Birthday Alarm

Hi friends,

I am building a birthday book for myself and would appreciate some quick help from you. Just click on the link below and enter your birthday details. It's easy and you can keep your age secret!...

http://www.birthdayalarm.com/dob/12201894a995436109b363

Thanks,
Jamz

Its my party ...

and I cry if I want to ... not that I would have of course. Thanks for the cool books guys, Wizardry(blue) and Dragonology(red)!

Por que, mon ami?

Right, appologies to avid readers of my blog. Its been a bumpy few days and I was just getting my thoughts together. Will be posting what you all missed from a few days back a bit later.

Movie Review: Hostel

Took some time out for myself and decided to watch something I like. As usual and expected that meant flying solo with one wing since nobody I know easily available and keeps the same hours I do to come along. The story unfolds at a brisk pace. It doesn't have that very Hollywood effect of glitter and pizzaz that has been there for some time. There's more of that "Blair Witch" touch to it but of a finesse coming from "Kill Bill". What do you exect, it is a QT film after all.

Not being a horror fan at all unless watching with a group, the rave reviews and being in too many death defying situations in real life saw me watching this, as mentioned, comfortable solo. No spoilers here after all, just my recommendation and agreement to WATCH THIS FLICK!

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Perhaps the down side of watching alone in any movie is not having the stength of numbers. That is, if one of you decides to spoil the whole thing or make a discussion there isn't going to be much in terms of others trying to disuade you or hush you. Well, given that this was after all "Hostel" and the gratitious use of drugs, sex, and violence were in play .... taking a pick axe and bashing a few "talking heads" was something I was greatly considering. Amazing, I actually found myself liking this film.

Hey FK, you suck!

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"One Wing", I have that cd from Lawrence Juber, too. Got it from one of his and daughter Ilse's performances down in Sta. Monica some time last year. I'm quite grateful David P. brought me down to meet some of his friends. :-)

Hit the Ground Running

A torturous 15-hour plane ride to Manila via Guam. Accordingly not a full flight but with the kinds of people on the plane it was the same thing. The guy beside me had the gall to actually take up 3 seats to lie down with his head right next to my butt. Ooooweehhh .... something tells me I should have accepted the order for hot coffee and tipped the cup to stop the snoring.

Arrived at the Centennial airport with a surprisingly short line at immigration. Unfortunately it was all evened out with the luggage just eking onto the carousel.

My wallet with peso currency was missing prior to the flight. Good thing the coupon taxi (the cheapest way all for the sake of the company and my discomfort) accepted dollars.

Got to the house, took a bath, into the office, back to deadlines. Such is life.

The Heat is ON

Finally after days of freezing cold, I've had enough. Went over to the office and checked on a few sites about portable heaters.

Called Target, but both branches in the area didn't carry them. One did, but at the cost of $14.95 the results of such a cheap gadget weren't promising.

Hmmm, where does a classy guy like me try to find one that would look good at home?

Ah, the Sharper Image. So off we go to check the sites. Called the nearest to home at the Glendale Galleria and unfortunately they didn't carry. However, they said the Sta. Anita branch did.

Heh, called that branch and voualah! Only the Model#5511 was available and the #5512 with swivel towers and on discounted sale was out of stock. Well, I settled for the former and off we went.

Its now sitting at home and I love every minute of warm air on my back and as I sleep.

Alas, only one gripe is that it isn't good enough to warm the whole room. Its a spot heater. If I'd spent another $90 perhaps I'd have gotten the bigger one .... but not being sure and not wanting to spend all that for a quick fix.

Looks like I'll have to task the heating company after all when I get back and have them finish the job of replacing all the needed tubing for the furnace. At this point, f*ck the cost I've no plans of freezing to death. :-)

Its My Turn

Well, it had to happen eventually. On the way to Circuit City to look at a few gadgets I dropped by the very first McDonalds that I went to last December in Pasadena. I ordered for a #4 meal "go large" on the fries and drink.

I paid, took my order, and left.

