just bcoz i wanted to post something other than a meme

So how about some random thoughts?

• When I bloghop, I never read the author’s profile. I’m not interested on what she/he says about herself/himself.  I immediately read the entries or gawk at the photographs.
• I watched ‘NEW IN TOWN”, a Renee Zellweger-starrer last night on DVD.  Predictable plot, uninspired dialogs, but I liked it.
• Haven’t gone on a “shooting” trip in a while, but still plenty of materials on archives.
• Rick Bayless, one of my fave chefs, won the Top Chef Masters crown. Of course he went up with two of my other faves too, chefs from the bay area Michael Chiarello and Hubert Keller.  I would love to eat at these three master chefs restaurants some day.

Happy weekend every one!

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Six Pack

I haven’t done a Six Pack in a long time so I am excited to do another one.

Here are six Christmas traditions of my growing up years:

1. We did not wrap gifts nor open presents.
2. We always got new clothes for Christmas.
3. Attending the midnight mass was a must.
4. Noche Buena consisted of nilaga, queso de bola, and hamon.
5. We jumped from anywhere high as soon as the church bell rings on both Christmas Eve and New Years Eve in the hope of getting taller.
6. Brother #3 always gives out a stick of gum for Christmas. 

Happy Holidays every one.  Peace.

 

How to Lose Weight Without Exercise

With the upcoming Holiday season and all the eating we are going to do, I thought I’d post this reminder or tip to lose all those calories we are surely going to inhale.

Proper weight control and physical fitness cannot be
attained by dieting alone. Many people who are engaged
in sedentary occupations do not realize that calories
can be burned by the hundreds by engaging in strenuous
activities that do not require physical exercise.

Here’s the guide to calorie-burning activities and the
number of calories per hour they consume.

Beating around the bush. . . . . . . . .75

Jumping to conclusions . . . . . . . . 100

Climbing the walls . . . . . . . . . . 150

Swallowing your pride. . . . . . . . . .50

Passing the buck . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Throwing your weight around (depending on your
weight). . . .50-300

Dragging your heels. . . . . . . . . . 100

Pushing your luck. . . . . . . . . . . 250

Making mountains out of molehills. . . 500

Hitting the nail on the head . . . . . .50

Wading through paperwork . . . . . . . 300

Bending over backwards . . . . . . . . 75

Jumping on the bandwagon . . . . . . . 200

Balancing the books. . . . . . . . . . .25

Running around in circles. . . . . . . 350

Eating crow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Tooting your own horn. . . . . . . . . .25

Climbing the ladder of success . . . . 750

Pulling out the stops. . . . . . . . . .75

Adding fuel to the fire. . . . . . . . 160

Wrapping it up at the day’s end. . . . .12

To which you may want to add your own favorite
activities, including:

Opening a can of worms . . . . . . . . .50

Putting your foot in your mouth. . . . 300

Starting the ball rolling. . . . . . . .90

Going over the edge. . . . . . . . . . .25

Picking up the pieces after. . . . . . 350

 

Midweek Chuckle

Love and Marriage as seen through the eyes of our kids.

 

WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?

“Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other.  Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.” Lynnette, age 8

“On the first date, they just tell each other lies, and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.” Martin, age 10

 

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?

“I’d run home and play dead.  The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns.” Craig, age 9

 

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?

“When they’re rich!” Pam, age 7

“The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn’t mess with that.” Curt, age 7

“The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them….It’s the right thing to do.” Howard, age 8

 

HOW DOES A PERSON DECIDE WHO TO MARRY?

“You flip a nickel, and heads means you stay with him and tails means you try the next one.” Kally, age 9

“You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff.  Like if you  like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.” Allan, age 10

“No person really decides before they grow up who they’re going to marry.  God decides it all way before, and you got to find out later who you’re stuck with.” Kirsten, age 10

 

WHAT IS THE PROPER AGE TO GET MARRIED?

“Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then!” Cam, age 10

“No age is good to get married at.  You got to be a fool to get married!” Freddie, age 6

 

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

“Married people usually look happy to talk to other people.” Eddie age 6

“You might have to guess based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.” Derrick age 8

 

HOW TO MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?

“Tell your wife that she looks pretty even if she looks like a truck!” Ricky, age 7

 

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN’T GET MARRIED?

