2016 Week 9 Recap: Last Farewell

February 22-28, 2016

Work

The week's highlight was that, we had our strategic planning at Discovery Suites last Friday, February 26, 2016. It was a challenge to wake up early in the morning since we are used to mid shift. While going to the venue, I was repeating my morning prayer where I asked the Lord to help us all actively participate in the planning session. I took 2 cups of coffee before the event started just to ensure that I don't fall asleep hahaha. Thankfully, it was a really productive day for all of us. An added bonus was that, I got to experience how it was to look for venue for these types of things and how hotels usually handle things. 

Holiday

The 30th EDSA anniversary was a non-working holiday. I planned on revamping my blog's template but ended office work too late on Wednesday that I just slept the whole morning. I went out in the afternoon to withdraw the budget for our strategic planning session the following day as it was just credited to my account late Wednesday but did not see the email until Thursday.

In the evening, my friend and I had dinner at Circles Event Cafe for her post birthday celebration. We availed of their promo which was a discounted rate of Php1,280 nett. It's still ongoing until February 29, 2016. Suffice to say that we enjoyed the food (we are very appreciative of any food hehehe) despite its limited selections as compared to other buffet restaurants. The ambiance more than made up for it.

Living Quarters
I got a new plant from my brother in Tagaytay. According to him, he got that from our father. It was one of his remembrance from him. I'll see if it can survive Manila heat.

Weekend

"And life goes on, which seems kind of strange
and cruel, when you're watching someone die."

My tita, cousin and brother arrived early morning of Saturday to attend my sister-in-law's mother's burial also scheduled on Saturday. After a short rest at my apartment, we traveled early to Tagaytay so that we can spend more time there and help out as needed.

Burial was in the afternoon. A mass was conducted before finally putting her in her resting place. It was also my first time to attend a non-Igorot burial and it was interesting to see the differences. I'll try to have a separate post about it.

After the burial, we went to the view deck at the Sta. Rosa-Aguinaldo Highway intersection to check out Taal Lake. It was my cousin's first time so we needed to bring her there. However, since it was already late afternoon, we needed to proceed to the pasalubong shop to buy some goodies before it closes. 

The original plan was to go back to Manila early evening of Saturday, but my brother requested us to spend a night and so we stayed for a night and left Tagaytay mid morning today and went straight to my apartment to get ready to go out again.

We went to SM MOA to have lunch, spend a few minutes by the seaside and check out the department store. We then went back to Shang for Chatime and groceries for dinner and then went home. Now that I wrote about it, looks like we spent more time travelling/commuting than staying at the mall hehe. They left almost 2 hours ago.

While it was a tiring weekend, I am glad to be able to spend it with some family members.

I hope you all had a great week. Cheers to another great week ahead. Goodnight for now.

Bye For Now, Lola Inay

My sister-in-law lost their mom last Sunday. I’m not sure how old she was but what I’m sure of is that she’s more than 80 years old. She was fondly called Lola Inay. She has been sick for sometime now due to her old age. She was hospitalized last December. They all thought she would be gone few days after she was brought out of the hospital. My sister-in-law and her siblings opted not to have her operated and requested that they bring her home and just do home care. I was secretly praying for lola inay to not go in December because I thought it was sad having a wake on Christmas, or January, because it would be too much for my brother to have 2 death anniversaries in January, 1 for our father, and for his mother in law. And she held on, until last Sunday, which also happens to be my nephew’s birthday. While it would be weird in the coming years, I at least hope that my nephew would take it as a reminder that he should always celebrate life, the way her lola did.

 I don’t know how my brother is holding up, with loses in such a short interval. She has been his second mom for more than 20 years. She treated her as his own son. When we visited them last December, he said that they were ready. He even had the guts to kid me that I might just be the one last visitor that lola inay was waiting for before she says goodbye. Nangilabot ako don, ang adik ni kuya. Buti na lang hindi hahaha. But then again, as with all loses, I know it will be hard, especially at the beginning. But I also know, that in time, they will be able to find their new normal.

