Sacre bleu! - I got an A- in my Linguistics class, the class that actually succeeded in giving me nightmares(and if you know me, you would know that almost nothing disturbs my sleep). That gives me a Straight A's 3.9 GPA for my Masters Program. I think that I now officially rock. HOLLAH!

Happy Birthday Casa Perez!

Well, it's been a crazy year since we got the keys to Casa Perez last memorial day weekend, but between skunks and tree court and exploding everything we're still pretty happy with our house. It is so cozy and just perfect for us. Also, Casa Perez is a big eater, she likes to eat all our money despite her diminutive size... but we still have enough left over for CAKE! Arnold got me this Cafe Cremaux cake to celebrate completing Bay to Breakers, then he let me watch as much New Kids on the Block as I wanted on YouTube. He truly is a wonderful man.... but back to the cake. This cake comes from Ginger Elizabeth in Midtown Sacramento. Ginger Elizabeth is like acupuncture and the palm pilot in that it has CHANGED MY LIFE. I love everything about the place from the ridiculously expensive chocolate(all the better to ensure one doesn't gorge) and the chic decor. I can't believe I did not know about Parisian macaroons before Ginger Elizabeth.

Is it weird that my posts all seem to come back to food?

In Concord there is a very good Taqueria called La Soledad. Over there you can get amazing tortas. The sassy waitress who will tell you that white people looooooooooooooove sour cream is just a bonus. I think my favorite part though is the neighborhood. There is a Vietnamese business a few doors down. The night we were there they appeared to be arguing, since none of us are Vietnamese fluent it was hard to know. Apparently the taqueria people thought they were arguing to because one lady was screaming "Callete chinos!" to hilarious effect. I love the futility of screaming "Shut up Chinese people" in Spanish to Vietnamese men. Ahhhhhh... diversity! Next door is a place called "Latino cuts" The syntax is beautifully vague. Do you get a Latino haircut or does a "Latino" cut your hair? Is there somebody named "Latino" there to do hair-cutting? What happens if "Latino" is not at work that day? Does "Filipino" cut your hair? Even better the door has this sticker that says "se habla". Unfortunately they don't seem to specify what it is that is spoken, they don't promise English or Spanish, just speech. Next time your in Concord check it out, it's behind Fry's.

Family Fun

Last weekend was great. Not only did I get to run Bay to Breakers but I got to do it with my cousin Dan! <---Shown above flaunting his rubix cube prowess, but I digress. I hardly ever go back to Concord but this weekend Arnold and I stayed with the Wong family and hung out with my two Wilipino cousins Dan and Rob and my soon-to-be cousin-in-law Reese and my chinese cousin Justina. I have a special affection for Dan and Rob, not just because they are my only family members besides my brothers to share our Wilipinoness but also because we all grew up in Concord together, so I saw them the most. Also because they do funny stuff, which I can blog about later. On Saturday night we all went out for Tortas, obviously hilarity ensued... because my family does funny stuff. Waitress: What would you like to eat? Dan: I'd like a burrito, without sour cream. Then apprently Dan thought it's not enough just to order food, for some reason you need to explain your choices by stating your ethnicity, or at least part of it. Dan: Yeah, uh, no sour cream.... I'm white. Honestly, this would be weird enough to blog about. Certainly I understand giving people extraneous information, I myself love to talk, but I can safely say that I have never finished up an order by saying. I'm Wilipino. It seems that Dan got the Maghanoy gene that causes one to talk too much while ordering (my Dad has this too). Anyways, the best part is that the waitress who was sporting a VERY significant Mexican accent got in on the action with a whole lot of enthusiasm. Waitress: What are you talking about? White people love sour cream! They LOVE IT. They love to eat it on their baked potatoes!!!Seriously, it was hysterical, especially since with her accent and loudness, she was kind of going all Ricky Ricardo on him. "Whadarejewtalking about? "Deylovesourcreeeeeeeeem" I am almost fell out of my chair I was laughing hard. This only egged the waitress on. "Deylovedesourcreeeeeem!!!!" Then kicker was when Justina busts out her most authoritative "I'm an expert on the subject, I am a nurse" voice and said very seriously "It's true, they love sour cream." I can only guess that Reese was wondering what kind of lunacy she is marrying into.

