Manilaaaaaaahhhh

It is 6am Manila time on the 27th of December, and jetlag is obviously still taking a toll on me. The flight back to home was an ordeal - as always - but David keeping me company on board was more than enough to forget the long traveling.

I could not be thankful enough to spend (another) Christmas in my home country. It has brought meaning to me than ever before. It has just been two days but I feel like I have been here for weeks.

We have special guests from the US, Canada and Japan which makes it all extra different. For the first time, David and his brother Sam, spent Christmas with us. This made their parents back in the US a little more sentimental, but it turned out okay. Our very good 98 year-old friend from Canada, Bill, flew to Manila like he lives just right next door. This guy is an inspiration to my Lolo (and to us) because despite his old age, he still has the energy of a person in his 50's? My cousin TJ is here as well.

As mentioned awhileago, it feels like it's been a long time that I have been here. Life has turned full-circle for me just upon arriving at the airport. Not only because the feeling of being "home" has taken over, but also my life and lifestyle here (in general) is what I missed the most back in New York.

I have a car to drive here, and as much parking as I want in the city. I have breakfast, lunch and dinner (buffet-style) prepared for me everyday. I can afford to eat in restaurants with sommeliers and maitre d's. It is sleeveless-and-skirt weather, and clothing here is very affordable. My bed is made for me, as well as my laundry. I speak my English the Pinoy way and can speak Tagalog anytime - and people will understand me. My friends who knew me since I was a kid are all here. Most of all, the whole of my family is here, and I do not go home to a quiet, empty house.

Manila is so "relaxing" that you can call it Manilaaaaaaahhh.

Although life here is very comfortable and very tempting to just succumb to, I still would not trade living the opposite kind of life in New York (or elsewhere) while I am still single. I was just telling my friends last night that one thing that you can never get just by living at home (or with your parents for that matter) is personal character to its highest level. And it's true. Remember the laundry, study or blog dilemma?

In the meantime, while I am here, I will not go frugal on the lovely perks I could not afford abroad. I will actually be spending today in a spaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh... ;-)

Going Home For Christmas

I only have 5 minutes to spare before I head to the airport and... talk about priorities - to blog or not to blog?

I can't wait to see my family, my friends (and our pets!) and to be in a place with warmer weather :) I can't wait to eat plenty of food (and lechon!) during Noche Buena. I can't wait to sit under the tree and distribute presents. I can't wait to spend the holidays for the first time with David.

Can't wait to be home for Christmas! :)

Transport Strike Looms In New York

I woke up today to the sound of police car sirens. There is probably chaos outside right now.

Just after midnight, the transport workers had declared a strike - and what that simply means is that there will be no subways or buses in the city operational at the moment. They are asking for a contract, an increase in annual raise, and earlier pension. This strike alone would cost the city (and the country) hundreds of millions of dollars. People from the other boroughs are literally walking to work.

Anyway, leave the details to the Times. This will just mean I have to walk to 23rd St. from my apartment for my Final. (I am still lucky to live in the city, and thank goodness for the iPod) I have to stop blogging and get my ass out there early. This may be the only chance I could explore New York on foot - without me intending to.

I hope this comes to an end really soon. It's the week before Christmas - and 22F outside! Give commuters a break.

Blogging in Starbucks

I write this blog using free wireless internet in Starbucks at Astor Place. David and I decided to spend the day studying (yuck) since we are still in the middle of Finals week.

The Christmas-y feel is very much in the air already. I drink my Peppermint Hot Chocolate from red cups now. Fridge-weather is back again, and people are bundling up in multiple layers, and wearing irritating mukluk boots. Everybody is in a shopping mood, and the holiday music is everywhere.

Spend spend spend. Jingle bells. Toast toast toast. It's great. But it's actually study study study for us.

