Twenty-Eleven: The year that was

Twenty Eleven was a very significant year for me. A lot of things have happened that changed me for the rest of my life. Be it good or bad, twenty eleven proved to be a good and challenging year moving towards twenty twelve.

Anyway, instead of sharing what happened last year month after month, I’d give some significant details of what has happened last year.

1. The Arrival of Migmig: Everything has change the moment she was born. My wife who is not so affectionate towards me became so loving and caring all of a sudden. Same with me; almost all of my photoshoots were cancelled at the last minute to take care of our daughter while her mom was taking care of other things. Though I can still attend some of the events scheduled, I had to make sure to go home as early as I can so I could get up early the next day to do my daddy duties. So far, I don't regret every moment being a daddy to Migmig. Though I wish I had more time to do something else XD.

2. Missing-out FHM Autograph Signings: Well, to start with, I missed the autograph signing for March, April, June, July, August, September, November and December. Which means I have just attended the events for January, May and October XD. I'm pretty sure this trend would continue as I have to prioritize other things but it doesn't mean that I support FHM less. It just so happen that I have other more important things to do XD.

3. Getting a formal training in Photography: Well after 2 years of being self-taught and downloaded probably hundreds of files regarding photography, I took the plunge and enrolled under Mr Jo Avila. From there, I learned a lot more aside from joining his activities and meeting new friends. Having a formal photography mentor really helps plus I got to get unlimited coffee everytime I visit his studio. XD

4. Getting swamped with backlogs (blogs and photos): I won't blame it on #1, but I kinda lacked proper time management. There were times that I could have backtracked them but my mind wasn't focused on it. For 2012, I'd make sure to allot an hour or two in a day or in a week to clear-up my list. 

5. Losing my CCNA after 3 years: I felt sad when my CCNA license had expired last December 17, 2011 after 3 years. One reason why I did my best to obtain it was to get employed at a certain company but I wasn't even able to get a single interview from their HR. Could it be that their HR who used to work on the company that I am at knows I used t work there? Anyway, it doesn't matter to me anyway. I don't know if I would get myself re-certified or get a different certification but one thing I know is that I'd be in the IT industry for a long time. 

6. Joining Foodie Events (Best Food Forward, Ultimate Taste Test 6.0/7.0 and Yummy Eats) and Visiting Mercato Centrale: Since I love eating (see my shape XD), I never let this opportunity slip away from my grasp. Though its really fun trying out new dishes from various vendors, there were times that I wish I took my family with me so they could try it as well. 

7. Attending Events for Bloggers: This was a first to me. I used to attend group events but never a bloggers' event. Though most blogger events I have attended were foodie events, I wasn't able to make much friends out of it yet. Its the experience of what its like to be in a bloggers event that I am after. Since my camera (DSLR) died already, it may take a while before I start to attend again these events. 

8. Philippine Fashion Week 2011: 2008 was the last time I remember that I have attended PFW. It took me three years to get back in as getting an invite was quite a challenge for me. Plus the fact that I only have a very few to almost no contacts regarding these events, I'd still consider myself lucky. I was invited to not one but three fashion shows that tested my photography skills when it comes to the runway. I am not looking forward to attend this event by force but I'd accept an offer if I'd get invited.

9. The Death of Rebel (My DSLR): After 3 years and 2 months, My camera made its last click during our company's Christmas Party last year. I had it sent to Canon for repair but the cost was too much that it would cost me half of our camera's cost. Right now, I'm using our 4-year old digicam but honestly, my shotswere not as good as the ones I took using Rebel. I hope this year, I would get a replacement somehow.

10.Getting hooked with group-buying sites: I recall last April (or May) that I am really hesitant to do online purchases as some of them were bogus. But after my first purchase at Awesome, Almost all of my online purchase made me really satisfied. Imagine 40-75% discount on food purchases that really made my wife happy as we got to try different restaurants without spending much. There were times that I forgot to use some of the vouchers (which results in wasting money XD), I'd make sure to bookmark my eat-outs with my family to make our experience more memorable.

