Happy Happy Char

It's been more than a decade na pala!!! You got some makeover last year and I know the travel to the metro and long travels to the south has taken it toll. Don't worry we'll have the urgent ones fixed by next month!

Thank you Char and Happy bday too!

RSA and SF

Just got back from SF and RSA. Lots of backlog at work and at home. Some insights about RSA and San Francisco, more vendors attended the expo, the the freebies was quite limited (unlike last year). My favorite bookstore is gone (Borders) and this was my 1st SF trip that I did not got any Warcraft book :(

Thats all for now. Remind me to post some clam chowder pics here soon.

Palawan Day 02

Happy Valentine's Day to all especially to my Raven!

Finally I have transferred the pics from the camera to the pc, so at least that task is moving.

As a Valentine's gift to Raven, I am posting the highlights of our Palawan Trip - Day 02

Day 02 is the PPUR Tour or Puerto Princesa Underground River Tour.

Our Tour Guide was Nelia and our driver was Macky.
We woke up very early, grabbed our packed breakfast from the hotel and left for Sabang Beach.
We stopped somewhere in the middle of the trip to eat our breakfast.
From Sabang Beach we have the boat ride to the  Puerto Princesa Underground River.
The underground river is really great and it deserves to be in the New Wonders List. Our PPUR boatman-slash-guide is funny too.
Because we were kinda bitin in the Sabang Beach (full story not fit for Chartotem Blog) after returning to the city in the afternoon, we hired a tricycle to go a nearby beach (Pristine Beach)
To wrap up the day, we had a dinner date at KaLui

Palawan Day 01

Raven and I went to Palawan last month. I have not yet sorted all the pics and vids as I am busy with a lot of stuff (official work as well + the extra-curricular).
But since today is our monthsary I am creating this post as a placeholder of the future post about our Palawan Trip.

Palawan and Puerto Princesa Day 01 Highlights:
1. My First Time in the Domestic Terminal :D
2. PPS pala is the airport code for Puerto Princesa City
3. We had our City Tour and our Tour Guide was Nema (she said she was the younger sis of Nemo)

4. Their museum have hologram. Social.
5. Visited the Cathedral
6. Visited the Palawan Massacre memorial
7. Go out of the main city, Raven tried weaving (hahaha)
8. Visited crocodile farm. Realized that it is not appropriate to call politicians and corrupt law enforcers, B-word (It is a dishonor for them to be called names like that). So I decided, from now on I will not call them (Politicians and Corrupt LE's) the B-word.
9. The lovely Binturong (Palawan Bear Cat)
10. Bakers hill and their wonderful goodies (hopia, spanish bread, yema, etc)
11. Dinner at Kinabuchs
Its really more fun in the Philippines :)
Love you Raven!!!

Taipei 2011 Visit

I visited Taipei this week.


Weather was cool but on our last 2 days it started to rain. The hotel is ok, it has the basics (unlike the other Taipei Visits wherein hotels are usually hi-tech) but I am getting used to the spartan life. The good side of it is that the place is quite and peaceful.

Places and food highlights included Din Tai Fung Sogo, Royal Host, Hooters Taipei and Taiwan Beer.

On the work sked, it’s quite tight as I still have meetings on Friday past 7 in the evening. But it was a good visit, keeping in touch with old friends and meeting new ones.

Until next time Taipei :)

Back in Manila

After one of the most frustrating travel experience I'm back in Manila. And since Chartotem's blog is not the place for rants (I will reserve that to the other blog), I will just post the happy thoughts here (remind me to post the cool mango shake pic)

Manila is hot, scorching hot! So to take the heat off our backs, Raven and I watched Iron Man 2. Yup its already showing in Manila even if some of the officemates told me that it should be May 7 Global Premier. Nice Movie!

We will be off to the malls with Cian Drayleefoo later!!!

Tale of Two Steaks

The one is homemade courtesy of Sai.

The other one is with PM teammates in Texas Land and Cattle Steakhouse

Both are delicious and both are free! :)

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Mom! Hope you enjoyed our short summer getaway! Love you so much!!! Mwah! Mwah!

My First Snow Part 2 and Bone Daddys

As promised on my previous post, I am sharing some pics from my recent travel. So here are some samplers

And of course Bone Daddy's Beer

as an alternative to Hooters.

Have fun!

First Snow

I had my first snow... Yipeee! It was a chilly Saturday afternoon in Grapevine Texas and it was really a cold night in Arlington Texas. It was a great experience. I'll try to sort out some pics and post here.

Goodluck to Pacman

Today is Pacman's fight with Joshua Clottey. Luckily I'm in the US again so I can watch it at my friends house with fellow pinoy friends. I guess we will have some fun and fiesta time again since some of them love to cook pinoy food when we get together.
I wish Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao good luck in this fight!!!
If you want to catch the fight visit this watch pacquiao vs clottey online post.

