Photo Answers

Got this from EJ's blog who got it from Deng!

- answer the questions below

- do a google image search with your answer

- take a picture from the first page of results

- don't copy the answers of the person who posted this before you

1. the age you'll be on your next birthday

2. a place you'd like to travel

3. your favorite place

4. your favorite food

5. your favorite animal

6. your favorite color

7. first name of your crush

8. the town in which you live in

9. your screen name/nickname

10. your first job
11. a bad habit you have

12. your worst fear

60:Earth Hour

Have you signed up for Earth Hour? I have. Don't know what I'm talking about? Visit the Earth Hour site and find out. And while you're there, sign up. It's not too late. It's happening on March 29, 2008 at 8PM.

Let's be involved and make a difference because we can.

In Baguio for the Holy Week

We were in Baguio for the holy week and just came back yesterday. The traffic was terrible! It took us 8 hours to drive from Manila-Baguio and 7 hours from Baguio-Manila. The normal trip time is 5-6 hours. This long journey was caused by several road accidents and the huge volume of vehicles going North. Good thing Trisha was behaved during the trip (that was because she was sleeping most of the time, hehe).

Baguio, being the summer capital, was also packed with people who were also there because of the long vacation. I wouldn't recommend going to Baguio during long holidays as the traffic around the city gets really bad and if you don't know the shortcuts/alternate routes, you'll end up spending so much time stuck in traffic. All the tourist spots are also crowded and that includes SM Baguio.

The next time we go to Baguio for a long holiday, we'll make sure to leave Manila at least a day earlier and come back a day after. No more joining the throngs of cars on the road. Waste of time and precious gasoline.

Oh! On your way to Baguio and vice versa, try to take the alternate routes if you can, I think the route is longer but there will be no traffic and really few cars. And some good restaurants to dine along the way that we have tried are:

• Fortune Restaurant - serves chinese food located in Tarlac, Tarlac (in front of a medical center I think). Very near Metrotown mall. It's on the right if you're coming from Baguio and before the mall.
• Matutina's Restaurant - serves filipino food located in Urdaneta, Pangasinan. It's along the highway. On the left if you're coming from Baguio.

My Never Going Away Back Pain..

My back has been in pain for weeks now and I thought it would go away if I get a massage. I've had 3 massages in the last 5 weeks but it still hurts until now as I am writing this. I don't remember how this back pain started. This might be due to stress, incorrect sleeping position, bed/pillow not soft enough, lack of exercise and a lot of other unknown reasons.

I don't want to take a pain reliever because I do not think it will solve the problem and I don't want to be dependent on pain relievers. I think I need to see a doctor but I don't know which particular doctor. Rehab doctor maybe?

I hope this pain will be gone before the week ends as I want to join the Mizuno Run this coming Sunday.

What is it about Barney?

What is it about Barney that kids love? Is it his color? His songs? His voice?
Before we had Trisha, we swore that if we had a child, we won't introduce Barney to him/her. And now that we have Trisha, we tried not to have any Barney stuff at home. But eversince she got a big Barney stuffed toy for her 1st birthday, she instantly liked it. And now at 16 months, she likes watching Barney shows on T.V. So I guess there's really no escaping Barney!

Am I destined to be fat?

I'm destined to be fat! As I am writing this, I am eating a Hizon's mocha cake. I'm not yet overweight but I probably will soon be if I don't start doing something about it. I was never like this before. Well, nearly never. I never went on a diet in my entire life because I didn't need it. I was skinny during my teens and I ate whatever I wanted and at any time of the day and I wouldn't get fat. I was also very active, exercised regularly and was into sports, so I guess my metabolism was fast which kept me from getting fat. But as I grew older, and eversince Trisha came about, I noticed that I exercised less and less, became less active and almost quit sports entirely. Bad thing is, I still ate the same way, probably even more now which explains my growing belly. I'm not saying that having Trisha is the cause of my bulging belly because it's really not. She's the best thing that ever happened to us and I wouldn't mind being fat as long as we have her.

Anyway, I know I can still do something about this. I just need the right motivation. So far, I haven't found it. Remember the 5 steps? I already have step 1 in place, which is to be fit, but can't seem to go past step 2, that is to start today, because I don't have step 4, something to motivate me.

One of these days...

Trisha and Silver

We bought Trisha a new toy dog last Saturday at Animal Land at the BHS. It's her fourth toy dog and this particular one is named Silver, we got the name from Tita Tek's real dog (a Labrador) which has the same name.

Since she loves dogs, we have been trying to find a stuffed toy dog made from either a soft cloth or a smooth silk/satin like material that would not be irritating for Trisha. We wanted the toy dog to be something that she can keep and continue to use even till she grows up (thanks Kat for this idea). At last, we found it and it was not that expensive.

We even bought the toy dog a T-shirt which says "Best Friends Fur-ever" so it wouldn't look dull as the dog was all white with hints of gray.

History of my mobile phones

No, not all of these are my phones. It's our combined phones, Tet and I. Most of it we still use and some are kept. I'm blogging about these phones because it's the first time that we have owned five different brands of mobile phones. I'm saying first time because eversince we started using mobile phones, we've mainly been Nokia users. But times have changed and we have learned to appreciate other phone brands as well.


