My Christmas Week

I know that it's been awhile since I updated this blog. I'm trying to make a summary and highlight the things that's been happening for the past week.
I spent Christmas Eve at a friend's house together with my family and friends. Each of us brought some food and drinks for the party and we also exchanged gifts with each other. On Christmas day, my family and me including some close friends were invited for a lunch at Willie's house. We enjoyed the food that Willie prepared for us. After lunch, I stayed with him to help him with the dishes. The day after Christmas, I had myself a new haircut, I guess for a new look for the New Year to come. I also had dinner with Willie that evening afterwhich I went home for a much needed sleep. Something unusual happened to me on Dec 27th. I have this new chatmate from Manila and we've been chatting almost the whole day. He worked on graveyard shift in a call center and I guess we chatted for the duration of his shift. He's a cool guy, and an intelligent one. He's much younger than me and yet he is so mature in his dispositions in life, a rare find in the cyberworld.
So far my week was not really that festive and in low profile but I like it that way as I'm in my long vacation and I would like to take it slow and enjoy it.

Last day of work for this year

Today is my last day of work before the holidays. Its supposed to be my day off because its sunday today but my coworker asked to be off so I'm working for her. Its no worry I'll be off starting tomorrow, the 24th and be back for work not until January 2, 2008 that's next year. I'm really looking forward for the holidays. Merry Christmas everyone. Enjoy the holidays.

Friendship Rekindled

I gained back a special friend that I almost lost. I was thankful that both of us calmed down and rethink about the relationship that we had in so short a time. We patched up things and we're both happy to be back in the position where we had left off when the crisis occurred.
I spent the last 4 days with this friend. We shopped together and dined out together just to catch up with what we have missed during the "low profile" period.
This maybe my most meaningful gift of the season because I got my friend back.

Christmas Shopping (More) Update

At last I have done covering my shopping list. The last item I bought it last night for a friend's daughter. I'm finally done with this year's Christmas rush and I waslucky enough that I finished everything on time...not early enough but still have a few days to spare to calm down from the frenzy. Wrapping the gifts were done, too so I can start distributing the gifts to my friends on Dec 24th where I'm off from work.
Now I'm really looking forward in celebrating Christmas day and the coming New Year's day.

Christmas Shopping Update

I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping. I got 3 more items to go on my list...whew! I'd probably finish everything by next weekend.
Meantime I'd better start sending Chirstmas cards to all my friends. I tend to be lazy sometimes with this very cold weather. Fortunately enough, its not yet snowing. It is rare to get some snow here in the southwest but its very cold especially if you go out in the evenings. When I went out to do some shopping yesterday, I really need to use my cap and scarf and my coat on top of my already layered clothes that I was wearing.

The Music I'm Currently Listening

You tell me if I'm just being too romantic or too emotional, butI don't care. I just love this song "Goodbye My Lover". The artist is the new star in the international music scene, James Blunt. I first heard Mr. Blunt with his first hit "You're Beautiful" and at first I did not like it. But as it gained popularity in the airwaves, I started to listen between the lines, that's when I became a fan. His songs are full of emotions and meaning and just watch his music videos, his songs will give you goosebumps.
I particularly love the song in the video that I posted, specially the live version. Its hauntingly beautiful. I can just go on and on but just watch and listen to the song, you will know what I was talking about. Mind you, this song doesn't reflect anything in my real life or what's currently happening but still I'm crazy about this song.
"...and I still hold your hand in mine,...in mine when I'm asleep..." wow that hit me!
Here are the lyrics of this song, just in case you're interested and become a fan as well:

Goodbye My Lover - James Blunt

Did I disappoint you or let you down?
Should I be feeling guilty or let the judges frown?
'Cause I saw the end before we'd begun,
Yes I saw you were blinded and I knew I had won.
So I took what's mine by eternal right.
Took your soul out into the night.
It may be over but it won't stop there,
I am here for you if you'd only care.
You touched my heart you touched my soul.
You changed my life and all my goals.
And love is blind and that I knew when,
My heart was blinded by you.
I've kissed your lips and held your head.
Shared your dreams and shared your bed.
I know you well, I know your smell.
I've been addicted to you.

Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.

I am a dreamer but when I wake,
You can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take.
And as you move on, remember me,
Remember us and all we used to be
I've seen you cry, I've seen you smile.
I've watched you sleeping for a while.
I'd be the father of your child.
I'd spend a lifetime with you.
I know your fears and you know mine.
We've had our doubts but now we're fine,
And I love you, I swear that's true.
I cannot live without you.

Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.

And I still hold your hand in mine.
In mine when I'm asleep.
And I will bear my soul in time,
When I'm kneeling at your feet.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
I'm so hollow, baby, I'm so hollow.
I'm so, I'm so, I'm so hollow.

