#27 "Unli-rice" and "rice-all-you-can"

Philippines is a rice country. Rice during breakfast, rice during lunch, and rice still at dinner, even some folks eat rice at merienda. Haha! Mix in a good serving of adobo, or pritong galungggong with toyo and kalamansi sauce, and a nice serving of pinakbet and the meal is complete or even just bagoong with rice. Solve na, ika nga.. But whatever menu maybe it is, hindi mawawala ang kanin. It is not the centerpiece, but i shall say the fulcrum of Pinoy tables, where every other meal is hinge. Hehe =) Pinoys love rice and can't live without it, and thats why we aptly called it our staple food.

And so the gimmick of several fast foods would follow rightly so and right on the money. Free unlimited rice refill. Awesome. I remember last time i was so starving i got to have until 3 refills at Chicken Inasal, i think Tokyo Tokyo has this as well. And last night, I ordered a liempo order at 99 pesos at Goodah with a friend, one rice was not enough with the big meat and I ordered another rice at 12 pesos, but then she just refilled my plate with one serving of rice and said "free na po, unlimited rice po yung order nyo". Nice.

Just remember to burn those carbohydrates away. Enjoy your "unli rice" =)

#26 Finally peeing after holding it like forever

I dont know with you guys but it has happened a couple of times to me already. Travelling on a bus and drinking like a bottle of mineral water and suddenly you felt the urge and no toilet in sight or stuck in a traffic, on a meeting and the big boss is speaking and it is embarassing to leave, or on a movie house and the good scene is playing and you don't wanna miss it. You squeeze it in, cross your legs, do not move, close your eyes, concentrate, meditate to contain it. Haha!

And then the rush, excuse me excuse me excuse me!, get out of my way! And finally sanctuary..the CR. and then.. AAAhhhh! After holding it like forever and you think you can't make it and now you finally can release without holding back. Feels so good hehe..

#25 Cutting back travel time by using the Star Tollway

Once upon a time.... travel from Manila to my hometown would take 3 hours (the fastest), or 4 or 5 hours if traffic is bad. That is a normal phenomenon, mind you, a crawl from Calamba exit going to Batangas. Coming home from work one time, i have encountered the worst traffic jam in my entire life. Leaving the work at 5pm, arriving in my home at 4am... the next day. Enough time to take a bath and leave again for work hehe. They said it was the anniversary of Iglesia ni Cristo and they blocked one lane of the national road, or whatever if I'm mistaken. I took the day off anyway and sleep. =)

The travel to Batangas before was a long ardous journey as it have to pass thru Makiling, then towns like Sto Tomas, then Tanauan, then Malvar, then finally Lipa City. And then the government constructed the Star Tollway, star means Southern Tagalog Arterial Road =)

If there's something we can be grateful about the government and see where our taxes go without remorse to these politicians, its with this kind of project. With the construction of Star Tollway and connecting it directly to the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) it has provided an expressway to these cities to and from Metro Manila without passing thru these towns. Would you believe, it can cut back travel time by 1 to 2 hours! Wow! It has made lives easier for commuters, merchants, travelers, bakasyonistas going to Puerto Galera or Laiya beaches in San Juan and has given back some hours to people's lives. Travel now has become faster, less stressful and efficient. =)

#24 When someone returns your wallet

It is really difficult losing a wallet. I have all my important things in there, ATMS, government IDs, duplicate key to my house, some important receipts. And losing one is a real hassle. Lining up in the SSS office for card replacement is a bummer and backbreaking where line stretch out to the moon (and back!), much so in a government office to request official documents needed as supporting documents. Hehe.

That's why its really great when someone returns your wallet. Si manong driver when your wallet accidentally slips through your back pocket, yung tindera sa tindahan when you put your wallet to get money to pay and forgotten you leave it there. "Kuya naiwan mo po!" Thank you very much stranger!