It has been tradition that people gift-give during this season. And gifts come in many packages (material or immaterial). Back home, my family has organized a "secret santa" thing and I am part of it. The thing is, the budget is only Php100.00! That will be extremely difficult for me, since that amount of money can only buy the morning paper and plain coffee here. ;-) It's time to get creative then!

Speaking of going overbudget with gifts, my loving bf just gave me an early surprise of the season! After losing the iPod mini he gave me last Christmas in Spain...

he gave me another new one! ;-)

Now I am going crazy putting Gwen, Billie, U2 and Moby in it.

Two Down, Two to Go

I know this is such a silly countdown, but every Final finished is such a relief.

Last night was my last class for my Management and Ethics class. My group was (yet again) the last to present, but it went awesome. We had to talk about an assigned case (we did Levi Strauss), identify the ethical dilemma and present recommendations.

Most of my groupmates are from Taiwan, which sometimes explained the difficulty in communication. But everybody is hardworking and brilliant (again, I am totally biased) so I'm sure we all pulled it off pretty well.

Our professors gave us individual feedback after the presentation - and everything was positive. Yipee! Our individual Final Paper was returned to us as well, and mind you, I am VERY, VERY happy with my grade.

On another note, after a year of being a student at NYU - I had FINALLY configured my laptop to work with the school's wireless network. It only took me 5 mins, and I'm using it now! Call me lazy - but it took me that long?! Hahaha!

Tonight, I will be taking advantage of the train and will travel in the city (heading to the Flatiron District for tonight's class! cool, eh?) - because tomorrow... the MTA transport strike begins. And you know how New Yorkers rely too much on the train. If the strike pushes through, New Yorkers have a few options:

a. Walk around
b. Take a cab
c. Ride a bike
d. Work from home

I'll just do option d to be on the safe side. But then again, a is an option, despite the coldness of the weather (low 20s). I just can't stop myself ;-)

One Down, Three to Go

It is Finals week and everybody is pretty much feeling all pressured. I had just finished my final group presentation for my Advanced class tonight, and it is such a relief it is over. We were asked to come up with a Direct Marketing Plan for four existing plus-size apparel brand websites. In addition, we needed to identify strategic options, propose strategies for customer acquisition and retention, and incorporate them into a just one master portal/site.

Advanced is probably the toughest among my qualitative subjects and the rest is just a breeze. I have to say that my group did a very good job - perhaps an A material, even. (I'm totally biased) We were the last to present but in the end, we were commended for our content, as well as our presentation.

I was approached by my professor after class and it came as a surprise. Her exact words were

"You brought a lot of energy to the room. You owned the room. It was all yours."

I smiled brightly and was profusely thanking her. Little did she know that my heart was thumping loudly the whole time I was talking.

At the back of my mind however, I remembered an experience during my IMC days, when I had no choice but to get over the fear of presenting in front of a large group of people. Back then, we had a graded exercise where we were asked to pick (on-the-spot) a very obscure topic and talk about it for 3 full minutes. It has to be structured and substantial. I wasn't sure if I did well during the exercise - but I remember I had to talk about "Starbox". I mean, what the hell is that? Misspelled Starbucks? Or some kind of Pinoy pronunciation? ;-) What is substantial about Starbox? I don't remember what I said, but I really learned from that experience.

There was pizza and drinks for everyone tonight, which was probably the highlight of the evening! ;-) I had the mushroom one just before presenting, but the bonus is, I was able to take some pepper slices home! Ha! (Pinoy talaga: the "Take home kasi sayang" trait) Well, nobody wanted them? ;-)

So that is one Final down, and three more to go. Busy busy busy bee! I can't wait for this semester to end.

Internet Browser Debacle

Over our private egroup, my friends and I were having this really silly debacle about which internet browser is better: IE or Firefox? There were a lot of biases and inaccuracies being thrown on the table, and it went on for - probably - over a dozen posts! One talked about getting viruses, another talking about pop-ups and porn sites, and some are just asking everyone else to cut the discussion.

