Home calling me





We went to Downtown Seattle this afternoon and did all the touristy stuff and saw places which we only saw in the travel guides before.

But the warm and sunny weather we had since Saturday was gone, and Seattle finally showed its true color, with rains and strong winds all day long and the same is forecast until the weekend.

The brightest spot in our "tour" was the visit to the original Starbucks store near the Pike Street Market. It is hard to believe that this small coffeeshop became the global empire that it is now. It is just a small, obscure and non-intrusive shop in the middle of the market which is so humble that I didn't even notice it when we were walking back.

Our last stop for the day is Best Buy which is the biggest electronic computer shop I have ever been. I felt the same way as I did about 15 years ago when I first went to a Toys-R-Us store in Hong Kong, it was just overwhelming. We spent like an hour and a half there and sobrang bitin. I hope that I can go back there soon. :)

Going back to Bremerton tomorrow to check out the apartment. Hope the weather will be a lot better.

Finally went to Bremerton this morning to check out apartments for us to move into. Price range of the apartments ranged from $750-900 for a two bedroom unit. (I stopped converting to pesos after the second day, we would not be able to buy anything if I continue to).

We have also looked at a place that was advertised for less than $600 which we saw on the 'net. But when we got there, it was the ghetto part of Bremerton (which obviously they did not mention in the ad). We didn't even bother to go out of the car to check out the unit.

We are fancying this apartment which is about 2km away from where KC will work. The rent is a little out of our range but we are considering it as it was the only one we liked from all the apartments that we went to.

We will have a definite word from the owner tomorrow if she will consider our offer. Just help us pray for the best.

We have finally arrived!

Along the waterfront

After a long 11 hour flight from Taipei to Seattle we have finally arrived here in Seattle this afternoon or early morning Manila time the next day (you figure it out).

The flight was pretty uneventful except for the 3 disturbingly noisy Thai kids on the seats in front of us. It is tolerable to have brats on short flights but having to endure a long haul flight with these kids really tested my patience.. I guess I'm really ready to be a dad!

Immigration and customs were a cinch and didn't cause us any trouble at all. We declared in Customs that we have brought over canned goods and when asked what were in the cans, I told them its pig ears with tails. I think that shocked him as he let us through without any more questions. Another reason to be thankful for sisig.

Huling Tulak

Click here for more pics

Spent last night with my closest friends. 'Nuff said.

Gonna miss you guys!

Manila by night



Taken from a condominium building along Pioneer Avenue in Mandaluyong.

Simply breathtaking.

Embarassing

There's no other way to describe what happened this afternoon at the Araneta Coliseum. Ateneo was again a victim of the run and gun game of the DLSU Archers. What is so irritating about this is not the Ateneo loss per se but the way how they lost it. They showed a lack of heart and a lack of desire to win the ballgame.

Now, we might be caught in a three way tie with DLSU and UE if DLSU wins their game against UE on Sunday. I just hope that we play UE in the Final 4 as in my opinion we have a better chance of winning against.

Let us also see if JC's injury will heal in time for the Final 4.

Boracay!!!

It is not everyday that you have a clean shot of Boracay's long beachfront

Just came back from a quick trip to Boracay last weekend. Came back with burnt arms and shoulders but it was worth it. Though it rained Friday and Saturday, the sun was out and shining on our last few hours there on Sunday and we made the most out of it.

It is nice to be in Bora during the off season, at least you don't have to share the beach with drunken teenagers, and have the beach all to yourself. Nigi Nigi Nu Nus was very accomodating as usual and I'm sure we'll be back there, I hope.

Our baby's first picture


That's our boy... or girl. KC just went through her first prenatal ultrasound earlier and it was the first time that we saw our baby. You just have no idea how it felt like when I saw his/her head, spine and his/her beating heart. It was quite a moving experience.

Bummed me out a little though as it is yet too early to tell if it is a boy or a girl. The OB-GYN says that it may take about two months more in order to see.

Nonetheless, the ultrasound showed that the baby is normal and is growing as expected. Good news indeed!

... and they sucked ever after


This is not a porn review or an explicit post but it will save you two hours and more than a hundred pesos - this is a review of one of the worst films, that does not star Pauly Shore, I've seen in recent memory.

I saw The Brothers Grimm last night expecting to be entertained as I was when I first viewed the trailers. But what I saw was just a hodgepodge of fairy tale characters put there in the movie because their stories were written by the Grimm Brothers. There was no coherence nor plot which makes it very frustrating to watch.

