Certifications

I really have no idea where I found the time to study and take the certification exams that I have taken lately. I was telling my former boss that I started taking my exams when were starting to set up the data center and I finished my exams when we finished the data center project. Well, i guess you could say that I was doing 2 parallel projects.

I'm now closer to my alphabet soup. I currently hold the following IT certifications:

• MCSE Security 2003
• MCSE Security 2000
• MCSA Security 2003
• MCSE Messaging 2003
• MCSE Messaging 2000
• MCSA Messaging 2003
• MCSA Messaging 2000
• MCSE 2003
• MCSE 2000
• MCP
• Security+
• GSEC
• GWAS
• ITIL

I'm planning to take my CISSP in the next few months. I have to start studying for it. I'm giving myself 2-3 months to study for it. After that, we'll see what suits my fancy.

Yoga

Since I had to give up my saltwater aquarium after it crashed -- I didn't have the time and energy to rebuild it so I gave it to a friend -- I figured I needed to find a new hobby and I have found one -- yoga!

I've been going to yoga classes for the past 2 months now. I really enjoy it a lot. I love the stretches. My back pain is gone. I feel so much stronger and it is helping me run faster (well.. whenever I feel like running).

My first classes were Iyengar yoga classes. I took a beginner class. There were only a few people in that class and the instructor was able to really look at your poses and adjust you.

I also took a Bikram yoga class. This is where they heat the room to 105 F and you do yoga in the heat. It was very challenging. You're doing 26 poses twice in a 90 minute period and in the heat. So far I have only gone once to this class since the studio I went to was a little bit far.

I'm currently taking Mellow Flow yoga classes at a really nice studio (Satori Yoga). It's close to my office so it's very convenient. I've been going every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon after work. I really enjoy this class because of the teacher (Alex Bradshaw). She's really really good. She kicks my butt in a good way with her classes.

Whoever said that yoga is easy is lying. It is very challenging. In some days, I am sore in places that I never thought I had muscles in!

Looks like I have found a new hobby. :)

It's been a while

Wow... it's been a while since I last wrote anything here. I've been so busy with work lately that I haven't really had the chance to really do anything else.

Let's see.. I haven't been running since I have no time. I've been taking my MCSE exams so whatever free time I have have been devoted to studying. Although it has paid off so far. I scored 100% on 2 exams already. I've been reading a bit -- yeah, all chick lit -- gotta love those steamy romance novels.

What else? Hmmm.... I've been to NY this month. That was my second trip of the year. Yes, I did go watch shows again. Duh! That's one thing I would not pass up.

So far I have seen 22 out of the 27 musicals that are currently running on Broadway. It's a lot easier for me to enumerate the ones I haven't seen. I'm at the bottom of my list now. Some of the shows, I'm just not too compelled to watch. Eh, maybe if I end up going to NY and no new shows are out then I'll go watch them.

Anyways, I got to see South Pacific, Gypsy, Passing Strange, The Little Mermaid (again), In the Heights and Chicago.

South Pacific
This was the show that had me almost in a panic. I was trying to find a single ticket and I could not believe I couldn't find a single ticket online during the duration of my trip. I was soooooo ready to get a ticket from a ticket broker because I really wanted to see it. Anyways, I tried the cancellation line and was able to get front row mezzanine seats. Wooohooo! The god seats!

I loved this show. The cast was just wonderful. This is definitely a must see. I wouldn't mind watching it again. If I had to pay more than face value for this show, it would've still been worth it. Kelli O'Hara, Paulo Szolt, Matthew Morrison, Danny Burnstein were a joy to watch.

Gypsy
This was the other show that I really wanted to see during my trip. The story and the score were okay but what made this show wonderful for me was because of the cast. This was the first show I have seen that the audience gave a standing ovation before the curtain call. Patti Lupone just blew the top off the theatre with her performance of Rose's turn. It was amazing. The rest of the cast was pretty good too especially Laura Benanti. This was my 4th Sondheim musical.

The Little Mermaid
What can I say? This is my favorite Disney musical. I love the story and I also love the show. My friend, Karen and I went for standing room tickets. Not bad for $26.50. Since I have seen it up close from the 9th row (or maybe closer), I didn't mind seeing it from the back of the orchestra. I didn't mind standing the entire time too since time just flew. It was worth hearing Shere Rene Scott as Ursula and Sierra Boggess as Ariel sing.

Oh yeah, regarding the standing room tickets, you can get them when the show is sold out. Ask for the lower wall. ;)

Yup, I'll probably watch this again in the future.

