going back to the gym

after more than 4 months away from the gym (blame it on the US trips and laziness), i decided to go back to the gym yesterday. it took all of my willpower to convince myself i needed to go since part of me was already saying "tomorrow na lang." i'm starting with this "body for life" program after juan gave me the book during my last trip. it sounds simple enough with the exercises and the food but i soon found out that not being in the gym for a long time makes it harder to do the reps. i'm following the exercise routine for this program and its a good thing that they have the excel tables and all kinds of resources to plan out my routine. the food though needs more planning - i've switched to brown rice already though, even bought a small rice cooker for it. i've also started to trim down my meal portions - moving down to filipino rather than american servings. i am also recently addicted to yoghurt, plain or fruit-flavored. i gobble-up 2 servings daily - sarap e.

when i was doing the exercises at the gym, i forgot how some of the exercises work so improvised on some. by the time i was done, my arms felt like lead. and today, they really hurt bad - and i do mean bad. its a good thing cardio is every other day ... and just 20mins at that. tomorrow is lower body workout so my arms & upper body gets to rest. i realized that you have to mix weight training with cardio if you want to burn fat faster. cardio won't do it by itself. you have to do weights (light if you don't want to bulk up) to tone up. ah, this is really a challenge - a very hard one at that.

should i enroll?

i got the class offerings for next term and i'm still deciding whether i should enroll or not. i only have two subjects + the oral comprehensive exam (oce) before i graduate. i am 80% sure i'll probably enroll on my last supply chain subject so that when i graduate, i'd have a "major in supply chain" on my diploma. its the strategic management (strama) that's throwing me off right now. do i really have the time? i think i do. maybe i've gotten used to the comfort of taking things slow and not burdening myself too much with office & school work that makes it hard to make this decision. right now, i'd guess i'm the only one who's left in school - most of my friends have graduated or will be graduating already. that's not really a factor and i'm not rushing but i definitely want to get it over with.

submission of the course approval form is on saturday, may 12. i have 5 days to make a decision. why is it so hard to make this decision?

are you really that much better?

i had a sort of long catching up by phone with Amazing Aloha (AA) yesterday mainly just idle chitchat initially until we sort of veered into the recent conversations during a visiting friend's dinner. unfortunately, i was still in the US that time so i wasn't able to join the get together. the discussions talked about another friends recent controversial farewell letter and how they had stuff to say about it. personally, if i was just a curious bystander, i would have viewed the letter as immature and unprofessional and i, in my right mind, would probably send something like that to but a few good friends. but not one standing on the sidelines, i have to say that probably was just a means of getting back, of lashing out because when you feel you've been maligned, sometimes sanity escapes you and you do things, in this case write things, you probably meant but not meaning to share. we all have our opinions and our sentiments about what happened but i don't think its proper to talk about these things openly in public specially if there are dissenting parties.

i am beginning to realize that there's probably very few straight people (guys at that) that can really accept you when you're different. if you find out the truth, does it make that person a lesser human being just because he or she is different? its insulting that they make such a big fuss about another person's choices as if that determines what kind of person he or she is. hello? wake up! are you really that much better in life right now?

so for those of you who think you're better - you can laugh and make fun of me all you want - at the end of the day, i'm the one who's laughing at you. you just have to open your eyes, see where you are and where i am right now, and you'd know you've been punk'd.

fatness monster at the airport

here i am at the airport ... again. this time i'm going to take the arduous journey back home and i'm hoping that this trip won't have the same delays i've had the last two times i was here. the airport is seemingly quiet right now, not busy like most airports are. i see some eye candies and i can't help but get a second look. the past three weeks has been mostly a blur, what with all the traveling and sightseeing i did with bel and maricar. i'm not saying it wasn't fun, actually it was so much fun though it was tiring. it has been a bit of a struggle being here in arizona, workwise that is. and though i did manage to deliver some stuff, it still feels like i've slacked off. this is the problem with doing projects, there isn't enough critical deadlines to beat - you mostly sail through it. the only yardstick to which i will be measured are two things : (1) is whether i will be able to deliver the project; and (2) whether the customers will like it. while i do LOVE the freedom my job provides, i don't like to slack off but i've been doing it nonetheless because maybe working hard for the last eight years has taken its toll. hopefully, the changes in responsibility will help bring the fire again.

