2013 Jan 13 | Monica's half marathon in Irvine, Shatto 39 Lanes, No Pants Subway Ride



Going to pick up Monica at the airport.



My ski boots came with little handles to carry them, but I prefer a big strap so you can thrown them over your shoulder. The straps are rather expensive, so I made my own.



Monica helping me wax my skis.



Smoothing them.



Lots of shavings.



We watched Rust and Bone at the Landmark theater. Some of the theaters there have couches and loveseats.



Really cool.



Signs we made to encourage the marathon runners.



Up early for Monica's half marathon in Irvine.



Wow, that woman is fit; look at those abs.



A live band that was playing at one of the corners.



Cops on motorcycles made sure the way was clear.



The first two runners.



They almost went the wrong way. Thankfully some volunteers pointed them in the right direction.



The first woman was in 30th place overall, which seemed really fast. Monica and I both thought she probably dropped back a lot later in the race, but when we looked online, she had an amazing time. Impressive.



Long line of runners.



This garbage truck came out of an apartment complex on the road of the marathon, so a cop escorted it out.



Sun through the trees.



There's Monica! In the middle of a bunch of guys.



Thumbs up.



Dying.



Taking off her long shirt.



Adjusting her phone.



Looking good.



Her and the guy beside her...



... were in perfect sync.



A little cheering section.



What Monica normally looked like during the race before she saw me.



But she put on a smile for the camera.



Thumbs down now.



There were a few places where people cut off a little distance, like running on the sidewalk around a corner instead of the road.



Monica on the far left.



Going around the corner.



Cops blocking the intersection.



A water and Gatorade station.



I loved this guy's beard.



Keeping up the pace.



Mile 11!



1:34:05 at mile 11.



This girl was giving high fives to the runners that passed by.



When I was leaving to pick Monica up at the finish, I gave the signs we had made to these cheerers instead.



Uh oh, somebody lost their shoes.



This sign was ignored by everyone.



She's done!



By the finish line.



Time for a break.



Her medal.



These people were handing out the medals. I could have grabbed like 20 of them.



Pretty lake.



Eating goodies.



From the other side of the finish line.



These people grabbed a ton of drinks and snacks.



After the marathon we stopped at Cafe Lu. It's a Vietnamese coffee shop where the servers are all in bikinis. I thought they would have thai tea with boba, but nope, just smoothies. Plus, Monica was the only woman in the place other than the servers, and even though there were no smoking signs posted everywhere, tons of guys were smoking.



A giant house near Hollywood.



A good view of the sign from the street.



Monica with the Hollywood sign.



A pretty view of a reservoir.



Looks like there must have been a tree here.



Monica and I played poker Saturday night after her marathon. There were over 20 people, and almost everyone at this game is better than me. We started with three tables, and I managed to stay in until the final table of 10 people. The top 5 finishers got money, so when a couple more people got knocked out, everyone started folding almost every had because they wanted to make money. But inevitably a few more people got knocked out and I was in the money. Then a few more got knocked out and I was in third! I went all in with a pair of nines and the other guy had A9. I was a huge favorite because half of his hand was useless; he couldn't make a flush or straight with his A9 and if he paired his nine, I'd have a better hand with three nines. He basically only had 3 outs, the other aces, but he lucked out and caught one, knocking me out of the game. Then he went on to win it.



But third place is very very good for this group of people, so that was nice.



Kat and Kendra were both at the poker game as well. They overheard Monica and I talking about going out afterwards and said they were planning on doing the same. We decided to go to Shatto 39 Lanes, a bowling alley with pool tables.



There were way too many balls because people before us hadn't been putting them back, and they were unusable to us because the finger holes were too small, so we kept putting them back.



Then later on we had the opposite problem: all of our balls got stuck in the back, so we had to get a guy to pull them out.



At least she isn't wearing heels.



Yay, I won! Mainly because I got lucky and hit two strikes in a row.



Onto pool.



There were five of us since Max carpooled with Monica and I. He didn't bowl, but he did want to play pool, so we played cutthroat with two teams of two and one team of one.