Done With Christmas Decorations

Yesterday, a Monday was quite productive day for me. After spending a couple of hours at the gym in the morning and had lunch with my parents, I continued decorating our home with Christmas trimmings. I finally finished setting up our Christmas tree and then I started setting up our "belen". It was not a conventional "belen" where we had a miniature barn because when we had our Holy Family images (given to us as a gift some 2 years ago), we only had the images of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and a little girl holding a sheep. Basically, I set it up with a lighted angel on the background and I decked the whole length of our bar with a Christmas garland that matches the motif of our Christmas tree. I had our Christmas tree decorated with just red Christmas balls while the other colors were provided by its miniature Christmas lights.
Outside our house my dad also tried to finish setting up lights on our trees and along the side of our house. We still had a pine tree that is a lot smaller than the other two so I was still able to hang some Christmas lights on it. I also set-up our Christmas outdoor sculpture of a snowman. Everything was okay as all the lights were still good. Other houses in our neighborhood also started setting up their own decorations.
The Christmas spirit is in the air indeed.
One more thing to do though, need to finish up my Christmas shopping. I'm still half-way of my list.....whew!!!

Loosing A Dear Friend

Coupled with some issues at work, this day is quite sad for me. I just lost a friend. Mind you, my friend did not die or whatever, we just stopped being friends but definitely not enemies...I hope. Kind of weird but its hard to explain. It actually pains me to talk about it so I wont go into details. A problem came up and both of us were just too proud to admit each of our own mistakes. It was foolish of me to think that our friendship was rock solid but its not. I can now go on with my life and I just hope that it would be the same with my friend (ex-friend), too.

More Shopping

I went to Wal-Mart yesterday to buy some christmas ornaments for our Christmas tree. I had also a chance to buy some items for gift-giving for my close friends here. I'm actually half-way of my shopping list. I'd probably finish everything next week. Actually this is good because as Christmas approaches I dont have to beat the time to do the shopping on the eleventh hour.
My Christmas tree is almost done. I'll complete everything by next weekend or my day-off. I will also start decorating outside of our house next week. I'll be putting some colorful lights outside, too. I'll just post some pictures here when I'm done decorating.

The Start Of My Shopping Spree

I spent the later part of today shopping. I shopped for a digital camera for my parents as I heard that they wanted one. This would be my Christmas present for both of them. I was happy because at last they are starting to be more high-tech now. They used to be negative with regards to transacting business online like shopping and banking as well as paying bills online. They still own the camera that I gave to them several years ago and its a film camera. Right now they have seen already the convenience and the advantages of owning a digital camera.
I also shopped something online for my friend as my Christmas present also. I also bought somethng for myself, a pair of sweaters, a pair of casual shoes. I still have to buy some Christmas decorations and trimmings for the house,I might do that on the next day as I'm still off from work. Overall, I'm still way below the 50% of my shopping.
By the way, I went to a new shopping center in Las Vegas, it's called The Town Center. I went there by early in the everning so I was not able to finish in exploring the whole area. I promised myself to be back there as soon as possible. The place is the coolest place to shop. We do have a cool shopping mall here, The Fashion Show Mall but the Town Center is the best. I have posted in this blog some pictures I just took using my LG Shine phone/cam. Looking at these pictures would make you decide the best time to visit the place would be the evening.

Long Day For Me

Yesterday, a Sunday was quite a long day for me. I was working the previous night and as I left from work, I have to meet a friend from Michigan who was here in Las Vegas for a visit with her family. Actually they were here during Thanksgiving Day but since I was working, I did not get a chance to meet them. At last after 7 years, we meet again. I spent the whole day with them even without sleep because I'm off on Sundays anyway and I can have all the sleeping time I want afterwards.
I had lunch with them in a Filipino restaurant as she was longing for pinoy foods. There's no Filipino restaurants in Michigan according to her. Fortunately, her husband, a white guy and her daughter had no problem eating pinoy food, in fact her husband's favorite was halo-halo for dessert.
I went to bed around 5pm already and I slept up to 2 in the morning. Since I was wide awake plus it was so damn cold, I went to my computer and start chatting. Unfortunately, none of my close friends were online until someone buzzed me. I went on chatting with him even opened my web cam for my new friend. He's cool and I would say very polite person. I'm looking forward to build a good friendship with him.
After this post, I think I have to get ready for the gym...its already 8am.

