Karima as Lara

yet another Lara Croft? Karima Adebibe was apparently plucked from a sales job in England. and what about that neck! p.s. she's only 20 years old.

Happy 1st Birthday, Binky!!!

What am I doing here? What are you doing with that camera? Oh it's my birthday!!!
Now what?

What is this? I get to eat a cake? I'm scared of that yellow thing...


Shouldn't the cake be down there so I can eat it?


yey! It smells pretty good...

hmm...It tastes good, too!! I like the cream!!!

HMMM Yum!!!

Share the pain

Refreshing!

I tried my very first ever Mello Yello today.

BS! What? I hear some of you say. Honestly, I've never heard of Mello Yello until a couple of weeks ago when I heard it in a radio ad. Apparently it is a 80's drink. Back then I was a sprite/7up drinker. Probably because I "obey my thirst" and liked Fido Dido.

So I went to Pak n Save today and saw Mello Yello and decided to get a bottle. But before I tasted it, I was drinking Mountain Dew.

First impressions were....yuck...I think it was because I just had Mountain Dew and MD is a very sweet drink. But after a while, Mello Yello started tasting better. Almost like Mountain Dew.

So conclusions...I like Mello Yello. Just as much as I like or prefer Fanta Orange and Purple and Mountain Dew.

Tech too fast

Darn it! Just bought a LCD TV and here comes the next one.

Laser TVs are said to be launched in a couple of years time. And here we are calculating the lifetime of the flat screens we just bought...yeah it should lastat least 5 years...10 years even...

bloody hell.

Oh well. Thanks Rennanimal.

Movies and Mobile Phones

Check this out.

I was was watching the opening scenes of the movie Bad Company, right?...

In the opening scene, Chirs Rock introduces Anthony Hopkins to the bad guy who is selling a device in a suit case. I think it was abomb or something. Anyway, Hopkins showed the money/deposit of $1 million and asks the bad guy when he will see the device. The bad guy answers, "...10 days" then one of his goons hands over a Nokia 9000 series mobile phone. Product placement? Most likely. This is pretty common in the movies, right? Not just product placement but the bad guy handing over a phone and saying hold on to this and we will call you when we are ready.

Here is my question. 10 days! Will the phone last that long on stand by? How long has the phone been on? Are you sure it will last 10 days? What if by the time they call the phone's on "low batt" and as soon as the bad guy calls, the phone dies. What if this was a kidnapping case? The bad guy would think the good guy hung up on him and will end up killing the hostage!

Let's say the good guy is smart (which they never are in the movies) and decides to save power by switching off the power. The bad guys never say..."Oh by the way, the PIN number is #### in ase the phone gets switched off"

You don't see the bad guys giving the good guy the charger either! Will the good guy go to a mobile accesory shop and by a charger for that particular phone? They never do.

So how is it the the phone lasts that long?

A cool toy?

Just found this really "cool" thing...

An ice cube tray!!



(LINK) Problem is, what if a kid is playing with these ice cubes (sucking on ice) and somehow the kid decided to do the same to the "real" lego brick?

Potential choker!!

Salary Reviews and human behaviour

We recently had a salary review at work. Or what the company prefer to call it, "Performance Reviews".

Nothing wrong with this term however, this is an excuse so the company do not have to give the employees a raise. i.e. They will simply say "We never told you we were reviewing your salary!"
Since the economic forecast does not look very good, the company is a bit tight on giving pay rises (in addition to cutting down on budgets). Some people got their raise though but you can never expect much from an annual pay rise. What is a good annual pay rise? I believe companies should at least increase pay equal to the economic inflation to cover extra costs like petrol price increases, parking, food, etc. On top of that will be the performance reward. Inflation this year is about 4% so the minimum pay rise should be 6%-8%.

Anyway, one annoying thing also happens during thess periods - People at work asking whether you got a pay rise or how much you earn. It is as simple as answering yes or no for the first question but you can see it in their eyes that they are wanting to know more by the look in their eyes and their weird grin. Some people will have no issues disclosing their salary to you but to most, like myself, it is a topic I do not find easy (or more accurately do not wish) to discuss and I'll tell you why...

First of all I am curious to know what other people get paid but I do not and have never, ever, gone and ask a person how much their salary is. Two main reasons: first one is that I do not intend of disclosing mine and it will not be fair if I ask and not share. Second, sharing this information at work will have the potential to put you, and/or your manager, in an awkward situation. Whoever finds out may go and use this knowledge as a negotiating tool and hold your manager at ransom.

