, 10/26 - Broomball at the Culver City Ice Rink: As a neophyte college player, I used to think that scoring was the biggest thrill. Shows how little I knew. Now thanks to my rollerhockey experience, it is much more rewarding to assist people in scoring! And memo to the participants. How come I only saw four people (including yours truly) dressed up for the "Halloween-themed" broomball? If you can't figure it out from the picture below, I'm the zebra. Thanks to my friend K for the shot! She's the one in the above pic with the laughing expression!

Saturday, 10/27 - Alumni Banquet at the University Religious Conference: My church had a reunion dinner that  evening, and even though I could tell that our lives have progressed, my conversations with some old friends were as if time had never passed. That was comforting, as I know I haven't been the most forward in keeping in contact with others!

Sunday, 10/28 - LA Cancer Challenge 5K and ComedySportz Captain: Because of the recent fires, I wasn't sure if the race was going to be on. It turned out that things would proceed as planned. Still, I didn't want to run my hardest in the hazy air. But to my surprise, I ran a faster time than expected. And, I was happy to see some Sunday school kids complete the race too!

Later that evening, I captained our Red Team for the ComedySportz show. While that was great, I was surprised that my senior pastor and his wife were in attendance! Knowing their busy lives, I was honored that they were able to stop by and enjoy themselves!

Halloween 10/31 - Didn't do too much festive stuff. But I did take one sip of the nastiest soda imaginable. The limited edition, Halloween 2007 Jones Soda: Lemon Drop Dead. Yes, it tasted that badly to be mentioned here as a highlight!

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After all this time being cooped up late in my office, I am thankful that I will be leaving on a couple of out-of-state business trips. I will be receiving some intense SAP training in Hot?-lanta for 3 days next week. Then, I will be in Dallas from December 2-7 for even more. I'm not sure what to expect out of it, but I am hoping it will be enjoyable. It would be nice if I could meet up with out-of-town friends nearby, but the closest one is a 4.5 hour drive away. Not necessarily the best thing to do when the company is paying my expenses to learn!

I got word that some of my Comedysportz company members will be on next Monday's episode of the Bachelor (10pm on ABC). They will be teaching the bachelorettes the fundamentals of improv.

Insert joke here.

I was originally going to post about my busy Saturday (two weddings and a 9 mile training run), but a bad case of stomach flu on Sunday morning changed all that. I'm hoping to be well soon, because doing anything at less-than-normal efficiency is not fun.

It's autumn. It's already October! And believe it or not, like the rest of the student population, I am back in school. Except that I still do that "work" thing.

For my own interest, I have enrolled in part-time evening classes at the Academy of Entertainment and Technology in Santa Monica College to possibly get certification as an animator. I'm currently taking a storytelling class; and while it is rudimentary, the special guest speakers have been humorous and informative about life in "the industry". Yesterday, our speaker was veteran animator, Tom Sito.

So in the middle of his talk, Tom showcased his demo reel. Since I had already done some research beforehand, I knew of certain projects that were going to show up (i.e Disney stuff during their 90's feature animation apex) . But, I forgot about one other work, and it cracked me up so much when a snippet of this sequence below hit the screen. (He was the story artist)

We had a chance, after class was over, to meet up with him to chat or ask questions. I joked with him a little bit about the funky way the characters ran in He-Man. He mentioned that because of budget issues, they recycled a lot of scenes, like the running sequences, and the He-Man transformation. Tom also told me an interesting story about meeting with famed animator, Mamoru Oshii (of "Ghost in the Shell" fame), and how Oshii-san redesigned multiple parts of his home to accommodate his old, arthritic dog. Now that is what I call appreciation for man's best friend!

Today's blog is brought to you by the color, "Red"

I've been running the Nike Run Hit series for 4 years, and I still have to say that it is the race that I look forward to most. This year was really special because two church friends (tphong and Josh) participated. Quite surprising, since tphong is busy raising 3 kids, and Josh is not fond of running at all! Congratulations guys on finishing 5 miles!

Saturday's lineup included

• Naughty By Nature
• Dawn Robinson from En Vogue
• The Sugarhill Gang
• Sir Mix-a-Lot
• MC Hammer (headliner)

Unfortunately, you will have to wait for the artists' pictures this year, since I am dependent on other sources (Hint hint!). Once those pix come in, I'll give you the scoop on each of them and their performances. In the meantime, here is a shot of my sister and I before the race, inside enemy territory (aka the LA Coliseum). My thanks to fellow Club Run LA member, Norman for the photo.

Funny anecdote after the race: I received a lunchtime call from my neighbor Stan, who asked me if I was in Chinatown. He said that, since he and the family were there having dim sum at Empress Pavilion, and noticed that about a third of the patrons there were wearing those Run Hit Remix shirts!

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I don't know why this is, but why does it seem that every time I have a great run and watch Bruin football afterwards, the Bruins get smoked? I was livid and screaming at the TV as I couldn't believe how poorly the Bruins played. I usually watch games until the end, but in my frustration I turned off the tube.

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You may have heard of treating others after a job promotion. But have you ever heard of treating others after being waived of relocation costs? Well, one year ago, my friend Eric's present company hired him and paid for his move down from Washington. Turns out that if Eric had lost his job within the year, he would have been responsible for those expenses. So, he was generous enough this past weekend to take some of us friends out to some Chinese dinner.