“There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn’t there? Kelvin, age 8

 

WHAT PROMISES DO A MAN AND A WOMAN MAKE WHEN THEY GET MARRIED?

“A man and a woman promise to go through sickness and illness and diseases together.” Marlon, age 10.

 

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR A YOUNG COUPLE ABOUT TO BE MARRIED?

“The first thing I’d say to them is: Listen up youngins, I got something to say to you.  Why in the heck do you want to get married anyway?” Craig, age 9

 

THE GREAT DEBATE:  IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?

“I don’t know which is better, but I’ll tell you one thing.  I’m never going to have sex with my wife. I don’t want tobe be all grossed out.” Theodore, age 8

“It’s better for girls to be single but not for boys.  Boys need somebody to clean up after them!” Anita, age 9.

“Single is better for the simple reason that I wouldn’t want to change no diapers.  Of course, if I did get married, I’d figure something out.  I’d just phone my mother and have her come over for some coffee and diaper-changing.” Kirsten, age 10

 

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?

” Both don’t want no more kids.” Lori, age 8

 Hoped you have a chuckle.

 

Six Pack

After a month here I am with another six pack list.

Autumn events I am excited about:

1. Leaf peeping
2. Thanksgiving turkey carving
3. Sweater wearing
4. Must See TV viewing
5. Hot toddy drinking
6. Holiday shopping

What do you look forward to during this season?

 

100 Bullet Points for 100th Post (fingers crossed), part 1

Since this happens to be my 100th post, something that I had never imagined when I started this blog, I thought I’d do some bullet points again.  Just random thoughts about anything under the sun.

• I cooked ginisang opo [sauteed opo squash] for the first time in my entire life and hubs loved it.  Scooooore!
• While eating dinner last night, hubs asked where was the olive in our food.  I told him we were eating chicken afritada and not kalderata.  He said so that’s the difference between those two dishes, one has olives, and the other one doesn’t. 🙂
• Don’t believe a child who boldly declares, NAPS ARE RARE with him because within the next breath he’d be far into dreamland.
• Ever had iced coffee from Micky D?  Neither have I, all I got was cream and ice.  WHERE’S THE COFFEE?
• The leaves have turned brown and fell onto the ground and I just noticed it yesterday.
• Hurray, BevMo has that 5c sale again. 
• Went to four places to get dust pan with handle last weekend, none carry them.  What happened?
• My little nephews all four of them have a YouTube account and I just visited their site.  Calling their moms, see what your kids are posting online.
• I hardly have time to visit my Friendster page.
• Ever been here, it’s a fun read.
• Here too.
• Boy am I glad that the marine layer is back.  A week of 90-degree temps is enough to last me a whole summer.
• I like Katherine Heigl as a movie star, imagine that.
• I missed the yoyo competition at the Exploratorium last week, tsk.
• And the Ethiopian Festival at Lake Merritt.
• I better not miss the Chocolate Festival.
• And the Solano Stroll.
• I am listening to TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART right now, blast from the past.
• Is September the season for babies?  All the inserts, fliers, and ads from Sunday papers have baby stuff sale.
• Attended one baby shower from work on Friday.
• Will attend christening on Sunday.
• Yeah, there must be baby boom.
• I finally found my fave deli meat—Sopressata!
• Two summers in a row, we had tomatoes from the garden.
• I love Kid Rock’s song ALL SUMMER LONG.  Reminds me of John Mellencamp sound.
• And Nickleback’s ROCK STAR, love it love it love it.
• I am starting to like Leo di Caprio, help.
• Had the misfortune of answering the phone when someone from a credit card company was calling.  She’s asking why I wasn’t using my card and what do they need to do to make them my primary card.  I told them to give me a low single digit interest and if they’re ready to do that to call me again.
• I realized that in real life I know more REBECCAs than any other name.
• I missed doing my cross stitch projects.
• And my scrapbooking too.
• I never had that dream where I was out in the streets naked, but I did have one just recently where I was almost topless.  Yiiikes.
• Not really a Sex and the City fan, but I thought that Samantha and Smith are cute together.
• I need to rent the first season [and probably the second too] of MY BOYS.  I constantly forget what day/time it’s on.
• Excited about the 4th season of PRISON BREAK?  I dont know.  Gimme a couple more episodes to feel how this season’s going to fare.
• My soul could use another trip to MENDOCINO.  It’s been awhile.
• Still debating whether to open a Multiply account.  BFF has one and wont get Friendster.  I have the former and she’s begging me to join Multiply.
• When is the new David Cook song going to come out?
• I’d rather email than call.
• Massages must be considered basic needs.
• Pinot Grigio is my fave wine.
• Oh I like Merlot too.
• I miss receiving catalogs [junk] from mail.
• Santa Fe is one of my dream destinations; the list keeps growing.
• My pet peeve?  Dogs in sweaters/hoods/hoodies.
• I very recently lost a long-time pet fish TUCKER.
• Another fish is showing signs of sickness, oh no.
• I love taking pictures of the cloudscapes/skyscapes.
• And I have reached the middle ground.  Will continue this post.