Occasionally we, the kuyas, talk about pay in our email chats. The discussion does not go anywhere really. No one will disclose figures and it is really no one's business even if we are all close friends. I suppose it is slightly different with friends but it is still an issue of privacy. It is always a silly thing we play teasing each other who earns more... but you can somewhat tell anyway (and this is a slightly different topic)

Either close friend or colleague, we all wonder how much another person gets paid. We are simply very curious. If we do find out, we will probably think of one of two things: The pay is too low for that person or that person is earning way too much for not doing anything....that $%&^$%& bastard!

I do would like to point out that there is nothing wrong if you happen to find out by accident. :) Or if someone found out and tells you.
Anyway, so now that you know how much other people earn. What now? What do you do with this information? Are you happier? Does it affect you?

The answer to these questions will depend on whether you respect that individual and his job and whether you accept the situation. For example, there is this guy at work, who shall remain nameless, and he is said to be the highest paid sub editor in the company. I do not know if this is true but if it is then it is unacceptable because for one thing he is only responsible for one magazine. Half the time he watches youtube, read news, and play card games. There are others in the company whose time is split between 2-3 different departments and earn less. How unfair is that?

Here's another situation, let's say you know how much the other person earns but he does not have the exact responsibilities as you do. So you cannot and should not compare your pay to theirs. You are in a different skill area.

Regardless of all of these, there is one thing I think we can all agree on. You can never earn enough. Sad but true.

Ghost Rider Site

Check out the Ghost Rider site and trailers!! Not bad so far! I wonder how Cage would've looked like if he had done Superman Returns?

Secret to staying young

No, I did not find the fountain of youth.

But I found something that will turn any source of water into a "fountain of youth"

Conversation between a Mac and a PC

http://www.examforce.com/customer/ct_newsarticle.php?f=view_ind&id=241

MAC
Hi, I'm a Mac--

PC
--and I'm a PC.

MAC
You know, we really do share a lot of things in common.

PC
That's true.

MAC
For instance, we both have a web browser, email program, and media player bundled with our operating systems.

PC
Of course, in your case it's a value-add for users, and in my case it's a monopolistic practice deserving of billions of dollars in fines.

MAC
Well, you know, you kind of make it difficult for people to use an alternative.

PC
Yes, I see, sort of like offering a music player that only works with one online music store, and with only one software application--

MAC
But you're doing that now too. With that Zool player--

PC
Zune. It's called Zune. Like "dune," except with a zee. Or if you're Canadian, a zed.

MAC
Whatever. You know, let's not argue. What I was getting at is that we're both good at doing certain types of things.

PC
Such as?

MAC
Well, like, you're really good at doing spreadsheets, and I'm really good at doing creative things, like making movies and music and things that actually nurture the soul rather than dragging it down into a corporate morass of humiliating emasculation and crushing spiritual defeat.

PC
I... you know... I can play Hearts.

MAC
Really? That's... wow.

PC
And Freecell. I can play Freecell right out of the box.

MAC
After you've been service packed, that is--

PC
No, I can play Freecell without a service pack. And Spider Solitaire.

MAC
That's cool.

PC
And, you know... anyway, I heard what you said about people having to remove all of the trial versions of software I have, but you come with trial
versions of Office and iWork.

MAC
Well, that's a value add for users.

PC
You see? Whenever you do something that I do....

MAC
Like catch a virus? Except oh, wait, I don't.

PC
Yes, well, if I only made up 3% of the population, I probably wouldn't be walking around with a target on my back larger than Dick Cheney's secret bank accounts.

MAC
Hey, there's more people switching to me than ever before.

PC
You see, that's interesting. Because, normally the business market isn't too quick to pay twice as much for a workstation that doesn't run 90% of the software ever written.

MAC
It's not twice as much.

PC
Oh, well, you know--

MAC
It's not twice as much. That's just crazy talk.

PC
Whatever. Hey, we said we wouldn't argue.

MAC
Well when you insist on spreading these lies--

PC
Oh, you mean like you saying how you never freeze up, or need to restart?

MAC
I DON'T freeze up.

PC
Oh, okay my bad. Hey, what's that beach ball doing spinning over your head?

MAC
Hey, that's almost funny. Like the thought of you having a soul. That's funny too.

PC
Yeah, well this soulless dude could buy and sell your ass tomorrow, buddy. I've got over $30 billion in the bank. Those aren't just--

MAC
Have you ever kissed a girl?

PC
I... what does that have to do with anything?!

MAC
I was just wondering, you know. If you had ever. Because I don't see it, honestly.

PC
Are you insinuating something? You? With your androgynous color scheme and your "intuitive" nature? Oh, please. You wouldn't know what a dick was if it slapped you in the face. Oh wait, I guess maybe you DO know.

