My Diet

My friend RJ asked me to email him my diet.

I'm not sure if you'll agree with it but it works for me :D Here it is:

1. Avoid eating too many rice. Half cup for lunch, half cup for dinner, better if brown rice.

2. Drink green tea to speed up metabolism.

3. Avoid eating fatty parts of meat. Go for the lean parts of beef, pork and chicken. Eat any part of fish :P

4. Don't drink sodas -- including diet sodas.

5. Don't drink 'fad' drinks such as Vitamin Water or Gatorade.

6. Drink 100% juice (e.g. orange, grapefruit or pineapple), don't drink artificially sweetened juices.

7. Preferably, drink water. Lots of it.

8. Don't drink frapuccinos or milkshakes or slurpees.

9. Avoid salty foods like potato chips, fries.

10. Secret hehe

11. Eat cheese only sparingly; avoid butter

12. In between meals, if hungry, eat a handful of raisins, prunes or dried cranberries. Fresh fruits like bananas, pomelo, apples, oranges, grapes are also good.

13. Eat something sweet after each meal to lessen cravings (see #12 for examples)

14. Eat dinner early between 6-7pm. Don't eat anything heavy afterwards.

15. Do vigorous cardio (jogging, running or spinning NOT walking) for an hour, 3-4 times a week. If you're working, you may exercise at night. You actually burn more calories.

16. Sleep at least 7 hours. You gain weight if you lack sleep.

17. If you eat chocolate, don't buy white or milk, go for dark. If you don't like dark, don't eat chocolate!

18. Take multivitamins like Centrum. Also take a probiotic supplement (acidophilus/bifidus) and/or an enzyme supplement (check Healthy Options) to aid in digestion. B vitamin supplements help you lose weight but make you feel hungrier. L-carnitine supplements help you burn more fat if you exercise.

19. Don't hesitate to splurge on weekends, but ease up on the rice, bread, sugar and fat intake.

20. Try to keep a diary, journal or blog to record what you've been eating. It makes you more self-conscious about your diet.

Let me know if you have violent reactions!

Dos and Don'ts in the Restaurant Business

Restaurants are a key part of my daily diet. I find it exciting to try new types of food and cuisines. That's why I'm often "in the know" when a new restaurant has sprung up in the neighborhood. People call and ask me where to eat and what to eat. It feels good that they find my advice valuable.

With that I've taken note of the most annoying things I find in a restaurant that will make me promise to myself never to come back:

1. Don't offer items on the menu that aren't available. On one occasion, I encountered a menu where most of the items were unavailable. I told the manager why bother giving us the menu? An early warning would have sufficed.

2. Similar to #1, don't take orders for something that isn't available. My family was eating at an Asian Restaurant that was ill-prepared to handle our group. My brother and cousin ordered the same dishes. The spicy pork ribs if I'm not mistaken. Only after 30 minutes did the food start to trickle in. Exasperated to see that all of us were eating except them, they asked what happened to their orders. Turns out that it was not available. Seriously, they were pissed!!

3. Don't send out waiters that don't know a thing about your menu. More often than not, your customers will ask about your food. Two days ago my mom asked a waiter what kind of suka (vinegar) was being used in a salad that we were eating. The waiter scratched his head and said "vinegar sya mam" (it is vinegar). Well, duh mister, my mom didn't ask for a translation!

4. Don't use "lang" (only) in explaining what's inside a dish. In one of my favorite Japanese restaurants, a waiter was attempting to explain what a Shoyu Ramen is. He said in Filipino: "noodles lang sya sir, pati sabaw" (it's only noodles and soup). The worst thing you can do is reduce a dish into something so basic such as noodles and soup. After hearing that, would you still order a Shoyu Ramen? I didn't think so.

5. It's common courtesy to give customers a full or partial refund when something goes awry, like when a waiter spills soup on a customer, or an alien life form is found swimming in the food. Restaurants here rarely honor that practice. These refunds mean a deduction to the manager's and/or staff's salaries. But then again it is the right thing to do.

6. Don't stop customers from taking pictures of their food. The worst sin is to piss off a food blogger. Blogging is a great way to promote your restaurant. Leave them be -- they're not trying to steal your trade secrets. If you read nothing great or nothing at all about your establishment on the Internet, that means only thing. Your restaurant sucks.

7. Having lots of flies, roaches or rats inside your restaurant is never excusable. I was eating at a place that specialized in grilled baby back ribs. The problem was a bunch of fruit flies was hovering above it while I was trying to eat the damn thing. I complained. The manager said "matamis kasi ang sauce nyan" (it's because the sauce is sweet). Lamest. Excuse. Ever.

