A friend came to visit last weekend so my friend and I took him down to Monterey, Ca. He’s from Spain and this was his first visit to California, let alone the states. It was a pretty action packed adventure. After heading to the Boom Boom Room in San Francisco for some live funk music, we drove down to Monterey to stay with a friend down there. She took us to a small cafe to see this crazy musician who plays the cello like a madman, Tornado Rider. Holy cow, that was crazy.

The next day, we hit up Pebble Beach and Big Sur’s Pfeiffer Beach. We actually had decent weather for January. On Monday we scored some passes to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. If you have never been, this is a must go place if you are anywhere near San Francisco visiting. It’s a great aquarium. I took over 250 photos that day – yikes! I only posted a handful of the best ones over on my Canon s95 Photo Blog.

It was a great weekend!

7.2, 9.6, 10.4 – What do they have in common? They all are percentages of my favorite alcoholic beverages…aka beer. I’m not a alchy, far from it. For the last 8 years or so I’d have a few beers regularly though, with dinner or with nightly activities; beer drinking and bowling seem to go hand in hand. Now for the last three months I’ve held off on those nightly delicious brews, and the results are pouring in, just not in a glass.

To confess, I did this unconsciously. Simply lost interest in it all. It might have been because my routine has been thrown off this last year with all the travel I’ve done. Work a 9 to 5 and I might have needed those beers to relax, but I’m certainly relaxed enough now to not lust after them. Plus, spending $5-$10 a night (yeah I like the good stuff), well, that will discourage you too.

Since those three months, with a little eating right and a little exercise, my long time friend Mr. Spare Tire has gone missing. I didn’t intend this, I didn’t expect this, but hey, I’ll take it! I also feel fresher in the morning and am getting better sleep. Not to mention, I’m being nicer to my heart and my liver.

According to the MensHealth book,