Something's Coming Up

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It's 11 more days... And I haven't decided yet what to do for Jake's 3rd birthday. Bad Mama, I know... *cringe*

Any ideas out there? ;)

Random Weekend Photos

Jake visits his brothers' school and poses with Matt (in baby pink polo and denim pants) and the latter's classmates. Matt spends most Saturdays with his classmates to practice the play Ibong Adarna. His role is the good prince who wins the heart of the princess.
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Jake and Kyle enjoy cups of fresh fruit juice from Thirsty. I'm glad the schools don't allow sodas and junk food in school canteens anymore. No more sodas for these boys (if I could help it), just milk, fresh fruit juice or water, thankyouverymuch.
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Kyle walks after Ben Stiller as he pretends to be part of the "Night At The Museum" movie poster.
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Jake gets a haircut at Annie's. Blame the salon's barbers for the boys thick hair. :P
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Posterity Post - Brunei

Behold the photos from oil-rich Brunei (during Jerry's business trip last Feb 7-10)...

Cebuano Places No. 3

I just got hold of the SunStar Newspaper and was thrilled
with the news for 2 reasons:

1. that a Cebuano placed third in the doctors' board exams
2. and that the Cebuano 3rd placer is Jerry's 1st degree cousin!

(Click here for the news.)

"I was relieved that I passed. Being number 3 is just a bonus." - Omid

We're sooo proud and happy for Ali, Go-ee and Omid. Such a great blessing!

Nostalgia Bloggista :D

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Thanks to Nostalgia Manila! Here's the feature... (click here)


*Sorry Junnie, I just had to post our vintage pic... Kailangan ko ng kadamay...heeheehee...

New Cellphones for Jake

Last January, Jake's toy phone (which Junnie gave) got spirited away when it fell while we were inside the PAL plane. The culprit must have thought it was a good "pasalubong" for his kid so he hastily slipped it inside his jacket pocket. Either I was hallucinating when I saw the man keep it or the phone just managed to vanish itself into thin air.

Anyway, on our few trips to Globe's shop at the mall, we tried to bring home those brochures that look like a laptop or a cellphone and Jake would be happy to play with these...



Jake and his paper laptop and paper cellphone...
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Then a light bulb just popped in my head. I remembered about Jerry's friend who owns a cellular phone shop. I sorta prodded him to buy the old dummy phones usually displayed at the shop (my preference was a clamshell model)...

After a few phone calls from Jerry and a few days of wait, we happily handed Jake his new toys. Jerry's friend readily gave his old dummy phones (a Motorola and Samsung).... for free! Check them out...



They look like the real thing no?
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Tip to Moms/Dads whose young ones are fond of toy gadgets, try to buy the old model dummy phones from your local cellphone shops. They might just be willing to dispose of these obsolete (but real-looking) gizmos for free.

Now to find me somebody who has a dummy laptop... :P

Year of the Pig

Taken during the "Fire in the Sky" fireworks display at Waterfront Hotel, Lahug (Feb 17)
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With good friends from way back, F & D, we went to see the fireworks display at the Waterfront Hotel Lahug, last Saturday. However, the valet wouldn't take any more as the parking was already full. Most of the people planning to see the spectacle parked instead at the nearby Asiatown IT Park. We were among them. Heheh... Apparently, people had the same thing in mind.

After the 8-minute fireworks display, we drove back to Waterfront Hotel to spend a few hours at Treff. The place wasn't packed, to our surprise. It was just the perfect crowd that night. And the music was upbeat without being too noisy, a rather wholesome way to start the Year of the Pig.

Happy Chinese New Year!

One Day Job Fair

It was a crazy week not because of Valentine's but more because of the preparation I had to do for our one day recruitment/mini job fair. I had 18 applicants confirmed but only 16 were able to make it. After the hour-long test, and series of interviews by the HR and QA managers who flew in from Manila, we had a good number of candidates for job offer. In fact, one already signed up yesterday bringing our total employees to 21. Hopefully the other 4-5 candidates will sign up too by next week. (Note to self: start printing the offer sheets).



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Posing with the HR (with bronze bag) and QA (holding a jacket) managers.... I was holding on to our Red Herring Asia 100 streamer.

Post-Valentine Post

Okay so we knew how traffic could get really bad on the evening of Feb 14. So Jerry and I decided to have a valentine's day lunch date instead. We sampled the new deli-resto (The Gustavian) near Ma. Luisa and we were not disappointed with the food...

And as if the lunch date wasn't enough, we still went on an after-dinner date where I craved for chocolate fondue at Tinder Box.

Yummy!

At the Gustavian, I had my gravlax (usually served as an appetizer, but I devoured for lunch)

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while Jerry had a sausage and potato salad...

Hearts Day

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Happy Hearts Day!!!

Sportsfest 2007

Sunday, Feb. 11 was the sportsfest. Matt and Kyle participated in the running events. It was Kyle's first time to join and though he did not win the race, Jerry and I were impressed at his speed as compared against the other runners in Grade 4 and 5. He never even stayed in school for track practice. We know there is always potential especially since Kyle is showing some interest in the sport. A little encouragement could go a long way. ;)

As for Matt, he managed to win 2 gold medals for the 100-m dash and the 4x100-m relay, which are his most favored events anyway. He hasn't been practicing for a long time and has since gained weight. So imagine our surprise when he has not lost his speed and agility. Matt is really the competitive type and will excel if he will just set his heart on something.