8. Don't serve cooked food that's older than a day. Odds are that food will taste not as good than if it were newly cooked. Moreover, it could be already spoiled.

9. Use realistic pictures on your menus. Too much bells and whistles in your pictures will leave your customers "underwhelmed" when they see the real thing.

10. Print ample amounts of menus. Count the number of tables in your restaurant. That's the minimum number of menus you should have ready. To be safe, double that.

My Awesome Nieces

Times like these, I miss all the people who matter to me. But out of all of them I miss my nieces the most.



They both are the daughters of my brother Dennis who's based in Manila. His family didn't come home to Davao for the holidays because his wife was having pregnancy issues. This bummed out everyone in my clan but it was for the best, I guess. My mom was the most bummed out.

Each of them has her own personality.



Mavis (aka Maria Venice) is the shy and sweet one, but there's another side of her when she's not in the mood. One moment she's adorable and another she's like the queen of the damned lol. But as she got older she's toned down a LOT and now she's a pleasure to be with 24/7. Mavis also has a natural sense of humor which she probably got from me (hmm) and a great love for animals (definitely not from me). She loves to dance like my mom. When she's all grown up I'm sure she'll break a thousand adolescent hearts haha. And I'll be there to break their skulls!



Maddi (aka Maria Danica) is the feisty one. She knows what she wants and makes sure she gets it! Being the second child Maddi follows on her older sister's footsteps. When you first approach her she's extremely shy. But when she sees that Mavis has opened up to you, she'll follow suit. She likes to bully Mavis around because she knows that Mavis won't fight back. Wait till their new baby sister arrives! As you can see Maddi is also quite easy on the eyes. Wow, I can already imagine the headaches coming our way when they hit puberty. :\

Maby, the upcoming third baby, will be born in April this year. I can't wait!



To my three nieces: I love you a lot! Hope to see you in February!! (ok maybe just two of you)

Rainy Days

Today is a rainy day in Davao, both literally and figuratively. Literally, the rain hasn't stopped pouring since this morning. The streets didn't flood that badly, fortunately. I drove my Pajero instead of the usual Toyota Vios, in anticipation of stronger rains tonight. Here, when it rains hard, it floods almost instantly. When I'm in my Vios I feel like the car is sinking and it's taking me along with it.

Figuratively, I am having an awful day because my server stopped working and my webhost said there's a chance that no data can be recovered. Worse, no backups were made. I'm kicking myself now for not making any backups, not even one. But I also can't believe that the webhost didn't care enough to back up my files. I mean, I'm paying for a dedicated server and they took no prerogative whatsoever to make backups. One tech support guy whom I've hated from day 1 said "it was out of their control". That's pure bullshit because unless a lightning struck their server farm, everything is within their control to prevent such disasters form happening. Good news is I'm leaving them in a month or so unto greener pastures. Ugh, at the same time I'm also dealing with an advertiser who hasn't paid me for two months. Could this day be rainier? Is 2009 the Year When Andrew's Life Will Suck Ox Balls? Coz it seems headed that way!!

* * * * *

A friend from Manila suddenly called and wanted to meet for dinner. Where will I take her? Hmmm.

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Listening to "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire. Nice song but better not sing it in front of prostitutes LOL

My Cheap Style

For several years, my personal style philosophy has been: "If you can get away with it, fake it". You'll be shocked to know that most of my clothes are knockoffs of popular brands :P But people tell me that my clothes look expensive. Whoaaa! What a nice compliment! Props to Structure and Quick Change stores (found at Greenhills Shopping Complex in Manila) for having balls of steel to sell such quality black market clothing without getting caught! Seriously, spending your own money is waaay more difficult and it makes you think twice, thrice, fwice (?) before you let go of it. That's the reason why I've gone cheap on my wardrobe selections.

I like to dress up casually. I hate wearing formal clothes like long-sleeved shirts, barongs, coats and slacks. Ugh. I hate them because for one, the weather here in my country is damn hot. The only place where I like to sweat is inside the gym. Secondly, I don't like formal events. They usually bore the hell out of me. My daily attire is a shirt plus a pair of jeans or cargo shorts.



When I go shopping, I look out for basic crew necks with nice prints. I avoid colors that look awful on me like yellow, light blue and green. I love black shirts because they go with anything. The shirt sleeves have to be 4-5 inches from my elbow and length has to be just below my waist, or else I won't buy them. Gone are the ghetto hip-hop days of oversized shirts and torn jeans lol. I still like my jeans pretty loose. I wear a size 32 although my waist is a 30.