Taking a left into the CC parking lot, I took a few bites on the fries. As I was about to open the burger I noticed something was odd about the packaging. A #4 includes a doube-quarter pound cheese burger and this was one for the regular quarter. Checking inside and counting the meat, it was 0-1. I've been cheated!?

Well, dropped the burger back into the bag and looked into the store first. I'm patient.

Driving back, I remembered the guy I mentioned at another store branch. Ah, I feel for yah. What a stupid waste of time for a simple order thats plainly in the menu and served by the same person who took your order. Aaaargh!

Had the burger replaced and with a fresh batch of fries (the least they could do!). Harrumph!

North Wind

I'm up over in San Jose for a meeting. Flew by Burbank with a return this afternoon. Biglaan lang, cover daw ako sa nag-kasakit. Thats fine by me, I needed to excercise my flying lungs anyway. Besides, here's a good chance to practive my presentation skills for a possible speaking slot come September in Canada. That would be a huge crowd compared to this one. But, the main similarity eh mga matataas na posisyon na di gaano may kaalaman sa security at direksyon ng dapat gawan ng preparation.

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I've starte to notice a tendency to snap into Tag-lish recently. Perhaps its homesickness setting in? The other possibility is I'm re-honing my skills since I'm coming home in a few days. Woohoo!

Watching: 2 Brothers and a Bride

I've never seen this movie before, and perhaps the reason it was never shown on the big screen anyway. It is showing on LOVEW channel though, so lets see how it goes. Pretty funny so far. Hmm, let me check this on Google as well as that website. Hwahahah!

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Ah, its also known as "Foreign Affair" in one of its releases. Found that out here - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305583/

Nice pooch!

Here's my cuz Michelle with her really cute pet.

Did I ever mention how we discovered each other? I believe it was on that trip to London. She's a stewardess and just as I was about to get off we get to talking and she mentions her last name was Yaneza. Now, heck, you don't say? So we've been in touch on email sometimes ever since.

My dad told me he knows of one branch of the family that settled in Hong Kong. So yeah, we're closely related. After all, how many Yaneza's are there in the world? 

Just in Time

Got back in the office after finishing that business with the gas company. In the nick of time, too. Appears we needed some comments and feedback for a journalist, and I was on point.

It went well, given I turned the response in more than a day before the actual interview. Now for some comments on the original content. Hard to see more concise feedback but we'll see. Nobody's perfect and I'm happy to learn all the time. As should we all!

Now, back to the things I've been assigned to do. Damn, I need more mojo to write this stuff ....

Gimme some Gas!

I did mention that part about not having gas the other time. Well, come this Monday morning the gas company came by and checked the appliances. The stove and oven, the water heater BUT sadly not the furnace heating. Appears to be a problem with the valves to turn it off, meaning its a dilema.

We could leave the pilon on with the possibility of it going off in bad windy weather. Meaning if it happened at night, there is no way to turn it off unless someone crawls beneath the house and do it manually. Not me, no way.

So the pilon is off for now. We need a heating company to clean up, install some new tubing, etc. *sigh*

That just means "still" cold nights and my blankets. I'll survive. Taga-Baguio ini. Just as long as there's hot water in the tub to soak (which I'm contemplating doing often enough).

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Speaking of gas, remember the other night (the most recent) that I went to the golden arches? Seems to be the drive though has been missing out on some guy's orders for a couple of months. He wasn't exactly mad, just furious. He said something in the lines of "it doesn't make sense that my gas is more expensive than my meal .... yet I have to come back". Way to go for consumer rights! Sana ganyan din sa Pinas no? Kaya lang selective eh.

Playing with blog editors

I was looking into other ways to publish blogs (aside from posting from email, which is my favorite) and came upon dozens of choices. So far aside from the standard web, email, mobile, and audio native to Blogger I found information on these items:
-w.bloggar (what am using to post this now)
-b2evolution (which is another blogging setup)
-eh?

