Christmas 2008

We had a fun Christmas this year, even though there were some members of the family who weren't there with us.

Bert is still in the Middle East of course. But he did call. The conversation we had was upbeat and sad at the same time. We were discussing the future and my current situation. There are some things I need to discuss with him.

And then there's Lilia. I had looked forward to sleeping in our old room. But sad to say, she didn't manifest herself last night. Oh well, once is enough I guess. Though there were at least two separate manifestations, one at Lavender and the other at Novaliches.

As usual, we had Christmas eve at my parents' place and then went to Novaliches, to Lilia's folks in the morning. I'm still having some sleep deprivation headache. Mild headache.

Was able to take lots of pictures during the exchange gifts last night. But not too many pictures at Novaliches. I'll have to double the effort at picture taking this New Year. We might celebrate it at Novaliches (as usual) but plans are still up in the air.

It was a good Christmas celebration. I'm happy. And the kids are happy.

--Andoy
25 December 2008
I've posted the pictures.

A Dip in the Road

I am at a big crossroad. Not a nexus. A crossroad. Or more like the caves of Moria, where the path has three paths to choose from. I hesitate.

I am afraid of what is happening to me. I am depressed. I want to cry but I can't. I shake. I need coffee, but I'm trying to cut down on it. It's the gas, you see. I burp a lot of gas on a bad day. And that hurts. I've got medication for that.

There are some people I would want to have talked to. Or with. One just got out of the hospital for an operation. There is one other, but I have tried to set an appointment for about three years, and no go. And then there's this language instructor I know, who I cannot get myself to talk to. It's complicated, I dearly want to talk to her, but I can't. We decided not to see each other with exception of coffee. But things broke down after that. She hates me. The best I can hope for is that we can meet sometime in the future. For coffee.

There's only one other person I talk to about it right now. The words are seeping in and I am trying very hard to move forward and out of this funk. I have to get up and look to working and to take care of my family and my friends.

My natural hardheadedness keeps me from understanding things which I am hearing. And that includes the things I say.

I'm having a difficult time. I cannot concentrate on my work. I am dying. I am going crazy.

It's this time of year when I sorely miss Lilia. I miss her a lot. I've had ups and downs during Christmas. But it was bearable with Lilia. She handled the Christmas lists and the shopping.

Sadly, I have wanted to cry since late August. A good cry. But it hasn't happened yet.

I am coping. I am now making breakfast for my kids. Waking at 4:30 or 5:00AM to cook breakfast.

Lilia takes care of a lot of things. Not least is the budget and the school opening and Christmas shopping. She cleans the house. I live here but have not cleaned it as much as she did. She took care of us. I miss her a lot.

I feel I am dying. The pain is back.

There's the five stages of death: anger, denial, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I have accepted that she is gone. But only now is anger seeping in. And the depression keep coming back. Ano ba???!!!!

I am trying to keep it together, and not show it for the kids. But it is very painful. I guess the pain shows as well.

I can go on and on with this rant. This is a stupid cycle. And the best I can do is do one task at a time.

--Andoy
16 Dec. 2008

Health Issues

Darwi had acute gastroentiritis last Thursday. She got home not feeling well. She went to the home of one of her classmates, along with some others in her group where they had dinner. Unfortunately, even before dinner she vomited. And she was not able to eat much that night.

She told me when she got home that she was embarrassed that she vomited at her friend's place. I was just glad she got home safe. She didn't eat any that night, and had a slight fever. If she had diarrhea that evening, I would have taken her to the hospital. We had decided that she won't attend class the next day, and instead we'd go see the doctor. She was relatively okay during the weekend, but I as since she was not yet feeling very well, I had her rest on Monday.

And with me, I had postponed visiting the doctor for some time now. I've had gas problems since last week. It subsided somewhat during the weekend, but when Monday came and I was still feeling some pain, I had to have it checked. I'm feeling better now. But the gas keeps coming back. Not as painful as before, but it's really a bother.

Now if the dementors would just keep away so I could get some sleep, then that would make my day.

--Andoy
11 December 2008

Paquito Sanchez

My brother-in-law passed away this past weekend. Paquito was 49. He left behind his wife Grace in Canada and four children. His eldest is studying nursing in FEU while his three other kids are all in Canada.

Binigyan na siya ng taning sa buhay noong isa pang taon. Ang sabi ng doctor ay wala na silang magagawa para sa kanya.

He has had multiple operations. Part of his lung was cut, along with his stomach and several feet of his intestines.

I'm happy that he survived more than a year after being discharged from the hospital. For me, it's some sort of bonus time. But I am not okay with this.

What's sad is that he was not able to see his youngest daughter since he came back from Canada. She planed in with her older brother this past Tuesday. The youngest sibling had wanted to go visit as well, but there was not enough financing available for all to go back to the Philippines. Grace elected to stay in Canada. Though it was her sister who footed the bill for the two kids to fly back.

No, I am not okay with this. It felt like a slow creeping depression which I experienced last Sunday, when we went home. On Satuday, we went to the house in Novaliches, for the wake, and stayed overnight. From there, we went decided to do some shopping just to be ahead of the Christmas shopping rush. This was more or less a spur of the moment thing, as I didn't know when I would do my Christmas shopping.

I guess it did show that I wasn't in the mood for Christmas. Maybe not yet. Maybe not really this year. It was not like a "bah humbug" kind of feeling. It was just like sleep walking. I didn't have any plans to buy anything, but still took the time to do so.

Paquito was the youngest of Lilia's brothers. I guess I did try not to be too much affected by his death. But that's that. And the feeling of emptiness just creeped in.

Supposedly there are several stages when getting the news about death: anger, denial, bargaining, depression, acceptance. With Lilia, I am hovering between depression, acceptance and anger. With Paquito, I have accepted it before it ever happened, but I am still in denial.

I don't like it. I absolutely hate it. He's gone, and there's nothing much I can do. But I don't have to like it.

--Andoy
10 December 2008

SM Marikina: Bright! Very Bright!

The SM Mall near our place opened last September 5, which coincided with my birthday. For about a month before the opening, me and my family have been joking about going there on opening day. Unfortunately, some things happened and we ended up at Sta. Lucia on September 5.

It was a good thing we didn't go to SM Marikina on opening day as the place was supposedly packed. There were a lot of people checking out the new mall. Among other things, there were free film showings. Oh well. (And if I had known, I would have gone there too.)

So, finally, after more than a month and a half, I found myself going there because Globe Handiphone/Wireless moved from Robinson's Marcos Highway to SM City Marikina.

Even from the outside, it looked small. It looks a lot smaller than SM Centerpoint in Sta. Mesa. But it did have a better looking facade with the glass wall which was about a third of the width of the building, and from the first-floor to the top.

I didn't put much significance to the glass facade. Until I stepped into the building. And it was bright inside. It was very bright inside from all the sunlight streaming in through the glass wall. I did enter the mall before noon time, and the building faced south-west, catching the afternoon sun straight on. Walking around the building the northern side facing the river, also had an ample glass wall. As a general rule, SM Malls have always used bright lights inside. And the bright lighting plus the natural lighting coming in through the glass made the interiors very bright indeed.

As an added bonus, the place looked airy. But this was maybe because of the relatively wider hallways. At least, the hallways are wider than most of the SM Malls, like MegaMall, Centerpoint, Manila, North EDSA, Fairview, and Cebu and relatively wider than Southmall. It's almost as wide as the center area of SM Makati.

