081/365 - Nanananananananana... Castella!!!

Castella from Japan

My folks got back from Japan today and they got this Castella for my Grandmother. I am sort of jealous since this sponge cake tastes so delicious. Oh well.

Out.

079, 080/365 - Temporary Solution

Beno, my daughter's turtle.

My nth attempt at carbonara. Too much noodles.

I've finally gotten some fixes done on our network. We still can't connect to some sites but thanks to the info given by one of my friends, I was able to fix the router settings so we can connect to Yahoo. I can blog again, yay!

Anyway today I tried again to create Italian Carbonara. My mom does a great job of cooking carbonara with no cream only egg yolks. I tried again today, and there is good progress. The problem is I used too much noodles and not enough sauce.

Next time I'll be more wary of how much noodles to use.

Out.

Internet Problems

No Project 365 posts since yesterday, and I apologize. Something's wrong with our ISP. I can connect to flickr but when I try to login, I cannot connect to Yahoo! So I can't post pictures, and that is one crucial element of Project 365.

Why don't I upload directly to blogger? Because I have a flickr account and I prefer to post ALL my pictures there. So please bear with me while I pray that my internet issues get fixed soon.

In the meantime, please enjoy this classic 2006 (2005?) photo I took one midnight in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. I used my handy EOS 66 SLR camera with expired Fuji Velvia film. I exposed the shot for around two minutes.

Hmm, the photo won't load on blogger but it is here. I checked the html coding and it's there. So the issue with Yahoo! seems to affect even my photostream.

Out.

I still consider this photo my best shot ever.

077, 078/365 - Bored?

"Sushi" my wife brought home Sept. 26

Hey, that's my reading chair!

This week has been my (hopefully) official bum week. It's the week where I just bum around, play games, spend time with my daughter, read books, sleep, whatever. Let everything out of my system and reboot.

Hopefully next week I can push myself to actually be more productive.

Out.

076/365 - Reading

My mom got six or seven of these. I just finished book 1.

One of the greatest gifts my mother gave me was my love for reading. I devour books, specially those that interest me. They can be autobiographies, fantasies, science fiction, or cookbooks. As long as I'm interested, I usually forget other forms of entertainment (laptops, iPads, TV) available at home.

This new series of manga my mother got, Oishinbo, is really great. I've finished the first book, and there are five or six more here that I'm going to go through these next few days. I can't wait for tomorrow to come so I can read the next one. I should be done with the series this weekend.

Out.

074, 075/365 - Adjustment Period

What to do at home?

Maybe practice cooking Spanish Torilla?

Now that I've got a lot of free time on my hands, I thought I'd try my hand at cooking again. I'm proud to say that the Spanish Tortilla I tried cooking turned out pretty good. It needed a bit more seasoning, and the potatoes were a bit under cooked. But overall a better performance from me than my previous attempts to cook Spanish Tortilla.

Out.

073/365 - Hot Chocolate

Filipino hot chocolate, or "tsokolate."

It's been raining hard these past few days. A cup of tsokolate really helps with the cold.

Out.

072/365 - Tonkatsu!!!

150 grams of hire katsu.

I said it once, I'll say it again. I love Japanese food.

Out.

071/365 - Early Vacation

I'll miss my workstation... Sorta.

It's finally time for a break. Time to recharge myself and improve myself.

Out.

069, 070/365 - What Goes Up Must Come Down

Main course was over, next up: dessert.

This milk tea joint opened up beside the office.

Yesterday was a good day. Today, not so much. As I continue experiencing highs and lows, I continue to learn to accept things and to move on. But it still takes time.

What do the pictures above have to do with what I'm writing? Comfort food. I guess.

Out.

068/365 - Japanese Food

Mixed Sushi @ Kenji Tei Ramen House w/ San Mig Light.

One of, if not my favorite type of food is Japanese food. Something about the taste and presentation makes it very appealing to me.

Out.

067/365 - Bumming at Home

Martina and Nero.

