Things to do while your coworker is on vacation...

I don't know how long this one's been spreading around on the Web, but I just saw it for the first time last week and found it pretty hilarious! Guess it's a good thing I don't work in an actual cube!

Oh, how I love the small things in life.

Today Huan alerted me to the fact that tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 3 seconds after 1:02 AM, it will be 01:02:03 04/05/06. Freakin' sweet!

Does that excite anyone else as much as it does me?

24 vs. the National Championship?

Count on Tony Kornheiser to accurately reflect everyone's feelings on the 24 vs. NCAA b-ball final tonight... Thank goodness for Tivo/DVR though, right?

By the way, did anyone else know that Jack Bauer's given name is...
Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland? That's a ridiculous number of names, but they're all pretty sweet!!!

Late-night update:
Ok, so the game was kinda boring (except One Shining Moment, of course) and 24 wasn't bad. But the question is: as ridiculous and unbelievable as 24 is on a regular basis (I loved how Jack escaped the natural gas plant unscathed, while Bierko was on the brink of death), I feel like they may have officially "jumped the shark" tonight when they revealed the latest mole. But naturally, I'll continue to eagerly tune in...

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, take 2...

Today was my second go-round of the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile run around D.C. to celebrate the fully blossomed cherry trees around town. I woke up around 6 am along with Huan, Molly, Auddie, and Tim (Molly's bro) to do what we do best-- err, not really, but at least we try hard.

This year was instantly ten times better than last year's race because it was a most beautiful spring day-- sunny, slightly breezy and probably about 60 degrees at race time. You really couldn't have asked for better running conditions, and compared with last year's frigid chill and wind, it was really a pleasant run (as evidenced by my reaction below... just what am I doing??)

I was slightly concerned about my race preparation, if only because I'd been away on a ski trip and not exactly focusing on my training. Aside from my semi-routine runs before work, I hadn't really gutted anything out this time around. But I guess I'm beginning to realize that even if I don't have a strict training regimen, I can still count on finishing ten miles-- it's just how well and how fast that may vary-- and I have to say, that's a pretty cool feeling.

Anyway, the race went well and I felt great the whole way. My pace wasn't spectacular, but it was about expected, and I really didn't mind because I was actually enjoying myself throughout the long course. Unlike last year, I really took in all the sights and my surroundings, especially all the beautiful blossoms everywhere around me! It was just a perfect day, really!

Now for some post-race pics (thumbails again, sorry!):

The runners and our devoted fans.
It's crazy enough that people pay money to wake up at the crack of dawn to go running, but even crazier that they have people who support them! Thanks guys!!

Three sibs.
Auddie got contacts!! (Is it just me or do we look like we're the same age?)

The rents.
Look at those blossoms!!!

Finally, a big happy 80th birthday to my G-ma Ba Noi, and also happy birthday wishes to my uncles Chu Ban and Bac Bao!

Happy Spring to all! The idea that I will be able to leave work and still enjoy some sunshine is enough to put a smile on my face. Time to put those scarves away and pull out the flip flops, yippee!!

Rocky Mountain High

Well, the trip out to Colorado was just about perfect. Since it was my first work vacation-- and therefore I would have been content to do just about anything so long as I wasn't at work-- I had minimal expectations, so it was just icing on the cake that everything about the trip was completely amazing and I was basically spoiled and pampered for 5 days straight.

After arriving on Saturday morning, we drove from Denver out to Beaver Creek and arrived at the beautiful Ritz-Carlton at Bachelor Gulch resort. After a long day of travel, we decided to hold off on cramming in any afternoon skiing and to just explore the area and kick back.

Check out the residence:

Sunday was our first full day of action and we immediately appreciated the wonder of ski-in/ski-out, as we put on our ski gear and were basically at the foot of the mountain and entrance to the ski lift. I started the day on my snowboard and it was like heaven to be on the wide open slopes of the West, complete with a few fresh inches of powder.

(Look how there's no one else in sight! It was like having a private mountain all to myself!)

The end of day 1 found us all aching and exhausted, and the best remedy for that was the spa/hot tub/heated outdoor pool. What better way to end the first full day on the slopes?

