LOOK WHO'S TALKING

Jake: 'Ey Cuz,... looks like I wouldn't be around to celebrate your 1st birthday.
Zia: And why is that? (hungrily looks over the baby back ribs on the menu)

Jake: Mom said she'll give you the cash instead of spend it on PAL (Cebu-Manila-Cebu) tickets. (I think I'll have chicken fingers...)
Zia: Fair enough. Let me see... How much cash gift would that be? Eleventy-two...carry 9...

(Zia is the lovely *buti na lang! hehehe* daughter of my sis May. She turns 1 today and will have a grand birthday party tomorrow after the arrival of Paparazzi and Mamarazzi from a short trip).

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY ZEEEE!!!!

Forget Not Yet

My cube is as sparse as the day I first sat here as Corporate Services Manager 4.5 months ago. Tomorrow, I'll relinquish the title as I move on to another post with a new IT company.

Now I look around me silently just feeling sentimental that in such a short span of time that I've made friends with a wonderful bunch of hardworking team players, I'm about to leave them...

I should have given myself enough time to get to know them more. I should have gone out of my imagined shell sooner to spend more lunches with them. Heck, I should have even joined them in one of their numerous badminton matches.

Alas, I only have a day left to enjoy their company...

I know that no matter how fleeting one's presence is actually felt I take comfort in the thought that I’m not taking away but rather adding more people to my roster of good friends.

Gazing out of my window, I see the blue skies and the green trees giving a colored palette to an otherwise bare cubicle.

Somehow it reminds me that there are always better opportunities that await me, and more friends to make.

Hasta luego!

Matthew's Biggest Fan

I watched Matt's basketball game last Saturday. His school team (SHS-Jesuit) played versus University of San Carlos. It was a crucial game for the Jesuits as losing on this one meant getting eliminated from the Milo tournament for this year.

And like the other parents in the gym, I was rooting for Matt's team, most particularly, for him. The Jesuits played well against their opponent and on the last quarter match, the rival team's lead was down to 4 points.

Being the tallest, Matt plays the center position. Since he is one of the best players of the Jesuit Eagles (and I'm stating that as a fact! Heheh...), he was naturally being double-teamed or tightly screened to prevent him from scoring.

During the crucial last few minutes, Matthew got fouled while on the act of shooting. He naturally had to take free shots. The noise in the gym was deafening. It was a mixture of cheers AND jeers.

I heard the "boos" and felt bad that Matt had to hear all these. I was hoping he doesn't get distracted. Muttering to myself, I felt like saying "What's up with you people??! That is MY SON you're booing! And as the "boos" from supporters of the other team became louder, I screamed my head off shouting: "Let's GO, Matts!!!"

Freeze frame. Matt on top of the key hole, getting ready to shoot the ball. He dribbled once and twice...

And he sinks 2 points!

YYY-YESSS!!!! MWAHAHAHA! I jumped up and down in glee. And then I remembered the "boos" and silently said...

BLPPFFTT!!!!

(Post script: The Jesuits lost by 4 points, but they proved to be a tough team to beat. On to the next tournament...)

How's this for BOO? I was about to post a pic of Matt in action but when I got to Flickr, the site flashed a message: Flickr is having a massage. Flickr is closed for emergency maintenance - sorry about that.

Matt, getting ready to shoot the ball...

Not in photo are the jeering fans of the rival team , stationed on the opposite side of the Blue Eagles'

As Good As Blind

At 5am yesterday, I scooped Jake from his playpen as soon as he stood up and made giggly sounds. I wasn't fully awake yet, but I thought he was safer on the bed between Jerry and me rather than in his pen. He knows how to clamber up using the mesh and I shudder at the thought that one day he might just be able to get himself out... with a thud!

So he lay there with us sucking his milk bottle. I bundled him in the blankie and just kept my eyes closed... happy to be able to hold him close and sniff his milk-scented cheeks and jammies... Hmm. Cute...

I must have dozed off for a few minutes. When I finally opened my eyes, I fumbled under my pillows looking for my glasses. I usually keep my glasses by the headboard or on the chair that doubled up as a side table, however, this time it was under my pillows. Or so I thought...

