I love my computer desktop. It's so empty of crap.

I woke up this morning, and Weng was already in the apartment cleaning. She came in at 6:45am, and thankfully my apartment mate was up early and let her in. Go clean Weng, go. Clean this apartment of dirt.

work today was fine. i worked on a financial model that i had been ignoring for a while.

after lunch, i did some research for an investment project that we just won a mandate to develop.

then i worked out a little and headed home.

tomorrow, i have to run quite a lot. 11k

good night.

told you not to read.

Kel and I played some tennis this afternoon in the neighborhood courts. I lost 7-5, despite serving for the set at 5-4, so that ticked me off a little. My brother dissected my serve and told me how to fix it.

"You have good groundstrokes, but your serve needs work."

I have heard that from no less than 3 different people.

There is nothing more to say.

Friday night, Lorraine and I passed by the AMCI B2K9 acquaintance party that was themed come as a star. The two of us went us rock stars. We were no match to people who came as Darna or a sequin-studded star cheerleader in bright red. The party was a little small, and this partially may have been due to some trainees not showing up as they had deemed themselves too conservative for the party. Well, that's a waste.

We managed to escape by 130am before getting too plastered. We knew we had to start planning our departure when the traditional roaming "tagay" people all seemed to be offering drinks at the same time around 1230. I must have had three or four different types of shots in the span of 10 minutes (this is in addition to all the stuff I had already drunk earlier in the evening). It would have been fun to get really smashed, but it wasn't the night to throw-up all over my jeans. All in all, good work to the trainees who organized the party because 1) the relatively premium alcohol lasted a long time 2) there was plenty of food til much later in the evening.

Saturday morning woke up and found out that Cory Aquino had passed away at the now widely reported time of 3:18 AM. It was such a rainy morning and that extended into the afternoon. Had a late salad-rice lunch at the market before passing by Valle Verde on the way home. Played some tennis, watched UP lose to FEU, before heading home. Spent the evening reviewing a little before heading of the bed.

Sunday morning, woke up early to join the AMCI folk in their runs at ULTRA. The 7.2 km run seemed challenging that morning. Went home to eat a little brunch with the family and see Dad's un-edited photographs from their recent vacation. Around lunch time, left to pick up mom from the airport. In the evening, ate too much Chinese food with everybody and then headed home.

I played tennis with JJR and Paolo V last night. This was what all those extra tennis sessions had led up to. Final outcome: not too bad, plus a renewed sense of wanting to further develop my game.

Unfortunately, Ria V was stuck in traffic, so our mixed newbies and veterans doubles game did not materialize. Instead, the three of us worked on a 2 vs 1 type of drill. Essentially, one player, whom we can call the lead player, plays and serves against two others until he loses three points in a row. Once three points in a row are won by the pair, the rotation continues and there's a new lead player. I enjoyed this game, though when my turn came up to be lead player and start serving. . .well, I still need a proper serve. :D During the second half of the hour we were playing, JJR started playing very consistently and hitting really good serves. He was a machine. So we changed the rule for him -- he had to lose 2 points in a row before the rotation continued. Paolo V has some really great shots and return serves, but for tonight, one person was rather better. :)

Post-game, in the car ride, and in Murphy's, I received a few friendly pointers that I'll be bringing to my future practices. On the plus side, it is good that I always move towards the ball. With respect to improvement, one bit of advice would be to 'slow down my play' and to focus on 'guiding' the ball as opposed to 'slapping' it. And yes, to work on my serve, coz I might actually have a game if I had a decent one. 

* * *

I had the best appetite I had in a long time at Murphy's Quiz Night. I attacked that tuna salad sandwich with gusto, and drank all the shooters we won.

Trainee: Hey, I know we can hold the acquaintance party at this great place at Philam. . .

Me: Tower Club? Sweeet!

Trainee: Philam. . .Life Homes.

I spent Saturday afternoon pitching a tent in a muddy campsite near the summit of Mt. Cristobal. Aside from the chilly rain that would start pelting down in the next couple of hours, this would already be the most unpleasant part of this weekend's climb. TC 1, as the AMCI folk like to call Training Climb #1, went off with scarcely a hitch; and I was pleasantly relieved and happy to finally be back in the mountains after a 3 year absence.

This weekend's climb was no exception to what characterizes a usual AMCI climb: a massive number of climbers. The whole club sent 118 climbers, including approximately 50 trainees distributed over eight climbing sub-groups.