i'm officially a fatness monster. and while i haven't really checked the scales lately, i can see in the mirror how plump my cheeks have become. my tummy has started showing again so i don't look as fab as i was back in december. major bummer. when i get back to manila, its time to pay the price. i'm going to have to swear off rice for a while, try to get back into my weight training program and start taking my hydroxycut. ok, so maybe taking the hydroxycut isn't the greatest thing to do, but well i'm in need of some drastic measures.

me & the mall is such a bad, bad combination. there were only two items on my list yesterday but i ended up with 3 pairs of jeans and a cute long-sleeved shirt ... and instead of one, i bought mom two naturalizer shoes. i kind of felt guilty that i could splurge buying so many clothes, even $100 shoes and i can't spend as much for her. so ok, i'm not the poster boy right now for saving money and spending money wisely but i'm following this new adage "live fully." and that includes doing things that make you happy. hahaha

i can't wait to get back home. 1 1/2 hours to LA. 3 1/2 hours layover in LA. 12+ hours to HK. 2 hours layover in HK. 1 1/2 hours to Manila. oh yeah, is that fun or what.

note : i was going to post this while i was still at the phoenix skyharbor airport but for some reason i kept dropping off the wireless. that was probably 18-20 hours ago. right now, i am at the business lounge of cathay pacific where wireless is stable. just a 2-hour flight and i'll be home. yay.

a trip worth remembering

we went to vegas during the second week of our US trip with me behind the wheel of our rented kia sorento suv. the only thing keeping me awake was a can of "rockstar" energy drink, after too much partying the night before in scottsdale. the 6 hour drive breezed through quite fine with occasional restroom stops and some architectural sightseeing at hoover dam. lots of pictures snapped here and there. our day in vegas went by quickly after having a feast at the alladin buffet and some touring of bellagio and caesar's palace, we were beat from all of the walking. it was surprising to bump into the tensuan family with the strip being that long and with that many people but you know pinoys --- "we find each other. wherever." there were more pictures taken during our leisurely walk that night with bel & car exchanging ohh's & ahh's at how lovely the strip seemed with all the lights and sounds. vegas is a truly a sight to behold, it lives up to its reputation as sin city and the city that never sleeps. i wish though next time i'm here, that there'd be less hotel viewing and more partying.

after vegas week, the days seemed pretty much to breeze through with the face-to-face (what we really came for) coming full-blown beginning wednesday and lasting through half of friday. we did go through another round of teambuilding & org stuff with new leadership and all. like all these face-to-face that deals with this kind of stuff, we were pretty much bored during the 2nd day that the after-office get together (dinner & hanging out) was a welcome change. we went to "rawhide" which is a western-themed amusement town with shows, carriage & train rides and animals and an old-fashioned restaurant where we had our dinner. we were treated to some western "delicacies" which did not freak me out at the very least - first taste of rattlesnake (eww!) and rocky mountain oysters (which turned out to be not seafood at all but bull testicles, double eww!) - believe me, they weren't that bad at all. we watched some shows and hanged out a little, even trying out the carriage ride (hmmm we wondered if it was that bumpy in the olden days). it was fun to be outside of work with people you work with all the time.

at the end of the face-to-face week, bel & i left phoenix to go to california. it was a 5 hour drive that wasn't as bad as it seemed and we managed to reach ron & rudy's house around 10pm or so. the house was awesome - it was big & spacious and well decorated. r&r also had 2 bmw's and an accura suv, ugh!

rudy brough bel & i to disney around 9am the following day. we got in for free since rudy was an employee of disney. i'd have to say, disney was fantastic - i really felt like a kid again. i'm right now excited to bring my nephew to hk disneyland this august for his 4th birthday. we were able to enjoy star tours, bobsleds, space mountain, pirates of the carribbean @ disneyland and soarin' high and the big rollercoaster at california adventure. and to top it off, disney had twice the eye candy than vegas that time. we managed to buy some souvenirs @ 35% discount so we were quite happy that day. we spent sunday visiting carlo & mark at orange county. i have to say OC is so much different it leaves me speechless. we had lunch there where afterwards we went ahead and looked at the new houses/condo's (Vantis by Shea Homes) which totally blew me away. the model houses were awesome that we spent the better part of the afternoon just moving from one model house to another trying to figure out which we liked best. right there, i wish i lived in the US and could afford such a great place. truly, an american dream i wish i shared.