Passing Strange
I wasn't too sure if I really wanted to watch this show. Anyways, for lack of other shows to watch, what the heck, I went to see it.

It was okay. I wasn't really blown away with it. It's more of a rock concert than a musical. The story is so so although it made for an enjoyable evening. The set was very simplistic. Daniel Beaker who played the lead role was pretty good.

I doubt it if I'll watch this again. It was worth watching at least once. Did I like it, well, it was okay. Did I love it? Nah... Not my type of musical

In the Heights
I still cannot understand the hype for this musical. A lot of people are saying that it's a shoo in to win the Best Musical at the Tonys this year.

I only went to see this because my friend and I won the lottery. I'll watch any musical for $26.50.

The book was so so. I really didn't see the point. My friend was saying that it's very local. There's a lot of references that I really didn't get because I didn't live in Washington Heights. The music was okay. I guess I'd call it forgettable. I cannot remember a hummable song from the show. The lead, Lin-Manuel Miranda is definitely very talented. He pretty much wrote the show.

It was worth watching it once just to see what the hype is all about. I don't think I'll be watching this again.

Chicago
Since I didn't have anymore shows to see, I had to go down to the bottom of my list. Anyways, I was able to get rush seats for Chicago and again for $26.50, I will go wand watch any musical.

I almost fell asleep during act I. It was boooooring! I almost walked out of the theatre during the intermission. I decided to be persistent and actually stay for the second act. Thank goodness I didn't. It started picking up during the second act so it wasn't a complete waste.

Will I watch it again? Absolutely not. I'd rather stick a needle in my eye! I think I'm seeing a pattern. It seem that Kander and Ebb musicals are just not my thing. I'm 0 for 2 on Kander and Ebb musicals. The last one I saw, Lovemusik, eww... I didn't like it at all.

So there ya go... my latest set of shows.

You might wonder what I haven't seen so here's my list. I refuse to pay full price for these. Phantom of the Opera, Mamma Mia, Grease, Cry Baby, A Catered Affair. Yeah, if you want to give me tickets for these, I'll go and watch them.

During my last trip, I decided that I should try to stay away from NYC for a few months. Well, tht was true until the other day when I read that Will Chase and Eden Espinosa are going to be in the final cast of Rent. I loved Will Chase in Miss Saigon. I've seen him several times in it with Lea Salonga. Well, for Eden, I'm a huge fan! I loooooved her in Wicked and I will watch any show that she's in. I gotta find a way to get my butt back to NYC before Rent closes for good in September.

What else? Oh yeah, I decided to start watching regional productions. I went to see Cinderella (Rodgers and Hammerstein) in Walnut Creek last weekend. I took a friend's daughter with me when I went to see it and she enjoyed it a lot. It was okay for me. The main characters were okay - good singers. The lighting felt a little off and didn't accentuate the charater that was singing that much so when there are a lot of characters on the stage, it was hard to tell who was singing. My biggest complaint is that there were too many ensemble members on stage! It felt too cluttered and too crowded. The costumes were pretty good though. Anyways, yeah, I am a theater snob......

Until next time... whenever that may be....

Sunday in the Park with George

Sunday in the Park with George was the last show I watched on this trip.

The story is a fictionalized story of George Seurat, a painter and his painting called A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

The show is simply beautiful. I loved it. I'm familiar with the score since I picked up a copy of the London cast recording when I was going through my Sondheim phase sometime last year. It was a matter of me trying to fill in the blanks with what I know about the story based on listening to the recording. The songs are beautiful. This is actually my favorite out of all the Sondheim musicals.

The cast was very talented. The principal characters (Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell) were the ones who sang on the Original London Cast Recording so I was thrilled about it.

The show made extensive use of CGI animation for its set which I thought was pretty cool. It was tastefully done and worked very well.

Here's a video of It's Hot up Here (Act II). This is probably from the original production. This isn't from the Broadway revival that I saw.



I'm really pleased with the shows that I have seen on this trip. I really don't have anything else that I want to watch right now that I haven't seen yet on Broadway. I guess I will just have to wait until new shows open up before making my way back to New York. ;)

Wicked

Yes you read it right. Wicked. hehehehe.....

This was my Thursday show. My friend, Karen and I decided to do our usual Carmila is in town routine -- Wicked lottery and then if we don't win, we head to TKTS to get me a ticket to whatever is available and then we go out to dinner.

This time we skipped TKTS since we actually won the lottery! Woooohooooo!!!! After trying for the gazillionth time, my name finally got picked! We got front row seats for $26.25. Yay! I tell you once you have sat up close in the show, you don't want to sit elsewhere. I honestly cannot tell you how the show looks from a afar. The farthest I've sat on this show is the 14th row and I have no intentions of sitting further than that.

