Noynoy Aquino: Not moving in Malacanang

I have never really been big on the politics in this country. In fact, I don't even follow the news too much because it just depresses me. I guess I have lost hope for a change in our country.

But today I heard that Noynoy Aquino, the front runner in the presidential race is being stubborn in insisting that he will not move to Malacanang once he is proclaimed.

Can I just say that I think Noynoy is such a spoiled brat! Did he not know what he was getting into when he decided to join the race for the country's president? Did nobody remind him that he needs to make several sacrifices if he wins? After all, the presidency is not new to him since his mother was a former president.

He reasons that he just want to treat Malacanang as his office and that he does not want to move there because he will just be reminded of how alone, given how Malacanang (or Arlegui residence for that matter) is too big, he is since he does not have a family that will move in with him.

That is such a petty and selfish reason coming from our would-be president. Did he think that past presidents lived in Malacanang just for the heck of it? Presidents live in Malacanang because the palace offers enough security, it also makes the president accesible at any time. After all, the presidency is not a 9-5 job. I belive that running a country is a 24 hour job. Did he not think about the waste in taxpayers money that staying in his Times st. house will cause? They would have to install additional security, additional communication devices so that the president is always in contact. All of which are already ready at the Malacanang. What about the traffic he and his convoy will cause going to Malacanang everyday? And what about his neighbors? Don't they have a say on this too since the peace and quiet in their own houses will also be affected?

All that this tells me is that Noynoy is only thinking about himself, of staying in his comfort zone. This is such a very simple matter that should have been a non-issue. If he continues to be stubborn like this, what about other, bigger issues that he needs to decide on for the country?

What does this say about you Mr. Aquino?

And don't even get me started about his smoking habits...

Note: I am not anti-Noynoy. He is actually in my top 2 choices for the presidency. I am just stating my observations about him.

Happy Birthday Macmaaaaaccccccc

My husband turns a year older today.

I surprised him with a slice of strawberry cake which is his favorite and a card.

Wake up already, it's your birthday! Blow the candle. :)
Reading my birthday card. Notice the cover, it's a picture of a boy and a girl among the stars. The message inside reads, It's you who taught me to dance with the stars.
Of course he wanted a picture with his birthday gift.

Happy Birthday Mahal!

Badminton for Fitness

It's been months since me and my office mates played Badminton together.

We decided to play again last night before the busy and stressful season in our work starts.

It was a fun, competitive night!

Partners for life!

Sammy the TV (2010 Samsung Series 6 LCD TV)

Last year, Mac's birthday gift was the Nintendo DSi. This year, he has been asking for a TV. In his defense, we really did not own a decent TV so we do not watch TV.

Ever since we bought the PS3, he has been looking for a TV because our LCD monitor was too small to play games in. It was also a hassle to disconnect the computer every time we wanted to play. I promised him that we will buy a TV for his birthday.

And I delivered on my promise last weekend. We bought a Samsung 32" LCD TV. We can now play our PS3 games and see all the details. But what I loved most about the TV was that it plays movies straight from my USB in AVI format. What surprised me was that it was able to read the subtitle files of my korean drama series. I literally shouted for joy! haha. I did not need to hard sub anything because the TV plays it automatically.

Welcome home Sammy.

We spent the entire weekend at home just playing PS3 games and watching my favorite k-drama series of the moment - Personal taste.

Now who says gaming ruins relationships? That's not true for us because we bond more by playing together. We're playing Resident Evil 5 right now. We love it because there is a coop mode where Mac and I think of strategies and help each other kill the bad guys. He is Chris and I play as Sheva.
I love you Sammy!!!!!

Food Tripping at Tong Yang

Was finally able to drag Mac to Tong Yang. He never liked Shabu Shabu, he was always a fan of rice. The last time I bought him to Healthy Shabu Shabu - he wasn't able to eat anything. He had to eat a burger in a different restaurant after.

But I told him that in Tong Yang, there are food that he can grill and that they also have rice. So he agreed and off we went to Tong Yang.

They had a wide selection of food. We had appetizers of siomai and dumplings.
For the soup broth, I chose Chicken and Sinigang. The sinigang was good but I liked the shabu shabu sauce in Healthy Shabu Shabu better.
Mac enjoyed the grilling part. He insisted that we get hotdogs. =)
Shrimps were good too.

We both loved Tong Yang because of:

• the bottomless drinks (which was already included in the buffet price).
  