#23 Recalling those weird vintage PBA player names

Ed Ducut

Mama Mamaril

Sonny Cabatu

Mukesh Advani

Benet Palad 

Dondon Ampalayo

Haha.Wanna add to the list? If you can't relate, you belong to another generation. =)

#22 Ginebra San Miguel, Jaworski, and the PBA

I recently watched a classic game between Ginebra and Purefoods over a cable channel. And man i smiled remembering the days when I was a PBA fanatic.. a Ginebra die hard fan. I remember watching all the games on   still a black and white television, then later on a colored TV bought by a sibling. I would be really engrossed on the game and scared during the entire game that me and my sister pray, exchange sitting positions, dont move my feet, etc. (parang OCD hehe), so that Ginebra will win.

Ginebra was so popular at that time, and PBA too that every game is followed and championship game is an event like Pacquiao now. I remember one time on a Game 7 of a best-of-seven championship between Ginebra and Shell, and it was brownout in our barangay that we searched the city where there's power. A neighbor even setup a TV hooked to a car battery just to watch the game. I miss those times =)

And i miss these too:
- short shorts
- Billy Ray Bates and Michael Hackett
- There is a barker that anounces 3 points "Jaworski 3 points!" and fouls like these "Deliberate foul Jaworski", "Warning on Jaworski!", and "Jaworski, out fo the playing court!"
- and coin tossing


This is the 1991 Ginebra Shell Finale, where Ginebra gained the monicker "die-hard" team by coming from a 1-3 game deficit and still winning the series. Watch how passionate the fans were before. =)

And a feature of Ginebra legends in the show Rated K:

#21 That thing called "torrent"

I love downloading stuff on the internet. Over the years I have collected tons of movies, TV series, mp3's, concerts, applications and a whole lot of content.. My 1 terabyte hard drive i bought last year is already full haha I think I'll buy the external one already as my CPU is loaded to the brim with drives (lot of slaves if your a techie). It is awesome that in just a click of a mouse button, you have access to almost any media and information available. Hard to find movies, or when MTRCB censors a movie from public viewing, torrents is my go-to-guy. =) How about the jackass 3d and fahrenheit 911. I just downloaded two concerts from Coldplay and Maroon 5. Those cute Korean films, Bollywood movies, documentaries, NatGeo and Discovery specials, and of course the "porn" hehe. There are a lot of gems abroad that we haven't even heard of here locally, that we can have access to.

Internet is awesome, its a powerful tool if used correctly. There's no way of stopping piracy or stopping this peer to peer sharing over the web for now. I guess everyone, including the entertainment industry, music industry etc must learn to evolve as well.

#20 Steve Jobs and my Iphone

As a tribute to Steve Jobs, who died today from cancer, i pay tribute to the man who offered the world a better choice and better style on computing and gadgets.

I am not a MAC person. I have been so familiar with Microsoft interfaces that I've find it painful to transition over to Apple's design (completely different and no right click hehe). I am a tech guy, but its ever since Windows as the operating system choice in my companies since I deal with high powered servers and not the desktop. Maybe if Apple has ventured into servers, then that would have been interesting.

Though i didn't fell in love with the computing machines, i got swooned over by the gadgets. I love my iphone so so much, if only i have spare money, i would buy an ipod touch and the IPAD! I have this question that lingers in my mind, if others have the money why did they buy those other phones. Haha! The iphone is the penultimate gadget invention. You have an ipod, phone, and podcasts all-in-one. I love podcasts and discuss it over here. Aside from those, I have my calendar which is synched to my office outlook, i have my aplications, i have my emails.... all in STYLE! Aside from those game applications, i love the following apps: the daily inspiring quotes, daily word dictionary, the bible application, the Louise Hay calendar, skype and twitter apps. Really have all i need. I dont even buy from the Itunes store which houses tons of cool and helpful apps because I dont have credit card anymore hehe.

The only downside for my iphone 3Gs is .... the Iphone 4s. =) and.. i really wanted the IPAD.


Anyway, back to Steve Jobs, here is an inspiring speech he delivered in a graduation ceremony:

#19 Libre

Two of my officemates treat me to free food at banchetto after office shift. Bad foods, isaw, goto and barbeque, but what the heck, its free. Today is a cheat day!