11. Turning down the offer to travel in Belgium: I have to admit that it took me a while to decide whether I would agree to be sent abroad for training or not. If they have asked me before I renew my contract last September, I could have agreed. However, getting trained abroad means you have to render your service to the company plus, I have already plans of moving somewhere and I don't intend to tell anyone yet where. Our newest colleague will be the one to be sent to Belgium for training. Others think I had let this big opportunity pass. But if I agreed, I may regret it and wallow in agony. 

These are some of the things that had significance for me last 2011. You win some, you lose some. 

Guys, what are the things that happened to you last 2011 that was memorable to you?

The week that was (December 25 - 31)

Sunday: We got up at almost 7:00am as Migmig was already up and awake. Since my daughter isn’t feeling that well, we just stayed inside while most of the people were still sleeping. We got back up at almost 8:00am and I was able to put her to sleep. We slept for the rest of the morning and got up at around 10:00am. Then I got myself ready for my first day of work which happens to fall on a Christmas Day. I took a quick stop at Fully Booked to buy Sunday’s paper. I also got my milk tea fix from Chatime at Gateway before taking the next MRT ride to the office. Unfortunately, I’ll be working alone for the day but I didn’t mind. Still, with no internet in the office I just listened to some music and watched some movies to keep me company. I also tried to try to use our iPad2 here which was connected to the internet for a few minutes before its connection was gone. I got a single call for my shift before my fellow colleague from the night shift came. I got to watch Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon before I finally call it a day. I was supposed to pass by CBTL at Ayala Triangle Gardens but it was already closed. With no choice, I just went home and be with my wife and daughter. I went online for another hour before finally going to bed.

Monday: Got up at almost 8:00am as I took Migmig out for some fun in the sun. I had breakfast at Jollibee while my mother-in-law took care of her for a few minutes. Then I was able to put her to sleep before going online for a few minutes. By 10:30am, we went to the grocery (me and Migmig) to buy some shampoo for me. Then, while I am waiting for my LRT ride, there was fire near our place that probably took some houses there. I had lunch at World Chicken and took a sip at Chatime before going to work. I just got a minute late and relaxed a little before started working. Again, I’m working all by myself but I don’t mind as most of the users were still on a holiday. I had some Jollibee for dinner while watching some movies and working on some tickets at the same time. After my shift, I head straight to CBTL at ATG to chill-out and claim my 4^th planner for 2012 (I’ll write a blog about it). When I got home, my wife was already sleeping but the laptop was still on. I just told her to get some rest while going online for a few more minutes before going to sleep. As I was about to go to sleep, Migmig was already sitting-up clapping her hands while her mom was in deep sleep. Well, I got to spend some more time with her before both of us could finally fall asleep.

Tuesday: Got up at past 8:30am before taking Migmig out again. I even got to go online for 15 minutes and have breakfast at Mc Donalds before going back. Then me and my wife packed some thing for tomorrow’s trip to Batangas City as she has to attend her friend’s wedding. She cried all of a sudden which means its feeding time for her again. By 11:30am, I am off to work but I had to do some errands at SM Makati before logging-in at 1:30pm. By 2:30pm, I went out to have my late lunch at World Chicken. I couldn’t help it but notice for the past 2 days, I’ve been having toothache after having lunch with them and I couldn’t recall having toothache eating someplace else. I bought a cooling fan for our laptop as the old one already worn-out. Still with no internet in the office, I worked on some tickets and got them fixed or escalated at the most. By dinner, I grabbed some at PBCo and enjoyed it from my desk. I just watched some movies again before calling it a night and head-off to my 6-day year-end vacation XD. I took a taxi cab so I could go home early and spend the rest of my time with my family while my wife was still awake.