Start Of The "Shopping" Season

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, after Thanksgiving Day its the start of the holiday or should I say shopping season. This kicked off during Black Friday, the name shopping maniacs call the Friday after Thanksgiving Day. People were lining up and or camping out in front of their favorite stores as early as midnight because most of these stores will open at 4am...can you believe that? If you go to the store late that day, I wonder what else you could buy as most of the popular items were gone. Most people would go to electronics outlets like Best Buy, Fry's Electronics and Wal-Mart.
I was also bitten by the shopper's bug as I went to the nearest Best Buy store right after work, that was like 6:30am. My main purpose was to buy a portable game gadget specifically ordered by my nephew from the Philippines as the Gameboy. Unfortunately I cant find Gameboy in all the stores that I went through for several days now. Instead, they have the newest offering of Ninendo DS where you can can still use the Gameboy's games with it. The bad thing about me when I go shopping for someone else, I tend to feel that I was shopping for myself. What I did was, I started looking for another game gadget that I liked. I was comparing between Nintendo DS and Sony's PSP (play station portable). Then I heard myself justifying why I would choose the PSP against Nintendo. Well, you must agree that PSP is far more advanced in terms of portable gaming as compared to the other brand although you might consider that these are different systems. My inclination though was geared toward the PSP. Aside from being portable, and aside from playing games, you can also view your digital photos, can play mp3 music as well as watch videos and movies. What's more cool about this gadget is that you can go online whenever there is WiFi available or you are in a Hot Spot.
I guess this is too much advanced for my 7-yr old nephew but hey, I justified it by looking at the future, he will outgrow the Nintendo system while with the PSP, its features are still acceptable towards older "kids". Just watch their tv ads, the endorsers are always these cool guys and gals, enjoying music, videos and at the same time playing their favorite video games on the go.
Also, I'm now in near panic mode as Christmas is just around the corner and I havent started my Christmas shopping for gifts. I will let you know on my next post as how am I surviving this crazy shopping season both physically and financially.

Thanksgiving Day

Today, Nov 22 is Thanksgiving Day. Unfortunately, I'll be spending this holiday at work. I don't want to ask my other co-worker to work for me today, she's a single mom and I want her to spend this important holiday with her family and her daughter, besides its her regular day-off anyway. Although I have some invitations from friends to spend Thanksgiving dinner with them, I cannot stay any longer than 7pm because my work will start at 8pm. I planned to be at Ara's house around 4pm and probably once the other guests will be arriving, it would be time for me to leave for work.
The past two days were also memorable to me. I spent these days with my best buddy. He changed his days off to Tuesdays & Wednesdays. It was a good timing as my days off are Sundays, Mondays & Tuesdays. At least we have Tuesdays to spend together. I also availed a day off from work last Wednesday to be able to be with him also. By the end of the day, we went to Ara's house and spend some time with the Ramos family.
I'm now looking forward to the Chirstmas and New Year holidays coming up next month.

Off To San Diego....Again

I went to San Diego last Monday. Actually I was with Ara and her monther-in-law. We were going to meet Ara's husband, Zeno also my close friend, from his 7 month tour of duty in the US Navy.
We left Las Vegas, around 3am Monday and arrive in National City around 8am. Along the way, we saw the burnt areas toward San Diego after that massive forest fire last month. We had our breakfast at IHOP and met Zeno's friend who helped us get access pass to the Naval Base. Fortunately we rented a Dodge Durango SUV and the Naval Base has a new ruling that rented cars need not get access pass to be able to enter the base.
When we arrived at the pier where their aircraft carrier docked, there were also a lot of families and friends waiting for the Navy soldiers to disembark. Most were wavaing American flags, streamers and even one boy carryied a cake with "welcome daddy" written on it. It was a happy day for both soldiers and their respective families to see each other again after 7 months of deployment. Of course my friend Ara was very happy, too.
We returned to Las Vegas on that afternoon and arrived aroun 8:30pm. We had dinner at my favorite cafe where my good friend Willie is working.

Catching Up

Its been awhile since I updated this blog. I was kind of busy with work lately that I felt tired even to just surf around the internet. My attendance to the gym suffered, too. For the past 2 weeks, I wasn't consistent in attending my Step class. I preferred to do the Step class more consistently as I know that this would work for me in shedding more weight and fat than do the weight training or even run on the treadmill.
Anyway, I intend to summarize everything that happened to me for the past 2 weeks. My very close friend whom I said in my past blog entry who went to Hawaii to attend to his sick mother is already back here in Las Vegas...of course I'm happy that my partner in crime is back. We've tried to catch up with the lost time that we were apart. Ara, Willie and myself went to our favorite karaoke bar for a night of singing, dancing and drinking. After much prodding, Ara & me were able to sing a duet together on our favorite song. My friend Willie?...never mind he doesn't sing...whatever you do to him to make him sing, he'd rather drink a case of Red Horse beer...LOL. I might buy him a case of his favorite beer everynight when he's coming with me to Maasin next year. He actually was looking forward to that. At my work also, I have to train or orient a new technician who will temporarily replace my other co-worker whose going to have her vacation for a week. Also my boss was in town so I had to devote time with her for meetings and dining out during her visit....and that's on top of my regular working hours.
So far these were the most prominent things that I spent most of my time with. Right now , I think I'm back to normal...what's normal by the way...

My Entrepreneurial Dream

I have a dream of going into business and set it up in Maasin City, my hometown in the Philippines, to sustain myself when the day comes for my complete retirement. I had so many ideas about it like venturing into a restaurant business, set-up a Beach Resort in Limasawa Island, an island right next to my home province of Southern Leyte, Philippines. I was also visioning to have a dance club or even just a bar with a few billiard tables and a bowling alley. Having a bowling alley is first in the Maasin area (as of this writing). But the problem now is how to put-up enough funds to start up whatever business I would venture into.