pictures here are posted in my multiply account. check it out at the following :
www.yuan1025.multiply.com

she's back

one of my more favorite artists is back with a new album ... american doll posse. i'm already playing the tracks from her latest album non-stop. so far my favorite tracks are digital ghost and secret spell. such a wonderful treat from a truly awesome & unique artist.

grand canyon - redux! 0408'07

holy week

i never make plans during the holy week. for me, it is a time to pay respect and remember what the Lord sacrificed for all of us. yes, i grew up catholic - and while i may not be as "religious" as i should be today, there are practices & teachings i have strong belief in. no beach, no parties, no drinking during this time for me.

jack of all trades

jetlag is a bummer.

while i slept only for an hour when i got to phoenix and drove short of 500 miles (back & forth) the grand canyon with bel & car, i was awake by 2am. where's the sandman when you need him?

i was mulling the previous days on whether i should consider buying a digital slr. it wasn't really because elmer & jona both have one already but it was a logical technological evolution from a point & shoot digital camera. i was holding back on buying one mainly because there wasn't really time to pursue photography, even as a hobby at this time. i still haven't finished graduate school (1 more subject technically but i want to major, so 2 more subjects) and i haven't even decided yet when i am going to go back. and i was already planning on taking up short culinary courses - again, not because i want to become a chef but because i enjoy cooking - period. while i was looking at some pictures the past hour though, i realized that i enjoy taking pictures of people and moments more than say landscapes, or objects, or anything artistic. i guess being technically-oriented for a long time has robbed me quite a bit of artistic talent or probably the desire to see things in a different perspective. i like the practical shots. the simple moments without so much fuss which is why i like p&s cameras a lot. i just need to capture the "memory" of the moment without the need for grandeur ... having a dslr feels like there's this pressure to turn out beautiful, artistic, wow-photos all the time. i don't think i want that.

thinking about the dslr thing made me think about what i was good at - and i couldn't think of anything i was really "great" at. sure, i was smart in school, could play volleyball, write decently, lead/manage, have some artistic talent but i was never exemplary. i think i get bored easily that i tend not to stick to doing something long enough to "master" it - maybe being an industrial engineer, or a jack-of-all-trades was fate. or maybe the reality is i have a.d.d. i really don't know but hopefully i find something that i love doing (and make a career doing it). sigh, suddenly feel like i'm not good at anything na tuloy. damn it. mumble. mumble.

ay, i realized i'm kind of good at driving ... uhmm, so delivery? hahaha
hmmm ... i type really fast too ... uhmm, so taga-type ng thesis?
double bummer!

eagle point layouts

i threw in some pictures from our eagle point resort getaway into a picture book. here are some of the pages of that book.

tax season

i finally managed to file my income tax return today 11 days ahead of the deadline. i was supposed to file it yesterday that's why i went to the makati office but i couldn't get through UBS by phone to reset my password. i couldn't remember if i sold stock options in 2006 but i finally managed to access my account today. luckily, there weren't any stock options sold in 2006 so the only additional income i had were the proceeds from the quicksale i elected for the stocks i purchased in 2006. i wish there was some way that i didn't have to pay so much on taxes. i feel bad everytime i have to surrender my hard-earned cash for taxes knowing most of it will likely go into some corrupt politician's pocket. i probably am stereotyping and that the government might really be using it to do some good ---- not! sorry for being jaded, i guess not really seeing where my taxes go leaves a bad taste in my mouth everytime i see how much they are getting.

i hate april 15.

summer fun @ eagle point (0331-0401)

it was one of those times when we just thought two weeks back that we should enjoy the summer and relax at some beach. we weren't really sure if it was going to push through having been told by those resorts we were eyeing for that they were fully booked march 31 & april 1. we were lucky though when allan said that he managed to get reservations at eagle point resort somewhere in batangas. we excitedly checked out the website and thought it was a place good enough to spend the weekend and relax.