Wednesday: Got up at around 7:00am as we need to prepare to go to Batangas City to attend the wedding of my wife’s friend. Me, my wife and my baby together with her relatives and friends, we waited at Wendy’s in Nagtahan as an L300 picked us up and head-off to Batangas City. We stopped by at Sto Niño de Cebu at Southwoods as we waited for others to join us. We were really jam-packed inside the van but it was well worth the ride. It was my first time to reach Batangas City using Star Toll way. I also got to see Calamba from a new highway which I forgot to ask what road we passed by XD. By 2:30pm, we were already at Pontefino Hotel. After settling our reservation, we head to our room and made ourselves comfortable. Our room was just enough for the eight of us. Yes, eight of us for a room that was supposed to be for two people only XD. As the others have left for lunch at the groom’s home in Batangas City, my wife and I stayed and took care of Migmig. She cried out loud as she’s not familiar with the bed she’s at. Thank God they came back with some food so it was our turn to have lunch. I went to SM City in Batangas City to buy some extra snacks in case we got hungry and some extra refreshments. Then my wife was quite busy with her preparations for the wedding (she was the matron of honor) I got to take a quick tour of Pontefino Hotel which is not bad. Me and Migmig were the ones left at our room as most of them went to the church to attend the wedding. I told them I’ll be staying as I have to watch Migmig sleep. But after a few minutes, she got up and cried again. We went out for my baby to have a change of scenery. Since it was quite early, we decided to take a ride going to the church where the wedding was held. Good thing we went there as my sister-in-law was having problems using our digicam, So I grabbed the camera and have Migmig under my mother-in-law’s hands. If only I got my DSLR with me, I could have gotten better pictures of the ceremony. But using our old digicam, I got some decent shots that probably the paid photographers couldn’t have gotten. I took most of the pictures from the top as they were mostly in front of the altar and I don’t see anyone of them taking candid shots so I tried to do some candids. I noticed that the wedding ceremony was quite different from our wedding. Then during the portrait sessions, I took some portraits as well. I took some pictures of my wife and baby at the church before we head-off back to our hotel room. We immediately fed Migmig as she’s already hungry and crying before proceeding with the reception. Again, if only my DSLR was with me, that could have been equivalent to better pictures XD. I kinda noticed that the flow of the program was kinda jumbled compare to our wedding and the previous wedding I’ve attended. Food was quite ok but it could have been much better. After the party, we went back to the room to relax before finally going to bed.

Thursday: I got up at 4:45am after sleeping at around 1:00am or so. Its probably the bedding that got me awake so early plus I wanted to take pictures of the hotel early without much people disturbing me. If only my DSLR was still fixed, I could have gotten better but our 4 year-old digicam wasn’t so bad. But I have to convince my wife that DSLR takes better pictures than our old digicam XD. Then the others woke up one by one as the sun rises up before me and my wife had breakfast at their restaurant. I was a bit disappointed that the buffet spread was limited to just a few choices. Then we had our photo-ops at within the vicinity of the hotel before I went back upstairs to get some sleep. Migmig slept with me while my wife and her sisters (and her friends) take a dip by the pool. By 10:30am, we were getting ready to check-out as almost all of us got hungry. After we checked-out, we took some more pictures before heading off to SM City in Batangas City to have lunch there. I chose Bigg’s Diner to have our lunch there as I checked the place the day before and from the blogs that I saw, the food tastes good and the price is really affordable (I’ll right a blog about this pretty soon). After lunch, it’s a long journey for us back home. It took us two rides before reaching the bus going straight to Manila. By 4:30pm, were back home and rested for a while. While watching TV, I fell asleep and got up after an hour, I joined Migmig upstairs only to got up a few minutes later as Migmig got up and cried aloud. We spent some quality time before we went back up to get some sleep. My wife followed after.

