Friday Five

The Excuse

Once again – none needed. W00t! I’m hoping to get to a point soon where I can finally get rid of this spot.

The Week

Because I knew the way, I wound up going to San Jose this week. The nice part of that trip is that it’s quick, and I get to see friends up here. The downside? Well, have I mentioned how much I love flying Southwest?

The week itself was good, and rather productive. Tons of loose ends are now tied up. Class went well. And on top of it all I got to do dinner with a handful of good friends that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I really can’t complain at all. It almost makes me forget that the Chargers weren’t playing this past Sunday. Almost.

The Exercise

Irony (n): incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs.

I’ve finally begun the journey again to getting back into shape. Things are headed in the right direction. And I’m making a couple of changes here that seem a bit odd.

First – I cancelled my 24 Hour Fitness membership. I know what you’re thinking - “You had a gym membership? And now that you’ve recommitted yourself to working out you’re cancelling it?” As a matter of fact, yes. I’ve been to too many cities where I wasn’t able to find a location, and the $30/month was just becoming a drain. It was time to cancel that. Plus I’m focusing on running and exercises that can easily be done in a room, obviating the need for a gym.

Second – This section is going away. This section had started off its existence as a way to give myself some level of accountability. As you’ve no doubt discovered, in reality it’s become little more than a running gag. It’s time for it to go away.

In it’s place will be a new blog entitled No More Snooze Button. I’m still not exactly sure of the format of that blog, or what will be on it, but I wanted a clean break from the Exercise section here. This will be the first and last time I will ever mention the blog (outside of a link on the left), as I’m not doing this for any form of public acknowledgement. I just want somewhere to log my workouts and journal my thoughts. I’m making it public mostly on the off chance that someone wants to read it. (That, and I’m sure there’s a bit of vanity there as well.)

The Restaurant

I went out to dinner with 3 lady friends on Tuesday. They took me to a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place called “La Fiesta”. The first thing you’ll notice about the place is the parking – it’s a bit tight. On a busy day your only option when leaving is to back out of the parking lot. As for the place itself, it’s got a great mom & pop feel to it. The servers are friendly, if not overly attentive. The food was good. I went with the shrimp/chorizo dish – I’m not sure how you can go wrong with shrimp sauteed up with chorizo – which was very tasty, and the shrimp wasn’t overcooked.

The Travel Note

There’s certainly something to be said for the extended stay hotels such as Residence Inn, where I was this week. It’s nice to have access to a full kitchen. Makes breakfast very easy, and simplifies lunches. And the extra space in the room is also a very welcome change.

The Five

With Kurt Warner retiring (and great for him!), I figured I’d dedicate this five to five things or people who’s time has come.

1. The X-Games. Be honest – unless you turned on ESPN right now would you know the Winter X-Games were on?
2. Junior Seau. Stop hanging on. You’ve had an amazing career. Enjoy retirement in San Diego.
3. Shawne Merriman’s time with the Chargers. Based on what I’ve seen out of him since getting caught doing steroids, I’m convinced that’s the only reason he was the linebacker he was. You don’t have to go home, but you’ve gotta get the heck out of here.
4. TiVo as a standalone box. I love my TiVo’s. But unfortunately due to a lack of marketing, and a couple of other bad decisions, they’ve lost the battle for set top boxes. It’s time to sell the software, and quickly.
5. Chris Berman. Look, I have as much love for Boomer as any other straight man. But I can’t think of the last time I saw him on TV and he made me laugh or even chuckle.