 Dear Lola Inay,

Nakakalungkot man ang po ang inyong tuluyang pamamaalam, mainam na rin po at tapos na ang iyong paghihirap. Ika nga nila, no more pain.

Salamat po sa lahat-lahat. Salamat sa pagtanggap sa kuya ko at pagturing sa kanya bilang tunay mong anak. Salamat sa pagkupkop at pag-aaruga sa akin nung mga unang buwan ng pagtatrabaho ko sa Manila at nakitira pansamantala sa inyo. Sobrang malaking tulong po yun. Kung wala po siguro kayong pwede kong pakituluyan noon, siguro hindi ako naglakas loob na sumama noon sa mga kaibigan ko para maghanap ng trabaho sa Manila. Kaya salamat po talaga.

Salamat din sa pangungulit sa akin na mag-asawa na ako hahaha. Para ka ring si Mama. Minsan ata na-eenjoy ko masyado ang pagiging single. Pero napapa-isip ako tuwing kinukulit nyo ako hehehe. Salamat na rin po sa pagreto sa pamangkin nyo. Yun nga lang, pasensya na po at hindi tumibok hehehehe. Pero tumibok naman po para sa iba hahaha.

Salamat at ngumiti ka nung dumalaw ako sa inyo noong Disyembre. Natutuwa po akong makita kayong masaya pa rin kahit hirap na hirap na kayo noon. Bilib na bilib po ako sa katatagan ninyo. Sana ikinatuwa mo po ang ibinalita ko sa iyo.

Tulad ng hiling ng isa nyo pong apo, pakitulungan po sila upang maintindihan at matanggap ang iyong paglisan.

Maligayang paglalakbay tungo sa kaharian ng Poong Maykapal. Paki-kamusta na rin po ako kina Mama at Daddy. Pakibulong na rin po sa kanila ang ibinulong ko nung huli kitang dinalaw hehehe.

Dadalawin ko po kayo sa Sabado at makikihatid na rin sa inyong himlayan. Kita-kits. Mahal ko po kayo at salamat po uli sa lahat lahat. Hanggang sa muling pagkikita, maraming-maraming taon pa mula ngayon hehe.

2016 Week 8 Recap: Nieces, Malls, Freebies

February 15-21, 2016

Work

So the vendor did not show up again as committed. Oh well, nothing else to do but chase them. Maybe they are also waiting for the downpayment. So I processed that in the hope that they will work faster once they receive it.

Niece Love
Twice this week, my niece called (one so early in the morning) to ask me when I'll be coming home. I told her it might be during the Holy Week. Yay! Namimiss ako ng bulilit hahaha. Her older sister also texted one time para mangamusta lang. Yey! Nagtext ang dalaginding! Speaking of, the older sister will be graduating this March or April. Hindi na mapigilan ang pagdadalaga nya huhuhu. Don't grow up too fast, bebe. Gusto ko pa rin clingy ka sa akin. Pero wait, di na ba uso ang Kinder graduation ngayon? Kasi wala daw graduation si bunging bulilit.

Living Quarters

In an effort to avoid buying and/or over-buying stuff I already have but forgotten about it, I started listing down every item in my clothes cabinet hahaha. The goal was to eliminate everything that I don't use/need anymore. I also made a number as to how many of each item I should have to be considered "enough" based on my usual routine and activities. I was tested right away when a friend and I visited the mall on Saturday. Suffice to say that it helps when you quantify everything because it's easier to turn away from stuff that you know you already have more than enough and those that you still lack hehehe. I'm not yet done but I'll continue sorting and tallying for the rest next week.

