the pakarazzi experience

Sam in School

2011-08-09T20:05:00.000+08:00

No. We didn't enroll Sam to school this year. He's only two years old for Pete's sake! But her yaya takes him to Sophie's school once and a while. Sophie's teachers know who he is already. The first day he went there, the teachers were impressed because he knew all the animals, some numbers and letters and the colors that were displayed inside the classrooms. They were so delighted that they gave him a star. Now that's what I call and HONORARY STUDENT!

Although the teachers were saying that we should enroll him as early as now, I really don't feel that we should. Yes, he'll probably learn a thing or two in school, but I'd rather have him at home, be a kid and enjoy his childhood. He'll have lots of time in school growing up. That's also the reason why we enrolled Sophie "later" than most kids. Besides, my little girl acts as if she's grown up already, I don't want my little boy to act that way too soon.

:-)

www.thepakarazzi.blogspot.com

school . . . pride?

2011-02-08T20:25:00.001+08:00

Sophie will be starting school this coming school year. For a few months now, Jan and I have been looking around for the perfect school for her, and quite possibly, Sam as well. Though, as much as we want to give our children the best education that they can have, it never entered our minds to send them to a high-end exclusive school.

You see, my wife and I didn't study at a high-end exclusive school. Although we probably, at one point or another, aspired to study in one, for one reason or another, we didn't.

Anyway, Jan and I talked about this a lot of times. We both agreed that graduating from an expensive school won't assure a bright future for our children. Its the value of hard work, dedication and confidence to face whatever problem they would encounter that will make them successful in life.

I know, people have different notions about what success really is, but to us, success is living a comfortable life, doing what you love doing while taking care or yourself or your family. Taking care of yourself or your family means having the capability to provide food, clothing, shelter and education by your own means.

SO . . in the next couple of weeks, we'll be looking for a school that compliments OUR family values (I said OUR because families have different values and Jan and I have already developed our own family values). A progressive/non-traditional school seem to be fit with what we believe in as parents, and we've seen a couple of them within our vicinity.

We're not closing our doors to exclusive schools. Time may come when they might want to study at an expensive school for college. As long as they pass and we can afford it, they'd probably go there. If they pass and we can't afford it, they'd probably pass as scholars! :)

*******************

What I don't understand is the much ballyhooed school pride. Don't get me wrong. I'm proud of the schools that I went to. What's disturbing is that some people think they're better than others just because they studied at an exclusive school. As I said, I never studied in one. For me, kids who studied in expensive schools should see it as a privilege. Not everyone can afford to send their kids to these schools, and if they could, they probably worked their ass off just so they could do (or their family is really filthy rich because their forefathers worked THEIR asses off, which isn't really the kid's fault).

Take this article from Mo Twister's blog (which I read from time to time). He says that some people coming from expensive schools are too proud of their school, that sometimes, they think that, just because they went there, they're more superior than others (by others, I mean MOST people).

This is something that I don't want my kids to have.

I want them to be confident, but not because they studied in a certain school but because they know what they're talking about and what they're doing.

I want them to be superior, not because of their school but because they worked their asses off to be on top of the corporate ladder or to be the owner of their own business or to be the best damn guitarist this side of Wally Gonzales.

I want them to be proud, not because of their school, but because they're the best at what they do.

Besides, I know some people who are college drop-outs who were and still are successful in their respective careers. I also know well educated people who are PROUD (and when I say proud, I mean the traffic causing kind of proud in Araneta Coliseum) of their schools who couldn't afford to buy a piece of candy using money from their own pockets (because they're to good to work for a company who wouldn't hire them anyway, but would because they know a guy who knows a guy, that knows a guy in the company, or just plain lazy).

This is not to say that I don't know people from exclusive schools who are the opposite. There are a lot of good people too. They're the ones who would probably beat the crap out of those "proud" people if they ever hear them talking too much (and when I say too much, i mean it in a totally bad way) about their school pride.

What's sad about this is that schools (and parents) are supposed to prepare kids for the real world. If its time for these kids to be out there and they're still trapped inside their "school world", I think the school and the parents failed.

In our careers, my wife and I probably failed as much as we've succeeded, but this is one failure we're not about to make.

:-)

www.thepakarazzi.blogspot.com

Pa Q

2011-01-26T19:47:00.002+08:00

Si Mr. & Ms. Pa Q.

Alam lahat.

Experto sa lahat ng bagay.

Puro reklamo pero walang solusyon.

Kung makapanira ng kapwa na, kala mo kilala nya . . .

pero nakikita lang naman sa tv.

Mahilig bumangka pero di naman marunong humawak ng sagwan.

Mahilig makisali kahit di naman sinasali.

Mahilig makibakas kasi walang sariling diskarte.

Mahilig pumorma pero di makabili ng sariling bulate-fishball.

Malakas ang boses pero wala namang sinabi.

Maraming ganito.

Ganito ka ba?

Kung ganito ka. . . .

Pa Q. ka!

wala lang hehehe

www.thepakarazzi.blogspot.com

Sophie's 4th

2011-01-17T18:39:00.000+08:00

It was Sophie's birthday yesterday. She's four years old now. I often tell her that even though shes a bit grown-up and will be starting school next school year, she'll always be my baby girl. I think this is true for all parents. They always think of their children, no matter how grown-up they are, to be their babies.

We celebrated her birthday at our house. We invited our parents to come over for lunch. In the afternoon, we went to the La Mesa Eco Park. I told Sophie that we'd go fishing, but we got there late at around 4:45pm (the park closes at around 5pm) so we decided to just go around. I also forgot to ask where the fishing pond was from the guard.

Sophie, Sam and their cousin Zeth enjoyed the trip. They rode a small kalesa which took them around the place once. Sophie and Sam liked looking at horses, even in pictures. When we were in Baguio, they always pointed at horses whenever they see one. Unfortunately, they didn't like riding on a horse. But riding on a kalesa is a different story. Both of them were excited to ride, as long as its no on the horse!

The children enjoyed the trip, however short it was. I plan on taking them there as often as I can.I'd like for my kids to appreciate nature. Times are changing and I foresee that as they grow older, most of the trees and other plant-life growing at the park may be gone.

Sophie has really grown. She's actually a good ate. She plays with Sam all the time, even when Sam plays a bit rough. I think she even teaches Sam how to count from one to five! Sometimes she would tell Sam to behave or else I'll put him in the corner. She's also malambing to us, especially when she wants to ask something from us, hehe. But in all fairness, when we say no, she usually follows.

My wish for my daughter? I wish that she'll always be healthy and I also wish that she continues to be the smart and loving kid that she is.

I love you Sophie! Mommy and Sam loves you too! :)

Next Sophie milestone: First day in school.
:-)

Team Work

2011-01-14T18:47:00.001+08:00

My wife and I are planning to co-author a blog. She's currently into blogging now, writing about a lot of stuff. If you want to read her blog, just click here. I think its a great idea!. There are a lot of stuff that we can certainly write about.

Its not the first time that we'd work as a team. Even before we were husband and wife, we always did things together. My best man in our wedding said that we were like a team and that we were always focused and had a plan and would get or achieve whatever we wanted. At that time, I thought that he just said that because it was my wedding and he was my best friend, but looking back, and looking at where we are now, I actually think he's right.

We would never be where we are now without helping each other. We've always supported each other in whatever we do.When we were still dating, whenever we went out of town,we both saved money for each and every trip. Even when we got married. Our parents didn't spend a single centavo. We used our own money that we saved up for a year (It's a good thing my Tita Maday gave us the hotel accommodation as our wedding gift also Thanks Tita!). We planned the wedding ourselves from top to bottom.

Even in our household, in raising our kids, our finances, or whatever issues we have at home, we talk about it. Is this the secret of a good married life?

NO. I don't think its THE secret. Everyone knows that everything works out as long as communication lines are open.

Hopefully, we'll have our new blog soon. I'll still maintain this one, of course.

***************

Speaking of team work, how 'bout my San Antonio Spurs? Best record in the NBA. Everyone's healthy. Everyone's doing their part. I can smell another trophy!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T23:36:00.000+08:00

Before the clock to strikes twelve, I'd like to greet everyone a Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

LETS ALL HAVE A GOOD ONE!

CHEERS!!!

p.s. Happy Birthday to my brother Ian too :)

vrooom

2010-10-27T18:04:00.005+08:00

How many months has it been since I last blogged? Too long to even remember.

Anyway, a lot of things have happened in the last few months. The MAJOR MAJOR one was when Jan and I decided to purchase our very first car. Buying a car was something that always took a back seat. It wasn't really our priority. We just bought our house almost two years ago and we dind't want to add another expense to our rather large financial obligation (monthly ammortization + 20% downpayment ammortization). But when things started to settling down and seemingly falling into place, we decided that now's the right time to do it.

One of the reasons why we decided to buy a car is becasue of our kids. We live in Novaliches and most of the time, commuting with the kids would be such a hassle. With all of the stuff we had to bring, not to mention the time spent waiting for a cab, plus the ridiculously high cab fare! Imagine, we spend P500 on cab fare just to go to Pasay or Makati from our house!

In the beginning, we wanted to buy a nice second hand car that would fit our budget. We pegged it at around P350-400k. I had car loan options at work with good interset rates. We bought Carfinder and Buy and Sell magazines every week so we can find good deals. The problem was, both of us didn't anything about cars. We both didn't drive and we never had interest in cars.

It was a good thing that my cousin Nainah and her husband Jerry lived near by. Both of them helped us out in checking out the cars. We would spend every weekend just test driving the second hand cars that fit our requirement: low milage, fuel efficient and has four wheels.

We . . . uh . . . Jerry test drived most of the cars we saw (2 or 3 Toyota Vios), while my former officemate Willy test drove a Mitsubishi Lancer. It's really very physically and emotionally tiring to look for a car that you'd want to own. There was a time when we were supposed to buy the a Vios, but when we were about to pay the downpayment, someone else beat us to the punch. We were supposed to get the Lancer but there were some errors on the car's papers.

That's when my wife suggested that we should just buy a brand new car. The idea wasn't really far fetched. It would be bettter for us to buy a new car rather than a second hand one because we both dind't know anything about cars. If the second hand car breaks down for whatever reason, we wouldn't know what to do. Less hassle. But more expensive.

Her officemates applied for car loans at BDO and I think most of them got approved. Since she's from GMA, she was so sure that we could get a loan. We were really gung-ho about it. A few computations here and there, looking for ways to maximize both our incomes. Praying that we make the right decision and for the loan to be approved.

And we did get approved. Now all we had to was choose the car that we want to buy. Oh, and we had to learn how to drive too.

We had two choices: Toyota Vios and the Honda City.

The City was Jan's choice while I wanted the Vios since its one of the more durable cars in the market. The first time I rode in the City at Honda QC, I realized that it was more spacious than the Vios, which was important for me since I have long legs. Price wise, it was ok. We took the manual variant since I wanted to really learn how to drive (Though now, I think we should have gotten the automatic because of the traffic in Edsa).

Nice look. Big trunk. All the space you need. Fuel efficient. Honda City it is. We didn't bother to look a the Vios in Toyota's showroom since we ride a cab everyday and most cabs are Vioses.

Both of us took driving class (another story to write about) and by the time our car arrived, we both knew how to drive.

Sophie and Sam loved our new car. They would always want to go around the subdivision in it. Sophie wouldn't even want to ride in her Lolo's old Corona because she said ours is "mas- maganda. Pangit car ni Lolo!". She used to like to go around with her Lolo with in the car. Now she wouldn't even touch it! Hahaha

We're just thankful that we have our own car now. We were hoping that our companies would give us one (wink, wink mga boss!) but since we really needed one . . .

We're just so greatful that we could afford one. Konting tipid lang . . . for five years, but with the convinience that we're experiencing now, I think its worth it.

Thank you Lord for this blessing!

:)

www.thepakarazzi.blogspot.com

Panahon

2010-06-01T09:48:00.000+08:00

Hunyo na. Ang bilis. Parang kahapon lang e nagaayos kami ng mga gamit para lumipat ng bahay. Parang kahapon lang e birthday ni Sophie. Parang kahapon lang ay gumagapang pa lang si Sam. Ang bilis talaga ng panahon. Minsan, pakiramdam ko ay baka ako maiwan.

Minsan, marami pa kaming gustong gawin pero hindi kami makahanap ng oras. Siguro, maganda na rin na maaga ako gumigising ngayon. Maaga rin gumising si Sam kaya may oras kaming mag laro sa umaga. Si Sophie naman, medy tanghali na gumigising kaya madalas, sa gabi nakami nakakapag-laro . . . kung hindi pa sya tulog.

Bilang magulang, ayaw kong lumaki ang mga anak na parang biglaan. Bawat minuto ay importante. Bawat oras na kasama namin sila ay mahalaga. Gusto namin na kapag Sabado at Linggo ay magkakasama kami. Kahit sa bahay lang. Kahit hindi kami lumabas. Ang importante, sama-sama.

Kaya minsan, nalulungkot ako pag nakakarining ako ng mga kuwentong, masadong “busy” ang magulang at walang oras sa mga anak. Lalo na siguro nag mga nagtratrabaho sa gabi. Taliwas ang oras sa ordinaryong gising ng mga anak nila. Malamang, hinahanap-hanap ng mga anak ang mga magulang nila na sa sobrang pagod, ay walang magawa kung hindi magpahinga nalang tuwing weekend. Kaya naman noong may mga offer sakin na trabaho na may pasok ang Sabado, hindi matanggap ang mga ito. Ang panahon ay mahalaga. Ang oras para sa mga anak ay mas-importante.

Totoo na minsan, hahanapin mo rin ang panahon para sa sarili mo. Nakakaranas din kami noon. Pero pag mag-isa ka na na paikot-ikot sa mall at makakita ng ga aruan o damit na pang-bata, bigla mong maaalala yung mga anak mo at mag-mamadali ka nang umuwi.

Ang dali pa namang patuwain ang mga anak ko. Isang balot ng biscuit lang para kay Sam at Yakult lang kay Sophie, makikita mo na silang ngumiti at tumawa na parabang naigyan mo sila ng napaka-mahal na laruan. Minsan, sinasabihan ko lang si Sophie na “ikaw baby girl ni Daddy” ay hanggang tenga na ang ngiti nya. Si Sam naman, sa konting laro lang , parang hindi na mauubusan ng tawa.

Hunyo na at lalo pang bibilis ang panahon. Hunyo pa lang pero iniisip ko na na malapit na ang pasko. Naglalakad na si Sam. Sumasabay na sya sa sayaw ni Barney. Mahilig na mag make-up at lipstick si Sophie. Sa isang taon ay magaaral na sya. Kahit na gaano ka-pagod, kahit na minsan ay kapos sa oras, pipilitin naming mag-aswa na sumbay sa panahon.

:-)

www.thepakarazzi.blogspot.com

HOT!

2010-05-27T11:11:00.002+08:00

Its been very HOT lately that me I’m thinking of buying an aircon for our room. There have been time, well, a lot of times that we couldn’t sleep because of the heat. Just yesterday, it was reported that temperatures rose to 38 degrees Celsius. Hotter than the reported temperature in Morocco during the filming of Prince of Persia which was 100 degrees Fahrenheit or 37.7 degrees Celsius.

Looks like its going to rain today, though. But that’s not an assurance that the temperature will go down.

****************

Have you seen the morning show SAPUL on TV5?

I watch it everyday. Its a different kind of morning show, not like Unang Hirit on GMA or Umagang Kay Ganda on ABS. The show’s hosts are Erwin Tulfo, Martin Andanar, Lourd De Veyra and very pretty Shawn Yao.

The show may be a bit raw, but that’s what makes it unique and endearing. Sometimes, Ariel of Totoo TV co-hosts which makes the show more funnier. He once asked Lourd De Veyra: “Lourd, matatanong ko lang no, bakit hindi ka kaya mag pa tatoo ng buhok sa noo?”. He even told one of the Miss Earth winners to “remember my surname, because someday, it might be yours”.

The show is HOT. Especially Shawn Yao, hehehe.

****************

Flip-flops, tsinelas, step-ins, slippers are very HOT this season. It’s so hot that I bought an expensive brand myself. I’ve been resisting to buy those because I find them too expensive. I’ve bought my wife a couple of pairs in the past by never bought one for myself.

But last Saturday, on our way to Los Banos from Tagaytay, we passed by Paseo in Sta. Rosa, and found a depo store. They were giving around 30% discounts on selected items. Thinking that I would never find these discounted prices in Manila, I bought myself a pair. Finally.

I think it also helped that the Merrel sandals that I was wearing that day broke. The straps broke off. On both sandals.

I finally found good reasons to buy a pair. Discount + Broken Sandals.

****************

Sophie and Sam are enjoying the summer. They’ve been to the beach and the swimming pool. They love the water so much that its really hard to take them out. Last Saturday, they were in the pool for the whole day. Because it’s been very HOT for the past weeks, Jan and I thought of buying an inflatable pool for them but there’s always sunlight in our garage form morning till afternoon, and we didn’t have any other place for the pool. I didn’t want to put it in our lawn because of the Bermuda grass. We didn’t want the kids to be exposed to the sun for a long time, even with sun-block.

It’s a good thing the the pool in Los Banos had shaded areas. Even the water there was HOT (of course, the water came from HOT springs).

****************

Enjoy the rest of the week, everyone!

:-)

blog uli!!

2010-05-26T10:48:00.003+08:00

It’s been a loong while since I’ve last blogged. I still visit and read most of the ususal blogs that I visit though. It’s not that I have nothing to blog about. It’s just that, most of the time, I can’t find the time to do it.

Here’s hoping that I find more time . . .

***************

Funny how people are getting into this whole JEJEMON thing. There are JEJEMONS and JEJEBUSTERS. Reminds me of the time when there were METALS and HIPHOPS. I don’t understand why this is a big thing. So what if they text differently? Even the DECS swore that they’ll go after Jejejmons. Wtf??

F DEY R GOING AFTR D JEJEMONS, DEY SHLD GO AFTR PPL HU TXT IN SHRTCT 2!

DB?

Texting in short cut was born because for most people, it could be very tedious to key in the letters of their messages, especially long messages. Some people text the number “0” rather than press their keypad four times for the letter “O” Text messages can only accommodate as certain number of characters (160 w/ space, I think) and if you text more than that, you’ll be sending the message in two parts. Sending one message in two parts could be very expensive.

Php 2 per message? R U CRZY?

And now we have the JEJEMONS an offspring of the short cut text, born out of the necessity to save money on SMS messaging.

Incidentally, rock music, METAL music’s father, came from blues, the music of the African slaves in America during the 1800’s. Blues became rock and roll, jazz and R&B, and somewhere along the way, it became HIPHOP.

Hindi kaya ang Jejemon ang bagong Jeproks? Ok sa alright, erap! Moni oyat! Jejejeje!

OA naman yang DECS. All out war against the Jejemons, they say? Why don’t they wage war against teachers who can’t speak English very well? I mean, how do they expect students to learn English if their teachers cant’ even speak it properly? And I'm not talking about accents here.

Grammar. Grammar. Grammar.

No disrespect to the teachers, but its just, even in private schools, there are teachers like that and I think that DECS should do something about it.

WAT DO U THNK?