A close friend of mine from Cebu suggested that we could combine our resources and set-up a restaurant business in Cebu City. I don't have anything against this friend as I'm pretty sure that he is very honest in handling business affairs. Unfortunately I had a bad experience with business before in which I hate to mention it here. Because of this, I developed a phobia or fear of having a business of my own. Currently my friend is scouting for a good venue and we already had agreed for a name of the restaurant. I really have second thoughts about this because I believed that a restaurant business is a hands-on type of business. Meaning, one should be able to handle and manage the business personally at least for the first year or until everything is stable enough, then you can hire somebody trusted to handle the day-to-day affairs if necessary. At this point I still don't have the luxury to spend most of my time in the Philippines as I also have my main job here in the United States. Whatever I would decide, that remains to be seen until I get all the details from my friend who is now handling the research and study for the business to be profitable.

By the way, is there someone out there who knows the current name for "fear of business"??? Please advise as I don't have any idea at all.

Streaming Music Online To My N800

For all music lovers like me, streaming music to your PC or any internet enabled device is one convenient way to take your music anywhere. Yes, iPod and MP3 players are the most practical way of carrying your music and now videos wherever you are when there is no Internet connection. If you can go online, streaming files to any capable device is one cool thing to do. Right now, streaming devices that can connect to your home audio system is currently in the market and catching on fast with the consumers.

Since I have my new Nokia N800 Internet Tablet, one way of maximizing its capability is streaming online music. One service provider is MP3tunes.com. Once you become a member, signing up is free by the way, you will be assigned with a music locker. You can actually upload all your music files from your computer's hard drive to your online music locker. Once uploaded you can start listening to your uploaded music streamed to your device like a PC or in my case my N800. Uploaded files are stored in the provider's servers until you end your membership with them. Just like a digital music player, you can make a playlist from your music files. You can sort them by artist, music title or album title. If album art is available, this can be displayed also on your device's screen. Uploading and keeping your music files in your online music locker is basically making a backup of all your valuable music files. This is kind of hitting two birds with one stone.

Try it now and you will be amazed how easy it is to upload your files, and in no time you can start listening to your favorite music. Just like an internent radio but this time its music of your choice. Check out http://mp3tunes.com

The Pain Of Missing Someone

Have you ever experienced the uneasiness and pain of missing a loved one, a close friend, or somebody special in your life? I have experienced this kind of emotion several times before but I can only pinpoint two instances like this that lingers on me.

The first time I remembered to have experienced this feeling was when I was still in college back in Cebu City, Philippines. In my dorm, I had this close friend whom I considered more than a brother to me. We were almost together in doing everything, except probably taking a shower. We even slept together most of the time, either in my room or his room. You probably is thinking something else happened between us two but that's a big NO! Nothing happened....NADA! We ate together, went to school together everyday, we done drunk together, watched movies together, even fucked some chicks together although we never shared girls...as far as I can remember. With all the things we did together, I could say he was my partner in crime. When he got married, he invited me over to his hometown and would not even walk the aisle with his parents to start the wedding ceremony when he noticed that I was not yet there inside the church. He wanted me to be there from the very beginning. Oh, I forgot to mention that when he courted his then girlfriend, now his wife, I was always his driver. He had this Yamaha bike and I was always the one who drives him to the girl's house, dropped him off and then picked him up later in the evening. Basically, I was a part of their love story heheheheh. After his wedding, I had to go back to Cebu because of my job. That was the last time we see each other. During the days that followed, I was always thinking of him and felt restless if I wasn't able to call him on the phone. Just hearing his voice would ease the loneliness that I felt inside. It was a weird feeling. I told him about it and he also felt the same towards me. We even joked about it like were we in love with each other, or what?
Fortunately, with the passing of time the feeling of loneliness eased out and I was able to go on with my life. Until now I still think about him sometimes and is looking forward for a chance to see him again. He is a good friend that I cannot forget for the rest of my life.

The second time I felt this sickening feeling of missing someone just happened now. I have a close friend that went to Hawaii where he came from, to attend to his sick mother. He still doesn't know the exact day that he'd be back here in Las Vegas. Knowing this made me sick inside and missed him more. The idea of him being away felt something is missing in me. Maybe because I'm used to the idea of him living and working here in Las Vegas that we can see each other anytime we want. Now that he's out of reach made me miss him a lot. Although we regularly talked over the phone something still is missing. My only consolation though is that he'll be back sooner or later, that is for sure. And when he's back, we'll drink "Red Horse" together to oblivion.

Things I Did Or Missed Doing For The last 3 Days

Duing my last days-off from work (Sunday, Monday & Tuesday), I busied myself looking for picture frames that would fit for the souvenir pictures of Grand Canyon that I got from my last visit there. I was looking for 3 frames, in which one is out of the standard frame sizes that's being sold commercially. This "special" frame is for the souvenir picture of the Grand Canyon that I gave to my friend as a "pasalubong". I did find frames for the other two standard-sized pictures where I mounted on the wall in our living room. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find the suitable size for my friend. Although I found a frame that exactly matches the size, the style was a floating frame where two sheets of clear glass are pressed together to hold the picture being framed. Taking note that the pictures I had were already matted therefore it's kind of thicker than a regular picture print. This would not make the floating frame fit together. If you know what's a floating frame, you will understand what I meant. Check out the picture in this entry for an example of a floating or float frame.