It struck me as odd that when I entered the restaurant, there were respectively aligned rows of beers and wine that were available! Wine at a Chinese place? Well, that aside, we all had good eats and a good time catching up, courtesy of Eric. And thanks to VZICKS, I know now about the story behind the "finger tapping" on serving tea.

Music Video Spotlight

Since MTV hardly shows music videos anymore, and music message boards everywhere are more interested in discussing Britney Spears' mediocre awards show performance, I thought I would share with you something delightful to cleanse the palate. This song is from a Canadian singer/songwriter named Leslie Feist. The video is directed by Patrick Daughters. You might recognize the tune from a recent Apple iPod nano commercial. Reminds me of a Benetton ad. Enjoy.

Feist - "1234" (2007)

Labor Day Weekend was all about the games.

Dodger Game
I try to make it a habit every year to attend a Dodger "away" game. Last year's trip to AT&T Park was special. This year's jaunt down to San Diego was also special. In a bad way.

So, last Saturday, my friend Kevin and I made the drive down to catch the Blue Crew at PETCO Park. We knew beforehand that they were going to have difficulty since the Padres' ace, Jake Peavy was pitching that evening. And true to form, we got shellacked 0-7. Embarrassing.

I did notice that Padres fans are friendly and quiet. A lot of Dodgers fans also made the trip to San Diego that evening, as approximately 1/3 of the upper deck area was sporting Dodger caps and jerseys (including myself). It was weird to hear people yell out, "LET'S GO DODGERS!", and receive a loud response of "CLAP! CLAP! CLAP-CLAP-CLAP!". It almost felt like a home game! Obviously, the rally cries didn't help. And while I was exiting the stadium in defeat, the Padres fans simply waved goodbye with a smirk! I can't imagine what Dodger fan would do if Padre fan came Dodger Stadium!

Maybe I shouldn't go down to San Diego any more. It seems every time I go there, the Dodgers lose!

ComedySportz Games:
Since my "working" friends did not have to toil the next day, a lot of them stopped by Sunday evening to catch my show. While it is more nerve-racking for me to perform in front of friends, I also feel like I need to step my game up for them and take more risks. So, I never thought I would place a previously "used" marshmallow in my mouth in our improv version of "Chubby Bunny".

We ended with the classic game of 185. A definite "groaner" type of game that gus00gus would like a lot because of the frequent pun humor. The joke is: 185 <blanks> walk into a bar. The bartender says, "We don't serve <blanks> here". The <blanks> say, "<punchline>". Here was mine to close out the show, from the occupational suggestion of "rabbi".

185 rabbis walk into a bar. The bartender says, "We don't serve rabbis here". The rabbis say, "That's OK. We'll Passover" (cue drum fill and crash)! Yeah, I know. Painful!

Poker Game
I don't want to go into too much detail, as machfive can attest, no one wants to hear a "bad beat" story. I thought I won big when I had a full house (2's over 9's). It's just so funny to lose to someone who had a tad better full house (2's over 10's). Doyle Brunson is not my friend

And finally...
Here's a "Whose Line" game (Sound Effects) that you may like. I feel for the performers, Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles. I know how hard it is to create a scene with minimal audience participation!

Pictures at an Exhibition Update: Yes, even more Italian vacation shots from Venice, Rome (The Pantheon), Pompeii and Amalfi. Don't playa' hate!

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With the football season approaching, my fantasy draft being tomorrow evening, and the recent Madden release selling off the shelves, I thought it would be fun to dust off my old GameCube '04 version and play a quick game. When I pulled it off my shelf, I did a double take because I completely forgot who was on the cover for that year. Talk about Madden Curse.

Here's a link for those of you who do not recognize the man above. Think illegal dog-fighting.

As if hanging out at the Hollywood Bowl was not enough social interaction for our cell group, we also woke up early on Saturday morning for a short hike at Malibu Creek State Park. Instead of pointing you to the "Pictures at an Exhibition" area, I have some shots up of the trip on this blog entry.

If you want to see more pictures which actually has people in it, you can view my friend Eric's shots from his Facebook. He has some great group shots, especially one at the old M*A*S*H set.

Pictures at an Exhibition Update: 5 new pictures, including the beautiful St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican City), Trevi Fountain (Rome) and the Rialto Bridge (Venice).

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It's been a while since our cell group has done any activities of "culture", so I wanted to organize a trip to the Hollywood Bowl. When I was looking at the schedule for possible dates, and saw that Dave Brubeck was coming to town, I knew that was the concert of choice. Here are some of the gang from last night.

Perhaps some of you may have heard his most famous piece, "Take Five". Here is my favorite YouTube clip of the "classic" quartet from 1961 playing the number (pun intended). Joe Morello turns in a spot-on drum solo!

Now fast forward 46 years later to last night. A spry, 86 year old Dave did not lose his touch on the ivories, and his touring quartet sounded phenomenal. I still prefer Joe Morello's solo though over current drummer, Randy Jones. You can judge for yourself from this video snippet below!

Besides "Take Five", my other highlight of the evening was Brubeck's simple and elegant take on "Over the Rainbow". Because of my frequent attendance at weddings this past year, I have constantly heard Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version; and while good in its own right, its overexposure had made the song "played out". But, hearing Brubeck's arrangement restored my faith in it. Why? I guess it must have been the combination of hearing/seeing a genius live at play, and appreciating the melody being heard over piano notes instead of vocals.

It looks like he will back in the area next month at Pepperdine University. If you have the chance, please try to see his quartet and enjoy their smooth sounds! You won't be disappointed!