Aside from my original search I was looking for ways to may my blog more personal (such as restricting access to posts). Apparently there's no definite way to do this on Blogger and my searches have been futile. The options so far have been:
-xanga (as mentioned by a friend)
-move to a "real" blogging site :-(

I'll stick with Blogger and Blog*Spot, thank you very much, as its been really cool for me to use. Perhaps someday when I've got my own site and have time to maintain it.

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Oh, I tried for my own domain years ago. It was at the time I still had a computer sales shop con network gaming shop con desktop publishing con whatever. It was in the lines of software publishing and development which, as it has turned out, not been the role I have served for years to come later. Not sorry about that, we live and learn and move on to things that we believe in. Don't we?

Was in contact some time ago as well with a relative who owned the site I wanted. You can imagine my surprise and glee knowing it was there. However, the last time I was in contact was when he'd just moved in with his aunt in Atlanta, GA. Not sure if he's still there or what has happened. Still, visiting the site gets redirected to his other blog pages which is fine for me at the moment.

There are other things to do today.

Wishy-washy?

I'm over at my co-workers' apartment today washing clothes. If you've been reading past events you'll know why this was a logical thing to do.

One thing I hadn't mentioned was that the gas service had stopped 2 days ago and so there's no heating all over the apartment. Brrrr!

Realization, kung bakit sa tingin nating ibang Pinoy eh sanay na 'di naliligo ang 'Kano. Ikaw ba naman tumira sa disyertong ganito na kay lamig. Sige nga, dare!

Hehehe ... Oo na, tama na. Dalawang araw na akong 'di naliligo!
Putik, kahit pag-upo sa trono eh kay lamig. Kaka-urong talaga ng ...

So how do I sleep?

Of course, under the covers using your blanket to insulate yourself and retain body heat from your breathing. Then use several other topping layers to again keep some more.

Pero ngayon, habang ako'y naglalaba at sabay dryer... maliligo na ako.

Wahoo!!!

Supersize me

Well, its my second day eating to-go from the Golden Arches. From the same branch near the house, too. Same menu: double quarter pounder with cheese and large fries ... BUT today I added a chicken club crispy sandwich.

Yes, all sandwiches only since I previously got myself a couple of 2-liter Coke bottles. Why spend extra if I wasn't staying for the free refill anyway?

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The important difference of the fries here and the branches in Manila?

Fresh!

None of the YUCKY starch after taste. Hey you guys, I can cook too and you don't leave potatoes in water for hours or they'll not taste as great. If at all, at least change the water its being soaked in! And the oil, change that oil too. :-(

The only branch I recommend and perhaps for some time as I've not gone back to check again is Baguio (the Session Road one). The first time I ever loved commercialized fries .... ahh ....

Hold on, I'm still eating!

Let's start with e-mail ....

I've been playing with this feature today and finally got it to work. Gotta be careful what I post though as there may not be enough time to have it edited before it becomes public due to auto-publishing ;-p

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Over coffee some time ago, a group of friends were talking about their experience while working on an event. Well, lets say the event and the next what followed after was a huge success. However, there was a little tightness in the availability of time and rooms to take naps.

So some not-same gendered people happened to stay in the same room. All clean fun of course but there was a comment heard in the lines of "What?! That is inappropriate behavior. You should not have done that."

To which of course the reply was "Did you give us a choice?"

Oh please, this is not even just the 90's its 16-years (more than a decade and a half). Haven't you heard about sleep overs among friends? Did you even have any that weren't the "same" gender as you?

My, my, but wasn't there a tad bit of "innocence" (tongue in cheek) in that.

Imagine ... *sigh*

There is morality and there is morality. And for what its worth, your business is yours alone.

Eh? .... Eh?

I'm back!

So lets see if I can migrate some of my Multiply and Friendster postings over here, where it may make more sense(?)

Why start again now? Well I've just started to relocate and I find the ease of posting my thoughts here somewhat more comforting.

Yes, yes, some people have been saying why not "podcasting" - but see that really takes alot more time than I have. Lets save all that talking for serious conferences or personal discussions, at least for now.

Cheers!