In terms of being light, and sunny, SM Marikina compares favorably with Ayala Town Center. In fact, the only place I've found about the same amount of natural light would be Ayala Center Cebu. And Ayala Center Cebu has about as airy an ambience as that of SM Marikina. (Amend that, Ayala Center Cebu is a lot more airy.)

Yes, I've been to SM Mall of Asia. Once. Or twice. And I don't really like it. It has more room. But the place stinks from Manila Bay's breeze and it has a sheen of dirtiness to it.

Gundam 00: The First Season

I may not have watched all the Gundam series, but I would admit to being a fan. In fact, I remember buying a Gundam model before any Gundam series was ever shown on local TV. At the time, these toys were just on display and nobody was buying them.

(Come to think of it, it seems that one reason nobody took notice of these toys at that time were because of several things: these are not Voltes V or Mazinger Z; the Gundam anime series weren't being shown yet on local TV; and/or the toys needed some assembly. I would guess the latter.)

Moving forward to 2008, and here's the latest incarnation of the Gundam series. Gundam 00 is still mecha, but with more neurotic main characters than ever before. Sure Gundam Wing had four boys who were each loners and neurotic, but in Gundam 00 the main characters are not just hung up with something, they're also bishounen types.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always thought that the bishounen was a counter-foil to the protagonist. Much like the noh drama having a shiite (protagonist) and a waki (antagonist), the characters have masks which portray the emotions or thoughts of the role. Here, much like the noh drama, the counterfoils also have their own sidekicks. And there's a musical interlude every so often.

This is not a bishounen fest (nor a babe fest, for that matter) but for the most part there is more technical emphasis on the mecha than in most anime or even compared to earlier Gundam sagas. And the machines are more vulnerable Gundams.

There is however quite an emphasis on being slightly large, though still within the norms (I think). The tech girls are have big boobs. At least that's two girls with big boobs out of three in the cockpit. And the main strategist is tall and sophisticated, she has her own mini-bar, in her quarters, on Ptolemy which is a mothership and control center for the Gundam fleet. The guns are also slightly large. Or in the case of the sniper (called, fittingly enough, "Lockon") a very big sniper gun. Big! Really big!

As a mecha series, this is violent. But some of the characters are more violent than others. I would say that there are some who are certifiably insanely violent, and they're on both sides of the fence. Real psycho types. Though I would respect them more than the other types who are too cool under pressure. Cold blooded with ice in their veins. And two of them are girls.

Oh, and one schizoid.

Yes, I like the graphics. Yes, I like the story. Yes, I like the series even without the great graphics or the immersive story. So sue me!

The second season is soon to begin in Japan. And the first season is about to shown in the US.

This series rocks!

Wearing the ring... Again

I never really knew my wedding ring was kept since I had it repaired (altered? enlarged?) but I was pleasantly surprised when I found it again. I was rummaging among some of Lilia's things trying to find a pair of scissors. And among some of the knick knacks were the rings we've had repaired.

I wasn't really trying to find it. And was not really thinking of wearing it. But it was there. And I wore it. It's now of a good fit, but a bit tight going through the knuckle. I should still be able to take it out anytime I want to. Just needs a little bit of getting used to. And I need to remember to take it off every so often. Or maybe not.

Yes, finger still hurts a bit till now, but, at least, the ring is not pressing on the finger anymore.

Slow September, Fast Hours

This is my day: I wake up, get some breakfast, work on the computer, have some lunch, work some more, merienda (and maybe take a nap after merienda). The kids arrive and I stop working when they do. After dinner, I continue working till around I don't know what time. Get some sleep and then I wake up with a start.

This has been the longest September I have ever experienced. The funny thing is that the days seem to go by so fast. Is it me or am I in some kind of a time warp where time suddenly has a mind of its own?

Weirder and weirder.

And moving forward...

Something happened two weeks back. My wife died. I'm writing this now hoping that I can move forward as I have not been able to. Dying is like a hump for the survivors. I admit I could not let go because I don't know how.

I was working that night. And it was a pleasant surprise that the kids and Lilia went to bed early. Around 10pm, Lilia had to get up and pee. Passing by the open door she saw me still working and told me to get some sleep lest I get sick.

Two hours later, I heard a bang with her on the floor prone with her hands across her chest. I turned her on her back and I tried to revive her. Didn't work. The past two weeks have been a blur.

It seems that everything is moving so fast.

The house is a mess. Two renters moved into the apartment on the house's ground floor. And we had to move our things out of there. We haven't cleared out Lilia's things. But we were able to pack her clothes. These would be sent to Bolinao for distribution there.

(For several years now, my parent's have been bringing old clothes to Bolinao, almost twice a year, for distribution to relatives who are not as well off as we are. The rest of the family pitches in and segregates old clothes for this purpose.)

On the advice of friends, the kids and I have done some re-arranging. We've taken out some chairs. These are now being used by one of the renters. We've put the computer in the living room. So when I work at night I am sitting with the couch to my back. That's where Lilia died by the way. And I just have to keep looking behind my back at the sofa.

The last photo we had together was during the storm.

I took a work-at-home internet-based job so that I can watch over Lilia. The daily commute was a good two hours in the morning and more than two hours in the evening. That was not good. And considering that she got hospitalized in June, I thought that working from home was a no-brainer. Three weeks later, I find myself at home and alone.

I haven't been listening to mp3 songs lately. Most of the songs are downers or from Kenneth's emo playlist. It would have been okay if it was Kenneth playing the guitar, then Darwi and I would be singing along.

I am not into a depression. I am staring at it and keeping away as much as I can.

But after two weeks, I still can't let go. I don't know how. I am not a teetotaler, but I'm no drinker either. My focus right now is work and the kids.
They're teenagers now, with Kenneth a freshman fine arts student and Darwi graduating from high school. They should be able to take care of themselves if I leave them at home. But I'm not very comfortable leaving them.

We've had some household activities which we do as a group. These were all Lilia's tasks before. She didn't give these tasks for us to do. Now we do the household tasks. But poorly.

How do I let go of a twenty year marriage?

I've known Lilia for 25 years. Deep she is. That one has seen the future. And she has seen the now. Lives in both she does.

Lilia sleeps on the couch. She has her legs elevated as well as her head and torso. Kinda awkward methinks. The legs have to be elevated because of her allergy and varicose veins. Her upper body has to be elevated because she has an enlarged heart. Every so often she groans and moans from a bad dream, and I have to wake her up. (On the other hand, I also have those dreams where I literally cry out for help for somebody to wake me up.)

We've got a small place. Two bedrooms, one was formerly occupied by the kids and the other by me and Lilia. I asked Kenneth to move out of the other bedroom and room with me. I guess I did that so that I won't be afraid of sleeping. We don't close doors here. Never been a habit.

I'm moving forward. But I still have this very physical pain in my chest.

Sometime soon it won't be as painful. I hope.

--Andoy
3 Sept. 2008

Missing Photos

I never gave it a thought that a website will disappear. But then
again, it was bound to happen. That's the reason websites are not
cited in academic publications: because website contents can change,
the link can disappear or the whole web page disappear.

So now I have a bunch of blog entries without any links to pictures.

Moving forward, I have two choices, suck it, or do something about it.
I choose the latter: I'll recreate the postings using another photo
site on the web. In a leisurely fashion as I would be trying to find
the pictures first. And then post them on the photo website. This
would take some time.

Meantime, I've been busy. Writing. This could be a full-time job.
And working from home.

