Who knew that Stanford Stadium would be a perfect location for a futbol game?  I guess we all learned that last weekend.  Click on the photo below to see some photos I took of the game between Club America and Intermilan.  Enjoy!

What better activity on a hot Sunday in the middle of summer than river rafting!  We went river rafting in Cache Canyon, and got to experience many white-water rapids up to a level 3.

Enjoy the photos!  Click the image below to see more.

The day was spent in and out of the water– sometimes the swimming was done on purpose, but not always.

So the Giants might not be playing too well this season, but that doesn’t mean that going to AT&T part isn’t any fun.  Especially when the Giants are playing a good team, such as they were in this case–the Chicago Cubs.  In fact, the Cubs hit a grand slam as the game was winding down. Koko (click here to learn more) and I were witness to this grand slam event.

[More pictures.]

The wacky walk is a graduation tradition for the undergraduate class at Stanford.  The graduate students are much more orderly, but the undergrads enjoy running out into Stanford Stadium wearing whatever they think is right.  There is a lot of running and playing on the field before eventually taking our seats.

To get a small flavor of what it is all about, here are a couple pictures my dad took during the wacky walk of the 2008 Stanford Graduation.  Click on the image to see more picures.

Class of 2008!

I was lucky enough to have two photographers attend my graduation.  Both my dad and my uncle were both trying to get as many different angles and shots as possible.  It’s a good thing that I’m no longer as easily embarrassed by them; otherwise, that could have been a rather embarrassing experience.

Click on the images below to be forwarded to picture galleries full of graduation shots.

Some of my dad’s fabulous shots…

And my uncle’s moment-capturing shots…

Thank you to everyone that has supported me over the years and also thank you to everyone that came to my graduation.  I really appreciated you being there!

I have run a half marathon in 3 of my 4 years of undergrad.  The latest race occurred yesterday morning in the Santa Barbara wine country.

Starting in Freshman year, Kai Lukoff, a dormmate, and I drove up to Hombolt County to participate in the Avenue of the Giants.  It was a beautiful and fast course, which was slightly inclined on the way out and then slightly declined on the way back.  It was mosly all paved and fast.  Covered by enormous redwoods, the Avenue created an almost perfect environment for running.

The logo from the Avenue of the Giants:

Kai and I after finishing the Avenue of the Giants!

During sophomore year, another group from my freshman dorm, Drew, Kai, Linh, Steph and myself all tried our hand at the Nisene Marks Half Marathon.  This course was much more challenging than the Avenue because at around mile 4 or 5, there were these switchbacks that continued to climb for a time that seemed like forever.  Then, when that climb was finally over, it was dangerous to go too fast on the down hill because of the numerous roots and rocks that covered the trail.  Let’s just say that Nisene Marks provided us all with quite the adventure.

Logo from Nisene Marks:

The Nisene Marks brave group:

Finally, the race yesterday near the end of my senior year was in the Santa Barbara Wine Country.  This one definitely rivals the Avenue in terms of being both a beautiful, fun, and fast course.  The first half began with some rolling hills (although nothing too horrible), then there was a long stretch of flatness, which lasted until about mile 6.  At this point there was a bit of a hill for about 1/2 mile, followed by mostly downhill with some undulating hills.  Those brave enough to travel down to SoCal for this race included PJ, Paco, Linh, Diane and myself.

Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon Logo:

Although the challenges of the  Nisene Marks Half Marathon proved challenging on my race time, I was able to slightly improve from my freshman year time to my senior year time.  To put this in perspective, for none of these races did I train appropriately.  I would go on several runs a week for 3 weeks to a month leading up to each of the races.  My philosophy is that these races provided the motivation for me to run at least a little bit more than I usually do (which happens to be very little).  Freshman year, I ran a 2:02, and yesterday, I was able to pull out a 1:56, breaking that 2 hour barrier.

Yesterday was sunny, warm, and just about the perfect weather for a trip to Napa Valley. So that was exactly what we did. We started at a private vineyard and had a delicious lunch, then we were able to make it to two other vineyards before having a fun pizza dinner.

At one of the vineyards we went to, they complemented their wine with chocolate, almonds and strawberries. It was hard to tell, however, if the chocolate was making the wine better, or if the wine was making the chocolate better.

Although not all pictured above, all 30 of us who ventured to the depths of Napa Valley had a great time! Click on either of the above images to see for yourself.

Thank you to Stanford and to the Italian Department for sponsoring the trip.

Although after some good, hard volleyball, we didn’t walk away with the victory, we had a good time and that’s what intramural volleyball is all about. If you don’t believe, click on the image below for more pictures.

And of course, I couldn’t let such an event go by without taking a couple pictures. Click on the picture below for more.

Spring Break 2008! included some sun bathing, cooking, dining, hiking, and some general fun in the sun.  Something about only worring about meals and what activity to entertain ourselves with between meals was extremely satisfying .  Click image below for more pics.