***************

Election’s over. We have a new President. I still see some people griping over at FB because their candidate didn’t win. I find it funny that some people who gripe didn’t even vote for their candidate because they weren’t registered. Idiots . . .

Our country’s problem won’t be solved by the President alone. We all need to pitch in. Work hard. Be vigilant. Believe that there will be change. Change should come from us. People say that “kung di ka bumoto, wala kang karapatan mag reklamo”, well I say that pwede ako mag reklamo kasi nagbabayad ako ng buwis ko. Nope, I didn’t vote because I now live very, very, very, VERY far from where I was registered and I couldn’t find the time to update my status. But that doesn’t mean I can’t exercise my right as a citizenery, very, very, VERY far from where I was registered and I couldn’t find the time to update my status. But that doesn’t mean I can’t exercise my right as a citizen, di ba?

I think that every productive person in the country should exercises their right to be heard. Ang problema lang, kung sino pa ang di nagbabayad ng buwis, sya pa ang markelamo

Today is Wednesday and I’m writing this at six o’clock in the morning while drinking coffee. In a short while I’ll be getting ready for work. Time flies in my new job. Can’t believe I’ve been here for 5 months already. I was supposed to do my “self evaluation” for my regularization this morning but I decided to blog instead.

I missed this.

:-)

The Bakit List

2010-01-26T12:50:00.003+08:00

3 year olds are notorius for always asking "why". We've been experiencing this with Sophif for the past few months now. Sometimes it can be cute and sometimes it can be annoying. She's been having her "bakit moments" too often now that I hear Jan always teling her: "Sophie, control your why's and bakits!" and to which Sophie would reply: "Why, Mommy?".

One memorable "bakit moment" happend last week as Sophie and I were coming home from the playgound:

Me: "Sophie, 'lam mo ba love kita?"

Sophie: "Opo. Bakit?"

Me: "Anong bakit?"

Sophie: "Bakit love mo ko?"

Me: "E kasi anak kita kaya love kita."

Sophie: "Bakit?"

Me: "E kasi nga baby kita kaya love kita."

Sophie: "Bakit mo ko baby?"

Me: "E kasi nga . . . basta!"

There was also a time that I turned the tables on her.

Me: "Sophie, love mo ba ko?"

Sophie: "Opo"

Me: "Bakit mo ka love?"

Sophie: "E kasi nga love kita"

Me: "Bakit nga?"

Sophie: "E kasi gusto ko, Daddy"

Me: "Bakit?"

Sophie: "Ayaw ko na usap!"

This morning, Sophie and Sam woke up the same time as we did. When we got home last night, both kids were asleep so I asked Sophie to give me a kiss. She said:

Sophie: "Bakit kiss Daddy? Kasi early ako sleep kagabi?"

Me: "Opo! Tulog ka na kasi kagabi e. Why did you sleep early?

Sophie: "Hay naku Daddy, sabi ni Sam, 'wag masyadong maraming tanong!"

Hahaha. Jan was half-wake when Sophie said that and she was laughing at us. I turned to Sam and said:

Me: "Sam, did you say that?"

Sam: "Apapapapaa . . . . aahhhh . . . . dadada . . ."

Me: "Di daw nya sinabi yun, Sophie!"

Two years from now, Sam will have his "bakit moments" and its a good thing that we're being "trained" by Sophie to handle particular situations like this!

:-)

Return of The Pakarazzi

2010-01-14T17:46:00.001+08:00

I’m back! After weeks of being in-active on my blog, I’ve finally found the time to make some updates. I know it’s a bit late but never the less, I’d like to greet everybody a happy new year! I hope this year will be better than last year for all of us.

Man, 2009 was a real roller coaster ride for me, starting on its firs month! A lot happened at home, at work and just about everywhere! Lets backtrack and see what happened to The Pakarazzi the past year:

JANUARY – Just moved in to a rented apartment in Tandang Sora. We had a major adjustment. Our place was far from where our friends and family live and certainly far from our usual hang outs. We had to get used from the new place to both our jobs, but I guess it was easier for Jan because her office is in QC and I worked in Ortigas. We celebrated Sophie’s 2nd birthday at the apartment.

FEBRUARY – I don’t remember much, heheh! But I do recall that there was some issues in the office because part of my department was merged or “integrated” into another department in an attempt to streamline operations and make everything more efficient.

MARCH – Sam was born! We had to extend one more day at the hospital because he had to undergo blue light therapy since he had a case of Jaundice. Thankfully, after one session, we were allowed to go home.

APRIL – Jan was on maternity leave and I had to go to and from work all by myself. You see, Jan and I always go to work and most of the time, go home from work together. No summer outings for us since Sam was just born.

MAY – Nothing special about this month, except that there’s more pressure at work plus more pressure to improve my financial issues. Paying for our new house plus a new baby isn’t exactly an ideal situation for us at the time.

JUNE – AUGUST – Travel months for me. I had to go to Legaspi, Samar, Cebu, Ormoc, Davao, Dapitan and Dipolog for work. I actually enjoyed traveling, but I missed my family terribly. Sadly, my Tita Josie passed away the day after I came home from Dipolog.

SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER – We were preparing for our moving in to our new house. We were in and out of the Camella office almost every week. It was quite tiring, and frustrating. I realized then who not to vote for president hehehe.

NOVEMER – We had to wait for 45 days before we could do anything in the new house and it was the longest 45 days! I couldn’t have anything done (cabinets, landscaping, etc) and we wanted to settle these things before moving in. Frustrating again. I also went to the Adcon which was moved to Subic because Baguio was ravaged by a storm. I was looking forward to going to Baguio. Maybe next year.

DECEMBER – We moved in the new house, which was exciting! Even with most of our savings drained, hehehe, it’s a good feeling to move in a house that you can call your own. I also started in a new job (and I’m actually writing this during our lunch break) which was good also. We had our first Christmas in our new house. I spent most of the weekend supervising internal improvements, which was tiring but highly satisfying.
I’ve never had a year like 2009, with all the ups and downs that happened. But after all that, I’m glad that me and my family had a trifecta last year: new baby, new house and (my) new job.

God really works in mysterious way, don’t you think?

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Moving on . . Moving Forward

2009-12-14T17:48:00.003+08:00

For the last 11 years, I've been working in different companies in the cable TV industry. For 11 years, I've ate, dreamed and breathed cable TV. Six years on three (Home / Sky and CableLink) cable TV providers and one program provider (Viva). It's been exciting. Very exciting actually. The industry was and still is very dynamic. With new technologies coming out and with new programming formats being introduced, there wasn't a dull moment in my 11years. Being in the entertainment industry also makes for good conversation, especially at parties hehe.

Just like any person, I wanted to learn more. Explore the unexplored. Grow as an individual and as a person in my chosen field, which is marketing.

So after 11 years in the industry which includes my 5 year stay at Viva, I decided to move on to an industry that I never imagined myself to be working for. Now I'm going to try out the banking and credit card industry. You might think that I may be a fish out of water in this situation, but I think that in order for one to grow, one must have the courage to explore new things. Most people I know were surprised that I was moving to a different industry, especially in an industry that involves numbers. God knows one of my favorite apps in my celfone is the calculator hehe.

There are a lot of new things to learn. I think I'd really have to work and put in more time study this industry so I can catch-up with my new colleagues. I'm actually looking forward to it, because to me, the industry is very interesting and exciting!

2009 has been a roller coaster ride for me and my family and I'm glad that I'm ending the year on a good note. God has blessed me and my family with a new baby (my son Sam), a own new home (we just transferred a couple of weeks ago) and a new job (me? banking / credit card? God really works in mysterious ways!)

Trifecta.

We truly are very thankful.

One more thing that I'm thankful for is . . . after 11 years, now I can stop "monitoring" and start watching TV. Hehehe!

Have a great week everyone!

:-)

A Month of Firsts

2009-12-11T18:21:00.003+08:00

This December, me and my family will be having a lot of firsts:

- Sam's 1st Christmas - He loves looking at and grabbing the Christmas lights taped to our window. I wonder how he will react when he opens our gift?

- 1st Christmas Celebration in our New (Own) Home - We will be celebrating buena noche and our annual Christmas reunion in our house!

- 1st Garcia - Jugos Christmas Celebration - This is the 1st time that both our sides (Jan and mine) of the family will be celebrating together!

- My 1st Christmas in a New Company - I will be transferring in a new job next week. I'm actually excited!

- My 1st time to work for a different industry - I've been working for the cable tv industry for 11 years and now I'll be transferring to the credit card / banking industry. Now I can finally watch tv without working hehe!

- 1st Christmas without Tita Josie - We will surely miss her. Even when she was sick, she would still cook for us during the holidays.

Happy weekend everyone!

2009-12-10T13:38:00.001+08:00

I just want to greet Jan a Happy 4th Wedding Anniversary! Love 'ya! :)

lilipat na . . .

2009-11-26T19:16:00.003+08:00

Pasesnsya na kung di ako masyadong nakakapag blog. Medyo busy ako, actually, kami ni Jan preparing for our transfer to our new home. Sa totoo lang, medyo masakit sa ulo sya asikasuhin. Dumating na nga sa point na tinananong namin sa sarili namin: "Sino ba kasi ang nagsabi na bumili tayo ng bahay??".

Pero exciting din naman. Sa ngayon, nagpapagawa na kami ng mga cabinets and hopefully by Saturday or Sunday makapag-move in na kami. Hindi biro ang ganitong project. Pati sa karpentero nagkakaproblema kami. Pero ok lang. I'm sure everything will turn out fine. In the following weeks, kung may budget na, baka magpa-garahe na kami and mag pa-landscape (Bermuda grass lang hehe). Medyo mahal din kasi kaya mahirap pagsabayin. Pero ok lang, ganyan talaga pag nagsisimula. Ika nga nila, "Rome wasn't built in one day".

Nag-papack na rin kami ng mga gamit namin. Yung iba nakakahon na. Yung iba inaayos palang. At yung iba, di namin alam kung itatapon na o i-bebenta hehe. Grabe, totoo na lalabas lahat ng basura pag naglipat ng bahay.Ang dami ko na ngang biniling black bags kasi alam ko na marami na rin kaming itatapon. Problema lang, pag nakita ni Sophie yung mga gamit at nagustuhan nya, nilalabas nya ito sa box tapos sasabihin nya: "this is mine!" hehe.

Anyway, I'll post the pics of our new home as soon as we move in.

Na miss ko mag blog. Enjoy the rest of the week!

:-)

survivor fever (kaltok moment)

2009-10-27T12:44:00.002+08:00

Jan and I were bitten by the Survivor bug! We've been watching Survivor Season 2 on GMA 7 for weeks now. Last night, while watching we had this conversation:

Me: Kung kasali tayo dyan, i-vovote out mo ba ko?
Jan: Bakit?
Me: Wala lang.
Jan: Oo.
Me: Bakit?
Jan: E kasi wala kang pakinabang, baka mag tamad tamad ka lang dun! Hehe
Me: I-vovote out din kita.
Jan: Bakit?
Me: E kasi baka pagkalat mo na wala akong pakinabang at tatamad tamad lang ako at kung malaman nila yun, ma-vote out ako! Hehe

After a while . . .

Me: Di nga, vote out mo ko?
Jan: Bakit?
Me: Vo-vote out kita e.
Jan: Bakit?
Me: Para di ka na mahirapan! Hehehe
Jan: Gagu!

After the show . . . .

Me: Di na kita vovote-out
Jan: Bakit?
Me: Para kung tayong dalawa matira, at least kahit sino sa atin ang manalo, satin pa rin yung pera. Hehehe

Sineryoso yung show hehe

:-)

Eto na . . .

2009-10-26T11:47:00.004+08:00

Medyo matagal-tagal na rin akong di nakakapag sulat dito a. Madami na rin ang nangyari. Marami nanamang kuwento. Wala nga lang masyadong oras. Minsan, feeling ko, di ako gaano inspirado mag sulat. Ikaw ba naman, magparang isang malaking routine ang buhay mo. Di ka ba mawalan ng gana? Kung baga, kung araw-araw adobo ulam mo, di ka ba maghahanap ng nilaga?

Alam ko ganito rin ang problem ni misis. Masayado na rin syang babad sa trabaho. Minsan napag-uusapan namin. Minsan, na-mimiss namin ang pag punta sa beach. Madala kami umalis noon, biglaan nalang kami pupunta sa Puerto Galera, pagakatapos gumimick.

Wala lang. Trip lang.

Parang ang hirap na nyang gawin ngayon.

******************

Malapit na mag November. Ilang buwan nakang ay bagong taon na. Maramipang mangyayari. Marami pang kaguluhan, kasiyahan at kung ano ano pa. Sa totoo lang, excited kaming mag-asawa kasi malapit na kami lumipat sa bagong tirahan namin. Inaasikaso na namin ang mga detalye sa pag-lipat tulad ng mga finishing sa bahay, design sa bakod, tubig kureynte, at pati na rin sa pagg-tingin ng mga bagon furniture (tinignin lang hehe) na pwedeng bumagay sa bahay. Excited na rin si Sophie. Si Sam naman ay walang ka-malay-malay hehe.

Siguro, dahil sa sobrang bilis at dami ng mga pangyayari, di ko na alam kung ano ang isusulat ko dito. Isipin ny naman, same time last year, sa Mandaluyong pa kami nakatira at iniisip namin kung pano ang magiging takbo ng buhay namin sa Quezon City. Same time last year, buntis palang si misis ka Sam at pinagpaplanuhan namin ang 2nd bday party ni Sophie (sa January). Same time last year, naghahabol pa rin kami sa quota (at naghahabol pa rin ngayon hehehe).

******************

Nung Friday, napagtripan namin ni esmi na mag dinner sa isang resto na malapit sa opisina nya. Uminom kami ng konti at nakapag kwentuhan ng kung ano-ano, kasama na rin ang kuwentuhan tunkol sa trabaho. Pagkatapos ng dalawang boteng Redhorse (sa akin), isang San Mig Light at Margarita (kay esmi) nag decide na kami umuwi. Hindi dahil sa lasing na kami (di pa masyadong nakalampag yung bahay alak namin), pero dahil sa sarap ng kuwentuhan, di namin naramdaman na 1 am na pala.

Pag-uwi namin, tulog na ang mga bata. Nagising si Sophie sandali pero natulog na rin kasabay namin.

******************

Ano mangyayari same time next year? Sana:

1) Pagod pa rin kami sa trabaho pero mas may oras na kami sa mga sarili namin
2) Pinagppalanuhan na namin ang 4th bday celebration ni Sophie
3) Tumatakbo at nangdadaldal na si Sam
4) May oras na kami mag bakasyon o mag punta sa beach kasama ang mga bubwit
5) Matuloy lahat o karamihan sa mga plano namin para sa pamilya at patuloy kaming maging healthy

Yun lang.

:-)

Traveling and Food

2009-09-18T19:21:00.006+08:00

Traveling is something that I really enjoy. I've been to Cebu, Davao, Bicol and Cagayan De Oro more than once. I've also been to Dipolog, Iligan, Ormoc, Bacolod, Iloilo, Guimaras and Boracay. My wife and I have been in and out Puerto Galera for a good number of years before we got married. My family and I used to go to Baguio every summer and after more than 5 years, we took a vacation there and we'll be going there this coming December.

Jan and I would like to go to at least one vacation spot in the Philippines every year with our kids. We want to show them how beautiful our country is. We want them to experience how it is in other places outside Manila. We want them to learn about their Filipino heritage . . . . and Filipino food.

I always make it a point to eat the local cuisine whenever I travel. Why eat at a fast food joint that's also available in Manila anyway?

Here are some of the things that I've learned about local food from my travels:

1) That Dipolog has the longest boulevard in the country. People hang out there at night, drinking beer and eating TEMPURA as appetizer. Fish tempura, squid tempura, etc, etc... Also, try their Spanish sardines . . . masarap!

2) Ormoc, which is about an hour away from Cebu by ferry, has some of the most sweetest pineapples that I've ever tasted.

3) Davao is littered with eat all you can buffets and you'll only be spending P99 - P150 / head. Sulit talaga!

4) While Cebu is known for its danggit and lechon cebu, one of the best ribs that I've tasted is in Casa Verde (there's a new branch at the Ayala Mall Cebu).

5) I love the pastel in Cagayan De Oro, where the music scene is very much alive..

6) You haven't tasted chicken inasal until you've had one in Bacolod.

7) In Ormoc, there's a line of lechon vendors at the wet market and they'll give you a free taste of their "lechon balat". I swear, the next time I'll got there, I'll taste every one of those freebies while munching on a cup of rice hehe. By the way, they don't use lechon sauce in there (just like in most provinces down south), just plain vinegar or vinegar with soy sauce as sawsawan.

8) They make Durian pie in Iligan. I tasted it once. I think I like the candy better (sorry Durian lovers). I heard that the kasoy there is good, though I didn't have the chance to buy some.

9) In Bicol, Laing is different from Pinangat. I like them both, though (not the spicy kind).

10) Aside from buying piyaya, never leave Iloilo without tasting their La Paz Batchoy. NEVER.

Parang nagutom yata ako. Have a nice long weekend everyone!

:-)

Picture, Picture!

2009-09-17T19:59:00.001+08:00

Anong ginagawa namin sa bahay pag wala kaming magawa?

PICTURE, PICTURE!

:-)

wifey's blog

2009-09-15T11:23:00.002+08:00

Jan's new blog. You might want to check it out.

http://janakidiary.blogspot.com/

:-)

Hmmmm . . .

2009-09-10T11:29:00.006+08:00

Sometimes you just have to sit back and just watch as events go by. Sometimes, you just have to know when to let go. Its funny how things turn out and there are times, the unexpected happens. It happens a lot. There are times when things are looking up and then some crazy thing happen and all you can say is "oh, hell no!".

For a good number of weeks now, I've found myself in a crossroad. Its not easy to decide which road to take, especially if you have people who are with you on the journey. But there will come a point when I have to choose a road, and I fear that that point is coming soon.

I understand that in everything we do, there will surely be hits and misses. I mean, you can't hit a home run every time your on the batting plate. I think the key to all of this is managing expectations. Being prepared, having a plan, and knowing that the plan may not work as well as I want it to.

Oh my, I think I'm talking in circles. . . .

Oh well . . .

:-)

What I've learned . . .

2009-08-26T00:23:00.008+08:00

Here are ten things that I've learned or re-learned in the past few weeks:

I learned that (top ten a' la David Letterman):

10) I should never underestimate 2 year old kids. They're smarter than I think!

9) I should never get in between my wife and her FARMTOWN while she's harvesting her sunflowers and tomatoes.

8) It's hard to quit smoking, especially when I don't want to!

7) The after-six diet doesn't mean that you can eat "after-six". . . (so that's why it wasn't working).

6) When riding the MRT . . . I should always remember what our basketball coach used to shout at me: "box-out! box-out! P%*#$% I@# mo!"

5) It's okay to ask for help once in a while . . . its part of being human.

4) No matter how hard I try to understand them . . . idiots will always be idiots. And, NO, Advil will not take away the headache that I'll get from talking to them, though I suppose it might prevent my nose from bleeding.

3) Yes. Some people really do take advantage and underestimates of you.

2) Too much stress can lead to . . . constipation!

