Yesterday, some friends from work and I ran in a 5/10K in support of Salvation Army kids' camps. Worth getting up at 5:15am for on a Saturday? Actually, yes. 'Twas really a good time. And got free stuff, so can't complain....
Then JD & B & I did this: 
Yes, we have another Dodgers' game under our belts now (if you can't tell, that's the stadium we're walking towards). Although I love (well, strongly like, anyway) my M's (aka the Seattle Mariners), I figure that A) since I live here at the moment, perhaps I should support a local team, and B) I'm not really betraying the M's because the Dodgers and Mariners aren't even in the same league (one is National; the other American). If I were to become an Angels fan, it might be a different story, but...the Dodgers? I think the M's can forgive me that.... So...go 'Gers! (By the way, they beat the Cubbies 7-3 yesterday...which was a tad surprising [pleasantly] considering that one might define the Cubs as "good" and mabye the Dodgers as, well, not so much. Played well yesterday, though....)
So, other than running and enjoying a sunny day at the ballpark, I've been keeping busy with a little of this and a little of that. Had a good visit with KP, my friend working in Vietnam, on Friday as she was on her way back up to the BP (our hometown of Brush Prairie, that is); still busy but good at work; still miss China and my peeps there (but dinner last night at a pretty authentic Chinese restaurant with friends who have also lived over there helped a little...or made me miss it more? I don't know which); and still working on my Guitar Hero skills. All in all, things are good.
But, as promised, I owe a few belated posts: sister's visit, lil bro's visit and fishing with coworkers in Mexico. So, without further ado, here are those:
First off...the fishing trip. A week ago, Thursday & Friday, three car-loads full
of my coworkers (and myself) drove the three and a half-ish hours to visit our friendly neighbors down south in Ensanda. We spent Thursday night there and then fished till we could fish no more on Friday.
I ended up catching three "keepable" fish (two cod & one red snapper) and one other weird-looking one (rock cod?) that the boat crew kept (too small for me, I guess). As it was deep-sea fishing, it was quite different from the type of angling I had done before (which usually consisted of me either sitting on a bank or in a small motor boat and waiting for hours on end for my bobber to move - I actually like this kind of fishing but think that any real "fishing" going on during these times is more just an incidental occurrence in an otherwise relaxing morning of reading or hanging out). Deep-sea fishing, as it turns out, is a bit more fast paced (or, at least, it was on this trip). Put the minow on the hook, drop it down into the water a ways, feel a pull, and A) bring it up and find that your bait was stolen (likely) or B) bring it up and have to put a lot of muscle into it and find that you're snagged on a sea lion who is eating your catch or C) bring it up and have to put a medium amount of muscle into it and find that...ta da! You have a fish! (And it's not just
the minow that you started with as bait!)
Overall, it was an enjoyable experience. On the downside, a couple of us (coworker AB & I) ended up doing a little chumming of the waters, so to speak. I don't usually get motion sickness, but, for whatever reason, when this boat was a rockin', my breakfast came a knockin'. Ah well - a small price to pay for...Red Snapper. Very tastey. (And if you don't get that, you missed a classic in UHF. This clip should be all the explanation you need...and then some.)
So...that was that. A few other pictures to give you a feel for it: 1) AB reenacting our chumming technique; 2) T pleasantly surprised by her captured creature; 3) JD with his catch of the day...his bait minow; and 4) back on land and enjoying fish tacos....
And now...I'm tired. And still bro & sis' visits to tell? Hmm...ok, I'll summarize bro J's, briefly, and then see how much energy I have left....
So, my little bro (Jake) came down to see me a couple of weeks ago, and mostly, we just took it easy and
enjoyed all the things that Pasadena (and the neighboring town of Sierra Madre) has to offer: eating at the falafel place next door, doing a little hiking/running in the foothills, chilling with peeps (one of J's old college classmates lives in the area, so we had a Memorial Day bbq with his fam...then another bbq with my friend D and her crew who go to school nearby and whom J knows from when he visited me in Florida [because D was living there at the time, too] - it's a very small, convolutedly-connected world sometimes, isn't it?), and participating in a local city 10K (Jake won, so I got a free pair of running shoes [his prize became my prize, naturally]). It was very cool having him here, and I should give a shout out to him 'cause he just graduated with his Master's in biomechanic-type stuff. Congrats! And he's leaving in a few days for a few months of traveling in Europe and doing some volunteer work in India. Should be pretty sweet.
And thanks to his visit here, he's got a sharp new haircut for his upcoming on-the-go schedule. The first one (a local barber) didn't really take so well, but, after a visit to a second hair stylist (an actual stylist this time), it got sorted out. The second lady didn't have much to work with, so I think this was her attempt at a faux hawk. It's definitely the shortest that J has had it since high school, but certainly better than the
alternative.... 
Alright. I think that should do it for now. And how about for a recap of my sister's visit, you just go check out her blog at Creature Bug (June 3rd post - plus, you can see the most hilarious yogurt video ever). She did a much more thorough job of it than I would have, anyway - per usual. : )
Oh! Also, I was going to tell about the movie screening that T, B & AG went to on Monday. So many posts, so little time! So, again, how about I just link you over to B's page (My Kind of Witty), as she has already said it all. The only differences in our versions of the story would be A) I did read the book first [still just thought the movie was "good," not "excellent" or "very good"...I might say about the same for the book], and B) I only got to pick the movie poster I liked best and turn in my questionnaire at the end - they only cared about the opinions of 3 out of the 4 of us, so, per usual, the most apathetic one gets the boot (and in typical Northwesterner+middle child fashion, I had no particularly strong feelings I wished to convey, anyway...). : )
So, yeah, was fun. And now...I must get away from this computer. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, all! Till next time....
