“Don’t you just love New Year’s?
You get to start all over.
Everybody gets a second chance.”
Lenore
Lt. Dan’s Girl
Forrest Gump
Happy New Year, everyone!
The Longanisa Project 3.0
Me and My Longaniza
Posted in December 2007 …
Couch Potato HBO Style
I thought it was a nice afternoon to go out and bike in Ateneo with Charo until the heavy rain started pouring in. So much for the “plan”. Now I’m at home watching Bowfinger on HBO Hits with my SkyCable Platinum HBO pak.
Talking about HBO, I’m beginning to love the My Movies section in the HBO Asia site. What you do is you register, choose the movies you want to see and add them to your My Movies account! Now all you have to do is go to your My Movies section to check on the scheds. Aliw, ‘di ba?
The Magic is Here
We used to have a small shop in Batangas, and I remember how hectic it was during Christmas time. I’ve been a cashier, a sales boy, a box maker and even helped scout for pickpockets and shoplifters. I’ve done all these and more. But if there’s one thing I didn’t do, it’s being assigned in the gift wrapping section. This was the expertise of my younger brother and sister, and it’s something I don’t know how to do.
Despite a lot of things I’ve been through, I felt Christmas again. Somehow. And it happened tonight in the funniest of timings- it was when I was wrapping my gifts for my family with my own hands. Yes, I finally tried it.
I guess watching them all those years somehow taught me how to do it. The moment I took hold of the Christmas wrapper, it seemed magical that I knew what to do. I was cutting and taping and cutting and taping. In the end I managed to wrap two gifts in less than fifteen minutes. Not bad at all. And the outcome is actually pretty good.
While I was wrapping, I was thinking about all the trials my family has gone through. And being together despite all these made me smile.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Honey! Shower na tayo!
For the first time in a long time I actually took a relatively long time in the shower because I enjoyed it. Yes, I enjoyed it. Thanks to the newly-installed Stiebel Eltron shower unit. With a number of shower head options, I had a blast playing with all five of them!
Before this, the cheap shower heater conked up and so we’re stuck with my de-saksak from the balde water heater that I bought in Greenhills when I was in college.
Haaaay! Sarap!
Still in the Calendar!
Shriveled longanisa, anyone?
To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu
I’ve been toying with the idea of installing Ubuntu in my old Pentium desktop PC. Some of the tech guys in the office have changed their laptop’s OS to Ubuntu and not only was the user interface very nice, their machines were relatively faster.
To be absolutely honest, it really remind me of Mac OSX, only faster. O ha!
Yes, they do have a version of spaces, but the way it transitions from one space to the other is very, very nice and smooth. As for other software, there’s no need to worry. Browsing will easily be handled by Firefox, while there’s OpenOffice for work stuff.
Still reading up on the facts from their website. Has anyone there tried it? More importantly, wanna do an Ubuntu project on my old PC? Show of hands, please.
Sanuk Sandalmania
I bought a pair in Recreational Outdoor Exchange shop in Bonifacio High Street about three weeks ago and I’ve been using them every chance I get. These are really comfortable shoes sandals and I’m happy to be wearing them in the office when I’m wearing jeans.
On the minus side, my feet get sweaty from wearing these all day because they’re a bit on the snug side. It’s really gross when I take these off with the libag formation.
Maybe I should get a slip-on model next time.
Look who’s getting into the act
I checked out Inquirer.net‘s front page today and this is the image I saw – renowned film director Quentin Taratino wearing a Barong Tagalog in the 65th Annual Golden Globe Nominations. I don’t know about you but this made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Aaawwwwww. It would’ve been better, though, if he buttoned it all up, but I’m not complaining.
T’was the payday before Christmas
The last payday before Christmas falls on a Friday. That day is today. Add to that the countless Christmas parties all over the metro and we’ve got one ugly traffic mess brewing. God help us all.
