Portland Marathon

This Friday I will be flying to Portland, OR to run the Marathon on Sunday. It will be my 9th marathon and should be a good one as I love this town and have heard nothing but great things about this race. The best part is that I am going with my friend Jerald who is trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. He needs to finish the race in under 3:15:59 in order to run Boston in April. Go to the Portland Marathon website this Sunday,
Link
(click the title "Portland Marathon")and you can follow our progress as the race unfolds. The weather calls for temps in the high 50's and low 60's with a chance of a few showers. Sounds like PR weather to me! I won't PR this time, I was lazy and ate too much. However, Jerald definitely will as he worked very hard and is faster than ever. So log in and check us out, and send some good vibes to the Pacific Northwest. Jerald is definitely going to need a spiritual pat on the ass!!!

Waaaaaaa!!!

My friend Shawn said he got drunk over the weekend and fractured a couple ribs playing volleyball with some friends and he has done nothing but bitch about it ever since. Personally, I think he broke them receiving a donkey punch, but that blog is for another time... Now normally I don't tease friends when they are in pain, but it was only a few weeks ago when I had an abcessed molar and he teased me, messed with me, and tried to feed me an overcooked steak that was tougher than a baseball mitt. So, this one goes out to Shawn Pagee. Call it Karma if you want, but this little cry baby had it comin. Payback's a bitch!!!!

John, this is Samuel L. Jackson

Some of you may have heard the story about me sending John Martin that joke voicemail from the "Snakes on a Plane" website. Basically what happened is on a Friday afternoon I went to the website, entered John's cellphone number and had the site send John a personalized voicemail about why he should go see Snakes on a plane, and the voiceover is actually the voice of Samuel L. Jackson. You also enter your own phone number so when the recipient gets the call, they look at the caller ID and see your name, prompting them to answer. Unfortunately for John, the call arrived at his cell phone at 5:30 the following morning. This not only woke John and his wife, but it worried him to get a call from me that early in the morning. Half asleep and concerned, John picked up the phone and the conversation went like this.

John: "Hey, Chris. What's going on???"

Voicemail: "JOHN! This is Samuel L. Jackson, and I am here to tell you about Snakes on a Plane...."

Later that morning at Los Gatos High School, John confronted me in an angry tone as only the husband of a scorned woman would, and wanted to know why I sent him a voicemail at 5:30am when in fact it was the day before that I sent it. Hilarity ensues, and here is the actual picture of John confronting me.

"hey Barber, WTF???"

Rear Main Seal

My Jeep started leaking oil last week so I took it back to Oil Changers thinking that maybe they didn't tighten the drain plug or the filter when I had the oil changed. They told me that everything was torqued to spec, and that the oil was coming from a leak in the Rear Main Seal. I had no idea what they were talking about, but since then I have been educated on the subject. Allow me to explain to you what the rear main seal is, does, and how much it costs to replace.

This is what the Rear Main Seal looks like. Located between the transmission and the engine block, this "O" ring if you will holds the oil in the engine and the transmission fluid in the transmission. This part costs $70.00

This is where the Rear Main Seal goes. To get to the part, one must remove the oil pan and sometimes the transmission as you can plainly see here. Here is the best part, you also have to replace the oil pan gasket ($68.00), the oil and filter must be changed ($30.00) And then there is the labor ($350.00). So, if you ever have a leak and its caused by a bad Rear Main Seal as is the case with my Jeep right now, you can expect to have it repaired to the tune of $518.00. Or else....

Believe me, the Raiders are the least of my worries right now.

RRRAAAAAAYYYYYYDDEERRRRRRRRSSS!!!!!!

7:15 PM TONIGHT, MCAFEE COLISEUM, RAIDERS VS. CHARGERS....

Nothing kills boredom like the Chicken Dance

I haven't had much to blog about recently, so I thought I would have a few laughs and post these... Cha, Che Cha, Che Chaaaaa!

The Steel City

After the Hall of Fame we took a byway to Pittsburgh, PA. We arrived at PNC Park at around 6pm, just in time to get some tickets and take in a Pirates game at the brand new ballpark there. The AllStar game was held there earlier this year and rightfully so. As with the other "retro" parks being built these days, this one had the quirky outfield shape, old park feel, and a phenomenal view from beyond the outfield bleachers. Not only do you get to see the skyline which is breathtaking, but you also have the Roberto Clemente Bridge which is painted yellow. I had a hard time taking my eyes off these views, they really are spectacular. Behind the right field wall is the Allegheny River which obviously was an idea taken from AT&T Park in SF. This was a fun park to visit.














There is an Outback Steakhouse behind the left field wall from which you can watch the game, and there are several foods in the normal concessions stands like Perogi that you probably wont find anywhere else. Hmmm, Wrigley Field, Hall of Fame, PNC Park... Isn't traveling awesome?!?!?!