Mangoes Galore!

Tis the season for mangoes and our tree has been bearing lots!

More mangoes. The "trouble" with this tree is it has grown too tall.

And more mangoes. We're thinking of cutting some of its branches after the fruit season is over. These branches would serve well the superkalan.

My favorite are deliciously sweet ripe yellow mangoes shown here peeled and ready to eat. I could eat so much of this in one sitting!

Sandra's Swim Graduation

No Swim Today (for me).
Today's the last day of advanced swimming lessons for Sandra. For this last day, they had a familiarization session for the frog kick. They were unable to cover all 4 strokes but at least they had good focus on the freestyle and backstroke.

Graduation rites were supposed to be held at 12 noon today. But Sandra's much too tired and Tita Gay still has to bring lunch to Che and Karen (in Confirmation practice) so they're forgoing the ceremonies. Renz was with us today so we treated them to Jollibee pancakes, hot choco and hotsilog (hotdog, sinangag and itlog).

Here's an interesting technique that I just discovered from their lessons. It's a survival stroke utilizing a paddle-wheel turning of the arms. Pretty neat. I gotta try it sometime.


Here's a sequence of action shots showing Sandra doing the backstroke.
Right: Sandra's about to kick from wall, arms in streamline position.
Center: notice the nice clean extension of the arm.
Left: arm is straight out in recovery. Sandra's body position is very good and her face is above the water at all times.


Here's Sandra's classmates with their coach at the deepend.

Is this the "After 6" or After Six Diet?

No swim today. It's Bobot's funeral and I was thinking Tita Gay won't get to Metro on time (well, she did). I skipped, just to be sure as I took Renz with us. It's Karen's interview at MunSci today.

For a week now, on and off, I've been trying what has been termed here as the After Six diet. But it's not for the purpose that all folks here think of - and that is to lose weight. It may have THAT side effect though and I'd welcome it wholeheartedly.

I've recently stumbled on an article in a forum for triathletes (not that I am one) called Trifuel. This article purports that allowing the body to settle in a fasting state 3 hours before bedtime makes it release the most HGH (human growth hormone). HGH speeds up the recovery of the body and the longer the body is in a fasting state while asleep, the more the HGH is released and the more the body recovers. The result you feel fresher and the body is healthier. You may find the link here or here. It's funny coz when I read it, it quickly reminded me of the "After Six" diet that has become popular here. But googling it over, there weren't too many hits. The article is really an interesting read so do check it out.

The Smile Cue

5 laps freestyle, 1 lap backstroke

There were several cars at the driveway today. I thought there must be families out for swimming. But nopes, there were just more kids taking lessons. There were 3 girls in particular who all had the same outfit. They had black short sleeve tops like the one ballet dancers use and the requisite black cycling shorts. They were probly of the ages 14, 10 and 8.

I think I'm getting just a little more streamlined and hence faster. After a long while, I saw RC today at the pool doing his usual freestyle laps. RC is taller and slimmer than me. I really didn't mind him coz we've seen each other before and so I did my usual laps. I focused on just being relaxed with the usual long slow strokes. At one time, we got together at one end. He pushed off. After maybe 2 body lengths later, I decided to push off myself. When I though I was about 8 meters away from the other end, I saw lots of very fine bubbles - like all of a sudden the surrounding water became "misty". I couldn't quickly figure out what was going on. And then it happened. I saw the hazy outline of RC himself. What? I caught up with him after his lead of 2 body lengths? Corz I wasn't entirely sure if he was swimming at that point coz his body was tilted with the legs down and dragging. But since I just assumed that he was still swimming, I was just pleasantly surprised! He was at the wall first but still I was happy.

Today, I heard the coach constantly admonishing the kids to keep relaxed when they do the strokes and when they breath. I thought to myself - am I relaxed? Do I LOOK relaxed? Hmmmm. I've heard and read and actually practiced (in Toastmasters speeches anyway) that smiling can relax you. Sounds crazy but it may just work in swimming! That way, the muscles don't go tensing up which tires you even more.