When I sat up, I found my glasses literally snapped from the joint. It broke and when I looked up, a big part of it lay next to Jake. Grr... The little guy must have found it and fiddled with it until it broke.

~~~~~~~~~~

Still on my eyeglasses...

It was a pair of Esprit eyeglasses that came with shades that you just snap on the sides (magnetic) when you need to protect your eyes from the sun. I bought it for almost P4ooo back in 1997. I had the lenses changed several times when my eye grade increased. Just a couple of months ago, I spent P1600 for special new lenses when my grade became 300 on both eyes. I thought, gee, new lenses but still the same old trusty frames. It practically served me well.

When I saw my eyeglasses yesterday morning in two pieces, I thought, oh...no... I'm as good as blind!

Last night, with Jerry and Kyle, I went to the mall and headed straight to i2i. I gingerly looked over their display and soon found one that kinda looked okay. I paid P200 and went up to Executive Optical where I had my records since the time I bought my Esprit pair from them.

In contrast to what I usually got before, this time I ordered ordinary plastic lenses to replace the equally cheap ones on the i2i frame. I paid P300. Reasonable. Total (completely unnecessary!) expense brought on by Jake - P500+

With Jake around, I don't think another expensive pair is practical. I just hope this new pair of retro specs lasts me a looong time and adds a few "ganda" points to my looks.

Ahem. You be the judge of that. Hehehe.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!


That's Mamarazzi with me...


MMM-MWAHH !!!! Kisses all the way from Cebu to Canada! May you have more blessings to count, birthdays to celebrate and wonderful places to visit. We love you!

Moon Festival

The Chinese Moon Festival, or sometimes called the Mid-Autumn Festival, takes place on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. The festival dates back to the Tang dynasty 618 A.D. and celebrates the biggest and brightest full moon of the year, the harvest moon.

The Moon Festival is a holiday in China. It's an occasion for family reunions. Chinese families like to get together to eat the moon cakes and watch the moon at the Moon Festival night. Just like other Chinese families who wish to commemorate this festival, we spent Sunday playing the dice, partaking of a hearty dinner and just spending time with loved ones.











~~~~~HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO EYA!!!~~~~~

A Juggling Act

Lamp at Khrua Thai where we had dinner with the company president who also happens to be Junnie's good friend.

I hold two jobs now. One, as Corporate Services Manager and the other, as Operations Manager of an IT company. This is more like it, I thought. I'm more used to overlapping 2 jobs prior to finally moving to the next, rather than spending months on end, in between jobs. This is only up to the end of this month, when my 29-day notice will be over.

Yesterday, the President of my new employer, came over to check on the progress of the office renovation at the IT Park, to finalize talks with the suppliers and to discuss operational matters with me. I anticipated the day to be filled with meetings so I had to go on leave for a day from my soon-to-be- ex-employer.

True enough, we spent most of the time near the renovation/fit-out site to ensure that the suppliers deliver their products and fulfill their contracts as agreed. I realized I was the only lady in a male-dominated setting, but I didn't mind. I was excited to see everything fall into place more than anything.

The interior design has been ironed out (after several revisions, heh!), the server room is almost done, the pabx will soon start wiring together with the leased line provider and the A/C supplier. In a week or two, the rest of the infrastructure will be put in place.

Ah, busy days are up ahead.

The day has been productive with dinner doubling as meeting of sorts where we discussed about our minimal stake in the total investment and other matters. Inasmuch as we're all excited to see this venture take-off, we made sure that all areas of concern have been covered. The big ones and the nitty-gritty.

I can hardly wait.


We were still in the Thai resto even after the last of the diners have gone... Talk about really maximizing the time...

Camphone, Phonecam, Walkman?!

My cellphone, a trusty Nokia 7650 has been with me since its heydey in 2003. Back when camphones were the newest rage to hit the tech market, when colored screens upped the prices of cell units by notches, the camphone was a vanity and a technomaniac’s must-have item.

The Nokia 7650 allowed the user to take images of almost anything he fancied, and allowed him to brandish the same to envious others who thought the cellphones were just miniscule electronic boxes for communicating. At best, it produced grainy thumb-sized images on the screen and yet, people still ogled at its novelty.

Though the choppy video clips with sound left one with more to be desired, it tickled the user’s fancy to the point that the cellphone’s video capability even became the bane of un/willing victims of voyeurs. But I digress…

Soon enough, the cellphone users then were not anymore content with a cellphone/FM radio bundled in one. They pined for the 7650 just like I did. Regardless of its use, it was THE phone at that time.

Since then, the succeeding slew of diminutive cellphones have morphed into a megapixel camphone, a fully functional PDA, or an mp3 player with gigabytes of external memory capacity. I was quite convinced that soon there will be a cellphone with a Swiss knife bundled as well. Of course Im just exaggerating.