Friday: Got up early as I got to take Migmig out for some fun in the sun. I went online for a couple of minutes before getting Migmig back from her uncle. Then I told my wife to get ready as we will be having lunch at Di Mark’s along Taft Avenue near Vito Cruz. By 11:30am, we took the bus going there and spent the next hour or two there before going back home. We took a cab going home as all three of us felt sleepy. Probably we got at least two to three hours of sleep before we spend the afternoon. It was quite a lazy one for us as I wasn’t able to get out and take pictures. By night time, I slept early as I am the one incharge of putting Migmig to sleep.

Saturday: Got up early again and took Migmig out for the last time in 2011. Then I got out to SM Manila to buy some extra food for our baby as were running out of stock. I had my breakfast at Tokyo2 before buying some of the magazines that I need XD. When I got back, I just took care of Migmig and we got asleep for a couple of hours. Then I went out again to look for Migmig’s food as my wife was having tantrums on exactly what to feed to Migmig. Thank God I got some just before the entire store within Manila closes for the New Year. Then I went online for a couple of hours before celebrating the New Year. 

The week that was (December 18 - 24)

Sunday: Got up early to take Migmig out for some fun in the sun. By 9:30am, I had to leave early to go to Mercato Centrale to claim my planner. It took me a while as I had to stop by at Chatime since they have a promo until Christmas Day. Once I got to Mercato Centrale, I looked for the Human Nature booth. At first, I felt disappointed as I am having a hard time looking for them but after a while, I was able to locate where they are. One of the staff handed to me the Our Awesome Planner 2012 together with a free T-Shirt though I told them that medium sized ones doesn't fit me at all. I had lunch there before taking a cab going to the office.     We thought our colleague from the night shift won't be able to report for work but it happened to be that he just got late and arrived at 12:30am. Once he's settled, I took a cab going home because I'm really sleepy.

Monday: Got up early though I still feel very sleepy. After taking Migmig out, I put her back to sleep before watching WWE's TLC Match. Even if I left a little bit late and had lunch first, I still had enough time to spare before my shift started.Work was quite ok as we got some tickets to handle. However, we don't have internet in the office for some reason even if my colleagues did their best effort to have it resolved. We tried escalating it but to no avail. By 11:00pm, I logged-off and head home

Tuesday: Same routine in the morning before going back upstairs and put my baby to sleep. I was able to get some good sleep for about two hours before I got ready for work. Same with work, I got to get some tickets despite having no internet connection since Monday now. It happens to be that our company had some outstanding balance with their provider hence our connection got disconnected.

Wednesday: No internet in the office, no problem XD. There were plenty of downloaded movies for me to watch and I got to do other things that I haven't done when I'm online. My entire routine is pretty much the same for the entire day though.

Thursday: I really wanted to get some sleep after taking Migmig out but I wasn't able to do it as she doesn't want to get some sleep either XD. I just got myself ready for work instead. Since my other colleague won't be able to report for work, I've got the entire shift under my shoulders. I passed by Chatime at Gateway for a buy one take one on their pearl milk tea. Luckily, work wasn't that heavy as a few emails came by. Anyway, thank God, our paycheck was given in advance so I could do some shopping of my own for the holidays. For dinner, I went out to have some T-Bone Steak for dinner and bought some coffee for my colleagues as my way of saying thanks for their support (and I needed those stickers for my final planner). I just waited for the time to tick-off before logging-off and spend the holidays with my family.

Friday: Got up at 6:45am as Migmig was already up and awake but she's throwing some tantrums. It appears to be that she could have a slight fever so we feed her with her milk while her mom puts her to sleep again. I went online early to check on some of my things as we didn't have internet in the office for the past 4 days (WTF!) before returning back home. Then I helped my wife in taking care of Migmig until past 1:30pm before I went to SM Megamall to do some shopping of my own. Traffic was really horrible as I got there at almost 3:00pm. I had my late lunch at Rack's after trying this new drink from Happy Lemon which was really good. Then it was pants hunting for me. I picked black because I haven't got a pair of black pants for a long time. But it was really challenging to find a perfect fit for me as my size went up by at least 2 XD.While my 2 pairs of pants were being altered, I got myself a new planner. Its a different one and probably more informative than the ones I currently have (I'll blog about this pretty soon). And instead of starting my collection of photography books next month, I bought one by Tom Ang. It's a step-by-step guide which I wanted to check and get some inspiration with. Once I got all the items I need, I took an fx ride going home. My wife and baby was waiting for me already and I got to spend more time with them before going to sleep.