David rarely participates in our crazy egroup, but he usually plays spectator and is amused when I translate the Tagalog words and slangs my friends and I use communicating with each other.

In case you do not know, he is the ultimate technology freak. He is the earliest of the Early Adopters! Watch him go wild when you ask him anything about computers, software, innovations, technologies and whatever. He will even offer free expert advice on which one works best. He gets really excited when he gets a new gadget, and knows and utilizes every single minute feature it has! He is my (and everyone else who knows him) go-to guy for computer and technology problems.

He is such a (sweet) techy that spyware, spam and pop-ups are his greatest pet peeves! And it pains him to see/hear people misunderstand the beauty and benefits new technology has to offer to make our lives easier, as well as the truths and fallacies behind it.

And so about the browser debate as to which is better: IE or Firefox? He resisted to react at first, and eventually could not help but share a piece of his mind about the truth about the two internet browsers and the inaccurate emails my friends and I were throwing at each other. To (hopefully) end the senseless debate, he posted this:

(Note: Don't bother reading if you don't care about the IE/Firefox debate. Even I think this argument has gone on too long. :))

Now that you've been warned.... I've tried my best to stay out of this
debate, but I think some inaccuracies need to be addressed. I'm neither a
Microsoft apologist nor anti-Microsoft, but in the hopes of closing this
debate, please allow me to make a few points:

1) The idea that Firefox is for Microsoft-haters is a myth. Judging from
personal experience, many Microsoft employees use Firefox as their primary browser AT WORK. One of the lead developers of IE 7.0 has publicly admitted this, as have three Microsoft employees whom I talked to during at recent recruiting visit to Yale.

2) Pop-ups are indeed not the same as viruses, but some malicious websites
use pop-ups as delivery mechanisms (this is largely irrelevant since both
SP2 and Firefox have decent pop-up blockers). And even if you don't browse porn sites, you can't be sure what others may do with your computer when
you're not looking. :) This is particularly true of spyware. I've seen
innocent old ladies who have computers infected with all sorts of malware
thanks to unpatched IE installation. I doubt they're actively seeking out
porn sites, but I could be wrong... ;)

3) Even the US Department of Homeland Security realizes that IE isn't
secure. They've issued a number of warnings (e.g.,
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/680526,
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/07/09/28enterwin_1.html). SP2 fixed
many security problems, as have subsequent patches, but you have to stay vigilant.

4) Last year, Slate (a publication OWNED by Microsoft at the time) wrote an article on "How Mozilla's Firefox trumps Internet Explorer."
(http://www.slate.com/id/2103152/)

5) Compared to IE, Firefox is built with an entirely different philosophy.
Rather than attempting to fit everything into the application, it is instead a relatively small package that is completely customizable through free extensions. It can be as basic or powerful as you want (right now I have local weather conditions embedded in my status bar, for example).

6) It's not an either-or choice, particularly since both are free. I still
use IE for some sites and tasks, and luckily there are extensions that make it incredibly easy to switch back and forth. You can even embed Internet Explorer INSIDE a Firefox tab.

7) If you understand the risks of using IE and keep your computer patched
and manage security levels appropriately, there's nothing inherently wrong
with using IE 6. It's a pretty solid web browser, objectively speaking, and until 2002 was my browser of choice.

IE will get better, of course, and the alpha version of 7.0 looks good so
far (but in many ways it's simply playing catch up to other browsers).
Microsoft got complacent, given their 90%+ market share. I've heard
Microsoft people say that they welcome the challenge as it forces them to
improve their product, which had stagnated since Netscape's collapse.

To some degree, it comes down to personal preference, but I strongly
disagree with anyone who would say Firefox is inferior.

I've now wasted more than enough of my own and everyone else's time, but I hope this is illuminating. Feel free to email me directly with any specific questions, so as not to flood the group. Have fun and just try to make your web browser the least of your worries...