A more Maghanoyish world

More good news coming down the pike. Last week my cousin Ron and his wife Jasmine brought another Maghanoy into the world. Details are still fuzzy seeing as the family communications officer(Auntie Edenia) is off cavorting in the Netherlands, but I'll post a picture when I get one.

Welcome little Tyler Maghanoy! Thanks for making the world a little more Maghanoyish!

Ocean air has never smelled so sweet...

This morning, I ran 12K (7.46 miles) in 85 minutes and 1 sec. It was so. very. awesome. If you live in the Bay Area, tomorrow my name will be in the chronicle since I made it in under the 10,000 mark in my ranking. Which I know, is not terribly impressive, but considering that more than 30,000 people run Bay to Breakers, it ain't bad either! Woo-hoo!

Six years ago we hopped the MAX light rail at 6 am in the morning to go downtown and get married before court started sessions at 8 am. The night before we sorted out my CDs. 30 pounds (lost not gained!) later, one crapartment, 3 billion disasters (car crash, in-laws house exploded, herniated discs, the cymbalta period , the credential program etc. etc.) later and I still can't believe my good fortunate. Marriage is not usually romantic or fairy-tale like but Arnold is the best husband EVER! 6 years later and I'm still counting my blessings.

What happens to a dream deferered?

It is of course wildly inappropriate to use a quote from such a renowned poet to talk about... hot dogs. Right! Last night, I lived out the long deferred dream of having a hot dog party! Hot dogs Colombian style, Chilean style, every style etc. but most importantly a hot dog I have heard of but never tasted till last night. The LA style ghetto dog. This calorie bomb is a hot dog wrapped in bacon, topped with grilled onions, grilled jalapenos and mayonaise. And my friends, I have to say, it was Legen-wait for it-Dary! I urge you all to make yourselves ghetto dogs at some point. Plus, now that I have turned in my last paper, I"m back to cooking. ABove you see the ghetto dog leftovers being cooked into a lentil stew. I got the recipe from a book my little brother gave me. The book is lableled Good. Fast. Cheap. Which pretty much sums up my goals for cooking.

Also.... last week Grey's Anatomy used the word "Crapartment" twice!!! If you google crapartment, Maghanoy.com will come up near the top. We are defenitely moving towards internet dominance.

Last weekend was Marjie's 30th birthday party. Her birthday was in January but seeing as she's been growing a baby and throwing up back in January her birthday party was delayed All the better because now because Lucia ( her name is Lucia!) is showing up big time now and I really, really, really enjoyed getting to take this picture.

Last week, we went to the theater with my friend Dahlia and her husband. Before the show she snapped this picture of them in the Capitol Rose Garden. I think it is hysterical how they are standing in the middle of those flowers looking so grumpy. You'd think we were getting ready to go to traffic school. Mark obligingly grumbled about being taken to a musical, but Arnold loves the theater! He is a library geek!!!

Maghanoy Modesty Pt. 2

Remember how I said that my GAD likes to brag about his perfect feet, perfect cooking etc.? Well, now we can add another layer to the list. As you might know, I am very into talking about COLONOSCOPIES, it is my new thing because of my new job. I'm not done with nutrition, I am just adding cancer screening. Anyways, so because of this I am having a totally normal conversation with my Mom about flex sigmoidoscopies. Thassa right, I use big words like flex sigmoidoscopies. And I said... everything came out clean right? And she said...

"The gastroenterologist said you father has the most perfect colon he has every seen."

Obviously I will be hearing about this perfectly symmetrical, number 1 in the world colon for the rest of my life.

I did it! It's official, I signed up to run Bay to Breakers on May 18th. I haven't been talking a lot about my "training" because quite frankly I am afraid that I will somehow jinx it and something bad will happen... but I am REALLY excited. I literally could not run a mile in January, and in less than 3 weeks I am going to run 7. I am going to run ACROSS San Francisco. The whole city! Never in my life have I imagined myself capable of doing such a thing. When I finish it will be as big as an accomplishment as graduating from college... and honestly, school is pretty easy for me. So it might even feel bigger.

PS As a post-script, my Mother-In-Law named her dog Motas, which in Colombia means 'lint-ball" not other things for those of you who hang out with naughty Mexicans. :)