It is the 2-megapixel camera and the mp3 player capability that drew me to a particular brand. For a while I was drawn to the Sony Ericsson K750i. I would walk over any cellphone display that had this unit. And everytime I did, I hopefully checked if its price has already gone down or if it was on promo.

As luck would have it, Globe ran THE promo that would eventually seal the deal for me - 18 months installment interest free on the latest models. I hurriedly looked at the brochure to see if my preferred model was there. Nope. It wasn’t part of the promo BUT, there was a better one! The Sony Ericsson W800i more popularly known as the Walkman phone was on the promo list and I couldn’t be happier.

It’s a long story but the short of it is - I bought the SE W800i.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What I like about the SE W800i:



o You can select to listen to music only, instead of use the phone with full functionality. Very useful when in an airplane or in a hospital where equipment may be sensitive to cellular transmitters.

o Listen to MP3 music with OR without the ear buds or connect it to any standard speaker system

o 2 megapixel camphone. Why go low if there’s a better one, right?

o High-resolution video capability that plays on Quicktime.

o free 512MB memory stick pro duo expandable to 1 GB storage capacity (the same as an iPod shuffle)

o Triband

o Small size, lightweight,

o AND LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST >>> 18 months to pay at 0% interest

Getting Involved

As we busily got entangled with our individual work/business, Jerry and I managed to squeeze some time to be with the kids on....

... the day they received their 1st grading report cards...





(Matt got the 1st honor while Kyle erroneously got 2nd. We refused to accept Kyle's report card after the Chinese teacher acknowledged making a mistake in the computation. We expect the grade to be changed this week.)

... the opening of the Milo Small Basketeers Tournament where Matt plays the Center position for the Eagles of Jesuit school...



... the day Kyle and Jake dressed up alike before going out to play...





... Matt's practice game against the Mabolo team...




Pic#3 - The center and the point guard; Pic#4 - Matt and the coach

...the Milo Little Olympics where Matt won 2 GOLD MEDALS with his grade school team for the 4x100 meters and 4x400 meters relays against other schools in the Visayas.

He was at his best yesterday when he ran a total of 1 km rain or shine. Jerry and I were there to see him through the physical challenge till he achieved the gold medals...






Matt is partly hidden by his gold medal as he proudly showed it off. Notice the barefoot runners on the 2nd platform. Reminds me of the sorry state of Philippine sports...

To Kick A Bad Habit - Sleeping

It used to be okay but now I find it annoying. I have to kick the habit fast, sleeping, that is. Since when did sleeping become a bad thing right? Well it is when you do it at work, while driving, in church or when talking to somebody (no matter how boring).

I’m not saying that I ever did sleep on occasions earlier mentioned (Muntik-muntikanan lang/Almost, hehehe). What I’m talking about is when I do it when I’m not supposed to - like when I get home, even before dinner or after dinner when I should be bonding with my boys or helping them out with their school stuff. I think Jerry finds it a tad annoying too without having to say a word. I just feel he does.

What makes it worse is that when I doze off, I wake up 3 hours later (or at midnight) when everybody else is asleep. This happens a number of times during the week. And I’m wide awake for about 2-3 hours well after midnight. The upside here is since I’m awake, it enables me to respond promptly when Jake fusses for milk (at least 2x every night) or when his diaper needs to be changed. Then I get to sleep again by 2 or 3am rendering me a bit dazed when I wake up. With this sleep pattern, I end up too sleepy early in the evening.

It’s a vicious cycle. I need to get back to a more regular sleep routine of 11pm-6am. Problem is I don’t last that late. Grr…

~~~~~~~~~~

Missing Pa and Ma who are presently in Canada /USA with Junnie. I know you're enjoying the trip. Next time sama kami!


With Paparazzi and Mamarazzi at Bubba Gump last July

The Roadshow and the EENT Clinic Visit

Missing The Roadshow

I knocked off at 2pm yesterday and missed the Marketing roadshow at 3pm. It was supposed to present the new rates for Air21.

Well… I missed the food that went with this meeting more than anything else. Hahaha!

~~~~~~~~~~

Jake In The EENT Clinic

The reason I left early was to bring Jake to the EENT Specialist to have his left ear checked. It bothered him so much that when I tried to touch it, he would move away at best or cry at worst. But looking at how he was moving about in the doctor’s clinic, nobody would guess that he was suffering from an ear infection.