everyone pretty much were giddy the whole week eagerly counting work days before the weekend hits. i myself was bouyed by idea of spending the weekend with great friends at the beach no less. there were a lot of e-mail exchanges talking about what we should wear, what we should bring, what time we should meet, even the motifs for the pictorials. we were already having fun just thinking about the coming weekend.

i was up around 2am and realized that a bunch of us pretty much were either still up (from partying or whatever) or woke up excitedly ahead of schedule. call time was between 430-500am since we wanted to get a headstart of the day with eagle point being about 3 hours away. pretty much everyone made it at 5am - its like a record and everyone managed to avoid some serious tonguelashing & slapping - bummer! breakfast was at mcdonald's along petron south super hi-way where we noticed a large number of people that early - seems, everyone have plans of spending summer in some beach or resort. the ride was pretty much uneventful - we talked, bitched about r (not trixy's "r"), laughed uncontrollably in between thousand calorie krispy kremes and some water. surprisingly we didn't miss any turns and the map was pretty helpful during the trip.

when we got at the drop off point, we were trying to figure out how to slip in both our alcoholic & non-alcoholic beverages since we kind of brought a lot (of the latter) to avoid any of the steep corkage fees. we crammed them in every nook & corner of our bags and allan later on realized that putting too much weight on his kenneth cole bag proves to be disastrous. since we were quite early, we couldn't check-in yet and decided to go straight to sepoc island via boat. sepoc island was quite nice - the water was clean, the sand was great and there weren't really a lot of people to crowd the beach area. we rented a cottage so we had a place to stow our bags and shhhh, take our snucked-in beverages without worrying about paying the corkage fees. there were hammocks and kayaks and life vests and beach volleyball - there was a lot of things we could do but we opted to wading in the cool waters, taking our pictures, taking more pictures, and more pictures and doing some kayaking on the side. kayaking is quite fun and i didn't mind being under the sun that long. we put so much sunblock i guess that we were pretty confident we weren't going to burn under the hot sun. it wasn't surprising that towards the end of the day (and after a bottle of sangria - yum!), we all (except acs) looked sunkissed.

the dinner was filling when we got back and the pictures during the sunset was quite nice. we spent the better portion of the night just chillin' on our veranda with a glass of cabernet or mudslide on one hand and the other digging for chips & some salsa. there wasn't really a need for any more bonding session since we (jaa, tv, ac & acs) pretty much have built a lasting friendship already. we decided to call it a day early that night, each of us being tired from the day and from the previous night. it wasn't hard to get some sleep with the aircon being full-blast and being weary from the day pretty much knocked everyone out.

morning. breakfast was fantastic. yummy food makes me weak so i ate more than i should - oh well! we slept a bit right after breakfast before we went swimming with the fish & baby sharks and then later on went to the kiddie pool and played model while the camera snapped some "for our eyes only" pictures. ok ok, nothing requiring parental guidance. we quite dreaded the time when we all had to get out of the pool and dress up for home. it meant the weekend's over and our uber fun time at the beach was coming to a close. we stopped by red ribbon for lunch where surprisingly, acs told us some funny stories about the time when jps met with her 'rents.

the weekend was quite tiring but fun. it wasn't as expensive as a trip to boracay but being able to getaway from the busy city life with great friends is priceless. we're already planning our next trip - club paradise in palawan - and though it probably is months away (around aug or octoberish), i am already excited with just the thought of it.

but first, there's still a flight to arizona i need to catch this coming saturday. grand canyon. vegas. disney. its going to be fun.

click the link to view the pictures via multiply : summer fun

back at it again

mom sent me a text message monday as i was driving home telling me that my sister checked in to the hospital to get tested since she's been having severe pains in her abdomen recently. that meant i had to take care of my nephew again since my uber lazy brother will just sleep the whole day and DO NOTHING. well he did cook some food this morning but it was likely out of his own vested interest (read : he was hungry) so i don't think that counts. as expected, he slept the whole day with me working while taking care of my nephew. its not that i'm complaining because despite my nephew being really naughty at times, he is a sweet, adorable little boy. its just that i get so exhausted at night and i can't sleep well when my nephew sleeps with me because subconsciously i need to check on him throughout the night. this is why during these times, i don't really get enough sleep. suffering galore.