Not a Good Day for Science
That’s what Dexter would’ve have said to describe the day I’m having. It’s just half day and already I wish I’m back home instead.
Let’s list down the things that happened which lead me to being pissed:
1. I woke up to realize that I forgot to buy a new plug to replace the one attached to my low-tech water heater that got broken yesterday. I tried to do a MacGuyver. I pulled out my screwdriver and pliers and disassembled the plug of the lamp as a temporary solution only to discover that it doesn’t fit. Too disappointed with the whole shit, I gave up and asked the maid to boil water.
2. We left the house past nine in the morning. I thought we were all game until I remembered about the pictures that I have to bring to Kodak for printing. So it’s back to the house, a 2 to 3-minute wait for the laptop to boot up, data transfer to the thumb drive and shut down the machine.
3. After passing by Banapple to pick up Charo’s orders, I was greeted by the very stressful and chaotic intersection of Green Meadows and Temple Drive. There’s really no sense of order as drivers heading towards Ortigas decided that it’s OK to counterflow and take the the second lane of the opposite direction. And what’s odd is the traffic enforcers don’t mind at all.
4. I dropped off Charo in Globe a little past ten in the morning. Thankfully, EDSA northbound wasn’t too heavy. Then I got a call from her when I was near Megamall. With all the fuzz in bringing the gifts to her office, she forgot to get her laptop at the back seat. So I made a U-Turn and went back to bring it to her.
5. On the way to the office, the guy from Bananatrix was texting me asking for Charo’s number. Now what kind of a seller is that to misplace his client’s contact number? Stressed out, I didn’t realize that I gave him my number instead. Of course, he texted me thinking that I was Charo.
6. I got to the office at eleven in the morning. I was late and I’m not proud of it. I always want to be on time, if not early. For one, it makes me finish more work, but more importantly I want to be a model to my teammates.
Holiday Obligation
Yesterday was December 8, the feast day of the Immaculate Concepcion, a holiday of obligation for the Roman Catholics. The occassion marks the concepcion of Mary without any stain of original sin in her mother’s womb.
What’s so funny is, despite a lot of us going to Catholic schools, we still do not understand what it means. Case in point: When my sophomore year theology teacher asked the whole class to name the main characters in the Immaculate Concepcion, almost everyone answered incorrectly, me included. We all said that it was Jesus, Mary and Joseph, which is wrong. Out of roughly 30 people in the class, only one soul answered correctly – it’s St. Anne, St. Joaquim and Mary. What an eye-opener!
As to how we should greet each other for this day, I really don’t know. For the other holidays of obligation, which are December 25 and January 1, we can say “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year”, respectively, but for December 8, it’s definitely not “Happy Birthday”.
Aha! I think I got it.
Happy Way to go, Saints Joaquim and Anne day, everyone!
Entry Two
On a related entry to the Immaculate Concepcion, let me share to you this story.
I think I was still in high school then. I was in Batangas for the summer, and so I brought my CD collection with me.
My mom and her amigas friends from her church group, the Legion of Mary, were going to a function somewhere. The Pajero, which was still new then, had a six-disc CD changer.
While I was asleep, she went through my collection looking for something they could listen to on the way. Of course what would be a better choice other than the holiest of albums – Madonna’s Immaculate Collection.
Ayus!
Microwarehouse Sale – Here I Come!
Prepare your credit cards for a big spending spree in the event geeks and gadget freaks are looking forward to – the Microwarehouse Year-End Sale! That’s a Saturday and so I won’t be surprised to see a line forming early in the morning.
Yebah! I can’t wait. I’m looking forward to getting a new wireless mighty mouse for my new MacBook. Stupid me, I sold my old one to Dan when I thought I won’t be using a Mac anymore. That and probably some nice Mac accessories. Bahala na!
Anyone interested in joining me in the line?
So much for Thank You’s
You went out of your way to do someone a favor.
You try to tell this person that you’re done.
Instead of thanks, bitching is what you get.
Will you do this favor again?