-- Andoy
Antonio Castellano, Jr.
Cell No: +63 915 466-3214

{thesaurus: (n.) an small extinct lizard with a large vocabulary.}

Boston Wins and I am Looking Forward to Next Year

Final score: 131-92. Boston wins the NBA Championships. Lakers can go home and lick their wounds. Maybe next year. I just hope the next Celtics-Lakers finals doesn't come along in another 21 years. I'm
looking forward to another Celtics-Lakers NBA finals next year. And hopefully with different results.

-- Andoy
18 June 2008

Sorting Serial Numbers... huh???

I've had experience with various customers over the years, as I've been employed with several IT vendors usually on the delivery end. But this is the first time I've encountered a client which wants the machines' serial numbers sorted. I have no idea what relevance the sorted serial numbers have on their system, but the reason cited is because the company does their own asset tagging and want the items delivered to be sorted. I don't understand. Really, I don't. The reason I say this is because companies (specially large companies and government offices) have asset tags with property asset numbers. These are the ones with relevance. Other numbers printed or written on the tags are supporting to the property asset numbers. In that case, the machine's serial number's significance is to ensure uniqueness.

Looking at it from a different viewpoint, why are the machines not sorted according to serial numbers once these are shipped out of the vendor warehouse? One reason I see is that this ensures that machines from any single batch are distributed randomly across several vendors. This ensures that if there's any problem with a batch, no single customer takes the brunt of the error. Imagine if you bought a whole bunch of electric bulbs all from one bad batch, and these start exploding one by one, you would have to ask yourself why all of this happened to you, and to you alone? It starts getting personal from there. Batch randomization makes sense for the manufacturer.

Serial number sorting isn't so bad. Ten items in a box gets sorted pretty fast. But if the delivery gets to the point of thirty boxes of ten items per box, this starts getting pretty messy pretty fast. How about 2,000 items, with ten machines to a box? Or one set of three different items, each with their own serial numbers, and the order is for 1,000 sets? And you have only four people to sort these out? The only intellectual exercise you have here is the planning. Implementation gets to be pretty dumb, rote and repetitive pretty fast.

Just another rant.

--Andoy
18 June 2008

Linux Experiment Ends... due to the hard disk

A while back I installed Linux on my home PC. It was okay, an old Fedora distro. No problem it works fine and I really wanted to play around with it a bit. The real problem was that it was installed on top of WinXP using a third hard disk. A 4GB hard disk which is more than five years old, maybe closer to ten years old. Another thing going against the experiment was that I still didn't have internet access at the time I installed it. Would have wanted to see the performance on the net. That would have been fun.

But after this and that, and the hard disk being beyond the expected lifetime, it was beginning to show its age. At first the disk sounded very old school, like an old IBM 360KB floppy disk during boot up of an IBM XT compatible (going a wheezy/nasal "ka-zzhinng-eh ka-zzhing-ah hheengg heengg heeng"), or worse, sounding like a 10MB hard disk from thirty years ago (like a chicken with sore throat clucking "tock-tock-tock ka-shheeeghuee ka-shheeeghue"). But this only happened about once every hour or two after being booting up to Windows.

For about two weeks, I was thinking of deleting the third hard disk and reverting back to WinXP boot up. Okay, I procrastinated. And then I got busty last week, with Lilia at the hospital, I only spent about two to three hours a day at home taking a nap and changing clothes. (The kids weren't home, they were with my parents.) The PC was still running fine, except for the intermittent sounds from the third hard disk.

And over the weekend, the hard disk with the Linux OS died a natural death, from old age.

Which left me with a PC which could not boot up. Good thing I had a ready of things to do, to uninstall Linux. Simple enough to find the XP install disk, then going to the recovery console and running FIXMBR. Well and good, but for a while there, I forgot the administrator password and had to type in several possible passwords before hitting on the correct one. FIXMBR done on the console and rebooting I was able to have the PC up and running WinXP.

Next hurdle was the second hard disk. It was tagged by Windows as unformatted. I was about to give several names a call before I remembered that the internet was up and running. A simple search for a utility to "unformat" a partition, a little effort at understanding the command-line text-based interface, with almost literate computerspeak/technicalese and a reboot, and the hard disk was recovered without a problem.

So there, I found out how easy it was to uninstall Linux on the PC. Just needs some patience. A lot less patience than if you were uninstalling Windows. By the way, though installing Linux does need more technical knowledge, it's a lot less of a chore than theautomated install process for Windows.

So now I am back to a single OS machine. I'm still going to go back to Linux sometime soon. Or maybe using a second machine or even a third PC. I can wait.

-- Andoy
17 June 2008

The One Ring

After more than five years of telling myself that I will have my ring fixed, I finally did.  I had the ring cut and taken off my finger.

I have only one ring, the only piece of jewelry I wear, and that's my wedding band.  It's just there on my right ring finger.  Sitting at the base, like a good ring should be.  Unobtrusive.  Sometimes I twirl it around the finger.  Otherwise, it is not noticeable.  Except for the slight pain as it presses on the muscle.  

After the ring was cut and taken off, I found out that it was two (ring sizes) too small.  I have not taken it off for more than eight years.  Or ten.  I'm not sure.  But I remember that it had been pressing painfully against my finger for a long long while.  It might have started pressing on the muscle around the time I stopped taking it off.  Which was around the time I gained 10 pounds in a month.  And then added another 10 pounds, also in a month, five or so years later.  I weighed about 115-120 pounds when I got married.  I'm now at 140 (hovering between 136 to 145).

Every so often these past few days, I still feel round my right ring finger, as if turning a ring round the base of the it.  I feel the scar there.  It should clear up soon.  And the finger is getting some width (and muscle) back.  There is still the slight pain.  And if I press on the scar, it is still a bit tender.

I am told that this would be temporary, and the pain would go away in a month.  I hope so.  But I guess the scar would be there for a while.

-- Andoy

16 June 2008

Lilia's hospitalization

Lilia was hospitalized this week due to cellulitis of her right leg.  It sounds painful, looks painful and personally, I don't want to find out how painful really is.  Suffice to say, that Lilia was crying when she told me how painful it was.  At which point I told her we should get her to a hospital and in which case, the more she cried, begging me not to have her confined.  We compromised on a visit to a doctor.

She was prescribed antibiotics at first but on the follow-up checkup, there was no other alternative but to be confined in order to have the antibiotics administered intravenously.  After several days of that, her leg had improved.  She was discharged this morning, but with still a regimen of oral antibiotics for the next few days.

The main reason she doesn't want to be confined is because she is still traumatized after her prior stay in the hospital due to a gall bladder stones complicated by pancreatitis.  That was painful.

She's out now.  And taking another maintenance medicine.

--Andoy
14 June 2008

... and a month and a half later, Lakers and Celtics go to the dance

A while back, I wrote about the Lakers and Celtics meeting for the NBA Finals.

This should be fun.

-- Andoy

2 June 2008

Irene's Birthday

Posted pictures from Irene's birthday:  Evolving stories, poems, pictures, images...

Irene is now based in Singapore and she planed in last May 18, her birthday for a two-week vacation.  Original plans were for a family outing.  But one thing leading to another, not all us siblings were there.  Will be posting pictures from the outing next time.

-- Andoy

26 May 2008

A disk crash and a recovery

My hard disk crashed last night.  In a way, I was expecting it as we've just moved and the PC got moved around more than most items.  I was actually prepared for it, I had a backup and recovery program which made weekly incremental backups.

That was not the problem.  Things started going weird from there. I have three hard disks on the PC:  the system disk; the data disk; and a Linux system disk. (For one reason or another I have not been able to access the two other disks when using Linux.  I have not had time to experiment on it.)  These are three physical disks with single partitions each.  So I am pretty sure that the chances of a hard disk crash for all the disks at the same time is very slim indeed.

