I Play With My Food: Part III

It’s the final days of summer. Going to a Labor Day picnic or barbeque this weekend? Why not usher in the start of colder weather with a fun, healthy conversation starter? It all begins by playing with your food!

Working Out Hard and Breaking Records

I’ve been dogsitting for the past few days. It’s been fun hanging out with my canine friends. There’s Scooter…

…and Pepper…

A Great Big Race Announcement!

I’m super excited about this post, but before I spill the beans about my big announcement, I have a video to share! My sister challenged me to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, so here’s the video of me getting a bucket of ice water dumped over my head:

Anything for charity, am I right?

OK. Announcement time! Last month, I

Snow Pea Salad with Lime and Ginger Dressing

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I recently went to a potluck dinner when my friends Katie and Julie were in town. Katie was the guest of honor at the event, so you believe I put her to work in the kitchen!

I decided on a snow pea-based salad, partly because I

Fun With Maps: Exercise All Over the Place!

Thanks to my stair race training and the new classes I’ve been trying, I’ve been working out all over town. Since I’m a big nerd when it comes to geography and data, I decided to map it. Here’s all the places I’ve worked out during the month of August (so far):

Here’s what the numbers correspond to:

My First Visit to the Santa Monica Stairs

Two friends from college came to town over the weekend. I’ve known Katie and Julie for about 15 years now. I see Katie once a year or so, but it’s been about 5 or 6 years since I’ve seen Julie, so it was really fun to reconnect. I picked them up from the airport, and since Julie had never felt the Pacific Ocean lapping at her feet, we went straight to the beach.

Since I have the longest arms, I

What I Learned From Robin Williams’ Passing, Part II: Advice From My Mom

Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of kind words about my Robin Williams post last week (click here to read “What I Learned From Robin Williams’ Passing”). A bunch of people shared it on Facebook and Twitter. It appears to have resonated at a time people were looking to make sense out of a confusing, devastating turn of events.

The most thought-provoking conversation I had about it was with

Adventures with ClassPass, Part III

I’ve been working out all over town thanks to ClassPass, which gives me access to fitness facilities all over the place without needing a membership to any of them. You can learn more about ClassPass in this post (or at their website). Wanna see what I’ve been up to?

What I Learned From Robin Williams’ Passing

There have been a few occasions in my life where I’ve resisted the urge to chuck a lime at someone’s head, like Mrs. Doubtfire did, and then blame it on an unknown assailant who committed a “run-by fruiting.” I paid close attention to “Dead Poets Society” – shedding plenty of tears in the process – because it was the first movie that prominently featured teenage suicide that I saw after I tried to kill myself during my teenage years. And I can’t count the times that I’ve turned to

My FIFTH Downtown Skyscraper!

I’ve now climbed the stairs in FIVE different skyscrapers in downtown Los Angeles! I added the fifth to the list just the other day, when I attended a training session at the Wells Fargo Center, which reaches 55 stories above the ground.

I was