I had also one thing that I wasn't able to do for the past 3 days. I had bought a pair of jeans last month and until now I kept forgetting to have it altered. Knowing that I'm quite short to a standard American height, length of jeans or trousers that I purchased is always my problem so I resort to have them altered in terms of length.

There are also other things that I was able to do though, like make prints of all the pictures that I took from the Grand Canyon visit and gave them to my mom and also Willie and I went out almost every night. We went to our favorite Vietnamese Restaurant and also we were back in Cafe Moda, I guess our now favorite karaoke bar to hang-out.

MY NEW TOY

Last week I received an ad email from Buy.com and I was attracted to a new gadget called an Internet Tablet by Nokia. Its the new Nokia N800 and for me its a very cool gadget. You can go online anywhere there is a wifi hot spot because it has its own Wlan connection. It also has a bluetooth connectivity. You can chat, email, video chat and internet calling using Skype. It is also a music and video player plus it has its owm webcam.
I got it for about 239 dollars which is cheaper than other online merchants.
I wrote this blog entry using my new Nokia N800....cool!

If you are interested to know more about the N800, just follow the link below:

http://www.nseries.com/products/n800/#l=products,n800

It Was A Beautiful Evening

Last night was one of the best nights I had. It was my last night where I'm off from work and my best friend invited me to go to a karaoke bar. It was my friend's first time to visit to that place and at first I was hesitant to go. I didn't want my friend to be out of place or not enjoy the night with me but he was persistent that we go there.
Fortunately enough, he liked the place. We had fun, and I was brave enough to sing a couple of songs maybe because I had two bottles of beer already. I happened to know the DJ that night so probably that also made me at ease to sing on stage. There was not really that much crowd inside the bar that night so that probably made my friend feel at ease too.
After about a couple or more hours, we set out for home. We enjoyed the evening together.

The Grand Canyon Sunset

The Grand Canyon

Last Oct 14 & 15, we were at the South Rim of Grand Canyon. We braved the 5-hr drive to Arizona on the 14th around 10:30AM. Take note that it was a Sunday and I was working the night before so I really don't have any sleep at all but I was able to drive up to our destination. How did I do it?? I boosted myself with coffee and Red Bull energy drink. A friend of mine told me to chew some gum while taking long drives but I forgot about it. The last time that I drove to Los Angeles, chewing gum helped me to be alert and awake all throughout the 3-hr drive.

We arrived at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon around 3:00PM and we immediately went to our lodge to put our things and have our late lunch. After eating we start setting out to the rim. Maswik Lodge, where we stayed, is just about 1/4 mile from the canyon's rim, just a short walking distance. We took a free shuttle ride to bring us along the rim to some lookout points. We ended up at Hopi Point which our guide said that its the best place to view the canyon as well as watch the sunset. Looking at the canyon, you'll be amazed how powerful nature is. It was scientifically explained that water erosion brought by the Colorado River thousands of years back contributed much of the magnificent canyon rock formation and crevasses. With the sun setting, it brought bright orange colors and dramatic shadows all throughout various contours and shapes of the canyon. Finally as the sun was setting, a crescent moon rose in the sky casting faint light throughout the canyon and casting ghostly shapes on the horizon.

We came to the Grand Canyon well prepared, I've checked the weather specifically at South Rim, book our lodging in advance online. We had our jackets/sweaters on as it was so cold specially towards the evening. It was running at 60degF, kind of normal winter temperatures in Las Vegas. Since we got only two days, we were not able to take the mule ride and do some trekking along the canyon's edge. We did some shopping for some souvenirs before we head out for home.

The 5 hours of driving to Arizona as well as another 5 hours in going back to Las Vegas was actually worth the time after you see the grandeur that is the Grand Canyon.

Checkout a slideshow of the sun setting as viewed from the South Rim of The Grand Canyon at the bottom of this page.

A Disappointing Evening

I went to Ara's small birthday party last night only to find out that the rest of our friends that she invited were not able to come. We ended up with me, Ara, her causin Frank and her mother-in-law trying to finish all the food that they prepared. Unfortunatley we were not able to finish them all. We had some few rounds of drinks and started karaoke singing. We managed to have fun afterall.
We decided to go out that night but I told them to wait out with my friend Willie to get off from work and he might want to go out, too. Willie then called past 11PM and told me that he and some friends are going to this Vietnamese restaurant. We decided to join him as he said that we are welcome to join them. We then planned to proceed to a karaoke bar and have a bottle or two of beer before retiring to bed but unfortunately Willie doesn't want to join us. His friends even pushed him to join us but he insisted to go home because he said he's tired. Well, who am I to force him to join us anyway. I was kind of disappointed though because I just wanted him to be with me that night. He maybe has his own reasons (I hope its a legitimate one) not to join us that night. Whatever the reason, I dont want to know...probably wait to tell me himself.

Hoping For This Day To Be Okay!