-David

P.S. If you really can't stand Firefox for some moral reason, there are
other innovative options, particularly Opera and Flock. (I don't know much
about I-Rider, which does look kinda cool. However, it's based on the IE
browsing engine with a different interface layered on top, so it would still be vulnerable to any IE security breaches. And $30 is a bit expensive for a browser, in my opinion.)

Gawd. To write a word-ful all about internet browsers, it was disturbingly inhuman. If he willed it, all the points above could have been translated into a thesis! (insert shock face here)

Upon reading this, OH SHOOT. It sank in. I am in love with a geek. And geek is the new sexy. Didn't you know? Hah!

By the way, I share in his disagreement that Firefox is inferior. It's actually the best thing that ever happened to browsers since sliced bread! (Yah, got that from him, too.)

Chivalry Is Alive, Apparently

After class and my group meeting, which is way past 9pm, I took the F to the Lower East Side to meet a friend who is nice to overhaul her closet to find something for me to wear this weekend. She was having dinner with a guy right by Canal St. (Chinatown area) and asked to meet there. Being this ignorant novice who can afford to walk going home in one of the safest neighborhoods in the city, I thought to myself: "Chinatown? It will be as busy as usual, with peddlers and bargain-hunters - so what the heck. I should be okay."

Getting off the subway, and climbing up the stairs, the place was totally deserted. You can count with your fingers the number of people on the street. The streets were not well-lit, and I can only see dark alleys. It was creepy.

I needed to walk 3 blocks west to find this hole-in-the-wall restaurant, and 'lo and behold, out of nowhere, I was approached to by a black thug. I did not know what to do because I don't have any defense mechanism on me! He kept repeating "Hey wassup lady? Wha' you doin'?" He was blocking my way, but I passed him and walked away as fast as I could, trying to find a bright streetlight. I thought I was going to be mugged - again - but this time, with assault. I do not want to go through canceling my credit cards, replacing my phone, losing my keys and all those hassles! (Please Lord) I almost had a heart attack.

I found my friend eventually, and with my heart thumping, I ran to her. She was oblivious about what neighborhood is like at night, having dinner at this posh Swedish restaurant that is totally out-of-place in that neighborhood. So anyway, she happily showed some dresses (which by the way, all fit me very nicely!)

Let me cut to the chase.

Being a cheapo, I asked which train is better to take to get to Midtown. The guy friend - who is Caucasian - recommended that I take a cab instead, because it is not safe to be walking around and taking the train alone. Spare a few more bucks, and spare your life. Moreover, he did not feel comfortable letting me get off and walk (even for just a block where the cabs go) - so he insisted that he walk with me. And he did. What a nice, chivalrous gesture, I thought.

In New York, you can hardly find a guy who does that. I know that is nothing much - especially being raised in a mama's boy society. So I gave my friend a peck on the cheek, and whispered "he's a keeper".

Maybe next time I should just talk my friends into meeting in Times Square, even if it is not their most favorite ;-) At least that's where people and policemen never run out.

In The Middle Of Laundry

It's half an hour past 9pm now, and I have 3 things I need to accomplish tonight.

a. Refine my Final Paper about Leadership and Management in Crisis that's due tomorrow
b. Decide which dress to wear for this formal event this weekend - thanks to my wonderful girlfriends who are coincidentally the same size as me
c. Do my laundry and fold my clothes

I have 3 loads of clothes washing in the laundry room now, each costing at least 2 bucks per load. Drying, however, is 1.75 bucks a pop. Not to mention the hassle of bringing a bag full of dirty clothes all the way down to the basement to get them all clean again. Seriously, laundry takes at least 10 bucks and 2 hours of your day - including folding and hanging. It's not my most favorite chore - but who has favorites?