First thing I did, once I found out that I couldn't boot up on my primary, I tried to reboot using Linux.  But since it was riding on top of Windows, it did not boot up.  Just a lot of hard disk activity.

Next, since I have the backup program, I tried to find the recovery CD first.  And since we've just moved and the data CDs have not yet been taken out of the boxes, I have not had the time to do a cursory (ocular?) inventory.  On the first pass, I wasn't able to find the recovery disk.  I had to resort to the OS install.  Booting up from the install disk, I ran into an error message I have not encountered before:  a blue screen with a short message, the gist of which was "hardware error" with a hex number on the next line.  No other line followed.

At which point, I tried to change the hard disk data cable connections, doing different permutations, taking out one hard disk, changing BIOS settings, changing boot up settings.  I had to have a break.  To calm down as it was getting to be very frustrating and I was on the verge of a panic attack.  I didn't have the time, nor the energy to fix a big problem.  That would have to wait till the next weekend.

After watching some TV, and some snacks (corn puffs), I went back to the CDs.  Finally found the recovery CD, and was able to start work on the data recovery.  Insert the CD, boot, choose the backup file and wait.  After a relatively long wait, which should have felt like a short wait, the system disk was recovered and the PC was able to boot up just fine.  However, it turns out that the last full back up I had was last December, with weekly incremental backups. I had to mount the last incremental backup (made the evening before we moved).  This made the backup a virtual drive.  And I had to copy the files from there to the system disk, which turned out to take much longer.  I copied several folders last night.  And I will have to copy several more till I can get to where the PC was two weeks ago.

All in all, a much shorter exercise than prior experience with hard disk recovery.  But it could have been a much shorter procedure, if the full backup was more recent.

Once all of the recovery is done to my satisfaction, I would have to set the full backups on a more frequent schedule.

--Andoy 
5 May 2008

A New Residence

In the past twenty years, this would be our seventh residence. But it would be more from scratch than ever before.

My brother bought the house last time he was in town. It was a three-door apartment at that time. And what he planned was for me, my siblings and Mama and Tatay to live there. My family would be living on the second storey, my sister and her family on one of the ground floor apartments and my parents and brother in the other one. Several months down, this is just about to come true. Me and my family is moving in. The rest will follow as events have overtaken the plans.

The original plans included some renovation to the structure: raising the first floor roof and ceiling; adding a veranda on the second floor; increasing the area of the second floor; minor plumbing repairs; electrical rewiring; repairing some of the walls; etc. Not much really but it does sound like a lot.

Instead of all of those things, we're moving in with practically just a more livable improvement. We had the second storey floor repaired. It does need a flooring surface, like linoleum or vinyl tiles. The bedroom doors have to be replaced. Currently these have been removed. The rear wall needs to be replaced. hmmmm And the front door, which looks like a gate, should look like a front door.

But it is livable. It is a viable residence. Something we could repair and renovate as we live in it.

We can't bring everything with us. The china cabinet for one. And I'm not sure at all if we need all the cabinets. Or if we have space for them. The computer would most probably be placed beside the TV and beside the sofa. Which is just beside the dining table. hehehe

No, I am not complaining. I am actually and truly grateful and enjoying myself. For all the right reasons. This will be home. As did all the prior six residences.

--Andoy
26 April 2008

NBA Finals. The possibility exists...

At this point where there's a lot of popular players across a lot of teams, and there is no single team with a conceded advantage, anything can happen, and any team has a chance to win the NBA Finals.  However, after having said that, it is a wonder that nobody has talked about the possibility of the top two teams after the regular season fighting it out for the Finals.  Against all historical data, nobody is talking as yet of a Celtics-Lakers (or Lakers-Celtics) Finals.

The thought that this is being pushed out of the collective consciousness is a wonder.  It can be explained by the simple fact of popularity.  There are other teams which are more popular.  And these two teams have not been heavy contenders for some time now.  But not this year.  Start of the year brought Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to the Boston.  They have been looking tough since the start of the season.  

And just when the trade deadline was coming along, Los Angeles got Pau Gasol into the fold.  This was supposed to be a project which might bear fruit in the near future.  Looks like the future came a little early.

Celtics-Lakers.  The continuing rivalry which by the looks of it will continue for at least another three years or until the contracts of the stars run out and comes time to rebuild again.  Something to look forward to.

I'm a Lakers fan, but if the above match up does happen, Lakers in six games.  Or Celtics in seven.  I really doubt anyone can win against the Celtics on a seventh game this year.

-- andoy

25 April 2008

Kenneth and Darwi, updates

Kenneth has decided to go to St. Scholastica's college to take a up Fine Arts.  He informed me about this during the weekend.  This is good news, I guess.  That ends the speculation as to course and school.  He was accepted to Music Education at St. Scholastica's as well as Computer Science to FEU-East Asia College and at Mapua (Makati Campus).

Darwi's birthday today.  Happy Birthday!  She's sixteen.  I'll be posting new pictures of her soon.  She'll be in her senior year in high school and should be taking college entrance exams soon.

--andoy

14 April 2008 

Another page layout edit

wala lang. hehehe I just thought I'd shake things up a bit. But not too much.

--andoy
12 April 2008

Not Dead Yet

The phone's demise was badly reported.  It's back and working.  Only yesterday did I find out that it does not charge through the USB if the connection is also being used to transfer data to and from the computer.  In fact, it seems that the phone is using up its own power when connected as a USB flash drive, it does not draw power from the computer.

So there.  I tried my luck in connecting the phone, again, and for the nth time to the PC hoping it would get recharged.  It did.  And it's working fine.

Now to keep in mind to keep it charged.

--andoy

10 April 2008

Dead Phone

My phone died.  Or maybe not yet dead.  Just that I can't charge the batteries.  First the charger died a week ago.  I was forced to borrow Darwi's phone.  She's got a charger, whereas I would be forced to charge my phone via a USB connection on a computer.  I intend to get a new charger, but wasn't able to get around to it last Saturday, being too tired from work deploying terminals to Zambales.

Now after several days of charging via the USB, the phone dies.  I am not sure why but it might be related to USB problems on some PCs.  There are some motherboards which USB power have destroyed USB devices.  I should know.  I had a USB flash disk fried because of such a USB connection.

Strategy now is to try other computers and see if the phone would charge.  Would have to go buy a new charger soon.  Soonest being Saturday.  Or when I can spare the money.

Meantime, I can receive text messages and calls (I think) using the office-issue phone, but I can't use it to make a call or send SMS.

Communication wise, I am isolated. Not good.

--andoy

The Mt. Samat Adventure

When I was growing up, Mt. Samat was the venue for the annual celebration of Araw ng Kagitingan, formerly Bataan Day, commemorating the day Bataan fell to the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.  The Mt. Samat Memorial shrine was built in the late 1960's.

I was within the area about two weeks ago and just had to make a quick trip to the site.  I was with a team deploying EFT POS to a chain of LPG stores in the Bataan area, and we were within an hour's drive of the memorial.  We left the store at Orini just past 4:00pm, went to Balanga to withdraw money from the ATM (it being the only place in the area where there's an BPI or Landbank ATM.  And were at the highway crossroad to Morong by 5:00pm.  I was with Tony, the technical guy and Mang Louie.  And while on the way, we were also trying to search for a convenience store or sari-sari store where we can buy some bottled water.  Mang Louie noticed a fruit stand offering buco juice.   We had fresh buco juice, straight from the buco.  We left the roadside stand around 5:30 or thereabouts.

