The Longanisa Project 3.0

Learnings about Time

jovanpuyo — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:37:45 +0000

Note to self:
1. When someone says 10-ish, that’s a range from 10:00 to 10:59.
2. Sometimes, when someone says that they’ll be finished by 9:00, it’s just a suggested time.

The Correct Running Shoes For Me

jovanpuyo — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:00:31 +0000

In the interest of finding the correct running shoes for me, I went online and took the tests at the Mizuno Precision Fit. The result said that I’m a neutral runner and that I should go for shoes with cushioning. It also gave me some models to choose from. One of them that I liked was this:

It’s the Mizuno Wave Prophecy, and it’s the brand’s priciest pair of running shoes at Php 8,900+.

So I went shoe hunting at SM Megamall to get myself one and start the road to fitness, but unfortunately (or fortunately, as you’ll later find out why), they don’t have it in my size. A quick check on their online system revealed an ever worse news — they don’t have a size 10.5 anywhere in the metro. I was bummed.

A few weeks after while walking around Shangri-La Mall, I was surprised to discover that there’s a Runnr outlet inside the Toby’s Arena. I saw that they were doing a gait analysis on one of their customers, and thought that I should have mine analyzed as well. I had a dinner date with my brother, his fiancé, and my wife at that time so I didn’t line-up, but I placed it in my To Do list.

Last Friday, while we were waiting for my friends at Sis to celebrate a birthday, I dropped by the Second Wind running store to check out the neutral running shoes they’re selling. As I was looking at the different models, one of their friendly sales staff offered me to have foot checked. Since it’s free, I obliged happily. The result of the test came as a surprise for me — instead of neutral shoes, I should be running on stability shoes! Wow! That explains why I was running well on the Nike Structure Triax almost three years ago.

They showed me severals models for my foot type, and I loved this one:

This is the Mizuno Wave Nirvana 7, and it’s for people with low arches like me. It’s way cheaper than the Prophecy at Php 5,800+. Not bad!

I would’ve bought this right then and there if I had the money, but I promised to return after payday. Maybe I can do a full analysis first at their Teacher’s Village store just to be sure.

My Brand New Messenger Bag

jovanpuyo — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:48:50 +0000

I bought the 11″ Thule molded EVA laptop sleeve from the Apple Store in Hong Kong and fell in love with it. It fits my Macbook like a glove that I thought, “wouldn’t it be great if it has a matching bag to go along with it?” I went online and found this Thule Crossover messenger bag. Long story short, I pulled out my credit card, purchased the bag, and had it shipped to my friends at Johnny Air.

Well, I just picked up the bag from Johnny Air this afternoon and immediately migrated all the stuff from my old US Postal Pro Cycling Team bag.

I’m going for a full test run tomorrow when I bring it to work, but till then, check out the photos that I took:

See the other photos of my new messenger bag in my Flickr account.

Turning Thirty Five

jovanpuyo — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:51:52 +0000

I can’t believe I’m turning 35 this month. It doesn’t seem like I’ve been living in this world for that long. I think I would need a long ride soon to celebrate life.

My Thoughts on our Final Year

jovanpuyo — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:55:06 +0000

If the Mayans are correct and 2012 is truly our last year on Earth, wouldn’t it be great if we would mark the last year of our civilization with peace and harmony? Wouldn’t it be awesome that even for just one year, there won’t be any hungry mouths to feed anymore? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone has a place they can call home? In our last year as the human race, wouldn’t it be right to treat everyone with kindness and love?

I think we have the power to do that. And I think we can start now. We don’t need any formal organization to make this happen. All it takes is just one step.

Swing Kids

jovanpuyo — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:18:04 +0000

I just watched the 1993 film Swing Kids starring Robert Sean Leonard and Christian Bale among others, and I do believe that it’s one of the most beautiful films of that year. It’s about a bunch of kids in Hamburg, Germany during the time of the Nazis. It’s truly wonderful. Watch it if you can.

Check out the trailer from YouTube:

The wonderful feeling of having a newly-fixed car

jovanpuyo — Sun, 22 May 2011 12:43:28 +0000

I’m so happy that I finally did what I was planning to do with the car. With the 1-month gratuity pay that I got, I was able to replace all four tires, the front bumper and the right fender lamp. I was also able to have her wheels aligned and her scratches removed. Just now, with the help of my cutter and a bottle of Goo Gone, I removed the old stubborn LTO registration sticker, the dealer’s defunct domain sticker and the old commemorative Ateneo sesquicentennial sticker. My car looks like I just bought it! To top all that, I bought an air freshener that would make my car smell new.

I think a long road trip is in order.

Graham might get laid

jovanpuyo — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 02:55:00 +0000

It seems like our dear old Graham has a chance to get laid, finally. My friend’s dog, Summer, is in heat, and she saw how handsome our boy is. Now we only have to iron out the logistics for the two to meet. I’m excited. Keep your fingers crossed.

Gong Cha Philippines

jovanpuyo — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:35:16 +0000

Our heart leapt out today when we saw a picture of a Gong Cha stand on Facebook and discovered that the owner is Gong Cha Philippines. We immediately asked our friends from Facebook and Twitter where that picture is. We were guessing that it’s somewhere in Makati, probably in the Ayala Triangle Gardens.

Gong Cha was our staple when we were in Hong Kong last year. Never would a day pass that we did not have at least one glass of their popular milk teas.

Doing more research on the web, we discovered that the name of the franchiser is Andrew Ong. He replied to a blog post back in November last year that they’re building one somewhere in the Metro.

Not content, I searched for the guy on Facebook and messaged him to confirm if there truly is an existing Gong Cha stand somewhere in Manila. To my surprise, he replied to me after a few minutes. Apparently the picture we saw is just a sample stand somewhere in Singapore, but they’re starting construction of the first Gong Cha store in the Philippines. He said he’ll let me know once it opens.

Awesome! It looks like the milk tea wars is about to get tougher. I can’t wait!

Are you a big Gong Cha fan just like us? Join their Facebook page now!

The Obsessive-Compulsive Me

jovanpuyo — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:44:48 +0000

I guess I am a bit obsessive-compulsive when it comes to making the house neat and tidy. It’s already 1:33 in the morning and I can’t stop myself from doing a quick sweep of the floor, changing the sheets, washing the dishes and putting things where they belong. I think tomorrow I’ll wash the rest of the glasses, hang the freshly-ironed clothes (No, I don’t know how to iron. They just arrived from the laundromat), and maybe put out the trash. The bad side to this is, if your things are just lying around, don’t expect to find these in the same area. I think I got this trait from my mother.

I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but one of the virtues that you need to practice when you’re living in a condo with limited space is honesty. With me being in a constant editing and pruning state, I always have to ask myself if I truly need an item, or if I’ll still eat the leftovers in the refrigerator, for example. Most of the time, it’ll end up in the trash can. Sometimes it’s tough. Sometimes I feel guilty. But that’s just it — I need to throw it now, learn from that mistake and pray that it won’t happen again.

It’s 1:45 a.m. I need to go to sleep.