I read a writing piece from my very good writer-friend and she talked about saving on time vs. saving on money. Do you just order food in so you can save the amount of time you use up cooking and washing the dishes - giving you more time to chat with your bf, write your paper and do your homework? Or do you just cook and clean and use up 3 hours of your day to save a few bucks? I personally think there must be a perfect balance, in a sense that one should not outweigh the other. On th flipside, it could be otherwise if the situation calls for it.

Living on your own - away from family - will really will build your character and I will highly recommend it to any person who is still unmarried. It makes you learn all about balance and what your priorities are. Should I do my laundry first? Should I write my paper first? Should I blog about writing my paper first? ;-) Everyday questions that may sound simple to tackle, but can get really complicated if you do not know how to manage your time.

Now I have to stop blogging, get back to my laundry, transfer it to the dryer, and finish my paper - so I can succeed at checking off at least 2 of my to-do's for this evening.

TLTILAF Part Deux

After spending Thanksgiving in Boston with family and friends, David and I went to Kennebunkport, Maine (where former President George Bush's seaside home is located). We went to visit his friend who is a brilliant neuroscientist. He is taking his Ph.D. at Harvard, got his Masters from MIT and his undergrad from Williams. I have never met a "real" scientist before - I thought they are an urban legend. Haha.

Dave's friend belongs to a wealthy family, which explains the fancy Kennebunkport vacation house address, but he is very down to earth and unpretentious. He gave us a tour of their beautiful 5-BR house. They have a state-of-the-art kitchen (2 of them), a basement with the most expensive audio-video system I have ever seen, their own spa/sauna room and a mildly chilled wine cellar with plenty of Moet and expensive Italian wine.

We were able to spend an evening there, just eating home-made stuff and talking about school, b-school, tech gadgets, trading Google stock, balding men, traveling and patenting. We were able to spend time with his family as well, who are all very warm, friendly and welcoming. His mom cooked dinner, which were mostly Thanksgiving leftovers - turkey, cranberries and pumpkin cheesecake. But it turned out pretty yummy still! Also, the table was set with candles and decor, and the lights were dimmed - and so, it felt like the real thing.

I don't really have a point for this story, but it's just a good addition to my TLTILAF series. :) Attached are some photos.


Off the road, you enter a private pathway to the house.















The vacation house.


Dinner setting.


The fireplace - where we gathered together for some wine, crackers and home-made pate.


I was fascinated with the different colors on the counter top, so I just had to take a photo.


Breakfast is ready.

The Demise of Pets: An Omen?

I am generally not superstitious, but when things happen inadvertently, following a specific "sign", I welcome my belief in omens.

My siblings and I are such animal lovers that we have made our own makeshift zoo back home. Over a period of 10 years, we must have had 3 dozens of small pets (including babies), 6 dogs, a cat, turtles, fishes and plenty of birds. We take care of our pets like they are family, feeding them healthy, grooming them, giving them attention and toys, and bringing them to the vet. The quality of life our pets had reflected our own (especially in relationships).

One time, I gave my ex a beautiful Boston Terrier named Heather - and she was spoiled to death during the good parts of our relationship. When we broke up, I doubt she was even given baths, proper food and taken to the vet. I really wish I had her back.

Over the years, when our pets die without any reason, the omen-believing me is left perplexed - thinking that it's not old age or poor health that made it happen. The demise of a pet becomes the sign of something about to happen.

Let's take it back years ago when my 2 sharks died. They literally were babies when I got them (3 inches long) and grew up to 2 ft. in a few years. One day, our househelp cleaned their aquarium and put tap water back (she was ignorant, it was supposed to be deep well water). Within a day, my sharks died :( And immediately after that, I decided to break up with my ex of 3.5 years.

Just a little less than a month ago, my sister's English bulldog died of a heart attack. She just weakened while she was taken out for a walk. Weeks after... well, let us put is this way - something similar happened.

Is it an omen when pets die? And when omens appear, do you just sit, wait and let the universe take over? Or do you consciously make something happen to justify it's an "omen"?