A friend has also been decluttering lately and she gave me her washing machine because since her helper left years ago, she just opted to have her laundry washed in a laundry shop. So, I tested it this afternoon. Medyo nag-inarte nung una pero nakuha naman sa gentle kalampag hehe. Or ako lang ang di marunong gumamit? Hahaha. It's the automatic type where you set everything and let it do its work. But since the nozzle is not yet compatible with my faucet, I still had to manually load water. 

The pechay is thriving, although 2 seedlings did not make it huhu. Hope the rest will survive.

Weekend

It was mall time on Saturday with a friend. It was more of window shopping but I scored an office pant that was on sale and that fits me so I bought it anyway. Now, I don't need to buy anymore pants unless one gives way and would need a replacement. After attending the evening mass today, I also went to another mall for some errands.

One last about shopping hahaha...I tried a dress last December which I really really liked but I did not buy it because it was expensive plus I cannot think of an event where I can wear it that time. But now, I'm looking for one. Unfortunately, I can't find the dress anymore. I saw the other colors but not the one I like huhu. I don't wear dresses regularly. Di ako nasanay kaya ilang ako haha. In the past years, I wear only once a year, that is, if I attend our company's year end party, or if I attend a friend's wedding. We wore uniforms in high school but that's different. I have attempted to dress in the past but I always failed hahaha. This year, I'm giving it another try. Let's see.

I have just watched Magic Mike XXL to cap the weekend and before writing this blog entry.

I hope you all had a great week. Cheers to another great week ahead. Goodnight for now.

Gardening: How I Planted Pechay

Actual pechay seeds

This year, I'll try growing some vegetables in the apartment. I only have a "balcony" outside the window to put my pots. Also, given the weather in Manila, I'm not sure if my plants will survive but I still want to try it anyway. 

It will also be my first time to grow vegetables in pots and plastic seedbed (this is used to grow seeds to young plants before they are transferred to a garden or field). 

For my first try, I planted pechay.  Again, this is just my first try so I don't know yet if I'll be successful or not. But I hope I will be :).

What you need:

• Pechay seeds - I used the flowering variety and bought it from a farm supply in Baguio because it's cheaper there. Got it for Php 25.00. I think in supermarkets here, the prices start at Php 50.00.
• Soil - brought it from Baguio in the past. Too expensive in Ace Hardware :p. I cannot really convince myself to spend that much on soil so I just brought down some every time I went home. But wait, talo ako ng friend ko...maleta ang dala nya para sa lupa hehehe....
• Plastic seedbed - I saw this lying in the backyard, used by my late father. I just got it to see if I can use this. You can use any other container like water bottles or plastic as long as it can hold soil.
• Water

Steps:

1. Put soil in the seedbed. Don't push it down too hard so that the soil does not become compact, thus roots will have a hard time to spread/grow. If there are clumped soil, break it into almost fine particles.
2. Water it. (I had the mistake of planting the seeds first before watering and the soil sank a little and I worried that the seeds may have been buried deeper than they should be hehe)
3. Plant seeds. Just dip your middle finger in the soil until it sinks to about 1/4 inches deep, drop one seed, then cover with soil. 

NOTES: 

• If you are using bigger pots, distance of seeds from each other should be about 4 inches.
• Be careful to just take out enough seeds from its container as bringing out all but not using it might contaminate the rest of the seeds.
• Be sure to seal the pack if there are still seeds in it. Better yet, keep it in a tightly sealed container (like bottle, just how I remember my parents store leftover seeds back in the day) and away from direct sunlight.
• For those in Makati---a friend who lives there (at least in the San Antonio area) told me that their barangay is giving soil for free for those who are interested in growing their own vegetables. 

That's it. I did not put any fertilizers. I don't plan to use pesticides either since this is just for home consumption. 

Pack of pechay

Information at the back of the pack

The plastic seedbed after putting soil in it. No plants yet 

For its maintenance, I just ensure that the soil is moist so that's watering it every other day. 

Two days after planting, there were signs of growing plants already. As of this writing, they are around 4 inches tall, but still so...thin hehe.