We started day 2 with a private ski lesson with Jim, an awesome instructor who moved out here a number of years ago to retire and is now a full-time Beaver Creek instructor. After realizing I was holding people up on my board and also that I couldn't take full advantage of the mountain as a "beginner," I decided to switch over to skis for a confidence boost and to be able to keep up with the gang. Before the lesson, all of us had different skiing styles, as evidenced by the fact that we ended up at the bottom of the runs at different times. Jim showed us some basic tips to improve our skiing, and by the end of the lesson we were handling a rough and narrow mogul run (not by choice!!) After the 3-hour lesson with Jim, it seemed we were all on the same page and suddenly, according to My-Van, we looked almost like clones coming down the mountain at exactly the same speed and form. This made the rest of the trip really great, though, as I really felt like I was skiing and truly enjoying it for the first time, comfortable in my form and not exhausted or too sore at the end of the day.

Here's the group on lesson day:

We all suddenly felt like pros on our skis, so we decided to venture out to Vail for our last full day of skiing. We made the short drive over to the village and spent a great day out on the mountain. We explored the front-side bowls, some other nice blue runs, and ended the day with one great run down the China Bowl, on the back-side, which opened itself up to some incredible views.

In the midst of all this ski excitement, I forgot to mention that we ended every day with a hot tub soak followed by a delicious dinner. We enjoyed quite a variety of Colorado's finest: Frites, a fun, french style Brasserie, Blue Moose Pizza in Beaver Creek village (where I got to fulfill my Fat Tire beer craving), Sweet Basil in Vail Village, and finally Splendido, in a lovely mountainous Chateau. Let's just say it was good thing we squeezed in some daily exercise on our skis!

Lastly, I must give another huge thanks to Co Chau, Bac Thong, and Meevs (we missed you Tweevs!) for inviting Dad, Auddie and me out to spend the week with them. It was definitely memorable and though it was short, Auddie was quick to dub it as her "Best vacation of all time." And we all know those are big words coming from a well-traveled gal like her! On the drive to the airport she and I decided that I'd move out to Colorado, she'd go to college there and we could just become a couple of ski bums. Sounds pretty appealing right now, that's for sure.

To conclude, here are some additional photos... you know, the requisite cheesy "poles in the air" pose as well as some other postcard-worthy shots.

I swear there were other skiiers on the mountain...

From the room balcony:

From the top of Vail:

Time for a vacation!

George Mason in the Elite Eight? Who'da thunk it?

Just so my blog readers don't get antsy, I'm giving you all fair warning that I'll be away and hopefully (though unlikely) -- nowhere near a computer for a few days. I'm off to Colorado for a 5 day ski jaunt, and I can't wait! Updates to follow with photos included. Cheers.

Quick Elliott Smith shout-out

I rediscovered an amazing live version of Elliott Smith's "Angeles" tonight and subsequently repeated it about 10 times. Then I decided I wanted to share it because it's such a beautiful version.

Elliott Smith - Live in Stockholm Sweden (6.2.98) - Angeles

The guitar work is impeccable. The recording quality is top notch. And the song is... well, just hear it for yourself. It doesn't get any better than this.

The softer side of Jack Bauer?

My weekly browse through the iTunes music store led me to Jack Bauer's celebrity playlist. (Yes, I know it's actually Kiefer Sutherland's list, I just prefer the idea that Jack Bauer is not a fictional character.) Anyway, through the list I learned that Mr. Bauer himself is quite the music fan, and aside from boasting a collection of over a couple dozen Gibson guitars, he started a music studio/record label with none other than artist Jude Cole, who I guess is best known for his early '90s work.

The label, Ironworks Music, which claims to be all about real artists -- those who aren't necessarily "pop hit acts" but "really believe in themselves" -- is not so original in its goal to find undiscovered, talented artists who deserve to be signed over, say, Lindsay Lohan, but it is the only label that can claim to be co-owned with artists hand-picked by the most ruthless and intimidating government agent ever.

Anyway, the first release under the label is for a guy/band named Rocco DeLuca & The Burden. The album, I Trust You to Kill Me, will be in stores on March 21 (but incidentally is already available for purchase on iTunes) and of course, a few cuts are streaming on MySpace.

And suddenly I feel duped... clearly it's a coincidence that Kiefer Sutherland would release his celebrity playlist to iTunes with three songs from his own label's artist on the very week the debut album for the record label is released, right? Jack isn't that sneaky, is he?

