sha v 4.0

This past Sunday I participated in the San Francisco AIDS Walk. It was a leisurely 10K walk through Golden Gate Park, where I was accompanied by 21,000 other walkers, as well as a number of dogs. The weather was perfect for the walk — warm but with a nice breeze. As you can see from the pictures, our team had matching tie-dyed shirts, which proved to be very popular with the other walkers. Our team leader had several people ask her if they could buy a shirt (and just as many asking for free games.) In all, the walk raised $3,024,796 for local AIDS organizations. Personally, I surpassed my (rather modest) fundraising goal, so thank you to everyone who supported me!

In another philanthropic endeavor, I attempted to donate blood today. I say “attempted” because they eventually gave up on me since my blood was flowing so slowly. That has never happened to me before — it’s always been slow-going, but they’ve never stopped the donation because of it. It was kind of disappointing because I don’t think they are even going to use the half-unit that I did donate.

In unrelated news, this past Saturday at soccer I scored four goals, all completely intentional. To celebrate, Jan and I spread our arms like wings and ran around the field, Bend-It-Like-Beckham-style. That evening I had a nice dinner with Eric and Domi at the Spice Island’s Cafe. During dinner, I told Domi (as I’ve told other people) that she is one of the few people I know who is very sure of who she is, and doesn’t let other people’s opinions stand in the way of it. I admire her for it.

On a final note, damn my neighbors are loud. I’m not sure if they are having domestic disputes or just enjoy speaking at 100 decibels.