Thumb to Hip Cue

Pool was more crowded today. I couldn't help but compare how the pool looks now with what it will be like after the summer - EMPTY, EVERYDAY. Ah well, might as well deal with it - for a change. Other than the coach Mang Ruben taking the time with a wristwatch, there was some other guy with a clipboard taking records. I doubt if the kids really followed the coach's instructions to the letter. I mean 4 sets of 100's with brief rests !!! Some of them would just weazel out of it by stopping here and there to the point that the coach angrily shouted "pinaglolokohan niyo ako ah!"

Funny, I thought that the second cue made me faster in the water today. Plus, I added a third cue:
  1. Left ear to left shoulder. This ensures the head doesn't rise too much when taking a breath. This makes you flatter on the water, more streamlined and faster.

  2. Right eye to right arm. Ensures that you can easily inhale. This position makes your head turn just a little to the back. Facing a little forward has the risk of water entering the mouth.

  3. Thumbs to hips. Doing this ensures that you push water all the way to the back, thus maximizing the stroke.

Except for Che and Karen's guitar lessons and Sandra's swimming lessons, it's been a mostly lazy summer vacation for the kids. So board and card games have pretty much some of their activities. Here's a pic of the kids at the backyard playing Millionaires Game - a portent to the future?


DH fetched Sandra from swimming today coz Tita Gay attended Efren's funeral. Che and Karen have started attending daily seminar's at the St. Peregrine Church for the Confirmation Ceremony.

More Briquettes

No swim today. I still have some sore muscles from that briquette-making workout in the weekend. We got 4 sacks of sawdust last Saturday from the sawmill so that got me started. We almost went to Villa Escudero for the weekend but the hoped for 50% discount was actually 10%. It'll be soon May so with the free weekend, I mixed up 3 more big pails (vats, actually) of sawdust and paper slurry for briquette-making. This is a continuation of my previous entry here.

One thing surprised me is, a day after the shots below were taken, the level of the slurry rose to a good 1 and a half inch higher than the rim of the pail. So, considering that the level was still 2 inches below the rim, the total rise was 3 and a half inches! Good thing that none of the mixture spilled out. I realized that the paper fibers have "swollen" and the whole mixture just rose, just like dough.

Pics from Last Easter's Egg Hunting 2006

Last Easter Apr16, we had the traditional egg-hunting in the morning at the front yard. This year we had them broken into 2 teams. Team A - Karen and Sandra and Team B - Che and Renz. Neither Karen and Sandra wanted to pair up with Renz coz he's so small and slow.. Sandra was so excited that she even put a label on her basket. As in the past, we used quail eggs which are sometimes difficult to find coz they blend in the earth colors. See Che's catch of eggs in her tray basket. Renz carried a backpack.


Eye to Shoulder Cue

5 laps today. Mang Ruben timed the kids today at 19 secs for 25 meters. Still too many kids today. I did the 'shoulder at the corner of the eye' cue and for my first couple of laps I actually felt faster. I think I was much more horizontal with it. I sometimes forget to push back the water all the way to the hips though. Corz the more I get tired, the more the technique deteriorates.

So, again, remember the following cues so as not to raise head when breathing:
  1. Left cheek to bicep/shoulder of left (leading) arm.
  2. See the right arm/shoulder at the corner of the eye when breathing.
  3. Don't forget to push back water to the hips.
  4. Keep elbows up in recovery.
Took Renz over at Metro to watch Sandra.

Sandra's Swim Lessons

No swim today. I had a 9am meeting so I just watched Sandra with her lessons. Che woke up early to go with us.

Last Monday, Sandra started her Advanced swim lessons at the Starland Resort, Metropolis. She's had Basic lessons there before. At first, we were a little hesitant to put her in Advanced coz she's still small. But she's strong-willed and we know she can handle it. Advanced is at Php1,500 while Basic is at Php1,800. Anyway, we made the right decision coz the coach moved her to the Advanced class after assessing her skills. So for the next 2 weeks, I'll be taking her and tita Gay to Metro for the 7-8am class before I go to my pool. Go Dada!