• Their very wide selection of dishes. You can find all kinds of balls here - fish balls, squid balls, meat balls....
• They had a lot of different seafoods also
• The dessert - fruits, halo halo, ice cream with sprinkles, cake
• They also serve Draft Beer also included in the buffet price already.
  

Tong Yang is for people who are not in a hurry as you will need to wait for your food to cook. And if you want to get the most out of what you pay, you can stay in the restaurant for hours. =) I recommend not getting the rice and softdrinks because you will get full from these.

Tong Yang is at Atrium of Megamall. A buffet of Shabu Shabu with Grill costs P585.00 which was already inclusive of drinks, service charge and tax.

I hope Mac enjoyed his early Birthday dinner buffet. =)

A McDonald's Kiddie Party for an Adult

Mac's office mate, JJ, has never had a children's birthday party when he was a kid. And since he was resigning, their office mates decided to throw him a despidida party in Mc Donald's.

We had party favors, games and even mascots. The whole deal.

Party Hats!
Grimace looks like Barney. Or its just because they are both purple. I'm still wondering what Grimace is. What is he?

They did Pinoy Henyo where all the words are somehow related to JJ
Hep Hep Hooray too.
Grimace could shake that booty!

It was a fun celebration. Planning to do this as despedida also to one of our resigning officemates. Can't wait.

Meet My New Driver

Ever since Mac and I got together, I have always been the driver. On our first date, I drove the two of us to SM Pampanga.

He always attempted to learn how to drive, even enrolling in a driving school in Bulacan. But he never did get the hang of steering. He always reasoned that he will just learn how to drive once he gets a car of his own. I told him that he will not get a car until he learns to drive.

Early this year when I bought the car, he enrolled in another driving school this time in Manila. He really learned a lot from Smart driving. And although he still needs some more practice with driving my old Honda with the manual transmission, he can now drive us around in our new car with an automatic transmission.

He just needs to perfect his parking skills which I am sure he will learn through experience.



I love that I can now rest in the passenger seat!

PS. Passed by the newly constructed footbridge at the back of Megamall. This is the view of Julio Vargas St. St. Francis square to the left and San Miguel to the right.

Buknoy

In 2008, we had a little kid in the house. Buknoy is the son of our then house help. He came to our house when he was still 2 yrs. old and they stayed for almost 3 years with us. Buknoy was very sweet and friendly so we couldn't help but get close to the kid. He was so bibo. They left in December 2008 to go home to their province. I wonder if he still remembers us, probably not.

Saw some videos I took of him back when he was still with us. I kinda miss having a kid at home. It makes it more fun.

Stick House

I heard about the Stick House -Gelato on a stick stall from a friend. I wanted to try this since I love Ice pops and it looks like Picole. Both stores are located in the basement of SM Megamall. Stick House is a bigger store with chairs and tables in Mega A while Picole is just a small stall in Mega B.

Flavors to choose from in Stick House

Got the coffee flavor topped with hazelnuts and almonds

Verdict:

• Picole wins for its price. An order only costs around P50.00 while my order in Stick House costs P140.00!
• Picole wins again for its taste. I found Stick House to be too sweet and creamy. Some people might like those but not me. Picole's was just right
• Picole wins again for the variety of flavors. They had the normal chocolates, strawberries but they also had fruity flavors like avocado, they also had milk tea.
  
• Stick House wins for the toppings, their Pistachios are good. You can also choose your dip so you can customize your own ice cream.
• Picole wins again for the health factor. They use real fruits in their Ice Cream.
  

Stick House Gelato is good but I still prefer Picole!

Solution to a Wet Underwater Camera

Several posts ago, I talked about how I love my new Underwater camera, the Fujifilm WP Z33.

It was a budget underwater camera that only costs P7,000.00. Unfortunately, during my last swimming activity, the battery compartment accidentally opened and water got inside the camera.

I know you shouldn't try opening any gadgets that got wet but I was stubborn and I wanted to see if the damage was that bad so I tried to open it. It did open but shut down after around 5 seconds.

I immediately searched online for a possible solution because I loved that camera and I just bought it a month ago but I was already resigned to buy a new one. Mac and I were already searching the net for sellers of an Olympus waterproof camera since I doubt that my Fuji camera will recover from the incident.