Update:
Pacman won by decision. Boring fight, Clottey did not box, he just defended.

Taipei

The last Taipei Trip was not "the usual" Taipei trip of mine.
First, its full of alcohol (only 1 day off alcohol). Second, the no-junk food campaign was a success on this trip.Third while in the conference I was trying out some social media stuffs :)

I will update this post with other related kwentos later.

Back in Manila

I'm back in Manila last Saturday. That was one long flight. IAD (Washington Dulles) -> LAX (Los Angeles) -> GUM (Guam) -> MNL (NAIA)

In NAIA Terminal 2 they have some checking for flu-inflicted passengers. I will post some pics of the DOH banner and the DOH flu check form in the future.

Remind me to write on how Asians are so paranoid about the H1N1, the East Coast "impersonal" approach and other wacky adventures there.

To the East Coast

My West Coast tour will end soon. I will have a short stint at the east coast for some trainings. This will be my first time in the east coast, so I'm kinda excited pa. But I miss my Raven and I miss Pinas na.

Hopefully I'll have no issues with the flu thing.

Cinco de Mayo and Free KFC

Updates lang sa lake forest trip ko.

Kahapon me Cinco de Mayo, pot luck ng mexican food at share share sa pantry. Kung ano yung cinco de mayo, teka mag-isip ako article at post ko dito.
Nung gabi naman bday ni Nico. Narbarbecue kame sa Candlewood at kumain ng spaghetti, chip, ice cream at punch.

Mamaya naman redeem namin yun Kentucky Fried Chicken Coupons kaya libre lunch namin.

Cge yun lang muna

Taipei Travel Part 2

Day 3
Tuesday. Off-topic for chartotem.
We walked from the office to the hotel (around 15~20minutes) looking for a place to eat. The dinner is quite good. White Sugarcane Shabu Shabu.


See these veggies?


I'm a changed man when I'm in Taipei. I eat a lot of veggies here. Oh this is also a good future article for Broxi blog :)

My boss (or my mentor, she don't want to be called boss) ordered beer with the shabu-shabu. I guess this week-long meeting is taking its toll on us, so we need to unwind and have some bottle of beer.

Day 4
This is food-trip day. After some meetings in the morning, we had a nice team lunch out at a barbeque place. Yup! barbeque all you can cook and eat.

Some sampler.


This is with matching drinks all you can and ice-cream all you can :)
another good future article for Broxi blog :)

To be continued....

Taipei Adventures

Day 1
Feb. 8. Andami palang tao sa NAIA Terminal 2 kapag Linggo. Sabi sa akin ng mga ground attendants ganito daw palagi pag Linggo kase maraming flights na papaalis. Me papunta Taiwan, China, Japan at kung saan saan pa. Lalo na daw sa Terminal 1, mas magulo at maraming tao pag Linggo.

Nag-stay rin ako sa Mabuhay Lounge. Syempre sulit-sulitin ang Mabuhay Miles Elite status, mag expire na ito this month. Na-delay yung dating nung eroplano so eto nagwireless sa lounge. Pa-twitter twitter, pasurf-surf, parang totoong blogger na ako. Hahaha!

Dumating sa Taipei, ok naman nde masyado malamig.

Ayos ang mga police patrol sa Taipei. Bimmer at Chedeng :) Anong sinabi ng Toyota Hilux ng San Juan!

Naghanap ng makakainan, ayun me Mo's Burger, kumain na kame dito ng mga kaopisina dati so ok na dito.

Day 2
Sabi ng ka-opisina ko Traditional Holiday daw ngayon dito pero me pasok sa opisina. Ang cute ng mga dekorasyon nila, me mga lanterns pa. Akala ko extension lang ito ng Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration. Hindi pala. Totoong Chinese Lantern Festival talaga. Pati yung google nila iba rin ang display image. Teka post ko dito pag nakuha ko na picture sa camera ko.

Umuwi ako mag-isa sa hotel. Patalo yung unang taxi na pinara ko, hindi marunong mag-english. Kahit kase meron na akong papel na me naka-print na pangalan ng hotel at address ng hotel (both english at chinese) eh ayaw pa rin. Sabi sa akin "Sorry No English". Mabuti na lang mabait yung pangalawang taxi driver.

Day 3?
Bukas naman pagod na ako mag-type:)

Itutuloy....

Manong, pa-carwash mo na yan!

Natrapik kame sa Sto. Tomas, Batangas, malapit sa exit ng Star Toll. At eto ang nakita namin, isang nanglulumahid (hehe tama ba tagalog ko?) na delivery van. Sa sobrang kapal ng dumi at alikabok, sinulatan na sya ng nakakaaliw na:



Ayus sa vandalism di ba?