Geez, I've barely given it a listen but somehow just because Bauer digs it, I'm all about the promo. It's shameless, really. He's got all of America held hostage!! Damn him for duping me. Sorry for being so careless, dear readers. I guess that's why Jack Bauer really is the man.

A very Sweet Sixteen!

This weekend's basketball games continued in their excitement as they set the stage for the Sweet Sixteen next week. For local fans, the results were especially awesome, with both George Mason and Georgetown advancing in huge upsets (and thus wreaking havoc on lots of brackets). Though GW fell to Duke on Saturday, it's nice to have two other area teams to cheer on.

Today's funniest March Madness moment came via the CBS score box for the Bradley-Pittsburgh game. Everyone had to have a good laugh over this one:

Teeheehee!

March Madness & Shamrock Shakes

The below post was prepared for publication on Thursday, March 16, but due to what I discovered was a widespread "Blogger 505" error, I was unable to post it. Rather than delete it outright, I'll leave it in its original form below, and update the following information: after gloating about my great first round March Madness picks through Thursday, Friday's games left me with a 21-11 first round record. But at least I enjoyed last night's games at an extremely overcrowded and loud bar whilst enjoying a Guinness!!

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3.16.06

Today kicked off one of the most exciting sports events of the year. Whether or not you're a sports fan, or whether or not you "follow" college basketball, March Madness is a time that all can enjoy. This year is particularly exciting because I'm participating in my first-ever office pool. I've got my bracket filled out, and with five TVs spread out around the office, it's hard not to get distracted by the daytime games to see how your teams are doing. As the Post reports, some companies are cracking down on the potential lost productivity. (Sorry, friends at CEB!)

If today's near-upsets of BC and Tennessee (both of whom I picked) are any indication of how nail-biting and exciting the tourney will be, we're in for a great couple weeks.

And GW's second-half 18-point comeback and run to win in OT over UNC-Wilmington tonight just topped off what was a great opening day of basketball. Talk about under pressure. Whew!

Through 12 games that have finished, I've only had one bad first round pick (Seton Hall). So far so good, eh?

In other news, I tried my first McDonald's Shamrock Shake today. Apparently since they introduced this seasonal green milkshake (tastes like a Mint Chocolate Chip shake-- delicious!) back in the 70s and then only offered it on a very select and limited basis thereafter, the Shamrock Shake has had a cult-like following. As a lifelong McDonald's fan, I feel like I completely missed the boat on this one and am actually a bit embarrassed about being out of the loop. But I guess it's not too late, as they seem to be back on the menus (or at least available upon request at select locations) and available as a delicious St. Patty's day treat. I did kind of have a stomach ache for the entire afternoon though, and while I'm not completely certain the Shake was to blame, I'm not quite sure I should back this product 100%. Either way, a Happy St. Patty's Day to all, Irish or not...


Current Music: Clementine, by Elliott Smith

A new download, at last...

Since I haven't plugged any music in a while, I'll take this opportunity to bring back my Sunday downloads. Most of you (whether or not you've known it) have probably already heard Joshua Radin's music featured on popular television shows such as "Scrubs" and more recently "Grey's Anatomy."

I first heard him on an episode of "Scrubs," which is one of my favorite shows in part because of the fantastic music. Zach Braff's got some good taste, and he's been plugging his pal Joshua Radin for quite some time. After I heard "Closer" on an episode last season, I scoured the web to find out more on this guy. Finally, a year later, he's released his first full-length album, We Were Here, which, as of now is only available as an album download on iTunes. But word has it he just signed with Columbia Records, so the album should hopefully be available in tangible record-store form soon ("late spring," according to his website). Among his original tunes, the album also features a surprising acoustic cover of Yaz's "Only You." Who can resist?

Click here to stream some audio of Joshua Radin's recent in-studio performance and interview with the fabulous KCRW.

And in the meantime, here's a sampler... enjoy!

Joshua Radin :: Closer

Congrats to Chloe!

Before I head to bed (it's my third night on Tylenol Cold PM-- works wonders!), I must quickly post on tonight's "Project Runway" finale. In what was a surprising outcome (at least before everyone saw the runway show), Chloe came out on top, rising above frontrunners Daniel V. and Santino to be crowned the winner. After last week's episode in which we got a preview of everyone's collection, I swore it was going to be Santino, not only because his designs seemed to be the best, but moreso for the way Bravo was turning him into this apologetic and suddenly (more) likeable character.