Off we went to the shrine.  Not getting lost as there were landmarks all the way to the intersection, With the van climbing, we noticed that there were no traffic on the road up the mountain.  We only saw one group of hiders going down, a couple on a motorbike also going down and a road crew painting lanes.  It was already 6:00pm when we got to the gate where a big sign said "Touring hours from 8:00am to 5:00pm."  Only thing to do was to turn around and take some pictures along the way.

Obviously, that was the first time any of us had ever gone to the shrine.  hehe  All in all, it was fun.  Didn't get to see much of the shrine, but the road trip was great.

--andoy
8 April 2008

Holy Week and TV

When I was younger, Holy week TV was practically non-existent.  The only thing you can watch would be Father Peyton's Rosary and the Stations of the Cross series.  And that would not show Jesus's face.  Of course there would be the biblical movies in theaters, and on some TV spots.  Movies like "The Robe", "Samson and Delilah", "Ten Commandments", etc.  Nowadays, there's series marathons.  Admittedly, I got caught up in one of the marathons. And "7th Heaven" is addictive, it makes sense and a whole lot more fun to watch end to end.

 

There was a time my family filleted and dried their own daing for Holy Week.  That was something.  Specially considering that in those days, samaral (barangan) was a low priority buy and not very popular fish in the 70's.  There was even that one time when we dried fish roe (samaral) for Holy Week.  I can't remember when was the last time I had dried fish eggs.

 

There was also one other thing which we did before, and that was to go to one church and pray upon the Stations of the Cross.  Sometime back this changed with a lot of families.  There was more mobility, people wanted to be away from home, in a way, and still be in the Holy Week mode, those with cars started visiting churches, as much as possible, it became a sort of church pilgrimage running around town and the nearest provinces going to twelve churches.  Twelve churches?!!  I find it hard to understand as the concept and tradition of Visita Iglesia loses meaning when you spend more time driving and travelling than praying.  Just my take on the matter.  If some people think that way, that's their problem.

 

Times have really changed.

--andoy

21 March 2008 

Recruiting Freshmen

This past Saturday, my son Kenneth took an entrance exam for BS Computer Science at a school in the university belt.  I've heard of developments within the school and how it has practically spun out the Computer Science program to a new college, complete with a new building and other facilities.  In fact, the new college is quite aggressive in asserting it's position as a serious place for training future IT professionals.

I was surprised that the entrance exam was free.  Surprised because the university has an entrance exam fee for its other courses.  That's okay, by me.  There were other surprises:  the exam is done through a PC, results to be given out after an orientation and tour of facilities.  There was even a free lunch for the examinees (and their parents/guardians who were waiting for the exams to finish.) 

I didn't take part in the tour of facilities and laboratories as I was at an internet shop coordinating to fix a problem at a client site.  (One tech guy going from one client branch to another, three of them in fact, and another one by phone support; and another guy at the Makati office updating the data on client/server software.  While also on the line with the client PM to fix the GPRS connection with their provider.)  But that's a different story I would rather not go into.

Like most of the new IT schools, the college is a collaboration between IT companies and the (older) university.  Though I don't really buy the definition of courses that they gave (which is the same definition of courses a lot of the other colleges and universities have given):  BS Computer Science is for the traditional course heavy on theory and languages, whereas BS Information Technology focuses on "new" technology, specially web-based or internet technology.  All in all, this is one aggressive school.  I just don't know if Kenneth would choose this and the course.


--andoy
17 March 2008

A Rant: Globe's Patchy Service

I cannot take it any more.  This is a rant.

For the past few days, I have been having problems with Globe Telecom's SMS service.  Admittedly, I am one of millions of Globe Pre-paid phone subscribers who use the UNLITXT service.  For me, it is less a matter of the all-day unlimited texting, but more about not worrying of the cost per SMS message sent.  I subscribe so that I don't worry about the cost, even if it might be more expensive that way.  I send the registration, a confirmation is sent back to me informing me of the service start and for how long, and I use the service.  Five days worry free for me.  Worry free that is, until the that point where suddenly the service stops for one reason or another, or a message note appears as "message not sent."  This is ridiculous.  No network advisory beforehand, just the "message not sent" warning after you try to send a message. 

Me, I'm a casual user.  No problem.  But I do know of a whole barangay of dried fish vendors who are dependent on SMS for sales to their middlemen.  They receive the message, the dried fish gets packed and sent by bus, and the transaction gets paid by GCash.  And a day without a text message is a day without sales or collection.  Walang kita!  The vendors would be dependent on the roadside buyers.  Imagine a thousand peso transaction per text message.  These people earn more from their deliveries.  That is how powerful text messaging has become.  Patchy service is not acceptable.

End of rant.


--andoy
17 March 2008

An Audition for Kenneth

When Kenneth was filling up the UPCAT form, he wanted to take up either Music or Fine Arts. Unfortunately he didn't pass the exam. Now he's got an audition for college. He has to pass the audition first, before taking the entrance exam. This is for St. Scholastica's College Manila, BS Music. I hope he makes it.

Though I don't know much about music, and guitars, I do know that Kenneth practices the guitar an hour or two a day. He downloads tabs, and instructions from the internet, and practices on his own. I'm not sure about technique, and I don't know if he plays chords, but I do know that he tries hard at it and he has the discipline to study music. It would be a stretch for him to study music as it is taught in that school, St. Scho being famous more for classical bent, and Kenneth (being Kenneth) only plays rock music at the moment. But he does appreciate good guitar playing, specially those with technical mastery. I guess above a certain level, a player would know how tough it is to play a piece once he hears it.

I say good luck. And I hope he passes.

--andoy
27 February 2008

Blanking Thoughts

Took a leave of absence for today. I needed to get some application forms for college admissions tests for Kenneth. Did some calls first and then the rounds. It was a no-stress kind of exercise.

Kenneth wants to go to Music or Fine Arts, then third choice is Computer Science. Some schools have a more friendly admissions staff than others, and I was able to gather some information, like what's the difference between the Computer Science course with their Information Technology course. One University's staff answered that their CS course is language-heavy (meaning that the CS is taught with computer languages in mind) whereas their IT course is web-dependent. Which leaves the next question as a clincher: Where in the picture is Java? The other school answered that their CS is more on the traditional theoretical based whereas the IT course is on evolving or new technology, including the web. I have no idea if these people have ever been in the wild or the real world of IT. But at least they have a stand. They know what answer to give.

A slow day in the wild. hehehe

--andoy
27 February 2008

andoyc.multiply.com

I finally got around to using my Multiply account.  I've had it for a while now, but not had the time to do anything, post or customize and hadn't visited it.  Just so happens that the pictures from the "Babang Luksa" exhibit were also posted there (not the pictures exhibited but pictures taken during the exhibit).

Turns out that it has the capability to do cross-posting from my blogs to Multiply and vice-versa.  Though I have no plans of doing that, I did post some blog entries from Blogger.com.  I only mirrored some entries not all of them.  Will keep the blogs unique from one another, though, by not posting the same entries between sites.  I think I might also do mirror posts of pictures and videos.  As well as post original music or audio files.  Then again, maybe not.  Thinking about posting a video of Kenneth on the guitar.  Will have to plan that so he can rehearse.

 

Should be interesting.

--andoy

6 February 2008
 

I thought it was an audition...

Since Kenneth started playing the guitar, he's been practicing daily for at least an hour, most days two hours a day.  He wants to be a music major in college. I admit he's got the discipline and the talent, or at least the creativity (I would be biased in saying the word "talent").  My uncles were very good with the guitar.  And I've got cousins who had a band and toured Japan before.  At least he's got the genes for it.