Two days ago I got concerned about using wax on my hair everyday. My Style Sensei says it's fine as long as I wash it off at night. That's the problem. I don't take showers at night and to think I exercise vigorously late in the afternoon! Am I gross?! Answer! Now that I know, I'll be forced to clean up in the evening before I sleep :x I promised to myself to apply wax three times a week tops and wear my hair normally for the rest of the days.



I take good care of my face by washing it with a facial wash that my cousin Gwing gave me for Christmas. I checked it out at Skin Food to see if she was cheaping me out but boy was I NOT disappointed! That place is crazy pricey! Thanks Gwing :P I use a toner afterwards and apply an exfoliating cream from my mom. You can say I'm vain :P It's ok hahaha.

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Last night I was talking to a friend over YM about losing weight. He and his group of friends are *trying* to undergo some bootcamp-style diet program that involves eating brown rice, veggies, lean meat and avoiding sugar and carbs altogether. He asks why I'm so conscious about my weight since I'm already thin. I said it's because I'm not young anymore and I carry my dad's genes (he's diabetic). My dad's a good guy but sadly he's doesn't care about his health T_T Next time I'll give him another one of my lectures and hopefully he'll listen.

Moral Dilemma

Late last night I met up with my friends Christine (aka Chicklet the bubblegum) and her husband Mac for coffee, 'coffee' being a misnomer because not one of us ordered a thing that had coffee as an ingredient. Yeah, ok.



Chicklet lent me a DVD of the first few second season episodes of the TV show Chuck. And for about ten minutes she couldn't stop gushing about her crush on Chuck. She says Mac can do a great impression of Chuck having a 'flash' if that's the right word. He looks something like this:



Fotunately she likes Chuck Bartkowski, and NOT this jerkoff:



I said why don't they train Chuck to be a spy so he can defend himself? Chicklet agreed, but we sort of realized that that would ruin the premise of the show. It's like Ugly Betty becoming pretty all of the sudden, or like that silly show Prison Break where all of the main characters are not in prison.

* * * * *

After the Chuck talk I suddenly had the urge to tell my friends about an incident at the gym I go to. As I was running at the semi-outdoor track, I saw an uncle of mine with a girl. A girl who isn't his wife. I dunno what to make of it. Are they friends? Or clandestine lovers? I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. I wish I never witnessed it because now I carry this burden of whether to tell my aunt or not. My friends say I should shut up until I'm sure the affair is real. So yeah, I'm keeping my mouth shut and not risk putting my family and/or my life in shambles. What do you think? I hope none of my relatives read this lol too late.

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Tonight I'm eating at a Japanese restaurant called Tadakuma with my mom and her sister's family. It's a bit on the trendy side but the food's good. They have an old branch across the Central Bank that has an authentic Japanese ambiance which I prefer. Nevertheless the food and prices are the same. Oddly enough, they didn't print a trendier menu to match the trendy branch. They use the same authentic menu that doesn't belong in a restaurant trying to be trendy. Perhaps I'm bitter that they always run out of salmon. :P

New Year and Old Stuff to Resolve

The day before New Year's my family and I headed off to the Eden Nature Park where we'll be partying and parting ways with 2008. I was a tad pessimistic about the scenario because 1) we've been doing it for 2 years 2) it was getting boring 3) my cute nieces Mavis and Maddi weren't around 4) the rain was pouring 5) means we'll be stuck in our cottages instead of going fishing or ziplining aka non-boring activities.


(Taken the next day; Failed to catch anything. PHISHING PHAIL!)

The trip was quick. After watching one episode of Gossip Girl on my PSP, we were about 3/4's there. But that doesn't change the gloomy outlook -- it was raining a lot harder in Eden than the city that we left behind. To make matters worse, we were assigned to a tiny 2-bed room that was farthest from all the other rooms where my cousins are staying. I forgot to mention I was with my mom and my brother, both of whom I can't stand because of their heavy snoring. After much grumbling from my mom, we were moved to a much bigger room, one with 4 beds. Ah, good job mom! I also learned that my cuz Ria will stay there too. Ok, that time it was around 4pm and the four of us were becoming restless in our room because of the rain and the lack of things to do. My mom decided to take us to the cafe where there's free wireless Internet and food to eat. On cue, Ria and I took our Nokia N82 phones from our holsters and logged on to our favorite website -- Plurk.com. Ria was flustered because her phone couldn't get a decent signal. I, on the other hand, was able to access to site, albeit intermittenly.