Looking forward to my first harvest after 40 days.

P.S. I'm struggling with some of the correct terminologies in gardening. Note to self: wag kalimutan ang pinanggalingan. Aralin ang English terms ng mga nakasanayang gardening terms sa sariling wika.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an Agriculture graduate. I am also not an expert in gardening. I just happen to be a gardener's daughter so what I know is limited to what we were asked to work on in our small garden. As I mentioned here, most of our work as children were in the preparation of the plots, watering the plants, weeding out, and harvesting. Not really so much on planting. If I relate that to office work, most of our tasks back then were just the boring, routinary admin stuff hehe.

2016 Week 7 Recap: Of Work and Parties

February 8-14, 2016

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

And then there was Ash Wednesday, which I was able to wake up early to attend mass.

And Valentines Day. Too many events in one week.

Work
Work has been busy but better busy than nothing to do at all. Finally, the vendor showed up last Friday and while I still don't have the final product, at least he showed up and set another date for his next visit. Hopefully, by this week, he'll have all the changes we've requested him to incorporate.

I am still having challenges balancing my new project with the rest of the projects. While I am not directly involved in another project, I have to guide a colleague who's handling it so I have to be there during her discussions with the developers. And it's draining when you sit down for 3 or 4 hours a day. Mostly at the end of each session, I can only force my brain cells to at least do some admin stuff hahaha. But hopefully, I'll find that rhythm this week since our discussions will end today.

Lastly, thankfully, I was able to book for a meeting room in a hotel that's aligned with the team budget. We'll have our late strategic planning and the boss would like to do it outside. Among all the 4 or 5 hotels I have contacted in the Ortigas area, Discovery Suites gave us the most affordable rate, plus they have a seamless process. After getting my contact details, they sent me a proposal, with all the information I need so that on the same day, I was able to make a recommendation to my boss. Good thing that she agreed and that her boss approved as well.  They also have a corporate package for meals, which we opted to make over ala carte type since I think that will be more cost effective rather than planning and ordering our own menu. If there is one thing I don't like doing, it's working on things with budget constraints hehehe.

Living Quarters

Thanks to the extra holiday last Monday, I was able to sort out and file and store second half of last year's bills, and record the payments I made to the lots. 

I also planted pechay, which I will blog about in upcoming posts. While I am a gardener's daughter, it was my parents who did the planting, especially of vegetables that needs transplant from the seedbed to the main plots. Most of our work as children were on the preparation of the plots, watering the plants, weeding out, and harvesting. Not really so much on planting, unless these are beans or sweet peas or corn, which are planted directly into the plots. So, let's see if I am successful in at least growing pechay hehehe. But I hope so. I am not so sure given the temperature in Manila but let's see.

Weekend
I was invited to 2 birthday parties last weekend. Last Saturday, it was for the 7th birthday of a teammate's not so little boy. Last Sunday, it was for the 2nd birthday of my inaanak. Unfortunately, I overslept on Saturday so I was not able to attend hehe. Guilty but he also attended my inaanak's party on Sunday so I was still able to hand him my gift personally.

My inaanak's party was held at Jollibee E.Rodriguez. It was fun! I didn't know until then that there is such a thing as Jollitown and that there are other characters aside from Jollibee hehehee. I was able to see Popo and Yum. I have yet to see the rest in person, hopefully hehehe. Anyway, this made me realize again that we need to surround ourselves with kids sometimes. Kids generally don't worry about anything. They just want to play and have fun, even with kids who they just met for the first time. No complications at all, just pure fun. And watching them is refreshing for me, especially that I leave in an adult world most of the time haha.

