Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Undecided

Do I go home to Cainta or stay in the condo?

... Sigh...

My biggest concern about going home to Cainta is having to go back to Mandaluyong.

I'd love to see my family on the 1st though, are malls open then? If so, what are their hours?

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

drag, Drag, DRAG!

Work has been a drag today - there were a of call offs on the attendance line, call volume was higher than the already really high forecast, productivity is lower than usual, etcetera...

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. We scheduled 2 classes of Year End Training for our CCP's to assist them with issues normally encountered during the first quarter of the year and we wouldn't want to have to cancel that to save service level tomorrow. I'm happy though 'cause my request to have Friday off this week was approved so I'm off starting Wednesday and won't be working until Monday.

Yipee!

Still haven't decided if I should go home on New Year's eve or not. I'm having second thoughts about going out but I'm too lazy to have to travel all the way to Cainta again. Ryan and the rest of the gang will be staying at Shangri-La hotel at EDSA so I'll be pretty much alone in our place. Maybe I should invite my other friends over instead, given they don't have work.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Ultimate Kylie

I was finally able to rip my Ultimate Kylie CD's! Yay! In case you're wondering why this is such a big deal, Ultimate Kylie is Copy Controlled and EAC used to be unable to read the tracks.

Anyway, I woke up early today, around 3:30 AM. I decided to spend the time playing games and browsing the web. I'll also be working out a little early later, around 8:30 AM. The goal is to finish working out just when the mall is about to open, not that I'll be buying stuff in Megamall. I plan to go to Robinson's Galleria to get my hair cut and hopefully to finally be able to hand Vharz my Christmas present (which he insists should also be my New Year's and birthday gift to him, hahaha!)

Sunday, December 28, 2008

General Cleaning

Ryan's been bugging me to clean the condo and since I didn't have work last night I decided to go for it after working out. Actually, I was suppose to go out but didn't make it to the salon and everyone knows Lucien doesn't go out unless he's all out. :-)

Funny thing is, I cleaned not only our condominium unit (living room, bed room, rest room, kitchen, etc) but also my laptop. I decided to browse the web more vigorously and found a couple of either more complete software or software with smaller memory footprints than those I have installed. I also decided to remove a few stuff from my laptop.

- Adobe Acrobat 9 has been replaced with Foxit Reader, and I decided to install CutePDF.
- AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) and all application which required AIR has been removed.
- AMUST Registry Cleaner and CCleaner have been replaced by COMODO System Cleaner (freeware).
- Avast Anti-Virus has been replaced by COMODO Internet Security (freeware)
- Shaiya has been removed, I've decided to completely switch to Requiem: Bloodymare.
- Vuze has been replaced by uTorrent.

Aside from the above changes I also did a registry scan, a disk cleanup, a complete disk defragment based on access, a complete virus scan, and a complete security wipe on my laptop to ensure maximum performance and stability.

Lazy blogger

I've been such a lazy blogger lately, preferring to rather just play games or listen to music instead of typing something down to remind me of what happened. Of course this isn't the attitude I'd want to carry over the year, I want to be able to narrate my life as consistently as I have the first two months preceding my promotion. I know my mom and siblings read my blog often, and so do other people who are also important to me.

As early as now I'd like to start working on a 2009 New Year's Resolution - Stop being a lazy blogger. I'll try to blog at least once every other day unless I'm really caught up with something more important.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays everyone!

So how did my holidays go?

Well, the entire group had a party in our condominium Sunday. We ate, exchanged gifts, and partied. Well not that party, we had a sane laid back party until they decided to start doing vodka and tequila, which was my queue to go lock myself up in my room and start playing games instead.

Monday and Tuesday went by so fast because I was very busy at work and I was finally able to work out for two consecutive days again. Too bad Slimmer's World is closed yesterday and today, I would have wanted to complete a 7 day run at the gym.

Yesterday was good and bad. I went to Megamall to do the last leg of my Christmas shopping but barely had the energy to walk around, much more think of the last few gifts I needed to buy. Jase, my younger brother, decided to help me out so we spent an unbelievable amount of time figuring out what gift to buy for our elder brother on behalf of my mom. We really wanted to get him slippers but All Flip Flops and Ipanema do not have his size. On our way home, we lined up for a cab around 4:00 PM, and got one right before 6:00 PM. *sob*

I went straight to bed when we got home and woke up 5 minutes before midnight.

Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Wanted: Windows XP/Vista users

Did you know that some software developers actually sell licenses in 3's? I'm asking because I'm planning to purchase a license for Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 and for Uniblue Power Suite 2009 and was interested in sharing the license with 2 other individuals. Kaspersky Antivirus 2009 costs around PhP 2,100 for 3 users (it's PhP 1,000 for just 1 user) so we can split it at PhP 700 each. Uniblue Power Suite 2009, on the other hand, costs USD 60.00 for a license that's good for up to 3 users so we can split it at USD 20.00 each (or approximately PhP 1,000).

Thanks!

P.S.: Uniblue Power Suite 2009 is a must have for Windows Vista users and is highly recommended for Windows XP users. ;-)

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A more sensible list...

I just checked the Christmas Wishlist I posted and realized that those were my wants and not my needs. For those who would like to give me something more meaningful and useful, here's a list of things I'll really appreciate.

Cosmo Skin GSE (from Watson's)
Cosmo Body (from Watson's)
Healthy Options Vitamin C 500 mg
Healthy Options Vitamin E 400 UI
Healthy Options Alpha Lipoic Acid
Healthy Options Concentrated Omega-3
Healthy Options Milk Thistle
Healthy Options Resveratrol

Well, in case you haven't noticed, these are all supplements. A bottle will probably only last a month or two but whatever they'll do for me will last longer.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Christmas Wishlist

These are some of the things I want for Christmas. I actually have to squeeze these stuff out 'cause I honestly have most of the things I want that are within gift giving reason, hahaha!