1) I should never drink Starbucks venti brewed coffee, or any kind of coffee for that matter, past 4pm . . . so I won't stay awake, surfing the net and thinking of what to blog about . . . at 1:00am...

:-)

Pakarazzi Express #5

2009-08-12T11:19:00.007+08:00

Okay, so I haven't been blogging in a while. Truth of the matter is, I've been busy for the past few weeks. I've been visiting most of my blog friends though. Thanks for all the tags that I got. I'll try to squeeze them in in the next few days.

Anyways, a lot of things happened in the past few weeks: President Aquino passed away, The Marcoses and the Aquinos were recorded on video together for the 1st time in decades (hmm . . . I have to check if hell froze over), this issue about Willie Revillame (again), the Philippine Basketball Team's inconsistent performance (they are consistent at being inconsistent), Sophie's first wedding march as the little bride, Sam's Baptism and, uh . . . many more! Haha!

********************

A blanket of sadness covered our nation last August 1 when the beloved former President Cory Aquino passed away. In fairness to her, despite her shortcomings as President and the numerous coup' attempts that plagued her administration, she was the only President not accused of graft and corruption. She was never power hungry and she was a true ambassador of peace and reconciliation.

Farewell Tita Cory! Its just unfortunate that some politicians used her death for their own political agendas. I'm truly disgusted! Now I know who not to vote for . . .

********************

On the same day Tita Cory passed away, my cousin Nainah got married to her boyfriend Jerry. The ceremony was held at San Augustin Church in Intramuros. Sophie was part of the entourage as the little bride. She did her part perfectly, walking down the aisle without any hitches . . . except she'd rather be a flower girl because she wanted to scatter flowers on the floor. She tried to scatter the flowers on her bouquet but, of course, she couldn't get the flowers off the bundle.

I was teary eyed when I saw her wearing her gown, which was an exact replica of my cousin's. Jan was laughing at me because of that . . . as usual.

********************

I heard in the news or read somewhere that Imelda Marcos was quoted saying that when the Marcoses and the Aquinos reconcile, good things will happen to the Philippines (or something to that effect).

All I can say is . . . really???

********************

I wouldn't even blog about Willy Revillame's current issues . . .

********************

Three words for Team Pilipinas Basketball: PICK AND ROLL!!

I've never seen any member of the team give good screens. They're all selfishly trigger happy. I'm just wondering why the game analysts, despite the inconsistent game of the team, keeps on saying positive things about the team.

I'd rather hear them calling a spade, a spade!

********************

Sam was christened a few weeks ago. It was a simple ceremony. Now we can bring Sam to the mall!! Hehe!

Seriously, welcome to the catholic world Sam!!

********************

Kaltok Moment:

Jan and I saw a girl with long legs wearing short shorts at the mall.

Jan : "Bakit kaya hindi ako binigyan ng Diyos ng ganyang legs para makapag shorts din ako?"

Bam : "Alam mo, may rason ang Diyos sa lahat ng mga bagay. Tignan mo, kung hindi ako tumaba at lumaki ng
ganito, malamang problema mo ko dahil malamamang marami akong chicks!"

Jan : "Sus!"

Bam : " At kung binigyan ka ng Diyos ng ganyang legs, e malamang taon-taon kita nabubuntis!"

Jan : "Sira ulo!"

Haha joke lang!!

**************************

Enjoy the rest of the week everyone!

:-)

Go Spurs!

2009-07-22T18:48:00.004+08:00

I was ecstatic when I read on the internet a few weeks ago that the San Antonio Spurs got Richard Jefferson (the NJ Nets' 2nd all-time leading scorer who was traded to the Bucks) from the Milwaukee Bucks by trading Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Fabracio Oberto. While I was sad to see these players go because they were a good part of the Spurs' system, I was glad that they made that move because, as everyone knows, they're the oldest team in the NBA. They also signed Antonio McDyess (I remember some kids in our subdivision calling him MacJESS),one of the more consistent players in the league who was also an All-Star.

Richard Jefferson

Antonio McDyess

To top it all off, the Spurs had a draft-day steal, when they drafted DeJuan Blair (a monster of a player that was projected to be drafted in the first-round) in the second round of the draft. Teams passed up on him because of a knee injury he had when he was in High School. He said that his old injury never bothered him during his college career and hopefully, that old injury doesn't bother him during his pro career.

DeJuan Blair

The line-up looks very promising and deep to me. Obviously, the Spurs made these moves to maximize the Tim Duncan era. He's already 33 years old and he'd probably have 2-3 more good years left. With Ginobili healthy and part of the line-up, the Spurs are sure to become the top contenders for this season's championship!

:)

thankful

2009-07-14T10:53:00.004+08:00

Being stuck here at home for the last few days because of my dental surgery, made me realize that I should be thankful for a lot of things:

I'm thankful for my wife who has always been by my side for all the good times and the bad times. I've heard of some couples separating because of years and years of misunderstandings. While we have our share of misunderstandings and fights, I'm very happy to say that we always pull through. Someone once described our being a couple as being like a team. We've been like that since the beginning of our relationship, and I know we'll be like that until the end.

I'm thankful for my kids. I've been spending some time with them here at home and I've got to say that my kids, who most of the time drive me insane, are the ones who help keep my sanity intact. With all the stress and problems that I encounter on a daily basis, sometimes I feel that I'll have a meltdown. But looking at my kids, seeing them smile, makes everything better.

I'm thankful for my all my family. They've always been here for me. We support each other. We give each other advices and we always want the best for every member of the family.

I'm thankful for my friends. While I don't see my friends as much as I want to anymore, its good to know that they're only a text, ym chat or call away.

I'm thankful for all the blessings that we received. Life is hard and getting harder for all of us but God always finds a way to help us out.

impacted impakto

2009-07-08T20:27:00.005+08:00

It's happening again. Last year, due to the nagging pain that I felt for almost a month, I had my right impacted wisdom tooth removed. Even with the anesthesia, it was still painful. I couldn't talk for at least two days and I couldn't eat anything solid. It was torture.

Starting last week, I felt the same pain my left side where my other impacted wisdom tooth is. Its like having de ja vu. I couldn't sleep at night because of the pain, I couldn't eat, I have lots of mefenamic acid in my pocket and now, as recommended by my dentist, I'm taking amoxicillin.

I may have it removed this coming Saturday, and while I'm looking forward to finally having it removed to end the pain, I'm not looking forward to the process of taking it out. Having it removed is heavy on the pockets too.

Toothaches are always hard to deal with. Those of you who've experienced what I'm experiencing could attest to that. Its hard to think, move and do things that you normally do.

I'm even amazed that I could type right now.

Ouch.

:(

home

2009-07-02T18:30:00.005+08:00

Is it just me? Or is life really getting more stressful nowadays. I mean I can handle stress but these days, I feel it more than the past few weeks. Its a good thing that I have my family to come home to every night. I see Sam and Sophie everytime I go home and all my stress seem to disappear . . . for a few hours.

Sam's three months old now. He can hold his hed upright and enjoys "talking" to us. He smiles, laughs and make baby sounds whenever he sees us. He's very healthy now, so healthy that his baby clothes don't fit anymore.

Sophie is as hyper as ever. She plays with Sam and loves the idea of being an ate. Sometimes I make her stand in a corner whenever (as in every night) she becomes sooo hyper that she doesn't listen to anything we say to her. Then after awhile she'd calm down and transform into a sweet litle girl again haha!

Its because of this, that I want to come home as early as possible every night after work. Imagine how homesick I was when I went out of town for work. Being out for 3-4 days in a week really took its toll on me. I missed Jan, Sophie and Sam terribly.

Now I'm back home and I glad that I am. I won't be having trips for the next few months.

I'm glad I'm home.

:)

Thank You Tita Josie

2009-06-19T17:30:00.006+08:00

Yesterday, I attended the burial of Tita Josie, my mom's sister and our family's "Mother Hen". Not having a family of her own, Tita was always there for all her nephews and nieces. Espicially us, me, my brother Ian, cousins Nainah and Mel, who were the first batch of pamangkins.

I'll always remember her for being a "Taray Queen" (she would even make Maricel Soriano blush)who was always there for us no matter what. As kids, we were always bugging her (calling her in the office) to buy us (the four of us) new toys and she'd always say "puñeta kayo, pabili kayo ng pabili" but when she comes home, she'll aways have the toys that we asked her to buy.

As we were growing up, she became more of a mother to all of us. She was the one who always cooked during special occasions, the one with the coolest and most thoughtful gifts, the one who helped us whatever way she can, even typing our school projects. She was someone you could count on to be there no matter what.

I know it sounds as if she's the type who'd spoil us, but she'd put us in our place whenever we do something wrong. I learned a lot from her, including how to love my work and how to work hard. During high-school, she took me in for a summer job program for students in Dutch Boy Phils (where she worked and finally retired from). She didn't give me any special treatment. She would even say that I should look for something to do even whenever I have some idle moments.

When I stayed in my lola's house in Makati where she lived, I always counted on her to open the gate whenever I come home very late. When she retired and had more time in her hands, she'd do the laundry (even mine), prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner and whatever chore that was needed to be done.

She would text us weather reports whenever we travel, call us to check if we got home safely and she even texts us lotto results.

Almost two years ago, we found out that she had cancer. Stage 4 cancer that already spread out in most of her organs. She never told us that she was in pain or was feeling bad or weird so when the we found out, we were really shocked. I think she already knew she was sick, but never told us so we won't worry about her.

After the operation, her condition became worse and we all saw it. From a figure of a healthy, athletic woman who played tennis and bowling, her body was quite literally reduced to skin and bones in a matter of months. Sometimes I didn't want to go to my lola's house in Makati because I didn't want to see her like that. Whenever we were there, she'd still be her usual self but physically, we could see that she was getting weaker and weaker.

Last Sunday morning, I got a text from my brother Simon that Tita passed away. When I read his text, all I could say was "oh, shit!". After making several calls, I broke down in the arms of my wife. I couldn't help myself. It's hard to lose someone so close. Someone who was always there for me. Someone I loved for as long as I can remember.

I was in her wake daily as was most of our family. We finally laid her to her final resting place yesterday. And as I saw her coffin slowly being laid down, I couldn't help but remember all the times that we spent. All the things that she did for us. All the lessons that I learned from her. And as I threw the white flower on her grave, all I could say to her was: Thank You.

People say that it will all sink in after the funeral. It's true. Before going back home, I ate dinner at my Lola's house and I sat at the kabisera where I usually sit. I looked to my left where my Tita's bed was located and for the first time, I didn't see her there. Only then did everything sink in. At that moment, I realized that she was no longer there for us.

With everything she's done for us and for all her friends, I'm sure she's with God now.

We all love you, Tita. Thank you for everything.

byahero daw

2009-06-01T19:59:00.004+08:00

Medyo naging busy ako the past two weeks. I've been to Naga two weeks ago and Tacloban, Ormoc and Cebu just last week. This week I'm going to Davao and kung matutuloy, Dipolog naman next week (pero Garet, talo pa rin ng Paris trip nyo yung mga byahe ko, hehe). Kaya wala rin ako masyadong time mag blog kasi medyo jam-packed ang sched namin with meetings and client presentations. Exciting din pero nakakapagod.

I've been away for 3-4 days a week. Pag-uwi ko last last Saturday from Cebu, nagulat ako. Parang masa lumaki si Sam. Ang tawag ko sa kanya ay "Tabaching". A month ago sobrang payat nya and we even had to put him in phototherapy because sobra syang madilaw. Now he looks healthy and I pray na magtuloy-tuloy lang.

By the way, two months old na si Sam yesterday. Happy Birthday Sam!

Si Sophie naman sobrang kulit. Parang mas-makulit sya everytime na pag-uwi ko. Pero ok lang, sya yung laging sumasalubong sakin with matching kiss and hug!

Iba pag nasa byahe. Nakakamiss sa family. Nagpapa-MMS ako kay Jan nang pics nila. Lalo ko sila nami-miss. Kaya tuwang-tuwa ako pag uwi ko!

Ang dami kong kuwento na ipo-post ko dito pag may time. Medyo toxic lang ng konti pag balik o ng opisina.

Na-miss ko rin mag blog! hehe

:)

Time-out

2009-05-18T20:22:00.003+08:00

It's been very busy for me at work lately. Ever since I got back from my paternity leave, my office life has been jam-packed that sometimes, I don't even know where to begin. I can honestly say that there are times when I just say "Arghh! I don't need this $^*%!" but then again, I love the pressure, and I enjoy what I'm doing. Yes, workaholics anonymous kicked me out again hehehe.

I also can't deny that I look forward to going home every night. There are times that I go home earlier than usual so I can see Sophie, Sam and Jan, who's still on her maternity leave. Sam's a morning sleeper so he keeps us awake every night. Kudos to Jan for being patient enough to feed him every time he needs to feed. I try my best to wake up (honestly!), but most of the time I go home tired from work that I find myself half awake and still dizzy while trying to mix his milk.

Sophie's a wonderful "ate" now. She loves seeing Sam smile and laugh and she does everything she could to solicit her brother's smile. I even think that Sam knows her already. Whenever Sam smiles, Sophie's high-pitched laugh will surely follow.

Pressure? Bring it on. I'm doing this for them.

I just took a short break. Now . . . I'm going back to work.

:)

ayos na ang problema . . . sana

2009-05-09T22:52:00.011+08:00

Salamat at nagbalik ka na. Alam kong medyo matagal ka nang may probema. Noong una ay hindi ko alam kung papaano nangyari ang problemang ito. Umuwi lang ako nang isang gabi at nikita kitang parnag bumbilya na humihina na ang ilaw. Nagulat ako. Pero di ko ito masyadong pinansin. Alam ko na sa tagal ng pinagsamahan natin, malalampasan mo it.

Marami-rami na rin naman tayong pinagdaanan. Ilang taon na rin ako natawa at naiyak na ikaw ang kasama ko. Ilang beses na rin akong nakaramdam ng galit at minsan naman ay takot nang dahil sa iyo. Madalas, pag kasama kita, para mo akong nililipad sa ibang mundo. Pag magkasama tayo, nawawala ang pagod ko at nakakalimutan ko ang mga problema ko.

Hindi ko pinansin ang mga nangyayari sa'yo. Hanggang sa isang gabi ay bigla kang nawala. Di ko alam kng ano ang gagawin ko. Pinilit ko na makita kita pero wala ring nangari. Pakiramdam ko ay wala nang pagasa.

Ilang araw ang lumipas, at ganito pa rin ang sitwasyon. Sa simula ay andyan ka pero unti-unti kang nawawala. At habang tumatagal, lalo ring tumatagal ang iyong pagkawala. Tila ba pabigat nang pabigat ang iyong mga problema. May mga pagkakataon na napagbuhatan kita ng kamay dahil hindi ko na mapigilan ang sarili ko. Pasensya ka na. Kaya ko lang naman nagawa ito e dahil sa hindi ko alam kung anong problema mo.

Nahihirapan ako matulog sa gabi. Naririnig kita pero di kita makita. Di ako sanay na matulog nang wala ka. Ilang beses ko na ring naisip na palitan ka, dahil hindi mo na nabibigay yung mga pangangailangan ko, pero dahil sa matagal na tayong magkasama, parang hindi ko ito magawa. Sa aking puso ay alam kong may pagasa pa.

Kaninang umaga ay nagising ako na may kakaibang sigla. Naisip ko na ito na ang panahon para maayos ang lahat. Pumunta tayo sa isang lugar kung saan inaalagaan at inaayos ang mga katulad mo na may problema. Sa kabutihang palad, naging maganda ang desisyon ko na pumunta tayo dun. Binuksan ka at nakita nilinis ang lahat ng dumi at alikabok na naipon sa loob mo nang ilang taon. Ilang minuto lang ay nalaman na kung anong problema na dinadala mo...

Hininang lang yung mother board mo at medyo maluwang na raw yung mga connections. Kaya pala pag nanonood ako ay dumidilim bigla yung screen. Buti nalang hindi ung picture tube kung hindi e wala ka nang pagasa.

Hindi talaga ako sanay na matulog na walang TV. Kahit noon pa ay nanonood ako ako matulog. Buti nalang malapit lang yun shop na paayusan dito sa bahay. Natawa yung nagaayos nung sinabi ko minsan pinupupok kita para lumabas uli yung picture. Wala pang isang oras ay ayos na. Inabutan ko pa yung 4th qtr nang basketball game na pinapanood ko dun sa isang TV bago ako umalis.

Ang tindi rin ng lumang TV ko. Di sya branded pero 9 years na rin sya sakin. Ngayon lang sya nagkaroon ng sira.

2 months warranty.

Ayos no?

:)

One year na pala itong site ko . . . .

2009-05-08T12:07:00.003+08:00

. . . last month. Sa sobrang dami nga mga inaasikaso ko lately, di ko namalayan na Isang taon na pala ako ng nang-gugulo sa blogsphere. April 15 yung una kong post. Biruin nyo, nakaisang taon din ako? Salamat sa inyong lahat sa patuloy na pagbabasa nga blog ko. Sana naman ay naaliw ko kayo kahit papaano. Pagpasensyahan nyo na ko kung medyo matumal ako mag blog ngayon. Medyo busy-busyhan ng konti. Pero kahit na di ako nakakasulat, binabasa ko naman yung mga blog ninyo pag may oras.

Salamat ng marami uli! Sana hindi kayo mag-sawa.

:)

pakarazzi express # 5

2009-05-06T12:12:00.005+08:00

I like this song by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat. So simple and yet so sweet. And yes, I do feel "lucky". Hope you guys enjoy the song as well.

Lucky - Jason Mraz featuring Colbie Calliat

**********************

Everyone's raving about Manny Pacquiao's win over Ricky Hatton. Who would've known that the the match will end in two rounds? But not everyone's excited about the political party he's creating for his candidacy next election. Wtf? I think if he really wants to help, he can do things for less fortunate people without entering politics.

Everyone wants to enter politics . . . sheesh . . .

**********************

Another thing that's wasting valuable airtime on TV is the Martin Nieverra issue about his version of "Lupang Hinirang" during the Pacquiao - Hatton fight. I don't know what the big deal is. Different versions have be sung during past fights and nothing ever happened to those singers. No one was fined or in-prisoned. So why are these politicians ranting now?

Malapit na kasi ang election, that's why.

**********************

Because of the economic crisis (and the recent birth of Sam hehe) I've decided to bring baon for lunch everyday. I usually eat out during lunch time but in order to save some bucks, I've decided to bring lunch to the office every day. Saves me at least P150 everyday. Not bad, huh? Buti nalang masarap magluto asawa ko, hehehe!

Enjoy the rest of the week everyone!

shorty lang

2009-04-30T19:03:00.003+08:00

Long weekend nanaman. I always look forward to long weekends because I really want to spend time with my family. Sophie's at that "terrible 2" stage already and there are times that I have to put her in a corner for her "time out". I didn't know that little girls can be so rowdy! But I also enjoy her antics. There are times when I cant decide whether to put her in a corner or just laugh at her kakulitan. But of course, I would like her to grow up to be brat so most of the time, she finds her self in a corner.

We've nothing planned for tomorrow and since its been raining and will continue to rain in the next few days, I'd rather spend my time at home. Maybe I'll watch some dvds since there's nothing good to watch on BTV (Spurs got ousted from the playoffs by the Mavs). Besides, Jan and I are planning to watch the X-Men movie this Saturday, after we attend the christening of my friend's daughter. I'm so excited to see the movie on the big screen.