In any case, I was pleasantly surprised that the final two came down to Chloe and Daniel V! And while I truly think the others may have wanted it more than Chloe, and while I didn't love all her pieces, I definitely think her collection was the best-- most professional, sophisticated, and basically just immaculate in its creation. I bet she's all like "Aw man, now I gotta go hang out with some Banana designer? New York is played out, honey, I'm ready to go back to Houston..." And I'm sure Daniel V. is laughing in her face now that he's got a Michael Kors safety net to fall back on!

Anyway, I thought the dress that Grace wore, in particular, was just stunning and so well-made. I never really liked Grace as a model but I thought she looked great!

See Chloe's full collection here with some additional detailed shots here.
And if you want to judge for yourself, check out Daniel's and Santino's collections, too. (You can also see Kara's... I have no idea how she snuck her way into Fashion Week with some of these designs)

One last observation: So I know I'm short and everything, but is it just me or is Chloe literally like 4'9"??? Even when wearing shoes she looked to be about half the size of average-height people! Way to keep it real, Chloe.

TGIM?

"TGIM?" was the beginning of the subject line of an e-mail that I, along with all my coworkers, received this afternoon, alerting us to our new company-wide dress code.

Apparently after reviewing employee survey results from '05, one of the higher-ups made the decision to "relax" the work environment and allow Casual Fridays everyday. Yippee! Granted, the definition of Business Casual in my bureau was already pretty relaxed before, but now that we can roll in wearing jeans (so long as they are "neat, clean, and unripped") whenever we want is pretty freakin' sweet. It was definitely the highlight of the day, and I'm sure the new policy will make going to work that much more pleasurable, at least for the immediate future and before the novelty wears off. I know all you people with the artsy-fartsy jobs (or the young and fun corporate jobs) who never considered not wearing jeans are just scratching your head at this one, but I myself am pretty psyched! No more thinking ahead about how I'll rotate and match my dress pants and tops for the upcoming week. And a great excuse to shop for new jeans!

Monday Television Commentary

Post-Oscar Thoughts:

In what seemed to be a year of fair play, with no "Lord of the Rings" to sweep the show and almost every big movie winning at least one award (Each of the six big categories-- Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor/Actress was taken by a different movie), last night's Oscar show was a bit lackluster. Perhaps it was the fact that -- with the exception of "Crash" as best picture stealer-- much of it went as predicted. That said, I was still extremely happy to see the actress awards go to Rachel Weisz and Reese Witherspoon (Whoa, two "RWs," crazy!).

Reese in particular was one of the highlights of the night and delivered what was, for me, the best speech of the night. It's funny when you're listening to speeches and in your mind you kind of guide yourself through what you think they should say next ("ok, now thank your husband, then wrap it up with something poignant and thoughtful...") and the actor does just that in a very articulate way. The gal is just so cute and whenever she's on camera I can't help but love her and have a big smile on my face. Maybe it's because no matter what roles she had before or after "Legally Blonde," she'll always just be Elle Woods to me. And did we really ever think Elle could win an Oscar? I'm just so proud! Now that I think about it, Reese has pretty nice repertoire... "Cruel Intentions," "Election,"... and for those of you who haven't seen Reese's first movie, "The Man in the Moon," it's worth a rental, not only to see Reese as a 14-year-old but also because it stars Jason London. Great flick! And to think, she's getting paid $29 million for her next movie. That's just wrong, isn't it? I bet Ryan Phillippe sure didn't know he was getting that big of a sugar momma when they got together.

Um, ok, moving on from Reese...

John Stewart's hosting gig has gotten pretty poor reviews all around. I think he was pretty much hit-or-miss on the night (the hit, of course, being his Bjork-Cheney joke, and misses being, well, lots of other jokes that fell flat). All in all, I think he may be a little too deadpan for the Oscar audience with not enough tap-dancing Billy Crystal in him to keep everyone awake-- especially the old peeps-- when the show enters its third hour...

24 (spoilers below if you missed last night's episode):

I just have to comment on tonight's new and "explosive" (to use a TV critic word) 2-hour episode of "24." You know Jack is getting really ruthless when he starts not only threatening the bad guys with guns in their faces, but then shooting their wives instead. Yikes, ease up there Jackie. And what's with Tony Almeida rising from the dead again? Last season you get shot in the neck and you're up running around within 5 hours, and this time it's a car bomb explosion and you're on your feet again on the same day? What say we take a breather and watch some Tivo or something.