In my previous entry, I was planning to take a friend out for a night cap last night but unfortunately a tragedy struck. There was a major problem at the pharmacy that I worked. The problem involved the hospital system that we used to migrate patient orders/medications to our sytem in order for the automated dispensing robot would start filling patient's medication for the following day. I ended up working in the pharmacy last night helping my co-worker do the manual cart-fill, that is manually picking all the meds and we're talking about 2000 doses. We were done around 4AM, so I went home and went to bed around 5AM already.
Today is Ara's birthday and as I woke up this morning, I was hoping that this day, last day-off of the week would be okay. My first sign that my hopes and prayers were answered was a call from the pharmacy informing me that the program glitch was fixed but when my co-worker ran the system, she still got the problem. She informed the hospital IT department and after about an hour's wait, I got information that the problem was really resolved. It was a relief for me because I can go to Ara's birhday party tonight. Unfortunately, my friend Willie is not coming because he's working today and be off from work around 11PM and its too late for him to go and attend the party...we're all spent and drunk by then.

Enjoying Monday

Last night, I did went to Gaye & Cesar's house for dinner and several rounds of drinks. I was careful not to drink that much as I would be driving back home. We drank Patron Tequila and finished 3 bottles of the liquor. We called it a night around 2AM.
I previously planned to have my car serviced for its regular maintenance including change oil, tire rotation, etc. After gym, I went directly to Dessert Toyota, the car dealership where I bought my Toyota Highlander and have it serviced. I was kind of lonely at the customer's waiting lounge so I called my friend Willie to pick me up for lunch as it was already around 11AM. Fortunately he was already awake and I was just lucky since he agreed to pick me up for a brunch at Orchids Garden Restaurant. This is a Chinese restaurant where they served dim sum during lunch time.
While we were still in the middle of enjoying our lunch, the Sales Representative from the car dealership called informing me that they were done with my car. After we had our fill, Willie dropped me off the dealership and he proceeded to his house getting ready for his work. I paid my dues and drove my car back home. I'm planning to go out tonight and invite Willie for a night cap, I hope he's not tired from work as he usually get off around 11PM.
My mom said that she wanted to go and visit The Grand Canyon this coming weekend so I went online, booked a hotel at the South Rim of the canyon. South Rim is the most beautiful part of Grand Canyon and the panoramic views that you always see on postcards, posters and photos from National Geographic are most likely taken from this part of the canyon. I am excited too as this will be my first time to visit this magnificent work of nature and surely I'd be bringing my camera with photo lenses and wide-angle lenses to capture the grandeur that is the Grand Canyon.

Telebisyon

This is my second post for today. You guess it right, I have nothing to do today so in order to get out from boredom, I decided to linger on my blog and post something else.
Well, I remember the last time I went chatting online that I asked a friend of mine from the Philippines how to view pinoy movies and TV shows online and for free. He suggested this particular site named: Telebisyon. "Telebisyon" is actually a reused word making it Tagalog sounding for television. With this name of the website...its already self-explanatory.... pinoy television. You will notice that once you become a member, this site is actually a forum where members share messages, ideas and most importantly video files from movies (pinoy & foreign) as well as pinoy TV programs in their entirety.
Check out this link:
http://telebisyon.spreebb.com/
Once you're there, dont forget to meet some new friends...I did! Happy viewing.

Its Sunday....

Today is a Sunday and I'm off from work. That was notable...off from work. Its not that I dont like work but since I'm living in a party central, that's Las Vegas baby, one can always look forward to the days when they are off from work.
Nothing special is happening today though because I spent the morning sleeping. I actually woke up around 2:30pm and had late lunch with my folks.
I also received a text message from Gaye inviting me for a bbq dinner at their house in Summerlin. Her brother Cris is home since last night from his tour of duty, he's a Navy soldier by the way.
Well, that's all that I can report for what's happening in my life today. Got to go ready for dinner at Gaye's.

Same 'ol Day

I missed entries for the past two days as I already started my workdays.

In the past, I mentioned in my old blog that I practically hate hospital food. I work in a hospital and I'm exposed to this scenario where you eat almost the same food every day. My shift starts a 8pm and ends at 6:30am the following morning. Unfortunately the food served by the hospital's cafeteria is all the same and they no longer appeal to my taste buds.

Lately though, we are seeing huge improvements in terms of the quality of food. Considering that management has restructured the kitchen staff for the evening shift or commonly known as graveyard shift, and the addition of two new cook definitely is the key that food mentioned has become more palatable.

Take for instance my dinner last night. I had a BBQ chicken breast with mashed potatoes, green peas and mixed veggies as sidings. I had also a potato salad as a good source of carbs and finished it off with an iced tea for beverage. Whew! that was good.

How I Spent My last Day Off Of The Week

I started this day going to the gym. I focused on my lower body and did some exercises for my legs and my butt..hehehehehe. I also joined the step aerobics class again for an hour and I was sweating like hell. It was a good feeling though.