Here are some fun pics. Annotations are entirely mine.

Kick-Ass Kids

Today I did 5 50m laps of freestyle. The pool was was crowded and I didn't have much time. This batch's students at the pool are something else - compared to the first batch, that is. These kids lap the pool at 50m a set. And I'd say they're around 8 to 12 years of age. Then at 8am there's the usual free lessons. Now I have limited space in the pool. But that's still okay coz I pretty much have a whole lane for myself. A cue to do tomorrow: 'see' the shoulder from the corner of the eye when breathing. Try breathing strictly to the side at the bow wave so as not to take in water (if facing forwards).

Yesterday there was a little boy who was crying his eyeballs out. Apparently, the dad didn't want the boy chickening out of the free lessons. He wouldn't let the boy get out - and the boy was at the DEEP end! The boy has had it and was yelling and crying, begging to be lifted out. The mom approached them and TOOK PICTURES of the crying kid! Gee, it's a life-or-death situation for the boy and the mom just found it all amusing. Finally, the dad lifted the boy out. The boy kicked and punch his dad still angry and then just sat on the deck. No amount of taunting or nudging made him stand or walk back into the pool. He feared for his life and has had it. I don't think he's coming back for more lessons.

Visita Iglesia 2006

As in the past, we had a Visita Iglesia this year. Unlike many others who have their visita on Holy Thursday, we have our church visit on Good Friday. Why? Coz it's the time that we visit home. There's lesser traffic and lesser number of people in churches.

Unlike in the previous years, this time I was better armed with a camera - no battery problems, no memory problems. Yup, I was assured I won't run out of memory after buying that 512K memory pro duo stick at Watson's in Quiapo for 2,300 (2,100 for the pro duo and 200 for the adaptor). And battery problems? No problemo, not with the rechargeable batteries I keep handy.


FIRST stop was at the San Guillermo Church sometimes refered to as the Bacolor Church. This has become a favorite for its rich history. The marker on the right gives a better description. Did you know that Bacolor was once the Capital of the Philippines? In 1762, after the fall of Manila to English invaders, Gov.Gen. Simon de Anda retreated and made Bacolor the seat of the Spanish Government until 1764.


That's the San Guillermo Church on the left pic with DH and mommy coming out of the main door. The present "main door" used to be a small door on the 2nd level of the church. Mud flows from the Mt. Pinatubo eruption buried the 1st floor which had the real main door.

The picture on the left shows the original church and how it looked like before the eruption. Imagine chopping off the first floor of this church with the big doors. That is now what remains of the church today.

SECOND stop was at the famed Betis Church or the Santiago de Galicia Parish Church. Built in the early 1700's, it's principal attraction is its main alter with an ornate ceiling that has been compared to the art works at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.



The pic below at the left shows a part of the ceiling and a part of the main dome. Notice the 2 angels on the sides clad in pink robes and blue sashes. They look three-dimensional and so real that they seem to be perched on the ceiling border, don't they? The pic on the right is another part of the ceiling while looking overhead. I couldn't center my shot and the view looks a little offset and this is because there were folks practicing a procession or something in the middle of the aisle. I had to content myself sitting in one of the pews.


The huge double doors of the church with the intricate carvings are shown below. The door on the left shows angels coming down while the door on the right shows angels going up. This is a scene in Genesis 28:12 where Jacob dreamt. "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it." (King James Version)

It's amazing that these carvings on the doors have weathered so many centuries!

THIRD stop was at St. Claire Church.



Notice the beautiful structure of the altar and the stained glass window situated at the back wall of the church (where most stained glass windows are)



We took a brief respite at this spot because of its shady trees. Here's a small group of the gang that went there. The rest (Deng, Yan, Jing and lola) were at the other car under some shady tree somewhere. We had some hotdog sandwiches, yummy mongo bread, juice drinks and water. Renz must be inside the van munching on sandwiches.