He mentioned something just this week about an audition for a band at school.  It was supposed to be today after school.  Turns out there would be no audition as a band member.  But an audition by the band for a school affair of some sorts.  There were four band members who had performed at school before, and they needed another member.  And Kenneth has been playing guitar with them at school for some time now, teaching one another.  So there.  I think they'd be playing a song by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.  I don't remember the title though.  Well, good luck to him.

--andoy
31 January 2008

A Ride Round the Triangle

Yesterday, Monday, the barker at the terminal where I catch a ride to Makati was distributing flyers to the commuters waiting in line.  A captive audience for flyers, he does this every month or so.  This time it was an announcement that their member drivers were going to use the Gabriela Silang car park for their terminal for the evening commute back to Marikina.  Well and good, I thought.  The Marikina drivers had used this car park before and besides, it's almost just across from the office building where I work (the Makati offices, that is).

Several shuttle lines have been using the Gabriela Silang parking lot as a terminal through the years, and it is practically at the center of Makati, being right beside the Makati Stock Exchange building.  It was named that because right at the corner of Ayala and Makati Ave. is a statue of Gabriela Silang riding a horse.  And for all intents and purposes, the area is the oldest developed block in the Makati business district.  It's located at the Ayala Triangle, a large green area which was formerly an almost park, but now just waiting development with more Ayala buildings.  Right beside the car park is the old Nielsen Tower, now the Filipinas Heritage Library.  This is the oldest building in the whole Makati Business District, predating the business district.  The two storey building was called the tower because it was the control tower when the place was still the airport during pre-World War II.  Notice the three streets bounding the triangle, Makati Ave., Paseo de Roxas and Ayala Ave. were the airstrips at that time.  The Nielsen Tower restaurant is now located right across the old Nielsen Tower, in the Peninsula Hotel.  And yes, there's Shangri-la Hotel Makati just across the intersection.  But I digress...

So late afternoon came and end of shift, I walked to the parking lot, asked where the queue was for those going to Marikina, and was pointed to the right van.  There were two vans going to Marikina, one via Bayan, and the other via Masinag.  I got in to the Bayan van and waited.  There was only one passenger besides me.  So we waited.  And after thirty minutes, the van still had space for about six passengers.  I didn't really count as I was busy snoozing in my seat.  I just approximated by the number of voices in the chatter.  The driver noticed that there was a very thin trickle of people who knew about the terminal, decided to move out of the place and find passengers.  There's always two long queues at Ayala for Marikina passengers.  He parked in front of the Stock Exchange and tried to get some passengers, those crossing the street to go to the long queues.  Since this was a no parking space, and there were lots of jeepneys, he wasn't able to properly position the van at the pedestrian crossing, he drove round the block, through the traffic and tried again.  This time he was able to park right at the pedestrian crossing.  After fifteen minutes of this, and sans one passenger who decided to get off, he finally decided to drive to Marikina.  A wait of more than an hour, with a tour of the triangle, before finally leaving Makati. 

The good news was that, considering it was a Monday evening, there was relatively light traffic.  I got home about an hour later.  Normally this would have been an hour and half ride from Makati via a shuttle.  And about the same length of commute if riding the train and jeep.

All in all, a different end of workday for the start of the week.

--andoy
29 January 2008

Spaghetti

I cooked spaghetti yesterday.  It was a request by my sister, for the birthday party of Angel, she's seven-year old and she celebrated her second party in two days: Saturday in Antipolo; and yesterday in Marikina.  It was catered, but for the spaghetti.  My sister was supposed to cook chicken, but seeing that we only had a small table and not too many guests, she decided against adding chicken to the buffet table.

I asked her what she has for me to cook, and it turns out that was for a large batch, with two kilos of spaghetti, two kilos of spaghetti sauce and two kilos hot dog.

I asked her to buy oregano and basil.  She said that there was oregano, which I found to be the ground powder type.  And no basil on the cupboard.  I also asked for a can of potted meat or liver spread -- not the small tins, but the double size tin -- as well as a medium carrot; onions -- there were small onions, the pungent strong tasting type, not good for spaghetti for kids -- and a can of mushrooms.  She got back and had the items I requested.  Almost all that is.  She bought dried oregano, whole not chopped.  I coarsely chopped it and may have added more than necessary.  And she bought bay leaf.  Not basil leaf, bay leaf, also called "laurel."  (I think I should buy her a pot of basil herbs.)

Sad to say, I flared up after a particular comment about the pasta.  I didn't add oil after the cooked pasta has been drained.  And my sister gave a comment to that effect.  It's been a running game between us to trade barbs.  It's okay as long as it's all between us siblings.  Unfortunately, this time, one guest, who I never particularly liked, seconded the comment.  No, I didn't like her, and I think that as a guest, she should have shut up seeing that this was a disagreement between siblings ("away bata").  Yes, I immediately apologized to my sister.

So there, the spaghetti was sticky, and the sauce was slightly burned.  It was sweet, no pepper, no chili, no bite, but not too sweet.  And not enough spices.  It was okay, I guess, for kids.  And no, I didn't eat any spaghetti.

--andoy
28 January 2008

Start of the Day (and I'm glad it's already the middle of the week)

Darwi is on a field trip today.  They're off to Subic, and left the school at 6:00am.  I think it's great that the school chose that as the location this year.  It was a good start for the day.

Left home to catch an early ride to Makati, in order to catch the shuttle to Alabang.  Forgot to take my medicine.  And I don't bring the prescription with me.  Once at Makati, took a look at my ATM balance, which should reflect my credited salary, and it's still the same negligible balance.  And I am now wondering if I'm still employed here or not.  hmmm  Too early in the morning to be thinking those thoughts.

And getting to the office in Alabang, I turn on my PC and it has this intermittent sound, rhythmically going like a syncopated hiccup.  One of the hard disks is dying on me.  And lucky day, it's the one with my data.  Wow!  Great!

And since I wasn't able to take my meds, I can't afford to get mad, angry, let go my temper, or show any real emotion about all this.  Normally, I would be fuming, trying to find a trash bin to kick or had already thrown my cell phone to the floor.  It's a great start to the morning.

--andoy
16 January 2008

UPCAT Results

The UPCAT results came out online on the web last Friday.  Sadly, Kenneth wasn't on the list.  I hope we receive the notification mail soon so we know what score he got.  That would give us an idea on whether he can still get into the UP system or not.  We'll see.

Of course, we're looking at other alternatives.  He got a brochure/application form for FEU.  And we're looking at other schools based on what course he likes to take, his current interests and what career he wants to pursue.  And then maybe we can take a look if we can afford the school.  For now, I can say definitely that we cannot afford the expensive universities and colleges.  But we'll see what comes up.

His choices for UP were Diliman first, Los Banos second.  For Diliman, he wanted to take up Fine Arts and Music.  I informed him that the exam for Music required that he be able to read notes.  He changed that to Fine Arts (first choice) and Computer Science (second choice).  His UPLB choices were Computer Science and Chemistry (second choice).  I think that with other schools he'll have to content himself being enrolled in Computer Science, not a bad choice, but I'm not sure if he's got the temperament for it.  The next few months to the start of classes should be exciting.

Meantime, Darwi has to start preparing for the UPCAT.

--andoy
14 January 2008

The Black Dot

There was a long thread in a Mac OSX forum several years ago, and it revolved around a dead pixel on an LCD monitor.  At the time, the monitors being discussed were 14-inch ones.  The contention was that for graphics professionals and for the high-end buyers, buying  expensive LCD monitors must be worth it.  Meaning that they want it perfect.  Not a single dead pixel in all of the 14-inch screen.  They're paying for quality and expect it from the product that they buy.  In the grand scheme of things, the thought has lived out its usefulness.