1. Motorola RAZR V3 - This was my first non-Nokia mobile phone. I loved this phone when I first got it and I still love it now although I don't use it anymore. I don't think I'll sell this phone. It has a sentimental value.
2. O2 XDA II Mini - I got this mobile phone for FREE from Globe. This phone was very useful for me when I was in China because I could install alot of different applications on it. Downside is, you can't use it to send SMS while driving.
3. Nokia 6500 - Which is why I shifted back to these types of mobile phones. This phone was originally used by Tet but she let me use it because I wanted a phone that I can use while driving. A lot of people liked this phone because it was really slim and looked really nice.
4. SonyEricsson K610i - But when I got this phone FREE from Globe (because of a new number), I decided to give the Nokia back to Tet. I'm starting to really like SonyEriccson phones and if ever I upgrade my phone again, I would most probably get another SonyEriccson phone.
5. Blackberry Pearl - This is Tet's business phone. It was the phone that I wanted to own for a long time because of the push-email capability but when I got to test the phone, I find it difficult to use.

So what's your brand of mobile phone?

Five Steps to Being Happy

Tet and I watched a movie last Sunday which stars Sam Milby as Macky, a fat pastry chef and Toni Gonzaga as Aira, a fitness instructor. You guessed it right, the movie is entitled "My Big Love". It is a fun movie.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing about this movie is because I wanted to share the five steps that Aira, name of Toni in the movie, kept on emphasizing all throughout the movie which I think we can apply in our everyday lives.

1st Step: Goal Setting - It is important to first establish what you want to achieve.
2nd Step: Start Today - When you know what you want, start it right away.
3rd Step: No Shortcuts - Once you do something, you have to do it right.
4th Step: Motivate Yourself - In the course of doing the thing you want, there will be times when you'd want to give up. So there should be something to get you back on track.
5th Step: Be Happy - In the end, once you've achieved the thing that you want, hopefully you'll be happy.

Good tips right? Try it out today!

Trisha @ the BHS Parking Lot

We were in Bonifacio High Street yesterday and I took this photo of Trisha with my SEK610i camera phone while she was playing in one of the empty parking lots. I asked her to look up several times but this was the only one I was able to capture.

She was busy picking up the stones so it was really difficult for me to get her to look up again.

I tried to trick her by telling her that there was an airplane but she was too fast for me. hehe..

2008 Toyota Corolla Altis!!

The loooooong wait is over! The 2008 Toyota Corolla Altis is out! Toyota has finally launched the new Altis here in the Philippines. You can now visit Toyota Philippines site or go to their showrooms to see the new Altis.

For those who have also been anticipating the launch of the new Altis, I'm sure you've seen how the new Altis looks like even before it was available here in the Philippines. There were already alot of images floating around the internet, especially since Toyota Thailand had launched it earlier.

Anyway, here's the news from Toyota Philippines about the launch of the new Corolla Altis.

V-Power!

Some of my friends have tried Shell's V-power gasoline on their cars eversince I told them how it has provided my car more fuel economy, BUT their experience with the gasoline was different from mine. In fact, they told me that it had either no effect on their fuel consumption or it increased their fuel consumption even more.

I have no idea why that is. I guess the V-power gasoline does not have the same effect on every automobile. But I'm still pretty convinced that the V-power still gives my car better fuel economy than other gasolines out there in the market and here's to prove it.

The image is not that clear but it reads 370KM. At that time, the fuel tank was almost empty and when I refueled, the tank filled up to 50 liters. So to do the math for the KM/L ratio, it's about 7.4KM/L. Not bad at all comparing it to the previous average of around 6KM/L.

One of these days, I'll try to shift to other gasolines just to check if the V-power is still giving my car the best fuel economy.

Car problems...

It's been days, even weeks since my last blog. I don't really blog while at work and by the time I get home, I just want to spend my time with my family. I have so many things I want to blog about but I want to write about my recent car problems. I'm now broke because of it!

It's actually not that recent. I had my car checked at Honda last year and they found so many problems. Problems with the engine, transmission and suspension to name some. The final quote amounted to over Php80K for them to fix all the problems. The car is 8 years old so I guess those problems are due to the eventual wear and tear. Still Php80K is a lot of money and I know I couldn't afford to have it fixed there. And even if I could afford it, I would still think twice.

So I scouted several car shops and eventually had my car fixed at Speedyfix (address: 312 shaw blvd., Mandaluyong City; tel#7174202). I've been going to this place before for tune ups and they have done a pretty good job. I didn't have all the problems fixed at once since it would still cost a lot and would take 2-3 days to finish. So I started with the important ones first, which was the engine problems. This was two weeks ago. I spent over Php16K.

And today, I discovered that there was a leak on the transmission. I knew about the leak already but didn't have it fixed yet because it was not yet dripping. But now it is so I have no choice but to have it fixed. I will again spend around Php10K. And that's not the end of it yet, because I still have problems with the suspension and etc. I will probably spend tens of thousands more before I get the car back into shape.

Eversince we got the car, we've spent thousands on gasoline, maintenance, registration, insurance, etc. and counting. But I'm not complaining though, I'm very glad that we have our car. It's been a great help for us, especially me. The convenience it provides is irreplaceable. I cannot imagine not having a car anymore. It has really been a part of our everyday life.