T and I were Group Leader and Assistant Group Leader for four trainees, and supported by 10 other members -- by "support" I mean fed all kinds of food that taste even better at high elevation. The trainees ably cooked for ourselves pork sinigang, chicken nuggets, fruit cocktail and various types of processed meat, but this was supplemented by other members sending over tom yam, shrimp and vegetable curry, pork binagoongan and leche flan. If this sounds like a disgusting over-the-top-feast to you, well, it may be, but is totally justified by a five-hour uphill trek and 10-12 Centigrade campsite.

The trail was of an appropriate level of difficulty for a first training climb. Roughly the uphill could be broken into an hour of open trails with little cover over pavement and grass; followed by two to three hours into a dense mossy forest where gloves would help one grasp foliage and climb over roots, falling trunks, rocks; and then the final couple of hours containing the more "technical" portions of the trek, where knotted rope is used over narrow trails, and descents. Near the summit the mossy forest disappears, and it is movement through cogon to the top.

The trainees handled the uphill trek well. They are strong climbers with a steady pace and don't take too many breaks. It was gratifying that even the less strong of the group kept the cheerful attitude throughout <though I couldn't help thinking: "Train hard for TC 2!">. While their trail movement was commendable, it was their conduct at camp kitchen that impressed me most. The stoves were lit quickly and they seamlessly organized themselves into their respective roles to prepare the evening meal. Cooking of breakfast was scheduled for 5am, and they were already cleaning the cooksets and boiling water at 430. You would NOT find me as enthusiastic and eager as this. Since the trainees had finished their camp duties early, there was time to take the 15-20 minute trek to the summit. The trek back down was mostly uneventful. I left poor T to sweep one of the trainees whose knees were buckling from the strain of going down.

The wash-up area was at Bato Bato Spring Resort, a pretty nice place with lots of rocky pools and a swimming pool. The group presentations for socials were mostly meh, including our group. The real entertainment was during the bus ride home. What happens in the bus stays in the bus.

Looking forward to TC-2. Mariveles.

Last night was the final pre-climb before this weekend's climb. We had to re-calibrate the load distribution because, conveniently, one of the trainees backed-out. No skin off our backs really, but such things prolong pre-climb meeting time.

(+) I swear one of our trainees has a tent shop. We were wondering where to get yet another 2 or 3 man tent when E pipes up -- meron pa akong isa pang dome tent. Problem solved.
(-) "Get your load in front of you now. I want a visual of what everyone is bringing." Grr.
(-) I suspect one trainee thought that doing a lot "preparation" work would excuse from taking on more load during the climb. Um, no.

Generally though, the trainees have a good attitude. Praying for fair weather, and a fun climb.

In gear-loving news: Oca has this Php 350 dark  dark blue ground sheet that I could only call a "designer grounde sheet". It's thin enough to double as a make-shift poncho. Lorraine bought herself one also. Ha ha.

 Good morning! Woke up today with a bit of a scratchy throat, courtesy of a recently arriving sibling who had his own scratchy throat. I am going to ring his neck. . .

I am in the middle of preparations for taking my first trip to a mountain in almost 3 years. I had forgotten that preparing for a trip usually involves multiple trips to various stores. Things have not changed and I find myself scurrying here and there to gather equipment. I wonder how I afforded this activity when I was a student -- I'm now working and I still find the sport a bit expensive. Actually the only major expense I didn't anticipate was the backpack. It seems like the usual places where I could source cheap local backpacks don't really carry much of a selection anymore. Robinson's Galleria only has Bombproof now as the Outdoor Shop has closed there. They have a very limited supply. The backpack prices for local brands in R.O.X. weren't that much cheaper than the imported stuff. In the end, I think it makes most sense if I go to Oca's Expedition Plus to get my backpack. They say that a lot of stuff is in Robinson's Pioneer. Does this mean I have to take a trip there also?? :P

I bought my shoes at R.O.X. I was happy about that. They're black low-cut Salomons and are brand that I find reliable (my last pair lasted about 5 years, though only got lots of use for the first 3). I am used to trekking in low-cut shoes, and mid-cut shoes I would try but they're not easy to break-in in just 4 days. Luckily no broken ankles yet.

Okay, hopefully my packing for the trip won't be as sabog as this post. Will let you know all about it when I come down from Cristobal Sunday afternoon. Back to the mountains. . .

Raffy suggested we run inside the Meralco compound in Ortigas this evening, and it was my pleasant surprise to discover another running option in our crowded city. The loop inside covers around 2km, and the best parts of the run are the uphill road that gives you a looming view of the Ortigas center skyline, and just the experience running next to the magestic Meralco building.

We did two loops tonight because I thought i was going to run a 10-km buddy run Sunday morning < which didn't push through, and that I found rather disappointing and upsetting.> We got caught in the rain during our cool downs and was sopping wet into the locker room area. We ate some dinner and then I went home.