I saw some suggestions to put the wet camera inside a bag with rice grains or desiccant. I tried both. I left the camera inside a sealed bag with rice and desiccant overnight but I closed the battery compartment since I did not want rice grains to get stuck inside it. It was still wet in the morning. I tried it again, this time opening the battery compartment. I left it at home for around 3 days. Patience is the key. When I looked at it after the 3 days, my camera was already working fine again.

*Photo Courtesy of techie.com.ph

I saved my camera!!! Putting it in rice was really effective! Now, it's good as new.

One weekend in May

Decided to stay in Manila this weekend instead of going home to Bulacan so that Mac and I can spend more quality time together. =)

We went on a date to Eastwood to watch movies. I love that Mac can now drive us to our dates. We parked at the new mall just to see how it looks like and it was big enough. They had a bake sale going on.

One table was selling all kinds of imported beers.
Eastwood Mall's ceiling

We decided to watch Robin Hood and Here Comes the bride. Both movies are good but Robin Hood was just a little disappointing because of how serious they made him to be. I knew him to be more fun and adventurous in the books that I read.
Here Comes the Bride on the other hand was so much fun. It is a tagalog movie made by Star Cinema starring Angelica Panganiban, Jaime Fabregas, Tuesday Vargas, John Lapuz and Eugene Domingo of the Kimmy Dora fame. It was unexpectedly good. I really loved the comedy and Angelica's acting was so natural. If you just want a good time, I recommend this movie.

After the movies, we headed to Sanctuario de San Antonio to attend the wake of Baby Gab Pamfilo. He's the first son of Jaja's (my maid of honor) brother. The baby only lived 3 short weeks. It was so sad. The baby was born normal and he just caught an infection that he didn't survive from. Mac and I were talking about how devastating that was and how hard it is to recover from something like that and if that ever happens to us how we wouldn't know how to move on. Specially since we have been trying to concieve for a while now.

We got home late already and woke up the next day at noon. We went out to do some chores - had the car washed, had our pedicures, bought groceries. We cooked spaghetti when we got back home and ate lunch at around 4pm. =)

We then spent the rest of the day watching new episodes of our favorite series - Chuck, Glee and Personal Taste. We also watched the movie Leap Year which was just okay. The weekend flew by so fast.

I love weekends like that when there is no work to think about and I just spend time with my husband and we do everything together. I love our kulitan moments to the point where one of us gets pikon already.

I just love lazy weekends where we spend the whole day in bed.

Till next time...

Good Luck!

A few posts back I talked about how Miles was planning to leave our company. But that did not push through because they did not agree on the offer. Selfish as I am, I was happy because she won't be leaving after all.

But now one of my friends in the office is really leaving. She has already submitted her resignation letter so this time it's for sure.

I am happy for her because she got a really nice offer in the other company but still sad that we won't be seeing each other everyday.

Will surely miss her. The office won't be the same without her.

Election Day

It was the first automated national elections for the Philippines.

The new process meant that people were not familiar with it and long lines under the heat of the sun.

We arrived at 7:00am but were only able to vote at around 9:30am.

I am a little disappointed at how the elections turned out but at least I tried to do my part and voted for who I think will best run the country.

a lot of people waiting outside the precincts
Still haven't gotten around to changing my name.
I am no. 108 to vote from our precinct excluding the senior citizens
entering the ballots in the PCOS machine
FINALLY!

8 Waves with Cousins

It was the Baliwag town fiesta and mother's day on May 9.

We went to Ate Cel's place to eat dinner because of the fiesta and went to 8 waves for a little bit of swimming with the kids.

Mac playing with Kyla
Swimming.
Val and Miguel

Loving Kota Kinabalu

Where: Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
When: May 7-9, 2010
With: Mac, Miles, Paula, Ava

The Kota Kinabalu trip was booked as early as January. We availed of the Cebu Pacific zero fares. We were originally planning on staying until May 10, however we did not realize that the National Elections would be on that date. So to avail of our right to vote, Mac, Miles and I decided to cut our trip 1 day short. We skipped a lot of activities because of this so we decided to plan another trip going back.