 

Six Pack: Destinations On My Mind

With the arrival of autumn just around the bend, the summer holidays have seen their end.  Most people take their holidays during the long summer break in order to spend time with their school kids.   I have not particularly liked going out in the summertime.  One reason, the weather.  Heat bothers me a lot.  It irritates me.  Not fun for me at all.  Another reason is that most spots from national parks to theme parks, from beaches to local fishing holes are jampacked. And I hate crowded places that’s why I seldom go to the malls. 

When the crowds had thinned out and the days had gone cooler, I go.  My favorite time to go away is just after the New Year.  Most places offer discounted rates for off season travels.  Cruises have good deals at this time.  But since there is nothing in the near horizon for me to look forward to and I sit here working my butt off (how could that be if I’m blogging), I’d give in to the call of daydreaming.  And because I have not done a six pack post in a long while, I would like to list my desired destinations.   Here they are in no particular order:

1.   Machu Pichu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.   Banff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.   Galapagos Island

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.  Arches National Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 5.   Denali

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.  Yellowstone National Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 What about you?  Do you have a dream destination?   I love the outdoors, nature, and photography.  I think all these destinations suit me just fine.

 

Stray Thoughts on Stray Bullets

I think my my juices only flows when I do a listing.  I believe I need to make an appointment with the conjunction family before I could truly come up with one cohesive paragraph.  Anyway, here are my thoughts:

• Did anyone see No Reservations last night?  Of course you did.  This was the Saudi Arabia show where at the beginning of the episode Tony showed how he narrowed down his choice of places to visit to three places: Saudi Arabia, Buffalo, NY, and the Philippines.  He interviewed these three people whose video submissions he chose.  The guy who voted Philippines was in my opinion not the right one to accompany Tony to the country he obviously knew nothing about.  While I would love for Tony to enjoy my homeland, this was not that time.  The Saudi episode was great I thought. 
• It was not the tomato???? Really? So now it’s the poor jalapeno pepper huh!  The salmonella outbreak that pinned tomato as the carrier now has a new source, the real source?  Anyway, despite the seriousness of the threat of salmonella, our household did not stop buying and eating tomato.  Too bad for the tomato industry for all their lost income.
• American Idol summer auditions were conducted here in San Fran last Thursday, July 17.  Was this the first for the summer?  Had I known it way in advance I would have taken a day off and had a field day photographing all those wannabes.  Sayang! 😛
• Girl shouting match at the tracks?  Danica Patrick and some girl were shown yelling (okay the other girl was yelling, per Danica interview) at each other.  While I don’t mind girls driving and racing, this is a consequence when there are girls around.  Sometimes, girls can’t get along.  And I don’t want to see that in a Nascar setting, even on the sidelines.  It kills the experience for me.  (I am not a Nascar fan, I just watch sports highlights :D)
• Last Friday, darling husband and I took a day off, a much needed rest from work, plus hubby’s vacation cap is getting full.  He must use his time off or lose it.   Use it we did.  I too have plenty of vacay time available so it was easy to request a day off at a day’s notice.  So what did we do?  Nope, we did not rest, did not stay at home and vege out on the couch watching dvds.  We went for a drive, inspite of the high gas prices.  The sacrifices you do for your passion really.  It was a beautiful day, cool, typical of the summers here in the Bay.  Our destination was Stinson Beach in Marin county.  We always go to Point Reyes and drive by Stinson Beach, but never really took time to stop and go to the beach.  Wow! No wonder it is popular.  It is so gorgeous.  And crowded for a Friday.  I overheard one lady say that the idea of taking a day off must not be novel. It sure looked like a lot of people took the Friday off.  We ended our day in Marin county by driving 13 miles to Olema for a very late lunch.  Overall, Friday was a fun day.