It's my 8th time watching Wicked. If you have not figured it out yet, let me spell it out to you. Yes, I am obsessed with Wicked. I am a member of the Wicked Addicts club and I have gone through the 12 step program but it never works. hehehe... I just love this show.

The Broadway production is in a pretty good shape right now. The cast is pretty good although my favorite duo is still Eden Espinosa and Megan Hilty. It's the first time watching the show that I actually liked Glinda more than Elphaba. The actress playing Glinda (Annaleigh Ashford) was very young but she was pretty good. She added her own nuances to the character which I liked a lot.

Annaleigh's version of Popular:


In case you are wondering, yes I intend to watch the show again in the future. ;)

Young Frankenstein

Wednesday was a 2 show day for me. I had tickets to Young Frankenstein (oh excuse me.. Frahn-ken-steen) Wednesday night.

I don't recall ever seeing the movie so I didn't really know anything about the show. Its got mixed reviews but I really didn't care. I like forming my own opinions (well, most of the time).

The show was fun. Lots of jokes. Definitely has lost of talent. Roger Bart was great. It was a plus seeing Megan Mullally live -- she's Karen in Will & Grace. I had no idea that she could sing!

The songs were forgettable. Nothing really that struck my fancy and I'm not too compelled to get the cast recording for it although it was still worth seeing. I had lots of laughs during the show and I enjoyed the show and the performances which is what matters the most to me whenever I watch any of the shows.

The Little Mermaid

I had one heck of a travel day last Tuesday and when I was at the office on Wednesday, after a while, I was getting cross-eyed looking at the documents that I needed to go through so I asked my boss if I can leave early and he said yes.

I went to catch the matinée performance of The Little Mermaid. I just went to the box office and asked if they had any available tickets. I managed to get 9th row center orchestra seats. Yup, great seats! This is the reason why I love going to theater by myself. I get really good seats. Yeah, I know, I am spoiled. ;)

I loooooovvvvveee The Little Mermaid! It's now my favorite Disney musical. The set is spectacular. Lots of Disney magic. Definitely high production value. The cast is pretty good. Sierra Boggess is the little mermaid in the flesh! She looks like the little mermaid and her voice is amazing. I love the Broadway Cast Recording better than the animated movie soundtrack. I got suckered into buying the CD of the musical at the theater since I could not get enough of her singing and I could not wait for it to be released on iTunes.

Check out this video of "Part of Your World".



Definitely a must see. For me it's a must see again show. ;)

New York in February

Yes I am in New York again that's why I have time to blog. ;)

I've been here since Tuesday night after one heck of a day traveling.

I left SF Monday night to take a red eye flight to Washington, DC for a site walk through of our data center. I only stayed for a few hours in that area before heading back to the airport to catch my 3:39pm flight to NY. I was at the airport since 1:30 pm and we didn't take off till past 8pm that night. Once I got to La Guardia airport in NY, the line for the taxi was so long that it took an hour an a half before I was able to get in on a cab and take me to the airport. Thanks to the crappy weather in NY -- it was snowing.

I've seen 3 shows so far -- The Little Mermaid, Young Frankenstein and Wicked (yes Wicked!). I still have to watch Sunday in the Park with George. I'll blog separately regarding these show.

Crappy weather but gotta love going to NY at this time of the year for getting tickets to Broadway shows. You can get tickets to just about any show! I love it! I just love it althought I am running out of shows to watch so I guess I do have to go back home on Saturday morning.

To our Angel

You are our angel.

For the longest time, we were waiting for you. You finally came without us really knowing of your presence. When you left, that's when we felt the difference.

We would never be able to hold you in our arms or hear you cry. We would never know what you would be like and with that we feel a great sense of loss.

We know you are in heaven. We look forward to the time to meet you again.

You will never be forgotten. You will always be in our hearts.

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good
-- For Good (Wicked)

My First Half Marathon

I did it! I did it! I did it!

I ran and finished my first half marathon today! That's 13.1 miles (21.08 kms)!

I participated in the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco today. It was a wonderful experience. Very exhausting but it was so worth it. I was running for myself. :) And yeah, the Tiffany necklace at the finish line. hehehe....

My official time is 3:29:21 (hrs:mins:secs). I know, it's not an impressive time but you gotta take the hills in San Francisco into account. Those hills were killers! While running (errr... walking) up the steepest hill on the course, I couldn't help but think, "when will this hill ever end?"