After gym, I had my SUV washed. Its been awhile since I had it in a car spa as you call it. I had it washed, waxed and vacuumed. At last after 4 weeks, my car is shining brightly under the sun. My car by the way is a 2004 Toyota Highlander, a mid-size SUV.

This afternoon, I'll be meeting with my partner and probably will do some naughty things together.

Hey, this day is not done yet. I'll make another entry late tonight as to what happens next.

A Day of Activities

I went to the gym this morning(Monday morning) and joined the step aerobics class for about an hour. This is actually my second time to attend this class. I figured that this would work wonders in my pursuit of a more lean body and become healthy. I have proven this before that what works for me in shedding off some weight is a regular attendance in aerobics classes such as kickboxing, step aerobics and aerobic dancing or jazzercise.
After the gym, I received a phone call from my best friend from Hawaii informing me that he'll be flying back to Las Vegas in the afternoon. I was happy to hear that as I've got to see my friend again.
After lunch at home, I went out to meet Ara (first time I mentioned a name of my friend) at Boulevard Mall and do some window shopping. Unfortunately, my being an impulse buyer kicked in and bought myself a new pair of jeans from Express. The jeans still needs to be altered and I will bring it to a tailor tomorrow. By the way, it was Ara who strongly suggested the color of the jeans that I picked up. Ara and I just roamed around the mall when another friend of mine, Gaye invited me to have dinner at her house. By the way Gaye and Ara are happily married so you guys better quit thinking they are my girlfriends and I'm not a two-timer.
Dinner was good with baked pork ribs as the main course. After eating we just launge around the living room watching Dancing With The Stars on TV. Ara by the way did not come with me as she has to work so we parted our ways after leaving the mall.
That's how I spent my second day being off from work.

Nothing To Do....

Its the start of another set of days off from work. Although this entry was stampped date as Monday, I'm talking about Sunday as I wrote this past midnight already.
I practically have done nothing today. In the morning, I went online to check my emails, go chatting for awhile with my friend from Vietnam. I met him online through Yahoo chat and we've been in touch with each other for a week now. He seems nice although at times he's not open to me and only replied to me in single words like yes, no, thanks & ok.....and I find it rude. Maybe because of the language barrier, he can't express himself much through English. His command of English though is good considering he's a Vietnamese or maybe he got to learn the language because he is working in the tourism industry. This morning while we were chatting, he told me that he's busy learning the English language by self-study.
After getting online, I went to bed and slept to dreamland through 7:00PM. By the way, I got a call this morning from my best friend who's currently in Hawaii visiting his folks there. I can't wait to see him again when he's back from his short vacation.
I woke up around 7:00pm and ate my first meal of the day with my parents. Afterwards, I watched 2 movies on HBO and then went back to my room and wrote this entry for the day.
Nothing much happened today, though but I'm glad I got to relax and have a short break from work.
Tomorrow I will go back to the gym and continue my never ending quest for physical perfection.

Body

Now I would like to talk about "body"...my body in particular. First of all no "body" is perfect, even those on the covers and pages of fashion magazines, health & fitness magazines have their own imperfections in one way or the other. That is why cosmetic surgery is a multimillion business nowadays.

One could choose to correct their imperfections in anyway they please or leave it the way it is, but man has no satisfaction and in constant pursuit of perfection. We can always see some flaws on our skin, face, body form when we look ourselves in the mirror. I, myself is no exception.

Whenever I look at the mirror I have no complaints about my face but looking at my body, I know its going out of shape. Although I would admit that I'm in better shape now as compared to my college years but it's not enough. I'm not endowed with an athletic build and I already accepted the fact that I dont have the superior genes that is mainly responsible for the lean and shapely or even mascular bodily profile. I know that help is available in a variety of choices. I would either leave as it is, or do something to improve it. Improving my body also has many choices as to how to go about it, its eiher undergo to an invasive surgery or go the natural and more healthy way through exercise and diet. Undergoing yourself to a surgical procedure to correct the imperfections of your body would produce a faster result even almost instant but would definitely cost a fortune. The other way around, through exercise and good diet would give you results in much longer time but these results are more permanent and may not cost even a fraction to the cost of a surgery.

I've chosen my way, since I've been exercising for several years now, although not consistently, and choose to continue what I'm doing now. This time I'm pretty serious. I have proven in the past that regular exercise coupled with a good and healthy diet would indeed produce results. The problem is to be consistent on following your exercise regimen.

Setting a goal is the first and one of the important thing to do to start an exercise program, sticking to it is the hard part. I intend to improve my body, shrink my tummy and get rid of that beer belly and love handles on my sides, build up a little mass on my chest, arms biceps, tone up my legs and back. I'm not dreaming of becoming a bulging bodybuilder, I only wanted to tone up my body and put on some mass on parts where muscles should be present instead of fat.

Three months from now I'll post an update on how far I have gone. I've been going to the gym for the past few days already and its a good sign. I hope to continue doing it and set-up a routine where my body can identify and get used to.

Wish me luck, folks.