Beyonce - I Am...Sasha Fierce CD album
Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak CD album
Nelly - Year of the Gentleman CD album
The Pussycat Dolls - Doll Domination CD album
Original Guildwars: Trilogy DVD dame
Original Guildwars: Eye of the North DVD game
Plain grey or beige thermal blanket
... Or a Bench/SM GC would work just as well. LOL!

Do not buy me Britney Spears - Circus even though that may be the most obvious thing to get me for Christmas because one of my co-workers (We don't actually work with each other 'cause she's from a completely seperate department.) bought me one (THANKS!) already, hehehe!

I know, I know. Pakapalan-ng-mukha mode, but this should help those who are already planning to buy me something out. If you plan to get me any of the stuff on here just make sure to post a comment so I don't end up with 2 of the same stuff. :-)

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Twenty Seven

That's almost how many hours my ordeal was - getting back home from Ohio.

I left for Port Columbus for my connecting flight to Detroit, MI at around 9:35 AM EST, which is 10:35 PM Manila time. I was better prepared and conditioned this time, but still not right on when it came to determining where I had to be with every step.

The connecting flight to Detroit, MI was fine. It was on a Canadian Jet with a 50 people capacity and flew at a relatively lower altitude compared to the international flight. It only took an hour and twelve minutes to get to the international airport in Detroit, MI which was HUMONGOUS. Everything there was big, and people had to travel using travel-belts (or whatever you called those conveyor belts). I thought I had to re-check my baggage like I did last time so I made the mistake of going to the luggage claim area, waiting for a fucking hour for my stuff, which of course never got there. Because I went outside the boarding gates area, I had to go through security again which was the most frustrating thing ever.

The international flight from Detroit, MI to Nagoya was completely different. I was on a Boeing 747-400 which had a 400+ passenger capacity and made the Canadian Jet I rode look really small. Unsurprisingly, majority of the passengers were Filipinos, most of which were years older than I am. The flight was thirteen and a half hours long, with dinner and breakfast served in between. I hated almost every second of the flight minus the ones I spent playing Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 on my laptop. Unfortunately only World Business Class passengers have access to power outlets which would have made my entire trip at least 75% pleasurable (uninterrupted gaming, anyone?). Getting off at Nagoya was a big relief minus the fact that we all had to go through security again to get back on the plane we left to be cleaned less than 10 minutes prior to the fact.

The last leg of the flight didn't feel like it went on too long. It was only for around three and a half hours, around an hour of which I spent listening to music, another hour napping, around 30 minutes eating, and the rest looking out the window excited to get home. The local time shown on the digital clocks was 11:54 PM as I boarded off the plane. It took almost 2 hours, though, to get my luggage and a few more minutes to get on a cab.

I got home around 1:21 AM Manila Time. Tired and exhausted, relieved and excited. I sent a text message to my mom, my sister, and my best friends (Ryan, Scav, Terence and Vharz) to make sure none of them went through the night worrying about me... Thank god my boss told me he won't be needing me back in US until next year, which is technically less than 30 days away. LOL!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Jeffersonville

Saturday was waayyy cool. I shopped at Jefferson which was like an hour drive from my hotel, and that's VERY FAR, by the way, 'cause traffic's really REALLY light here (It was around 45 miles away I think). Bryant drove me there and he was uber cool to shop with and uber dependable when it came to choosing clothes and stuff.

I got A LOT of Bath and Body shop, 2 bottles of Lacoste perfume, a dozen Lotta Luv candy lip balms for my officemates, belts, caps, and more than half a dozen boxer shorts.

We drove through Wendy's and Popeye's to get lunch after then headed home. We met up again around 11:00 PM to party with some of his friends and visit the clubs in Columbus.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Thurman's, McCormick and Schmick's, Cheesecake Factory...

Ate at Thurman's for dinner 2 days ago. YUM! 3/4 lbs of beef, hahaha! They served HUGE burgers there.

McCormick's was yesterday's lunch. Ate with Becky, Jim, and Roger - That's a senior VP, a VP, and an AVP for Chase. Okay food, but DIVINE dessert.

Likewise for Cheesecake Factory, had to wait an hour to get seated though, and another hour for my HUGE SULTRY steak. LOL! A slice of heavenly cheesecake after. I got their 30th anniversary special, lucky me.

I'm going to Jeffersonville to shop in a few, Short North tonight to hang out with the locals. Yehey!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

What's been going on!?

A lot went on recently.

I had pizza and pasta with Vharz at home Wednesday, I couldn't go to Ohio without seeing my best friend first. I mean, what if the plane crashed or something? Hahaha!

Thursday was laid back, nothing special happened. Slept and played online games the whole day.

Friday was really nice, met my family and ate at Bangus in Megamall. We then bought my sister's laptop - PhP 21,999 for an MSI Wind with the usual specifications plus 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD and a 6 cell battery. But that happened after I met a friend who I had breakfast with over at McDonalds. I had to drop by real quick by the office, by the way, 'cause I needed to get my cash advance. I slept 4 hours then went out to get my flight ticket, Terence got my the most gorgeous scarf for my trip. (THANKS!)

The flight was literally a pain in the but. I walked around a lot, sat for 12 hours straight, watched crappy general patronage movies, etcetera. I hated every minute of it. Food wasn't great either - very unhealthy.

Oh well, my first few days here in Ohio have been really nice though. Weather sucks, I'm starting to freeze to death. Thank god for the heater. Have been offline since I got here but my boss agreed to switch me over to a suite where I have internet access. I love it!