#18 Free Seminar

A friend woke me up with a text message. "Oct 22 23 basic seminar in manila. Pls save the date Joel". Yey! i am reserved for a slot in a life coaching seminar, free of charge, which they usually charge for 7 thousand bucks or something.

Best things in life are free! Grateful.. =)

#17 When you order at fast food and there is a ready to go "unusual" order

I went to KFC last night to buy dinner. There were four counters and i waited for one person in my line before my turn. I don't want anymore of the plain chicken and tried the ala king "supreme bowl" order. The crew shouted my order and was punching my order on her cash register, i handed my money and just after she gave me my change, my order is already ready. I usually wait for five or ten minutes!Yey! Galing...

#16 Victory Church

Today was a Sunday, and today I wanted to declare another thing I am grateful of. I really love going to church at Victory, and i am enjoying my time. Whether it be in Victory Lipa, when am at Batangas, or in Victory Fort, when I'm  at home in Taguig. I look forward to Sundays at church service.

First things first, i don't have a religion right now. I don't know if i can put myself in a box right now, but one things for sure, i am at peace with this God, creator, universal loving presence, whatever you call it =). I was born a catholic, raised a catholic. I have nothing against catholics. I still go to catholic churches, to pray, to kneel in vigil rooms, and attend mass  (but haven't attended one yet for months now)

Then i went on path of discovery and found new age, spirituality, buddhism, meditation, etc. I found books with these topics, I found groups and organizations, and actual people, some i became friends with. And i still practice them. =)

I really find it amazing that I am enjoying the born again christian church services and preachings. It sort of felt like being one piece on a big jigsaw puzzle, and complements my state of mind and spirituality I have right now. It added another dimension to my perspective and made me TO BELIEVE. Christians have a lot of faith! There are some things still that are off tangent and doesn't resonate, but a lot that do, I don't focus on it. But what i love most, is the experience. Love or God whichever which, really moves in mysterious ways. =)

Grateful!

#15 Those cheap travel promos

Me and my friends are going to Palawan this October. Woohoo! Cue in Sandwich's song Sunburn (i just wanna be on the beach! i just wanna be on the beach!). After months of toiling the daily grind and rat race, its now time to reward myself some needed rest and recreation. Sabi nga "all work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy" hehe. I am now imagining crystal clear waters lapping the sandy white beach, wind in your face, great sun and bumming it out all day =)

And this is all courtesy of those big discount travel promo. We got 75% discount off the actual travel package. Imagine more than half of the savings. And since I am not rich, including my officemates, we could afford the resort destination for those with a lot of money. Yes! were going to a private island resort. Thank you Ensogo!

#14 Work from Home

And since I've mentioned the term in a previous post, i just want to declare that i am grateful for my work arrangement. Every week i have a privilege at work that i get two days to telecommute. Yup you heard it right. I got three days to report physically in the office, and the rest i can spend anywhere, provided I connect online to office network and deliver my deliverables! i can be at home, at the beach, anywhere! Cool right?

The past year I usually spend my telecommute at home, but this also gives me the opportunity to visit my mom, my sister, or go to province. Save clothes for the laundry, saves money for taxi and eating out. I just need to bring my laptop. Good time to relax, unwind and enjoy fresh air of the province.

Grateful!

#13 24 hours coffee shop with internet

Last Friday I found myself in Lipa, a sister asks me to drive her family home to Batangas. It is a Friday and I still need to report for office, and connect remotely (my work from home option), i am taking my chances with the cannot be trusted Smart Bro (boooo!!!) for connection.

Here we go again, life with Smart Bro USB device is precarious (i am getting the term from how missionaries live their lives haha), unsure, uncertain. =) And so today i found it out again. Thanks smart bro. Full signal HSDPA at 13 kbps??!! I can't even connect my Microsoft Office Communicator (MOC, my office instant messaging application) huhu

Me out the door immediately, looking for coffee shops with internet access with 24 hr operation as i need to remain connected online until 3am in the morning. And i found a gem. Cafe 78 operates 24 hours and serves drinks and food! aside from coffee. Cafe 78 saves the day for me! I was able to work, and eat, and watch TV haha!


Grateful..