I was very disappointed and would not recommend it even to my worst enemy. Unless you are a huge fan of Matt Damon or Heath Ledger (which I am definitely not!) then stay away from Cinema 6 of Glorietta 4 or any moviehouse that shows this crap. They should have paid me to watch this film and suffer through it - it is that bad!

"Damn Dog!!!"

We have a half breed labrador (the other half? You're guess is as good as mine) here at home who I am very fond of. He takes care of the house when no one's here and I believe that he is a very reliable guard dog.

Last week, one of our neighbors came to our house and said that her son was beaten by "Parker". It was a surprise to us as although he looks, I must admit scary, he would never harm somebody unless provoked. This kid came and showed us where Parker bit him. It was a solid bite just under the armpit. They came to see if we can help for the payment of the required rabies vaccinations.

Now, here is my angst again about what is wrong in this country. Although we are willing to help these people, they were expecting to get a lot of money from this incident. The incident happened last Monday afternoon and they just informed us on Saturday and is expecting us to pay for all the expenses incurred (even expenses without receipts which we were just supposed to believe them) - which is totally unfair.

These people are the worst kind of people in the country - next only to politicians, jeepney and bus drivers and squatters. Those people who try to extort money from others.

I know how hard life is now. But this does not mean that you can take advantage of innocent people. We work hard specifically to have the kind of lives we have now - and not to be taken as stupid morons by people who at best graduated from kindergarten.

I just hope that Cutie is still alive so they can feel what a real dog bite feels like.

New Orleans Like 'the Third World'

Not quite. Even in the Philippines, where an average of 20+ typhoons pass through every year, disasters of this magnitude would never result in victims looting, taking the government that long (5 days to bring supply in... into a major city!!!) to help victims or giving "shoot to kill" orders to soldiers for people who were already victims of a disaster (for whatever reason). Even in a "Third World" country like ours, we have a consciense, believe in good karma and will do what is right. We do not see people in terms of color, race, religion or social status.

We, the people of the so-called "Third World" will offer our help as soon as possible, we do not need actors, singers or celebrities to appear on national TV and plead us for pledges. We open up our homes, our wallets, our hearts to victims without question or hesitation.

We, the people of the "Third World" will never stoop to the level of civility of the First World.

Google Me?

A very funny albeit fictional article found in The Onion on how Google plans to take over the world.

Kinda scary too as it is not too far off the truth.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/40076

BLah!

What in the world is happening? Unless you have been in a bomb shelter the past week trying to hide from the farce that we call "politics in the Philippines" you would have heard that the impeachment complaint against the President is now dead and that the EVAT law has been deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court.

Now let us analyze how these events will affect our daily lives. First of all, we will belch out a collective curse everytime we fill up our gas-guzzling vehicles (Although we sold Tish, we still have our beloved workhorse, Vicks). My prediction is that before the year ends, gasoline prices here in Manila will cost more than 40 pesos/liter, keeping into account the recent hike in international crude prices and the EVAT. I think that's it... Honestly, nobody cares about the impeachment proceedings anymore, it's like congressmen (and women) are just jockeying for airtime to have a certain recall in the voters' minds for the next elections.

Voters' minds... That is a redundant phrase here in the Philippines...

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Do you still remember prior to the Iraq-Kuwait War when gasoline prices are in the 7 pesos range? Those were the days... I wonder how long it will be until the great war where nations will fight for the control of the world's fuels. Isn't it weird that the "coddlers of terrorism" as our American friends call them are the world's biggest oil producers? (Coincidence? I don't think so.)

Maybe Islam is the right religion after all... Pray to Allah for oil!!! :P

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Another significant development in the previous days had been the hurricane that swept the Gulf states in the United States. Katrina wrecked every concievable thing that was on its path of terror and now, people in places like New Orleans have been resorting to looting in order to eat and stay alive.

I cannot fathom the intensity of this natural disaster just because our typhoons just aren't that bad compared to this Category 5 hurricane. The worst I remember is that a few years ago, Manila was center to a typhoon with winds of upto 160 km/hr. Katrina's gusts went up to about 200 MILES/HR!!!

It is just scary that every natural disaster is becoming more and more intensified as time goes by. Every year, you would hear that the calamity is the worst ever. Worst part is, we can only hope for the best.