Going Back To Work

Today is my Monday of work, the first day of my workweek. I woke up late so I wasn't able to go to the gym (a good excuse...indeed). I just lounge around the house and flipping through my GQ magazines. I actually got 3 copies already that I haven't touched since I was kinda busy with "I don't know what".
I subscribed to GQ magazine just to update myself on the trend and proper way to dress up on certain occasion. I'm not dreaming to become a fashion slave but at least I'll have some ideas that I could add to my knowledge base.
Oh, I almost forgot that I have to pick up my pictures from Wal-Mart and send them to my friends in California and Houston, TX. Maybe I'll do that after lunch today.
I'm kind of sad today, a very close friend of mine will leave for Hawaii tonight. I'd probably not see him for several days and the thought of not seeing or driving him to the airport is what makes me sad.
Well, I've got to stop and take lunch with my folks...ciao!

Just A Normal Day

I logged this entry past midnight already but this is for Tuesday, Sept 25.
This is my last day off for the week, off from all worries of work, naturally I have to spend this day for myself. I started this day with a workout in the gym. In my previous entry, I mentioned about a sudden pain on my right hand, this time around its no longer painful but still I downed two pills for pain relief, just in case. I have done my exercise program smoothly, from cardio to weight training on the lower body. Most importantly though was that I was able to perform my bicep curls that I haven't finished the previous day because of the pain.
After spending time in the gym, I went online to check some emails and chat with some of my online friends. After lunch, I watched tv for a couple of hours before getting ready to go out. Showered and feeling fresh, I went to Wal-Mart to print some digital pictures that I got when I visited Houston, TX about 3 weeks ago. I'll be sending some copies to two of my classmates who spent time with me in Houston.
Dinner was no problem as I went to a restaurant where an intimate friend of mine works as a waiter. My friend already reserved a table for me and exclusively served my dinner. It was good to have a firend as your waiter because you'll never be wrong in choosing the food you'll order. You will be given that extra service that was not being offered to other customers.
Right after dinner, I went back home to watch a tv show, Dancing With The Stars, a favorite of mine.
My day ended with chatting online with my friends and writing this entry. I'm done for the day and I'm ready for another 4 days of money-making work.

A Shocking Expperience

Monday Sept 24, its day 2 of my 3-days off for the week. I started this day going to the gym at around 8am. I think this is my first after three weeks of absence and whenever I eat so much I would feel guilty of all the food I've taken, just like yesterday when I had Japanese buffet with my friends. Am I being paranoid or what? I promised myself (for several times) to go back to the gym with a commitment for 3 to 4 times a week.
Halfway to my exercise program, when I grabbed dumbbells to do my bicep curls, I felt a sudden shot of pain on my right hand. I cant fully curl my fingers or close my right hand to a ball and cant even lift my usual 20lbs dumbbell. It was too painful that I have to stop my exercise and skip my bicep curls for this day.
Upon getting home, I put on the affected area with menthol pain reliever cream but it does not totally helped at all. Although I was able to close my hand a little bit, its still painful whenever I put some pressure on it. As my last resort, I popped in two tablets of 200mg Ibuprofen (Ad-Vil) to relieve the pain. It indeed helped but I know that after the effect of the pills that I took, the pain would come back.
I hope I just have the early stages of arthritis (meaning I'm not getting any younger), and not a serious one. I would better go back and see my doctor to have my routine physical check-up and do some bloodworks, too. Its time for my body for its regular maintainance....as what they say "you owe it to your body".

Sunday Lunch-out

I worked nights, that's from 8pm to 6:30am from Wednesdays through Saturdays. Today, a Sunday is the first of my 3-days off. I invited four of my friends to have lunch at a famous Japanese Buffet-Restaurant here in Las Vegas. Two of them are my new-found friends from Cebu, Philippines and they were here in the US for a business trip. Of course in every business trip there is always the pleasure part of it. They are on their last leg of their trip and they planned to go to Vancouver, Canada and stay there with some relatives for a few days before finally fly back to the Philippines.

The lunch went well except that me and the other friend of mine have to wait for the other three for a few minutes because they were caught in a traffic on their way to the restaurant. I always loved Japanese food so it was worth the wait since we already started eating before they even arrived. I tried not to fill myself with so much delicious food as I'm going to bed right after this lunch date and I always have difficulty falling to sleep when my stomach is full.

We left the restaurant around 2:30pm after so much eating and talking. I even exchanged numbers with them so that I could get in touch with them again when I'll visit Cebu, hopefully next year which calls for another blog entry.

My First Posting

This is my first blog post within blogspot.com and I'm quite excited about it. This is not new to me though as I was blogging in some other provider. I'll try to make this different from my other blogs and that would be a challenge for me. To justify the title "The Daily Grind" I have to write something on a daily basis....that's quite a challenge that I put up for myself.
What makes this blog different from my other writings is that I would include not-so-wholesome things that happened to me....be it sexually explicit, with criminal intent or whatever thoughts I have at the point of writing an entry here. I will also post picture or video blogs to spice up these pages but most importantly to emphasize a certain point or idea.
You, readers and friends can actually help me out on this by posting some comments, be it good or bad to any of my postings.
Come back soon....