I ordered a regular ham and cheese sandwich, while my big brother had himself a club sandwich. Mom and Ria ordered banana fritters. The folks at the cafe got my drink wrong. I specifically asked for a mint iced tea. They gave me a Nestea. I pretended to be in shock after drinking half of it and realize it had no trace of mint in it. They promptly provided me the correct replacement drink. :P



Afterwards we headed back to our storm shelter and waited for another hour before the New Year's mass. I'm not the religious type and I admit I dread going to church. That's why I suggested to my mother that I wait at the cafe to reserve seats for our 25-member clan. My bro and cousin liked my idea and volunteered as well. My mom thought it was a marvelous idea too and allowed us to skip mass.

At that same cafe we were at that afternoon, we were surprised to see the number of people already there and exploring the buffet tables! We left our jackets on our reserved tables to get our plates. There was hardly a line yet which was good because I was already hungry as hell. Ok, in retrospect, I wasn't a fan of the food at Eden, but this year they went above and beyond my expectations. The appetizers were great particularly the toasted bread slices with dried tomatoes. Out of the main entrees, I liked the pasta that had dried tomatoes and olive oil in it (or pesto? I don't remember LOL) For dessert I had a spectacular slice of red velvet cake.

The highlight of the night began when I took out my camera. Camwhoring times!! I'm the official family photographer during important events and that night was hardly an exception. Let the pictures speak for themselves :P

















For me, the photosessions were way more exciting than the countdown that happened downstairs. Everyone was going insane! I continued to take pictures because I'm not much of a dancer.

To end my obligatory New Year's post let me jot down a list of things I need to do and change for the year 2009. 2008 was a nice year. 2009 will be a year full of challenges. Good challenges I hope :p

1) I hope to stick to my diet and fitness plan and lose 5 more pounds
2) Remain tobacco-free
3) Blog more!
4) Go bungee jumping in Malaysia or Thailand or Macau or anywhere
5) Be a better friend to my friends
6) Become more sociable and meet more fantastic people online or offline
7) Work harder. I slacked a bit in 2008 because of laziness and Plurk :c
8) Become more financially stable (aka richer)
9) In relation to #8 I should stop being an impulsive shopper and use my credit card less often.
10) By hook or by crook, I'm going Hongkong!!
11) Learn a new skill, perhaps dancing? haha
12) Learn how to take better photos. Does that mean I'm buying a DSLR? We'll see about that!

PS - Did you notice my new layout?! :P

Bloggers Christmas Party

A few pictures from our Christmas party yesterday!!


[Me, Ria and Gwing]


[Jude(?), Angel, Jim, Chattee]


[Angel, Jim, Chattee]


[Me and Gwing]


[Angel and Dominique (who was also celebrating his birthday)]


[What are Chattee and Brendel doing?]


[Gwingston FTW]


[Andrew, Gwing, Ria, Winston]

The party was held at the World Palace, which is practically on the same street as my house, Gwing's, Blogie's and Ria's hahaha. Talk about convenient. The food was great particularly the calamares (squid rings) and buttered chicken. I could have stayed a bit longer had my tummy behaved appropriately. But I had fun! Till next time!

Merry Christmas and Then Some

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you!

This year's Christmas has been the same for me for the last ten or so years. Boring, lame, lethargic. The food, although deliciously cooked up by my talented mom and aunts, fail to liven up the party. And I'm on a diet. The most exciting part of our celebration has to be the kris kringle part. A few weeks before Christmas my cousins and I pick our manitos/manitas using an online application I made up 3 years ago. It is simple: you login, click a button, and the system picks out someone whom you should buy a gift for. There's also a wishlist where you can put in what gifts you want from your secret santa. Since most of us are already in our twenties and thirties (ehem), working or out of town, we barely have any time to do this manually, that is, roll up our names in pieces of paper and pick one out from a jar. Some of my cousins wonder if I'm leading them to think that they are actually picking a name randomly but in reality they have already been assigned their manitos right from the beginning. They can think whatever they want. What's important is the app does its job and it does its job well!

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Leading up to the holidays I have been hitting the gym almost everyday. I am absolutely addicted to this group exercise called 'spinning'. You have an instructor in front of you, yelling at you and telling you what to do. There's very loud thumping music and ten other people on stationary bikes. Fun! One of the instructors named Jet tells us that an hour's session burns 500-700 calories. Whoa. That is a lot! That's why I've been so engrossed in it because I wanna lose my belly so bad. Like desperately bad. I know I'm not exactly the type that needs to lose weight, but despite my thin frame, my belly is disproportionately big. I get that from my dad. But anyway I am seeing some success with my regimen. I've lost about 2 inches around my waist and around 6 pounds. My belly still needs some work. So far I only have a "two-pack" instead of a six-pack. Haha. Gotta do more of those ab exercises I guess.