MAC
Okay, well at least I'm getting some, Mister "I still live in my parent's basement."

PC
Oh, I'm getting some all right. You should see some of the stuff I have archived in my memory. If you think the DOJ has a problem with my professional life... you have no idea what goes on behind password-protected windows, my queer little slacker emo friend.

MAC
That's disgusting. And you know what? Chicks dig creative guys. In fact, I get more ass than a toilet seat. Musicians, artists, they--

PC
No, chicks dig guys with over $30 billion in the bank. They may flirt with the three-day-stubble, latte sipping, Bravo watching, limp-wristed bohemians during pointless moments while standing in line at Starbucks, but in the end, the ladies always come home with the guy who can wrap them in furs from some endangered species, pay for their annual elective surgeries when they get older, and who are willing to turn a blind eye when the slack-faced "artist" pool boy gives her a cheap thrill while I'm busy crushing competitors and filling my pockets with cash. So go ahead and make your little art films and post them on You Tube, oh empowered auteur. Record your angst-ridden, anti-establishment tunes and put them up on your .Mac site. Play your little free spirit reindeer games, and while you're doing that, me and a few select others will take care of running the world. And, if every so often I have to stand in front of the camera and let you belittle and mock me while I look confused and ineffective in order to keep the unwashed stupid masses happy and content, well, that's a pretty reasonable price tag for the biggest stick in the playground.

(long pause)

MAC
Oh my god, you're really, really creepy.

PC
I'm sorry, did I say something? I'm kind of feverish... I have that new virus that's going around.

MAC
I've seen the true face of evil. Don't even try to cover up.

PC
Oh, I think I have to restart...

MAC
I am SO blogging about this. People will listen to me. You'll see.

PC
I'm sorry? What were we talking about?

Friends and weddings

After last weekend, I was contacted by another old friend. This time it was an old friend back in my uni days. Amilia use to be in my class, mostly science papers. When was the first time I met her?...hmm. I think it was in my second or third yr. We were introduced by this malaysian dude Kai.

I remembered back then she was always smiling and joking around. Very very seldom you can have a serious conversation with her. Not in a bad way though. I mean the conversations are always happy and not sad.

She is now getting married in 6 days! Come Oct 7 she will tie the knot. I've been chatting with her for the past couple of days. She's panicking like any bride-to-be would. About the event, about the clothes, about shoes, etc. But I'm sure when the time comes, on the day, everything will be fine. Somehow there is this calmness on the day and so far I've never seen a bride who is not calm on their wedding day.

I did give her some advice and told her that usually these arrangements etc are carried out by the bridal party. That is why they are there. They are not there just to pose you know. That's traditionally anyway. Nowadays, the bridal party don't do much. They do help out a little but the true responsibilities of the bridemaids and groomsmen (hint in the name) have somehow been lost in time.

That's ok. Couples today hire or assign wedding managers! This can be a friend, someone at the function centre, or a relative like a brother or uncle, auntie, whoever...

There are two kuyas getting married soon. I wonder how they are doing with plans...Ever since the announcement a year ago, I haven't heard much about it. It is true that getting engaged and getting married are two different things. As I understand, no two siblings can get married within the same year. I do not know why so don't ask. This means one of the kuyas will get married in 07 and one in 08?

I have a brother getting married in Melbourne soon too. I do not know the date yet but I think it may be early 07. Actually their situation have changed and I'm not sure if they are still getting married in Melbourne.

My sister is getting married in November. Now this occasion will be interesting. First of all she invited some of my cousins back in the Philippines. If the email distribution list is an indication of who is coming, then I'll be seeing at least 3 cousins from pinas whom I have not seen in a very long time. So far I'have not seen Debbie, Dorothy, and Jacobb. We don't hang out very often with these cousins. Debbie was really small back then. So she is pretty much a stranger to me. Dorothy and Jacobb are siblings and both doctors. It was their father's dream for both of them including their third sibling to all have the title "Dr". In fact he extended this dream to me and my sister. Sorry to disappoint but I'm not one. Although I'm very good at Doctoring things from images to emails so I suppose I might as well be one. But My brother managed to accomplish this so in a way I've passed the buck on him.

In addition to my cousins, she invited a couple of her old firends from pinas one of whom lives in San Fran and the other happens to be my ex-gf. She is now married with children though. So yes, like I said...it would be interesting.

Almost summer

It was a nice day today. Summer is almost here. For the first time in ages, I went out today without any jacket or sweatshirt. The sun was shining.