Here are a few shots taken at the Cebu City Sports Complex...



Kyle (in yellow, outer lane/left-most)


Matt (in maroon, outer lane/left-most)


the boys and the proud parents...

Middle-born

Kyle and Mamarazzi at O Georg
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There are times when Kyle could not get along with his brothers. Although it's only natural for siblings to bicker over anything, I am particularly drawn to watching Kyle who is more prone to mood-swings.

With Matt now spending more time with his teenage buddies and Jake too young to understand how to play the elder brothers' toys, Kyle is often left to his own devices.

What Jerry and I do these days is to focus on Kyle. Matt is often out with his friends on Saturdays. It's not something we are allowing Kyle just yet, as he is still too young to be going out with friends unchaperoned. And since we think the age gap between him and Jake the youngest is just so wide, we take extra effort to spend time with him.

We bring him out to the mall to check out the toy store, the sports shops for shoes or to treat him to some fancy snack. When there are no classes, I take him to my office where he could play his favorite PC games without being disturbed by Jake as what normally happens when he's home.

The little things we try to come up with to have peace and quiet at home...We hope this lessens the occasion where we also lose our temper trying to mediate between squabbling boys.

Brunei-yuki?

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Jerry, together with 2 managers from the company, will be flying back to Manila tomorrow after a series of presentations in Brunei. Lest you're entertaining some funny thoughts owing to the title of this post, it's not the entertainment kind of presentation, but it's more of IT.

While he's there for the past few days, I was busily doing some HR stuff. Last stats: tested 5, interviewed 5, hired 2! So, yeah, TGIF, I finally get to rest my fat b**t after doing recruitment for the past 2 days. Soon my Brunei-yuki hubs (*joke*) will be home.

Just Another Day

On top of my government remittance reports and other regular paperwork, I did the following today:

1. Administered tests to 4 applicants
2. Interviewed 3
3. Hired 1

The person we hired this afternoon had a standing offer from Accenture but she chose to sign up with us. Hmm. Says much about our company huh?

She's our employee #19. ;)

Visibility=Mobility

I've been a dial-up user for several years even long after the DSL became the big thing for internet users. When the PLDT WeRoam was introduced, I was excited to give it a try thinking that it would soon be the long-overdue upgrade to our old PLDT Vibe.

For some weeks, I got to toy with the WeRoam on a non-Mac laptop (as far as I know, it cannot be used by iBook owners due to the absence of the PCMCIA slot). The speed was disappointingly slow, in fact, only slightly faster than the dial-up... at least from where we were located.

Just recently we inquired about Globe's Visibility, hoping they'd have something for Mac-users. They do have for the new generation Intel-Macs but none for the older iBooks. However, when they introduced the USB Huawei modem, I knew there was hope. The absence of the PCMCIA slot is not anymore a deterrent.

With help from our SysAd, Globe's IT specialist and some updated software packages downloaded from Globe's site, I'm a happy camper now blogging at home using our new Visibility subscription.

So far, so good.

*Note: Pics above were taken at Waterfront Hotel during the recent Sinulog fiesta. It was where we hauled ourselves while waiting for the traffic to subside.

Involuntary Weight Loss

Feeling lethargic since last Sunday... Threw up once and had several occasions of loose BM. It must be the mango shake from Orange Brutus which was my last intake just before having this bout.

Been having banana, apple and Gatorade since yesterday and just a few spoonfuls of rice and minute bits of "pork tapa" cooked ala "pork steak"... *Sigh*

I feel a little better today though compared to yesterday. I should be up and about in no time, meeting deadlines at work and being mom and dad for a few days to my boys.

Hopefully, the one good thing that comes out of this malady is a few pounds off my weight...

On Board the MV Doulos

It was sunny but the sea breeze was cool as we waited in line for our turn to get inside the MV Doulos, said to be the "world's oldest active ocean-faring passenger ship. She is now owned by the German charity Gute Bücher für Alle (Good Books for All), and is used as a floating bookshop (Wikipedia)".



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After Jake's afternoon nap, we all drove to MV Doulos which is berthed at Aduana Pier - Berth 28 (Domestic Berth). It was a long walk from where we were parked but Jake was all excited just being out of the house and being led to a new place. Along the way, we met a lot of other families who just came from the ship. There were a lot of young people too who looked like they were students required to see the Doulos.

When we finally got to the pier, we were a bit disheartened to see the long queue of people lining up under the afternoon heat. Some turned back to just try again on another date... when there are less people. We decided to go for it since we were already there anyway. The people from Doulos were quick to organize the lines that were getting quite unruly. After a total of about 20 minutes, we were on our way up the ship.

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We spent some time checking out the children's books for Jake, the history section for Matt and Kyle. Matt was hoping to buy similar books which he bought from his first visit to Doulos - Ancient History and Modern History. However, there were just too many people inside that it was a bit difficult maneuvering your way around the many tall shelves.

Oh well, we will probably visit again one morning, when there are probably not
much people around. We might just get lucky to score the books that the kids are looking for.

The boys on board the MV Doulos. They look all sweaty here after waiting in line for about 20 minutes."

Saturday Plan