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Tonight we're having a Bloggers Christmas Party here in Davao City. It was organized by my friend Blogie. We're supposed to buy a gift worth P150 for another round of kris kringle. I bought a Melody Mouse worth P180. Problem is, I don't know who I'm giving it to. :] I hope to have a good time tonight.

Hottest Searches - December 20, 2008

Google:

1. rca dome implosion
2. a very brady christmas
3. paul rhoads
4. miss uso
5. ethan bortnick
6. paul rhodes
7. picower foundation
8. world gsm chip
9. gooey duck
10. miss uso mayra veronica

Yahoo:

1. sock and awe game
2. evan rachel wood
3. cheryl burke
4. rachel weisz
5. chace crawford
6. lindsay lohan
7. nfl
8. lisa rinna
9. hi-5
10. walmart

Big differences in search trends between Google and Yahoo. Google tends to be more relevant to current events, while Yahoo's users are more after pop culture than anything else.

Depapepe

I was listening to a nice instrumental song at Kangaroo Cafe that sounded Christmas-y and eerily Korean, but I wasn't sure what it was. I asked a barista if he knew the title. He didn't know. He said it was an Mp3 file playing off of a USB stick, and generously offered to give me a copy. I scanned through about 200 songs in the drive. Ugh, it was not until the last 20 songs that I found it. It's a song called "Spur" by "Depapepe", a guitar duo composed of Takuya Miura and Yoshinari Takuoka. Honestly I was a bit thrown off by their name. "Pepe" stands for a female sexual organ in Filipino. Lol, now I see why they're not that popular here. But seriously I love the style and composition of their songs. To think they are limited to only two guitars, which is not a lot. Although some tracks have violins and pianos occasionally mixed in, the pair's superb guitar skills stand out in every track.

Depapepe's music is the type that you listen to when you wanna take it easy or simply "chill". You can say it's kinda what you hear in Korean soap operas (they're Japanese). Out of all their albums, my favorite songs, besides "Spur", are "Days", "Summer Parade", "Hoshi no Kazu Dake Negai Todoku" and "This Way". If you want to experience a different genre of music, Depapepe's worth a try.

Here they are playing Spur:

Money: Does it Make You Happy?

At the risk of sounding materialistic and sad, yes, money makes me happy.

Not always, anyway. It's the kind of happiness that is fleeting. It never lasts more than a day. I'm triggerhappy when it comes to my money. My bank account isn't quite the bottomless pit that I'd like it to be, but I like digging into it. On crazy days, very deeply. What the heck do I buy with my money? I like buying clothes, gadgets and expensive food (burp). I'm kinda high maintenance. These days though, I'm feeling the crunch of the crisis happening in the US. I earn in $$$. Anything bad happening in Uncle Sam's turf affects my financial well-being. Yeah, when I know I'm losing money, it makes me feel cranky. I guess money doesn't always make one happy, eh?

Money gives one a sense of security, but I have to stress the all-important mantra that money isn't everything. It just would be sad if your world revolves around money and nothing else and no one to share it with. But take the case of my office assistant. I talk to her all the time. I can tell her everything and she tells me her problems too. Unfortunately, she belongs to the large percentage of the Philippine population that is poor. She had her fourth child only recently. Her salary is minimum wage; her husband earns a little more than her converting swine waste into biofuels. Before she gave birth, I would take her out to Kopi Roti and Chow King to grab a bite. Our out-of-office trips were always interesting for me because she had lots of interesting stories to share. Oftentimes, she would tell me how difficult it was to feed her family. Aside from her day job, she processes government documents as a sideline. But despite that, the money was never enough. There were days when she couldn't come to the office because she didn't have money to commute. On rare occasions I see her beaming with a big smile on her face. She says it's a "good day", she even offers to treat me out to Kopi Roti. But I hate it when I see her crying because I know it's about money again.

Despite the monetary problems, I couldn't help but applaud her for her tenacity to reach her goals. She was able to build a comfortable house for her family and that was when her husband was for a time jobless. She is able to send her 3 elder kids to school. Though she borrows money from other people, she is able to settle them eventually. One time, while we were heading back to the office, I asked her if money made her happy. She says, without hesitation, a resounding "Yes!". I couldn't blame her. I would feel as depressed as her if I knew my family was starving. But I know in my mind that she loves her kids to death. And I know it's them that truly makes her happy.

Money, in the end, can make or break you. If you know how to manage your money and spend it on the right things, you will go far in this world. You keep the people you love and the friends you admire. If you squander money, deceive people and run away from bad debts, no question, you'll lose them all. My mom always said never to do business with relatives or friends. Somehow there is some truth to that. But ultimately it's the way both parties respect each other. With that, money becomes a non-issue. The moment it becomes an issue -- the personal relationship deteriorates into a mere business relationship. And we all know how chilly businessmen turn out to be when something's not right. It's all about trust and honesty. Without that any kind of relationship is doomed to fail.