Sam's one month old today so I asked Jan to buy a cake to celebrate the occasion. Man . . . has it been a month already? Time really flies. Next thing I'll know, he'll be crawling, then walking, then running around, the house!

Enjoy your looong weekend boys and girls!

:)

Spurs lost . . .

2009-04-29T15:04:00.002+08:00

Spurs lost the 1st round of the playoffs for the first time. So much for my fearless forecast. Anyway, looking forward to next season.

Haay . . .

Under Pressure

2009-04-28T17:52:00.002+08:00

Yun lang!

:)

rants and raves

2009-04-21T17:32:00.004+08:00

Just saw in the news that Prudential Life can no longer sell their pre-need plans because of lack of investments or something to that effect. In other words, just like the Legacy Group, they don't have enough resources to support their plan holders. Sheessh. Things are getting bad, especially for parents like us.

I used a CAP (which, by the way, is also in a fiancial bind) when I entered college. It was a good investment. Imagine, I studied for 4 year for just a P6,000 investment? At those days, our tuition fee ranged from P6 - P10k (or more, I think) per semester. Before these things happened to the pre-need industry, Jan and I were actually thinking of buying an educational plan for our kids (or future kids at that time). Now, it seems that getting one is a sure way of losing your money.

What gives? Don't these financial people see that a lot of people's future are in their hands? Now we're thinking of other ways to save-up or invest in Sophie and Sam's college education.

I pity those people who lost money because they invested in these companies.

*************************

On a good note, the Spurs won game 2 versus Dallas today. They lost game by 8 points and they won today by 21 points. Talk about winning with a vengeance. Manu Ginobili is out for the playoffs, which is bad for the team, but I think Duncan, Parker plus the supporting crew can make it to the Western Conference Finals, as long as they focus on their defense and work on their offensive sets.

My fearless forecast in the Spurs - Mavs series: Spurs in 6.

*************************

After experiencing the scorching summer heat this month, rain finally came last Sunday and its still raining today. Its a welcome development for all of us here in Manila. There was this one time when I was on my way home, I passed through a mall and when I went out for a cab, the humidity hit me like a brick wall.

Ironically, Sophie was singing "Rain, rain, go away . . ." since Sunday hehe!

*************************

I've noticed that some politicians are coming out with their TV ads as early as now. Wala lang, hehehe.

*************************

The Wolverine movie is coming out next wee. As an X-Men fan, I'm really looking forward to seeing the movie. There are already pirated dvds out, but I heard that they don't have the ending and you could still see the straps and ropes used by the actors during the stunt. Its interesting how Wolverine became the face of the X-Men all these years. He wasn't an original member of the team. In fact, his first appearance was in a Incredible Hulk comic book. I guess his rough features and personality appealed to a lot of people.

Personally, I like Gambit, Cyclops, Night Crawler and Cannonball (Samuel Guthrie, which is why I like the name Samuel and gave it to our new baby) who were all in the previous movies, although Gambit had a short appearance, and I had to review the credits to confirm that he was actually there.

I saw the poster and I think Cyclops and Gambit will both be in the movie.

Enjoy the rest of the week boys and girls!

:-)

Konting Sacrifice

2009-04-10T01:13:00.003+08:00

Pahinga muna sa internet starting ngayong Friday hanggang Linggo. Ito kasi ang isang bagay na sa ngayon ay kinahihiligan ko. Ito ang aking munting sacrifice para ngayong Holy Week. Di rin ako mag yoyosi hanggang Linggo.

Have a blessed Holy Week mi amigos y amigas! Tandaan natin na mas malaking sacrifice ang ginwawa NYA para sa atin. Sana kahit konti ay makapag sacrifice tayo para sa alala ng ginawa NYA.

:)

Ate Sophie

2009-04-09T08:12:00.003+08:00

Sophie has embraced the idea of having a younger brother. We call her "Ate" now. Just last night when Sam was crying, Sophie said "Tama na Sam . . . tama na . . . ok na, ok na . . ." which cracked me up!

When Sam was still in Jan's womb, we always tell Sophie that there's a baby inside her mommy's tummy. Sometimes she says that there's a baby on my tummy too (kung di ko lang anak yun baka nabatukan ko na hehehe). When Sam was finally born, sabi ko kay Sophie " Sophie, look o . . . si Sam yan." and she replied "Di daddy, baby yan, e . . ." and then I said "Eh nasaan si Sam?" and then she said, with conviction "Nasa-bahay".

We thought that it will be hard for Sophie to accpept that there's another baby in our house. But as soon as we got home, Sophie wanted to carry Sam and play with him. Now she kisses Sam when he's crying, plays with him (she hides whenever Sam looks at her, parang hide and seek sila) and she even wants to be the one who holds his bottle when he's feeding.

When I asked her "Sophie, love mo ba si Sam?" she answers "Opo!".

Jan and I are both relieved that it didn't take long for Sophie to adjust to her new baby brother. She even says "Si Sam Sam, baby ni daddy and Sophie yan!". Ateng-ate na yung baby girl ko!

:-)

Sam's 1st battle

2009-04-06T01:30:00.006+08:00

We went home from the hospital last Saturday afternoon, bringing home Sam from the first time. Sophie, who was already home greeted us with her welcome shout "MOMMY!!! DADDY!!!". Finally, we're home.

But for a brief moment during the day, I thought that we had to extend our time at Madocs for another day... again.

You see, we were supposed to go home last Friday morning. We were already packed and ready to go when our Pediatrician told us that she wants to do some tests on Sam before she can clear us to go home. Sam was kinda yellowish, more yellowish than when Sophie was born. We waited for the test results and I was actually bracing myself for some bad news.

The results came out and Sam was diagnosed with jaundice. We were told that he had to undergo phototherapy, wherein he will be placed under a special light for 24-hours. We had two options: we leave Sam at the nursery or in our room. We opted to have Sam in our room. We wanted to take care of him ourselves.

After a few minutes, the machine with the special light was brought in and was placed beside Sam's crib. Sam was undressed by the nurse, leaving only his diaper because his whole body must be exposed to the light. His eyes were covered with an elastic band to keep them safe from the prolonged light exposure.

And so began Sam's 1st battle.

It was hard for us seeing Sam inside his crib under the blue light. He kept removing the elastic band in his eyes maybe because he feels uncomfortable with it on. We place it back on as soon as he removes it. I was actually glad every time he removes the cover on his eyes because for me, that's a good sign that my son is strong and that gave me hope that he'll come out of this battle as the winner.

Since Sam had to have his whole body lighted, we had to turn him and even laid him on his back from time to time. We had to watch over him all the time because he removes the cover on his eyes whenever he's awake. We had to watch over him the whole time that he's exposed to phototherapy. That means we had to watch him for 24-hours straight.

In the afternoon, I took my mother-in-law and Sophie to our home because they can't spend the night in the hospital. We were supposed to go home together but because Sam had to stay, i had to take them home and go back to the hospital for Jan and Sam.

When I got back, the room was a bit warm because we can't lower the temperature of the air conditioner because Sam might get cold. At one point, Jan was in tears because she felt that Sam was having a hard time. I told her that our son was strong and he'll be fine.

I was awake 'til 5 am. Jan slept at around 2am. I woke her up when I felt I couldn't stay awake anymore. I didn't want to doze off at the risk of Sam taking off his elastic band from his eyes again. Anyway, Jan said that I should wake her up at 5am because the nurses will take another blood sample of Sam's for another test.

I woke up around 7am and Jan already had her breakfast. I bought my breakfast and went back to the room. As we were waiting for the test results, we noticed that Sam's yellowness subsided a notch and we felt that everything was going to be ok. Our doctor noticed it too which gave us more reason to feel good.

Feeling anxious about the result, I went to the nurse's station to ask if there was a test result already. She said there was and informed us that with the results, she thinks that Sam should stay for one more day.

My heart almost fell. I told Jan and she didn't know how to react at first. I told her that we should wait for the official results. I texted our doctor and asked her if there's news already. Then I looked up and just thought " Lord naman . . . kawawa naman anak ko . . ." then I prayed shortly.

After 20 minutes, I got a call form our OB-GYN and she gave me some instructions for our Philhealth discount. I asked her if she has news about Sam , she said our pedia just texted her the Sam can go home. I asked her what time she texted and told her that I talked to the nurse about the results 20 minutes ago, and she told me the she just received the text message. A few minutes after that call, our pedia called and informed us that Sam can go home already.

I told Jan the news and we were both relieved. Sam won the battle and now we can going home.

Having a sick child is very difficult for parents emotionally. Seeing Sam on phototherapy was even harder. I thank God that Sam's ok. I pray that everything will go well.

I'm so happy that we're all finally home.

:-)

Welcome to the world, Samuel Gabriel

2009-03-31T11:19:00.004+08:00

Here are some pics of my son, Samuel Gabriel Garcia, who was born about an hour ago. Sobrang excited ako na makita sya na nakalimutan ko na meron palang elevator 'tong hospital na 'to at ginamit ko ang hagdanan papunta sa kabilang wing hehe!

Sobrang excited talaga. Ang gulo pa ng buhok ko! hehe

Thank God for this blessing! Welcome to the family my son!

:)

so excited

2009-03-30T07:10:00.005+08:00

Ang aga ko nagising today. 6 a.m. nakadilat na ko. Usually, kahit puyat na puyat ako, 7 a.m. impunto gising na ko. Bihira ako magising ng ganito kaaga. Isang factor siguro ng pag gising ko ng maagga ay dahil malikot nanaman matulog si Sophie. Yung binili namin na sofa bed ay nasa baba at ginagamig ng sister-in-law ko na natulog dito kagabi kaya katabi ko nanaman ang makulit kong baby girl sa pag-tulog. Isang reason pa siguro ay excited ako.

Excited saan?

Pupunta kami sa hospital today para i-check-in si Jan. Oo. Manganganak na sya. CS sya kaya pwede i-sched. Tomorrow morning sched nya. Yung pinsan ko'ng doctor sa Madocs (Manila Doctors) isang linggo ko kinukulit para kumuha ng room. Hanggang kahapon kinukulit ko sya. Ang parating sagot nya sakin "Masyadong maaga pa magpa-reserve. Anong akala mo sa hospital, hotel?" hehehe. E excited nga ako e. Anyway, this morning daw nya kami kukuha ng room, at sana lang may ma-reserve kaagad.

Excited na kaming lahat. Pati si Sophie. Kini-kiss nya tummy ng mommy nya every now and then.

Bam! : "Sophie, good girl ka ha. Good ate ka sa baby ha?

Sophie: "Opo!"

Bam!: "Sophie, love mo si baby ha?"

Sophie: "Opo!"

Bam!: "Sophie, share your car-car witht the baby ha?"

Sophie: " Ehhh Daaaddyyy . . . kay Sophie yun e!"

Hehehe, nag-react kagad!

:-)

Happy Birthday!!

2009-03-19T18:35:00.003+08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LOVELY WIFEY!!!

LOVE YA!

Late blog

2009-03-17T21:13:00.000+08:00

*** Made this post last week but I never got to publish it. One week late na 'to ***

Its good to be back. Been busy the last couple of weeks which explains my short hiatus from the blogging world. Had some time reading some of the blogs on my list though. For those who tagged me, thanks for the tag and I promise I'll get around to those tags as soon as I find the time.

Work has kept me so occupied that I even had to go to the office last Saturday (March 7) to check on some stuff. Its that time of the year again when the cable industry has its conventions. This year, we'll be having 2 conventions on the same month. You could just imagine how busy our business unit is right now.

Enough about work. . . . .

***************

Last week I received very tragic news. Two of them actually. No, I'm not talking about the death of Francis Magalona, which is very tragic indeed. I like him not only because of his music, but because he's so proud of being a Filipino, that he even had the three stars and the sun tattooed on his back. He will surely be missed by a lot of people. I'll miss seeing him on TV. He's one of the most talented people in showbiz. Our country needs more people like him.

The first news I'm talking about is closer to home. My aunt was confined to the hospital a last March 4. She has cancer and she's been fighting it since 2007. She asked to be confined so I guess she couldn't stand whatever pain she's been feeling. I visited her last Sunday. I actually didn't want to because I didn't want to see her the way my mom and other relatives described her. She was so skinny. I noticed that she was getting skinnier the last time I saw her which was a few weeks ago. But I didn't think that she'd be as skinny as she was last Sunday. My heart sank and I tried not to show it. Her skin was turning yellow because her liver's already affected.

I wanted to take a picture of her in the hospital with Sophie, but I decided not to because I don't want to remember her the way she is now. The inevitable thing will be happening anytime, and I pray that God gives her more time. More time to spend with us, more time so she could see my new son, more time to let her know that we appreciate everything that she did for us.

I'd write more about her, but right now, I find it difficult. No words could ever describe what she is to our family. Just believe me when I say that all of us, my brothers and cousins think that she's the perfect aunt that anyone could have.

********************

The second tragic news that I got was from a text message from a friend. One of our high school friends died this week. He was shot 4 times while riding his motorcycle on his way home. Mark Razo was our Corp Commander back in high school. I was also an officer back then and before we were commissioned as cadet officers, everyone knew that he'd be chosen to be our leader. He was a good guy. Our batch was really tight and I could say that he was a friend and not just a classmate.

We were actually planning a get together last year. I wish we did.

I hope they catch the people who killed him and hang them. Another victim of violence. What a waste.

My condolences to the Razo family. "Cor", we will surely miss you.

Ahmm Baaaaack!!

2009-03-17T14:12:00.002+08:00

Sobrang daming kuwento! Medyo matagal dina akong nawala. At dahil sa pangangalampag ng ibang mga ka-blog na na miss ako (medyo konti lang hehe), heto ako at nagbabalik! Nabasa nyo naman sa mga huling post ko na medyo busy-busyhan ako sa mga panahon na ito. Asamateropak, nasa opisina ako ngayon at nagtratrabaho habang sinusulat ko'to. Sana lang huwag silipin ng HR namin ang gianagawa ko ngayon hehehe!

Hindi magkakasya sa post na ito ang mga kuwento ko, kaya simula ngayon, pipilitin ko na araw-arawin ang pag-aaliw sa sarili ko at sa inyo sa pamamagitan ng blog na ito hehe. Kailangan ko lang mag paalam uli ngayon kasi may deadline ako na hinahabol at ayaw ko na umikot uli ang tumbong ko sa trabaho.

Babalik ako mamaya . . . pramis!

:-)

wala lang . . .

2009-02-26T22:03:00.003+08:00

10pm and I'm still in the office. Buti nalang tapos na ko . . . I mean, bukas naman yung iba hehehe. I can't say I'm looking forward to the weekend, because I'll probably think about work the whole time. Anyway, the good thing about being busy is . . . I think I got my mojo back!

Hope it stays for a while this time or until I check myself in Workaholics Anonymous hehe!

:-)

kaltok moment uli

2009-02-24T11:50:00.004+08:00

Been so busy lately that I didn't have time to blog. Anyway, I still expect the rest of the month as well as next month and the month after that and so on and so forth . . . to be busy as hell. Next month, we'll be having two cable tv conventions, just a week apart from each other. I've always attended these conventions since I started in this industry, and I've been here for more than 10 years. . . . makes me feel so old.

Haay . . .

Anyway . . . I just want to share a "KALTOK MOMENT" with you, that just happened last night:

I was talking to my brother Patrick on the phone about computer stuff. Sophie wanted to know who I was talking to.

Sophie: "Daddy, sinyan? (translation: (Daddy, sino yan?")

Bam!: "Si Tito Pat". Then I handed her the phone "O, talk to Tito Pat . . ."

Sophie was just listening to Pat, who was on speaker phone, and then I said "Say hi to Tito Pat, Sophie."

Sophie: ". . . ."

Bam!: "Sophie, say Tito Pat . . . packer!

Sophie: "pater! Hihihi"

Jan: "Hoy! Anong tinuturo mo sa anak mo?"

Bam!: "Bakit? Packer naman talaga si Patrick diba? Kasi tinulungan nya tayo mag-pack ng gamit nung lumipat tayo ng bahay. At pag lipat natin ng bahay uli, PACKER uli sa Pat, di ba Pat?"

Patrick: "Oo na!"

Bam! (talking to Jan) : " O di ba? At ikaw, kung tutulong ka mag pack pag lipat natin, alam mo ba kung ano tawag sa'yo?"

Jan: "Ewan ko sa'yo!"

Bam!: "Mother packer! Kasi mother ka na! Hehehe"

Hulaan nyo kung nakaltokan ako o hinde . . . hehe!

Enjoy your week boys and girls!!

:-)

Sophie Mia!

2009-02-18T11:53:00.011+08:00

Jan bought a DVD of the movie MAMA MIA starring Merryl Streep (who's still as gorgeous as ever), Pierce Borsnan, Amanda Seyfried (who plays a character named Sophie), and Collin Firth last Saturday. She decided to watch the movie last Monday evening while I was surprising sleepy at 9:00pm and wasn't really interested in watching anything on the boob tube. As I was trying to sleep while hearing the Abba songs in the movie, I was surprised when I saw Sophie dancing to the music!

Here are some vids:

Oh my, my baby is growing up real fast!

:-)

busy-busyhan nanaman

2009-02-12T19:38:00.004+08:00

Its been a busy week for me. Full of meetings and other deadlines, kay medyo di ako nakapag-blog masyado. That and the fact na sira yung internet connection namin for 3 days now. I haven't gotten a single business email today, which worries me because there might be some important messages that I have to attend to. How can a business run without the internet? Its pretty frustrating.

Anyway, tomorrow's Friday the 13th and Valentines will be on Saturday. We really don't celebrate Valentines that much. We usually spend it eating dinner somewhere. This weekend, I've nothing planned yet, although I'm thinking of buying a romantic DVD that Jan and I can watch at home.Saturday will also be my in-law's wedding anniversary so we'll be spending some time there. We're also going to Pag-Ibig fund on Saturday to renew our loan seminar. Going to Pag-Ibig on Valentines day . . . funny. No pun intended, hehe!

I'm not at all spooked about Friday the 13th. Tomorrow will just be a regular busy day. I can't believe that tomorrow's Friday already. Parang kulang kasi yung week na to for me. I'll even have a meeting at 7:30pm. Ganun ka-busy.

I'm actually enjoying it . . . a bit . . . konti lang . . . syet . . . I'm The Pakarazzi, and I'm a workaholic . . .

**********

By the way, we already bought a PLDT Landline Plus Pre-paid sim. What's weird is, I can buy a sim card but I can't buy a phone unit. I told the customer service that I wanted to buy their cordless phone but she said that the phone was only being sold to post-paid subs. Then I said I was going to pay for it in cash, but she said they really don't sell the phone unit to pre-paid customers.

What gives? I don't see the logic why they won't sell me the phone. Gusto ko yung phone kasi para landline talaga yung dating. Delikado kasi pag sa cel nilagay baka ma-misplace or ma-laspag, especially since we're leaving the phone at home for Sophie and her yaya. Baka biglang itapon ni Sophie yun, yari! We placed the sim card in our Ericsson K750i. I'm having our old Nokia 6260 phone repaired and place the sim there.

*********

Haaay . . . Friday na bukas!