Day 1:
We left the office at around 3:00pm to go to the airport. We arrived early and still had time to eat before we boarded the plane. I love the centennial terminal 3 because they have a Yellow Cab.
We met up with Paula and Ava at the terminal already. Miles and I exchanged some money in the airport since I read that money exchange in Kota closes early and we might not have any money for the taxi from the airport to our hotel. We arrived at 8:00pm. Since we did not arrange for transport services, we had to get the coupon taxi which usually costs RM30.00 (conversion to peso is RM1.00 = Php13.88) for 4 people but since there were 5 of us, we had to pay a little extra.
I booked us at Best Western Kinabalu Daya hotel. This hotel was the best fit for us because it is located downtown and priced reasonably cheap and comes with a buffet breakfast already.

Upon arrival, hotel staff will give you wet towels to wash your face and hands. Kota Kinabalu is so similar to the Philippines, you can cross any street, you can smoke anywhere even inside the hotel. They had no smoking signs but we were told that they just ignore the signs and smoke anyway.

After checking in, we went to CenterPoint Mall to look for an open money exchange place. Saw an Egg Tart Prince stall inside.
We walked to the waterfront to look for a place to eat. We wanted to eat at Seri Selara but nobody knew how to get there or we were just not pronouncing it right. We ended up eating at a bar in Waterfront. Food was good.

I ordered the Satay

Paula had the Tom Yum

Miles got her fill of the Tiger Prawns.

After dinner, we decided to just walk back to the hotel. We forgot to bring a map so we got a little bit lost. We saw the Kampung Air Night Market and passed by Seri Selera by accident.
We were finally able to locate our hotel. We were too tired to drink anymore.

Day 2:
The free breakfast in the hotel was just ok. They had sausages, noodles, rice, porridge, bread, potato.

Kuya Ismael arrived at promptly 9am. He is a Filipino who already lives and works in Kota Kinabalu. He was so nice. He gave us a lot of discounts and arranged for our island hopping activities. Paula and Ava also got his services for the Mt. Kinabalu tour the next day.

Arrival at the Port

Paula loves Kuya Ismael

Our first stop was Sapi Island. We availed of the seawalking package. There were so many fishes, it was fascinating. I have never seen that many fish.

From the boat

Welcome to Sapi island
Fish were everywhere. You can snorkel near the beach and still see different kinds of fish

Fish I found while snorkeling and sea walking. Saw Nemo!!!
We're so happy to be here!

We also decided to avail of the buffet lunch in Sapi Island worth RM45.00 per person. It was the best meal we had in Kota Kinabalu. I loved the chicken wings. Mac said the crabs were so fresh and delicious. Too bad I'm allergic.

Fried Rice, Noodles, Kerepek, Satay, Chicken Wings, Prawns, Crabs, Fish and Sausages. You can have this refilled. This was so worth it!
There were crocs just roaming around freely. They call this Beyawak. Very similar to how we call them in Tagalog - Bayawak. =)

After lunch, we transferred to Manukan Island. This was bigger than Sapi. Unfortunately, it rained so we decided to skip Mamutik already and just go back to the city. We need to really come back!

Manukan Island. This is the life.

Boat ride going back. The rain was so hard.

Kota Kinabalu by the Sea

Since we got back early to the city, Mac and I decided to walk around and see some of the tourist attractions. We wanted to go up to the Signal Hill observatory but decided not to when we saw how far it was since it was also getting dark already.

We saw the Atkinson Clock Tower.
There was a concert in Warisan.
Gaya street was like the streets in Ilocos - they had fountains and tiles.

We were finally able to eat at Seri Selera for dinner. Seafood galore. We met another pinoy working in Hua Hing restaurant. He was nice enough to remove the service charge from our bill. Pinoys in Kota Kinabalu are really nice.

Buttered prawns.
Like Thailand, they put a lot of spice in their food.

They give you warm water with orange peels to wash your hands in.
Soup. This was supposed to be chicken since I am allergic to crab but they still served crab. Good thing I did not eat a lot.

Asking around, people recommended Cocoon as one of the best places to have a night out in Kota. Either it was a real slow night or we were just expecting too much because we were a little bit bored.
Day 3:

Our last day in Kota Kinabalu was spent shopping for Pasalubong. We went to the Gaya sunday market, Wisma Merdeka and then off to the airport.

We really need to practice our jumping shot!
Mcdonald's in Kota have apple and raspberry sundaes! I love!
This store serves delicious shakes.
Nasi Lemak. Meal at the airport

It was a fun trip to Kota Kinabalu. We got a lot of discounts from fellow Pinoys working there and the people are really generally nice and eager to help.

Will definitely come back to try the different attractions that we did not get to see.