 

Random Answers to Random Questions

I have been tagged again, this time by my lovely cyberpal/blogging bud G at Mirage As Usual.  Truth of the matter is I have seen this tag do the rounds of blogs I read and somehow I had sensed it would reach me sooner or later.  So here are my random answers:

1.  WHAT WAS I DOING 10 YEARS AGO?

I can’t remember much of what 1998 was about.  But there is one date, June 28, 1998, that stick out like a sore thumb.  It was on that day that I started my employment here at the same company where I presently work.  Which means, I have just marked my 10th year anniversary with the same company.  10 years!!!!! Talk about staying power.  On June 28, 2008, my husband and I went out for Mexican food (my perennial celebratory food) to celebrate the date.  He asked if I was celebrating my entry to this company and why???? My reply garnered a chuckle and a big hug:  I was not celebrating my entry to this company.  I was celebrating the fact that from this day on, I won’t be working with _____(my former employers) in a job that sucked to the high heavens.  He chuckled because he knew I was telling the truth and that the celebration was reasonable and well deserved.  He worked there too at the same time I was there.  That was where I met my husband. 

2.  WHAT ARE THE FIVE THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST TODAY?

1.  
   1. Decide on the specific cake I want to bake.
   2. Fold laundry.
   3. Make a grocery list for Friday’s trip to Costco.
   4. Upload pictures to costco.com for prints.
   5. Update blog

3.   SNACKS I ENJOY:

Green mango with bagoong, chips (who doesn’t love them?), watermelon seeds, cornick, ukoy

4.  PLACES WHERE I LIVED:

•  
  • Guerrero Street —-Tarlac
  • Buencamino Alley, San Sebastian Street, and MH Loyola Street —-Manila
  • East Bay—-San Francisco Bay Area (California)

5.   THINGS I’D DO IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE:

•  
  • Buy houses for family
  • Travel
  • Set up foundation to send needy children to school
  • Give to charities (red cross, foundations for the preservation of parks, i.e. Yosemite, Kings-Sequioa, etc.)
  • Buy the San Francisco Giants team (hehehehe, totally selfish side of me)
  • Build a totally rad rec center in my hometown equipped with the latest gadgets for kids and teeners to have a place to learn and play

6.  PEOPLE I WANT TO KNOW MORE ARE:   Geri, Lizza,  Mr. Baker, Rachel,Megamom, and BW.

 

 

Cruise Chronicles Part 7

June 2, 2007

 

     Seventh day and Vancouver day.  With our packing done the previous night, we did not have to hurry to get up and have breakfast before disembarking.  We did join every one else in the GARDEN CAFÉ for the last breakfast of the vacation.  As I am documenting this last day about two months later (every thing else was documented/written on the same day) there are some details that would not be mentioned or even remembered.  I do remember, however, that we took our time with breakfast as we ate it in the deck watching the harbour in all its glory on this beautiful morning.  I filled out some papers.  In between this and eating, I managed to snap some shots, only to find out later that there were some glare from the glass. 

 

     Leaving the boat did not take too much time.  Flagging a cab is not a problem either as cabs line outside the dock always ready for passengers.  Our taxi driver was very helpful and was able to give us some tips on how to spend our day and a half in Vancouver.  We asked to be taken to the airport; that was where we were picking up the rental car.  What was a simple rental car pick up somehow took longer than I liked; or was I nitpicking here a bit, too impatient?  When we finally drove off the airport, our first destination was Whistler (back home we had read quite a bit about it and how Whistler was to Vancouver as Lake Tahoe was to San Francisco).  With the tip from our taxi driver, we easily found Highway 99, the direct route to Whistler.  This was a Sunday and we were warned about some delay, as the city is deep in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics.  Big portion of the prep was building roads.  Fortunately, there was little traffic and no delay at all, this being a Sunday was the main reason I suppose.  The drive up the mountain was simply awesome, blue skies, bluer bay waters, green everywhere—every where you look the colors are sharp and vivid.  I could not contain my excitement.  I love long drives (even to nowhere I enjoy long drives), they energize me.