FOURTH stop was at the Cabetican Church. That's Karen (with the fan) trying to catch up on Sandra (with the baseball cap)



FIFTH stop was at St. Jude Church. Notice the stained glass windows on the left and right "wings" of the church.



Inside, this is how the glass windows look like. The two glass windows look very different, but if you look closely, the figures are basically the same. There is some variation in the shade of colors and figures' shapes but it makes the two windows look so different.



SIXTH stop was at San Agustin Church. That's Tita Divine, DH and little boy Renz (with maong cap) entering. We entered the church through the left side door. San Agustin, like some other churches intentionally close the front door to discourage flagellants (penitents) from stationing themselves there. Otherwise the flagellants would splash blood all over the front of the church.



Shown on the left are two stained glass windows. The top window appears outside the church's gate while the bottom window is inside.


SEVENTH and FINAL stop was at St. Paul Novitiate. This particular church has a nice garden, and a nice grotto with pool (fishes in there too, much to the delight of the kids!).



The structure in the right picture is a special decor being built especially for Easter Sunday. A nun in white habit is busy decorating the structure with white flowers. I could've sworn that this structure is made entirely of paper and cardboard! It is suspended by nylon strings and a breeze slightly sways the entire thing. It looked beautiful and fragile.

With that seventh and final stop, thus ended our Visita Iglesia. Hopefully, we'll get to see other churches next year!

Briquetting Process - My Fuel Briquette Technology

Last Thursday was Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday and there was no work. I reckoned I could put the summer heat to good use by making briquettes. It's been a while and I know I'll get some body workout but what the heck. I took out the old sawdust sack and, yuck, the sawdust has turned from red-brown to gray-brown, making it look like a lot of dust or dirt. At first I thought termites have "eaten" up the sawdust, but then figured it must've been moisture from the last rainy season.

First order of the day was to mix the shredded paper slurry with the sawdust. It actually felt like I was working with dirt. I knew the stuff was messy but this time around actually looked dirty. And this was all because of the sawdust's color. Plus the smell from the slurry was strong. My mistake was covering the pails for a long time. After taking out the molds, the briquettes are stored neatly as shown on the left. The looked really darker than usual.

After removing the separators, the molded briquettes become pellets. From the picture, they look like Chocolate Pellets! I call them the choco-flavored briquettes. Nothing chocolatey in taste - they just look like it. In this form and size, it is much easier to dry them.

What better way to dry the pellets than for Mother Nature to do her thing? Those are the pellets placed neatly on the roof. They're drying (roasting?) under the summer midday sun's scorching heat. That's our mango tree at the back. It takes a good two days of this kind of weather to dry them. Corz, the longer the better.

Finally, the finished briquettes. This are dry and lighter since much of the moisture is gone. They look like tiny cement blocks, don't they? Don't be fooled though, they're just sawdust and paper. These are good for fuel and are ready for burning/ cooking. The concept for making these briquettes is very easy. I've mentioned this process before in a previous entry here.

I've invented and fabricated a device that creates the molded briquettes shown above. I said 'invented' since I've not seen this contraption elsewhere. It's compact and effective. If anybody's interested in the process or technology on how I make my fuel briquettes, feel free to email me.