while driving home monday, v hitched a ride and kept me company. we talked about our lost loves in some conversations. its been a while since i talked to anyone about mcb, i don't miss mcb that much anymore but i told v that i know for certain that mcb is my one great love. its nice in a way to be able to talk about the past with no regrets - yes, i don't have any regrets meeting mcb because despite everything, i have had the best & worst times dealing with mcb. so there ...

tomorrow is focal download, i don't think i'm going to hit the target ACS and i put up. the signs aren't good but like always i'm hopeful that it remains acceptable. for some reason, looking back, i'm surprised that i'm not setting up a range from which i can say whether i will be happy with the result. i guess with all the things happening - of people ... friends moving out, rumors of closing down, somehow focal doesn't seem to be as important as it used to be. the latest good news about tv is really exciting and admittedly saddening because soon there'd be one less reason to go to the office. the only good thing i guess is that we've seemed to have grown closer being separated (JAA, TV and the rest) so it seems our friendship will survive post-company I.

i haven't decided yet when i'd be going back to school. strama + 1 elective for majoring + oce and i should be done. all my classmates/friends are either finished already or are taking their oce this term. i'm not sure yet if i can devote the time needed for strama and that's what keeping me from enrolling. but i've tentatively put august when i will reconsider enrolling so i can be done by march/april08.

i really need to update my resume. i've been procastinating doing that for months already. i've really been shortsighted lately, thinking only of two things - one is going to the beach this weekend ... and two, my upcoming US trip. yay, my boss just approved for me to travel for two weeks (instead of one). i just realized though ... i'm leaving april 7, which is the weekend after this week. good news with that trip though, it bumps up my asia miles mileage enough for up to 3 tickets to HK - the fam gets a free trip! that means we can bring my nephew to HK disney for his 4th birthday. exciting months ahead.

make your own havaianas

the evil twin sisters jona & trixy invited me to hang out at power plant in rockwell early in the morning because havaianas was having a "make your own" booth beginning today. i call these twin sisters "evil" because i was never planning on buying any new havs (having just bought 2 pairs last january and i bought a pair of gap flipflops during my US trip) but for some reason i ended up with 3 pairs - hahaha. evil temptresses! hahaha it was fun though seeing jona & trixy again, we always seem to have equal amounts of fun and serious conversations. we had some vietnamese lunch today - it wasn't that good but somehow we were thankful to not eat so much. we pretty much spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at starbucks enjoying our coffee (non-fat, no whipped cafe mocha as always) and indulging in a luscious serving of banoffee. that banoffee dessert is awesome - sinfully delicious ... damn! we're probably having dinner on saturday but trixy & i will probably go boxing tomorrow night. i need some exercise i swear.

check out my 3 new havaianas slippers above. don't they look awesome? now have to plan where to wear these expensive slippers hahaha i love my green & red havs! they'll definitely give accent to my casual jeans & shirt do!

btw, happy birthday to a very dear friend - arlene! i am so glad we have found true friends in each other and i wish you peace, happiness and love always. take care always.

Supersize Me

yes, it is about the 2003 documentary that morgan spurlock made where he dealt with the subject of obesity and fast food. the plot is simple, for 30 days he will eat nothing except what is in a mcdonald's menu and will supersize only when he is asked. he will also need to eat three meals a day (breakfast, lunch & dinner) only from mcdonald's. this may sound ridiculous but i found it kind of enlightening that he gained 17lbs in two weeks and during his mcdo-regimen, he started having liver problems, depression, anxiety and he became sluggish and tired. having grown up along with the fastfood industry, i suddenly feel like i should withdraw from eating it completely. they even did a random survey of a number of nutritionists on the question on whether one should eat fastfood and not surprisingly, most of them said one should never eat at a fastfood restaurant. in a way, how fastfood came to being is mainly to answer the call of people who are so busy that they are too tired to cook at home. i can only imagine the amount of kfc, panda express, in-n-out that i have been eaten when i was in the states for eight weeks. no wonder i gained as much as 10lbs. after this film came out, mcdonald's introduced a number of supposedly healthy salads which turned out to have the same calories as a big mac - ugh! eating healthy is a conscious choice and i dare say its very difficult (& expensive) to eat healthy when you are out or with friends.

