Back at it.
finally got into doing triathlons last year. Had a great time, and can’t wait to do more this year!
Vegas 2012
So I finally got a chance to go to Vegas! A friend of mine had his bachelor party there and I got to go. The best way I can explain Vegas is that it is a Grownup’s playground. There is so much do see and do there such as gambling, hotels, shows, food, drinks, sight-seeing etc. Since it was my first time there I mainly got my feet wet. I did a bit of gambling on the easy tables and alot on the penny machines. I also went to checkout the casinos with the real cool sights such as indoor-sky ceiling and the fountains at the belagio. I also rode the roller coaster at New York New York, which was alot of fun.
It’s hard to sleep in vegas since there is so much to do. I mean, you can seriously walk out onto the lobby at any-time of the day/night and the action is on! I stayed out as late as I could and woke up as early as I could. Food is always availabe, such as the huge buffets they have. Main thing about these for me was the all you can eat crablegs. Also we ate at an all-you can eat churrascaria , which had excellent duck.
As far as my winnings, I won a little bit but I saw others win lotts!
After all this fun, I rounded off the trip with a nice breakfast at Paris and headed for the airport.
Once it’s time to go, its hard to say good-bye to so much fun. So I am going to make sure to go again soon.
-raf
first thing I saw when I arrived 
bright
so visual
have always wanted to check this out! (the venitian)
always wanted to check this out too!
recovering with some breakfast in Paris
Houston Marathon 2011
A few weeks ago I ran another Marathon! This one was here in Houston, so it no need to book a flight or hotel. A friend and I ran it and paced each other just about all the way through. We both had a awesum race and both got a PR (personal record). I ran the 26.2 miles in 3 hr 27 minutes. My first Marathon was 4 hrs and 50 minutes a year ago. Needless to say, my races are getting better and faster.
The race started in downtown Houston in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center, it also ended there. The route went from downtown, to the height, to the galleria, to memorial and back to downtown.
The first 20 miles went by too fast and felt good. I kept my nutrition and hydration up quite well. At mile 22 I was starting to feel the strain on my quads, but I felt I had enough energy in the tank. I increased my pace from 23 onward and was feeling good. At this point, I believe I was going through the aid stations too fast and not taking in enough. It wasn’t until I was 1 mile away that we had to run 2 underpasses. I felt the strain on my legs right after this and started to feel tightness in my calves. At about 100 yards from the second underpass I felt the cramps coming and I came to a complete stop. Both legs cramped simultaneously and I was just standing there waiting for the cramps to go away. I knew what my time was , so I was willing to walk to the finish line. I was already satisfied with my run. After about 2 minutes, I walked a bit and the cramps left my legs. I started running again, but don’t think I regained the momentum I had before. The finish line came fast though and I went into the convention center for nutrition and fluids. Good race, I’ll say.
My next move is hopefully to go for triathlon, but I feel that I need to get one more Marathon done before that. So the plans are to train for that for the next few weeks and then give it my all and see what kind of time I can get! Lets see what happens!
-raf
running with my friend (Art)
finish Line!
Biking shoes
As of late I’ve been starting to cycle. Well, I haven’t actually rode outside for real but I have going to spin class. What I like so for is that it is high energy and intense and it also builds onto the triathlon discipline. When taking spin class you can wear regular tennis-shoes, but it helps a lot to wear biking shoes.
I picked some up online and made sure to equip them with spd cleats. So far they have worked great and I can’t wait to use them on a real road-bike.
Kindle fire
This week kicked butt because I got a Kindle Fire. Believe it or not, a friend sent me a brand new Kindle fire for my birthday/holiday. I’m totally appreciative of this gift and it was sooo unexpected. So unexpected that I really had no idea where to start using it. After getting acquainted I got going with installing apps and using this awesum device.
First things first, the screen is perfect and it looks very sharp and colorful. I sampled some books and they are sharp and crisp on the eyes. I am going to do lots of reading on this thing, and to think I had just bought two paper books to read for the holidays. Once I finish reading those books, I’ll start buying them on the Kindle. Purchases and downloads are easy because the Kindle connects to your Amazon account.
The apps which include twitter, browser, fbk, pandora, netflix etc. work just like they do on my cell android cell phone, so It’s nice to keep the same functionality and to transition easily.
I know I am just scratching the surface on how much fun I’m going to have with this device. I’m ready to read and play lots!
opening
Netflix loading on the kindle
screen saver
Pandora
Dragon Nest game
My involvement with mmos has been little as of late, but it was nice to find this sweet game called Dragon Nest. Its a great game and best of all it’s FREE!
Dragon Nest is run in the US by Nexon and can be easily downloaded for play. The game requirements are suited for just about any current computer’s graphic capacity.
The gameplay is really interesting because it is really fast pace, as in the response of the game engine. It has a solid, strong smooth feel. The characters to choose from a pretty cool, but I really like the monsters. Alot of work has been put into the monsters to make for a thrilling battle, even at the lower levels. I’ve only played a little, but have enjoyed every moment of it. According to their site they are improving it even more, so I’m interested to see what may come in the later stages.
If you are looking for a new game, then try this one out. You will definitely like it.
installer