I'm thinking of doing the Nike Women's Half Marathon again next year. :)

Here's my official results:

Overall
9239

Final Time
3:29:21

classrank
1625

sexrank
8837

pace
0:15:58

5k
0:44:45

10k
1:38:10

15k
2:30:28

Las Vegas

Yes, I'm at SFO again typing up this blog. I'm off to Las Vegas for 9 days for the SANS Network Security Conference.

I'm definitely racking up United mileage this month.

I really am in serious need of a vacation. Although the last thing I want to do right now is to actually get on a plane and go somewhere. I just want to stay home.

Anyways, Vegas should be interesting. I haven't really made any plans. Maybe I'll check out one of the newer Cirque du Soliel shows there.

A Chorus Line

I decided to just get it over with and go watch this show. I've been sitting on the edge and kind of pushing back watching this. Well, since I'm running out of shows to watch, I had to go see it. Plus it's a classic and won the best musical and the Pulitzer prize and ran for 15 years on Broadway.

It was okay. I just feel that something's missing in this production (revival). When the cast performs as one (chorus line), it's quite good. However, when it starts focusing on individual characters during the show, it's kind of lacking. It doesn't have the umph that should be there. I had a hard time connecting with the characters in the show.

An understudy (Jessica Lea Patty) played Cassie's role tonight. I wanted to see Charlotte d'Ambroise since she was nominated in the Tonys for this role. Well, Jessica Lea Patty did not disappoint. She was one of the standouts in the cast.

The finale was pretty impressive though!

A Chorus Line at the Tonys

Xanadu

Yep, you read it correctly. Xanadu -- a place where nobody dare to go... Seriously, it is a musical and it is on Broadway.

I've read positive reviews of the show so I decided to go see it.

You might ask, how could I possibly enjoy a musical that's based on the worst movie musical ever made in history? LOL! Well, it's campy, it's cheesy but oh so much fun! I had such a GREAT time watching this show! It's that one show that you take with a tongue in cheek attitude. They made fun of the movie, themselves and musical theatre. I guess that's why a lot of people actually like it.

The movie came out in 1980 so I vaguely remember anything about the movie. Now, I gotta go see it since I think they had a lot of references to the movie.

Kerry Butler is wonderful as Kira/Clio. She perfectly channeled Olivia Newton-John in her performance. Wonderful comedic timing. Wonderful voice. When she sings, you just want to listen and you don't want her to stop singing. She's in roller skates and leg warmers almost all night long.

Cheyenne Jackson is such a hottie! Very good singing voice as well.

I think this show is really well cast. The band sounds amazing as well. It's one of those shows that it's either you don't like it or you absolutely LOVE it!

I can't get the song "Suddenly" out of my head. Yep, this is show is starting to become one of my guilty pleasures. ;)

Check out the synopsis from the show's website: http://xanaduonbroadway.com.

Show preview on broadwayworld.com (need a fast connection or click pause and let it load): Xanadu preview from Broadway World

Also check out this performance of Suddenly at Bryant Park. The girl is Kerry Butler but the guy is not Cheyenne Jackson.

Curtains

I saw Raul Esparza in Company last year and I really thought he was going to win the Tonys. Well, he lost to David Hyde Pierce. That's pretty much the reason why I wanted to see Curtains. I wanted to see David Hyde Pierce's performance.

I can see now why David Hyde Pierce won the award. Raul is an awesome singer. However, the award isn't for the best singer. It's an award for the Best Actor in a Musical. David Hyde Pierce is a really good actor!

The show itself was good. I went in there with low expectations since it didn't really get high reviews when it first opened a few months ago.

Really notable performances by Debra Monk and Karen Zeimbra.

You can find a synopsis of the show from their website at http://www.curtainsthemusical.com/.

Here's a clip from the show as well. This was during the Tony awards.

NYC Again

I'm back in NYC this week. I seriously cannot remember how many times I've been to NY this year alone.

Anyways, I'm hear for my Storage Area Networks class (yep, something geeky).

Weather's nice but the tourists are gone. Yay! shorter lines at TKTS -- where I go to get half priced theatre tickets on the day of performance. Almost all the shows, well, except for Wicked and Jersey Boys are up on the TKTS board so I've been able to watch the shows that I haven't seen before.

No running for me this week. I just don't have the time or feel like running when I'm traveling especially when I'm here in NY. Theatre comes first! ;) My miles on Nike+ this month are all going to be walking miles.

I'm back home on Saturday but flying to Las Vegas on Friday for 9 days to attend the SANS Security Conference there.