i realized however that after staying away from the gym and gaining weight during my trip, my body aches more when i'm sitting for a long time. my legs hurt so bad after walking a lot when i went to the office. everything i'm feeling right now tells me i should go back to the gym, get my heart pumping, work out the lactic acid build-up and get in shape.

jet lagged & weekend laziness

this is the part i hate when traveling to & from the other side of the world - the jet lag. for the past few days, i've been sleeping really early in the evening only to wake up around midnight (and no, i am not an "aswang" hahaha) - my body still thinks its in the Arizona timezone (midnight is like 9am there, time to be at work). it will probably take me a few more days before i get acclimated to this timezone - i desperately need some gym time soon. there's nothing better than a tiring workout to get myself off the jet lag faster.

i've spent the better part of my weekend in bed just watching shows i've downloaded. there's really a lot of it still that i haven't seen, add to the so many dvd's i've had on queue since a year ago. i had fun meeting up with allan and trixy for dinner last friday. we ate at conti's and i had a really awesome baked salmon (yum!) before we stopped for coffee at starbucks. i was pretty much in bed around midnight thinking "this is good, my body clock can reset itself." only to find out two hours later that i was wide awake - bummer!!!

i started organizing my mp3's on the itunes in my macbook and being the OC that i am, i had to re-tag all the album covers to a higher resolution because they were quite blurry in full-screen mode. yeah, its pretty hard being OC like this (at least its not over the top) where i like everything (mp3) tagged properly with song title, artist, album, genre and album covers. if the mp3 doesn't have those, there's no way they get synchronized in my ipod. so far i've managed to tag properly almost 16GB worth of mp3s, and there's probably 60GB more left (hahaha). Harddisk space is pretty much getting limited and i will need to attend soon to backing up my TV shows to DVD. There's like a 100GB to back-up, its such a boring task to do.

Ahhh its monday today, this for me signals the start of the week and i promised myself i'll start dieting this week. being the OC that i am, i don't start anything other than a monday. i think its that whole notion that since its a new week, that is the only time i should start something new. yeah, i have my weird moments. A & T probably thought i was crazy when i told them that every morning when i take a bath to get ready for the office, i wait until the clock is in increments of 5mins - i don't start if its :03, or :21, it should be :05 or :025 ... hahahaha its just easier for me that way to assess how long it took to finish a chore.

flight gone wrong

i should have posted this a few days back but i got pretty busy working - yes, there's actually deadlines i need to work on. after seeing the film "300", i had a quick lunch, went to the office to print my online check-in confirmation and stop by gizie & larry's house. i was at the airport a bit later than i would have liked and since it was spring training (baseball) this time around, there was a long line on the check-in counters. i managed to check-in without so much fuss except that the lady told me i should balance out my luggages since my bigger luggage was 8lbs over. knowing the other bag didn't have any space left over, i decided to just shove a number of the shirts on my carry-on luggage.

i was relieved when we boarded the plane after walking a good distance since the terminal was at the far end of the airport (bummer!). i pretty much in between dozing off & waking up when i realized later on that we haven't really taken off. it turns out that we were about to take off but then a warning light came off the pilot's console and so we had to go back to the gate. they tried to troubleshoot it for about 30-45mins only to tell us that the plane wasn't flying anywhere. now, despite the setback, it was actually a relief that they caught the mechanical failure before we took off, who knows what would have happened then, right? we pretty much deplaned after the announcement and then waited for a while for them to sort it out. we were lucky that they were able to find another plane in record time and they directed us to proceed to the gate. again the terminal is at the other end of the gate where we docked - it was a freaking long walk and in flipflops, that didn't fare well with my aching feet.