Got the chance to finally catch up on some gardening this weekend. My herb patch is overgrown, thanks to the Vietnamese mint plant given to me by a work friend, Shane. This thing grows like a weed. The snails have been busy. There seem to be so many of them so I decided to spread some poison pellets for them to feast on. Sounds barbaric but they are pests after all. I'm also glad to see my chilli plant is starting to sprout some new leaves again - chemical damage....a different story. Oh yes, since it is spring, my garden is in bloom for a few weeks now. It started off with the cherry blossom trees then the roses are now full of buds which should all open in the next week. The weeping maple tree we bought a few weeks ago is also sprouting new leaves.


...


What else happened today...? Oh yes... I got email messages from two old friends from school back from wehn I was still in the Philippines. This is pretty much a continuation of my friendster post a few weeks ago. I contacted some people, added them to my friends list, some replied and accepted while others whom you expect to reply didn't quite. An old friend added me to his list. I didn't realise he was on it in fact. His name is Steinberg Tan. I new him back in elementary school. He use to live 3 blocks from my house. I use to go to his place (huge house), bring my fighting cock and we would "sabong" he fighter with his. That's the only thing I remember about him back then. When we were in grade 3 his family moved to Perth Australia and he's been living there ever since. I occasionally receive emails from him however, our interests have changed so much and I have not spoken to him in a while. After moving to Australia he became a guitar enthusiast. Much more I would say. He loves playing the guitar. He's got several. I think he and his siblings formed a family band of some kind. Anyway more info about himj on his site.

I sent him a message back and am waiting for his email reply.

The other person who contacted me was Roselle Teodosio. At least that was her name back then. She's now married to a guy named Kelvin Chan so she's changed her name to Roselle Chan. She's a mother of three now, 2 boys and a girl. She's been helping out in Kelvin's family business (Petron) and she just started her own with a business partner. It's a hotel. She opened up a hotel called Phoenix Suites in Makati last december. Her brother, also was an old friend, is in charge as manager. His name is Richardson Teodosio.

Now Roselle and Richardson were both my classmates. Roselle is younger by around 11 months or something. Richie was born in Jan and Sel was born in december. If I'm not mistaken I think The exact dates were Jan 19 and December 23.

Anyway, Sel and I hang out quite a bit in high school especially just before coming here to NZ. We were really close buddies. Her brother didn't quite like it though but we were still friends. I think it was also this reason that Sel stopped talking to just before I came to NZ. Richie was among the last people I saw and said good bye to before I came here. I still have the photo of that last day.

In our email conversations, I reminded Sel that I remembered the times when she used to pick my white hair. She would kneel on the sofa beside me and go through my hair. There were several things I remember. I went snorkling with them once. Them and there uncle. We went to Zambales. It is unforgettable not only because we had a lot of fun but it was also the time someone almost died. I've told this story quite a few times and I don't even remember to whom. Basically while we were snorkling we saw this beautiful white coral. It was a tall coral about a metre in height. For some reason we were trying to reach it. I think we wanted to take it home with us (of course at the time i didn't know anything much about caring for the reef). I don;t think Sel was there. Richie and his uncle was though. So the three of us took turns taking deep breaths and diving down. His uncle was the last person to go down and he was a few inches away from it when he felt he needed to get up for air. So he flipped up and headed towards the surface. Unfortunately in doing so, his snorkel snapped around the mouthpiece so as soon as he surfaced, the silicon mouthpiece of the snorkel was facing down and acted like a straw. He must have sucked half a glass of seawater. He started panicking. Richie and I was beside him. He grabbed both of us out of panic and we were both pushed down. Richie got away and signalled the boat to come get us. Fortunately for me, I was able to stay afloat just enough for my snorkel to stay above water. I clamly stayed under as his support.

Richie and I were gonna take up a PADI course and sit our PADI open water licence when we get back to Manila but Richie's mum heard of this news and disapproved and we never got to do our open water course. One day I will but not now..too cold here in NZ. Perhaps when Shakoo is emperor and he grants me some pacific island territories.

Why I'm buying a Wii

Food Review: The Pancake Parlour (Bourke Street Mall)

we normally love eating at the Pancake Parlour in Melbourne. The Jam Factory branch is brilliant with the service and menu. But when we ate at the one in Bourke Street Mall in central Melbourne, we were greatly disappointed.

wheely rubbish bins were carted right in front of us from the (dirty) kitchen to the front of the shop and they weren't even presentable, if that's a word to describe rubbish bins. The service took longer than usual... there were dozens of people behind the counter, but no one was ready to welcome incoming guests.

when the food got served, the bacons were missing from the Canadian Pancake meal, and the pancakes themselves were mini-me's of how we used to remember them. the ham steak was still good and tasty. skinny latte was terrible. the diet coke was watered down. oooh, did we mention the fruit flies that were flying all around when tables weren't cleaned up after patrons have left? all 5 tables within sight, tsk, tsk.

this one's definitely a big disappointment for us, right from the trip down the escalator, past the funny mirror, to the giant chess board within the restaurant.

we're not going back again. 1 out of 5 stars.