And oh, Valentines Day. I saw a lot of Hot Air Balloon Festival pictures in my FB feed. A friend invited me to join them too but I already said yes to the birthday party invite so no for the Hot Air Balloon. Let's see next year. In my attempt to just chill this year, I am implementing the first come, first served rule hehe. I just don't want to get stressed trying to decide which one to choose and if I choose the latter, how will I break the news to the other one? Haha. Too complicated. So yes, first come first, served, unless it is a family emergency. In fact, a cousin also invited me for lunch at their place last Sunday but I declined because a) it was too late to buy tickets for Baguio and b) I dread the weekend crowd back home, especially now that Panagbenga Festival is also ongoing there. Whew.

Travel
I forgot to blog about this last weekend but anyway, we were able to book our return tickets from Osaka to Manila for Php6,255/pax during the weekend Chinese New year sale. So adding that to the 3K++ we've booked around last year for Manila-Tokyo, we spent around Php 10k++ for airfare. As per my friend, it's still cheaper compared to their airfare when they climbed Mt. Fuji last year. So we are done with airfare and even the pencil booking for our accommodations. Pambaon na lang! Push na 'to.

I hope you all had a great week. Cheers to another great week ahead.

2016 Week 6 Recap: Of Projects and Movies

February 1-7, 2016

Work

I mentioned in my weekly recap last week about our annual performance evaluation. Well, early this week, my boss got the results of my 360 feedback from my colleagues and it was higher than what I expected. Thanks, teammates hehe. While it does not translate to anything monetary, I'm glad that I'm slowly getting back to my old self, back when I was so driven at work despite all negative issues. I've lost a bit of passion to work in the last 3 years because of all the adjustments we had to go through as a family after losing our parents less than 2 years apart. But life goes on and I should move forward. 

For the new project, we already had a kickoff last Monday. Looks promising but there are a lot of things to document. I should start creating the project schedule for this so as not to affect my other tasks. I'm excited.

And since I anticipate a lot of calls for this project, I requested my boss to get me a paid subscription of Zoom. She already got the approval from her boss so yey! I thought it would be that expensive but no, it's around $10/month and they are lowering it to $7/month daw in the future. While the basic allows for 40 minutes of uninterrupted video call, it's a hassle to have to reconnect again after your first 40 minutes is over.

Their documents are also created in higher versions of Visio. I only found out when I attempted opening their documents that mine is 2010 even if I requested for 2013. I know we have spare licenses for that. I don't get it why they are still installing 2010, worse 2007! It's a hassle to be saving documents in lower version just so everyone can access the file. Or better yet, everyone should always be in the same version!

As for the old project, I'm changing my approach now and I'm trying to be more encouraging to the team members for us to try our best to complete the tasks so that we can already deploy this year and everybody can move on! It's taking us too long. Another year would be torture.

Living Quarters
Finally, my small Christmas tree is back in its storage box (yep, did that just last weekend) and the  few gifts opened and sorted out hehehe. I also found few pieces to give to my friend, in exchange of shoes she's giving away. I took the shoes for people back home who would like to wear it.

Weekend
Now, this I'm glad happened before I knew it. I don't know what happened but at the start of the week, I was so moody that even my colleagues noticed it hahaha. I was glad that by Friday, it was over. And, a friend and I planned to do a movie marathon on Saturday night, which we did, extending even up until Sunday. We finished 5 movies, all of which we've watched in the past.

My friend brought over ingredients for our shabu-shabu, while I had the chance to drop by S&R Shaw on Friday night for some chips, popcorn and a bottle of wine. The bottle of wine was gone in less than an hour, in one sitting hahaha. Sarap eh.

Because of the movie marathon, I discovered that my player cannot play MP4. I tried changing it to avi and Windows Player was able to read it but my player still won't. So I guess I need to convert everything now huhu.

And, oh, it was a no spend weekend. My wallet and I are happy hehehe.

I hope you all had a great week. Cheers to another great week ahead.

Financial Goals for 2016

While I mentioned in my 2016 goals that I have the same financial goals as last year, I decided to make a separate post about it because it's nice to go back to it by year-end and check whether I was able to make it or not. Besides, it adds a little more pressure in meeting your goals when it's out there for the world to see. 