we reached LA a little before 11pm and so after realizing my bags were already forwarded, i dashed off from terminal 1 to terminal 4 in a record 5mins to try and catch my 1120pm flight. i was out of breath when i got to the check-in counter and had to beg the people in line to let me go first. when i got to the counter, they told me the flight was closed but they can put me in the waiting list for the 120am flight. i went for a bite to eat and then later on managed to check-in both for my LA-HK and HK-MLA flight. Not only that, they seated me in a seat where no one was seating beside me so i had two seats. while two seats doesn't really substitute for a business class seat, it was good enough to at least have more room to stretch.

when we reached HK, i dashed to the Cathay Pacific business lounge for a quick shower. this is the part where i really like having the marco polo club card - having a shower after 14 hours feels like heaven and i managed to hydrate my already dry skin. the other good news was that when i was boarding, they said i had a change of seating and i already knew i've been upgraded to business class. and i have to say, business class seating is truly awesome. i only wish they'd give me the upgrade on a HK to LA flight instead, but hey, i'm not complaining. one more trip and i've got 3 free tickets to HK (from MLA) out of my mileage, that's reason enough to stick to this airline.

albuquerque, new mexico

these are my pics from my trip to albuquerque, new mexico two weekends back.

time to leave this town

i woke up thirsty saturday morning after spending the night with giz, larry and mindy at malee's for dinner and then acme and kashmir down in scottsdale for some drinks. i'd have to say scottsdale is abuzz with so many gorgeous people, far better than tempe i would say. we had a bottle of wine shared by three with larry having a bottle of non-alcoholic whatever (bummer!). i'd have to say i've gotten to like drinking red wine, it pairs up nicely with a juicy steak. anyway, it took me quite a while before the throbbing in my head subsided and i diligently started packing my stuff neatly. it was going to be a challenge because i knew somehow that i bought stuff more than my luggages can carry - and i haven't even bought any stuff for the fam yet. uhmm oh well, i'm good at organizing my things so pretty much at the end of the day, most of my stuff fit snugly in the luggages. i realized that the only thing holding my luggages from exploding were the strong zippers it had on it. it felt like deja vu - like last time i was here for seven weeks and i bought a lot of stuff. i had to leave my GNC whey protein since there was no way already it would fit despite that it still had like five or six servings left. ahhh, i'd have to visit GNC when i get back.

i checked out of the hotel earlier than i should have since i was planning on catching "300" before my flight. and since amc charges just 5 bucks if you watch before noon, i decided to watch the movie around 11am. the movie was visually spectacular though i'd have to say there wasn't really too much story in it as the whole plot was focused on the fighting. this is not to say that the movie wasn't great, but if i compare it to gladiator, i thought the latter at least had more story in it. after a while, i kinda grew weary of hearing gerard butler scream "spaaaarrrtttaaaannnnsss." still, i thought it was still a movie worth seeing.

my flight is still at 7pm later and its only 3pm. i decided to hangout at the office to print my online check-in confirmation. i also decided to print this book i managed to download "the celestine prophecy" which morgan asked me to read. so now i've got two books i need to finish, james redfield's "the celestine prophecy" and the extreme programming book. i've been kind of lazy to read books lately but maybe its time i started reading again if not for the enjoyment, but for the learnings instead. i'll pass by gizie's apartment later since i forgot the copy of the doctor's bill - yeah, its not enough that i paid a thousand plus dollars to the hospital but the doctor's bill is separate. what a rip-off!!! people here in america will probably just be saddled by debt if any of their family get sick.

flying again

i had to wake up early this morning to get ready for my flight to albuquerque, new mexico. flight is still at 725am but since i didn't want to get stuck in the morning I10 traffic i decided to leave sometime before 6am. after all, i just remembered i had to fill up the tank before i drop off my rental. there wasn't a lot of people on the check-in booths for southwest airlines so i breezed through it and also the security. after taking southwest airlines to portland, i decided that i like this airline better than america west. not only do i find the free-seating a plus, they at least serve snacks instead of just drinks. the flights i took were never full so i usually 3 seats all to myself.

i'm a bit excited to visit albuquerque again mostly because this time i get to spend the weekend there unlike last time when i spent two weekdays without being able to even drive around. the airport is a bit far from where intel is (rio rancho) so its going to be a test of how effectively i read mapquest. 20 mins before boarding. its just a one hour trip so its not going to be that dull.