New Camera for the New Year

With the way things are around here, I'm not too optimistic that I'll get my camera cradle anytime soon. Some folks at Compex are just too inept if not downright incompetent. I've ordered the charging cradle from them since late November and all I get now are runarounds, excuses and whatnot. Don't deal with them. They're simply masquerading as a service center for Casio and I don't know if Casio's even aware of their so very poor customer service. They couldn't fix my Casio Exilim S3 camera cradle and now, they couldn't (wouldn't?) even order a cradle for me. I've escalated this to a manager there, so we'll see what happens. The Exilim series' cradle is its waterloo. This accessory seems flimsily built and mine broke in just 3 years. At any rate, I'm not buying a Casio electronic item ever again.

To help me resume my blogging, I bought another digicam but this time it's a Sony. Sony's been touting and hyping so much its supposedly quality products. Hey, it demands so much quality from its suppliers like semiconductor companies that it better come up with good, nay, great products. Anyway, I got me a DSC-S40 model for Php14K from Abenson. It's a small, no-frills digital camera with video.
Basically I wanted a unit that'll use penlight batteries rather than proprietary lithium-whatever batteries. Penlights, like the double A's (AA) you can get from most stores. Proprietary batts, well, good luck if you break 'em and/or their proprietary chargers. I think it's also the smallest camera (so far) that'll take penlights and I'm now scouting for a nylon case with a belt loop like those for cellphones. Any ideas? The carrying case that came with my unit is rather bulky and has "Sony" embossed on it. It simply shouts "Hey, I'm an digital camera, come and get me!!!" to muggers. If I keep the bag under my shirt, it makes me look like a boy scout with a canteen bottle by my waist.

Pinoy Game?

Remember Sungka? Growing up, I've never played nor learned this game. I had this perception that only girls played it, maybe because I've not seen guys my age play it. Well, when we were at Evelyn's I was amazed that Che and Karen knew how to play this game really well (from what I've seen, anyway). Come to think of it, it appeared everybody ELSE knew how to play it! Anyway, a couple of days later, we bought one for the kids for Php150 at Festival. This has kept them busy so far and I then realized they would always play outside the house. The reason? Somehow the titas have this superstition that it is bad luck to play sungka inside the house. Okay.

Resolutions

3 T, SEasy: It's one of those "It's-too-cold-to-swim-but-ya-know-the-sun's-up-bright-and-shiny-so-might-as-well-go" days. Raymond was busy vacuuming the pool bottom and the huge hose took 1/4 of the pool. So I decided to tread around the remaining 3/4ths for warmup. It sure warmed me up. Initially, I thought that my body will go numb, imagining I was in the middle of the antartic ocean. But nopes, in fact it felt nice and refreshing when the whole session was over. I wasn't wearing the rash guard today. Frankly, I wasn't sure what to do with it. I thought of hanging it out to dry but of course it won't just dry overnight. And then I thought what's the use of drying it if you'll get it wet in the pool anyway.

Yesterday, I saw that Arena products were 40% off so I bought a Php375 pair of yellow goggles with spare bands. This is originally priced at Php625! I also bought another blue sports towel for Php465. The first towel I had deteriorated after over a year.

I've been musing lately what fitness resolutions I'll shoot for in the coming year, 2006. Especially with the holiday eatings, I've gotten some flabs here and there. Hey, who hasn't? Anyway, here's a draft of my diet resolutions:

1. Little rice. Stick to 1/4 cup per meal at the office.
2. More veggies. Stick to 1 dish per meal at the office.
3. Just water and coffee in the morning.
4. Doggy-bag salmon, mackerel or tuna at the office. Add pickle relish for flavor.
5. 3 glasses of plain water for every meal at the office.

And now, the swim resolutions:

1. Make it a habit to swim EVERYDAY.
2. Train the mind for mental toughness. No rain, no rainclouds, no cold pool water, no cobra in the water will stop me.
3. When motivation is waning, check out videos of top swimmers.
4. Challenge the aerobic capacity. Go for longer distances. Train the mind to endure a little aerobic discomfort EVERYTIME.

We went out for a despedida lunch today at Traveller's. Ugh, too much food most of them sizzlers. Cost was Php2200 for 19 folks which is still cheap. To top it, we had fraps at Starbucks. It's bye-bye to the Php3K we won for the HOM presentation coz all of us (19) cost Php2760 for coffee alone.