Jake busily moved around, played with the (dead) telephone, wrote on my newspaper, climbed up and down the lounge chairs, talked to the receptionist, talked to the other patients and the med rep. He was all over the place, I tell you. What energy!

Jake was puzzled why inspite of all the others conversing with him and entertaining his antics, there was one man who just sat there, seemingly unmindful of the laughter and the funny gait that Jake was consciously doing.

It turned out the man was blind. Aw, kawawa naman.

What was I doing while all of this was going on? I sat comfortably on the couch happily picking and munching a small bag of squash seeds the whole time. Hehehe…


You're lucky to ever find Jake in this reflective mood.... (...taken on his 2nd plane ride to Manila)... Most of the time, he is a livewire who can tire anyone who attempts to look after him....


"Nyehehehe", Jake snickered...

This Is The Day

… I wore a pink tee with white denims to work…It's wash day…



… I read the newspaper twice as I waited for the applicant for interview…



… I interviewed and hired on the same day an applicant for the position of Purchasing Assistant…



… I cussed (mentally) why my Flickr pics on my blog didn't show on IE…Some glitch but it's now back...



… I waited for Junnie to go online in the afternoon, but he didn't… That's ok...

… I told May to pack-up and enjoy her free days prior to her transfer to a new employer…



… I had difficulty finishing off a big slab of pork chop for lunch not because of its size but because it was kinda tough



… I restlessly sat on my black office chair…



… I sat facing my cube wall, my back against my desk, and looked at the metal plate attached to the wall. It bore the words: Finance Manager…



… I quietly looked over my cube and took in the view right before me of laughing people, humming printers and clicking keyboards… What a busy but happy sight…



… I vacillated for a moment...

... I made a leap of faith...

... I decidedly turned in my resignation...

My Precocious Little Tot Jake

If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm. - Bruce Barton

Ah yes, it's Friday, my favorite time of the week. Looking forward to hours and hours of play with this butterball of a tot. Hmmm....

When You Read A Book As A Child...

...it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does. - (from the movie You've Got Mail, 1998)


Jake seems to be awed looking at all the books at Powerbooks Alabang last July.

When I was young, I remember fondly how I love(d) reading books that our Mama(razzi) used to buy from Bookmark Escolta, near her BIR office. My brother, Junnie and I would consider it a treat if we were taken to Bookmark one summer day to browse over the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys collections. We didn't mind riding jeepneys and the blue Love Bus to get to Escolta. All that mattered was getting to Bookmark and being in book heaven. Don't you just love the smell of those crisp pages????

In Bookmark or in any other bookstore for that matter, we would go over the shelves looking for something that would catch our reading fancy. As a kid, I veered towards the Science or Fact books and had Lady Bird Books about insects, dogs, the solar system, the human body, bees, ants, and saints. I also had a few Nancy Drew books which I found quite pricey to collect at that time (about P49.95 back in the early '80s) so I just contented myself by borrowing from the school library.

Later on, I started reading Sweet Dreams and other juvenile stuff. Then I graduated to biographies and have read about the Kennedys, the Windsors, among others. Then added design and self-help books to my preference. Junnie was more into the Guinness Books of World Records and NBA magazines. Now he is into fiction/bestsellers too. (Is that right, Jun?)

So yes, I do love reading - not just hardbound, paperback, and other printed media, but online reading materials as well (blogs, etc.) That explains why I probably have 300:300 vision and perennially wear eyeglasses.

------

A few days back, I was in the mall with the boys looking for PC and PS1 games. As they were busily looking, I was also checking out the music mp3s. (Oops piracy...) In fact, I helped myself with one mp3 of Cafe Del Mar collection for P100. Cheap, I thought. And that already contained about 7 or more albums.

While looking some more, I came across a collection of mp3 audio books. They had Dan Brown, Tolkien, Rowling, Tom Clancy, Anne Rice, Covey etc. One mp3 cd contained an audiobook and an e-book and cost a measly P100! That's a small fraction of the actual book cost!

I bought Harry Potter Book 6 and Bill Clinton's My Life for P100 each.

The novelty about this is that we listen to the Harry Potter story every morning on our way to school as it is being read by a man who is talented in changing his voice depending on the character. Your imagination gets stirred. You feel like you're transported to some magical place. It's actually more powerful than watching a movie, at least for me. It feels like we are kids huddled together listening to a storyteller! It has become a new activity to engage in while enroute to school. Amusing really.

And oh, take note, it's fun listening to My Life too. It is read by no less than the former US President himself!

Now to get me an iPod!...


Starting Jake young...