Why moms don't give little boys dolls

Awesome Billiard skills

ALT TV and Nicky Watson

Ever since I had my tv aerial moved to the top of my roof, I was able to receive UHF signals and watch channels like Prime, Juice TV, and ALT TV.

I don't normally watch ALT TV because I don't think the music they play are that good compared to C4 or maybe Juice TV. Well I listen to all types of music but more pop, hip hop, and RnB.

However, last night I was flicking channels and accidentally flicked over to ALT TV and saw Nicky Watson. She didn't really look like herself for some reason...hmm..she looked older...maybe due to the lack of photoshop polishing magazines normally do and she does have that oversized boobs (which help identify her.

She was hosting this show/segment called "Let there be rock" and boy did she sucked! I ended up watching her for a few minutes. I don't know if something was wrong but she seemed absent minded...she was trying to introduce the next video right...then she forgot something - "Shit...I'm suppose to do something..." flicked over her sweater/whatever that was beside her and held up this clipboard. "I'm suppose to do these ad libs" she says..."that's what you call them in tv land..."

She carried on reading the "news item"...or that's right it was an announcment about a Peter Brock convoy that was suppose to run through Queen street then to pukekohe.

Her inexperience and absent mindedness was showing really bad. She was trying to be a cool rock chick showing the devil hand gesture which didnt really suit her.

She then struggled her way to introduce the next rock music video. She mentioned "I like the lead singer of this group. I have her in my bedroom wall...I have a collage of everything good on my bedroom wall and it is like 5 metres high" - hmmm.. a 5 metre high bedroom...funded by Eric Watson? or Matthew Ridge? or perhaps she doesn't know the difference between feet and metres.

I've seen her in person. She came into our office a couple of times. She's about 5'7" maybe...I wonder if she tells people that she's 5.7 metres tall.

Anyway...there was a time when I thought that blonde girl in C4 sucked really bad and nicky sucked even more.

OBEEE1: King of the road

On my journey to work today, I encountered OBEEE1 with Kim and Corbett in the morning. There I was driving and out of the blue this truck drove pass beside me on the Lincoln road on ramp. I got a wave from Corby (waved back Hello Corby!). It caught me by surprise actually and for a few seconds there, I almost hit OBEEE1!

I was already listening to 91.8 then but since I just turned on the radio, I didn't know they were on the Northwestern motorway!

I followed them for a while. Traffic was slowing down as we reach the tail end of the rush hour traffic towards the city. I decided to take a photo of OBEEE1 with Kim and Corbett facing out the back window. Took several tries but in the end, the traffic stopped and I was a couple of metres away.

There's Kim waving at me :)

Kim and Corbett (and Hilary) if you are reading this, I'd like to say that me and the wife love your show in the mornings. I wish I can listen to you more but I normally ride a motorbike and obviously it does not have a radio. This morning I was driving my wife's car (red rav 4) when I took your photo.

We love listening to "Battle of the Sexes". I'd like to point out that Hilary can be quite mean with her questions sometimes. But it's all good. The men can tackle it. Kim and Corbett, sometimes your questions can be too easy. :)

By the way, where can I get those Hilary Barry springy heads?

The Kuya Club

Subject: FW: A good way to save the airlines

Dump the male flight attendants. No one wanted them in the first place. Replace all the female flight attendants with good-looking strippers! What the hell -- they don't even serve food anymore, so what's the loss? The strippers would at least triple the alcohol sales and get a "party atmosphere" going in the cabin. And, of course, every businessman in this country would start flying again, hoping to see naked women. Because of the tips, female flight attendants wouldn't need a salary, thus saving even more money. I suspect tips would be so good that we could charge the women for working the plane and have them kick back 20% of the tips, including lap dances and "special services." Muslims would be afraid to get on the planes for fear of seeing naked women. Hijackings would come to a screeching halt, and the airline industry would see record revenues. This is definitely a win-winsituation if we handle it right -- a golden opportunity to turn a liability into an asset.

Why didn't Bush think of this?! Why do I still have to do everything myself?!

Sincerely,
Bill Clinton