Rash Guard Day

2 Free, 4 T: Decided for a cold morning swim today. Laptop's conked out anyway, so I'll have that fixed after the swim. Gosh it IS cold today. I've packed the Quiksilver rash guard so, for the first time, I used it today. Its long sleeves and royal blue color immediately attracted attention. Did it make a difference? Well, my top half of the body didn't feel as cold as the lower half, so I guess, yes, it did help keep me a LITTLE warm. I plan on its continued use for as long as we get these cold mornings. Oh, need I say that that slim model for the rash guard below isn't me?

Dec. 24: We went to Pampanga but didn't sleepover. Mom was sure happy that all of us ('cept Aida) were there. Pic below is that of all of the apo together with their lola. That little dog in the center's Chok. I don't think that dog has grown a bit after all these years. The house is beautiful and so spacious. Plenty of room for EVERYBODY. But sadly, we couldn't stay and Sandra was a bit disappointed. We certainly plan on sleepovers in the future. We left at 9:30pm and on the way home, we were treated to free toll at SLEX!

Dec. 25: We went to Makati and were there at 5pm. We went to Evelyn's at 7pm and stayed until 10pm. There was plenty of food and visitors too. Corz, there was the boozin' and smokin' outside by the gate. Sadly the CD player couldn't run. We were a little jolted by Tom's account of Bobot's situation at their home: home dialysis after a lifestyle of poor dietary habits. What a reality check. Gotta cut down on those chichirya's, salty foods and really load up on just plain old water!

Below is my current wallpaper of our Christmases past. Merry Christmas!

Motorbike

Renz has enjoyed a sort of bonus for this Christmas break! Roselle lent us their son's electric motorbike while they are away vacationing in Baguio. Renz now practically rides the bike everyday in the garage everytime I'm out (and the garage empty). This thing takes a whole 12 hours to charge and it takes much space in our already small living room. We'll soon be returning the bike but that's okay. Renz is becoming too big for it. Hey Renz, that toy bear of yours look suspiciously like Mr. Bean's "Teddy".

Piano Setup

We had the Company Christmas Dinner last night. Food by Max's was very good. Entertainers were the comedians Anton and Hans. Overall the program was okay. Wasn't as much fun as the previous years though. Last year we had the Fantaserye departmental competition and it was a riot! This year we won second place for the departmental HOM presentation contest! This is largely due to the "Love Affair in September" video which was so very funny and well applauded.I took some shots of my present piano setup so I might as well post them here.
The pic at the left is with the piano closed and the right with it open. The piano didn't come with a cover. So what I did was to build one using the piano's carton box. He! he! Clever, huh? I had to cut down the box coz it was too big. It had to be much bigger than the piano coz it had styrofoam at the corners. That was the tricky part.

Fashioning the final box to fit the piano just right took so much measuring, cutting and folding. The rest was just to wrap the box with nice gift wrapping paper with neutral colors. I used a "Winnie the Pooh" design with light brown background. Then wrap the entire thing with heavy duty plastic sheet. To open the piano, just flip the box up and rest it against the wall as shown on the right pic. I took the idea from the standard flip-top box of the Marlboro cigarettes.

The piano stand came with the piano on sale. It's got adjustable legs for height but is now at its lowest setting. The piano doesn't come with built-in speakers and so I used an old karaoke system for my speaker. On top of the karaoke are the music books. That round black thing near the books is a mini electric fan. We want to stay cool while practicing, don't we?

Lighting: For this, I screwed on the wall a fluorescent lamp with an adjustable neck. I used to have a small desktop lamp but it took too much space ON the piano. The pic on the right shows the lamp turned on and it floods the entire keyboad with light. The music sheet is well lighted too.

Seat: That stool is a standard monobloc stool. Nothing fancy, though I had to search high and low for the right height. We then had the seat part upholstered to put cushioning (dark blue cover). Hopefully this will make piano playing more comfortable for everyone. That's it! Like I said, nothing fancy, and it works for us!

My Christmas Piano Piece

No Swim (so what else is new?): Typhoon Quedan has just left the country and I heard another one's brewing. Wonderful. I guess I have nothing but my Christmas piece to write about in the following days. Thus far, I've written my progress and challenges with this piece. But I seriously doubt anybody here would have heard it. So, finally, I'm posting a midi version of this beautiful piano piece. This midi file was created by the composer. Click here to play it. The music was composed by a amazing person by the name of Lyndy K. who composes and plays beautiful Mormon piano music.