Celebrity Lookalikes

And this is what happens when I'm bored:



I don't know half of the celebs I supposedly look like hahaha! And who the heck is Takizawa Hideaki?!

Counting Calories

The funny thing about me is I'm very conscious about my weight but at the same time I eat like a hungry trucker. Since last week I began my quest to lose my belly -- a trait from my dad that hasn't fully manifested itself yet thanks to my yo-yo dieting. I'm having some success in building my upper body after two freakin' years of hitting the gym. I was super skinny before, it ain't even funny. To build my upper body, I had to eat a lot of protein. And what better way to eat protein but with lots of carbohydrates, ergo, rice. As a result my tummy ballooned to unprecedented (dis)proportions. So now I'm focusing on cardio exercise such as running and playing badminton and not so much on weight lifting.

If you're trying desperately to lose weight, what works for me is halving my rice intake. If you're the type that consumes a pile of rice and little viand, I say STOP, now na! Thankfully, I'm not like that, but I love rice. Anyway, limit it to half a cup for lunch and another half for dinner. Another bane to my diet is Iced Tea. I'm a confessed Iced Tea addict like my pal Jay. Unfortunately, my evil friend Aileen also introduced me to Kopiroti's equally evil Iced Tea with Milk while I was in Manila last month. Ugh, I drink it at least 3 times a week now! Zzzzzzz. Did you know that a glass of Nestea iced tea contains 125 calories? A bottle of it has 250 calories. ZZZzzz!! I tried desperately to avoid it by drinking Coke Light or Coke Zero instead. But I discovered that caffeine and me don't mix. So I'm back with Nestea. Since this is a post about dieting, don't follow my example lol! Stick to clean, natural, fresh water. *cough* boring *cough* Ohhh have you tried those awesome Chocolate shakes at Shakey's?? Hahahaha.

Side Story:
Odd story about my ex-badminton group. I was introduced to it by my friends Tom and Paolo. It was weird because it was like an organization with a President, Secretary, Treasurer, division heads and even a set of rules!! I didn't really like everyone so I stopped playing with them. They were strict about not showing up! You had to pay a penalty. Are they whacked or what!? Now Tom and Paolo stopped going with them too. Pffft.

Hello Kitty!

Here's a clip of me and my niece Mavis talking about Hello Kitty O__0

Life is Full of Pain

What? An emo post by Andrew??

Noooooooo!

No really, my life is full of pain because my neck and back hurt like hell!!

Since my trip to Singapore I stopped going to the gym. It was only two days ago when I came back and look what happens. Last night I couldn't even enjoy my dinner because of the pain. :( So I got a massage at a nearby spa, which helped a teeny bit. I wanna go back and get another one! Ok, addict.

No, I ain't going emo on my 6-7 readers. Well, things are quite dandy except for this stupid pain on my back. Nothing to emo about then. :) Lol.

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BTW, there's a Davao Hotel you might want to stay at while you're in town. Check it out :)

What in the World is Ginanggang??

Ginanggang is grilled banana on a skewer brushed with butter or margarine then sprinkled with sugar. It's pure heaven, and it costs a measly three pesos (~7 US cents)!



Sorry for the ugly pictures, I used my camera phone.

Techno-Stressed I Am

So far this week I have not stepped into a cafe to "wifi". My cousin Ria can attest to that. Why? Because I'm techno-stressed as my friend Aileen lovingly calls it.

From now on I promise myself not to wifi more than three times a week. It's not only taking a toll on my body, but also on my wallet. It ain't cheap ya know! For now I am relaxing even though my work tasks are piling up. I plan on getting another massage tomorrow and see if I can get any work done in the evening. Next week, when I *hopefully* get my mojo back, I'm gonna finish up all pending work so I don't have to worry about them while I'm in Manila for iBlog4. I've made tons of plans already with Aileen, Ria and Migs and hopefully other bloggers can join us too.

If you're techno-stressed like me it helps to blog about inane stuff like photography. Ok don't get me wrong but I love photography, but I consider it only a hobby of mine. I love to blog about my pictures as you can see and it makes me forget things that stress me out. If you do like taking pictures try making a photoblog because all you have to do is post the pics, say a few stuffsss and voila... you are know a photoblogger. Hehehe. Alright it's getting late gotta get some rest.

On The Cover of Model Magazine

Yes! And it's made possible by MagMyPic.com! :D

Gucci Gang in Singapore

My Gucci Gang pic. 'Nuff said. Hehehe.