And so, here it is, basing it from my budget file for 2016.

1. Religiously pay SK-LU. 5 months to go! Excited to mark this as completed!
2. Save 50k for processing of papers for SK-LU. After completing the payment in June, I'll have the same budget reallocated to this.
3. Religiously pay SK-Silang. 2 years to go.
4. Save 50k for lot processing of SK-Bgo. 
5. Save 35k for CR of SK-Bgo
6. Increase EIP allocation to 3k/month
7. Increase MF to 20k (carry over from previous years)
8. Add 20k-30k to COL 
9. Save 80k for Project BD (new in my budget file)
10. Religiously save 3k/month for niece's tuition
11. Set aside a Tulong fund
12. Continue saving for an international travel
13. Set aside 10k for December 2016

I tend to use codes for my financial goals for some level of privacy still. Feel free to email me if you are curious about those hehe. 

I already have 4 months parked for my safety fund. I originally planned for 6 months because of my parents, but since they both are now with Papa God, I'll stop at 4 for now. I'll add when excess funds become available.

No room for luho. Push lang. And just to stay focused, I'll now have quarterly reviews.

Work Tales: Walang Kamatayang LKAS

I was looking for a specific guideline in my work email's Drafts folder when I saw this.

Hehehe. But it's true. This was the hardest component of the automation project we were and still currently working on. At the time I wrote that note, we were drafting the processes and requirements. Ang hirap talaga, pramis! Thankfully, after hours and hours and hours of round table discussions, we were able to arrive at the correct data and format to extract and pass.

The draft is dated 2/5/2014 so this was exactly 2 years ago hehehehe.

* LKAS  is the code we gave the text file that contains employee data that is extracted from one data source and loaded to another data source. *

Exploring Cagayan: Summry of Itinerary and Expenses

NOTE: This has been in my Drafts for the longest time. I'm not sure why I have not posted it before even if the content is already complete. I'll just post it anyway, even if this happened months ago.

*****

I was invited by a friend to join her and her friends on their trip to Tuguegarao, Cagayan. Since, I was just invited, I was not active in the preparation of the itinerary hehe. Sometimes, it's good to just go with the flow and not be concerned with ITs hehe. And with that, I'd just like to share the expenses I incurred during the trip.

Travel Dates: September 4-7, 2015

Summary of the itinerary:

• Day 0 (September 4): Travel to Cagayan via Victory Liner. Left Manila 11:30 PM and arrived in Tuguegarao at around 12 PM the next day. What a long trip hehe. Sakit sa pwet.
• Day 1 (September 5): after checking in at Balai Bed and Breakfast, we started with the city tour
• Saints Peter and Paul Metropolitan Cathedral
• Callao Caves in Penablanca: We left at around 3 PM and it was a 45-minute tricycle ride. When we reached the registration area, it rained. We had to wait for a while that when it finally stopped, the lights at the cave were already closed and we were the last batch they accommodated. 
• Buntun Bridge: original plan was to watch the sunset here but it was already night time when we got back to Tuguegarao City
• Dinner at Jasmine-Jomars: ordered pancit batil patung, Cagayan's famous pancit. Busog sarap, busog lusog :D.
• Day 2 (September 6): checked out at Balai Bed and Breakfast and proceeded to Sta. Ana
• Travel to Sta. Ana. around 3 hours. Another long trip via non-aircon van.
• Check in at E.F. Costales Lodge (with free breakfast)
• Palaui Island tour. We bought packed lunch from a karinderya. We also had dinner at the same karinderya. The owner the suggested that we also visit Nangaramoan the next day and so our next day was...
• Day 3 (September 7)
• Left for Nangaramoan as early as 6 AM so that we can stay at the beach longer. We asked the lodge owner to just pack our breakfast and we'll eat it at the beach. It was low tide when we got there so we just walked to as close to the waves as we can. After maybe an hour, some parts near the shore were deeper so we went for a dip before leaving wtih heavy hearts hahaha. Bitin na bitin eh. 
• Packed our things, checked out, went to the market of Sta. Ana for lunch. We chose to eat at the Dampa where we feasted on prawns and vegetables. Busog lusog. Burp!
• Left Sta. Ana by 2PM and we asked the driver to drop us off at the Victory Liner terminal. We were just in time to be able to secure tickets for the 6PM trip back to Manila.
• Since we did not have time, we just bought some goodies at the bus stops.

