mini-boss in a foreign land: a birthday story

this is a post i started writing three-and-a-half months ago, and i only got to finish it today :)

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it started out like any other day. i woke up early (ei akane, istatyu?). i took a bath and prepared to go to work. as i reached the hotel lobby to wait for the shuttle, i noticed that my officemates were not around. "Hmm, I must be really early today."

After waiting for 5 minutes, I began to panic. Why weren't they here? Where is the shuttle? I looked out the window, and there it was, rounding a curve -- with my officemates aboard, no doubt.

i was incredulous! it's only 8:14 when i got to the lobby! the shuttle was supposed to leave at 8:15! i wasn't late!

i pondered arranging a 9:30 shuttle service before heading back to bed (yep, sleep is precious to me). or i could... i asked my batchmate, who had access to the staff car, to come pick me up. he was already in the office, but he came to my rescue.

when we got to the office, i received an email from my offshore team, asking me to stay late in the office, so that we could deploy the new application we were working on. sigh, it was my special day, and i had to stay late. :(

after office hours, my offshore team helped me deploy our application. but i was having errors on my end. four frustrating-and-dinner-depriving hours later, one of my friends happened to pass by my cube. she was also working late but was ready to go home. she took pity on "hapless" me, and helped me deploy my vexatious application. they even dropped me off at the hotel.

back in my room, an hour before midnight, i feasted on a microwaved mac-and-cheese dinner. while packing my things (i was to be transferred to another hotel the next day), i reflected on my day. sure, it was no way to celebrate a birthday, but i was thankful for some things: first, that i had something to eat for dinner. second, that i was moving to a better hotel. and most of all, that despite my "misfortunes", i had friends who were there for me, reminding me that God's arm is not too short to help me.

On such a lonely night in a land far away, i knew -- My Father in heaven has not forsaken me.

places people visit: start spreading the news...

as with my other posts, this is long overdue. i'm at a loss for words right now, so i'll let the pictures speak for themselves (with a little help from me now and then :D )

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three of my friends and i went to new york last memorial weekend. we were there from may 27 to june 1.

day one: times square and broadway street

times square -- saw lots of buildings and billboards








times square at night


familiar, yet different

broadway -- i thought broadway was one big theater. turns out, it was a long street where many theaters stood.



Spamalot billboard which reads "Cows, Coconuts, Killer Rabbits, Witches (too expensive), and French People."


The Phantom of the Opera and Mamma Mia billboards


Hairspray billboard


The Producers billboard

watched chitty-chitty-bang-bang. it was nice, but more appealing to kids.






too bad there were no more tickets for phantom or the lion king that night :-

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that's it for now; it's taking forever to upload the pics. more stories next time :)

babay, inday

naghatud mi sa airport ganiha. mobalik na si roxie sa pinas. haay... wa na ko ka-duet sa videoke. wa na ko kasayaw ug swing. wa na ko maka-isturya ug bisaya. wa na'y motawag sa ako ug "baby gel"...

minghoy man ko, ka'y gimingaw man ko niya. :'(

mini-boss in a foreign land: akane, the iron chef

i've cooked a few times since i got here, and i'm kinda enjoying it. :)

i've heeded rambling jester's advice, and tried some recipes in pinoycook.net. thundercat also gave me an easy-to-follow recipe for sinigang (which i intend to perfect). so far, i was able to cook the following:

• menudo --> yummy
• sinigang na beef ribs --> better if we had long green chilis and more sinigang mix
• bistek tagalog --> took so long to cook
• sinigang na pork spare ribs --> overcooked the veggies

for my next "experiment", i will try soy gin pork. according to the website, it's "very simple, yet very tasty". also, i figured that if my friends do not know how it should taste like, they're less likely to complain. ;)

games people play: go-kart (erratum)

i found the printout containing my pro-kart stats, and i realized that i misstated some info in my previous go-kart post (what with my poor memory and all :P ). here are the facts:

track length (m): 350 m

1st try
top average speed: 39.3 km/h (24.5 mph)
average speed: 36.9 km/h (23 mph)

2nd try
top average speed: 43.1 km/h (26.8 mph)
average speed: 40.6 km/h (25.2 mph)