I don't get it.  I have a dead pixel on my phone, and I only notice it if it's on screen-saver mode.  I don't care one way or the other.

A single black dot in a sea of white.  It does need a refocusing in order to see the white background.  All of the other spaces.  Admittedly, even after all the large space surrounding the black dot, the single black gets the attention.  And the more attention it gets, the larger it seems to become.

Like my present situation.  A lot of people have hypertension.  I now have hypertension.  And I am not comfortable with it.  Reason is that I am scared.  As if I was cornered and with no place to run.  I haven't asked what I was running from.  I took an inventory of symptoms before and after medication (the line would be noon this past Monday).  Without medication, I felt prickly, some numbness on the cheeks, migraine-like headache, pain on nape, I felt sleepy and lethargic.  After the start of medication, I felt more prickly, constant pain on nape, sleepy and lethargic, and some numbness of the cheeks, slight pain on joints and knees.  hmmm  So unless I check my BP, I wouldn't know if I was feeling better or not.  Supposedly, some hypertension maintenance medicine side-effects include lessened libido with erectile dysfunction.  I don't want to check.  Though I notice lots of cute-boy guapo lately. hahaha

I was dejected for most of the week.  Now I have to haul ass and get out of that funk.  This should be fun.  Will try to shoot some hoops and jog during the weekend.  I hope to live long enough to be able to beat former high school classmates in a game of basketball at the age of 70 or thereabouts.

There are lots of white space around the black dot.  I need to take my eyes off of it.

--andoy
11 January 2008

Share: Your Guardian Angel by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Wala lang. Kenneth has been on the guitar and singing songs by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus since November or December. And most days it's stuck with me like an LSS. Video above is from Final Fantasy VII (???).

Your Guardian Angel
Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

When I see your smile,
Tears run down my face.
I can't replace.
And now that I'm strong, I have figured out,
How this world turns cold and it breaks through my soul.
And I know I'll find deep inside me,
I can be the one.

I will never let you fall. (let you fall.)
I'll stand up with you forever.
I'll be there for you through it all. (through it all.)
Even if saving you sends me to heaven.

It's okay.
It's okay.
It's okay-e-ay-e-ay.

Seasons are changing,
And waves are crashing,
And stars are falling all for us.
Days grow longer and nights grow shorter,
I can show you I'll be the one

I will never let you fall. (let you fall.)
I'll stand up with you forever.
I'll be there for you through it all. (through it all.)
Even if saving you sends me to heaven.

'Cause you're my, you're my, my-e-y-e-y,
My true love, my whole heart.
Please don't throw that away.
'Cause I'm here... for you!
Please don't walk away and,
Please tell me you'll stay... here!

Whoa-oh!
Stay!
Whoa-oh!

Use me as you will!
Pull my strings just for a thrill!
And I know I'll be okay,
Though my skies are turning gray! (gray! gray!)

I will never let you fall!
I'll stand up with you forever!
I'll be there for you through it all,
Even if saving you sends me to heaven!

I will never let you fall!
I'll stand up with you forever!
I'll be there for you through it all,
Even if saving you sends me to heaven! (fade out)


--andoy
11 January 2008
lyrics added and other revisions 15 January 2008

"Are You Okay?"

Yes, I am fine.  And if I keep getting that question, I would keep on repeating the answers.  Who knows, after repeating it so many times to myself, I might even believe it.

I've had this question since Sunday when I found out I had elevated blood pressure.  And yes, I feel fine.  I just have the regular migraine.  I once had migraine attacks about every two months.  Now it's just once.  Per weekend.  The whole weekend.  Amend that, it's the whole week.  So, it's once a week, the whole week.  And since it's there all the time, I don't (usually) bother with the pain killer medicine.  I just live with it.

So after the consultation last Monday, and the blood chemistry tests last Tuesday, it became official, I had hypertension.  This was pronounced by my doctor in the afternoon after the blood chemistry test results were read and analyzed.  No problem with blood cholesterol, sodium, kidneys, and in fact, all levels for the blood chemistry were within normal range.  So that leaves heredity (genetics) and environment (stress/lifestyle) as the culprit for the hypertension.  I'm betting it's the stress.  I don't want to say that all those relatives of mine who died of stroke and/or had hypertension passed on these genes to me.

The good news is that I am now forewarned, I know it exists, and I am on medication.  I can do something about it.  I only have to live with it, not gripe, not worry about it.  No stress on top of the stress.

Thank GOD it's Friday!  And now to the business of living with it...

--andoy
11 January 2008

Star City First Timer

Last Friday my family was invited by Lilia's nephew, Dictus, to join them for a trip to the Star City.  Tha plan was for us (me, Lilia, Kenneth, and Darwi) to go to Novaliches first and we'd all go to Star City in the afternoon.  I think there was some miscommunication there as what they meant was late afternoon.  We left Nova around 5:30pm and got there after 7:00pm.  This was the first time I ever got into an amusement park.  No kidding.  Of course, I've gone to the perya before and rode the Ferris Wheel and caterpillar, but I've never had the chance to go to Enchanted Kingdom or Star City or any of the other all-year amusement parks.  It was great.  And crowded. 

Considering that most of the rides are in an enclosed space (a pre-existing building), it's the first weekend of the New Year (or the last few days before the start of classes), and it's in the metropolis, I was expecting it to be crowded.  I wasn't surprised at the crowds, but there's the illusion that there's less people than there really were.  This impression was dispelled by the queues for the rides -- the  popular rides had at least a hundred people waiting in line.  Roughly equivalent to an hour's wait at the least. 

Only five of us were riding, that's me, Kenneth, Darwi, Peaen and Dictus (he financed the trip).  Lilia and her brothers, Peping and Paquito weren't riding.  She's scared, Paquito is in no condition to ride, and Peping doesn't like to. 

The Zyklon Loop rollercoaster was out of commission.  But the "Star-Flyer" was the real center of attraction -- and at least 200 people queueing.  We never did get to ride that.  Besides the long queue, Lilia didn't want us to ride.  I think that if any of the kids pushed for it, we would have ridden, but the ambivalence did show. hehehe  Nope, we didn't ride. 

The bumper cars looked like it had less people waiting in line.  After a bite to eat, we waited our turn at the Wild River.  We even donned our jackets so we won't get wet.  And most did get wet, though some were a lot more wet than others.  Next up was The Flying Carpet had two queues, the one on the first floor was longer, but the other starting from the second floor was shorter.  We took the shorter line and waited only about half an hour to get a ride.  Kenneth didn't ride, though.  We weren't able to get any more rides as it was almost closing.  We barely had time in the Snow park.  Funny that, there was a no picture-taking policy but lots of cameras.  The pictures we took were mostly blurred as the hands were shaking from the cold.  We left at closing time, 2:00am and got to Novaliches around 3:30am.

The following day, Peaen's birthday, I had a BP of 160/90 (rounded off).  Oh well.

--andoy
10 January 2008

"A (Not so) Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Lechon... and the danggit" (?)

I'd like to post a disclaimer before anything else.  I am not overly fond of lechon.  Balat lang po.  Crunchy and well done golden turning medium brown.  Now after having said that, I'd like to make it clear that I can live without it.  Basta may danggit o pusit.  Kahit tuyo lang.