Expenses:

Entayo Agpasyar Idiay Cagayan
Date	Expense	Group Cost	Cost/Pax
4-Sep-15	Fare to Cagayan via Victory Liner Kamias		650.00
5-Sep-15	Restroom		10.00
	Water		20.00
	Breakfast		30.00
	Lunch		160.00
	Water		16.00
	Rest of Day 1 expenses (mostly fares and group meals)		350.00
	Mercury Drug		45.00
6-Sep-15	Accommodations + other expenses in Sta. Ana c/o Jo		1,189.00
	Fares + entrance fees + meals c/o Jen		96.00
	Fares + entrance fees + meals c/o Rona		130.00
	Coke + halo-halo		65.00
	Restroom		5.00
7-Sep-15	Tricycle to Nangaramoan (2-way)		150.00
	Cottage - Nangaramoan	200.00	40.00
	Tricycle to bayan		20.00
	Lunch		400.00
	Van to Tuguegarao		252.00
	Fare to Manila		650.00
	Goodies bought at the bus stop		410.00
8-Sep-15	Taxi to apartment (split with buddies)	300.00	100.00
Grand Total			4,788.00

Hope this helps. Enjoy your trip.

Goals for February 2016

What?! Second month of the year already? And after this comes my birth month again? Tatanda na naman?! Can we have a pause button for a while? Hehe. 

For February 2016:

1. 10,000 steps a day or a total of 290,000 steps for the month
2. Kick off C25K training
3. Cut-off cable subscription. I seldom watch TV nowadays, plus I bought a TV Plus from a colleague last year and a DVD player, so that should be enough.
4. Read one non-romance book
5. Complete The Project Management: The Basics for Success course at Coursera.org and pass the weekly exams
6. Meet with insurance agent to process update of insurance details
7. Plant pechay
8. Get back to the daily bible readings

Will update by end of this month.

Update: Goals for January 2016

Update on my goals for January 2016:

1. 10,000 steps a day or a total of 310,000 steps for the month - FAILED (Had to prioritize getting better as I got sick at the start of the year)
2. Kick off C25K training. Target 3rd or 4th week of January, in the hopes that my cough and colds will be gone by then. It sucks to be sick at the start of the year, but grateful that it's not something serious. -FAILED (Because of weekend travels over the last 4 weeks, getting better took longer than expected)
3. Cut-off cable subscription. I seldom watch TV nowadays, plus I bought a TV Plus from a colleague last year and a DVD player, so that should be enough. - QUITE (Already sent a request. Sky Cable's hotline sucks. No one's answering. Let's see if my email gets a reply.)
4. Read one non-romance book - SUCCESS! (Read Stock Smarts - Stock Investing Made Easy)
5. Complete The Project Management: The Basics for Success course at Coursera.org and pass the weekly exams - FAILED (Too many things going on on and off work. I want to do this when things have settled down so that I would have full focus on it)
6. Meet with insurance agent to process update of insurance details - FAILED (Too many things going on. I have to make a decision on one of my policies, but not until I do some computations.)

What happened with the first month?! Gone by too fast and I failed in most hehe. Well, February is here for another chance. 

2016 Week 5 Recap: Bum Kung Bum

January 25-31, 2016

Work

The vendor did not show up last Friday as agreed. Hay naku. Sometimes I really feel that I failed big time in this project. Kainis. But well. Kulit pa more na lang until I'm off with this project. Can't wait for that time.