I'm looking forward to dropping by the Sunday BMC again tomorrow. The trainees are going to practice pitching tests and working the cook-stoves. Those are things I will have to figure out by next week.

I decided to change my profile picture today. What do you think? I like it, but it seems like I'm so un-happy -- which I'm not.

Today I told my trainer in the gym that there are going to be a few changes around here. Since I'm planning to embark on a more challenging running regimen, I told him that we had to change our workout scheme. I told him that we had to tweak our workouts because I'll be running more km and I didn't want to burn out by working out all the time during rest/cross-training days. I guess I didn't have the heart to tell him that I was considering saving money and just trying to dispose of his services entirely. Anyway, I shared with him (and now with you guys), that I want to run a 21km (half-marathon) later this year, so that's why things are changing. I came up with this time bound goal because I was very pleased with my run at the TNF event this past weekend. If you want to know more about that, you can head over to ialman

I woke to the sounds of Hobbiton this morning.

I'm using this program Alarm Clock 2, as my alarm clock. It "wakes" my laptop from sleep mode, and launches a pre-selected song from itunes. There's even a function that causes the song to play softly first then gradually to full volume after 2 minutes.

So I've selected for my alarm, "Concerning Hobbits". It's such a gentle way of waking up. . .

Time to put the kettle to boil :)

What's a good song to wake up to?

http://vicissitude-decidido.blogspot.com/2008/12/world-is-fucked-up.html

Read it anyway.

The Abrera family reunion took place yesterday afternoon in Antipolo. Met with family I had not seen in a while, including with the family of Inquirer editorial cartoonist Jess Abrera who we so happen to be related to.

So we met his kids: Manuel, Miguel and Isa.

Gica: Manuel. Is that the name you go by? Or do you have a nick name?
Manuel: I also am called Manny or Manix.
Me (to Gica): Wow, his name is just like that funny cartoonist in the Inquirer.
Gica: Um, siya nga 'yon.
Me: Oh. You do good stuff. (BWAHAHA!)
Manuel/Manix: Thanks

Recurring refrain during the reunion: "Away, away, away!"
(ss in Fight, Fight, Fight)

The AMCI acquaintance party turned out ok.Not as many people perhaps as in the past years, but I chalk this up to the party venue being in a park in Deep Pasig. No beer bongs, nor beer for that matter for me. I got my buzz in a much much classier way: shots of Fundador, Gilbey's Gin and GSM Blue. On occasion I even had a can of Coke to chase it down.

The trainees seem like a swell bunch. And naturally they've all been climbing mountains, so they've got energy I can only envy. :) Hopefully will bump into them during succeeding Wednesdays in the neighborhood.

* * *

Woke up around 1030am. Ignored Salcedo market. Upset that Persia Grill's landline number for delivery wasn't working. The silver lining was that I cooked myself lunch. See my previous post for what I cooked and ate. Now I figure that I will try not to spend money and pay other people to give me food not cooked the way I WANT IT. Returning to the apartment tomorrow w/ 3 cookbooks including one on making sandwiches (paninis). I figure I'm going to spend less and eat better.

* * *

Spent time with relatives because of Auntie Elizabeth's bday, and heard the same funny stories from other titas. We're all looking forward to Olive's wedding on the 23rd of next month.

* * *

Which reminds me then that I cannot look like crap then. Accompanied Mahar to do some glasses shopping, and he helped me buy some skin products. I'm not worried about my skin. I just hate my pores. Hence, the intervention. We may have driven the saleslady slightly batty. I wanted to know the difference between essences and emulsions. I believe that products are designed in such a way that you will have (And want) to buy 5 different bottles for a "complete line".

* * *

We bought Macy a bike today in Marikina. Will try to post photos of the 'japanese style' bike. The bike frame is different from the usual. It's silver, has a basket and a bell. Mababanat na raw ang tuhod ni Macy.

* * *

In some respects the Marikina public market is more civilized than Katipunan avenue. For one thing, there's a Thai restaurant in the area. SR Thai and Thai in a Box (is it still alive?) are not Thai restaurants.

* * *

I'm changing my mind. I'm really starting to dig this season (5) of Project Runway

Artichoke Pesto Spaghetti

Ingredients:
- spaghetti
- jar of pesto
- can of artichokes
- thai shrimp flakes
- olive oil
- salt

1. Cook spaghetti in boiling water. Follow number of minutes it is to boil in the package.
2. Strain water from cooked pasta.
4. Add olive oil to pot of cooked pasta.
3. Open jar of pesto. Add as much pesto as you want to pasta.
4. Open can of artichokes and take out two pieces. Slice these pieces and add to pasta.
5. Add thai shrimp flakes and salt to taste.
6. Congratulate self for not stealing roommate's processed cheese in the refrigerator.
7. Eat. Serves 2 if you cooked too much pasta.