Oh wait! (Very) Late-breaking news! What is this I heard that there is now a raging debate in the US regarding the use of the word "Christmas"? That it is now POLITICALLY INCORRECT to say "Merry Christmas"??? Apparently some find the word offensive and inappropriate. Madre Mia! Yup, they want the word "Christmas" stricken off and replaced with "Holiday". They want images of the Nativity (Cross, Jesus, Angels, etc.) taken off too! Hmmmm. So what do I call my Christmas Piano Piece? Holiday Piano Piss? Oh by the way, I'll be attending the Company Holiday Party tomorrow.

Too Cold

No swim. It's just too damned cold in the mornings nowadays with the weather in the low 20's. And there's a wind chill factor as well.

Last Friday, Dec 16, was our department's Christmas party err... Christmas dinner. It was held at East 19 place in Sucat. It coincided with Irene's office swimming party at Villa Emma, Pansol. Since I needed to fetch Irene from the Pansol overnight party, I had to forgo my department's Christmas party err... Dota party. The Villa Emma Resort wasn't that hard to find - thnx to a tour guide on bike. I was surprised that at the time I got there at 10:40pm (I left house at 10pm), it was only Irene swimming. The rest were eating. The pool wasn't big but it certainly had a deep end where the level was 6 feet. I put in an hour's swim and it was good. There was so much home-cooked food but the one I liked most was the hot, steaming sopas.

The following day, Dec 17, was our wedding anniv. We all went to Traveller's roadside at Sta. Rosa for a sumptuous (read: evil!) lunch of sizzling squid, sizzling liempo, sinigang na blue marlin sa miso, kare-kare and lechon kawali.

Thereafter we went to Paseo and I'm glad we did. Sandra and Che got new bathing suits at 50% and 70% off from Speedo! Yes, Speedo, the brand that doesn't go on sale! Me, I bought a pair of Xtrim goggles (P275) for Che and a new Aquwin Sports Towel (P550) for me at another sports shop. There was heavy traffic on the way back especially approaching the tollgate.

3-week Shutout

Still no swim: It's almost 3 weeks now that I've been out of the pool - no thnx to this allergy and the "bed" weather. The sun's up today even with some dark clouds but I'm still groggy from the anti-allergy pills.

The scheduled Christmas swimming party on the 23rd won't push through. Maybe it's something to do with 2 departments joining. I don't know. And I'm not exactly sure why some people suddenly become averse to the idea of a swimming party. I hear talks of needing to go there in good shape, diet and workout. I hear worries of what to wear in the pool, yadda yadda yadda. Folks, it isn't a body-building contest or a beauty pageant. You're EXPECTED to show some flabs here and there. We aren't exactly an exercise-crazed nation anyway. But if you're intent on wearing a girdle underneath that goofy knee-length t-shirt and maong purontong pants to swim in the pool, then that's still fine with me.

Che, Karen and Sandra left the house today - all in bright red shirts! It looked like Valentine's Day or something. But no, all three of them are having their class Christmas parties today. It's the last day of school before Christmas break!I tried something today that's cool! I recorded the left hand part of the piece using the "strings" voice. I recorded it at a slow tempo 100 just to be sure. Then I played the track at 120 with the right hand now playing the "electric piano" voice. The result is 2 voices playing! Cool! Corz, amidst my delight, the kids would only say "yuck!"

A Christmas Collage

No Swim: There was a heavy downpour yesterday morning and today it's dark and soggy. I don't know what's with this quirky weather. I was hoping that I could finally resume my swimming full blast.

I was a little busy collecting and sorting some old pics to create a slideshow screensaver with music. Noel Cabangon's "Kanlungan" (McDonald's commercial theme) is especially nice and nostalgic playing in the background. Since 'tis the season to be jolly, I also sorted out the old Christmas pics and created a Christmas screensaver with instrumental carols playing. Background music with vocals gets old and irritating especially at the office. Anyway, I decided to create a collage of the Christmas Tree Pyramid. The Christmas Tree Pyramid has become our tradition every December. The eldest "carries" the youngest and pose pyramid-style at a corner with the tree at the back. The tree is actually older than Che.My, how the kids have grown! Can you tell who's who? I seriously doubt if Che would still be able to carry Renz on her shoulders next year. Renz is getting much too heavy though we could still try! Or maybe we'll probly just settle for a "landscape" version photo rather than the current "portrait" version. I certainly hope that we can keep this nice tradition for the years to come. Here's an advanced Merry Christmas greetings from Che, Karen, Sandra and Renz!I've finally memorized all the 6 segments of my Christmas piano piece "The Three Wise Men". Memorizing as in without referring to the music sheet. Corz, playing the piece smoothly without stopping is quite another different matter. But I'll get there, I know I will.