So we're about 12 hours into the day now and out of nowhere comes the Vice President. Where ya been, pal? Not out hunting, I hope. Just when it appears someone wise may have arrived to give hopeless President Logan some support, we find out his second-in-command is just as whacked out as he is. "I don't know what's going on since I've been M.I.A. all day, but since I don't feel like dealing with it, let's impose Martial Law!!!" Oh boy, this should be good.

In more serious news, the death of Edgar tonight came as a shock to all loyal "24" fans. He and Chloe were like the CTU peas in a pod, and that he would succomb to death from nerve gas within the hallowed halls of CTU Headquarters is a true television tragedy and is made extra ironic by the fact that his good-hearted nature is what led to his ultimate downfall.

That last scene, however, completely summed up what's clearly a pervading high-school culture at CTU. You had to feel bad for the random and unnamed CTU employee after she banged on the door of the sealed room and all the "popular" A-list kids inside (Jack, Audrey, Buchanan, Chloe-- but only because Chloe is smart and does everyone's homework) just kind of stared blankly, basically shrugged their shoulders and were like "Oops, sorry, you're on your own!" Only when they saw Edgar in the danger zone did they actually show a shred of emotion at the thought of a human being actually dying before their eyes.

Anyway, it should be interesting to see what happens next week when Jack is the one in trouble... which kid will be the one to sacrifice himself for the captain of the football team? Stay tuned.

Writer's Block

Just as I thought my blogging inspiration was back, I've been staring at this blank screen for a good five minutes thinking about my next post. Chalk it up to the rut I feel like I'm in or blame it on my bad case of whooping cough, but I've got nothin..nothin good, anyway.

I guess since the Oscars are on tonight and there's no "Grey's Anatomy" to look forward to, I can discuss that a bit. Since I've actually seen a number of the movies, I'm pretty excited to see who takes home the awards. I've been a big "Brokeback" fan since I saw the movie, and since I got a haircut yesterday in which the stylist fully blew out my hair and made me look like Anne Hathaway did in the movie (i.e., a Texas beauty queen in the 70s), it must be a sign that it will live up to all its Oscar hype. However, I did finally see "Walk the Line" a couple nights ago on DVD and was thoroughly impressed by both Joaquin and Reese's performances, particularly the fact that they sung every note heard in the movie.

Other than that, I'm rooting for any award for "The Constant Gardener" (definitely one of my favorites all year) and rooting against "The History of Violence" (might have been the worst movie I paid to see that received so much critical acclaim). "Syriana" was pretty good but frankly, it confused me, and "Good Night and Good Luck" was brilliantly done but ultimately difficult for me to connect with. David Straithairn did an amazing job in his role as Edward R. Murrow though, and I think the Best Actor category will be one of the toughest to pick tonight.

Anyway, as my dad and Huan currently argue as to whether or not Jessica Alba is actually hot, I'm going to kick back and enjoy the show...

Oops, there I go again...

Just as I thought I was back on my blogging game, a nice long weekend in New York distracts me, combined with two late nights at work to start the week. Now, as I'm sitting down to say something, a little Sevie has some homework to do on the computer. It's always something, isn't it?

Well, so as not to make this a completely worthless post, here's a link from Entertainment Weekly that wraps up their theory on "Lost." It sounds pretty good to me, but then again I'm usually pretty slow when it comes to these things. Blame it on balancing too many shows-- my plots get mixed up. I am glad, though, that the token irrational and inept CTU employee on "24" got the boot yesterday. One more week of plump Sean Astin and I was about to have a fit.

Oh, and one more thing. As I was completing an online transaction earlier today (using my real name, of course), I was surprised and baffled to find this message after I entered all my normal info and clicked submit: A name can only contain letters, spaces, /, ', and periods

Oh really? Cause last I checked my first name actually had a hyphen in it. I didn't realize you could just rewrite the rules on what goes for names. I guess it's understandable since those backslashes are really becoming popular... (!?!) But seriously, my problems never end...

More on the Idols

Is it just me or is Ace Young the Idol hottie? As evidenced by his web-following, clearly it's not just me. So he wasn't really my style at first, a little too polished with his whole scruffy/frat boy look ( if that makes any sense) but after tonight I'm won over! I even caught myself almost squealing like a teenager during the middle of his performance of George Michael's "Father Figure" (perfect song choice!) . As my mom said, "He's a Hottie, and he can sing? Vote for him!" Word to that, mom.