:-)

kuwento lang ng konti

2009-02-09T20:36:00.008+08:00

One week to go! Our yaya finally arrived last week and Jan and I decided to give her two weeks "training period" with her mom. I think our new yaya will do ok. I hope so. I pray so. We're scheduled to pick them up on Friday and hopefully, By next week, we can leave Sophie and our new yaya by themselves at home.

We'll be doing precautionary measures like advising our land lady that only Sophie and yaya Jennifer will be home. We're also getting a landline or a wireless landlines so that we'll be at constant communication with them. We can even ask our moms to call them once in a while to check on them.

**********

Speaking of telephones, I went to SM North today to inquire about PLDT's Landline Plus subscription. I actually inquired over the phone this morning and I was informed that I can get a pre-paid unit at the PLDT office in SM North. Imagine my dismay when I got there and the guard told me that they're out the pre-paid sim cards and telephone units so I couldn't apply for one. I also heard that its ver difficult to get this service and people had to wait to get their phones. SUCKS!

I went to Bayantel which also had an office at SM North. There were units available but personally, I was a bit worried about their signal strength. I know some people who had those wireless landline phones that Bayantel launched last year and most of them were not that satisfied.

Still, for purposes of security when it comes to our baby, we should have a phone line at home so anyone from our family can check on them from time to time. I hope we can decide within the week.

**********

We bought Sophie a new bed. Well, a sopha bed that she can use. She's been sleeping between Jan and me every night (when she's here) and its getting harder and harder for me to sleep because she moves a lot (meaning, she kicks me a lot). So we decided to buy her her own bed.

Jan will also use the sopha bed after she gives birth. She'll be having a c-section and it will be difficult for her to go up and down the stairs so she'll have to stay downstairs temporarily until she's strong enough to move about.

8 more weeks to go!

**********

Lets all have a wonderful week ahead!

:-)

can't sleep . . .

2009-02-06T01:06:00.002+08:00

Been surfing the net for a while. Couldn't sleep. I'm listening to soft music while doing this post. Jan is sleeping beside me. She was reading "What to Expect When You're Expecting" a while ago. It's been a long day and its good that she's getting some sleep. I was actually sleepy when I went to the bedroom but somehow, I became wide awake.

Anyway, I'm excited because I'll be picking up Sophie tomorrow err . . . this afternoon. We were supposed to pick her up on Saturday, but since I had a meeting near my in-laws in the afternoon, I can pick her up.

Hooraaay!!

****************

Jan and I saw the movie "Single" starring Ruffa Mae Quinto tonight before going home. It was funny. It was ok. But I realized one thing: watching / hearing Ruffa Mae for more than an hour can be a bit tiring. Don't get me wrong, there were some parts of the movie that made me laugh (I'm a real sucker for pinoy comedy), but I, actually we, felt exhausted after watching the movie. Must be her voice, or the ways she spoke. I don't know. Paolo Contis did well though. He played a gay dude. He was actually funny.

******************

I'm a bit pissed that Facebook was banned from our network last week. Friendster has been banned for the longest time and now, FB is a no-no in our office too. Don't they know that social networking sites are good markeitng tools because you can have instant access to your connections and send them business proposals whenever needed? Where else can you talk business on-line while playing Elvenblood??

Sheeshh . . . some people just don't get it, hehehe :-)

******************

I like this line from the movie Field of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come . . . " the question is . . . do you know how?

Ach! Time to sleep. Been doing too much thinking . . .

:-)

no habla español!

2009-02-02T18:37:00.007+08:00

I can't believe that the bigwigs at Dep Ed and CHED are proposing that Spanish will be added to the school curriculum of selected public schools. While I think the intention is good, I don't think that there is a need to do this as of yet.

Why?

I think there is a need for the government to improve on teaching ENGLISH in public and private schools. English teachers may be quite fluent with the language, (they have to be otherwise they shouldn't teach it right?), but other teachers who teach other subjects, like history or mathematics for example, aren't. Lets not talk about the regional intonations that some teachers have because they grew up in the provinces because to me, its quite understandable. What's very bothersome is, there are some teachers who can't even construct a simple sentence in English.

Its funny how schools implement an "English speaking policy" when there are teachers who can't speak the language correctly. I can't blame these teachers because obviously, they were learning with the same environment as the students in elementary and high-school now.

I think what the government should do is train teachers to speak English in the correct manner first before adding another language to the curriculum. English is spoken in most countries and economically speaking, it will good for our children's to learn the language well, especially if they decide to explore the western world for greener pastures. Call centers are booming right now because we know how to speak in English and I think this skill should be invested upon and improved for more investors to come in.

English can also be used as a tool for Filipinos to communicate, especially in areas where people do not know how to speak Tagalog (of Filipino, out national language, by the way). Yes, sadly there are still some areas where people hardly speak Filipino.

There's also an issue of increasing school tuition fees because of this additional subject. With today's hard times, parents may no longer afford additional subjects for their kids because they simply cannot. This is something that should really be considered and addressed.

And why Spanish? Not that I hate the language because I certainly had a blast when I studied it back in college, but there are other languages that may be useful, especially in terms of commerce, here in our own country. Japanese and Chinese comes to mind. As a country, we do a lot of business with China and Japan and learning Niponggo, Mandarin or Fukien may be better.

Ultimately, because of globalization, it would be better for us to learn another language. But I think that we should put priorities in order before taking on something that isn't really needed as of now. Lets educate our children properly. After all, with good education, they will have a better chance of having a bright future.

:-)

sanayan lang yan

2009-01-29T12:36:00.002+08:00

Tama talaga yung desisyon namin na lumipat na sa QC. Ngayon pa lang e sanay na kami sa bago naming tirahan. Sanay na kami sa lugar. Di na malayo ang tingin ko sa lugar namin. Sanay na kami sa MRT. Sanay na kami sa Trinoma. Sanay na kami sa SM North. Sanay na kami na magpunta sa Makati at Pasay galing sa lugar namin (medyo mahal lang pag taxi hehe). Ang di pa namin nagagawa ay ang mag fx or jeep mula sa lugar namin hanggang Trinoma. Papaano ba naman, para makasakay e dapat tumawid sa overpass. Medyo mahihirapan kasi medyo malaki na tyan ni Jan.

***********************

Nagulat kami kanina kung gaano kamura yung bill namin sa tubig. Doon kasi sa dati naming tinitirhan, around P400-P500 ang binabayaran namin. Yung bill namin ngayon, wala pang P100! Although syempre, di naman kami gumamit ng 1 full month kasi Dec 27 kami lumipat, pero sobrang mura ito considering we use the shower everyday at mayat'maya ang flush sa banyo hehe! Harang talaga dun sa condo! I could get used to this!

***********************

Bukas ay darating daw yung bagong yaya namin. Sana ok sya. Two weeks muna sya sa mga in-laws ko para makita kung ok sya,at para masanay na rin at makilala sya ni Sophie. Mahirap na. Kahit na ok yung yaya pero ayaw sa kanya ni Sophie di rin namin sya maiiwan sa kanya. Sana ok para wala nang problema. Makikita ko na rin si Sophie araw-araw!

:-)

missing sophie

2009-01-26T19:49:00.003+08:00

Haaay . . . Ang hirap talaga. Miss ko nanaman si Sophie. Dun nanaman sya sa mga lola ny this week. Talked to her today and I heard her say "lab you" na buo for the first time. The good news is, baka magkaroon na kami ng yaya by next week. The bad news is, she'll have to stay sa mga lola nya for at least two more weeks para makita kung ok yung yaya.

Sophie calls herself "ate" now. Parang alam na nya na may bago kaming baby na darating. Its good kasi at least at an early age, aware sya na magiging dalawa na sila. Excited na rin ako! I saw Jan's tummy kanina na gumagalaw. Parang inaalon. Makulit yung baby boy namin. Kinikiss din ni Sophie yung tummy ng mommy nya from time to time. Nagulat nga sya one time nung nakita nya gumalaw yugn baby sa tiyan ng mommy nya.

Parati ko sinasabi kay Sophie na "Anak, konting tiis nalang. Malapit ka na magkaroon ng bagong yaya. Dito ka na sa bahay uli matutulog." tuwing hinahatid namin sya sa in-laws ko. Sabi nang mother-in-law ko, madalas daw ako hanapin ni Sophie. "San si daddy?" ang laging tanong. Everytime na sinasabi ko na "Sophie, sleep ka muna kila lola, ha?" ang sagot nya "Ayaw koooo . . . dito lang ako sleep . . . tabi mommy . . .". Kung di ka maluha, ewan ko nalang.

Kagabi, ayaw matulog kasi alam nya na iiwan namin sya. Kaya tinabihan namin sya hanggang makatulog sya. Mahirap. Mahirap talaga.

Thankful na rin ako na may nag-aalaga sa kanya. Sana lang naiintindihan nya na kailangan namin gawin 'to pangsamantala.

Naku, magiging dalawan na babies ko. Baka pag nawalan kami uli nang yaya sa susunod e mapaiyak nalang ako araw-araw pag di ko sila kasama. Madrama? Siguro nga. Pero iba talaga pag parent ka na.

Haay . . .

:-)

a bit tired . . .

2009-01-24T17:55:00.003+08:00

One of the most tiring thing for me these days is bringing Sophie to my in laws and picking her up during the weekend. Don't get me wrong, I always look forward to picking her up, but sometimes I get little tired after work and fetching her from Pasay to Quezon City (Tandang Sora at that!) can sometimes leave me a bit winded.

Oh how I wish we could get a new yaya as soon as possible, so I can come home everyday with and see my baby.

************************

I'm getting used to commuting to and from work everyday from where we live now. Luckily, I can sometimes hitch a ride with office friends who live near our place on after work. The first few days was quite different from the routine that I'm used to. You see, I'm used to taking a cab to and from work because our apartment at the time was near my office building. Now I have to take the MRT because I lived a bit far that if I took a cab to and from work everyday, I'd spend almost P500 just for taxi fare alone.

The first few days were fine. I ride the MRT at the GMA station since Jan takes a cab to work. The train wasn't too crowded. I got off at Shaw station, walk through the Shang Mall and take a cab to work (just P35!). No sweat! But after a week, things changed. The train, suddenly, was always jam packed! I've missed a few train rides either because the train was too packed with people, or because the inconsiderate people inside wouldn't move or make way so that more passengers can come in. I swear, there were times that I have to shove my way through, especially when I see people who wouldn't give way, even when there's a considerable amount of space for more passengers.

I also noticed that people who are waiting at the station immediately try to go in the train as soon as the door opens, not waiting for people inside who are getting off to exit. Whenever this happens on my stop, I shove these people away. If they look at me at a bad way, I'd stare right back at them. Shoving may be rude but they deserve it. I mean, why can't they wait for people to get off so it will be easier for them to get in?

I don't get tired because of the commute, I get tired because of the people I commute with.

Man, I'm one hot headed commuter!

**************************

Jan and I are now thinking of buying our own car, hopefully before the year ends and hopefully, after we have paid off most of our financial commitments, particularly the house that we bought. We really couldn't afford to buy a car right now, but God willing, if everything goes well this year, we may be able to afford it by the last quarter this year.

We really need it because of our new baby on the way and its really difficult to get around, not to mention expensive whenever we take a cab.

Maybe I should cut down on smoking and coffee so I can save a little . . .

Oh . . . I need to learn how to drive before we buy a car! hehehe

***************************

Things are just getting a bit crazy for me at work. I bet that it'll be a lot crazier in the next few weeks. Good thing I'm a bit crazy too!

**************************

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

:-)

all aboard!

2009-01-21T18:49:00.005+08:00

Meron nakapag tanong saakin kung meron akong balak magtrabaho abroad. Actually, matagal nang natatanong ito sakin. Madalas, tanong ito ng mga kaibigan ko na may balak o nag-tratrabaho na sa ibang bansa. Normal na tanong sa ating mga Pinoy ito. Dahil nga naman sa nagyayari sa ating bansa ngayon. Lalong lumalala.

Noong mga unang beses akong natanong nyan, ang sagot ko lagi ay "Wala. Mas gusto ko dito. Tutal, maayos naman ang trabaho ko. Tsaka naniniwala ako na gaganda rin ang lagay nang bansa natin." Idealistic pa ko nun. Ganyan siguro talaga pag bata pa. Naisip ko din na sayang lang naman kung ibang bansa pa makikinabang sakin. Baka puwede pa ko mag contribute kahit papaano. Gusto ko rin naman makarating sa ibang bansa, pero mas gusto ko na bakasyonista lang ako.

Lumipas ang mga taon at nagbago rin ang sagot ko: "Wala, ok pa naman ako dito. Di pa naman ako gutom e.". Sabagay, Maayos naman ang trabaho at nakikita ko naman na yung career path na nakikita ko sa sarili ko ay dinadaanan ko naman. Pero medyo nararamdaman ko na ang pag-lala ng situwasyon sa bansa.

Dumaan nanaman ang mga taon. At ngayon, eto na ang sagot ko: " Iniisip ko. Pero dapat kasama ko ang pamilya ko.". Sabi ko nga sa asawa ko, buti pa mga tao sa commercial ni GMA, "ramdam ang pag-asenso". Noong nagsimula ako magtrabaho, ang una kong suweldo ay P6,000 kada buwan (circa 1998). Malayo ang nararating nang suweldo ko nun. Ngayon na mas malaki na suweldo ko, parang isang kanto lang ang nararating.

Ganun na ba kalala ngayon at napapaisip ako nang ganito?

Napanood ko yung inagurasyon ni Obama kagabi at nakita ko na masaya ang mga Amerikano. Parang naniniwala sila na may pagbabagong darating sa bansa nila. Na magiging ok na lahat. At bakit naman hindi, mukha naman ok yung bagong presidente nila. Marami syang gustong patunayan kaya siguradong lahat ay gagawin nya para ununlad ang bansa nila.

Dito? Parang wala na. Napanood ko rin yung Fertilizer Scam kahapon. Umamin yung supplier na P150/bottle lang ang benta nya sa fertilizer, pero ang pinalabas ng mga tao sa gobyerno ay P600/bottle ang binayaran nila. Kakaiba talaga ang kapal ng mukha ng mga taong ito. Pakiramdam ko ako ang ninanakawan dahil tapat ako magbayad ng buwis. Pera ko ang kinikik-back nila. Pera natin.

Nakakainggit yung mga taong napanood ko sa CNN. Masaya sila. Sigurado silang may bagong pag-asa na darating. Samantalang saatin, walang mapagpilian kung sino ang puwede na iboto sa susunod na eleksyon. Wala tayong tiwala sa mga tao sa gobyerno, na kung umasta ay parang mga hari. Nakalimutan nila na taong bayan ang naglagay sa kanila sa puwesto.

Sana huwag nang mag-bago ang pananaw ko. Sana hindi maging "Meron. Kahit di ko muna kasama pamilya ko, magtratrabaho ako sa ibang bansa." ang sagot ko sa tanong na ito. Sa totoo, lang bilib ako sa mga pinoy na nag -hihirap sa ibang bansa para mapakain ang pamilya nila. Taas kamay ko sa kanila. TAAS KAMAY KO SA INYO. Bilib ako kasi hindi ko yata kayang iwan ang pamilya ko dito. Siguradong mahihirapan ako at wala pa sigurong tatlong araw ay pabalik na ko sa pinas. Ngayon pa nga lang na si Sophie ay nasa mga in-laws ko dahil walang yaya hirap na ko e, pano kaya kung nasa ibang bansa ako na di ko kasama asawa at mga anak ko?

Sana lang may epekto yung nangyari sa Amerika sa atin. Sana kahit papaano ay maambunan tayo ng pag-asa. Sana magising ang mga tao sa gobyerno at mag-karoon ng konsensya.

Sana di ko KAILANGANING umalis ng bansa.

:-)

Belated Happy Birthday to Sophia

2009-01-20T19:23:00.003+08:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Sophia Gabrielle Jugos Garcia!

1.16.09

Mommy and Daddy loves you very much!

Medyo late na pero oks lang hehe!

:-)

changes

2009-01-14T20:09:00.003+08:00

Its just the start of the year and already there have been lots of changes for me already. From work to family life, a lot of things have been happening lately. Not that I wasn't expecting them. I've been aware of these changes for some time now and all I can say is, change is something that I welcome. Doesn't mean I always agree, but I'm always open to it. Imagine life without change. Wouldn't it be boring?

Funny how some people react to it. Most of us have negative reactions to change. Its normal. We are all creatures of habit and its always a bummer when we do something out of our daily routine. But I think, the way people handle changes defines who they are as a person. That's why I think that people who commit suicide because of problems, whatever they may be, are weak (sorry, but I really do).

Change is inevitable. Embrace it. Enjoy it.

:-)

Model Sophie

2009-01-10T17:02:00.003+08:00

Heto si Sophia na nagbabasa ng dyaryo sa Camp John Hay. Yung binabasa naya ay dyaryo ng pinagtratrabahuan ng brother ko sa London. Kinuhanan si Sophie ng picture kasi may pabaon na assignment sa kanya ang mga bossing nya bago sya magbakasyon sa dito sa pinas last month. Kailangan daw nya kumuha ng mga pics ng mga tao na nagbabasa ng dyaryo nila, na gagamitin nila sa kanilang advertising campaign.

Balita ko na final list yung pic ni Sophie para ilabas sa campaign nila. At bakit naman hindi? Ang cute cute ng anak ko! hehe! Tignanan nyo naman, natural na natural! Parang nagbabasa lang talaga. Mana sa tatay, mukhang nagbabasa pero natutulog pala sa classroom hehehe!

Hhmmm . . . pwede kaya gawing print ad or commercial model ang baby ko? Pag na print yung pic na 'to sa London, baka sumikat si Sophie dun! Hehe

:-)

Friday na!

2009-01-09T11:20:00.002+08:00

I'm so excited today kasi susunduin ko si Sophie from my in-laws after work. She's been there for one week and she'll be there every week until makakuha kami ng yaya. Its so sad going home knowing that she's not there. Minsan, nakakatamad umuwi. Kaya kami ni Jan tumatambay muna sa Trinoma (our new hang-out) before going home. For those of you who do not have kids yet, yes, its true na nakakatanggal ng pagod pag umuwi ka sa bahay tapos makikita mo baby mo.

I've been calling Sophie every day since Monday. Minsan nakakaawa kasi umiiyak sya when I say that I have to go and babye muna. Ang hirap pakinggan na umiiyak ang anak mo. Parang nakakaawa na nakakalungkot na di mo maiintindihan. Kahapon sabi daw ni Sophie kay Jan habang umiiyak "Mommy uwi na ko, ayaw mo na ko, ayaw mo na ko" (translation: Mommy uwi na ko, ayaw ko na dito, ayaw ko na dito). Nakakaawa di ba?

Buti nalang susunduin ko na sya mamaya. Bonding nanaman kami for sure!

:-)

wtf??

2009-01-06T19:17:00.002+08:00

I think you guys may have heard about the Israeli - Palestinian war currently happening in the Gaza Strip. Hamas, a group that wants nothing but the destruction of Israel, started the conflict by virtue of their rocket launches targeting Israeli occupied territories in the strip. Now I see in the news that people are condemning Israel's attack on Hamas because of the collateral damages being inflicted on the Palestinians, with death and wounded tolls rising everyday.