Want to feel senti? Play Xmas Jazz music on a Friday night in July. It WILL feel like Xmas, except without the pressure to be cheerful. I can already see the snow flakes forming out of my smeared and smoggy window.

* * *

here's what i want to do: fold dirty laundry

here's what's gonna happen: get smashed in a party because of gin poured down a beer bong.

Today was milder than yesterday, and I didn't mind my forty minute walk home. I had to ditch my running coach last minute because I had a late meeting. To make up, I decided to walk home the whole way (again). I'm glad there was no Pasong Tamo walking experience this time. The walk wasn't bad, but I kept switching my laptop bag from my right hand to my left and back.

I didn't have to buy or cook dinner tonight. My flat-mate said there was meatloaf in the fridge. Oh boy. I zapped it for a good two minutes in the microwave and it was ready to eat. I paired it with a 3 week old sky-flake and a few dashes of Knorr Liquid Seasoning. Ah.

* * *

The last thing life has been is mundane; rather, it has been regular. There is a routine and a certain reliability about things. I think that this definitely has benefits. Enough people have been flying in and out of the country though to keep things interesting. Bob is in town, so I'll be seeing you in the clubs more often. . .for research.

I had a long walk home tonight.

I figured I'd grab a cab at Pasong Tamo cor EDSA and skip the hell that would be Magallanes MRT at 730 pm. What I did not count on were the many dodgy jeeps and scarcity of cabs. What started as a little walk further down Pasong Tamo, became a long walk to Pasay Road. And since Greenbelt was now a stone's throw away, I decided to make it an all-walk to Salcedo village. I bought some bread at the neighborhood grocery so I could make pesto ham and cheese sandwiches that would be my dinner tonight. Then I had an orange. Now, I've drunk some tea and I can read a book before going to bed.

What a night.

Hopefully things will be less stressful tomorrow.

Thankfully the awarding ceremonies pushed through due to the strike issue being resolved -- for perhaps the next 2 years. I am thankful not due to any concern for the entertainment economy of Los Angeles, but because of my own selfish entertainment needs. I have my favorites, I have my opinions and I enjoy being aghast at terrible terrible Academy decisions as to who should have or should not have won. Aside: who is that brit dude on E-TV with his Simon Cowell-ish (minus the sense) comments about fashion on the red carpet? He sucks.

This year I think I am slightly less opinionated because I didn't see as many Oscar movies. A lot of the films have been late releases (as is usually the case), but the releases have also been limited, even in the US. So I have seen less, and I am less aghast and querying.

Politics is what entertains us more these days it seems. Friends of mine who previously didn't bother following political news (what, who's Bhutto?), find the Barack-Hillary coverage compelling. It is interesting, but I find the (American) media who do cover it increasingly ridiculous.

End digression. So following my commentary format last year, below are some notes and ideas that I had after catching the 80th Academy Awards

Coverage: Yey Velvet with fewer ads. No more crap RPN 9 coverage.

Surprise Wins: I'm glad Tilda Swinton won and Cate didn't for Best Supporting Actress. I enjoy Cate but that Bob Dylan movie I found dull. Tilda on the other hand was really good in Michael Clayton. I had not seen any of the Best Actress movies, so I just rooted for who had the most interesting clip. Julie Christie was the front-runner in this race, and had the dullest clip of the bunch. I'm glad that Marion Cotillard won. I thought the collapsing Edith Piaf clip was cool.

Weird Nominations: My beef on this should have been posted sooner, but anyway: Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth 2, and Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd? These aren't bad performances, but neither of them were nomination worthy I believe.

Documentaries: Could not form an opinion coz there were no interesting clips on them. Servicemen in Baghdad announced the results, so no split screen showing clips. Shallow feel good feeling (+1pt), Lost marketing opportunity (-3pts).

Important Movie that I have no idea about because my local DVD pirate is useless: I had a bad copy of No Country for Old Men so this scuttled my watching this movie BEFORE the Oscars. Grr. The Coen brothers are not of the LA establishment, and it shows on stage. One of them kept touching his ear. Hmm.

Best Score: Important category for me. Atonement won. My compulsion to watch this movie had been dampened by my not enjoying the end of Ian McEwan's novel. I would have been happy if Juno had won this category.

In Memoriam: They didn't include Brad Renfro
Stuff I want to see MORE because of the Oscars: La Vie en Rose, Persepolis

Fashion Yawn. AGAIN. Diablo Cody was uncomfortable in her gown.