Barack Obama Should Get A Grip

Can you honestly say he would be in his position now if he weren't black? No, I don't think so. One glaring facet of this campaign that lot of Americans are turning a blind eye on is that on one corner, we have this amazing, experienced lady seeking to become the first woman President and on the other, a young, idealistic man who would become the first Black President. What's not to love? So why is that when we make comments that begin with "if she were a man" or "if he was white", people go ballistic?! Clearly a wave of change is about to happen (as Obama asserts quite so often), and there is no turning back from it. If both of them were white men, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be half as excited watching CNN as I am now.

I'm completely with Geraldine Ferraro when she said that the Obama camp had gone overboard by calling her racist JUST because she's on Clinton's finance team. He's really turning out to be big headed brat who doesn't hesitate to twist any truth to his advantage. Ferraro was merely pointing out the obvious. Obama's black, and the people love it. I would even go as far as saying that Oprah Winfrey went out on a limb for him because he is black. Would she do it if he was Caucasian? Not in a million years! Sure, he's qualified and all, but being qualified alone will not make Ms. Winfrey fall for anyone like she did for Obama.

My message to Obama is: Embrace your blackness. People are rooting for you because you are black and you represent change. I actually like you. Don't blow it!

Singing in the Drain

Last week, I started taking voice lessons at Dom's Notespell studio, which he says he a acquired through some bizarre hostile takeover. OK, why the hell am I taking voice lessons? It's one of those things I've thought about doing but never had the guts to until now. When I heard weeks ago from Dom himself that he owned a music studio, that was my cue!

Fortunately, it turns out that I'm related to my voice instructor. All throughout my first session, Mam Vicky kept on saying that I looked familiar. Did she see me on TV? Did she watch my newest blockbuster movie? Did she catch me in my latest commercial? AH. Neither. Wake up silly. Finally she asked me who my dad was. I said, Dion dela Serna. She went berserk. "Tito Dion's your dad?!" "Ah yeah." "Tita Baby's your mom?!" "Yup. So, you know them?" "We're cousins!!" "No wait, what?" Apparently, her mom is my lola's first cousin. That makes her technically my aunt, but we're the same age, so I avoid calling her tita (she kinda hinted that she'd kill me if I called her that).

Getting back to the subject, I have no grand plans of entering showbiz any time soon or sing in front of an audience (big or small). Hell no. I just wanna learn how to sing and hit all the right notes. Mam Vicky says I sing decently. On our next session, she wants me to learn how to sing an OPM song, which I don't normally listen to. I guess I'm gonna give Ogie Alcasid a test run. Bakit ngayon ka lang? Bakit ngayon ka lang dumating sa buhay ko? Ooh, snap. Just shoot me.

Zakoya Japanese Restaurant Review

Last December 19, 2007 (yeah that's a looong time ago) I had a wonderful time eating dinner at the Zakoya Japanese Restaurant with fellow bloggers Oliver, Maria, Winston, Dominic, Eric, Dennis and Ria (formal ba?). Apparently, the place is crowded with Japanese people (what's the politically correct way to say that) because Zakoya is as real as it gets when it comes to authentic Japanese cuisine. Anyone who knows me can attest that I love Japanese food. That's why when Blogie said that we were going to eat at Zakoya for our Food Trip, I was pumped!

The owners of the restaurant treated us to an eat-all-you-can buffet meal. I particularly enjoyed the Maki and Sushi bar, since there was a lot of items to choose from. Right beside it was the Yakitori grill and the Tempura. Whoa, I couldn't get enough of the tempura either! The nice thing is Zakoya keeps their buffet tables constantly filled with food. They definitely weren't skimping on us!



If you're in Davao City craving for real Japanese food, be sure to check out Zakoya! It's located at Door #3 DavCon (Davao Convention Center) Autoville, along Torres Street.

Top Problogger, Me?

Got a nice surprise a few days ago when Michael of Basapa.com included me in his list of Top Pinoy Probloggers of 2007. My thoughts? Hmm, I'm not a problogger. I earn pennies from blogging. But it's things like these that make you feel good about yourself. Being among the likes of Abe, Janette, Jayvee, Noemi, Anton, Rico and Sasha is reason enough.

My site, Ratified.org, also ranks Filipino bloggers. As I write this Leyte blogger Sustines Laplana is ranked first. While Michael ranks his list according to blog juice, I rank mine using PageRank, Feedburner and Technorati stats. Which gives me an idea... I might do a wrap-up post for Ratified.org before the year ends.

Oh yeah, I was about to make an excuse for not posting for a long time. But it's gonna be lame so I just cut to the chase. Hehehe.