My take on this?

Its Israels right to defend themselves. I think its just right and fair for them to defend their people. Hamas is a terrorist organization that uses terror tactics, including suicide tactics and they must be stopped. Its sad that civilian casualties are piling up, and I really feel for those people, especially for the women and children, but Hamas should have thought of them before picking a fight with the Israelis.

I'm throwing racial issues out of the window. I don't care if these people have been going at it since biblical times. Its just not right for one country to attack another country for idiotic reasons .

If I were on Israelis shoes I'd do the same. Hell, if I had a neighbor giving me crap everyday, I'd give 'em crap and then some!

**************

Another issue now in the news is the release of the "Alabang Boys", 3 young men caught in a drug-bust operation because of bribery. They were released because the prosecution dismissed the case because lack of evidence. There has been talk of bribery in the DOJ which resulted to the release of the "boys". People involved in the case are, or course, denying, although I seem to have heard the people fro PDEA saying that there was bribery and I saw their animated-telenovela-style-congressional inquiry on TV.

All I can say is . . . .

Of course there's bribery! Every Tom, Dick and Harry knows that JUSTICE can be bought in this country. Its just sad to see that the image of our police and military people, especially the ones who truly serve our country well, overshadowed and tarnished by incidents like this one.

**************

Its the year of the OX and I hope we get less BULLSHIT and more good things.

Man, I should really stop watching the news on TV . . .

:-)

holiday chronicles

2009-01-05T16:29:00.006+08:00

It was a very busy holiday for me and the family. Makes me wish that the holiday was extended a few days more. I woke up this morning and did the usual things I do on weekdays: coffee, a stick cigarette, warm bath and got ready for my commute to work. I would have played with Sophie before leaving but she's staying with my in-laws since we still don't have a babysitter. I hope we get one within the month. The house isn't the same without her playing and laughing all around as we get ready for work.

Sitting here in my area, planning my activities for the week brought me back to reality. I felt like someone just splashed cold water on my face. In some ways, I feel glad that I'm back. I missed work and I'm actually looking forward to this year's projects. Of course, you can't blame me if I wanted to extend the holidays. Who wouldn't?

Here's a rough chronicle of my 2 week holiday:

(inhaaale . . . )

DEC 19 - 23
My holiday started last December 19. Our whole family went to Baguio and it was the first time we were complete for a family vacation. It was cold. So cold that I had to buy a new, thicker jacket because the ones I've brought wasn't warm enough (for me anyway). 6 degrees Celsius is too cold for me, as it is for normal people who live in Manila.

It's been a long time since I've been there and I was so glad that I went back. Things are a lot different there now. I never experienced traffic jams in Session Rd before, but now, because of the re-routing (thanks to SM Mall) and one way streets, cars keep piling on the road. We only went to 3 places in our 5 day stay: Camp John Hay, Burnham Park and Mines View Park. Oh, we went to SM to buy groceries.

Sophie enjoyed the trip. She played with her cousins and I think she enjoyed the cold weather. Jan and I went to Mines View park almost daily, since it was just walking distance, but we had to take a cab or jeep going there because I was afraid the she'll have a hard time walking there since the road was uphill and may be difficult for a pregnant lady to walk. Besides, I wouldn't want to walk uphill also hehe.

We also had the chance to meet up with old friends and I'm so glad that we did. I learned how to play poker which we played every night. We had some car trouble though. We had the car towed from Marcos Highway to Baguio when we were going up. Fortunately, the city of pines was just 20 minutes away. I literally felt the saying: so close, but yet so far. We had radiator problems and we thought we fixed before going home. Unfortunately, we had to have it fixed when we had trouble again in Tarlac, and we got home at around 4am on the 24th.

DEC 24
Back to work for the day. Although I was pretty tired because of our trip going back to Manila. I was supposed to bring Sophie to the office but I was so tired that we asked my sister-in-law to pick her up instead. We'll be spending buena noche at my in-laws anyway. Fortunately, our company declared the day to be half day so I got off work early. Went to GMA to pick up Jan and her Christmas Package she won in a raffle. Went home to pick up our stuff for our over night with the in-laws and then went straight to their house.

I almost fell asleep while eating dinner because I was sooo tired. It was a miracle I lasted till 1 am of the 25th. I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed. I didn't even bother to change my clothes.

DEC 25
I left for a mini-reunion with grandmother on my father's side during lunch time. I didn't bring along Jan and Sophie so they could rest. Me, my brothers and my cousin checked out the new apartment that we will be transferring to, as well as the property Jan and I bought (which was near the apartment).

We went back to Makati in the afternoon and I picked up Jan and Sophie for our Christmas party with my mother's side of the family. Jan opted to sleep at her parents house, which was near my grandmother's house, since she was still tired because of our trip. I went home with my brother Patrick so he could help us in packing our stuff for our house transfer on the 27th (it was supposed to be on the 26th but we were so tired that we had the sched moved). We went to Malate with my brothers and cousins before going home for a few rounds of drinks.

DEC 26
We packed and we packed 'till we couldn't pack no more! We're regular packers! I didn't know we had so much stuff! Couldn't have done it without Patrick. Thanks Pat, you PACKER! hehehe

DEC 27
Our moving day. It was a good thing the truck came early. It took some time to load our stuff in the truck, maybe because we were on the 4th floor and the building didn't have an elevator. We got to the apartment at around 6pm. Finished unloading at around 7pm.

DEC 28
Unpacked stuff. Arranged furniture. Went to Trinoma to buy groceries with Patrick. Got lost in Trinoma and went home late.Unpacked some more.

DEC 29
Unpacked again. Had lunch somewhere in Congressional Ave. Went home and unpacked some more.

DEC 30
Re-arranged furniture. Cleaned up all the mess. Discovered that the bathroom had leaks. Unpacked some more. Boy, moving to a new house is such a chore. Funny thing is, we might move out again within the year to transfer to our new house (hopefully!!). That's why we didn't unpack all our stuff. Just the ones we'll be using for the next 6 - 8 months.

DEC 31
Our first new year's eve celebration as a family. We were supposed to go to our in-laws for another sleepover, but we were so exhausted that we decided to stay home and go there the next morning. We bought some fruits, a cake and other goodies to celebrate. Jan cooked pasta and Sophie slept the night away. I told Jan that this should be our tradition from now on. It feels nice to celebrate, just the three of us. Next year, we'll be four in the family and I want us to have our own family traditions. By the way, we had an ultrasound before going to Baguio and we found out that our new baby is a BOY!!

JAN 1
Went to my in-laws for our new year family lunch. Jan and Sophie slept most of the day away. We went to my lola's house in Makati for dinner. Funny thing was, I didn't drink beer or any alcoholic drink that day. Not one drop. I think I was still tired from all our activities the past days.

JAN 2-4
Stayed at home and spent time with my family. We spent most of the day sleeping. Sophie had new friends as there were children within our apartment compound. My dad gave Sophie a new bike which she got on the 2nd. She loved it so much. She enjoyed playing with her new friend and all she can say to me was "Daddy, labas akoooo". I can actually see her face light up whenever she hears children outside.

We had to bring Sophie to my in-laws yesterday and this will be our normal weekend routine until we find a Nanny for Sophie. So sad but there's nothing else we can do.

(exhaaale . . .)

So that's how things went the past two weeks. I didn't have time to blog because of our busy sched. Now, things are back to normal and hopefully, everything goes well this year. I'm really looking forward to 2009. I have a feeling that it will be better for ALL OF US this year than last year.

Lets all have a good year boys and girls! Lets all pray that we all have a good year!

BTW: I'll insert some pics later hehehe

:-)

bagong taon

2009-01-03T17:37:00.003+08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Its been a while since my last entry and I must say that I missed blogging. A lot of things happened this past few weeks and I'm sure I'll be telling you all about it. But now, I just want to thank all of you who've been here, taking time to read my blog. I hope you guys enjoyed!

Cheers everyone! LETS ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR AHEAD OF US!!

Marami pa kong kuwento, pero kulang pa rin sa oras . . . dyan lang kayo, ha? :-)

:-)

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-24T16:28:00.005+08:00

Sorry mga ka-blog, medyo busy lang ako ngayong mga araw na ito kaya hindi ako masyado nakakapag sulat at tambay dito sa blogsphere, pero marami na akong gusto ikuwento. Miss ko na rin ang pag-blog kaya sana, sa mga darating na araw, ay magkaroon ako ng konting panahon.

Ngayon, gusto ko lang kayong batiin ng Maligayang Pasko! Sana mag-enjoy tayong lahat sa piling ng ating mga kapuso, kapamilya, at mga kaibigan. At sana, huwag nating kalimutan ang tunay na diwa ng pasko . . . ang pagkaanak ng Panginoong Hesus upang iligtas tayong lahat.

Lets all have a good one boys and girls! Ingat sa high-blood at gout! hehehe

:-)

wala lang masyado

2008-12-15T18:24:00.005+08:00

Its been a busy December, as I've previously blogged. Reunions here and there. Going home at 3am. It's fun but it would be more fun if I didn't have work the next day. Not that I'm complaining. Bring on the beer!!

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Packing stuff for our house transfer keeps us more busy. I discovered that we have a lot of junk in the house and I had to throw them all away. Mostly old boxes, magazines, brochures, old clothes etc, etc. We packed most of our stuff. We're actually using paper plates this week hehehe. It doesn't matter anyway since Sofie is with my in-laws this week and Jan and I would probably eat out the rest of the week because of our last minute shopping. Our freezer is almost empty which is ok since we'll be going to Baguio this weekend (for 4 days!) and I'll be turning off the ref.

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As of yesterday, we've packed 20 boxes and counting. Sheeesh. The good thing is, we won't have to unpack everything when we transfer because we'll be transferring again by June (God willing) to our new home. We visited the property and it is now being constructed. Knowing that you've purchased a property and seeing it being constructed for the first time have are two different feelings. When I saw the structure, I felt . . . happy and excited! It's nice to see where all our hard work is going. Although, we need to work harder for our future, at least we know we're on the right track.

Reminds me of this dialogue I heard from the TV series "Bones" (although I'm not familiar with the characters who said it since I don't watch it regularly):

Man: "Why are there somethings that are harder to do?" (or something to that effect)
Woman: "So you'd know if it was all worth it."

***********************

Tomorrow's my big day and I really have nothing planned. Sad thing about it is, I won't be spending my birthday with Sophie. At least we have a long holiday this year (almost 2 weeks, and almost 3 weeks for me) and I'd get to spend time with my family.

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Pasensya na kung di ako masyado nakakapag-update sa blog mga ka-blog, baka ako kasi ang ma-KABLAG ni esmi pag nahuli nya ko na nag co-computer at di inaayos yung mga gamit namin e, hehe!

:)

three years na!

2008-12-11T18:27:00.004+08:00

It was our 3rd year wedding anniversary yesterday.

Happy Anniversary, Baby!

:-)

memories

2008-12-08T19:25:00.003+08:00

Spending time with old friends do bring back a lot of memories. From the good to the bad. Makes you wish you had a time machine and re-live all of them. We had a good time last Saturday night, me and my buddies. We started off with a few drinks and a lot of reminiscing. We've known each other since we were like 12 or 13 years old, and I can't help but feel proud about where we are now.

See, back in the "old days", we never thought that we'd be in our current "grown up" situations. All we cared about was being together, doing stuff together, with all the laughter and tears (just like what Raymond Lauchenco sang in Bagets), basically, just hanging out. To tell you honestly, some parents in our subdivision wanted their kids to hang out with us because in spite of all the drinking and tambay that we were doing, we were considered (or perceived) to be a good bunch of kids. I remember one mom, who passed away a few years ago, talked to me personally to include her son, who was four years our junior I think, in our gimmicks (even drinking sessions) because she feels that we're a good influence to him. When most of the group were already working (circa 1999), we didn't have much time to spend with each other like we used to and unfortunately, that mom's fear became a reality. Our friend, her son, Ryan was murdered. It was a drug related murder and I can never forget her mom crying while saying to me: "Bam, patay na kaibigan mo . . .". It was painful to everyone of us.

We were also reminiscing about the good times: Gimmicks at PEPS, Padis Point Greenbelt, bowling at Coronado Lane, Arts Venue (which by the way are no longer in existence, talk about growing old) , ligawan blues, the art of introducing one's self to girls, etc, etc.. How we manged to do all these, without celfones and even beepers is way beyond me.

What hit me is that, even if we haven't been seeing each other for a long time, everything seemed like we picked up where we left off. We're still the same people, although more matured, who grew up together. Now, more stuff has been added to our kuwentuhan repertoire: kids, family, buying property, how expensive milk is, how cute and at the same time makulit our kids are, work and a lot more grown-up stuff.

Can't wait for our next inuman session. Kampai uli!

:-)

moni oyat!

2008-12-05T11:56:00.003+08:00

Sayang, di ako makakasama sa x-mas outing namin ngayon. My officemates are going to Subic today para sa x-mas party namin. Ganun talaga pag maraming inaasikaso. Yung pag lipat ng bahay, pag ayos ng mga gamit, check-up ni misis at kung ano ano pa.

Ok na rin siguro kasi umuwi yung isang barkada ko from Japan and we're planning to have a get together this Saturday. Kung kasama ako sa outing, malamang pagaod na ko sa Sabado at hindi makaksabay sa pag-inom sa barkada kong balik-bayan na parang balon din na bahay-alak.

Medyo matagal-tagal na rin kami na di nagkikita ng mga tropa ko'ng 'to. Si Deki ay kababata ko sa Parañaque. Kalaro sa basketball, kainuman, kasama sa ligawan, party, tugtog ng gitara sa kanto, yosimate, etc, etc. Naalala ko nung college pa kami, tuwing araw ng Linggo, umiinom kami sa gitna ng basketball court. Nagsisimula kami ng mga 9pm hanggang mga 1am. Gin ang iniinom namin nun. Chaser ang Sprite. Pulutan namin durog na Sky Flakes sa Century Tuna.

Tatlo kaming umiinom tuwing Linggo: Ako, si Deki at si Marte. Marami kaming barkada, pero tuwing Linggo, kami lang ang parating magkasama. Minsan yung iba sumasma pero madalas kaming tatlo lang. Madalas kami mag gitara at nagkakantahan pag nagiinuman kami sa basketball court. Madals din kaming mag kuwentuhan ng kung ano-ano: aliens, buhay ni Jose Rizal, chicks, mga banda, chicks, kanta, basketball, chicks, gimmick, chicks, buhay kolehyo, chicks at kung ano-ano pa.

Ang tagal na nun. Ngayon, hiwa-hiwalay na kami ng tirahan. Si Deki nasa Japan, Si Marte sa Cavite at ako naman sa Mandaluyong. Si Marte naman ay nakakasama ko paminsan-minsan pero si Deki, huli ko yata syang nakita mga 3 or 4 years ago. Wala nga sya dito sa Pilipinas nung kinsasal ako. Sa wakas, magiinuman uli kami, di nga lang sa basketball court , pero ang importante, magkakasama kami uli.

Kampay!

***********************

Babati muna ako: I'd like to thank Shai, a former officemate, for visiting my blog. Sabi ko sa'yo iblo-blog kita e. Hehe! Thanks for visiting!

:-)

house hunting

2008-11-30T23:07:00.002+08:00

It's so hard to look for a new home. We've actually seen one but we're trying to find an apartment within the area where we live now for two reasons: 1) Jan's pregnant and our hospital of choice is near where we live now as compared to the 1st apartment that we've seen, the one near where we bought our property and 2) We want to be near our families, for emergency reasons, since we've been having yaya woes lately.

We went to look at some apartments last night and we didn't see a place that we liked. This morning, I hired a tricycle to so that we can get around and cover more ground more quickly.We found some good apartments that were too expensive or big for us, and we found cheap apartments that were either too small or too is located in a neighborhood that we didn't like. Not that we're choosy, its just that I want to be comfortable in the next place we live in and since we're paying the rent with our hard earned money, I'd rather live in a place that I like.

We're giving ourselves until next week to find a place near where we are now. Anyway, we have a fall-back apartment that we can transfer to if things don't pan out here.

We're packing stuff already, starting with the things that we don't use on a daily basis: books, old clothes, kitchenware, toys, dvds, etc. It may seem simple enough, but it really isn't. You'll never know how much stuff you have until you pack them all up. I didn't realize that we've acquired a lot of things over a span of three years!

Note to self: Ask the real estate company if they could add a storage area / room to the new house.

:-)

Busy December

2008-11-28T20:11:00.004+08:00

December is a few days away and it's going to be busy for me and the family. My brother Ian and his wife Marcy will be coming home from London to spend the holidays here in Manila. We'll be spending a few days in Baguio with the family, and I'm excited because I haven't been to Baguio for quite a while (last time was back in '95 I think, though we've been going there every year before that). It will be Jan's second time and Sophie's 1st time to be there.

It will be our 3rd year wedding anniversary this December also, though we really don't have anything planned, Jan and I will probably have a dinner date . . . just the two of us to celebrate this momentous occasion hehe. We'll look out for the weather because since it rained during our wedding day 3 years ago, we've noticed that it always rained on that day. I take it as blessing and yes, I feel that we've been blessed for the past 3 years.

I'll be turning 32 in a few weeks time . . . yup, I'll be saying sayonara to the number of days in the calendar. I thought that it (being a year older in a few weeks) will feel weird but I guess I kinda accepted the fact that I'm all grown up already haha. Nothing's changed really, well . . . nothing major anyway. I'm not planning on having a party or anything because I'm saving up for our Baguio vacation. I'd probably just have dinner at home with Jan and Sophie and whoever is available to join us.

Christmas will be a busy day as well, not to mention the days leading to the birth of Christ. We still haven't bought gifts yet and I'm sure we'll be experiencing and cursing the Christmas rush in the weekends to come. Oh my poor, poor feet . . . Oh my poor empty wallet!

We'll be moving out of our unit, hopefully by next week to transfer to a new apartment and just thinking about it makes me cringe. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually looking forward to it, but just the thought of packing and unpacking in a matter of hours, makes me want to drink Gatorade at this very moment.

Christmas parties and reunions are sure to be one of the highlights next month but we probably won't be able to go to all of them. I'll try my darn best to attend all of them though. What's a party without me, right? hehehe

A busy December it may be for me, but I think that everything will go well. 'Tis the season to be jolly and I hope everyone enjoys it!

:-)

hmmm

2008-11-27T18:30:00.003+08:00

Sometimes I wonder what's in store for me in 5 years time. I saw this family at the chapel the other day together with their two kids a girl who's around 5 or 6 and a boy who looked much younger. With Jan 5 months pregnant right now, in 5 years time, we will be like that couple. Its something that I'm looking forward to and at times, I wish I'm living that future already.

In some ways, I can relate to the movie CLICK starring Adam Sandler. When Adam Sandler discovers the power of the remote, he used it to re-live the good times and fast forward thru the bad times in his life. In the end, he missed a lot of things that he should have experienced if he didn't use the time-traveling-universal-remote. Its a good thing that he was given a second chance.

Sometimes I wish that I could just coast thru life, especially during trying times. Sometimes, I wish that time would stand still so that I can enjoy a particular happy moment. But time does move on and everything moves along with it. More often than not, I'd look back at my past problems and remember how hard those times were for me and just laugh about it. I also reminisce about all the good times and just feel great about them.