And that's precisely what I did last Sunday, when my niece Peaen celebrated her birthday, I snobbed the lechon.  It was slightly larger than a lechon de leche.  Not too fat.  Relatively small.  Enough for an extended family to feast on.  Unfortunately, the household has more people who should be watching their diet, than those who were healthy enough to eat of the feast.  hehehe

I knew that my brother-in-law bought lechon, but I didn't expect it to be a whole pig.  Soon as it was settled and ready for the chopping block, I grabbed the electronic sphygmomanometer and took a blood pressure reading. 

I would not have gotten a BP reading before, but just before Christmas, the company I work for had an annual physical exam for all its employees.  I had a BP reading of 140/100 and the doctor warned me about my age, advising me to think seriously about a low-fat low-salt diet.  I said I'll think about it.  In fact, I thought long and hard about it and came to the conclusion that she's right, I should watch my diet.  I've had readings of BPs as high as 140/100 before and I was wary of that becoming the norm. And that was almost three years ago.  I decided to make it my New Year's Resolution: low-fat, low-salt diet.  I figured to be cute about it; eat during the season and have the diet after December.

Going back to the BP reading after the roast pig came into the picture, I already had a headache that Sunday morning.  I just needed to make sure that I'm safe to eat pork.  The instrument read 160/93.  I was stunned.  I had juice, lots of it.  I went to bed, and read a little bit, but the migraine was not helping me any.  I think I dozed off.  I sent a text message to some friends.  One of them answered that the migraine and the BP readings might be related; the migraines might be because of intra-cranial pressure, which was why there was a big gulf between the diastolic and systolic readings (I have no idea which is which).  To me that meant that an aneurysm was possible.  I asked for aspirin, and there not being any in the household, I took a walk with my son to the corner drugstore to get me some aspirin. I was also advised to drink pineapple juice.  There being none, I had what was available, four seasons juice.  I peeled the pomelo and had several slivers.  Of course, Darwi was there to help with the pomelo. 

An hour or two later, I had another reading, and this time it was 150/97.  After the scare, I had lost my appetite and was not in any mood to eat.  Besides, the things on the table were a lot worse than the roast pig.  Except for the char-broiled pampano, most of the food was either salty or rich in fat.  There was even kilaw na baboy, boiled pork rind in vinegar and spices.  Steered away from the Carlos I (not being a drinker myself, that was no great loss).  I had some pancit, and a bite of ube cake (about three inches square by four inches tall, a single bite).  I also made myself a fresh fruit salad, slicing apple, orange, kiwi, banana with calamansi juice sprinkled on top.  No cream thank you.

And in the afternoon, I had my last reading, and it was 140/97.  Most of the day was spent playing chess with the in-laws.  That was the only good part, I guess.  My brother-in-law Paquito played "two-out-of-three" and got mated the first two games, didn't play the third.  His son, Dictus played a lot of games.  We usually halve wins.  This time, he got mated in all five or six of the games.  Only Peping, another brother-in-law had good games against me.  He won twice, drew once and lost once against me.

The following day, a Monday, I went on sick leave to go to the doctor for a check-up.  My BP reading was 170/110.  And in the evening I was crying over the danggit.  I know if the danggit gets washed first so it won't be too salty, it should be okay.  But Lilia wouldn't want to do that as the cooking oil would splash once the wet danggit is put into the pan.

Tough.  But I guess this is one New Year's Resolution which will stick.

--andoy
9 January 2008

Danggit!

Danggit is salted/dried fish fillet about two to three inches in length and very popular locally.  It wasn't always popular in the Metro.  I remember when we were kids, we had the larger fish, samaral or barangan (rabbitfish/spinefoot) as a regular on our table. (hehehe)  And the reason it wasn't popular, judging by the selling price in the market, was because it ugly and doesn't smells worse than fishy.  Which was why we had it regularly, it was cheap.  It's a common food fish in our province.  Fried, or with a sinigang variant, or salted-dried, the barangan is very tasty and a real treat.

There were times when my grandma would salt dry the fish herself.  So what we have are much larger than the danggit now in the market, at least twice as large and more fleshy.  She once gave a comment that fried danggit could be eaten without anything remaining.  Of course, she cheated:  she pounded the fried fish to pulp (flakes?), bones and all.

There was even one time we had dired piay (fish eggs or roe) from the barangan.  That was really something.  And I doubt it would ever again happen for me.

The smell of the danggit may be a turn-off but there's a fool-proof way to mask the smell:  wrap it in carbon paper.  That's not hard to find, if you know where to look.  Carbon paper is still out there and easy to find.  It's between sheets of computer continuous form.

Nowadays, danggit is considered both a delicacy, a staple and a preferred pasalubong.  And it doesn't matter that it's a pasalubong to bring back to Manila, Qatar, Singapore or New York.

Now I can only take a look at the danggit in the fridge.  I'm just getting old, I guess.

--andoy
9 January 2008

Sesame Street Characters

I asked Darwi a funny stupid question:  If I were going to a costume party, what Sesame Street character fits me best?  She answered Cookie Monster.  I didn't ask her why.  But I guess it would be because of the near-psychotic manic way Cookie Monster has with cookies.  At least I hope that was the case, because I wouldn't want to think that I'm like Cookie because of the way I speak.  hehehe

Going by the Sesame Street character list, I tried to see if I fit the image.

Bert and Ernie.  That's a vaudeville comedy pair.  The straight man and the smart-aleck sidekick.  No real identity without the other.  And besides, stupid things happen to Bert (see http://www.snopes.com/rumors/bert.htm).

Big Bird.  Wrong image for me.  Wrong shade of yellow.  Now if instead of canary yellow it was green, then maybe I can say he fits just right for studying at Taft Avenue.

The Count.  More OC than Bert and his soda pop cap collection.

Grover.  Possible.  Thin, gawky and old looking guy.  Fits in the background.  Pensive.  hehehe

Elmo.  No, sorry, but me as Elmo, I would scare the kids.  hehehe

Kermit the Frog.  Ooops.  Sorry, but I am not a frog.  hehehe

Oscar the Grouch.  Close.  But I am not wearing that costume!  I am not a grouch!  Does anyone really think I'm grouchy??!!!  (Ooops, sorry about that outburst.  It just slipped out.)

Oh, well.  You should try it sometime, ask a friend or a kid, the same question and see what happens.

--andoy
3 January 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It was a good season.  But after slogging through a stretch of one and a half months which felt like a very long two months, the whole of December went by so fast.  And I didn't even blink.  Christmas came and went so fast, my head is still spinning.

Really, Christmas came and went.  And I am happy and merry through all of it.  There was one big (and long) Christmas party to start things off.  And then there was a Christmas party for our company's Alabang staff, after Christmas and before New Year.  That was quiet, uneventful, but significant for the bonding time it afforded us the employees.  (Which meant that though most of the guys got drunk, they weren't drunk enough; shop talk and gossip was at a minimum; and lots of good ribbing and roasting.)  And then we were off for a long weekend preparing and celebrating the New Year.

Yes, a Happy New Year to all.

There's food, fruits, cheese and wine in the fridge.  I know no one with a New Year's Day injury.  I am looking forward to the year ahead, looks good from where I'm standing.  December (and Christmas just past) was okay as far as my experience goes.  Not the best, but a whole lot better than most, thanks in part to the four-day weekends.

After all of that, and though I kept it to myself, I was most enthusiastic about the last package given to us last night.  It was a small newspaper wrapped package of danggit, which my mom gave Lilia, with instructions to wash off the salt first before cooking.

--andoy
2 January 2008 

PS:  If this sounds disjointed, that's because it is.  First working day and the first migraine of the year.  --same