Ahhh... Water...

5 free (with fins),T,E: Still feeliing stuffy today but not sick enough to miss a cool swim in such a bright sun-shiny day! There was slight morning breeze and the water's c-c-c-cooollllddd. I've been out of the pool for almost 2 weeks so I used fins to ease into the water. Right after I cleared my nose after today's swim, my sinuses magically cleared! Hope it isn't temporary. After 2 weeks of no swimming, I feel like I gained weight.

Last Saturday (Dec10) was Sandra's First Holy Communion. Like her sisters before her it was held at the auditorium. Che and Tita Gay weren't with us coz they attended a film showing for the school. Picture at the left was taken before the procession outside the auditorium. While Renz and I were waiting inside the auditorium, Jamie Rivera's CD was playing in the background. I noticed Renz to be looking intently at the nicely decorated and well-lighted stage. The following conversation ensued:

Renz: Papa, sino kanta?
Me : Hmmmmm... ewan, siguro si Jamie.
Renz: Sino Jamie?
Me : Si Jamie... si Jamie Rivera iyon.
(Renz's eyes wandered around the auditorium)
Renz: Nakatago siya?

Here's a pic inside the auditorium right after the ceremony. Sandra's white dress was passed on by Ate Che and Ate Karen. But this time it had to be tailor-adjusted to fit her waif-like figure. Karen noticed that DH always wore that pink blouse every First Communion. DH naturally denies this but when I looked at the past pictures... ay, Caramba! Karen was right!

After LaCo we went to the office to get my Christmas CD. Luckily the guards weren't so strict coz there was a family healthday program going on. What a coincidence! Sure enough, there were kids at the clinic and at the lobby. Since I was bringing Tita Ella's digicam, I decided to take the kids in and have their pics taken at our lobby. The tall Santa, Tree and Frosty figures were a hit! Karen wasn't keen for a pictorial that day and so only Dada and Renz readily obliged.

To celebrate, we wanted to eat at Ho Chai Lai. But since we still had to wait for Che, we decided to just buy some nice dishes at Ho Chai Lai and eat at home instead. Besides, I was still groggy with all the anti-allergy pills that I justed wanted to go home, eat and sleep the whole afternoon. The cholesterol-laden "Pata Tim" was REALLY good! Yah that's the meaty one in the picture. So much for the diet.

Renz's 4th Birthday

Still No Swim: I'm still not feeling well enough to swim. Throat is itchy and still some coughing.

Today's Renz's 4th Birthday. Go Renz! Irene took the day off to cook spaghetti in the morning. Mama and Sam came to help. I took a half-day off at the office. First I had to deposit checks and then second, to write an lengthy update on my project. That's Che, Karen and Dada helping in sorting out the loot bags last night. Dada is up to her old silly monkey faces again much to the chagrin and annoyance of the older ate's.

We all went to the Daycare school at 10:30am with the food and goodies. We immediately served the spaghetti, puto and juice and then I took pictures. Tita Gay and the other guardians were outside the daycare center doing "yardwork" for a beautification project. After eating and before giving out the loot bags, we had to corral the little tykes into the corner where the Christmas tree was for a group picture. Yup, some of them wanted to go home already at this point. That's Renz at the center with Teacher Cristy.

Birthday dinner was oh-so yummy. Well, you can tell by the food on the table, no? We had great chicken, barbecue, some lettuce greens and a choco-mallows cake. Renz's purple shirt design was created by Ate Karen for a school project. Before dinner we had the traditional Christmas tree picture that is why they have the colorful shirts on.

That's one of the Christmas Tree pictures. It's a good thing that everybody was in a Christmassy, Birthdayee mood. The pictures turned out really well with all the smiles. Special thanx to Tita Ella for lending us their digicam. I'm still waiting for the charging cradle for my Casio digicam.

Allergies again

Still No Swim: The day's so nice and so bright but I still couldn't swim coz of my allergies. I'm coughing and still taking Virlix and Carbo. It's bad. It'll be tough to get into the same old groove of swimming next week.

Update on pipe leak: I was able to plug in the old tube after drying the putty inside and applying teflon. It was easy and worked okay. Che's attending their English workshop today and tomorrow. Tomorrow, we're attending Sandra's Parents Recollection for her first communion.