Unlike Adam Sandler's character, we don't get second chances and we only live once. Good times, bad times, we all have to live through it. What we make out of these experiences is what really matters.

For now, I'll just sit back and enjoy the ride and when the time comes, I'll laugh about writing this post hehe.

:-)

Friends!

2008-11-26T12:33:00.002+08:00

I'd like to thank Maya for this award! I'm passing it to everyone in my blog roll. Kunin nyo na mga friends! :-)

cute daw ako!

2008-11-25T19:31:00.009+08:00

Got this from Vayie and Dylan.

Thanks! I think I'm cute too! hehehe. Ayy! Yung blog ko pala!

Here are the rules:

- Each blogger must post these rules.
- Each blogger starts with ten random facts/habits about themselves.
- Bloggers that are tagged need to write ten facts about themselves. You need to choose ten people to tag and list their names.
- Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and also to read your blog

MY RANDOM FACTS:

1) I am the eldest of 6 brothers.
2) I am currently addicted to Snickers Chocolate bar and I buy at least 2 bars every time I visit the grocery.
3) I can drink like a fish. The last time I did some serious drinking, I started at 10pm and went home around 7am. I lost count of how many bottles I've had, but I'm pretty sure that its more than my fingers.
4) I love rock music but I also love listening to Barry Manilow, Rey Valera and even . . . Air Supply hehe
5) I hate spicy food! Not even for pulutan.
6) I can't drink beer or have coffee without smoking. I try, but I really can't. Whenever I'm in a non-smoking coffee house or bar, I'll always be the guy who'll go out for a smoke.
7) I don't have a driver's license. The last time I drove a car was way back in college when I smashed the bumper of my Dad's car. That's why buying a car was never a priority for me.
8) I hate commuting on a bus or jeep. I'd rather take a cab. Hmmm maybe I should buy a car.
9) I sleep late. I go to bed at 2am. The earliest at 12mn. I usually watch TV or read before I sleep.
10) I always have a cigarette before I go and do my business in the toilet every morning. I can't take a dump without having one smoke. Must be psychological. I don't give a shit as long as I can take a shit every morning hehe.

Now, in the spirit of cuteness, I want to share this award to everyone in my blogroll! Kaya ko nga kayo binabasa e dahil cute kayo, este, cute mga blog nyo! At pag binisita ko blog nyo dapat makita ko to ha?

What are you waiting for? Take it! Take it!

:-)

Ohh Yeahh!!

2008-11-25T14:32:00.003+08:00

OHHH YEAAHHHH!!! Manu Ginobili is back in action as the Spurs beat the Memphis Grizllies 94 - 81. Things are looking so good for San Antonio especially since Tony Parker is expected to be back in two weeks. Can you say PLAYOFF?

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OHHH YEAAHHHH!!! Marlon finally got voted out of Survivor Philippines last night! Its about bloody time!

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OHHH YEAAHHHH!!! No work on Monday! Maybe this is one thing that I like about our present government. They keep on moving the holidays so that people can have long weekends!

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OHHH YEAAHHHH!!! I'm watching the Jokjok Bolante senate inquiry. Nothing beats the drama of senate inquiries. Better than GMA 7 or ABS-CBN 2 tele-novelas!

***********************

OHHH YEAAHHHH!!! We found a new apartment last weekend. We're planning to move-in in two or three weeks time. Thank God!

***********************

:-)

lipat bahay

2008-11-20T20:25:00.002+08:00

Naghahanap na kami ng bagong apartment. Nakatanggap kami ng notice na hindi na kami i-rerenew ng aming tinitirhan na condo type apartment. Actually, matagal na namin iniisip na lumipat dahil medyo mahal ang renta namin. At dahil may mga binabayaran na kaming bahay na binili namin a few months ago, malaking tulong na rin ang pag-lipat sa mas murang apartment kasi biruin mo, nagbabayad na kami sa bahay na matitirhan palang namin pag dating ng May or June next year, nagbabayad pa kami ng renta na pagkalakilaki! Kung baga, dobol dead!

Anyway, di na rin ako na gulat na hindi kami na renew. Nagkaroon kasi ng pagkakataon na nakipag away ako sa office ng condo. Pinutulan kami ng kuryente at tubig dahil delayed daw kami magbayad. Una sa lahat, dalawang beses pa lang kami na delay sa tatlong taon naming tinira sa unit namin. Hindi naman sa dahil wala kaming pambayad, medyo sa mga pagkakataon na yun a busy kami pareho ni esmi, at di kami makakuha ng oras para makapag-bayad.

Nung araw na pinutlan kami, sakto na inutusan ko yung yaya namin na sya na ang magbayad. Ayaw ko kasi na sya ang magbayad dahil sasakay pa ng jeep para makarating sa opisina at baka mamaya ay madukutan pa sya, patay yung pambayad namin.

Dumating yung yaya namin sa office a few minutes after kami maputulan. Tinawagan ko sila para ma-reconnect kami. Ang sabi sakin, nakaalis na daw yung mag re-reconnect. Sabi ko " anong nakaalis na e kakaputol nyo lang?!". Medyo napikon ako dahil ang daming nakatambay na tao nila sa compound namin, at sa tingin ko kahit sino sa kanila ay puwede mag-switch on lang ng kuryente.

"Ang schedule po ng reconnection 5:30pm pa."

Hindot! No goli pa ko! Pano yan?

Bam!: "Ang dami nyong tao dito na puwede gumawa nyan. Di naman kailangan ng engineer para mag switch on lang di ba?"

Office Girl: "Hintayin nyo na lang po."

Bam!: " Hindi puwede na hanggang 5:30pm dahil may baby dito sa bahay, at baka kung ano mangyari sa kanya dahil mainit!"

Office Girl: " Hintayin nyo nalang kasi kasalanan mo naman na late kayo e."

Bam!: " Di ko naman sinabi na di ko kasalanan e. Di naman kada buwan late kami. 3 years na kami dito. Kahit tignan nyo pa record namin! TIGNAN MO RECORD NAMIN!!!"

Office Girl: " Hintayin nyo nalang 5:30pm." Nanginginig na boses na parang iiyak.

Bam!: "Hintayin!? HINTAYIN?! T****NA MO! HINTAYIN MO KO DYAN!!!"

Pinigilan ako ni esmi na mag punta. Nanginignig ako sa galit. Siguro, takot na takot yung mga tao tuwing may pumapasok sa opisina nila. Baka hinihintay nila ako dumating na may dalang baseball bat hehe. Pero inaamin ko na mali ako, at dapat mas mahinahon ko syang kinausap.

Dahil dito, di na rin ako nagulat sa sulat na natanggap namin. Ok lang. Talaga naman nagbabalak kami lumipat kahit na magbigay sila ng renewal e. At pagod na ko umakyat sa 4th floor. Wala kasing elevator.

Sa kabutihang palad, may mga nakita na kami sa internet na mga prospect na lugar na puwede lipatan. Pupuntahan namin this weekend. Sana ok. Malapit yung mga prospect namin sa binili namin property. Kaya gusto ko rin lumipat sa area na yun ay para masanay na rin kami na dun nakatira, total naman lilipat na rin kami sa area na yun next year.

Exciting din maghanap ng bagong tirahan. Sana lang may magustuhan kami sa mgapupuntahan namin.

Wish us luck!

:-)

I love your blog!

2008-11-20T12:03:00.004+08:00

Got this for Sharlyn (Being Myself). Thanks! Love your blog too :-)

The rules of the award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on his / her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you have nominated.

Previous awardees: Mabelle, Prily, Ate Norma, I Love Philippines Too, Shenga, Nova, WebbieStuffs, Nancy, Webloglearner, Pinay Wahm, and My So Called Life, Let’s Spice Things Up, Beauty and Shop, Idealpinkrose, allin, kimchiland, Korean Food, The Paper Vision, Embrace Simplicity, Me and Mine, A Window To Our World, A Grateful Heart, Can of Thoughts, A Mother’s Stuff, http://housewifeatwork.blogspot.com/, MommaWannabe, Lourdes Mia, Praning’s Shoutout, When Silence Speaks, Etc Atbp, Aeirin’s Collections, Life is What we Make it, Underneath It All, Cellulitic Bliss, 100% Kelly, C'est La Vie, Our Family Adventure!, As We Face Forever, BeinG mYselF, The Pakarazzi Experience

I am passing this award to Vayie, Garet, Clare ( who has 3 sites: click here, here and here) Kiko, Azrael, Hazel (who has another site, here) Shiela, MarcoPaolo, Eymi, KumagCow, JoshMarie, Maya, Dylan, Buzzing Flower Pecker and Sej

malamig ang simoooy ng hangin . . . .

2008-11-19T18:27:00.004+08:00

Ilang araw nalang ay Disyembre na. Sigurado ako na nabalitaan nyo na rin na mahaba ang baksyon sa buwan na ito. Simula nanaman ng pag shopping ng mga regalo sa mga inaanak, pag plano ng mga party, pag hanap ng murang paputok na pang New Year at pag-kain ng bibingka at puto bumbong. Sa totoo lang, ito an pinaka nakakatad na buwan para mag trabaho. At bakit naman hindi, e sa kakaisip pa lang sa mga party na pupuntahan natin e tatamarin ka talaga hehe. Sa Enero nalang pro-problemahin kung magkano ang nagastos at malamang, tataas nanaman ang benta ng biogesic dahil sa dami ng taong sasakit ang ulo pag nag-compute na sila kung magkano ang nailabas na pera nung bakasyon hehe. Ang hirap din gumising sa umaga kasi ang sarap matulog dahil sa lamig ng panahon. Ngayon palang e sigurado rin ako na malaki na ang kinikita ng neozep dahil sa dami ng taong may sipon.

Kahit papaano ay lagi kaming may budget ni esmi na pang regalo pag pasko. Nagtatabi na kami at minsan, may mga taon na maaga palang bumibili na kami ng mga regalo. Isa sa mga target namin na bilhan ngayong taon ay ang Divisoria. Mura talaga ang mga binebenta dun. Beterano rin si Jan sa tawaran at minsan, ako na ang nahihiya sa mga nagbebenta hehe. May isang taon nga (pero medyo matagal na 'to) na lahat ng pinsan ko at mga inaanak at pamangkin (medyo marami yun ha), pati na rin mga kaopisina ay nabilhan ko ng regalo sa budget na P3,000! Di ko lang alam kung puwede pa ngayon yun, pero sigurado ako na mas makakamura kami sa Divisoria, pati na rin sa mga ibang tiangge sa pag bili ng mga regalo.

Ako naman, bale wala naman sakin kung may regalo sakin o wala. Ang importante, magkaroon ng panahon para magsama-sama ang mga kamag anak at kaibigan, para sabay sabay i-celebrate ang kapaskohan. Minsan lang sa isang taon tayo nagkakaroon ng pagkakataon para makita-kita uli. Sa tingin ko, habang tumatanda ay mas importante ang oras para mag sama-sama kesa sa ano mang regalo.

Naku, malapit na rin akong mawala sa kalendaryo sa Desyembre. Pero ok lang. Ganun talaga. Sa tingin ko naman ay nag-enjoy naman ako at dahil sa lumalaki kong pamilya (next year meron nanaman akong bago baby na mangungulit sa amin, tulad ng pangungulit ni Sophia ngayon), sigurado ako na mas magiging masaya at exciting ang mga susunod pang Disyembre.

:-)

weekend nanaman!

2008-11-14T19:52:00.003+08:00

Its Friday again and, by golly, time really does fly. We have nothing planned this weekend so maybe we'll just spend time watching dvds. I bought Sophie Dora and Sesame st. DVDs from a sale here in the office (its our company anniversary and we usually have sales on cds, dvds and vcds to celebrate the event, salary deducted of course), just so I can be spared of the Barney videos that Sophie's been watching for the longest time. Sophie has lots of Barney dvds and she's been watching them religiously that I can sing most of the songs! I was disappointed though since there were few dvds on sale so I just bought vcds for my self. While dvds is superior in terms of picture and audio qualities, I have no problem buying vcds. Besides, they're relatively cheaper (2 for P140) and are salary deducted, so oks lang!

What I noticed about vcds is, cartoon titles have more noticeable pixels compared to the movies. Maybe its because of the colors of the cartoons, but I really don't know why. Anyway, I bought 19 vcd titles, which will last me through the holidays! Patay nanaman ako kay Jan nito! Hehe

I don't think we can go out on Saturday as Sophie just came from a fever. We didn't get to go to work yesterday because Sophie kept us awake with her crying the whole night. Thank God she's feeling better now. It really does break my heart to see her like that.

Anyway, its a pay-day weekend and I really hate going to malls during this type of week. I'd rather stay at home and rest. I'll be going out of town for a business trip on Monday and I'd rather spend time with my family. I also bought NBA 2K9 today so I'd probably be trying it out this weekend.

*** To my brother Patrick who reads my blog all the time: Humanda ka! May 2K9 na ko! YOUR ASS IS GRASS!!! Hehehe ***

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

************************

My site's been having lots of visitors lately and I just want to thank you all for visiting. MARAMING SALAMAT and I hope you enjoy your visit. :-)

Xmas tree

2008-11-13T18:53:00.007+08:00

Malapit na ang pasko. Siguradong mas nakakatuwa ang pasko ngayong taon dahil marami nang mga bata. Last year may mga bata na rin pero di sila kasing kulit tulad ngayon. Lat year, gumagapang palang sila, ngayon, tumatakbo na!

Noong Linggo, natulog ako pagkatapos mananghalian. Pagkagising ko, ang aking mahal na esmi ay nag-aayos na ng Christmas tree. Nagulat ako. Ang bilis nya! Parang isang oras pa lang ako naatulog, dami na nya nagawa.

Tumulong naman ako kahit papaano at natuwa ako kasi mas maa-appreciate ni Sophie ang Christmas tree namin this year.

Share ko lang yung konting pics namin (na hindi nanaman ako nakasama hehe):

something to share

2008-11-12T19:51:00.004+08:00

For the past few months, I've been going to church regularly. Not just every Sunday, I go even on regular weekdays at least twice or thrice a week. I think I've come to a point in my life when I feel that there's something missing. Sounds kinda cliche' but thats how I feel. Its a good thing that we have a small chapel in our building that celebrates mass during lunch time and late in the afternoon.

They say that sometimes, God allows us to have problems because it brings us closer to Him. I'm guilty of only praying whenever I need something. It's something that I want to change. Hearing mass and praying regularly not gave me the chance to ask for something, it made me realize that I am blessed. We all receive blessings everyday without us even noticing. The great thing is, now I'm starting to feel my blessings and I have a lot of things to thank for.

Now I do not go to church because I have to, I go to church because I want to. It gives me guidance, peace of mind and the chance to thank Him for everything in my life. Now, I have something that I've forgotten for sometime now: Faith.

:-)

survivor blog

2008-11-11T12:25:00.003+08:00

I knew it! I knew Kiko will be voted out! I couldn't watch Survivor last night because of an event that I had to attend to, but I asked my aunt to text me who was voted out. Personally, I think the guy deserved it. Marlon (who is also in my vote out list) played his cards well. That's the way you play Survivor! The games objective is to outwit, outplay and outlast for Pete's sake! Being complacent, especially at this stage when everyone has an equal chance to win the prize, is something that one should not be.

I think the next target should be Zita or Rob since he already has 1 vote against him because of the cursed black pearl. I'd vote off Zita first because people most of the tribe likes her and she'll most probably have sympathy votes if she's left in the final 2 or 3. It will be great to watch how Rob will redeem himself, knowing that he's the easiest person to vote because of the pearl.

If I were Marlon (hehe), I 'd steal the black pearl so that Rob will have 2 votes against him. If I were one of the Jarakays, I'd use Marlon to the hilt before voting him out. But that's just me.

:-)

tv shockers

2008-11-09T19:00:00.004+08:00

TV has always been a part of my life. I loved watching tv as a kid and I'm still a regular couch potato now. In fact, here I am at home watching The Longest Day ( and old war movie about WW2 invasion of Normandy starring John Wayne ) on DVD while Jan and Sophie are in Glorietta with my in-laws, probably having a good time. Sometimes, we don't notice it, but we get too involved with events on tv that it could sometimes just ruin our day.

Here are some real life examples:

Seeing that it was already late, I opted to stay in the office to watch Survivor Philippines last Friday. It was almost 10 o'clock pm and I didn't notice the time as me and some of my office buds were just hanging around. It would take me a good 20 mins to go home an I wouldn't want to miss the tribal council so I texted Jan that I'll be home as soon as Survivor's over. I wasn't able to see Last Tuesday's and Wednesday's episode, so I didn't know that Marlon (the snake hehe) was wreaking havok amongst the new tribe, seemingly convincing some of the old Naak members to "switch" alliances. I was so surpirsed about this development and because of this, I was really glued to the tube.

When tribal council came, Marlon and, to my delight, Kiko both got some votes and eventually were tied. As the final vote was about to be revealed, the show's credit suddenly appeared, signalint the end of the show.

All I can say was: "P***ng ina! P***ng ina! Syet! Syet! Putol! Syet!!! Aaaaarrggghhhh!!!"

Needles to say, I went home fuming right after the show. When I got home, I asked Jan why the show was cut. She was also surprised. I went to sleep wondering who was voted out, and cursing the show's producers hehe.

The next day, I woke up and turned on the tv, hoping that the Spurs were on BTV or ESPN. There wasn't any live game on BTV so I switched to ESPN. The first thing I saw on the screen was Tony Parker limping back to the dug out.

Simultanously, I said: "oh no . . . oh no . . .OH NO, OH NO, OH NO, OOHHH NOOOO!!!"

Jan: "Bakit"

Bam!: "Oh no! Oh no! Oh No! OOOHHH NOOOOO!!!!!

Jan: Bakit nga?"

Bam: "Natapilok si Parker . . . . Aaaaarrrggghhhh!!!"

Jan: "Wala si Ginobili?"

Bam!: " Injured nga!!! Oh no! Oh no! OOOOHHHH NOOOOO!!!"

I watched the replay and saw that it was a freak accident. He didn't step on anyone's foot. He sprained his ankle while he was driving to the ring. And to think, Parker just came off a 55 point game the game before. Thankfully nothing's broken, but he'll be out for a while and now the Spurs will really need to step up.

Needless to say, I was bummed out the whole day because of this. Now they're down 1-4.

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Its a good thing I decided to watch a movie tonight that I've seen lots of times before. I don't think I can handle another tv shocker. Besides, everyone knows the Americans won the invasion of Normandy hehe.

:-)

wala lang nanaman

2008-11-05T18:44:00.003+08:00

I've been in a non-blogging mood for the last few days. Nothing worth writing about and most of my web activities centered on my new FACEBOOK account. For those of you who have one, please add me scharlesg@yahoo.com :-)

I think that FB is better than Friendster because its more interactive and the interface is more user-friendly. I even linked this blog site to my account so friends can read my blog even without visiting my blog. Jan actually was the first one to sign up. When she told me that I'm "so jologs because you don't have facebook" I signed up right then and there hehehe! Now I tell her "you're so jologs because I have more friends than you!" hehehe

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I can't believe that the San Antonio Spurs has lost three games in a row, making them 0-3 at the start of the season. Losing Manu Ginobili to injury really hurt them. I hope the team steps up and win their next game. I also can't believe that the Detroit Pistons traded Chauncy Billups, Antonio McDyess and Samb to Denver for Allen Iverson. I think Detroit lost more than what they got and Denver gained more, specifically on the defensive end. The good thing is, there's talk that McDyess might have a contract buy-out, which makes him eligible to join another team after 30 days for a minimum veteran's salary. I hope the Spurs get him, just like what they did when Michael Finley's contract was bought out (which worked for them) and when Damon Staudamire was in the same situation, which really didn't work out but what the hey, it was worth to try.