It's performance evaluation time again. I don't know what it is for, given that they've revised the merit increase program years ago haha. Anyway, I had mine last Friday with the boss. Lighter than expected. There is one area that I'm always failing yearly hahaha. Will need to do something about that. I don't have my final grade yet because some feedback from colleagues were not yet available. Anyway, no worries.

The boss asked if I want to handle another project. I was hesitant at first because based from the email, they need someone to work on the UI (user interface). I am not blessed with artistic skills so I really stay away from such tasks hehehe. But upon clarification, it's not UI per se so I said yes. And on Friday night, my boss's boss sent calendar invites for the kick off this week. Aba'y ganon pala kabilis yun eh. Hahaha. Let's see what happens next week.

I need a new project to work on this year to get things more exciting. I'm too tired of the current project I have because we have been working on it for 3 years already, fourth this year. Everyone's just tired about it but I still try to push them to complete the tasks so that we can deploy in Q3 and it will be off our backs. Push pa more.

Lastly, we have filled out the complete headcount for our team. At least, no more immersions to prepare and conduct, until another new hire is needed. But whew for now. For January alone, I had to immerse two teammates separately because they started 2 or 3 weeks apart. 

Living Quarters

I was able to set up the TV Plus and the DVD player mid last week. Success! No need for cable now. I bought a DVD player last December because my 2 friends had a sleepover at my place for our get together and one of our agenda was to do a movie marathon. But of course, catching up with each other's lives took place, the DVD player forgotten, and still in its box until mid week hehehe.

Weekend

After 4 consecutive weekends of going home to Baguio, I was able to stay in Manila last weekend. And what did I do? BUM.ALL.DAY. If it weren't for my hunger, I could have holed up in the apartment the entire time. But since I did not have any food, except for oatmeal, I had to go out on Saturday night for dinner. And might as well maximize the time so I also did a little grocery shopping at Pioneer Center, where it's cheaper as per feedback of people frequenting the place. And I guess it's true for most of the items I have purchased. I kept the receipt so that I can compare it the next time I visit another mall/grocery.

Aside from that, I also had dinner at The Breakfast Club. I guess it's new since I haven't seen this last year. I ordered pork asado. However, I did not like it because a) it's too salty for my taste but maybe it's just me, b) the meat is not tender (or soft...pardon the lack of terms. I'm not a food blogger so I don't know the right descriptions hehe) and c) I think the price is too expensive for such simple dish. 

Sunday is another bum day the whole day. By late afternoon, I tried checking a friend who lived nearby if she wanted to go to mass together. She said yes, and we agreed to have dinner after. We decided to try one of the many choices in Kapitolyo, Pasig. Our first choice was The Round Table, however, they are fully booked so we just walked along East Capitol Drive to check out where we can possibly eat. 

We've passed by Lia's Cakes. I saw good reviews about this shop as well, especially their avocado cake so I grabbed the chance to buy a slice. I loved it. Will go back to try some of their other flavors.

Mahilig magpicture ang friend ko gamit ang phone ko :p

Walked some more until we reached Milky and Sunny.  I have already eaten at this place before where another friend and I enjoyed their pancakes (we went there for breakfast)! So when this other friend said she wanted to try it, I was fine with it...as long as there's rice in the menu, which of course they have. This time I ordered chicken and pork adobo. The flavor is good but again, it's too salty for my taste. Two salty dishes in one weekend, at different shops. Maybe it's my taste buds? But I enjoyed my dinner still. Who wouldn't with the cozy place?

To cap the week, I requested for a home service massage. Good thing, the one that usually services our area has an available slot so I grabbed the chance. Pero ang totoo nyan, nainggit ako sa isang kaibigan ko nung nagtext syang magpapamassage daw muna sya hehehe.

That's it. I hope you all had a great week.