 

 

     Two hours or so later we were pulling up outside the Whistler information center.  Some local Vancouverian who was on the boat with us told us it would take about four hours to get here—hah, they don’t know their own backyard, I think.  I found this little winter wonderland village very interesting.  Not really outstanding, but in summertime, roller blades, bikes, and skateboards replace the skis and snowboards.  They have parks built for extreme sports I suppose, dirt bikers. 

 

 

     This little village also is filled with shopping and eating places; we stopped for an iced Americano, which we sipped while exploring the village on foot.  This is a good day trip I suppose for those who loves to shop and do some biking etc. 

 

 

     I of course took pictures, plenty of them.  And bought the mandatory postcards and souvenir shirts.  It was lunchtime by the time we finished our exploration.  We noted that inside the visitor center was what looked like a good eatery serving both Japanese and other Asian cuisine.  The sushi selection looks delish and really affordable.  The decision was made to have lunch there before we even set out to look around.  We were not disappointed; the sushi we had was out of this world and to think the owners of this small place were Korean, go figure.

 

 

     On the recommendation of the lady at the information desk, we left Whistler to see this lake, which according to her was just 10 minutes away by car.  We did not find it.  We could not find it.  We looked and drove the same road over and over and finally I said no use searching for it, we better get back down to the city and get freshen up in the hotel.  The mister agreed and so we set to go back down.  Would you believe it, some thirty minutes, away (on the opposite way where the lady directed us) we found the lake exit we were searching for?  Nope, we did not take the exit.  It was getting late and I was grimy and uncomfortable.  It was a hot day in Vancouver and Whistler.  The drive back was just as beautiful as the drive up the mountain.  I took more photos.

 

     Another place on our list of to-see in Vancouver is the Capillano Suspension Bridge, which was highly recommended by both hubby’s co-worker and the Parkers.  I saw pictures of it and I was sold.  So upon reaching Vancouver, we immediately went straight to Capillano; not difficult to find really.  However, there was parking fee to begin with.  Ok so we paid that.  The bridge itself was across the street from the parking place.  We knew beforehand that the park charges something like $26 Canadian.  We thought we could stomach paying that; we were mistaken, for it was difficult to pay that when we knew there was one that you can see for free.  It’s called Lyn Canyon Suspension Bridge.  We will visit that next day.  Since we still had a little free time to kill before checking in, we decided to visit a municipal park not far from Capillano Bridge. 

 

     Our hotel was in Burnaby, which I believe is a suburb  or satellite city of Vancouver.  I chose this one when we were making our planning and reservations online.  My criteria for choosing it?  Simple, it was the lowest priced  hotel  on the list.  It was the lowest price for a reason and I don’t need to tell you what it was, I already wrote my online review of that hotel.  I can’t even remember the name anymore.

 

     It was a particularly hot day as I mentioned and I was sticky and hungry.  We freshened up a bit and rested and mapped out our plans for the rest of the day, it was about 4 pm by this time.  By the time, we got to Metropolis in Metrotown, which is a huge mall in Burnaby, it was a little before 6 pm.  We did not pay attention to the time and the fact that it was Sunday and I believe it is a universal rule that malls close at 6 on Sundays every where? Hungry we were sent away by the mall PA system.  We then decided to drive to Vancouver downtown and/or Chinatown to see what’s happening in that part of town.  From Burnaby, following the map is easier said than done.  This is not my first time to be the navigational engineer, yet I managed to get us lost.  We were going the opposite way where we intended to go.  We felt like we were driving aimlessly and became a bit hopeless and dejected.  Compounding the frustration was the fact that we were both really hungry, famish actually.  We did drive some more and found a long way to get into the downtown area, like taking San Pablo Avenue to get to Oakland.  We finally found downtown and Chinatown, but nothing looks appetizing in downtown and nowhere to park in Chinatown.  Now really frustrated, we decided to just return to Burnaby and eat at that Korean hot pot restaurant we passed by on the way to Metrotown mall.  It was around 8 pm by the time we were seated.  From just looking at the menu, I could tell that this was a good move on our part.  We ordered a prix fixe menu, sort of, and what arrived on the table was more food to feed both of us.  We cooked/grilled our food on the table and managed to still smile and sip our tea after a very long day.  At this point, the thought of cruise seems to be far behind us, not just hours behind us.  We enjoyed our marvelous dinner and headed back to the hotel for the much needed rest.