With the western conference getting bigger and stronger, McDyess can add additional and much needed muscle to the Spurs.

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Obama won the US presidential election today by a landslide. Their first African-American president. What impact will this have in our country? I don't know, but I hope something positive comes out of it in a global scale. The guy looks ok and I heard his very moving victory speech. I wonder when our politicians will reach that level. Its my personal choice not to vote for the last few elections because I feel that we need new people and not the same old politicians as our leaders.

McCain congratulated Obama when he conceded and urged the people who voted him to do their part for the benefit of their country. In our country, losers will almost always demand for a recount. They're so sure that they were cheated. You know what they say: " Ang magnanankaw galit sa kapwa magnanakaw" hehe.

Change is drastically needed in our country right now and I hope that in the next election, I can vote for someone who I think is qualified.

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Its time to put up our Christmas tree once again and I'm very excited to see Sophie enjoying the blinking lights and other ornaments on the tree. I'll post some pics once we're done putting up our tree.

:-)

pakarazzi express no.4

2008-10-31T23:38:00.005+08:00

Stayed at home the whole day. We planned to go out for groceries but decided to sleep the afternoon away.

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Our cable service has been out for two days. Good thing GMA7's signal is clear so I was able to watch Survivor Philippines. The bad news is, Jace got voted out. I wish it was Marlon.

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Sophie and I started singing along with each other while eating dinner. She can actually carry a tune hehe.

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Just signed up for a Facebook account. I think it's better than Friendster because it has more interactive features. Add me up!

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Spurs lost in their first game of the season against the Phoenix Suns. Crap!

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I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow as I'll be going to the Libingan ng mga Bayani where my Lolo Maeng is burried.

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Ate Tapa and Eggs for dinner. Yum yum!

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Saw the last episode of House MD a while ago. Can't wait for the new season.

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Happy Halloween every one!

100th!

2008-10-30T14:23:00.007+08:00

Oh my! This is my 100th post! I've been thinking about what to write in this post, this being my 100th and all. So I decided to write about a special event that happened today, October 30, 12 years ago.

12 years ago on this day, I had a date and a certain lady and I went out and ate at Shakey's Greenbelt, the one in front of Landmark, now being occupied by choco-resto Max Brenner. Everything happened so fast that the only thing I remember was, when I came in, I was with a friend and when I left, I was with my girlfriend hehe (read the story here).

Its been 12 years since Jan and I have been together. We've experienced it all. We had a lot of good times and certainly a lot of bad times too. We were, in a lot of ways, the same and in a lot of ways, different. I think what kept us together all these years is that we complement each other. We were not just boyfriend and girlfriend, we're and still are the best of friends.

We're both free spirits. We wanted to explore life together and we still are. 12 years ago, I never would have thought that we would be where we are right now, although I am very certain that I wished it. Thank God my wish came true.

12 years and going strong!

:-)

NBA na uli!

2008-10-29T20:08:00.002+08:00

NBA is back in season! I'm so excited! I hope the Spurs make a good run this season. With Ginobili injured and cannot play during the first few months, the boys from San Antonio should step up. Even if the Spurs added some new and younger blood on the team, the core still remains the same and age is certainly a factor in this sport. The good thing is, the team's defense always, ALWAYS, works, even when their offense is on a slump. Their defense saved them from losses time and time again.

Other teams that I'm looking out for are:

Utah Jazz : Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer and Kyle Corver are the new Stockton, Malone and Hornacek. Not to mention Andre "AK-47" Kirilenko's shot blocking prowess and Okur's shooting touch that drives the defense (and often times, myself) crazy.

Phoenix Suns : Any team that has Shaq is a title contender. Nash is so amazing that and I enjoy watching him play.

Detroit Pistons: Good starters, solid bench. Sheeeeed! Sheeeeed! Sheeeeed!

New Orleans Hornets: Cris Paul. Need I say more?

Boston Celtics: Tittle defense run. Can they repeat? Lets wait and see.

GAME NA!

:-)

yaya woes

2008-10-28T16:32:00.002+08:00

Its hard to find good help these days. We've only had 2 yayas, and our present one's been with us for more than a year. The problem with our present yaya is that she has a lot of personal problems, mostly because of her family and these problems affect us also. She's been taking days-off during our working days and sometimes she comes home with her small kid and sometimes kids (yep, 2 of them). There was even a time when her sister had to stay with us for two weeks because she had undergo tooth extraction for two consecutive weeks and she asked her sister to help out because she had to rest. Sometimes we go home and find some members of her family at home and she never told us that they were coming. Almost every Monday morning we get nervous because she doesn't come home on time and there were times that she doesn't come home at all, with no text or phone call to inform us.

This happened yesterday. I've been calling and texting her and I never got a reply. Now we're so fed up that I'd probably fire her today. She said "they" were coming over this morning, and I'm assuming that she has her kids in tow, so I said not to bother as we were dropping Sophia at my in-laws and we should just talk tonight.

Now I'm not a matapobre kind of a person. I treat our yaya like family. Her family has been servicing our family for the longest time and she even was my yaya when I was still a toddler. Her mother was my lola's labandera for years, and she still goes there whenever there are odd jobs available at the house. The thing is, she takes this for granted and to me, not texting us that she can't come is an insult and a slap on the face. The only reason why we put up with her is because I want to see my baby when I go home and when I wake up in the morning. But now, I think I can live with Sophie staying at my in-laws during working days temporarily until we find a replacement, just so I won't have these weekly yaya headaches.

I think that we've been kind and understanding enough with her but it has come to a point that we're being stressed out because of her. Its hard to be considerate to someone who is inconsiderate to you. I'm tired and I think enough is enough.

ako na bahala . . . (konting angst lang)

2008-10-25T19:28:00.007+08:00

Eto lang masasabi ko sa mga makapal ang mukha. Kilala nyo kung sino kayo. Malapit na oras nyo. Matagal na ko'ng pikon at alam ko na alam nyo na mainit dugo ko. Pasalamat kayo at di ko kayo nakikita araw-araw at kung hindi, araw-araw nyo mararamdaman pagkainis ko. Kilala nyo ko. Wala akong sinasanto pag galit ako. Nakita nyo na kung pano ako mapikon di ba? May nagawa ba kayo?

Umayos-ayos kayo dyan. Marami na 'kong naririnig.

Alam ko na nababasa nyo 'to.

O, ano? Ano masasabi nyo?

Wala? E ganyan naman talaga e. Wala kayong yagbols. Magsamsama pa kayo.

manilenyo

2008-10-24T19:21:00.007+08:00

I've always been asked what province I hail from. Its very typical for us to be asked this question, especially from people, mostly our senior, who knows someone who goes by our last names. My last name is very common and its very normal for me to meet someone who shares the same last name.

With all the years of hearing this question, I never really knew how to answer it. You see, I grew up in the metro and I've seldom gone to my provinces. Yes . . . PROVINCES.

On my father's side, my grandfather hailed from Iloilo and my grandmother came from Pampanga. Both migrants to the big city and I assume that they met here.On my mother's side, my grandmother is from Nagkarlan, Laguna while my grandfather is a very proud son of Pangasinan. They met during the war when my grandfather, who was a soldier and a PMAer at that, was in Laguna, being a part of the local guerrilla movement.

When I was growing up, my family seldom visited these places and I really don't know much about our relatives. There's a good chance that we'd meet and never know that we were related. It was very taxing for me to explain my "probinsya" situation and sometimes I wished that I really have one province to speak of. My wife's parents are both from Bacolod and for her, its very easy to say that she's Illongga. Me, I'm 1/4 Illonggo, 1/4 Tagalog, 1/4 Ilocano and 1/4 Panggalatok

Whew. Now you see how hard it is to explain.. Never bothered to learn the dialects though. It's ok since my parents can't speak them too.

To simplify my answer every time I get asked about it, I just say that I was born and raised in Manila, and only engage in conversations about my provinces when I hear an Illonggo, Panggalatok, Ilocano and even southern Tagalog accent from the person who's asking. Besides, I'm proud and happy to be a Manilenyo.

:-)

life is like a box of chocolates . . .

2008-10-21T18:07:00.003+08:00

I never forgot this line from Forest Gump: "Life is like a box of chocolates . . . you never know what you're gonna get". Sometimes, things don't go as planned and it would bring us down. I myself have experienced my share of ups and downs. There are times when I would be at a very high point in my life, and there are times that I feel like I have the worst luck in the world. I have always looked back to these bad times and try to rationalize why these things happen.

I found out that good things ALWAYS come out from bad things that happen. We learn a lot from our mistakes and a lot of good things happened to me in because of some unfortunate events that happened to my life. Its very hard to go through the bad times but its something that we all go through. Its a good thing that we have God, family and friends to help us out.

We can never enjoy life without experiencing everything from all the good and all the bad that comes with it. Sometimes, I'd like to think that I'm a spectator of my own life, sitting back and just waiting for what will happen next, especially when things that are happening around me are beyond my control. Just like watching a movie or reading a book. Sometimes we like the ending and sometimes we dont.

We will never know what will happen next, even if we plan ahead. We may be thinking of one thing and then the exact opposite happens. You think that you're getting the mint chocolate but when you take a bite, caramel oozes out.

But one thing is for sure: I love chocolate. And if it takes me two chocolate caramels and one chocolate with nuts to get my mint chocolate, so be it.

:-)

survivor philippines

2008-10-18T23:10:00.007+08:00

Ok, so I'm addicted to Survivor Philippines. So addicted that I joined 2 sites about the show:

www.survivorphilippines.com the unofficial site and www.survivorphilippines.tv the official site.

Both sites are ok but I guess I like the unofficial site better because I can watch episodes that I've missed thru video streaming.

My personal final three would be the following castaways:

1) Vern - the cutie taekwando coach is the heart of the team. She's always gets the job done and she gets along very well with everybody. She is a true warrior and I hope she wins the whole thing.

2) Jace - the youngest castaway and by far the most matured in my opinion. It's obvious that he's in this game to win and just like Vern, he's very effective as a team member. Puts the tribe first. Even voted off his friend for the good of the tribe.

3) Cris - the guy cracks me up! He's also a team player. Doesn't care what people think of him, even though he acts like a jackass from time to time (he thought he could maneuver a boat the way he drives a car) . Naak's Chitae will surely be there when both tribes merge.

Castaways that I'd like to see voted off :

1) Marlon - He just can't stop yapping and his bark is worse than his bite, as seen in the last two challenges. Yes, he is useful to Jarakay because he can cook, but anybody born in a country where rice is the staple food CAN cook rice, and, when the Jarakay peeps realize that, this dude's out!

2) Nikki - What is she doing there? Why is she still there? When will she be voted off? How can Jarakay win with her in the tribe? She's lucky John was sick or she would've gone home on the last tribal council.

3) Kiko - I don't know. Nice guy? I just don't buy his personality. He's got this "holier than thou" thing. I think its crap. The game is Survivor and to win you have to outwit, outplay and outlast. If he can't hack it, if he thinks he has values that cannot be compromised to win the game, then I think he should play Gobingo instead.

Oh by the way, I'm so glad that Patani was voted out, but I'm bummed to see her active on tv (seriously? SERIOUSLY??!!). Well, I guess she deserves to be on TV for a while, since she worked so hard just to get her "exfosure". I just hope she doesn't get "overexfosed" or her 15 minutes of fame will end very quickly.

I don't believe that people in reality tv are doing what they naturally do in their everyday lives in front of the camera. Case in point: don't we all smile or make face or fix ourselves so we'd look good whenever someone's taking our picture? Same thing in reality tv. Everyone wants to look good because they're aware that they're being filmed.

That's just my theory.

But hey, I do enjoy watching it and I hope things get more interesting as the days go by.

:-)

KBL

2008-10-15T19:29:00.002+08:00

Isn't it weird that as we grow older, we tend to see most of our close friends during K - kasal, B - binyag (ng mga anak) and L - libing (grandparents or parents)? When I was younger, I never thought that I would hardly see my friends when I grow up. I always thought that we'd get to see each other as much as we wanted to. But, as they say, the only thing that is constant is change, and yes, a lot of things changed over the years.

While we do keep in touch, with the help of modern technology from pagers, to celfones and now through YM, it seems that we only see each other during special occasions, and its very rare that everyone's available. There are always one or two persons in the group who couldn't make it. We try to get together during Christmas but last year's gathering did not push through.

There's always a hight probability that all your friends will be there during weddings, but the downside is that the one getting married doesn't have enough time to talk during the reception and often times would just have time to say hello while going around each table. Real close friends would stay for a while, not minding that most of the guests have gone, just so they'll get the chance to chit chat as a complete group.

I went to the baptism of my friend Mark's 2nd child in Parañaque last Saturday. Its been a while since I've been to that area. I used to live there and our family left and transferred around four years ago. As expected, most our friends couldn't come because of various reasons. We talked about having a get together once every quarter. Most of our kids are girls and we think that the kids should get to know each other as they grow up, which is one of the reasons why we're planning this. Our wives said that they'll do the planning and all we have to do is do the spending. Personally, I'd rather plan than spend hehe.

I heard that the mom of our friend died a few years ago. This friend has chosen to be estranged from us for personal reasons that up to now, I do not understand. Had we known, we would have one there, but we found out much later. Death is a fact of life and we all go through it and I think that pain and sadness is a bit lessened when one is in the company of close friends.

It is impossible to have gatherings as much as we want to now that most of us have out own families, but I know that we try our best and that's good enough for me. I just hope that the quarterly thing pushes through.

Basta, sagot ko lechon manok hehe!

:-)

LSS

2008-10-15T18:13:00.002+08:00

One song that I can't seem to get out of my head these days is this. I know that everyone is praying for this in whatever they do in their daily lives. We all need this from time to time and if you have faith, it does happen.

Pakarazzi Express # 3

2008-10-10T19:21:00.003+08:00

Our Business Planning presentation is finally done and now I can get back to business! Been doing the presentation since Monday and its a good thing that it went well. I've been playing playstation every night since Monday just so I can loosen up and relieve stress.

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I'm looking forward to November because I have some out of town trips planned and Davao and CDO is in my itinerary. I always love going to Davao. Its one most beautiful places in the country! I've made some friends in CDO and I'm excited to have the chance to see them again.

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Today was very freaky! Freaky Friday! Still can't say why :-)

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Why do I suddenly have the urge to listen to this song?

To download, click here.

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I was talking to my friend about how God gives whatever you need whenever you need it, no matter how impossible it may seem. I agree. It's happened to me. Still happening, actually. Galing!

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Looks like its going to be a very rainy weekend. I certainly hope not. Rain or shine, have a happy weekend!

:-)

justice?

2008-10-07T19:42:00.003+08:00

Went home a bit early because of some domestic brouhaha, but still needed to do some work for our presentation this coming Friday. I'm actually using my downtime to write this.

Anyway, I saw on the news that Claudio Teehankee, who was imprisoned for shooting and killing Maureen Hultman and her friend inside an exclusive subdivision back in the 90's, will be released from lifetime imprisonment because GMA commuted his sentence.

I really can't believe that they're considering to let him go. How can they release a murderer? Well, they released a plunderer so this really doesn't surprise me. I also heard that Teehankee was being considered because of good behavior. If only he was behaving the time he shot those people, then he wouldn't even be there.

I say let the f***er rot in jail. Otherwise, anyone will think that they can kill and pretend to behave inside their cells with the knowledge that they'll be out in a few years because of good behavior.

He took a life for pete's sake!

I don't get this at all.

Yup, I'm definitely buying a gun. Their letting killers out of jail now.

buzz on the bizz

2008-10-06T20:00:00.003+08:00

No time to blog. Up to my neck for our biz planning this coming Friday. Nothing worth blogging anyway, unless you want to know our biz plan for next year, not that I have any intention of blogging about it.

What's on my mind right now:
- mktg strats
- sales targets
- industry movements
- swot analysis
- this year's accomplishments / revenues
- fearless forecasts hehe

This will be my longest week ever! Hehe

:-)

Sophie's early x-mas gift

2008-10-02T12:40:00.007+08:00

I bought Sophie a 2nd hand battery operated 4-wheel motorcycle from an officemate for a really cheap price. I've been wanting to buy her that for this year's Christmas but the brand new ones are a little pricey at around Php 4k (minimum). Good thing my officemate sold it to me for just P1.5k, still a little pricey, but cheaper compared to the new ones. The toy is still ok, although the stickers on it are faded already, but its ok 'coz the important thing is the motor works and Sophie enjoys playing with it.

We were planning to use it yesterday, which was a holiday, but because of the rain, Sophie had to play it in-doors.

Here are some pics:

Sophie's new Harley!

Sophie: "Ang layo na ng narating ko a!"

Sophie: "Nawawala na yata ako!"

Sophie: "Kasya kaya si Barney dito?"

Sophie: "San ba gas station nito?"

Jan (before I brought home the toy): "Bakit ka bumili nun? Gastos lang yan!"
Jan (after I brought home the toy): "Kasya Kami!"

Jan: "Sophie, ako naman. Alis dyan!!"

common ground videos for parents and kids

2008-09-29T19:58:00.006+08:00

I saw Hallmark's version of Jack and the Beanstalk - The Real Story on DVD this weekend and I enjoyed their version of the story. Its a different story from what we all heard when we were kids. I actually like Hallmark's productions and I have some of their DVDs: The Odyssey, Gulliver's Travels, Merlin and Earthsea.

I'm planning to collect more of these productions because I want my kids to enjoy these stories, as much as I enjoyed them when I was growing up. Most of them are on sale anyway hehe!

I've collected a lot of cartoons on VCD and DVD way way before Sophie was even born. I have The Lion King (all 3 of them) Toy Story 1&2, Mulan 1&2, Dinosaur, Hercules, Beauty and the Beast, Alladin (all 3), Emperor's New Groove, Alice in Wonderland, Bambi, Merry Poppins, A Bug's Life and a lot more of the classic Disney Cartoons. I watch them from time to time but most of the VCDs in my collection have not been opened yet. Come to think of it, I should have opened and tested them because now, I can't return them anymore if ever they're damaged.

Anyway, I'm glad that I collected them 'cause now, Sophie and her soon to be kapatid, can watch these cartoons and kiddie films that I also enjoyed. Its something that me and my kids can talk about while drinking . . . melamine free milk hehe.

:-)

who moved my cheese?

2008-09-25T20:20:00.002+08:00

I read this book I think about 9 years ago. Everyone in our marketing team was encouraged to read books by our boss and this was one of the books that I've read. Its about how one should cope through life. Trust me when I say that if you haven't read it, you should. That's why I'm having the e-book version linked here for download. Enjoy!

WHO MOVED MY CHEESE
click to download

:-)