Pics from Karen's Celebration

No Swim Today, Holy Tuesday. We celebrated Karen's Graduation last Sunday at the old watering hole. Prior, we were at Metropolis to enroll Sandra in the second batch of swimming lessons. We then bought a guitar for Che for her lessons. We had lunch near the pool. Lunch was longanisa with tomatoes, mangoes (from our tree!) and bagoong. That's Renz with his new summery haircut. Cool! The rest played cards right after lunch.
We had some 'diving for coins' games at both pools. That's Renz about to throw a 25 cent coin. Sandra would have none of it and swims to catch (grab?) it from Renz. We also had some diving at the other pool where the kids used a bead necklace. I don't know whose was it but we just found it at the bottom of the pool. It was easy to retrieve from the bottom of the pool. Maybe I'll make one just for this purpose. Too bad Che gave it a strong hurl and the thing smashed into the concrete deck and fell apart! These games are good for becoming comfortable in the water. The kids have no qualms or fears of dunking their heads in and diving for the coin since they have too much fun.
It was almost 5pm when we started packing up to leave. We proceeded to the apartment to water the plants and then to the Blessed Sacrament church where we bought palm fronds for the Palm Sunday Mass. I think it was our first time to hear mass there. From there, we went to the Mamplasan Shell station for dinner at Chowking (Karen's choice). The place was packed mostly from vacationers! We then went for ice cream over at the Caltex station's Starmart.

Free to Back Switch

Did a few switches from Free to Back and vise-versa. Very messy and still very crude. It's Holy Week so no swim lessons today. It was quiet at the pool. Am not so keen on swimming for the rest of the week. There's certainly lots of pool cleaning to be done over there.

Went over to Quiapo this weekend for a refrac and a new set of lenses. Progressive is at P2,200. I also bought a 512 mem pro duo (with adaptor) at P2,300 - a bargain to SM's stick at P3,600.

Yesterday, we celebrated Karen's graduation (way overdue) with a swim and dinner. Karen's getting better with the elementary backstroke and she's happy. I realize I have some pics to post. Will do that later.

Free Lunch at Villa Silvina

2 laps freestyle and brokebacks:
Seems like this is the last day of the free swim program by the mayor. Kids REALLY poured in today. It was a far contrast from yesterday where there were less kids. The water has become blurry. It was also last day for the early morning studes. I didn't go swim last Wednesday coz I had to practice early for my 5th Toastmasters speech which got postponed again for next week. My speech is entitled "Let's Go Swimming!" and I got the feeling that I'll enjoy delivering this time again.

We had free lunch today courtesy of Jay. His cousin is celebrating his birthday and so off we went to Villa Silvina. I've been hearing about the place and it's my first time there. The food was fantastic.

Stretch Arm More for Backstroke

3 laps of free and brokebacks
My eyes felt the stung of the chlorine yesterday coz I wasn't wearing goggles during backstroke. Water was washing my face and into my eyes. Today I stretched my arms more for the catch and I was moving faster and longer. Makes sense. I completed a couple of lengths and wore my goggles a few times. It's difficult finding markers though when I have them on coz there are no pennants at the pool. I managed to minimize hesitations in between strokes, meaning, the stroke turnover was faster. There was lotsa more risk getting water washed on the face but it also meant less sinking of the head.

There were just too many kids at the pool today (for the free lessons, courtesy of the mayor) that I had to take shots. For the rest of the year after summer, it'll just be me and the chirping birds again. The old guy in the last pic is Mang Ruben the instructor.




Casa Eres - Lyn's Graduation

Happy Graduation to Lyn, DH's officemate for a dream come true. We were at Casa Eres resort last Friday for lotsa eating. Wow, Lyn's relatives can REALLY cook. Too bad I wasn't able to take a pic of the food. But there was a lot and all the dishes were tasty! Their special was the lumpiang sariwa.

Anyway, I was able to have a pic by the pool. The pool was rather small in area - maybe 8 meters by 4 meters but it was DEEP. You could only wade for 4 meters and then it's floating time. I didn't bother knowing how deep it was coz it didn't matter to me. It wasn't heated but it wasn't cold either. Too bad only DH and I took a dip for maybe 30-40 minutes. There were others who wanted to but I guess they wanted more company at the pool as well. Well, DH and I enjoyed the swim immensely albeit the small pool. There was lots of eating and singing at the videoke. Yeah, it's now mandatory to have these. We left at round 9pm.

Today: 3 laps freestyle and brokeback. Mang Ruben now recognizes me as a swimmer who works out there. There were plenty of guests and kids today. The kiddie pool has water. So there were kids there as well. Ah summer!