Manong, pa-carwash mo na daw kase yan :)

July updates

July 22
Sunday Bloody Sunday!
I missed my flite to LA. Oh well, leasons learned, at nde na muling mauulit sa tanang buhay ko.
On the legendary continent of Emyu, Trib lost to Silber. Hinde maganda ang feeling ng iniiwan ka sa ere. Walang isang salita, pero as usual bawi na lang next time.

July 23
Welcome to LAX!
I arrived early sa NAIA2 airport. Around 5 hours before the flight. Thanks to my bro-in-law, exempted sa re-booking fees. The flight was OK.
I arrived safely sa LAX. Not so new airport pero i-rerenovate yata sya. Adventure kase solo flight lang ako. Sabi sa Information mas makakatipid daw ako pag shuttle compared sa taxi. So I took SuperShuttle.

July 24
Black Angus: Yummy
2nd day ng meeting. 1st day ko sa office.
We ate at Black Angus. Steakhouse sya, parang Tender Bobs. Good place. Good food.
I learned from my taiwanese officemates na yung first name ko daw e girl's name sa Taiwan, kaya nagugulat daw sila pag na-mi-meet nila ako. D@mn! Naalala ko tuloy yung 40-year old theory sa office (Sabi ng friend ko, me psychological study daw about sexuality ng mga lalake, you're not sure daw kung lalake ka nga or hindi hanggang hinde ka pa 40).

July 25
Bagle! (maling spell intended)
Quality Inns Pasadena offered free continental breakfast. On my 2nd day try ko bagel nila. Funny thing, try ko sya cut using knife. Tinuruan ako ng Miss dun kung paano gumamit ng bagel cutter. Hahaha noobie ka Char!
For dinner we had Shabu Shabu in San Gabriel. OK food. Ang patalo lang kumain sila ng stinking tofu. Mabuti na lang me exhaust sa ibabaw ng shabu shabu stove, para maalis nya amoy ng tofu.

July 26
WoW!
We had lunch at Jojos Pinoy Resto. Sorry mga kapuso, pero me wowowie sila ng lunchtime. Mas popular talaga yata ABS sa california area (had the same experience in SF last feb.)
We went to Frys. Syempre dapat pumunta ng Frys for pc and electronics stuffs.
I bought World of Warcraft Expansion (The Burning Crusade) Collectors Edition. Includes the game (TBC expansion) + DVDs + WoW trading cards + mouse pad + coffee table book on WoW Artworks. Happy ako no!

July 27
Tea Time and departure
We had tea-time sa Pasadena office! Milk Tea Shakes. I toured the Pasadena office, liit lang pero cool!
Went to my PM's home. Cool sya, parang feel ko nag-Sims ako. Block/bungalow type house, may garahe, me garden, me basketball half-court, me slides for kids. Dito ko na-appreciate mga bahay sa The Sims(tm) kaya pala ganun sya.
Arrived sa LAX earlier, na-decline ko na imbitasyon ni PM for snacks, mahirap na ma-late sa flight ulet. Strict pala security sa LAX. Checkin muna sa PAL then dalahin mo sa X-Ray nila. Delayed ang arrival ng flite ng 1 hour, pero all went well naman, I arrived in PH 5am July 29.

RSA 2007 at San Francisco

Day 1
Arrived at SFO and went to Serrano Hotel in downtown San Francisco.
Had dinner with Trenders in Hooters Fishermans Wharf. Kasama namin is Rica sa Hooters :). Bought some Hooters shirt for me and my moms :)
Day 2
Registered at the Moscone Center.
Since the session will be in the afternoon, pasyal pasyal muna kame San Francisco Wharf.
Seen Alcatraz Island. Viewed the seagulls and the seals at Pier 39. See the Queen Mary 2, the largest (steam) ship that was docked in the bay area for its cruise something, sabi sa news 180K usd pax daw cost ng isang tour.
They had clam chowder on sourdough bread, but since kakakain ko pa lang sa Inn n Out burger, I skipped the chowder. Me next time pa naman. Babalik ako dun for the chowder.
Day 3
Seen Bill Gates in his Keynote Speech together with Craig Mundie at 8am. Wow what a crowd! Laki kase ng hall kung saan nag-talk si Bill Gates, parang concert hall e, siguro mga 10000+ tao dun sa hall. Medyo nakakaantok yung talk nila, kase wala naman bago, pero seeing of the richest man in the world will keep you awake.
Shook hands with Eugene Kaspersky. Eugene did some talk on the latest malware threats. Standing Room, umupo na lang kme sa gitna ng aisle. OK ang accent nya russian na russian :p Kidding aside, naaliw talaga ako sa kanya, kaya after ng talk nakipagkamay ako, sabi ko its a pleasure to meet you here in person, inacknowledge naman nya me. Sana after the shake-hands makuha ko powers nya para sa detection rankings mwehehe!

To be continued...