So I worked for half-a-day only. I was feeling dizzy and had a bad headache. I think there's a bug going around, since my wife isn't feeling well also. Although whatever she's feeling is different from mine.

I seem to be feeling better so I'm hoping to be able to return to work tomorrow. I just hope this rain going on stops soon or else flooding might happen again in the Metro.

Out.

066/365 - Rain!

The wind was blowing pretty strong too.

It's stupid to compare oneself with others. The results will always be either skewed in your favor or against you. With that out of the way, I have to say I'm pretty worried about the weather again.

It's the same strength of rain as the time work got cancelled. The only difference is this rain only started today. Apparently there's a low pressure area near the Philippines. I'm hoping it doesn't get worse, partly because of what happened to other Filipinos before, and partly because it really sucks driving in the rain. I may have to get some Rain-X for my car's windshield to help improve visibility in strong rains.

Yesterday I was driving home in similar weather, and I don't know if it's the wipers or if I have to really clean my windshield the way car detailers clean it.

Out.

065/365 - Hanging Out

Hidden by the cups, a Tobleron Cheesecake.

My wife had something to do at The Blue Leaf Events Pavillion today. So I took her there and we brought along our daughter and her yaya. Naturally my daughter would get bored at the event so I had to take her out to the nearby mall, Venice Piazza at McKinley Hill.

It was the perfect chance to spend time with my daughter. We spent about thirty to forty minutes hanging out at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf drinking and eating some cake. It was a good thing we decided to go there. It started raining cats and dogs for about fifteen minutes. After that we spent some time at the play area until my wife was done with her weekend work.

Out.

064/365 - What a Year

That kid in the middle? That was me.

Since I turned thirty-three this year I've been saying that it's been an interesting thirty-fourth year for me. And the hits keep coming.

Whether good or bad, happy or sad, mad or glad... Okay I'll stop rhyming now. But no matter what's been happening to me I am very thankful that I am now more aware and more conscious of things. I learn more now. I try to avoid mistakes I made before. And I try to become a better person.

Out.

063/365 - Pacsafe Bag Review

I've been using this for almost a month.

I've always wanted to own a Pacsafe product, since around 2009. Now I finally own a Metrosafe 300 GII. I have to say, this bag is very practical. It has one main pouch that has a laptop compartment and a smaller, zippered section. The front pouch you see in the picture above has an RFID safe packet, a smaller compartment near the top to hold your mp3 player, a small hole to get your earphones out, and a larger compartment in the lower part. The rear of the bag has two zippers, one at the upper area and another at the lower area, this allows you to attach your bag to the handles of your travel luggage. Oh, and there are two external pouches you can use to hold small umbrellas or water bottles.

I'm going to give credit to JD, my officemate, for encouraging me to get a Pacsafe bag. And I'm going to give even bigger credit to my mother, who actually bought me the bigger bag in Hong Kong instead of the Metrosafe 200 GII. She did get the latter, but it was for my Dad.

Let me gush about the good points. There are simple carabiner style locks you can use to lock all zippers in the bag. This prevents unwanted easy access to your belongings in tight situations. The bag has this neat locking mechanism that makes it difficult to remove the strap easily. The strap of the bag has two steel cables inside to strengthen it and prevent it from being slashed off. Also the bag is slash proof.

The design of the bag is very practical also. Space is relatively good if you're going out for the day. It supposedly can carry a 13" laptop, but since I don't own one of those I can't really confirm it.

Now, on to the bad points. The big compartment and the small compartment at the front share the same space. So if the bag is full and you try to put a point and shoot camera up front, it will bulge. And it's also relatively expensive. Those are the only complaints I have about it.

And maybe the big question of how I clean this. It has steel cables and slash guard fabric. Will it rust if I have it washed in a washing machine? I think I'll have to do some research how to clean this bag.