My Dad Doesn't Get It

I just had the most annoying conversation with my dad. See, we rarely talk to each other because I'm here in Davao and he lives in Manila. Now, we're having this big family reunion in December and he wants me to design a souvenir program for the affair. Problem is, I simply do not have time to do it. Apparently, he still looks at me as his bum-son who spends the whole day playing games on the computer. It sucks because I never spent the whole day playing computer games. Sure, I bummed around a bit, but that was a long, long time ago. He found it so hard to believe that I have an honest-to-goodness career going on. I worked so hard to get to where I am today. It's depressing that he can't see that. He even asked me how much I'm making. I gave him a scaled-down figure, but he didn't look convinced. As if he didn't hear a thing, he said he'll pay me a measly P5000 to do the souvenir program. I turned him down, not because of the ridiculously low pay, but because I have responsibilities left and right that I cannot abandon. The discussion ended abruptly when my brother stood up and motioned that we were leaving. Next time we talk, I'm pretty sure he'll still be the same condescending father all over again.

Workout Progress Report

It's been about 4 months since I started hitting the gym again and I'm happy to report that I am seeing some progress. Not that you'd care though. Haha.

When I started, I weighed 68 kilos or 149 pounds. That's slightly overweight for someone of my height. My body mass index was at 24 and my waist was 34 inches.

Now, I'm down to 63 kilos or 138 pounds. That now makes me slightly underweight. What gives? But anyway, my BMI's improved to 18 and my waist is now 31 inches. My BMI is still not within the "Fit" range. But it shouldn't be too difficult coz to be "fit" my BMI has to be 17, which is only a point away.

I still find it hard to diet. But I've managed to cut down my intake of rice by half. I consume only a cup of rice per day, a half for lunch and a half for dinner. I reward myself in the weekends with a hefty meal at a favorite restaurant. I don't know why but lately I'm always craving for pizza, particularly the Manager's Choice pizza at Shakey's.

I find it sad that now at my age I can't eat all the foods that I want and I actually have to work out to speed up my metabolism and lose weight. Oh well. Anyway, here's something that'll make you laugh. Upon enrollment this girl who evaluated me wrote some funny stuff on my card:



Too bad it's kinda blurry. But notice that she checked Female under Sex. Beside Goal she wrote: Loss Weight, Tunning. Could help but snicker every time I start my workout

Where Ya From? The Di-Prom!!

So I came from a quick trip to Manila recently and all I can say is I'm a certified promdi!! Hehehe. Although I spent a mere 3 days there, it was fantastic because I got to meet up with many of my friends. On my first day, I went to Glorietta mall in Makati to eat a late lunch at Friday's with Miss Google Earth Aileen Apolo. I also met Jay of TitikPilipino.com. I had to apologize to the both of them because I haven't taken a shower for more than a day. I smelled like crap. Hehehe.

Next, I met up with the DotaStrategy.com crew, this time clean and showered and dressed in fresh clothing. We munched on delicious Italian food at the Sicilian Express, located in front of the Metro Walk in Ortigas. It was extra special because it was the first time the mod team were complete! I promised them we'd do another round come December.



(L-R Alvin aka quickbrownfox, Ronie aka nidoking, Marx aka yukino_silvermaine, Andrew aka drew and RJ aka orochi)

We did a little road trip from Ortigas to UP Diliman and Philcoa to play Dota. I had a lot of fun!!

As if that weren't enough, I headed to my friend K's house for a small barkada reunion. Besides K (yes, that's her only name), my other lawyer-friends Paolo, Vanessa and Eric (K's hubby) were there. I wonder why I didn't become a lawyer. I am quite good at lying. Anyway, Eric offered me some wonderful salmon sashimi that I gobbled up in less than a minute. Having no sleep at all since my flight, I was already groggy when suddenly it rained pretty hard. I had to wait 3 hours before I can leave. My friends were chatting about legal mumbo-jumbo while I lay on a chair half asleep. Oh my, what a way to start a vacation in Manila!!



Next day, Saturday, it was my cute nieces' birthday party at the Grand Terrace in Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. That was the main reason I came to Manila since my father paid for my ticket and I was dying to see my nieces. I didn't realize how spoiled they were until I saw the place. It probably cost my father a good 25,000 pesos to rent the place just for the party. Back when I was 3, the best birthday party I can get would be a small spaghetti and coca-cola affair in our backyard. Still, I'm quite happy for my nieces especially the older one named Mavis. She said after the party: I'm sooo happy! That in itself was worth the price. On a side note, that shirt I'm wearing is the same shirt I wore the night before because I was required to wear something white! Gross!!

To be continued :)