Hiatus!

Been a long time since I last wrote in here... well, new year, new skin! Will try to do multiple blogs for the meantime. Hehe :-)

Find Your Favorite: The Starbucks Coffee Planner 2006

After 21 crème brulees and peppermint hot chocolates (among many others), I finally claimed my Starbucks Planner at Starbucks Petron Station, North Expressway (yep, we were on our way to Bulacan and Nueva Ecija then). Too bad my friend Jonjon was not there with his usual perky smile and warm hugs, but thanks still to baristas Ren and Lea who made me feel welcome during my stay at the store.

A lot of people have said that buying that much coffee does not compensate for just a planner. But for the collector in me, it was the process in itself that I cherished. I did play Santa (as their ads suggested), as around half of my precious stickers were through freebies I gave out to family and friends. It felt good to treat them to Starbucks, because it gave me a chance to catch up with them—what’s going on in their lives at the moment, how they’ll be spending Christmas--a welcome escape from our usually hectic work schedules.

This year though, the planner itself was indeed worth it! The whole thing works as a journal in itself, encouraging the owner to write not only appointment schedules, but their most intimate thoughts as well. That’s convenient for me since my 2005 Starbucks planner was more of my diary than a planner anyway (the first one that I actually finished after millions of required homework and online journals!) Each month features a flavored drink (which is actually cool because I get to learn the Starbucks lingo a little bit more) weaved into a blog-inspired entry. The GCs are a plus to help you find your favorite Starbucks concoction—something that actually inspires you to pursue life’s choices and make each experience as personal and memorable as possible. Wow… I never appreciated poetry until now. And I didn’t know that there were so so much more coffee variants to choose from… so much more to get you hooked into the Starbucks Coffee Culture! I know I’m now a full-fledged convert!

As for my drink… I’m still torn between a venti green tea frappucinno with extra whipped cream, a grande hazelnut caramel affogato, or just a good old white chocolate mocha with a ham and cheese croissant… gotta go find my favorite! 

The Company of Fools @ the Metro Bar!

Company of Fools @ Metro Bar

Finished my last event for the year-- sponsorship at The Metro Bar for the Company of Fools concert! Was really down with fever last night, but a they say, the show really must go on. So take pictures I did (thanks to my new sony cam!) while samples were given away to the events' audiences... Too bad I was only able to catch the opening song for the Company (I'm a fan pa nman!), but I really had to rest as the flu was really starting to affect me alte into the night


The Company! :-)

Thanks to Les, Dick, Dessy, Dianne and Cris for helping out! I wouldn't have survived the night without you guys...Hope you enjoyed the concert as well :-)


with Cris and Dianne :-)

Carabiners! Carabiners! Carabiners!

Carabiners!

The Carabiners are finally here!!!

After months of sourcing out a Chinese supplier, negotiating for colors, wire payment transfers, dealing with customs and brokers, deliveries to warehouse and plant... I finally have in our hands 60,000 carabiners (figuratively of course!).

It's a nice way to end the year, work-wise. I was quite afraid that we would not be able to see those cartons until next year, good thing it pushed through this week still. Importation was quite an interesting experience--there's so much I have learned about this industry for the past months. Thanks to Tito William for being patient with all my seemingly stupid questions, and for mentoring me about the tricks of the trade. I hope I can learn about export really soon as well--can't wait to ship Felinas out to Vietnam! :-)

Lost and Found (Returned)!

Was about to actually create an entry to warn friends to take better care of their phones.. as a couple of my friends had their own mobiles lost or snatched in public places, even in broad daylight... when I myself experienced the same thing!

I was on my way from the bank to see my dermatologist, when I realized that I left my phone in the trike! All color drained from my face, as I struggled for a minute on what I should do. I left the derma clinic immediately and took another ride to the tricycle terminal, waiting desperately for the driver to return. Surprisingly, this was the first time that I rode a tricycle without taking note of the body number and driver's name, as I have always been trained to do. Good thing my mom was able to contact him and he promised to return my phone. I gave him an extra jacket and 500 in gratitude.. I was really thankful to have my phone back.

There are not too many good men out there who would have returned lost cell phones... as they say, times are hard and I know he could have sold it somewhere. But I really am grateful and lucky I guess... I hope my friends have had the same fate. Not that I wish them to lose their phones, but that if ever misfortunes strike that their belongings would be misplaced or left somewhere, that they should also be lucky to find a good-hearted person who will still return them :-)

Big Winner Nene!

Congrats Nene!

Congrats to Nene for being the first Big Winner!

After 110 days, the show we have religiously followed is now over. Congrats to Nene (who was my bet, same as Jason) for winning the hearts (and text votes obviously) of 500,000++ Filipinos. I know that she will use the money well, as she is really quite smart. I actually like her, most of her qualitites and values I really admire and hope that I can also emulate--leadership, independence, optimism. I just hope she doesn't let her mother abuse her newfound fame and fortune (yup I can feel that vibe... too bad)

On to the re-runs, reunions and DVD versions then. Congrats to PBB and Direk Laurenti Dyogi for a great first season!

New Cam: SONY CYBER-SHOT DSC-T5!

new cam!

After months and months of saving up, I finally bought my cam! Yayness! It's sleek, gold and Sony, exactly how I wanted it... a little more than my budget actually (good thing for credit cards! Thanks for my red card Tina!), but I don't think I wouldn't have been happy with any other brand or unit. It was really love at first sight! Plus, I got a 3000 worth of GCs for accessories!

Thanks to Eds also for helping me buy the cam, and for all the questions I wouldn't have asked, techie-challenged as I am.

Trigger-happy time! :-)

iMac Fanatic!

iMac G5 :-)

I am now an iMac convert.

War Room now officialy has a Mac.... a new toy to be exact. I can spend hours downloading from BitTorrent or Posioned.. and learning about design has never been so user-friendly! No cables, everything is already plugged in the system. Just your trusty keyboard, mouse, and the wide-screen monitor with built-in hard drive. Best of all, no viruses!!!

Just hope I can learn photoshop soon also! Oh well, one lesson at a time... besides, I'm still not done downloading all seasons from Friends anyway! haha :-)