Finally, my conclusion. Yes, I recommend you get one of these. It's perfect to hold an office worker's usual gear. It's safe. It's not too bulky. And it looks nice too. Save some cash, buy one of these. When used properly it can keep your belongings safe and give you peace of mind when you commute or travel.

Out.

062/365 - A Good Day

Today was a good day.

In a very pleasant and surprising turn of events, today was a good day. A great day even. Things seemed to fall into place at work, and the team seemed to heave a collective sigh of relief.

The drive home was also good. We had a quick yet slightly stressful drive home. We didn't get rained.

I'm very thankful for days like this. Specially when they come as a surprise.

Out.

061/365 - Right Under My Nose

At the office basement parking slot (that I pay for).

I've been writing non-stop about what I'd to if I were to own a Beetle Baja. Or some other car. I've also written about what I'd do to my current ride. I just wonder now why I keep pining for some vehicle that I don't have when I "have" one now.

This car has brought my family and I to many places safely. It has never failed me, not that I remember. It's brought me home safe despite floods. It's survived nasty hits by flying tree branches when it was bringing me home during a super typhoon. I love this car.

It's been to the northernmost tip of Luzon, and it's been as far down south as Naga, Camarines Sur. And it's still going strong.

I want to make enough money that I can eventually afford to care for this car myself, not just pay for the gas bills. I also hope I can eventually make enough money that I can afford to add improvements to this car. Improvements I've written about before.

Out.

059, 060/365 - Finally!

My new 1TB portable HDD with free case.

Something got Nero's attention.

On the second month of my Project 365 I finally get the 1 terabyte portable hard drive. Well, not really. I got it yesterday.

What a trip down memory lane backing up old pictures into the hard drive. You can see some of the shots I posted via my facebook account. I didn't want to post them yet to flickr.

Out.

057, 058/365 - Quick Recharge

Anino Daytrippers

I'm slightly tanned.

So yesterday I finally participated in our annual company outing. I opted for the day trip, meaning I wouldn't have to sleep overnight at the resort. It was a fun outing, and I managed to both relax and bond with some of my officemates. Was it worth it? I guess.
Do I now regret not joining previous company outings? No.

Am I now recharged and ready to tackle the remaining tasks at hand at work? I guess.

Out.

056/365 - Company Outing

2006 @ Verde Island

With my former officemates from Holy Cow!

2006 was the last year I attended any company outing. Tomorrow will be the first time I will attend. I had my reasons for not attending. Most of it is selfish, some of it is irrational. All are valid in my eyes.

Out.

055/365 - Family

My daughter and I.

I'm not the perfect father. But I'm taking baby steps to being the best father I can be for my daughter.

Out.

054/365 - Wilting Flowers

These flowers are wilting.

I'm too negative sometimes. I tend to think of the worst case scenarios. The good thing here is when something good happens, the sigh of relief I get is very, very uplifting.

Out.

053/365 - No Pressure

Cupcake giveaway wifey brought home from work.

Ever since that fateful day last July 30 or 31 things have actually gotten better for me at work. It's as if the pressure was removed and I was able to start focusing on the task at hand instead of worrying about stuff that I have no control over.

And that's what basically happened. I'm now learning a lot of new things, making use of past experiences, and generally improving greatly in lots of things that aren't just limited to work. It's been a great August and I'm hoping for an even better September.

Come October things will most likely quiet down, unless more great things come.

Out.

052/365 - Books

And these are books I haven't read yet.

One of the best memories and features I have of our house is the books. Hundreds of books. See the picture above? That's in the living room. There's a whole bookcase in one of the hallways filled with other sets of books. My old room is full of my books. My parents' room is full of books, both mine and theirs.

I love reading. It came from living in a house full of books and magazines. It came from the stories my grandparents told me when I was a child. It stoked the flames of curiosity in my head. It made me dream. It made me happy, it made me sad. Reading rocks.

I don't read books as much as I used to. Probably because I now read sports news on tablets everyday. But if I do find a good book I like, I most definitely will read it.

Out.