"Stick out your tongue again!"



Lining up a shot.



Behind the back.



It's always tough going over other balls.



That's a long one.



You can tell Max is a good player; his eye is directly over his stick.



Reach!



That's a funny sticker.



I'm guessing Tardis from Dr. Who.



Pretty sunset with mountains in the back.



Big clouds over downtown.



A guy walking between cars selling food in rush hour.



Plate spinner, a DJ?



Uh oh, gotta dodge this box on the on ramp.



Dumb drivers that go through intersections when there's no room on the other side. Not only do they mess up the crosswalk...



... they also block cross traffic as well.



Cool trees.



And some more. Looks like fall.



I'd assume these palm trees had their leaves tied up or something.



Bush lied.



Not sure what this is for, but I'm guessing he lost the latch to hold his hood closed?



One of my favorite things about SoCal: fruit trees.



This tree has a big bend in its trunk.



A cute pig picture in Koreatown.



LA airport.



A Wall Drug bumper sticker.



A ton of motorcyclists.



Downtown LA from the south.



A neat bench at Union Station.



Water.



Little waterfall.



The back of the station.



A statue.



Neat steps and water.



Cool metal cutouts.



Union Station actually had a big aquarium with fish. There are also neat symbols on the floor.



The ceiling.



Sunday afternoon was the No Pants Subway Ride. It's put on every year by Improv Everywhere. People got on the subway at preselected stations, took off their pants, and rode to Union Station. This was the first group of people to come out.



Some people, instead of riding to Union Station pantless, showed up here and joined the group.



The security had obviously been briefed about the event as they were milling around the area. The sign does say no loitering, so I wonder how they'll react.



By taking pictures.



How nice of them. All of the security personnel were actually really cool about it. They just asked people to leave space for normal travelers to get through the huge throng of people.



A few people even brought their children.



The guy in the white shirt stood out.



Dressed up as hillbillies.



Lots of pictures on cell phones.



Waiting for her friends.



School-girl-ish outfit.



Everyone was constantly posing for pictures...



... and taking pictures.



Haha, I loved this guys' Toy Story shirt and bird boxers.



It got pretty packed.



I had heard about it that morning, so I didn't have much time to prepare. Monica thought I should wear a suit on top, which I thought was a brilliant idea.



I ran to the thrift store near my place and picked up a briefcase as a nice accessory.



Some older gentlemen.



Another businessman outfit.



Gals posing.



People were wandering around Union Station...



... through this long hallway.



Everyone liked the conductor outfit.



Around 2:30 we all jumped back on the subway.



Getting tickets.



Heading down the escalator.



On our car was a guy who was playing a guitar.



Pantless people jammed in. When normal people got on, they looked a little stunned, but then they just laughed.



Having fun.



A guy planking across the bars.



And a woman.



Long underwear.



Headed up.



And out of the subway.



To a big open area near Hollywood and Highland.



Our huge group of people.



Standing on the ledges by the steps.



I love the photobomb by the guy on the escalator in back.



Posing.



The off to the Pig N' Whistle for some drinks.



I loved this guy's outfit.



Erika and I.



Erika and Kristen having some fun with a girl with a tail.



Bonus; they were showing the football game.



Time for drinks.



A lot of types of Coke in this soda machine at Five Guys.



Hey, someone left a shopping cart in my usual parking spot at work!



Some of the women at work are using these Sensa granules to lose weight. They claim it works, but there haven't been any published studies on it. I wonder if the creator really belives it works or is just trying to make a lot of money?



I get the idea, but really, the glass is at most half full and usually over half empty.



This homeless man was buying chains for necklaces at Office Depot. He kept asking the worker which ones he thought looked the best, and you could almost hear the worker think, "How should I know? I'm white."



I like to buy $5 McDonald's gift cards so when bums ask me for money, I give them these instead. I guess they could trade them to another bum for money and then buy alcohol or drugs with them, but at least it's a little less likely. Someone at McDonald's stuck a business card for some church or something in the gift cards; weird.



Everybody flops three of a kind on High Stakes Poker; crazy.