Saturday: Got up around early again to take Migmig out for a few minutes. Then I went out to claim Migmig's gift from Max's that turns out to be a whole fried chicken and tried buying cake there. But I had no luck at S Manila, so I head home, drop-off some things and I went to SM Centerpoint. I got the cake I needed until when I was about to go down the bus, the door suddenly shut down, leaving my cake smashed. I was so mad that I almost hit the driver in the head. Then I head to Goldilocks in Espana to get my cake there. Thank God there were several choices there and I got one that is right for Migmig. Then, I got to relax and enjoy the rest of the day as we waited for the clock to strike midnight celebrating the birthday of our savior. It would be also the first time Migmig will be celebrating Christmas with us so that makes it more special to us =)


Sorry for the late post as our office internet got really SCREWED-UP. XD.

Happy New Year Everyone! ^_^

A look into the Starbuck’s 2012 Planner (a look into the 1st of 5 planner)

This is the first (of 5 planners) 2012 that I had recently acquired for next year. I’ve been seeing some reviews about it from popular bloggers and most of the reviews that I saw were nothing but praises about them. For me, it’s a bit of a mix of good and disappointing things I saw after feeling its pages. Even when I was starting collecting 17 stickers, I had mixed reactions about the planner (to be told further). 

I got this planner the night after I attended the Ultimate Taste Test 7.0. Having it was really unplanned as I had already planned it to get this on the 30th on November. But somehow, my foot dragged me to Starbucks at 32nd Ave just a few steps from Mercato Centrale. 

I choose the Cherry cover since its between the lightest shade (Poplar) and the darkest shade (Oak ). They only differ in color and wood finishing for their cover. These planners are assured to be earth-friendly through these three x-factors

 



a. Ethical Sourcing: This ensures proper forest management
b. Environmental Stewardship: All of the inner pages are made from 70% recycled material, which means more trees were spared from being cut.
c. Community Involvement: For each planner claimed, part of the proceeds go to SparkHope, Starbucks Philippines' flagship program for early childhood care and development in partnership with Unicef. 

One thing I don’t like about this planner is that it’s compact. Compact that I could only write a few words in it as it’s small. Compared with the 2011 planner, this planner has lesser space which looked like more of an organizer to me which I had a couple of years back. 

Though the one thing I like about it is the pouch included with the planner. Aside from it fits my planner; it can also fit at least two mobile phones and some paper documents as well.It also has a bookmark though I'd still prefer the string-typed ones attached to the planner 

Over-all, this small planner would go a long long way especially to people on the go and those who prefer light planners. As for me, I’d take this as my 6th Starbuck’s planner and I’m looking forward to the 2013 Planner next year XD.

A Review on the Awesome Planner 2012 (Food and Travel Guide)

This would be my 2nd of 5 planners that I'll be having for 2012 as I still remember my first Awesome Planner I got for 2011. 

The curiosity in me got interested again in getting this planner so I made some reservations before claiming this planner and it also comes with a free shirt (that my wife uses).

This one is different from last year's as it shows more travel destination where you can go to and either relax or eat some. Every month, this planner shows some suggestions on where to go, where to stay and where to eat. From up north in Luzon to down south Mindanao, this planner has recommendations, I'm sure you'd love to visit soon. It also has a directory of Anton's 100 restaurants that he would personally recommend.

Taking a look at the Planner physically, it uses the spring-type of binding the pages instead of a planner's usual book-bind.For me, its kinda risky and I still prefer the book-type.

Over-all, this planner is recommended for travel bugs and foodies who seek new places to discover and explore. I hope I could take my family out pretty soon.