Let the real games begin...

American Idol Season 5 kicked off its real competition tonight starting with the Top 12 girls, and despite being fairly disappointed overall, Paris Bennett's performance of "Midnight Train to Georgia" more than made up for it. The girl was seriously on her game from the minute she took the stage; I couldn't believe her confidence and comfort level up there. As an aside, is anyone else noticing the striking resemblance of Paris to Dr. Bailey on "Grey's Anatomy"? Auddie and I had already been calling her 'Mini Bailey,' and with tonight's new hairdo, she's really looked like her spitting miniature image. Here's your photo comparison, and I'll update the photo when I can grab a better one from tonight's performance:

Other Idol thoughts: my early faves at this point are Paris, of course, as well as Lisa Tucker (I mean, she was Nala in a production of "The Lion King," who can resist??) and Katharine McPhee. Can we just skip all the bad people (Um, we get that the judges think Becky O'Donohue is "gorgeous" and all, but I thought her rendition of "Because the Night" was straight-up drunken bar Karaoke or something) and move on to the final 3?

Besides, I actually watched the Olympics tonight-- oh come on, who can pass up women's figure skating??-- and trying to cram in both lengthy programs is making my brain fry.

Obligatory Olympic Post

So based on the fact that other networks were not backing down in the face of this year's Winter Olympics in Torino on NBC, I really didn't think I'd be watching much of the televised action (come on, "24" vs. Ice Dancing? No contest). Not to mention the Internet spoilers didn't help the cause. But now and again I've actually managed to tune in to catch some of the more exciting headlines of this year's games. By the time you read this, it'll all be old news, but I guess with the whole time delay anyway, it's already old by the time it's on TV.

To start, check out this amazing photo of a long hill ski jumper:

If you didn't see the U.S. lowlight of Lindsay Jacobelli's late-run tumble in the Women's Snowboarding Cross (one of the coolest events ever, by the way), you've probably heard about it since. The same girl who was so calm after her Visa check card had been stolen (worst Olympic athlete commercial?) clearly couldn't maintain her composure enough to win a race that was hers and claim the gold medal that was only one easy jump within her reach. Yikes.. there's some irony for you. Sometimes I don't know how these athletes do it. I kick myself over a near-win in text-twist (what's that last 3 letter word?? I didn't even know 'daw' was a word!), so I can't imagine coming so close to being the world's best and then blowing it. And then having to hear everyone talk about how you failed. And of course knowing randomite bloggers like myself are still talking about it. Now that's a guaranteed meltdown.

In other random Olympic excitement, I was at the gym watching some Saturday morning coverage when I was initially bummed to find the men's 12.5km biathlon pursuit on the little screen. Little did I know, this event is actually incredibly exciting to watch, and it even kept me on the dreadmill for nearly an hour so I could watch the race in full! You see, the biathlon involves a cross country skiing course (at a ridiculously high altitude, and mostly uphill, mind you) with intermittent stops where athletes have to shoot targets that are 50 yards away and sometimes as small as a silver dollar. It's pretty freakin' amazing when you stop and think about it. Anyway, the race that I happened to catch was extremely exciting from start to finish, with the Frenchman Vincent Defrasne barely edging out the favorite 5-time Olympic gold medalist Ole Einar Bjoerndalen from Norway. He even overcame a slip and near-fall with the finish line in sight!

Last thoughts: I'm not too crazy about the medals this year. The big hole in the middle of the medal makes it look kinda cheap, like what a little kid would make in kindergarten class and bring home for his mom. Oh well, I suppose it's still pretty special. I wouldn't complain if you gave me one. And at least there's a story behind the design.

Happy Birthday, Bro!

Happy 26th Birthday to my brother, Huan! Thanks to his companionship, I got to play sports outside with the boys, walk to 7-11 to get slurpees and slim jims, and basically have a whole lot of fun. All around I like to think it made me a pretty tough gal (read: tomboy). Thanks, Huan, for always including me even when it was just you and the boys. And yes, I forgive you for practicing all those WWF wrestling moves on me.

Anyway, here's to Huan, who after all these years I can still count on to be a protective big bro and a great pal. Here are some of my favorite snapshots of our youth: