Parallax

coming back..

2009-10-25T19:09:00.000+08:00

i went back to upd yesterday to meet up with the cs dept folks for the up-hp cs elective. i already forgot the steep incline to the new cs building, and the crazy maze of the labs, rooms and offices in that building. (ok, it was a maze for me since i haven't frequented the new building THAT much.) i didnt see any familiar faces while i was there at the cs building, which shows how long i have already been away from the department. :)) what more if i visited the CURSOR tambayan @ engg?!

left to my own devices after the meeting, i walked to casaa hoping to grab a quesadilla but the stall was closed. boooo. remembering lowell's craving about chicken kiev and me missing devil's food cake, i decided to go to choco kiss. besides, i had time to kill - it was only 12nn and i wasnt supposed to be in SMPC till 3pm.

i walked to vinzons from AS, and rode an ikot jeep to the bahay ng alumni. wala na pala ung G/F na choco kiss! :( climbed upstairs and was lucky to find an empty table.

ordered (what else) chicken kiev, the bottomless iced tea (that i remembered was homemade and mixing the syrup to get the right taste was tricky, but i still ordered it) and a slice of devil's food cake (for take out). i was one happy kid. :D

i walked across the street and past the carillon to get to the waiting shed in front of up theater. there, i waited for a jeep going to the mrt so i could be in SMPC by around 3pm.

all the time i was there, i felt oddly at peace. it might be because of the trees and the wind rustling the leaves. or the fact that it was a Saturday and UP was deserted. i didnt mind walking from the new CS building to casaa to vinzons even when the sun was at its highest. for some weird reason, time passed by slower here (which is the exact opposite of my current pace). it was like someone hit the slow motion button when i went back to UP, and my life returned to normal speed while i was on my way to the office.

it was then i realized - i missed UP. :(

2009

2009-01-01T20:49:00.000+08:00

I'll start out this 2009 post differently than the other 2008/2009 posts flying around. :)

I sent out this text message to the wommies:

"Here's to a year of more projects, rollouts & opportunities; less out of sla tickets, escalations, downtimes and issues; successful scampi and iso20k audits; more teambuilding activities, offsites, vacations; better work life balance; less stress & more hours of sleep; but most of all, here's to the increase that's more important than out salaries (but yes, the salary still matters, hehe): friendship, family, love and health. happy new year wommies! thanks for a wonderful, jam packed, very fulfilling and learning-ful 2008. :)"

and to my other friends:

"Here's to more vactions & better work life balance; experiences that will help us become better persons; success in whatever we undertake; less stress & more sleep; but most of all, here's to the increase that's more important than out salaries (but yes, the salary still matters, hehe): friendship, family, love and health. happy new year ! thanks for a wonderful, jam packed, learning-ful 2008. :)"

Other than the usual "Happy new year din, Tina!" replies, here are some interesting ones:

"wow, agree ako sa speech mo. i wish the same for you. actually.. for you, we could just stop at 'i wish you more sleep' wheee :D" - pat (haha. my reply: hahaha. ung less stress and more sleep ok nko e. =P)

"huwaw! napudpod cguro ung keypad mu! :) hahaha! happy new year tinatuts! :)" - walter (my reply: "d nman, grabe to. haha. :) happy new year wally! :)")

"amen. happy new year cuz!" - cuz K!

"tina! happy new year! sanay d ka nagtratrabahp ngayon! hahaha kampaaay!" - ivin

"hapi new year tina! tnz 4 being wonderful! dpt kw mre rest 4 dis yr ah. :)" - mommy olive

"well said tina. happy new year!" - ate chris

"tinatuts, i will assume that the 2008 in ur txt is really 2009. manigong bagong taon! :) here's to a wonderful 2009! :)" - idol chubbs (my reply: "idol, 2008 tlaga un, as in thank u for a wonderful 2008. :) hehe." sabi ni chubbs: "ah haha! i will read again.")

okay, fine, soooo they all have the same subtext - get more rest! fayn. will try to stop being a workaholic. eh kseee, magagaling ung mga pinagmanahan ko! (ahem, jenny anne, mama des, josie. :P)

but still, you guys would have to agree that i/i'm:

1. got out more in 2008 (bohol, cebu, singapore, tagaytay, batangas)

2. finally on flexi-time! yey. :D

3. working from home more often (well, more than 2007. haha)

4. have slowly weaned myself off on emailing on weekends (well, fayn, pwera nung wala si nikki tapos ako ung nagcover sa kanya as RM, PLUS BAT support, PLUS implem lead, PLUS WBCM Change Manager, PLUS being the product team's go-to girl)

5. have clocked in relatively more hours of sleep for FY 07-08 than FY 06-07.

6. have more carefree fridays and weekends

7. reconnected with my college friends & high school/elem kada

all thanks to you guys. :) hoping to continue all of the above and more this 2009. :D

Anong tawag mo sken (aka, mga nickname daw.)

2008-09-03T18:33:00.000+08:00

Tagged by byte. :p

Heniwey, since I want to take a break from WOM 12/SMA 8, cge, patulan nten ung tag ni byte while eating Choco Hazelnut Brownie ice cream here in Iloilo. (conf room ha, hindi iloilo na totoong iloilo. wish ko lng.)

1. Tina - tawag sken ng elementary & high school classmates, blockmates, college friends, orgmates, at officemates. in short, friends. hehehe.

2. Ning - Tawag sken sa bahay. Kaya minsan nakakalito as bahay, tawag din kasi kay anding, Ding. hehehe.

3. Tinatuts - since elementary days. Long cut nyan is tina matutina (err, ung alalay ni Donya Delilah sa John & Marsha, remember?), tapos naging tina matuts, hanggang sa tinatuts. it stuck, kaya hanggang YM yan na din ung username ko. :D

4. Mam Tina - tawag nung mga MOCC sken nung panahon na officer ako, pati ng mga students ko sa CS 173.

5. Natuts - tawag nina Mon at Tweety sken. tamad silang ipronounce ung "Ti". phhbbtttt...

6. Mommy Tina - tawag ng mga mas bata sken, pati nren ung mga rex ko dati.

7. Tins - ayaw nila na A ung dulo eh, kaya S nlng daw. hehe

8. Mama PG - dahil ako ung nagpapakain sa mga PG na wommies. :P

9. Christina - my second name, pero pag yan na ung tawag ng nanay ko sken.. lagut! sermon na ung kasunod. huhu.

10. Adorable little sister - tawag ng, who else, my adorable older brothers. :p (hehe)

11. Byte - tawag ng bits (Rowell & Frank) ko sken

12. Bit - Tawag ni Byte (kuya JC) smen ni Cha

13. She-hulk - She-hulk daw ako. di naman. phhbbbttt.

...so yan yung mga naalalala ko, di ko na maalala kung meron pang iba. hehe. :p

back to cramming..

2008-08-25T14:08:00.000+08:00

yep, back to cramming for an exam. ahh.. just like the good ol' days. :p

but right now, im taking a break from my so-far-4-hours-straight-in-front-of-the-computer-reading-review-material-since-my-eyes-are-tired-already-but-i-really-need-to-cram-since-tomorrow-is-the-exam-already-eeek study mode.

I've always wanted to take the 1Z0-007 exam ever since I was still in the ADBA team and all of them started taking the certification exams. So when I transferred to WSNT (now WEBINT), i thought all of my hopes were gone. pooof. nada.

Good thing Hem has these extra Oracle vouchers from the old BIDS group. yahoo! But here's the catch.

.... the voucher was for the 1Z0-001 exam.

Huwaaat?! Ayokong kasama sa exam ung PL/SQL!!!

But luckily when we checked, we can use the voucher for the 1Z0-007 exam. yay! Besides, the 007 exam is cheaper than the 001 exam. hahahaha.

oh, and there's another thing:

.... the voucher expires August 27.

Grr... which is why we're taking the exam tomorrow. *sigh* And me, being the perennial crammer, and due to all the other stuff *ahemISO20k&WOM12stuffahem*, i only got to review the 1st three chapters last weekend (aug 17), last night, and today. anddd i still havent gone through the sample exams and brain dumps on my own yet. wah.

Oh well. The ever-optimistic-Tina-in-me says that i can pass the exam tomorrow with flying colors. =P

back to reviewing now..

Ten Conyomandments

2008-08-18T19:48:00.000+08:00

grabbed from my friend Chesca's multiply blog. Di ko napigilan, naalala ko si Nikki and the numerous persons na nahawaan nya. :))

TEN CONYOMANDMENT

by Gerry Avelino and Arik Abu

1. Thou shall make gamit "make+pandiwa".

ex. "Let's make pasok na to our class!"

"Wait lang! I'm making kain pa!"

"Come on na, we can't make hintay anymore! It's in Andrew pa, you know?"

2. Thou shall make kalat "noh", "diba" and "eh" in your pangungusap.

ex. "I don't like to make lakad in the baha nga, no? Eh diba it's like, so eew, diba?"

"What ba: stop nga being maarte noh?"

"Eh as if you want naman also, diba?"

3. When making describe a whatever, always say "It's SO pang-uri!"

ex. "It's so malaki, you know, and so mainit!"

"I know right? So sarap nga, eh!"

"You're making me inggit naman.. I'll make bili nga my own burger."

4. When you are lalaki, make parang punctuation "dude",

“ENGANAL is so hirap, pare."

"I know, tsong, I got bagsak nga in quiz one, eh"

5. Thou shall know you know? I know right!

ex. "My bag is so bigat today, you know"

"I know, right! We have to make dala pa kasi the jumbo Physics book eh!"

6. Make gawa the plural of pangngalans like in English or Spanish.

ex. "I have so many tigyawats, oh!"

7. Like, when you can make kaya, always use like. Like, I know right?

ex. "Like, it's so init naman!"

"Yah! The aircon, it's, like sira!"

8. Make yourself feel so galing by translating the last word of your sentence, you know,

your pangungusap?

ex. "Kakainis naman in the LRT! How plenty tao, you know, people?"

"It's so tight nga there, eh, you know, masikip?"

9. Make gamit of plenty abbreviations, you know, ex. "Like, OMG! It's like traffic sa LRT"

"I know right? It's so kaka!"

"Kaka?"

"Kakaasar!"

10. Make gamit the pinakamaarte voice and pronunciation you have para full effect!

ex. "I'm, like, making aral at the Arrhneo!"-->Arrhneo!)) Ano ka, SLENG!?))

"Me naman, I'm from Lazzahl!" --Di ka masyado ma Z, diba lang.))

Always Coca-Cola (regular, that is. :P)

2008-04-21T00:37:00.000+08:00

bwaaahahahhahaa! :P info from the Energy Fiend Site

==================================

Caffeine Content of Coca-Cola Classic

A 12 ounce can of Coca-Cola Classic contains 34.5 milligrams of caffeine.

Coca cola could be considered the earliest "energy drink" - although not marketed as such - it was one of the first carbonated drinks to contain caffeine.

The drink was first made in 1886 - where it supposedly had a very small level of cocaine in it - due to the extract of coca leaf being an ingredient. However, given that the formula has always remained secret - this may simply be an embellishment.

The Diet Coke range actually contain about 40% more caffeine per fluid ounce than the standard coke formula.

Coca-cola Blak has the largest amount of caffeine of any coca-cola drink.

====================================================================

Ok, me now going to schleep. I have a training at 9am. eeeeek! Buti nlng sa SMPC lng.

birthday cards

2008-04-19T23:05:00.000+08:00

on my 23rd birthday, my teammates gave me birthday cards. 2, kasi maliit lng yung card. hehehe.

here's one of the cards:inside:

and the other one:

inside:

.... ang p-PG tlaga ng mga taga-wom o, pati ba naman card, pagkain pden?!?! hehehe. :) pero thanks sa card guys! :) thanks din sa handa. hehe. :D

my brother, the teacher

2008-04-07T19:30:00.000+08:00

out of curiosity, i googled my brother(s). which one? well, i googled kuya kedo first - zilch. one came from my dsl rant post. hehe. then i googled kuya bong.

the search came up with some pretty interesting results. i found 2 posts regarding the "Olpocalypse". haha. how funny is that. here's the definition:

Olpocalypse (n.)
- Great or total devastation caused by Joselito "Bong" Olpoc.
- A revelation that you will fail no matter how hard you study.

There is no salvation after the Olpocalypse. And the worst part is...it will happen again. x_x

We usually label teachers as "terrors" if they:

Give uber-difficult exams
gives A LOT of projects
Scrutinize every minute detail of your paper/test/essay/project
asks a lot of difficult questions during defenses/panel discussions
Don't teach well - just gives you the readings, and just tells you when the exam is

ok, so my brother is a "terror" teacher - but he only meets 3 out of 5 criteria above. hehe. Anyway, he accepts the fact that students call him "terror" and some avoid his class, but he continually reminds me that his classes are the ones that get fully booked immediately during registration. :P well, thank God none of them was disgruntled enough or else i would've been hunted down and massacred already in HP. :P

but really, aren't you a little bit proud of yourself that you got thru his class? the gruelling papers, long essays in the exams (with the oscars/disney bonus items), the excruciating defenses.. how do i know all these? well, i occasionally browse thru the papers that were submitted to him, checked and added up the scores for some of the exams (objective parts lng, dont worry - i dont check the essay parts), scold him on creating essay exams, not checking his exams early and the agony that he's giving the students by how much he/she needs to score to pass, etc, etc.

and dont deny it - he's a great teacher. I'm not saying this just because he's my brother - he actually tutored me and some of my blockmates/orgmates for some of our CS classes in UP, and they say that he teaches so well.

I've had several terror teachers in UP. some of them was worth it, because i found out that they teach well, and expect a lot from their students. Which is why passing their class is so rewarding. :)

i'm also teaching part time at UP, since i'm handling the CS173 elective being offered by HP to the CS department, and i dont think i'm a terror teacher. :P BUT, i seem to have picked up my brother's knack of creating difficult exams since my teammates are always complaining that my training assessment exams are difficult/confusing. hehe. :) it's for their own good. :D

ows? tlaga?

2008-02-29T06:56:00.000+08:00

cge, makisali tayo kina mike at ej. hehehehe

What Tina Olpoc Means

You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life.
You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home.
You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble.

You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.
You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.
You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.
You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts.
You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic "Type A" personality.

You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life.
You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you.
At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself.

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.
You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily.
Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

You are influential and persuasive. You tend to have a lot of power over people.
Generally, you use your powers for good. You excel at solving other people's problems.
Occasionally, you do get a little selfish and persuade people to do things that are only in your interest.

You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily.
You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind.
A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

What Tinatuts Means

You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life.
You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home.
You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble.

You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.
You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.
You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.
You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts.
You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic "Type A" personality.

You are a very lucky person. Things just always seem to go your way.
And because you're so lucky, you don't really have a lot of worries. You just hope for the best in life.
You're sometimes a little guilty of being greedy. Spread your luck around a little to people who need it.

You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong.
You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know.
You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

dsl part 2. =P

2008-02-17T14:09:00.000+08:00

dsl kwento, part 2. bow. *currently on bayantel dsl. hehe*

since super-duper-mega-grrrr-inis na kami ni kuya kedo sa pldt last last week, nagapply na kme ng bayantel dsl. the messenger delivered the application form on a monday, pero wala si mama (we have an existing bayantel line na nakapangalan kay mama, aaand if we get the dsl, 300php nlng yung landline. hehe) so the application form got signed on a wednesday. messenger picked it up on a thursday, and while me, mama and kuya kedo were at the fort last sunday (feb 10 - happy birthday to gwen and lola queenie), tumawag si ate..

ate: "tumawag yung bayantel, ppnta na daw sila dito para ikabit yung dsl"
tina: "talaga?!?! weeeee!"
ate: "o e san ko ipapakabit yung dsl? yung pldt asa may bar."
tina: "sa kwarto ko nlng muna, para matest. andun yung desktop eh""
ate: "o hala sya sige. babay"
*baba ung phone*
tina: "kuyaaaaaaa ikakabit na daw yung bayantel!"
kuya kedo: "yey!"

so pagkauwi, stress test agad naman kami ni kuya kedo. ok nmn so far. pero ok lng, nakakapagwork naman na ako pagkauwi, kaya nakakaalis nko ng office ng mga 10ish. har har har.

monday morning (6:30 am)

ate: "ning, gising na"
tina: *mumbles sleepily* "oo bbangon na.. may mainit na tubig na?"
ate: "oo meron na. ayusin mo yung bayantel a, mamaya iwasiwas yan ng pamangkin mo"
tina: *rises up from the bed immediately, suddenly alert* "shet onga!"

..which was why i was 30 mins late for work that day. hehehe.

naexcite din ako kasi ibig sabihin... tandararaaaan! makakapag-work from home na ako ng week na yun! yahoooo! sobrang excited pa naman ako mag-wfh nung wednesday (wed-thu kse wfh ko), kasooooo etong si cristy kse, me ginawa nanamang kalokohan na pinahamak ako. *mumblegrumblemumble* ayan tuloy, pumasok tuloy ako ng wednesday (whole different story, not related to the dsl thing). phhhbbbttt..

come thursday (first eeeever wfh day for this year) (6:30am)...

ate: "ning, maaga ka ba?"
tina: *eyes still closed* "hindi, wfh ako. up naman dsl no? tatlong ilaw dun sa bayantel na dsl"
ate: "oo, up naman"
tina: "o yan, wfh ako." *goes back to sleep, wakes up at 8:30*

so ayun, up yung net, connect na ako sa vpn, yadda yadda.. kaso di ako makaconnect sa comm. *mumblegrumble* ok lng,naka-connect naman ako sa ym. hehehe. medyo mabagal, tpos di ako makaconnect sa p&g sites, which is weird. eh kelangan ko na tlaga magconnect sa isang site for work, tapos up ung pldt (waw, himala no?), so nilipat ko ulit yung router muna sa pldt ulet. sabi ko iffigure out ko muna yung bayantel over the weekend. kaya ayun.

after twiddling with the tcp/ip settings.. tadaaaaa! nakaconnect nko sa work-related sites ko, nakakaconnect nden ako sa comm while on vpn! yahooo!

so ayun. monitoring period muna kami. post production, ika nga sa project namin. niyukyuk. :D

di lang basta bukol ang aabutin mo =P

2007-09-02T03:08:00.000+08:00

Friday last last week (Aug 24), napadpad kami sa RS dahil sa coffee talk. Nakitambay kami sa 35th floor, sa area ng DBA (haha, useful tlaga pag may friends ka pden sa RS, may matatambayan ka pag andun ka). =P Eniweysh, mga 3:30 ata nung umalis kami (ako, josie, moe, nikki, arvil, pierre) sa 35th para pumunta na sa Makati Sports Club. Tapos tapos, nakita ko yung isang orgmate ko. At since cursor party kinabukasan...

tinatuts (tuwang-tuwa): cuz!!

cuz!: (tuwang-tuwa) tinatuts! Hello!

tinatuts: Pupunta ka sa CURSOR party bukas?

cuz!: (nag-isip muna) di ko pa sure e...

josie: Tinaaaa

tinatuts: Baki..

PANG! (sound epeks 'to)

tinatuts: Areku!

*takbo si cuz!*

josie, moe, arvil, pierre: *tawanan*

tinatuts: Bat hindi nyo ako hinatak?!

josie: ano ka, hinihila na kaya kita!

tinatuts: Hindi kaya! You loko loko meeeh eh!

Hayun, naputol ung sinasabi ko. Wala namang bukol, at hindi rin naman masakit. Pramis, nde naman malakas ung pagkauntog ko eh. =)

Tawanan kami nina Josie, pati nden ung mga teammates ni cuz. Andaming nakakita, waaaaa. oK! lng, kse si cuz nmn ang sinisi ng mga teammates nya. bwahahaha. Yun nga lang, hanggang sa lobby habang nagaantay ng elevator, pinagtatawanan pden ako ng mga teammates ko. rawr.

Ahihihihi. =P

2007-07-09T04:56:00.000+08:00

I really was planning to take up a masters degree. After 2 years of working i said, "hey, why not do it now?" And finding out that cuz Kaye and grannish was also going to take up masters this sem pushed me to take it this semester.

When my teammates found out, their reactions were:
"waw! cge, go!"
"CS?! bat CS?!"
"basta wag kang mag-thesis option, mabubuhay ka."

the most common being..
"Naku! hindi ka na talaga matutulog nyan!"

.. each person who mentioned that (or something similar) got a good hard slap on the arm (in josie's case, a good dose of tickling).

Well, nakakatulog pa naman ako. (i can practically hear my teammates objecting right now..) hoooy, kaya lang naman ako nde nakakatulog pag tues/wed kasi pasaway ako at hindi ko ginagawa ung slides over the weekend. hehehe. :)

Oh yeah, and before i forget, pinamana na sa akin ni mama des ang CS 173. :p

"Nakuuu, nde ka na talaga matutulog nyan!"

Hey, its the new frontier for me! :) Kaya yan no. ako pa. :p

2007-07-09T03:01:00.000+08:00

each player of this game starts with 6 weird things about himself/herself. People who got tagged need to write a blog entry of their own 6 weird things. They should as well state the rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

[o mam joyce, eto na. :P]

1. I can't stop drinking Coke. Yeah, yeah, i know, its bad (diabates and all that..).. but, but.. hehe. Everyone who knows me know that all it takes to either cheer me up, PARTIALLY amend for their mistake or to keep me going (like adrenaline) is coke. :D Why'd you think i have this as my creative grad pic? :P -->

2. There came a time that drinking coffee made me sleepy afterwards. Maybe i became immune. :) hehehe.

3. Since my brother ratted me out to my teammates already (some brother. hrmph)... I'm a Similac kid. Yep, not Promil, Similac. Apparently, when i was born, I was lactose intolerant, and my pedia recommended Similac as my infant formula. In 1985, Similac wasn't available in the Philippines yet (or if it was, it was very hard to find). Lucky for us, my dad worked was assigned to the airport that time (customs), so my milk came from Hong Kong. When Josie, Tanya and Moe heard that story, they went "aaaaah, kaya ka pala ganyan!". Langya. hrmph.

4. I didnt have naturally straight hair. When i was born, i had curly hair (looky!). But some whack hairdresser hacked my hair off! And he cut my hair like a chinese guy with a braid! (oo, as in boycut na may buntot!) grrr. After that haircut, my hair was not quite the same... :p

5. It's hard for me to throw things away. Really. I think I still have a xerox copy of one of my old high school modules tucked away somewhere in one of the cabinets here at home. and i know i still have the paperworks from the JS prom.. :p My mom's always complaining that we're a paper factory.

6. I still have my 16 year old teddy bear sitting on my bed. Like Kuya Kedo's stinking ancient gummo, it's my security blanket. Baby bear's left eye is already missing, Mommy Bear's right eye and nose are chipped, plus her neck already has no stuffing so Baby Bear's the one holding her head up, and they're both full of stiches. You can actually see the evolution of my sewing/mending skills. :p This teddy bear was given to me as a Christmas gift by Santa Claus (aka Kuya Bong). A bunch of Christmases and teddy bears after, this one's still my favorite.And finally, after an hour, I've completed this list. Grabe, napiga utak ko ha. hehe. :) I'm tagging.... :
- Tsatsi [http://cemijares.multiply.com]
- mike sep [http://infobuilder.multiply.com]
- joykie [http://anocturnalgirl.blogspot.com]
- poch [http://ageorgehale.blogspot.com]
- ches [http://chesnutsy.multiply.com]
- kathy [http://wyflyhn.blogspot.com]

birthday, offsite, and the future. :P

2007-05-07T02:09:00.000+08:00

1st birthday ko at work (hindi counted na birthday at work un last year, easter sunday kasi yung birthday ko. :P) . at nagpasurprise party sila. complete with dinner (na treat nila. awwww..) at devil's food cake! :D thanks thanks sobra! :D

====================================

We just had our offsite last April 27 - 28 at Balai Isabel. But boy oh boy, the effort that we put into this first ever offsite for WSNT. ... Well, technically parang 2 weeks lang nakapagprepare for the offsite. Pano ba naman kse, bilangin mo nga yung kasama sa offsite team, 6 taga-WOM, 4 taga-CPGT! har har har. Good luck talaga. But shempre, being the wommies and cpgters that we are, we pulled it off nicely. (naks!) :P

SInce kinailangan merong mauna sa Balai Isabel para magsetup, at kelangan din dalhin lahat ng props, nauna kami nina drei, moe, eli at nathan. At ang driver? Si kuya kedo. Hay. Anlaki-laki na ng atraso ko ke kuya. Sinong may spare HP laptop adapter? Phuleeeaasseee? Yun daw yung bayad ni kuya para sa services rendered nya for the offsite eh. :P Kung nakita nyo lang yung sasakyan - ay grabe! May kawayan (yes guys, kawayan!), plastic balls, kaldero, cooler, water jug, amplifier, hula hoop, bao...Hay. Buti nagkasya lahat sa likod ng revo. Sabi nga ni kuya, kung sumobra pa ng 1 inch yung pinaputol kong kawayan, hindi na magkakasya sa sasakyan. har har.

Buti pa yung mga lalaki, nakaidlip kahit onti sa sasakyan. E ako? *blink blink blink* Alangan namang tulugan ko si kuya diba? so bangag kaming lahat na dumating dun, sila nagssetup ng mga playpen para sa command and conquer at takeshis castle, ako inaasikaso ko yung sa registration and other stuff.

Dumating yung bus 1 ng mga quarter to 9, bus 2 ng mga 9:30. Nung nagstart na yun program, medyo inaantok nko.. Pero nawala din naman. After lunch, inaayos namin yung mga playpens kasi bumagsak yung mga corner posts kaya nawala kami nung talk ni jay. pero tinawagan naman kami ni rose para dun sa sharing session with the wommies. :)

After nun, game time na! :D ahahaha. para silang mga bata. At eto naman ako, parang ewan na sumisigaw. Wawa naman boses ko. niyukyukyuk. pano ba naman kasi, walang megaphone. nalaman lang namin na may megaphone, isang game nlng. rawr. tapos para akong mamang sorbetero kasi may hawak akong bell. "pabili po ng ice cream!" =)) si jay, marc at simon nag head-to-head sa command and conquer. da best! hahahahahaa. laugh trip. tapos nung takeshis castle na, aba, rambulan na! at natuwa pa ang mga bata na pwede nilang iuwi yung mga water gun.tapos nung pictorial na, sina jino nangbubuhos pa ng tubig. kita naman sa picture diba? :D

sobrang pagod kme after nung games. nakakatempt humiga pero pag humiga kami nina josie, for sure dirediretso na kme. e may evening program pa! hehehe. at since hindi ko nabrief sina jac at miggy, ako na nagtakeover. aba, impromptu rearrangement ito ng program! hehe. :P at onga pala, nahatak kami nina rose at des para kumanta kasama nila. eLT lng dapat un eh. rawr.

*sings* hoy, kaibigan ko, pakinggan mo mga bulong sayo...

benta yung new hires presentation! lalo na ung "di ako bakla" presentation ni remar! =)))) da best! it will go down as one of the best new hire's presentation in WSNT history. nyahaha. yun mr and ms luau din, benta, akalain mong madami din palang magagaling maghula-hoop sa wnst? pati sina bacchus, jay, marc at simon! hahahaha.

after ng evening program (as in pati un awarding and promotions.. congrats vil! :P), jamming session na with the wsnt band. (go vil! go jonray! go ken! go jay!) and in fairness, madaming naki-sing along sa all i have to give. :D har har. open mike na din, so madaming kumanta. tapos habang nakikising-along, inuubos na ng mga tao yung 8 cases ng beer, at yung mga baon2 na hard drinks. bartenders for the night sina gabby, jino at eugene.

till 4 daw tumugtog yun banda, pero knockout n kme ng mga 2:30. cge nga, wala kang tulog for the past day, tapos antaas taas pa ng energy level mo buong araw. you had to give up at one point or another. :P actually, nakaidlip nko sa table ng onti. ganon ako kaantok. si josie habang nagvvideo nakakaidlip na at bumabagsak na yung ulo. :D

wala nang toothbrush toothbrush, bagsak na kami nina josie at cristy sa kama. si rose nauna na sa amin eh. hay, sleep, finally. zzzzzz..

nagalarm ako ng 8, but no, 9:30 nko bumangon. este kami ni cristy at josie. si josie nga dapat tutulog pa. kaso wala nang batt phone nya so sinamahan naming maghanap ng charger.

shempre bago umalis, nagWOM at offsite team pictorial muna kami. :D

at nung akala namin tapos na ang lahat.. NASIRAAN KAMI NG BUS! well, actually, asa bus 1 kami ni josie. sinamahan ko muna sa sha bus 1 kse sha spoc dun, tapos lilipat kami sa bus 2 pag nagstop over para mapagusapan namin yung siquijor trip namin. but noooo.. yun bus 2 daw nawalan ng preno. so un mga taong nagmamadali, pinalipat na namin ng bus 1. at ang naiwan sa bus 2? ako, josie, drei, jonray, nathan, jino, juric, cristy, arvil, des, nap, eli at pierre. 1:30 yun ha. sabi magpapadala ng 2nd bus. mga 30 mins. alas-3 na chca lng namin nalaman na mekaniko yun pinadala! grrrr.. tapos, nung 5pm plng tumawag ng 2nd bus kasi nde maayos agad un preno. grrrrrrr... nakaalis na ata kami ng batangas nun ng mga 8. biruin mo, 7 hrs!?!??! kung ano ano na ginawa namin - singalong with manggy on the guitar, kwentuhan, hula hoop, chinese garter, jumping rope... o diba, parang mga bata. hahahahaa. nung nakarating kami ng smpc, sabi ni jino ke arvil "pare, pigilan mo ko ha, baka ma-hug ko yung SMPC eh." :P

success naman yung offsite, madaming nagsabi na nagenjoy sila sorba. :)
==================================
gaaaah, 2 years nkong nagttrabaho! narealize ko lng nung nakita ko yun ym stat ni ate chris na "3 yrs today" tapos yung mga stat ni egay na "happy anniversary!".

haay.
==================================
yaaaay! makakapunta na akong galera! oo na, oo na, olats nko, hindi pa ako nakakapunta ng galera. hindi pa din ako nakakapunta ng bora. :P wawa naman ako. so sue me. :P

..at makakapagswimming nren ako!! hindi ako nakapagswimming sa pool nun offsite eh. hahaha.
==================================
next up: Siquijor trip. July. also known as the " The WOM, CPGT and Drei Siquijor Trip". Sasama daw topas boys so cguro " The WOM, CPGT, TOPAS and Drei Siquijor Trip" n sha. *faint* ~30 ppl! good luck. hahahaha.

VisualDNA :P

2007-03-30T02:37:00.000+08:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

schniff

2007-02-08T03:01:00.000+08:00

inagaw nila secure id koooo! *sob*

cge nga, papiliin ka ba naman, secure id o wallet? e ako petty cash/rural bank dito sa bahay, alangan namang nde wallet diba?!

waaaaaa.. buhuuhuuuuuu..

2007-01-10T19:33:00.000+08:00

from Ia's blog:

The UP Department of Computer Science Holds Its First Alumni Homecoming

Twenty-six years since its creation, the UP Diliman Department of Computer Science (DCS) is finally holding an alumni homecoming on the 24th of February 2007 at its new home, the College of Engineering Library and Computer Science Building. (FYI, that building is right in front of National Institute of Geological Sciences (NIGS) and the College of Science Library and Administration building.) Registration starts at 3, while the program will begin at 4pm.

You can read the invitation letter from Prof. Evangel Quiwa that’s been passed around to the alumni in Sir Rom’s blog. Actually, there are two more versions of the invitation letter: one reiterated by the Department Chair, Dr. Cedric Festin, and another detailing of a very special surprise for the Department’s most-loved teacher—guess who! (I’ve already mentioned him here!)

If you haven’t registered yet, better do it soon! Here are the latest details on registration and payment for the event (dated January 5):

P 400.00 if reserved by the end of the year and paid by the end of January 2007;
P 500.00 if bought by the end of January 2007;
P 600.00 if bought in February.

All you have to do is to reserve and to get the discounted rates (before February) is to send an e-mail to homecoming.register@updcsaa.com

…The tickets for the homecoming will be out late next week. For those who would like to pay prior to the release of the tickets, you have two options:

(1) Direct payment to Mila Ramos at the CS Department
(2) Bank deposit to Philippine National Bank
Account Number: 275-830501-8
Account Name: Diliman Computer Science Foundation

Please email your name, number of tickets, date, amount and transaction number (first line of the machine validation) of the deposit slip to homecoming.register@updcsaa.com

Upon availability, tickets may be claimed from Mila Ramos during office hours at the CS Department. Alternatively, you can get it on the homecoming itself. In any case, you need to show the receipt for option (1) and deposit slip containing the transaction number for option (2).

For registration inquiries, please email homecoming.register@updcsaa.com

2006 in review

2007-01-01T04:33:00.000+08:00

2006 is a truly memorable year for me. :) I met lots of new people and gained new friends, grew stronger and learned a lot thru my experiences this year. What happened in 2006, and what did i learn about myself and the ppl around me this year?

- taught my 1st cs173 class
- CURSOR won the Engineering Organization Excellence Award (EOEA) whohoooo! :P
- 1st UP-HP recruitment day (yey to us, chris & taty! :D)
- 1st ever WASM & DBA Teambuilding (hahaha. :P) this was where we discovered the wonders of TABOO. :D
- 21st birthday! thanks for making it one of my most memorable birthdays! natouch tlaga ako sa surprise nyo. :)
- G.AOCL goes to 3 provinces in 1 day! hahaha. road trip!
- 1st year in HP
- weddings galore! (jeff & christine, lou & rain, mam joyce & harvee)
- switched teams
- despedidas galore :( (joyce, steve, kuya mike, poch)
- the birth of my 1st ever pamangkin! :D
- offsites and the "memories" from the offsites *evil grin*
- ehrmmm.. shifting all you can with kristine and josie? :D
- switched managers
- .. parted ways with the DBA team
- changed locations (from RS to SMPC)
- .. wasn't able to attend ANY of the engg week night events! *sob*
- the return of batokaches and backaches
- let go of my HS batchbook responsibilities (heeheeeheee. :P)
- acbatch2001 reunion! :)
- .. discovering that my most loved teddy bear is REALLY REALLY old ( ~16 years. eeek!)
- if im on asia shift, i tend to be awake/online up to NA time (or is this because of the release? hrmmm); if im on EMEA shift, i'm awake up to 9am (tops. ehhrmm.. yeah. more or less); and if im on NA shift, i get sleepy at around 5:30am, then perk up at around 7am, and fall asleep at around 10am. but in extreeeeemmeee cases, i can push myself. heehee. :P
- ... im always online on ym. :)) heehee. :D lots of people have already noticed - from my teammates, to my blockmates, and even my HS batchmates when we met up during the reunion! =))
- im the "unofficial" AA for our team. (hrmm. i wonder why?)
- my friends aren't surprised that im always (well, most of the time) part of an organizing committee of some event (bakeeet?!?)
- ppl on EMEA shift are the workaholics. :)) [o ano jenny, aangal ka ha ha ha? kristine? josie? :D :D]
- im one of the unofficial "taga-bantay"s during offsites/parties/whenever there's beer or liquor. haha. (sabihin nyong nde!)
- team paparrazi (yeeep, i have all the pictures. if not most of them. :D).
- you'll find it hard to find an updated picture of the SM/DBA team separately! laging may SM or may DBA sa picture. kaya mahirap magsubmit ng team picture :)) diba jenny? heeheehee. the last DBA team pic was after kristine came (so jenny, joel, ako, fred, kristine, mark. kita mo, DBA pa ako! :P), and the last SM team pic was after arvil came (rose, nikki, eric, joyce, steve, mike c, rich, arvil, trixie). succeeding pictures were always "mark's team" pictures. :P
- .. i took <5 CDOs this year. (eek. grabe. i need a break!)

im sure i haven't listed down everything yet. but those were the ones that i remember. heehee :P overall, 2006 was a truly memorable year. :) thanks to everyone for being a part of it :D

happy new year! :)

me and SMPC. and other stuff.

2006-12-02T04:34:00.000+08:00

it has been almost a month since we first stepped foot on SMPC, and became part of a new organization. at ang ganda ng welcome to smpc gift sa amin! critical tickets galore! buong week yun ha. hay buhay. come to think of it, puro major and critical kami this month. hrmmm.. pero so far, so good :) i think we're doing better with our new team than our DBA counterparts. *snickers* mweeheehee. well, except for the aircon. at shuttle service. *sigh*

we still see each other, but not that often. kristine goes to SMPC on mondays & tuesdays, josie & i go to RS on thursdays, mike goes to SMPC on mondays & thursdays. si jenny ad-hoc. hrmm. okay fhine, so wednesday, fridays and weekends lang kami hindi nagkkita. hahaha. although 2 thursday na kami hindi nakakapunta ng RS kasi lagi may dinner sa SMPC. he-ni-wey..

its back to sleepless emea nights. meaning, 2-4 hrs of sleep everyday, constant headaches and batokaches, being in a constant state of frenzy, plus super duper late dinners. uh-hrm, 12 mn na kami minsan kumakain ni josie. pagbalik namin ng smpc, anjan na yung shuttle sa baba. :))

although i must admit, mas dumali ang buhay sa pangungulit sa dev kasi kapitbahay na namin sila. hahahaaa. :D speaking of which, here are pictures of the wom team (o diba, wala pang isang buwan,andami na agad naming pictorial! hehehe):

<-- nakailang take kami nito ha! naapakan ko pa yung buhok ni kitin! :P

<-- aah, yung "smallville" pose namin. hehehe.

<-- at ang telenovela family pose namin. niyukyukyuk.

sadly, wala pang bagong SMPC pics, kasi nabagsak ko yung cam ni kuya. drats. papaayos pa ni josie. (thanks josie! :P) these were the last pics na kinuha ng cam na yun (at yung first ones sa SMPC):

========================
carlos posted a link on his blog where you can create your own avatars. at since naka-leave ako today (mwaaahahaha. yes, oh yes. after for sooooo long), i went ahead and played around (that's me, btw. :P) :

RM look #1: the ultimate look. yung tipong gusto mo nang sumigaw ng "ARRRGGHH!! AYOKO NAAAA!" at naiiyak ka na sa dami ng issues.

RM look #2: Key users getting on your nerves, and everything is not going right..

RM look #3: Normal RM look. for now.

RM look #4: pag hindi na magkandaugaga sa pagreplicate ng ticket, pagsagot sa makukulit na users, pangungulit sa dev, at ng ipapalusot sa mga nakatataas:

hahaha. funny no? Eto pa:

<-- Arvil (kenkoy look)

<-- Jenny (hindi ko mahanap yung buhok ni jenny! *sniff*)

<-- Kristine (the elf's 2 hr sleep look)

... cge tutulog na ako, at may lakad pa nga pala kami mamaya. Baka nde ako magising ng alas-2. hehehee. :P

sabi na eh! =P

2006-11-05T23:19:00.000+08:00

You Are Coke

A true original and classic, you represent the best of everything you can offer.
Just the right amount of sweet, just the right amount of energy... you're the life of the party.

Your best soda match: Mountain Dew

Stay away from:Dr Pepper

What Kind of Soda Are You?

of hellos and goodbyes..

2006-11-05T22:23:00.000+08:00

last friday was our last day in RS and our last day together as a team - although since Nov 1, we (SM) were already reporting to our new manager. It's a sad and senti day for all of us, since we've been together God knows when.

There was a coffee talk that evening (6-8pm), and we (Nathan, Josie & I) were planning a surprise for the DBAs - a video of sorts, showing all the pictures of the good times that we had together. We initially planned on including interviews with each member of the SM team (which DBA you'll miss the most, why, memorable experience, etc) but due to unexpected circumstances (AKA tickets!), we weren't able to do that. Sooooo we just did the "interview" part live during the coffee talk. The presentation with all the pictures? well..

Before I slept, I already copied the pictures that I'll be using for the presentation into one folder so that I wont go crazy finding the pictures in the other folders. And then, I went to the office last friday at around 11:30 so that I could finish (well, more like START doing it :P) the presentation. But, as circumstance would have it, i ended up having lunch with Dom, Fitz, Aldo, Arnie, Nathan and Tanya at Tang City. Tanya dubbed it as the "last lunch with the DBAs before we go to Ortigas". And like our usual Friday lunchouts, we ended up going back to the office at 2pm. eeeek! Thank God our application was behaving and there were no major/critical/performance issue tickets, so i was able to concentrate on creating the presentation.

We wanted the presentation to be a walk down memory lane, and tell the DBAs that even though we're not under the same manager, same team, heck, not even in the same building, they will always be a part of us. And of course, we'll still be working together. heehee. :P

So I started doing it at 2pm.. and come 4pm, I wasn't even halfway through! arggghhh... Sabi ko nga 28 kami, bat ba kasi pinilit na magkaroon ng "slide" per person eh.. hehehe. Tapos, pinilit pa talagang isingit ang "loveteam" section sa video eh no.. Come 6pm, they were already pressuring me to render the video already. teka laaaaaannngggggg!! may dadagdag pa ako! waiiit laaaaannnnggg! May 3 songs pa akong kulang! huwaaaaaa! I was FINALLY able to start rendering the video at around 6:15, and it finished just as the "interview" portion wrapped up.

*sings* We were strangers, starting out on a journey..

Each one of us had a particular DBA assigned and we would tell our memorable experience with them, etc, etc, and our message for them. Arvil was assigned to Fred, Josie to Aldo, Perey to Dom, Tanya to Fitz, Moe to Arnie, Nathan to Rockie, Letlet to Mike F, Jayjay to Kristine, Mike C to Joel, and I was assigned to Jenny. The team leads (Rose, Nikki, Yayie and Hem) gave their messages for Mark. .. I didn't think that I would cry during the interview part, but I did.. :) Jenny, if you're reading this, everything that i mentioned during the coffee talk was true. thanks for believing in me. :) And at least napaluha kita. hahaha. :D That's all I wanted. :P

Anyway, when we showed the video, there were "awwww" moments, and there were times when the whole room exploded with laughter (hrmmm.. ung ke arnie ata un. :P). yey for me! and after the coffee talk, most of them can't get Madonna's "I'll remember" out of their heads (this was the song i used in the final "senti/madrama" part) Mission accomplished. :)

*sings* and I'll remember, the strength that you gave me.. now that i'm standing on my own..

After our shift, we went to music 21! haha. kantahan blues.. Josie, Kristine, Jenny, Fred, Nathan, Rockie, Mike and me. :)

so, goodbye rs..
bye dba team... hindi na namin kayo makakalabit para magpareset ng password.. hehe. joke lng :) nagffile naman kaming ticket e!
at nde na rin namin kayo maasar personally.. iba pren talaga pag harapan ung asaran eh. pag via st lng, la gano effect eh. mweeheehee. :P
mamimiss ko kayo sobra, kasi yan pren ang unang team ko. :)
kristine, magkikita naman tayo sa SMPC, at magkafloor pa tayo!
...tapos ung isang WFH namin ni josie gagawin naming WFRS (work from RS). o diba! :P sa 34th tagaytay nlng siguro kami tatambay. hehe.

pero sabi ko nga sa video, its not an ending, its a new beginning! besides, lalakad pren naman tayo pag weekends eh. >:) hahaha.

*sings* I learned to let go.. I travel in stillness.. And I'll remember.. happiness

and speaking of new beginnings, we'll be in SMPC starting this Monday. Baka umingay yung floor dahil sa amin. mweeheehee >:) Dev team naman ang kapit bahay namin. hehehe :P

saan maganda mag-teambuilding/outing?

2006-10-09T01:26:00.000+08:00

any suggestions? :D our team's going to have an offsite/outing/despedida on the 3rd week of October (yes, yes, i know, i'd better get moving!). I'm looking at some of the beaches/resorts that we went to when we had our ocular, but i'd like to ask for suggestions. :P hehe.

.. if you know a place where you can do lots of stuff and has DSL (yes, yes, this is for WORK!), please DO TELL ME! :D

ayoko ng MMLDC ha! hrmph.

September = lucky month?

2006-10-01T22:29:00.000+08:00

from a previous post...:

"He should also ensure to take sufficient rest as the year may cause exhaustion and fatigue. Lucky months are February, April, June, September, November and January 2007. "

Now that September's come and gone.. I'd say it hasn't been my lucky month. The SMA 3.1 release was cursed right from the start! 8-} September was also the month that we moved floors (hrmm.. good or bad? good kasi solo na namin ung floor, bad kasi mga ermitanyo na kami! :p), and the month that poch and kuya mike resigned. :(

wala lang, naalala ko lang.

... Pero tama na ung part na "the year may cause exhaustion and fatigue". mweheheheheeee...

one month and counting...

2006-10-01T03:23:00.000+08:00

yup, 1 month before we split up. :( the team, you nimwit, the team!

hay, here we go again, nagpaka-drama mode nnmn po ako. :( o kristine, wag kang malungkot a! :P

for the 1st year anniversary of SM Professions, a special newletter was released - it contained all profiles/writeups of the other teams which were not yet featured in the previous newsletters. here's the article that i wrote (edited already by gudj, since the original one was too long. :P):

===============================

Once upon a time, in a building called Robinson’s Summit, there were two teams. As separate entities, they are known as the Applications DBA team and the Web Solutions Service Management Team. However, when people hear that, they just stare at you with a blank expression on their face. But when you say “Under kami kay Mark Tan”, the spell is magically lifted and everything becomes clear.

If you visit their domain, here are some of the things that you will hear:

“Down ang WOM at CSP! Penalty nanaman! Broken Pipe error nanaman sa pagrecycle!”

“Bakit nagf-full table scan tong query na to? Ano ba yan, bakit walang stats tong table na to?! ”

I see that you’re getting that glazed look on your face again. To learn more about these two teams, read on:

........ (edited out, sorry)

Mark’s team
Come to think of it, the Webapps SM and DBA teams are so tightly knit that other people know us collectively as Mark’s team. This can be attributed to the fact that we have, ever since, been in close proximity of each other ever since the teams were established – both during office hours and off-hours. Some of us are certified divers, dog lovers, ragnarok addicts, bookworms, basketball players, while some are certified videoke addicts (well, ok, almost all of us). And we do enjoy throwing a surprise for someone in the team – either because its their birthday, or a despedida. And boy, once someone tells a story, or teases someone.. It just keeps on going, and going, and going..

Two teams. Each having their own identity, yet are known as one. There will come a time when these two teams must part ways, but they’ll never be truly apart.

The End.

==============================

Gudj took out the technical part which Letlet said was a good thing. :) Kristine, on the other hand, felt sad because of the ending.. :( I wasn't sure if I can write in the article that the team's going to split up, so i just "reworded" it. heehee. :P

Jenny (aka DBA goddess) requested that there be a one last "team outing" before the team parts ways. So we're having one. the loong overdue team building which will turn out to be the team despedida. haha. We'll be having the outing during the 3rd week of october. i hope everyone comes! :) Ocular na to! >:)

Ansaya, nagbowling kami kanina after ng game nina jenny at josie. heehee :) kaso wala ung pics sa akin. I'll post it when i get a copy. At kumain kami sa Kipps. Haaay, pinayaman nanaman namin si cua. mwehehehehe :P

---------------------------------------------

Im currently watching Cutting Edge . I was watching Click earlier, which i borrowed from Tanya. :) I've always wanted to learn how to skate, ever since i was a kid. figure skating ha. haha. taas ng pangarap no? :P although when i tried ice skating @ megamall, i was stuck to the sides, holding the handrails! :)) so much for learning figure skating.

-------------------------------------------

oh oh, did i mention that our application was already released to Production? oh joy, oh joy! *dances around in joy* weeeeeeeeeeee!!! finally!! no more global shifts (for now)! im REALLY going to try to go home earlier. at LEAST catch the MRT when i go home. :P

of releases and things to come..

2006-09-24T02:08:00.000+08:00

a lot's happened since my last post. i was soooo tired and stressed out these past few months. and it looks like its going to be this way until december. seriously, i gotta get a life. or at least some rest. hehehe.

cge nga, san ka ba nakakita ng release na may 100+ tickets?! gawd, so many! at sino lang nagvverify at replicate nung mga yun ha ha ha? at iisa lang ang dev ngayon ha! grrr.

.. tapos nakakainis, sasabihin na hindi na itutuloy yung release, tapos a few days after... grrr tlaga!
just to keep up with ALL of those tickets (that's on top of my DM duties), i had to pull 2 1/2 shifts everyday. meaning, i go home everyday at 1 (ASIA ako ng lagay na to ha!), login at home, check some more tickets, sleep at 3:30 or 4 or 4:30 (ooh yeah), wake up at 5:30 (another miracle) and go to work at 8 or 9.

.. which led to to the sermons i get every satruday and sunday from my mom

.. and to the cough and colds that i have now

.. and the huuugge eyebags

.. and the cranky disposition almost everyday

.. and me nodding off to sleep almost every time i ride the shuttle home

*sigh*

if it were not for kristine, josie, nathan and rockie keeping me sane.. hehe. thanks! :P kahit sinisermonan nyo na ako dahil late ako lagi umuuwi, dahil nagkakasakit na ako, dahil nde na ako kumakain, dahil nde na ako nakaattend ng last day ng training ko ng java, dahil lagi kaming naggglobal shift ni josie, dahil sobra na (as in sobraaa! kapalmuks.. taking all the credit for our hard work..) ang ginagawa ng ibang mga tao jan... slamat pren sa concern, paggising sa akin pagdating sa bahay, paghatak (at magantay!) para kumain, sa pagcover ng queue pag kelangan ko na talagang mag-verify ng tickets, and for simply being there. :D

1 week na lang akong ganito. hopefully. naway makauwi na ako everyday ng after dinner. after all, ASIA shift ako. :P sa november nlng ulit, pag 4.0 na.
========================
wala na rin pala kami sa 20th floor, asa 34th floor na kami. call it a prelude to what's going to happen in november. :(

we're no longer going to be part of AMG. the whole team's not under the same "tower" anymore. Heck, the whole team's going to be split up into 3! *sob* the DBAs will be merging with pia's team (BI/DW), and the SM team will be split up into 2 - WOM & CSP (C&CS), and TOPAS & STAR (SNS). *sob* so sad.. and not only that, we're going to be in different buildings! the DBAs will stay in RS, while the SM team will move to SMPC. gloomy gloomy ortigas. :(

.. mamimiss ko yung team. as in yung lahat kami magkakasama. na pwede mo lang kalabitin ung mga DBA para magpareset ng password (shempre magoopen din naman ng ticket after!).. tapos pag friday, pagsapit ng 12, eh nagkkwentuhan at nagkukulitan nlng lahat.. yung mga long dinner outs na magkakasama ang SM at DBA. *sob* maybe its because i've been part of those two teams (DBA for the first year, SM the next), and my closest friends (HP kada. :P) are split evenly across the DBA & SM teams.

.. namimiss ko na nang maging part ng DBA team. namimiss ko na na si jenny yung team lead ko, pati yung pagpupuyat namin ni kristine sa DR replication ng CSP at TOPAS, at oo, kahit yung mga 971, 972, at cisor tickets. wala nren magbabantay ke ate jenny anne at ke kristine pag naka-inom sila. :P kita nyo naman yung nangyari nung offsite nila with BI/DW. mwehehehehe. ano na kaya ginagawa ko ngayon sa DBA kung nde ako pinahiram sa SM? hrmm.. pero, on the other hand, ok naman ako sa SM. namimiss ko lng talaga ang DBA. :(

.. bakit ba kasi pati ung SM issplit pa according to service lines? yayiieeeee.. :(

.. tapos halos sunod2 yung mga pagreresign ng mga tao. parang for the past quarter, 4 na agad nagresign! at shempre yung mga kaclose ko pa. si steve (bossing!!! huhuhu. bat mo ko iniwaaaann??), si joyce (joooycceee! la nang magtatanong sken kung anong shift ko.. :( ), si kuya mike (pwede ka pa naman mag-ocular ulet diba? :P), at si poch (bfast buddy!)

haaay. post nlng tayo ng mga pics ng team. hehehe. :P

fast forward, stop, rewind, slow mo.

2006-08-21T03:16:00.000+08:00

i read gino & ponch's post about click (the movie, you nimwit, not the teenybopper show on channel 7!). i haven't actually watched the movie yet, but their posts made me want to watch it.

It was something in their posts..

from gino:

"i enjoyed the movie but i was really bothered by some parts of it. i didnt expect that some supposedly funny movie had its way of disturbing my thoughts. i think most of us can relate to the message that the movie is trying to reveal. most of us are caught up with work, hoping for promotions and dreaming of a bright future in our chosen careers while unknowingly we neglect one of the most important aspects in our lives, our family. work takes up most of our time that we barely have time for God, family, friends and even ourselves."

and from ponch:

"Are you always in a hurry? Don't be, or you will miss out on the more important things in life. Separate work from home; if you work from home, be aware of the hours you spend working over the hours you spend living with your housemates. If you need to go overtime, do so. Then play, live, love. Spend time with your family, friends, and the ones close to your heart. They are treasures you can keep for life. Work will always be there, but it would not make you truly happy; it can kick you out anytime it wants to."

ouch. right on the money.

my mom keeps on telling me to go home early if im on ASIA shift. but, the thing is, when im on ASIA shift my brain kicks in after lunch - halfway thru my shift! i can only count the days wherein i can say that i started REALLY working at 8 or 9 am. or maybe its because of the lack of sleep.. hrmm.. oh yeah, that must be it. my body clock's really whacked. heehee. :P

she also tells me that i look old for my age already. nooooo!! its the eyebags. huhu. i already have dark circles under my eyes, and there are already fine lines on my forehead. crap. so much for being 21 and the youngest in the family. hrmph.

and that i work 24/7. naa-uhh! not true. i do sleep, you know (ops, ops, walang hihirit! natutulog naman ako aaa). for the love of WOM & SMA. hay.

okay okay, ill try to go home early this week. but you cant force me not to go online when i get home, its BAT/NNIT season! and ill spend my CDOs after the release. and ill try to read a NEW book every month. and watch a movie once in a while. and give mama bear a bath (hehehe.). and babysit rica. and.. hrmm. what else...

4 na?! hay. makatulog na nga.. :P

oooh, ooh, pictures during the team coffee talk & dinner here. or you can just go to my flickr photostream via the badge over there *points to flickr badge*

break! break!

2006-07-31T01:43:00.000+08:00

yep, break muna. mwehehehe. break from what? sa (*#&*^&@#$)(_&^&!@ NNIT doc na to. hehe. joke lang.

stress season is here again! our applications will be released to QA on Monday and Tuesday (hopefully). Which means.. another round of sleepless EMEA nights - or shift all you can days. mwehehe. Ok, wala na po sanang manermon sa akin! :D

pictures from the AMG offsite are here. The night before the offsite, we had the celebration dinner for WOM/CSP (meann's treat!). After that, we stayed at the office so that we could catch the bus leaving for MMLDC at 7am - which, as usual, left 30 mins after. :P I was able to catch some shut-eye (about an hour), but the others (Kristine, Josie, Rockie & Nathan) didnt. They were too busy thinking up of evil plans for me (ugh, don't ask, ok?).

masaya naman offsite :P at nang dahil sa retractable lan cable, napakanta kami ni kristine, josie at nathan :D.shempre mas masaya yung nangyari nung after ng dinner/socials. >:) we played guesstures (boys vs girls), and indian poker. Ang funny! everyone was already speaking in STRAIGHT TAGALOG, and of course, hirap si aldo. Napadami tuloy yung tagay nya.. >:)

Quote of the evening.. "Make sure she gets to her room safely!" yiiiieeee *coughmikecough* mwehehehehe :P

okay, end of break. back to the NNIT doc. *sigh*

happy... sad.... sad.....

2006-07-16T01:29:00.000+08:00

ever since last Tuesday, my eyes fill up with tears every now and then. The most I've cried must've been Friday. The mere thought of it makes me sad. tears start to well up in my eyes. and i'd go away for a while, hide, and compose myself.

its not like im leaving. or somebody died. no, its not that. in fact, i should be happy - my niece was born last wednesday! :)

its just that... i made a decision last Tuesday, told my friend(s) about it, and they got sad. which made me sad. :( and come Friday, it seemed.. so final. it was then that reality sunk in. i was trying to hold back the tears, but i cant. i try to smile and laugh, being the "bubbly" person that they know me to be (well, occassionally becoming a "she-huk" when im tired and lack sleep)..

*cmon, tina! its an opportunity you must take now! the thing you left behind will be something to aspire to reach in the future!*

ok, ok. enough of this crap. but. howell. let's see. *sad smile* i still cant help but be sad.

half a month to go before everything's final.

peekchure peekchure! =)

2006-07-16T01:17:00.000+08:00

.... from lou & rain's wedding

.... to mam joyce & harvee's wedding

.... to joyce's despedida (not the one who got married! :P)

.... to newborn pics of my niece, rica! :)

.... plus other pics :D

bakit ba?!?!

2006-06-26T00:47:00.000+08:00

etong si kristine at si nathan, pinapatulog na ako! eh hindi naman ako ASIA this week, EMEA naman!

tapos, last week, puro sermon inabot ko sa mga tao! ke kristine! ke nathan! ke mami josie! ke jerome! ano baaaaaa... *sob*

okay pa ako, okay? :D nakapagrecharge na ako ngayong weekend :) sorry talaga kung masungit ako last last week (kahit nde ko alam na masungit na ako last week, salamat at pinagtiyagaan nyo ko. masungit ba talaga ako?? nde naman aaaaaaaahhhhh *sob*). papatayin ko talaga tong mga italiano at pranses eh. *mumblegrumblemumble* ano, jerome? tara? patayin na nten? >:) mweheheheheheee..

nde ko pa rin matanggap na intern lang sha eh. huwaaaat talaga!!! nung nalaman ko yun nung sinabi during release meeting, as in, "intern lang sha?!?!" tapos... tapos... *inhale, exhale.. inhale, exhale*

haay.

cursor event of the year

2006-06-26T00:32:00.000+08:00

... shempre kasal ni lou at ni rain! :)

hay, napaka-eventful talaga ng araw na to..

stupid me, kala ko sunday yung kasal nina rain.. pinagaawayan pa namin ni cha kung saturday or sunday sha.. pagtingin ko sa invitation ko sa bahay... saturday nga! mwehehehehe. :P sowee tsatsti.

at since shift all you can ako this week (release nung wed + post release stuff ng thurs at friday), hindi ako nakapaghanap ng damit.. game plan was to wake up early on saturday to find a dress, then meet kd & mshel para sabay kami pumunta.. aba, napasarap tulog ko at 10:30 na ako nagising! mwehehehe. so, takbo ako ng sm, at hanap ng damit. tapos, wala pala akong bagay na sapatos dun, so hanap rin ako ng sapatos! sumo tutal, mga 1 na ako nakaalis ng bahay. hehehe. aaat 2 yung kasal ha! sa angono! :D

dapat kina kd ako sasabay, kaso sa ortigas ko pa sila immeet, so anlayo ng tatakbuhin ko di ba? buti nlng, sina carlos asa metro east, so mas kaya kong takbuhin nyo. buti nlng kasya pa ako sa car nya. :)

and then... si cha, nagtext! aba, asa chowking tikling sha. kelangan nya ng kasabay papunta.. eh mga 2 pm na yun! aat kasama sha sa entourage! bridesmaid! huwaaaaa! sina kd, nakalagpas na, so kami nlng nagpick up ke cha. eh gutom na gutom nren kami nina egay, steph, nic at ish. so take out nren kami sa chowking. isipin mo, 7 kami sa car ni carlooos! :D althrougout the trip, si cha.. "juskodidaaay! si sars!! takot akoooohh" :))

si sars pala dapat kasabay nya papunta, eh nalate na si cha kasi.. hay, long story. basta, minalas sha ng araw na yun. so, ayun. hehe.

may naabutan pa naman kami sa ceremony - yung nilalagay na nila yung cord & veil kina rain at lou. heeeheee.

sssoooooo many cursor members attended. este, alumni. :) daig pa yung alumni homecoming! i saw alumni who were already alumni when i joined cursor, my batchmates (of course), and the recent grads (who were my batchmates when i applied). 5 tables ata for cursor? or 4? basta marami!

congrats, rain and lou! best wishes! i sincerely hope you have a long and happy marriage. :)

hay, anloser...

2006-05-13T04:01:00.000+08:00

yeah, anloser ko this summer. bakit?

.....

hindi man lang ako naka-pag swimming/outing/beach! (if you count the ocular as an outing.. well.. hrmm.. nde pren eh!) grabe! all hope was lost kasi hindi natuloy yung teambuilding, tapos hindi ko rin alam kung matutuloy ba yung galera na plano ng high school kada ko or yung summer outing ng block namin. *sigh*

ta-pos, hindi ko man lang din namalayan na grumaduate na yung blockmates kong na-delay ng one year dahil sa eee9/cs131/pi100! grabe. haha.

ta-pos, hindi rin ako nakatulong nung naglipat ng titirahan sina kuya bong at ate raquel. hrmph. sowee kuya, ate raquel. :(

ta-pos, nalimutan ko rin silang batiin nung monday (may 8) na happy wedding anniversary! haaaay. anloser kong kapatid. happy 1 year kuya bong at ate raquel!

ta-pos, lagi akong maagang pumapasok ngayon. grr. kung hindi lang dahil nauubusan ako ng HP-B na port eh. haaaayy..

ta-pos.. ano pa ba. ah, yun. hindi ko nasamahan sina toni maghakot dito sa fairview. heeehee. sorry naman, dead to the world ako pag weekends eh... sowee FOPC team.

ta-pos.. nde man lang ako nakapunta sa induction ng aking eber-direst panganay na bit! (sowee bit!)

haay, anloser talaga ng summer ko. hehe. buti nlng..

birthday ko ngayong summer! kaya masaya. hehe. thanks talaga sa teammates ko. ;) this year's birthday ranks in the top 3 best birthdays so far. =P

chca.. nag-ocular ang g.aocl! at least nakatungtong ako sa beach. kahit nde ako nakapagswimming! hahaha. nasunog lang ng onti. hehe. o, ocular ulit tayo! zambales naman! :))

tapos.. wedding ni jeff. hehe. congrats jeff & christine! =D

tapos.. hrmm. ano pa ba magandang nangyari this summer..

ay honga! nag-1 year na ako sa HP, meaning 1 year nren ako working. teka, good thing ba yun? ahahahahaha. joke. =P

G.AOCL team goes to 3 provinces!

2006-04-30T23:55:00.000+08:00

o ye. 3 provinces in 1 day. *toink*

G.AOCL = your ocular team! hehe.

Our "sponsored" teambuilding was supposed to be this weekend, but when we had our graand *waving action here* team meeting, we decided to move it to end of May since its too soon, and Nel will be joining our teambuilding.

kaya, hayun, nag-ocular na lang kami ni kuya mike (d.), kristine at nathan. we looked at the beaches in laiya @ batangas, then at casa san pablo @ laguna.

Usapan, 7:30 sa starbucks insular life kami dadaanan ni kuya mike (ako & nathan), kasi kami galing QC. Tapos dadaanan nlng namin si kristine sa alabang. Eh, asusual, nalate kami. =P past 8 na kami nakarating ni nathan (nagabot kami sa mrt), tapos mga 8:30 na kami dinaanan ni kuya mike. tapos, dinaanan namin si kristine sa alabang town center. nakaalis na kami dun, 10:30. haha. sakto. =P buti na lang ginawa naming 7:30 yung meeting time. Dati iniisip namin na 10 magkita-kita eh. *lol*

while on the road (papunta at pabalik), shifting kami matulog, para naman may kausap si kuya mike at nang hindi sha antukin.

We reached batangas at around... 12nn. tapos, naglakbay na kami tungong laiya. hay, mga laugh trip namin.. marami kaming pang flash rep(ort) for josie, plus new sponsors! *LOL*

kuya mike: "asa san juan na ba tayo?"
tina: "wala pa yung mga clay pots"
tine: "wala pa yung petron"
nathan: "wala pa yung dunkin donuts, kaya wala pa tayo sa san juan."
...after 5 mins:
kuya mike: "asa san juan na ba tayo?"
nathan: "wala pa yung mga clay pots"
tina: "wala pa yung petron"
tine: "wala pa yung dunkin donuts, kaya wala pa tayo sa san juan."
..after 5 mins..
kuya mike: "asa san juan na ba tayo?"
tine: "wala pa yung mga clay pots"
nathan: "wala pa yung petron"
tina: "wala pa yung dunkin donuts, kaya wala pa tayo sa san juan."

hehehe. grabe. ansakit ng tiyan namin kakatawa..

"haayuuuun! nakita ko na yung clay pots!! hindi tayo nawawala! asa san juan na tayo!" =))

we crossed 14 bridges going to laiya (yes, that's what it said on the map!). at sooobbrraaanngg lubak! hehe. bugbog nga kotse mo dun. hehe. tapos, e di sabi namin, sisimulan namin sa dulo. nalagpasan na namin yung sign ng la luz at palm beach, diretso pa rin kami.. sobrang lubak na, ankitid pa ng daan, at umaakyat na kami ng bundok! hehe. yun pala, anlayo na namin. kala kasi namin asa dulo yung balai sa laiya! *rolls on the floor laughing* so ikot na kami, tapos nagtingin na kami sa palm beach. mga 1:30 na yun! gutoooooooommm na kami sobra.. tapos, nde sila nagbebenta ng food, yung siniserve lang nila yung para sa guests nila.. so nagikot na kami, tapos lipat na ng laluz.. mga 2pm na yun. at last! nakakain nren kami. hehe. after laluz, nakita na rin namin yung balai! sa wakaaass! hayun. tapos since tabi-tabi na yung ibang mga beach dun, pinark namin sa laiya yung car, tapos sa beach na kami naglakad. tapos may nabebenta pa ng halo-halo sa beach, kaya napaupo pa kami at kumain ng halo-halo.. =P natapos na kami dun ng mga 4-4:30.. so punta na kami ng batangas..

sabi namin, yung kabilang way yung dadaanan namin, kasi parang anlayo nung unang way na dinaanan namin. so daan kami ng quezon. o di ba! kaya 3 provinces in 1 day!

"uy! nathan, summer naaaa!" =))

we got to casa san pablo at around 6 in the evening. kala namin, wala na kaming mapapagtanungan dun kasi after business hours na. pero, nagbakasakali na rin kami. yun pala, dun nakatira yung may ari! ayos! =P so nde naman nasayang yung hirap na pinagdaanan namin papunta dun.. nagkanda-ligaw-ligaw pa kami.. hehehe.

we left casa san pablo at around 7 in the evening, tapos binaba ni kuya mike kami ni nathan sa metropolis para makasakay ng bus papuntang magallanes. good thing alam ko na yung rotang yun, kasi dun din yung way ko papuntang UP nung nag-overlap yung OJT ko at yung classes sa UP. =) hindi na rin kami naihatid sa makati kasi may dinner pa si kuya mike. pero oks lang. ;) asa bahay na ako ng 11. haay.

kapagod, pero masaya. laugh trip sobra. =)) see my flickr badge at the bottom for pictures of our trip! :)

ooor.. you can click here oorr.. go to my yahoo! photos

akalain mong 1 year na pala ako!

2006-04-30T23:45:00.000+08:00

... oo! 1 year na akong nagttrabaho! akalain mo yun. hehe. The funny thing is, si mike pa ang nagpaalala sa akin na one year na akong nagttrabaho! =)

nag-sametime si mike bigla sa akin..

mike - happy anniversary
tina (7:14 PM) - aaay onga!
tina (7:14 PM) - :D
tina (7:14 PM) - happy anniversary to me!
tina (7:14 PM) - belated happy anniv din!
tina (7:14 PM) - :D
mike (7:14 PM) - tsk tsk...
mike (7:14 PM) - you forgot na ah
tina (7:15 PM) - sorry na!
mike (7:28 PM) - :p

magkakasunod kasi kaming pumasok ng HP, almost a week or 2 lang ang agwat namin (gm, jessie, sars, mike & jan, ako, mshel, kd, cha, gino..)

and a loooot has happened during my first year at work, both good and bad. ahehehe. how time flies. *sigh* looking forward to my 2nd year! =)

easter birthday

2006-04-19T02:48:00.000+08:00

DSC00455
Originally uploaded by tinatuts.

Sabi ng ka-shuttle ko "swerte daw ang may birthday ng easter!". I really hope that i'm lucky this year.

Nagpaka-bum ako nung birthday ko. As in. :) Woke up at 9:30 for breakfast, and one of my adorable older brothers (kuya kedo) made a sandwich - bacon-ham, scrambled egg, and toasted in a frying pan. yum! :) after that, fell asleep again, and woke in time just for lunch (haha, ang baboy. hehe) During the afternoon, i surfed the net, chatted with friends on ym, and read a book. We went out for dinner with kuya bong & ate raquel at banana leaf @ podium, and dessert at goodies n sweets. sarap nung mango fantasia! chocolate ganache with mango bits, whipped cream on top! (calories, calories... hehehe)

regalo nina kuya bong at ate raquel? PBB:
P-opcorn
B-ear
B-ooks!

o diba, P-B-B nga naman. :P

Monday na. The day after my birthday. Easter Monday. Aba, magsabay daw ba yung team meeting ng DBA at SM! grr.. Kelangan kong umattend nung SM meeting, kse ako yung chair. Pero andun naman ako nung first part sa DBA na team meeting. After the team meeting, we had the PIR with Jerome.

At pagkatapos ng meeting, biglang naglaho mga tao.Tapos, may lumabas na Red Ribbon box galing sa pantry, at may narinig na akong..

"Happy Birthday to you.. Happy Birthday to you..."

aww.. =) How sweet. *sniff* At aba! Andaming candles! 21 nga! hahaha.

After that, we went to the pantry to eat the "cake" - na made up of brownies at mango bars. hehe. angaleng! - and the palabok. Pero, ngunit, subalit, datapwat, hindi pa pala nagtatapos yung surprise dun! Biglang may naglabas ng isang egg! At may laman na gift! Tapos ayun, sunod sunod na sila. heehee. *sniff* One of the best birthdays ever. =P Thanks sa lahat! :D

So, when I got home, I labeled the eggs with the names of the givers, and took a picture! :D This one's currently my cellphone wallpaper. heehee. :)

21!

2006-04-17T04:43:00.000+08:00

akalain mo yun! 21 na ako! =)

haha.

i'm of legal age!

.... okay, still in a state of denial. hehehe.

Thanks to all the people who remembered my birthday! =D

photo mosaics!

2006-04-16T04:16:00.000+08:00

mosaic3
Originally uploaded by tinatuts.

I saw the photo mosaic that ma'am joyce made, and i wanted to do one also! :D This one's from our teambuilding. :) The pictures that make up the mosaic are pictures from:

- teambuilding
- hp christmas party
- friendster profiles & wacky pictures i asked from my teammates for the sm merienda presentation
- wacky cellphone pics! (jenny with the flowers on her head, joel sleeping during a call, etc.. :P )

finding nemo = boris yeltsin

2006-04-10T02:09:00.000+08:00

yep. apparently finding nemo = boris yeltsin! haha.

we had our 1st ever, whole day, teambuilding activity last Saturday, April 8. I'm so glad it finally pushed thru - this was being pushed back for sooo long! And we really needed this - the SM + DBA team combined is now *counts* 21 strong, with 2 more on the way!

We met up at 3pm for the 1st part of the teambuilding - badminton & baskbetball @ metro badminton. Poch, Joel, Krisine & I were the first ones there, so we grabbed a court and played immediately! Of course, young ones vs. young once pa rin yung hatian. hehehe. Poch + Joel vs me & Kristine. Although talo kami. hehehe. :) Come 4pm, the guys went to the basketball court and played vs uhrmm. hrmm.. well, the other 20th flr basketball playing peeps (dex & the others). Apparently the China vs. RP/"young once" vs "young ones" tournament didn't push thru due to lack of players, so they invited other people to the game. Sina fred, panay yung sub, yung kabilang team nde! hehehehe. :) Wala sa condisyon ang mga tao. =P

After that, we had dinner @ Misato at Metrowalk. Jay-jay had to go to the province, so he didn't join us for dinner. But Steve & Joyce did! And the dinner turned into an instant birthday libre. hehe. :) Si Mark, nanlibre ng 1k, tapos pinaghatian na namin nina Kristine & Joyce yung remaining amount. The waiters brought us ice cream with a candle in the middle kasi narinig nila na merong may birthday, tapos hirit kami nina Kristine & Joyce "e tatlo kaming may birthday eh!" =P The waiters were shocked! We all laughed and said, "nde, ok lang. salamat!"

Part 1 - check!
Part 2 - check!

Part 3 - Poker + Videoke session @ Mike's house! Joel was supposed to bring the magic sing, but he told me that he won't be joining us for the "3rd part" of the teambuilding activity. Luckily, Josie was able to borrow one from her tita. (yey josie!) Nikki was the big winner in the poker tournament - the other players were mike c., rockie, fred & eric. Steve, Joyce & Arvil left early - ay hinde, mga 12mn na rin pala sila umalis! =) Kristine, Poch, Mike d., Josie & I were playing pusoy dos and singing at the same time. hehe. Nathan was shuffling back & forth the poker tournament & the videoke. =P

After playing pusoy dos & poker, we played taboo! :D Shempre, battle of the sexes. (hahaha). Si Mike C, Mike D, Rockie & Nathan, tapos si Poch, Nikki, Josie, Kristine & ako. Scores:

1st game : Guys won
2nd game : Girls won!

Sooo.. tie na! We played a sudden death match - best man in, tapos purple cards. We chose Nikki and they chose Rockie to be the ones to be "it". We got 5, they got 3 (3 nga ba? o 2?). yey yey yey! Hrmmm.. ano nga ba talaga consequence natin sa kanila, ha?

Things I learned from playing taboo:
Finding Nemo = Boris Yeltsin
- Kasi namaaann.. "person! first name is the character in finding nemo!" (may boris ba sa finding nemo?) hehehehe.

Critical Ticket = PICNIC
- Nathan: "uhrmmmmm. What we do when we have a critical ticket!" Yun pala, "PANIC" yung una nyang tingin! hahaha. Kaya ngayon, alam na namin kung ano ginagawa ni nathan pag may critical. hehehe. (lagot ka kay mader nikki!)

Napoleon Bonaparte!
- "aaahhh.. Famous person in history! aaah.. ahhh.." Mike D: "Napoleon Bonaparte!" aahahahahahaha

Pictures HERE! Although marami-raming blurry. grrrr. Chescaaaaaaaaaaa! Kelan ba ulit sale ng canon, ha? (ehehehehe)

Meron pa ulit teambuilding at the end of the month. pero this time SPONSORED! ehheehehehehehe. :) Kaso 500-600 per head. Oh well, we'll manage. :P

cursor REXcellence

2006-03-13T05:05:00.000+08:00

aaaaannnggg REX. baw.

that time of the year has come and gone - CURSOR elections. Aaand, for the 2nd year in a row, wala nanamang tumakbong rex! *sob* huway oh huway?!

Harvee and I were in a glum mood when we learned about this. I remember having this as a status on YM: "ah basta, naiinis pren ako kse wala nanamang tumakbong REX!" Harvee messaged me and said "go tina!", and his status said "i second the motion, tina!" (or something to that effect. basta in relation sa status message ko!) i'd like to think na marami akong ginroom nung term ko, pero nasobra ata ako sa pag-groom ko. hehe. jerry ran and won for president & renz and rowell both ran for memcom head (but my bit won. renz, oks lang yan. proud pren ako sa inyong dalawa ni rowell! *sniff*). howell.. kala ko pa man din... *sigh* e-ni-weys..

so wala nanamang REX na magaasikaso ng recognition. Memcom daw magaasikaso nun. Bat ba binabale-wala nyo REX ha? (sorry kung uber-react, pero naman, diba? walang REX! sa pasukan na ulit magkakaroon!) honga, parang light lang yung trabaho ng rex kapag tinignan mo sa consti - minutes, recognition, etc, etc - pero nasa rexhead na yun kung pano nya gagawing indispensible yung sarili nya to the execom. sabi nga ni harvee, multi-talented ang rex! photographer, errand-runner, historian, taga-lakad ng permit, cheerleader, call center, alarm clock, at pang EOEA pa! :)

*sigh*

congrats pala sa mga nanalo sa CURSOR elections! :)

so ayun. matutulog nlng muna ako. may meeting pa nga pala ako ng alas-2. huwaaaaa..

one of those days...

2006-03-08T01:29:00.000+08:00

It’s one of those days that you wish that you could just forget everything..
It’s one of those days that you wish you could turn back time and do everything all over again differently..
It’s one of those days that you just hate yourself for being that way.
It’s just one of those friggin’ days.

But.

Everything has been said and done.
You can cry your eyes out over it
But you can’t bring back the time you’ve lost.
All I have
Is the promise of a new day,
A fresh start,
Someone who’ll listen to my cryptic rantings,
Someone who’s willing to help,
Friends who make me smile, even just for a while,
And the lessons I’ve learned.

teammates! :)

2006-02-22T05:03:00.000+08:00

Webapps SM + ADBA (collectively known as Mark's team. :D)

L-R: Yayie, Nathan, Eric, Nikki, Jenny, Rose, Tina, Kristine, Josie, Rockie, Fred, Mike C., Mike D., Steve
Center: Mark (bosing!) :)
Not in picture: Joel (on leave), Joyce (may training), Arvil (NA shift pa. =P)

The picture was taken after the quarterly coffee talk at the New World Renaissance Hotel. This one was taken after "the accident":

What accident? nagkakagulo na kami for our 2nd candid pose, tapos si mark & si kristine, asa may tabi/likod ko. Etong si Mike Cua (the one with the glasses), nanunulak. Nahulog tuloy sina Kristine & Mark. (walang dingding/plywood/harang sa likod ng blue na curtain. :D) nyahahahaaaaaa :D

recruitment day(s)

2006-02-22T04:38:00.000+08:00

last feb 8 & 15, we had the 1st ever UP-HP recruitment day. (yey! *clap clap clap*) Chris, Taty and I organized this, together with Gino (SMPC) & Mike's (RS) help.

grabe talaga, the day before ng feb 8, ngarag kami ni chris! kulang sa speakers, baka nde umabot yung food, yung mga giveaways nde napamessenger, wala pang tokens for the speakers... gaaaah

pagdating ng feb 8.. marami namang umattend. 34! :) only problem was.. masikip yung room. the feb 8 recruitment day was held at SMPC. and the venue we reserved there was the Manila boardroom, which seats... i dunno, 15(?) at the table? So di ba, siksikan sila. hehe. :) Aaat, yung projector sa boardroom SIRA! gaaaaaah. (stress, stress..) buti na lang, pumayag si jill mag opening remarks at intro to the company without a projector. But Joh & the other speakers DEFINITELY needed a projector, so chris & i went out and hunted for one..

option 1: Yung AA sa 14th floor. But noooooo, 11am na, hindi parin namin siya mahagilap.
option 2: Kunin yung projector sa kabilang boardroom. Turns out, ginagamit pala sha ng PS Bootcamp. arrgghh..
option 3: CRT monitor! (ahahaaaa. primitibo! =P) Although Chris & I were having doubts - baka hindi makita ng mga nasa likod.
and so, we came up with option 4 - "borrow" a projector from another conference room which was not being used at that time. Shempre si Mark Cruz (bosing sha) pa yung nagtanggal ng projector na nakamount. heeeheee. At para malagay namin yung projector dun sa boardroom na gamit namin.. ta-daaaa! instant tour! para lang mapaalis sila sa room. *LOL!*

tapos, shempre, venue kung saan kakain.. we already posted a note outside the pantry, saying that it was reserved for the meet n greet lunch with the SMPC LT, but noooo, may pasaway. argh.. natuwa lang kami ni chris kasi nakakain pa kami. We were expecting na hindi kami makakakain. yey yey yey! :D

Pero, ok naman yung feb 8 recruitment day. I mean, maraming pumunta, and i think they understood HP and what the teams are actually doing. :)

With all the boo-boos that happened on feb 8, we were determined to make the feb 15 recruitment day more successful than the first one.

Food - check! for 50 ppl.
Speakers - check! COMPLETE!!!!
Participants - 28 confirmed. although some of the CS students said that they'll be leaving early because they have an exam

Aba, aba, pagdating ng actual day itself, 11 lang sumipot! Pagdating ng 10am, there were only around 7 people present. So nagtawag na kami nina taty & fel. Others backed out because they had a deadline to meet (IE), and others had an exam (CS). Dudes naman, ok lang naman na magbackout, but please make sure that you inform the organizers that you cant attend kasi . Respeto naman. Maiintindihan naman namin kasi naging students din naman kami. (hellooooooo?!?!?!?!) Bad trip kami nina Chris kasi all 28 confirmed and REconfirmed that they were coming, tapos biglang magbbackout. Sa mga nagexam, alam nyo naman na the week before na may exam kayo, and yet nagsabi kayo na pupunta kayo. Kung hindi talaga kayo makakapunta, sana nagsabi kayo. Ok lang naman sa amin eh. If we knew na 11 people lang ang pupunta, e di kinancel nlng namin yung feb 15 recruitment day. Sayang lang yung effort that we put into that day. Sorry sa mga matataamaan, pero totoo naman kasi. Magsabi kayo agad! Bad impression na agad yan sa inyo. At nakakahiya sa speakers. To think na si Paul Martin pa yung nag opening remarks for that day. Grabe. For those who dont know Paul Martin, he was the site Lead 1-2 years ago. Now, he's in Singapore - higher position, of course.

Perrrro... looking at the better side of things...
- Maraming food! sa dami, nainvite ko pa teammates ko! :D hehehe. good decision na ininvite ko kayo. :D Ngayon, they're eagerly awaiting the next one para daw may libreng lunch sila! :))
- Mas madaling gawin yung tour, kasi maliit lang yung group. :)

at least tapos na recruitment day. :)
*whew*

i miss reading books.. :(

2006-02-02T05:06:00.000+08:00

I do, really.. Well, reading a new one. I've been rereading the Harry Potter series & Jeffrey Archer's books.

The last NEW book i read was... hrmm.. oh, oh, the one i gave Kuya Bong as a Christmas gift. heeeheee. :) I couldnt resist! It was Jeffrey Archer's new book - False Impressions.
Here's the summary:

"When an aristocratic old lady is brutally murdered in her country home the night before 9/11, it takes all the resources of the FBI and Interpol to work out the connection between her and the possible motive for her death - a priceless Van Gogh painting. But in the end, it's a young woman in the North Tower when the first plane crashed into the building that has the courage and determination to take on both sides of the law and avenge the old lady's death. Anna Petrescu is missing, presumed dead, after 9/11 and she uses her new status to escape from America, only to be pursued across the world from Toronto to London, to Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bucharest, but it is only when she returns to New York that the mystery unfolds."

:) I haven't finished reading the book when I gave it to Kuya as a Christmas gift. heeheee. The week I bought that book, I spent the mornings & afternoons shopping for Christmas presents and the evenings watching Engg Week night events. :D ).. Remind me to borrow the book from Kuya the next time they come to visit.... Oh, and the Nicholas Sparks' book I gave him..

Tapos ang sad, nalaman ko lang last week na may PowerBooks na sa may Enterprise, tapos this week nagppack-up na sila!!! huwaaaaaaa.... Sana hindi pa sila umalis..

Note to self: Grab a book when this month's sweldo comes in! :)

E-O-E-A! yey!

2006-02-01T04:11:00.000+08:00

(shempre separate post to! :D)

Congrats CURSOR for winning this year's EOEA!!!! :) *sniff* It's a rex's dream come true... hehehe.

For everyone else's information, EOEA stands for "Engineering Organization Excellence Award". This award is given by Arise to an Engineering organization.

The first EOEA awards was held last year (so term ko un). We placed fourth. Since then, we (okay, REX) implemented the rule that everything should be documented and that event heads should sumbit the project documentation for their event. And it paid off! :) And also, CURSOR had a lot of projects this year. :) Naalala ko pa last year, Gino and I found out na tuloy yung EOEA like, 4 days before the submission date.. so I had to cram allllll those project documentations, find the supporting documents, organize them, print the pictures, harass people for the pictures, takbo sa SC to ring bind the documentation... haaay. those were the days. :)

waaaaaaaaaaaaa! Hindi pa rin ako makapaniwala!! :D Thanks to everyone who informed me that we won! :) I'm touched, and i really appreciate it. :D

CURSOOOOOOOOOR SEXYYYYYYY! :)

predictions for people born in the year of the ox =)

2006-02-01T03:52:00.000+08:00

(bago pa pumasok ang critical... pero huwag naman sana mapunta sa queue namin *crosses fingers*)

Every Chinese new year, we buy the Manila Standard just for the comprehensive chinese new year forecasts. :) But this year, naubusan kami ng Manila Standard. hehehe. :) The next best thing? Go to their website! :D although it was inaccessible earlier in the day - it seems that a lot of people thought of the same thing we thought of. hehe.

Anyway, read on! (I'm just posting the summary. The one on Manila Standard's website has the summary forecast, plus forecasts per month.
------------------------------------------

OX (1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997)

Summary Forecast for the Year:

The Ox will experience a good year with many lucky stars flying into his location. In order for good luck to actualize, the Ox requires the luck of helpful people. As the Ox is also mildly affected by the God of the Year, it is important for him to be wary and to take the necessary precautions from angering the Grand Duke Jupiter. Due to some hidden dangers, it is a good idea for the Ox to go with the flow and not to get too uptight or upset when things do not go as planned. He should also ensure to take sufficient rest as the year may cause exhaustion and fatigue. Lucky months are February, April, June, September, November and January 2007.

if you want the full forecast, you can go to: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=supplement03_jan26_2006

For people who were not born in the year of the OX, there are links to the different chinese astrological years in the link i gave. :)

--------------------------------------
wow, lucky ako ng April! :D hehe. and i'm supposed to be lucky this year! hrmm, go with the flow... not too hard to do... "take sufficient rest as the year may cause exhaustion and fatigue".... haha. mukha nga. :P

although i don't take forecasts too seriously. I mean, its okay to read it, and find out that you are lucky on these months, etc, but you dont have to strictly stick to what the predictions and forecasts say. You are the one who controls what's going to happen in the following months. You just have to make the right decisions! And if you dont.. well, you just get up, learn from that, and move on. :)

1 month down, 11 more to go!

2006-01-31T04:12:00.000+08:00

can you believe it? January's almost over and Feb is just a sleep away!
ooooohh.... my aching head... anyway.. while waiting for 5am to come, magb-blog muna ako. Why am i waiting for 5am? well, i have to check a job running on the server. And its going to run at 5am. I had problems with the file permissions, so I'm checking if it'll affect the jobs. I hope not - the Harvest team is based in EMEA, and will not be online until 4pm! *sob* at shempre, sa Production pa nangyari to. *sigh* huway meeeh?

This month i helped out in preparing for the HP recruitment program in UP. Part 1 was the jobfair, which was held last january 16 - 20. Part 2 is the 1st ever UP-HP recruitment day which will be on Feb 8 & 15. :)

The HP company talk was the 1st talk for the week. We were so happy that a lot of people came! :) And the UP-HP alumni were shocked upon entering the Engg theater - total facelift! As in! We were like, "wow, anganda na ng engg theater! parang hindi na engg theater! Bakit ngayon lang to pinaganda?!" :) OJ spent the night before editing the video that was shown during the talk. The concept for the company talk was "HP was the place to be". The company talk committee took advantage of the fact that there were a lot of UP Alumni working at HP. Just look at the teasers for the company talk:

Although the line at the top is true - "kilalanin ang pinakabagong org sa Engg"... It does feel like you're in Engg when you're in HP! At any floor you go to, whether it's in RS or in SMPC, you'll see lots of UP Engg people. And sometimes, you're suddenly close/on speaking terms with people who, back in college, you just pass by in the corridors. :)

Come wednesday, Jessie & I taught a topic for CS173 (Forecasting). Although medyo bangag ako while lecturing, since I only had 1hr of sleep.. Kasi, ganito yun...

I gave a photocopy of the topic that Jessie & I were going to teach to Marco the week before. Come friday, jes said that she still doesnt have a copy of the readings.. When we met up on Saturday, jes told me that the reason why she wasn't able to get the readings from Marco was that he was confined. nyay. sabi ko nga. Anyway, we split up the topics that we were going to teach and then i gave her my copy so that she can photocopy it. Kuya Bong was supposed to get it fro Jessie the day after (Sunday, Jan 15), since he & ate raquel were going to visit here. Shempre, Murphy's Law - hindi na pumunta si kuya dito sa bahay, so i wasnt able to get the readings. Nagpaphotocopy na lang ulit ako ng monday. Buti nlng na kay Joc pa yung book, at kailangan di ni Fel magpaphotocopy ng topic na ituturo nila ni Dale :) When I got home, i was soooooooooooo sleepy, so i wasnt able to read and start on the slides. so malamang tuesday ko na magagawa. oops, correction, Wednesday EARLY MORNING! so wednesday morning, when i got home at 2:30 am, i was speed reading while finishing the data copy that Fred asked me to do. I also started making the slides. At around 4am, i was getting sleepy, so i slept for an hour. I didnt lie down, since i know i'd probably oversleep and i DONT need that, rather, i piled up the pillows and just slept in a reclining position. I woke up at five, and then CRAMMED the slides. :D (sorry CS173 students. :D) after that, ate breakfast, took a bath, and asked kuya kedo if he could drop me off at UP. :D (thank God for KUYAs! :D) For some weird reason, I was still perky during the lesson, but gradually lost steam. I took a nap at the HP booth (remember, this was during job fair week) for about 30 mins, before going to the office. howell... :D

uuuugggghhh.. my head, my aching head... onti nlng, 15 mins to go before 5am (4pm EST)....

January is also a birthday month for our family. Happy birthday ate raquel (jan 2), kuya kedo (jan 22) and ate cita (jan 29)! :D Kuya kedo is older than me by 10 years.. So since he's 31... anding (my niece, ate cita's daughter) will be turning 11... that means im turning 21! gaaaaaaaaah.. *slaps forehead* its a domino effect, ya know. :D my high school friends know kuya kedo better, since he always fetches me at school or gimmicks, and my college friends know kuya bong better because he's the one who waits for me in the evenings (este, early mornings rin pala. hehehe), and he's our tutor! my blockmates & i wouldn't have passed cs11 if it wasnt for his tutorial session at ateneo, and a lot of people are grateful to him for teaching prolog & lisp to the groups who will be reporting on those topics for cs150. come to think of it, we were using ateneo resources also during that time! >:) ah, the advantages of having a brother who's a teacher. ;)

ate raquel is kuya bong's wife - therefore, my sister in law. :) although she's more of a sister than a sister in law, kasi magka-vibes kami. hehehe. hobby namin asarin si kuya bong. :D but we both love him :D biruin mo ba naman, we were his SLAVES during the ACM-ICPC! :D ay nde pala pangaasar yun. we are helping him stay sharp, kasi defense season nanaman. :D he needs to stay "ruthless", kaya todo ang pangaasar namin. That's how we keep each other's wit sharp - thru snappy comebacks. :D

note to his students: please lang, sarapan naman ninyo yung papakain nyo sa panel nyo. nde lang sarapan, SOBRAHAN nyo pa. :D it will be greatly appreciated. :D :D :D we miss the days of devils food cake & angel hair pasta. :D

on the other hand, ate cita is like my 2nd mother. ever since kuya bong was born, she was the one who's taking care of us, cooking for us, doing the laundry, etc. :D when i was a child, i like to dip pandesal into coffee, but i wouldnt do that unless the coffee was made by ate cita. hehehe. :D aaand, i use her coffee (and her coffee alone!) as sabaw for rice during breakfast! plus galunggong. aaaaah, heaven. ;) when i was in elementary and i had whole day classes, she'd bring me lunch, at laging nanghihingi mga classmates ko, kasi ate's a VERY good cook! come to think of it, she's already fed a lot of my friends - my high school kada & friends, my blockmates, execom 04-05 (yeba! plansem! whohooo)... :D she also picks me up from school - well, until she was 8 months pregnant with anding. :) I couldnt imagine my life without ate. :D oh, and i blame her for my addiction to coke (COCA-COLA ha!)

3 minutes na lang! yey! buti nlng battery ng laptop ko 33 mins pa. :P

congrats to lou & rain! :D and also to another couple who's getting married on june 28. ;) im so happy for lou, rain, ______ and _____. (hehehe, ayaw magpasabi eh. =P)

yeeees! 5am na! *clap clap clap* huwait lang ha..

owrayt! ayos pa! nde affected yung job ng perms.. kunsabagay, yung job runner naman, member din ng group na yun...a-ny-way...

i'll post the chinese new year forecast for the OX tommorrow. :D

... on second thought...
... nde, next post na. mahaba na to eh. :D bukas na. my batok is telling me that i should stop, wake up my mom & kuya kedo so that they can go to taguig early, and then SLEEP! :D

so, good night/good morning people! :D

quiz time!

2006-01-06T02:46:00.000+08:00

Just some quizzes i found amusing..

RENT

Angel

Which Character from Rent are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

*sings* today for you, tomorrow for me.. today for you, tomorrow for me. :)

My blog is..

Your Blog Should Be Blue

Your blog is a peaceful, calming force in the blogosphere.
You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant.
From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

My Inner Child

Your Inner Child Is Happy

You see life as simple, and simple is a very good thing.
You're cheerful and upbeat, taking everything as it comes.
And you decide not to worry, even when things look bad.
You figure there's just so many great things to look forward to.

How Is Your Inner Child?

High school personality (eheheheeee..)

All American Kid

Popular but not plastic. Athletic but not a jock. Smart but not a brain.

You were well rounded and well liked in high school.

Who Were You In High School?

Please, tell me i didn't fail maaattthhh!!!!

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 9/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

hrmm.. i wonder which question i got wrong...

the holidays is over..

2006-01-03T02:06:00.000+08:00

and i'd like to think that i've enjoyed the holiday season to the fullest. :)

after sleeping for an hour or two, my mom woke me up so that we could go to the airport to catch our flight. weeeeeeeeee!! lucky for us, we got there early - 10 minutes after we arrived, the line for the check in counter stretched all the way to the doors! *shivers*

families were all around us - most of them going to hong kong disneyland. :) but my mom & i decided to skip disneyland and see the other sights in hongkong.

and i was sooooo sleepy while waiting for the boarding call. When i strapped myself into my seat (just so you know, this is NOT my first time on an airplane. heeeeheee. :D), i fell asleep almost instantly! My mom woke me up for breakfast, as we were both STARVING! we weren't able to eat breakfast before we left. harmph. she told me that i fell asleep even before the plane took off!

the ride from the HK airport to our hotel was quite long, but there's a lot to see. :) although i was nodding off again 15 minutes into the ride. heeeheee.

after checking in and leaving our bags in our room, my mom & i went off in search for.. lunch! :D we found one near our hotel - they had huuuuggeee servings. and since we were soo hungry, my mom was able to finish about 2/3 of her meal & i finished mine.

we went around hongkong via the MTR - our equivalent of the MRT & LRT lines. On the first day, we went to Victoria Park, the Peak, rode the Star Ferry from the Hong Kong side back to Kowloon (since our hotel is located in the Kowloon side), had duck for dinner (of course you should eat duck when you're in HK!), and did some shopping.

and while eating dinner, i bumped (well, we was the one who tapped me on the shoulder) into Marvin (an orgmate!) Hi Marvin! *waves* He was with his family, and they just also got in that morning on a PAL flight (ours was a Cebu Pacific flight).

on the 2nd day, we went on the "required" Kowloon city tour. And it was funny - mama & i had already gone to some of the places that we went on the tour without even knowing it! The MTR tunnel from Kowloon to Hongkong was built underwater, we already went to the tallest building in HK while looking for the bus station to the Peak, and we already saw the Christmas tree for Santa's town! we also went to a jewelry factory which was partly owned by Jackie Chan. And considering the prices of the jewelry here in the philippines, the items that they were selling were very cheap! Just imagine the commission that the jewellers get when they sell those here. :) They also make items for Cartier.

after the tour, we ate at The Spaghetti house. it's not the same as the old spaghetti house here. The menu was in english! Finally!!!! :)) although hindi na kami natuto ni mama - the servings were HUGE again! although the lasgna & the pasta that we ordered was yummy. =)

after lunch, we went shopping - till midnight! we spent the afternoon near ocean terminal & in the DFS store, went back to the hotel to rest our feet, and then braved the chilly night breeze to go to the night market. and dinner that night was expensive. ugh. don't even ask why. oh all right.. we saw a "karinderia" which had pictures & english translations of their dishes. my mom wanted mixed seafood, and i wanted to try the fried squab (pigeon. :D), so we went ahead and ordered those. we were suprised that they were setting up the hot pot at our table. turns out that the mixed seafood was a hot pot. no biggie, we're used to eating hotpots. :) it was delicious, although my mom wasn't able t enjoy the food that much since they were ignoring her requests for a spoon & a fork. hehehe. When the bill came.. let's just say that my mom & i can already eat at Mandarin Oriental's Paseo Uno (buffet!) with the bill we had that night. *sigh*. okay, laugh all you want. :D

the next day, we went to ocean park on our own. The tour guide was offering an ocean park package when we had the kowloon city tour, but we decided that it would be cheaper if we just bought the tickets on our own - and it was! the cost of the package that was being offered to us was already the cost of 2 tickets + round trip bus tickets. :) we weren't able to go on all of the rides, but we were able to ride the cable car! *jumps for joy* oh, oh, i forgot to tell you - on our way to the Peak, we took the bus (which took the scenic route up), and rode the tram down! although it took us a while to find out where the tram is. :)

After going to Ocean park, we did some last minute shopping *cough kuya kedo's OAKLEY shades grrrr cough* before going back to our hotel to wait for the airport shuttle.

the airport was soooooooooo beautiful, clean, efficient and BIG! i mean, we had to take the train from one end to another just to get to our gate!

We were tired when we got home, but we enjoyed our trip immensely. :)

on the 30th, we had our high school kada reunion. Ches & I were the one who planned the night (for a change!), since we were both on forced leave, and the others still had work. :) We had dinner at heaven & eggs at tomas morato, videoke afterwards and all the while catching up with each other. :)

and on the 31st, i had to brave the sea of humanity again (no, not at SM supermarket anymore. the OCEAN of humanity is there!) at a small grocery 10 minutes away from our house, and then buy the fireworks. :) we also had our new year street party which was held in front of imelda papin's house, right next door. everyone brought something for dinner and there was a singing contest. and my dad won! hehehe. 500 din un. :P

Media Noche was bico, buko pandan, choco mousse, bbq and pancit.

Kuya Bong & Ate Raquel dropped by on Jan 1 for lunch & dinner. :)

*yawn* I hope this script im running finishes soon (without any errors!)

toodles! Happy new year!

Merry Christmas!!

2005-12-26T01:54:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! =)

I spent the past few weeks in a flurry of activity.

Our block had our christmas party here at our house. Potluck! (at last!) We told people to come at around 4pm onwards. And as usual, they came late. *LOL* Only RL was here on time - he came at 3:58pm (server time!). I hadn't taken a bath when he came! =D So while waiting for the others, RL played "The Incredible Machine" on my laptop, while i took a bath. (hehehe.)

Our policy during the party was - no food, no dinner. ;) It was fun! I missed my other blockmates who shifted out of CS (PM, Kim, Hi-d, Mau, Elke), those who are now working (Jessie, Francis, Alex, Tricia, Diane), and those who haven't graduated yet (RL, Kuya Carl, JC). Cha & KD weren't able to come - It was raining cats & dogs at Cha's place, and KD.. well, i don't know. *ehemKaydsehem* never pa atang nakasama si KD sa lakad ng block. harmph. ay, kahit pala nung mga cursor dinners :))

After eating the "main course", we went bowling at SM Fairview. After that, we went back (at around... midnight!) to eat the desserts that some of our blockmates brought.

At aba, bago magsiuwian ang mga blockmates ko, nag-take home pa! :))

Also, my manger got married to his girlfriend of 6(?) years. Congrats Mark & Dolly! Best Wishes!

And work from home kami this week. (yey!)

We also had a "party" at gino's house. We had games and prizes were being raffled off - the grand prize was a computer chair! And what did I get in the raffle? cup noodles. grrr.

I swear, I won't leave my christmas shopping till the last minute! Parusa sa megamall pag 24! I didn't dare go into the department store - to borrow a line from kuya bong, "sea of humanity"!!! So i stuck to the botiques, tiangge at the megatrade hall & powerbooks. Unfortunately, I HAD to brave the sea of humanity in Toy Kingdom. *sigh* Luckily, I got out in around 20 mins (yay me!)

Like the previous Christmases, we spent the day at our fishpen in Taguig (Laguna Lake). Ate was up into the wee hours of the morning to cook the food that we're bringing. Papa left early to get the lechon that he ordered 2 days ago from Elars, and we met up with Kuya Bong & Ate Raquel so we could convoy to Taguig.

While we were on SLEX, our tire blew up! Luckily, we had a spare. And Kuya Kedo changed the tire in 8 mins! (masakit pa yung braso nya ng lagay na yun ha) ;)

And FINAAALLLYYYYY, after renewing my passport twice (I got my passport when I was.. 11(?) years old.. basta, elementary pa ako nun!), I'm getting it stamped!! By going to Hong Kong! *jumps for joy* I couldn't believe it, and I was jumping for joy when I had the ticket in my hand.

Sorry naman, matagal nang sinasabi sa amin ni mama na pupunta ng HK, na sa soooobrang tagal na nyang sinasabi yun sa amin at hindi naman natutuloy, immune na kami. hehehehe. :)

So I'll be out of the country (naaaaakkkssss!!!!) from the 26th to th 28th. Anong gusto nyong pasalubong? hehehehe. :P

hrmm... Iidlip na muna ako. hehehe. ;)

links links links! =)

2005-12-23T03:38:00.000+08:00

Download the Awitan video
http://s62.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=31MZLGXFG21TJ3M7WFJWCE9IIV

Download the Music Video entry
http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1QQBPYEMNTCPR0HDZHK05IJSIA

Download the Indakan Group video
http://www.beta.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=05A4EF68A9E04C79

My Engg Week Pics:
http://photos.yahoo.com/tinatuts

Carlos' Engg Week Pics:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/solootions (look for Engg Week 05 folder)

Enjoy!!

long overdue post engg week post =)

2005-12-23T02:21:00.000+08:00

ANG ENGG WEEK 2005. BAW.

This is my 1st engg week as an alumni, and i think this is the most emotional one for the org. during the last dinner before gino, chubbs, jessie & cha transfer to Ortigas, we gave our engg week contributions to gino so that he can give it to mon. Every one of us know how hard it is to find money for Engg Week events. And being the die-hards that we are, we don't want to see our org suffering. :)

And speaking of engg week, i took my CDO (Compensatory Day Off) on Dec 12, 14 & 15 to be able to watch, of course, Awitan, Indakan and Ms Engg! Why? We'll, I'm on night shift (4pm - 1am) so if i don't use up my CDO, i wont be able to watch the night events (nooooohhhhh!!!)

Torya was here for the weekend (well, actually up to Wednesday, kasi nanood pa sha ng Indakan). She's currently training in Thailand for her job. Although i think her training is only up to this month na lang. We had an execom pic after awitan (dec 12):

but aydz was not in the picture - he was practicing for Indakan. So we had another one after indakan:

angaleng! Akalain mong nakumpleto pa kami? :)

CONGRATS for getting 1st place in Awitan and Indakan pairs! Pati pala matress stuffengg. Go hobbits! (hehehe)

It must be the flag(s). After the choice piece (the theme for this year was broadway, and CURSOR sang "Do you hear the people sing" from Les Miserables), carlos (who was the "lead" character) was waving the red flag, with Gino waving the Cursor flag in the audience. hehehehe. When CURSOR was announced as the first place winners, Gino waved the cursor flag proudly. (actually, our batch project which they attached to a stick). At sinong me sabing walang silbi yung batch project namin, ha?!?! =)

Also, CONGRATS for placing 3rd (EWOC)! IEC, KEM and CIEM placed 1st, 2nd and 4th respectively. Congrats also to all the organizations!

This engg week, we saw that the members are now "die-hards". They have the heart. With that CURSOR will go far. Nakakatuwa. :)

After Ms. Engg & the announcement of the EWOC placers, everyone went to Something Fishy at Eastwood to avail (hrmm... more like EXPLOIT, TAKE ADVANTAGE.. =P) of the 12mn-8am breakfast buffet for only 80 pesos! And i have to say, sulit sha. =) The scrambled eggs are sooooo yummy! hehehe. We had one whole room to ourselves. and some of the alumni (alan, sars, kd) were watching the MTV that my bit starred in (halloooo bit!), and won first place in one of the events during engg week & the Indakan group video. I'll post the yousendit links for all the videos (tweety, borrow ng link! hehehe)

Im so proud of you CURSOR! Galingan nyo next year! :)

congrats awitaners!!

2005-12-13T02:34:00.000+08:00

Eto lang masasabi ko:....... ang galing galing galing galing nyoooooo!

CONGRATS CURSOR AWITANERS FOR WINNING FIRST PLACE! 1st in CURSOR history! whohoooooo!!!!!! Tuloy-tuluyin na natin to! Go Modelengg! Go Indakan! Go Ms Engg! whohooooooooo!!!!

Everyone is still giddy with our victory! Go go go go fight! GO FOR EWOC!

*sings* Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men..

truly yours,
Rexhead 04-05 --> Engg Week 04 Call Center. =)

evenly split down the middle. =)

2005-12-03T23:03:00.000+08:00

You Are 50% Boyish and 50% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch.
Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes.
You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them.
You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Warning! Long post ahead!

2005-12-01T03:58:00.000+08:00

Forgive me for the lack of updates – work has finally caught up with me. ( So while waiting for this.. tablespace alignment thingy to finish running, ill try and squeeze the past 2 months into one LOOONG post.

What happened in October… hrmmm… *scratches chin..* from the pictures, I’d say PM’s birthday celebration and ACM. From the emails… hrmm. Eniweys..

The block had a reunion of sorts during PM’s birthday celebration. Kim, Hi-d, Mau, Kuya Carl, JC & RL were there – in short, my 1st & 2nd year crowd. ( I missed them sooooo much! PM, Kim & Hi-d shifted out of CS in our 2nd year, and Mau transferred to UERM. Yes, they abandoned me. Hrmph. We did a lot of catching up – and also a lot of reminiscing. Funny, I was the only one who’s already graduated among them, and here we are, already remembering stuff that we did in our freshmen & sophomore years! Aaah yes, we laughed till our bellies ached. The things that we did back then seemed so childish and funny now. You know, thinking up conspiracy theories about your blockmates, all those mirc chats, why one particular person in the block is our “bonding material”.. *ehemloyaehem* We also got to meet Mau’s boyfriend. Congrats mau! Where’s our ferrero? ( Another funny thing happened – it just so happened that Mela, PM’s high school kabarkada, is a relative of mine! (long story, I wont tell how we are related – even I don’t know exactly how!) yep. Mother’s side. Teeheee. I learned about it during Kuya Bong’s wedding. Tita Loly was asking me where I went to college, what course, etc.. and when she learned that I just graduated from UP, she told me that she had a niece that also graduated (FA, cum laude!). So I asked her who her niece was. When she said “Carmela Advincula” I replied in shock “si mela po?!” ( I just got around to telling Mela when we saw each other at PM’s party. She’s also working in Makati – just across the street, in fact (@ Enterprise). LOL! Isn’t it weird? Small world. (

Oh, the script I’m running on the database is finished. Hold on.

Okay, running another one…

October was a down month for me at work. I had seriously screwed up something – good thing it wasn’t in Production, only in QA. I don’t even want to remember it. Although each one of us made a mistake. *sigh*. But hey, you gotta get up once more and learn from your mistakes, right?

October was also sad, because we learned that the product & implementation team were the ones to be transferred to HP’s site in Ortigas. And we had a lot of friends from these teams – Cha, Gino, Chubbs and Jessie being some of them. That’s why we had a cursor dinner once a week up to the week before they transfer to Ortigas. More often than not, dinner would be at around 8 or 8:30, since everyone was so busy – either in meetings, or issues to solve. But we made it a point to get together. (

I was also Kuya Bong’s slave (as I keep telling his students when he introduces me as his sister) this October, since I volunteered to help during the ACM-ICPC.

The ACM-ICPC (Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Competition) was hosted last year by UA&P, and for the next 3 years, Ateneo will be hosting it. This competition gathers all the programmers in one place to vie for a spot in the World Finals and be recognized as the world’s greatest programmers. (

Okay, so how did I get mixed up in this?

First of all, I joined the ACM-ICPC last year as part of team Hot Monay from UPD. (All our team names were the meriendas that were common in UP, such as kwek-kwek, isaw & fishball. Collectively, we’re known as UPD Cart. () And also, kuya was part of the organizing committee (what’s new? =P) so I was able to give feedback on how things were done when I joined. I also helped with the marketing packages by providing him the marketing packages from Cursor & UGG. And come the main event, I was additional manpower.

The competition was held last Oct 28-29 (Friday-Saturday), unlike last year, which was 3 days long. Good thing I was on EMEA shift that week. Bad news was I only slept for like, 3-4 hours since my call time was 8. So I helped during the opening and the closing ceremonies. I wasn’t able to help during the welcome dinner since I was on shift already. ( Personally, I liked the closing ceremonies better – or was it because I had a lot more to do during the closing, since kuya was the emcee? Teeeheee.. Ate Raquel & I were his personal assistants. *sigh*, what an adorable little sister would do for her adoring older brother…. =P

Oops, the script’s already done.. I need to recreate 3 more tables, then I can disconnect from the VPN to P&G. grrr. (yes! This is WORK!) on second thought… I’ll ask Joel first about those 3 tables.. I’ll just run the stats..

Okay, done.

Well, I’m done with October! Hrmm.. November, November… aaaah yes, PPR month.

The week before my performance review, my batok-ache returned.. Kuya says it might be from stress again. Well hellooooo! Who wouldn’t be stressed before your performance review?! ( But I have to say it went waaay better than I expected. Although I did anticipate several items that my manager brought up for discussion.. oh well. And since I was already employed for 6 months (drats, I made the cutoff… I just turned 6 months old 4 days before my PPR!), I’ll get to be rated.. *bites fingernails*

Des & I also went to the CS Building Soft launch. There was an initiative to raise funds for a room to be called the “UP-HP Alumni Room”. The original target was to raise 375K for a classroom, but since we weren’t able to reach that target, the “UP-HP Alumni Room” will be a conference room instead of the originally planned classroom. But in fairness the conference room was big! It even had a small pantry! ( and the view from the conference room was nice. And the day before the launch, I had to get the manager’s cheque, which we will be giving to Sir Festin during the launch. There were still 4 people who said that they were going to donate, but still haven’t given their cheques, so I had to cough up their part so I can get the MC. Let’s just say I coughed up my whole salary to get that MC… Des & I were also thinking if we’re going to cough up Paul’s share too, or just give it later.. We decided to give it later. Teeeheee. Don’t worry, those 4 people paid, so I got back my salary..

… only to lose it again, since I bought a new phone! ( *clap clap clap* Finally! I applied for a line, since I need it for support, so I got a new phone too. Of course, I wouldn’t settle for anything else but a SE K750i. *wink*

The Cursor Dinner continued until last week. Cha, Gino, Chubbs, Jessie & the others started this week at Ortigas…

During dinner last week, we gave our engg week contributions to Gino, since he’ll be passing by UP for the CS173 class. All of us knew how hard it is to raise money during engg week, and that CURSOR survives during engg week because of alumni donations. Haaaaaayyy Engg week.. I’m already thinking of using the 3 CDOs that I earned from working during the holidays (oct 30, nov 1 & 2) to watch awitan, indakan & ms engg.

And Kuya & Ate Raquel’s pregnant! Gaaaaahhhh!!! im going to be a tita! *blink blink blink* we almost have the whole year covered – Ate Raquel, Kuya Kedo & Ate Cita’s birthday is January, Anding’s birthday is March, mine’s april, mama’s birthday & kuya’s wedding anniversary in may, Kuya Bong June, the baby in July, Papa & their wedding anniversary in August. *whew!*

And Christmas is around the corner! Time flies soooooooo fast. *sigh*. And the Christmas parties are starting already – HP’s Christmas Party is on Dec 8.

I’ll be posting pictures in a while. (

@home - i'mb sick.

2005-10-04T18:45:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday, my throat was itchy and I had a runny nose – a sure sign that I’ll be having a cold & cough the following day. And I did. But it was bad – I don’t feel that good, and I have a constant headache. Oh, and I get a fever every 6 hours.

But when I woke up at 6am yesterday, I felt fine and went to the office. But when I got there, the headache came back, I feel a bit groggy, and at lunchtime I had another fever.. I drank the medicine I brought with me, and I felt fine in the afternoon.

Come 7pm, I didn’t feel so good again. I asked my brother if he could pick me up at the office, and I asked my manager if I could skip the training at 10pm, since I don’t feel so good. But he was in a meeting so I just texted him. When he came out of the meeting, he told me that if I feel under the weather again today, I can stay at home.

When my brother picked me up, I was burning up again. And when I got home, I told my mom what my manager told me and she said that I should stay at home tomorrow (today). So I told him, and my team lead that I’ll be on sick leave today.

I hate being sick. I hate even just FEELING sick. *sigh* I thought of what I did last week and oddly enough, I did nothing to trigger this. Haaaaaaaayyy… Anywaaayyy…
==================
Happy birthday idol chubbs! *hugz*

Idol chubbs is the top 2 of our batch in CS, my orgmate, extreeeemly friendly, and she still has a social life!

I met chubbs during our application period in CURSOR. All I knew about her is that she’s chesca’s blockmate, and an alien ( = always gets TOP grades ). But I got to know here better in our senior year – she’s my classmate in 173, and of course, we were the ones who always have big eyebags because of our thesis and other projects.

Come to think of it, everyone gets to know everyone during thesis time. (

In fact, their thesis was one of the finalists in the Undergraduate Research Competition (URC) together with 10 other thesis projects, 3 of which came from CS. (rl, rein & Jessie; kd, Kevin; chubbs, ponch & ligaya)

And during the College Recognition Rites, I was sooo proud – I had a blockmate (Alex) and orgmate (Chubbs) who were among the top 5 students in the WHOLE college, the top 2 students of our batch in CS, and they’re both good friends of mine!
==============
*cough cough cough cough haaaaack cough cough cough*

gaaaahhh. Once again, I hate being sick.
==============
ooh, ooh, I have an ipod nano! My mom bought it for me on her Singapore trip. Now that alone deserves a separate blog entry. ( No, not the ipod, my mom’s Singapore trip! My mom being a non-techie person, and having 2 sons and a daughter who are IT-fluent (is there such a word? (), and going to a country where gadgets are soooooo cheap (read: laptops are almost 30K cheaper than laptops here!), is a VERY funny story.

But I’ll blog about it when I’m feeling better.

And as for me, another headache’s here again.. Ate Cita heard my coughing fit earlier, and she gave me a hot mug of tea w/ calamansi to drink. Which feels sooooo nice and comforting. (

*sigh*

toodles! *waves*

*cough cough cough cough haaaaack cough cough cough*

Cause you cant stop the willy wonka chocolate bar!

2005-09-30T04:50:00.000+08:00

I saw this post in Harvee’s blog – Blogger has a plug-in for MS Word! Haha. I’m typing this post in MS Word.. Just to see if its working.
===========
yes, I know it’s already 4:30 in the morning. But I still have work to do! *sob* which reminds me, I have to wake up at 9! *slaps forehead*
===========
I passed by UP to get the jacket I ordered, along with Mike Sep and Paul Martin’s jacket.

Yes, Paul Martin ordered a CS jacket! Amazing..

At first he wanted a CURSOR jacket.. *gasp!* but due to certain, uhrm, circumstances, I wasn’t able to get him one. So I asked him if it’s okay if I got him a CS jacket instead. He said “sure, no problem.”

And I thought I won’t be able to get him a CS jacket either. Buti na lang…. =) Thanks geo!
===========
My likes & dislikes are heavily influences (knowingly or unknowingly), by my 2 brothers. Although come to think of it, they have different tastes… except food. =P And my like for Broadway musicals is one of them (influenced by Kuya Bong).

Kuya Bong, Ate Raquel and I watched Blue Rep’s Blue Revue last Sunday. They did songs from Pippin, Once on this Island, Into the Woods, Rent, Bye bye Birdie and Hairspray. I was looking for familiar faces among the actors but it turns out that all the actors were new to Blue Rep. And considering that they’re all new members, they did a pretty good job!

… But we thought that the “Agony” number in Into the Woods that they did a year ago was much much better than the “Agony” number in Blue Revue. The one that they did in the full version of Into the Woods was soooo much funnier! (yeah, its ironic – the song’s name is “Agony” but the way they sang it was soooooo funny!)

“Cause you cant stop the beat!” Gaaaaaah, LSS!
===========
Did you know that there exists (ooookaaay, math/cs! Eww.. hehehe) a Wonka Chocolate Bar?! Yes, it does exist. =P Yummy yummy yummy! Although Kuya Bong & Ate Raquel wont tell me where they bought it. Bah Humbug. Hrmph.
===========
Okay, I REALLY must go to bed. Nyt!

Cursor Sexy++

2005-09-18T04:06:00.000+08:00

it's my first CURSOR week as an alumni. the first CURSOR sportsfest i played as an alumni. the first time that i (together with lou and the others) sponsored something for CURSOR (which was a prize for @rte attack) . and the first time i attended the CURSOR party as an alumni. It was nice seeing everyone there - the recent batch of cursor@HP people + lou, all present and accounted for; kat's group of friends; the current execom; my former rex; my dearest bits (rowell & frank).. It was a time for catching up and enjoying the night with your orgmates.

and they released the UP CURSOR memcards at the party also. Although i REALLY hope that they'd get more discounts in stores, restaurants and coffee shops in the makati and eastwood area. Kudos to EXTE and dalin for making this happen! now i have a card that says: olpoc, ma. christina c. member since 10/03. =)

bands played till 2 or 3 in the morning (which i didnt get to finish, since quel & i had to go home...). and there were A LOT of bands.

CURSOOOOOOR SEXY! =)

Kathy's here!!

2005-09-18T03:15:00.000+08:00

Yep, my best friend since elementary has come back from the States for a 3-week vacation! And as luck would have it, the day that they came here to Manila was also Kathy's birthday!

Kathy and her boyfriend Tim arrived in Manila last Aug 28. The whole gang brought something for lunch - i brought my ate cita's famous chicken & corn. (yummy!)

Kathy's the one in red in the picture. Tim is.. well, the only guy in the picture. hehehe. =P Jho and belle were not in the picture, since they went to jho's house to get her car so we can go to Gateway.

... and besides that fact that they've had a loooong flight, they still want to go to Gateway!

It's also a reunion of sorts for us who's still here in the philippines - i think the last time we saw each other was for Christmas! Oh, i stand corrected. We met a week or two before kathy came here - it's chesca's birthday ( the one in front of kathy). But before that, the last time we saw each other was Christmas. heeeheee. =) And it's a RARE occasion that Phin (the one in pink) joins the kada gimmicks/outings (wow, did i just say gimmick??! LOL)

When we met during Chesca's birthday,we dragged her afterwards someplace else, since we didnt get to talk about the plans when kathy gets here during the dinner - she was talking to UP friends (also my friends and orgmates, but hey, in chesca's book, im counted as one of the high school kada. =P ). Luckily, gwen, chesca, junnis and i won the vote. We wanted to go to a coffee shop (starbucks, seattles, whatever), and jho & sam wanted to go to a bar. haha! sweet victory. =D anyway, chesca, being the "president" of the kada, "sorta" presided over the discussion. jho, being the gimik planner, already outlined where kathy wanted to go. and me, wrote it all down. and i was project mgr for the welcome/bday party. ahahaha. asusual. =P

although it kinds sucks, since they also go out on weekdays, and since im on night shift (previously 2pm-11pm, now 4pm-1am) i cant join them. *sigh*. but i make it a point to go to all the *major* get-togethers. like the one saturday that we went to "the farm".

*sigh* the farm. it's a spa/getaway-from-suburbia-kinda-thing. ches, gwen & i were wondering where the 1,800 we paid for went - probably to the landscaping. Although i must admit, its a very peaceful, and uhrm, quiet, place. We (ches, gwen & i) just realized that this is not our thing. but since kathy wanted to go, we went. =). binawi na lang namin sa whole- day swimming. =P

You might be wondering why ches, gwen & i often have the same tastes. hrmmm.. i dunno. maybe because we all went to UP? or we all just like to kick back and relax (at home) hehehe. =P chesca's my katoto in anything and everything about food & college life. (okay, lumalabas ang katakawan ko.... =P). yes, the chesca im talking about is the one and same chesca who also studied in UP, took up CS, applied and became a CURSOR member a year ahead of me, and appealed & ran for the EXECOM during our last year in college. gwen on the other hand, took up tourism, founded a new org in AIT, and had Siquijor (my dad's province) as their thesis topic! and just look at this picture! this is one of the beaches in siquijor! =)

okay, okay, back to the farm.. we "toxified" ourselves before we went there by eating siomai and chips and coke in the van, "detoxified" ourselves by eating an organic lunch and having the spa treatment, and "re-toxified" ourselves by passing by jollibee and eating an early dinner (mushroom & cheese, chickenjoy, chicken torpedo, CHAMP... wel, you get the picture). =) Jho, belle, tim & kathy had their treatments at 11am, and we (gwen, ches & i) at 4:30 pm. and while waiting for them for lunch (and after an hour of swimming...), we got all hyper and took these wacky pictures:

heeeeeheee. =) 3 weeks have already come and well, almost gone. kathy's leaving on monday, sept 19. *sigh*. and i feel sad, since i didn't get to spend that much time with her here. oh well. at least she enjoyed her vacation here.

HuaPak!

2005-08-26T01:46:00.000+08:00

*looks at the date* has it really been that long? gaaahhh.. well, maybe. some things ended, some began, and some.. well, some just keeps on going. =P

we had our offsite last aug 19 at island cove. and boy, the 2 weeks before that were sheer hell! why? 2 reasons: a video and a presentation. hey, don't get me wrong - i had a blast doing the two of them.

yes, 1 week of shooting, and another week for editing.. well.. make that a 8 days of shooting and 4 hours of editing (nyahaha. yes, oh yes!) first off, the weather wasn't cooperating! we were supposed to have an outdoor shoot, since we were doing a LOTR spoof, but noooooooooo! it had to rain EVERY DAY that week. hrmph. to compensate.. we projected a forest background using our laptops and then shot the scenes inside. pretty ingenious, huh? you should see the video. *wink* and then after days of shooting.. we couldnt find the cable for the video cam! and we couldn't use just any cable - we had to use one that'll fit a microMV cam. hrmph. and since KC & I were so desperate... we bought the cable - at 600 pesos! ouch! *sob*

and then the day before (or should i say, the night before) the offsite, cha, gino, mshel, kd, tops & i stayed overnight at HP. nyahahaha. for what? well, to practice for the presentation, of course! damn new hires presentation. i think tops got scared/freaked out when cha, kd, mshel & i got all hyper. hehehe. although i think not too much - he was laughing at our antics. =P

*sings* "awimba-wop, awimba-wop, awimba-wop,awimba-wop, awimba-wop, awimba-wop, awimba-wop, awimba-wop.. In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps toniiiigghhhttt"...

and while we were practicing, i was checking on gie & how the editing was going. *sob* and before anyone asks, YES! we took a bath before going to island cove! thank heavens the gym was already open at 7am! =P

come to think of it... i wasn't really able to enjoy the offsite. i was running around during lunchtime (oh well, what's new.. =P) because we had to do some last-minute editing in the video (and my battery almost conked out!).. and we had to practice for the presentation as a whole... and of course the sportsfest.. and the games sounded awfully familiar.. until i found out that UP Engg people organized it. hehe. (so that's why they had sumo wrestlengg!) and i missed the team picture because of all of this! *sob sob sob*

but at least we had a CURSOR@HP picture taking!

and look! we even got jill to pose with us! hehehe. In the picture are: me, jessie, rose tapay, mshel, chubbs, chris r., gino, kd, ej, lou, mike, sars, cha and of course, jill olazo. not in the picture are leah rutaquio and des macatulad (who's in germany at the moment). Like lou said in her email, she's not sure if this is the most number of CURSOR alumni working for one company (16 alumni). haha. pressure, pressure for the next batch! (joke!)

... did anyone notice that sars & i are wearing the same shirt (FOPC 2005 shirt)? hehehe. sars & i had a good laugh over that one. =P

and the new hires' presentation.. well... let's just say that its a... "one time big time kahihiyan!" im just glad that we got it over with. hehehe. (mike danced totoy bibbo! *LOL!*)

although i was really bummed out when we missed the LT presentation (kudos to jessie for teaching the LT!) and the tribtue to paul martin! *sob* stupid database. *mumblegrumblemumble* at least i got to talk to paul after the program.

and then after the evening program - team bonding! hehe. nice, real nice.

paul & bart: we're joining too!
bart: anyways, you need people of intelligence to go this mission.. quest.. thing..
paul: well,that rules you out, pip!
bob: so be it.. 14 companions.. you shall be called the fellowship of the thing.
bart: great! uhrm.. so what's the THING?

*LOL!*

cursor_rex@EK!

2005-06-20T00:54:00.000+08:00

"REXMIT

(022205)

1. YEAREND GETAWAY

Where?

Ø Enchanted Kingdom"

after a long summer of nagging when the rex outing will be, it finally pushed thru last saturday, june 18.

we were supposed to meet at the tambayan at 8:30, but like typical rex people, the time was pushed back to 10. for one thing, i was still burning the rex files for turnover to charm, and ish was still researching journal articles for sir pros (thesis. ugh.) ish,carlos,kmart,renz,teejay,charm,jamo,jay,jerry,nhiza and i left up at 10am, right after ish emailed the journal articles to her groupmates. carlos was the only one who brought a car. we planned to stuff ourselves in carlos' car, but we thought better - he might get caught in EDSA going to ayala. =P so ish,jerry,jay,charm and i took a taxi to g4, and the others rode in carlos' car.

a funny thing happened to carlos' group on the way to g4 - the trunk opened in the middle of EDSA! =D

the original commuters were the ones who took the bus to EK, since we were the ones who finished eating first, while the others "crammed" lunch and then followed in the car.

carlo & jael met us at EK. but while waiting for them, we had a go at Dodgem, Roller skates, and at Anchors Away. after the 1st round of anchors away, carlos went back to his car to change into shoes - his slippers broke. hehehehe. he also went to fetch jael & carlo at the entrance. so, while waiting for them (yes, we did a lot of waiting), we had another go at Anchors Away (making it 2 for us), and on the Wheel of fate, buying drinks in between.

After that, we rode on the other rides - jungle log jam (where carlos, teejay, charm and i won best group pose and ish won the best solo pose for the "aiza seguerra" imitation), space shuttle (kmart & renz sat this one out. yieeeeeeee!), rialto, flying fiesta, grand carousel aaaand, the rio grande rapids! whohooooooooo! =P

we all rode the 1st time, then jay, jael, jamo and carlo sat out the second one, then...uhrmmm... i forgot who didnt go on the ride. anyway. on our 3rd go at the rapids, all of us got wet except for carlos. our mission on the 4th round: get carlos VERY WET! and, yes, we succeeded! >:) mwahahahahaha! oh, and renz broke his umbrella at the rio grande rapids - and got extremely wet in the process. hehehehe.

then we ate at jollibee. i turned over the rex files to charm - there was no cande, so we made do with the french fires & ketchup (dont ask.) =P we convinced (uhrmm.. ok, blackmailed) ish and carlos to stay till 7pm (they were supposed to leave at 5pm for the arise acquaintance party). whohoooo! and to save the best for last, we rode the carousel, to fulfill kmart's wishes. hehehe.

it was a fun fun day!

pictures here! [ish's album]

still stuck somewhere between college and work.

2005-06-14T03:08:00.000+08:00

im still stuck in the void between college and work.

although i think most of us are. we've sat through our exams, finished our thesis, marched onstage, got our diploma and all, but still, we still miss the times that we can just schlump (i just looove that word. hehehe. julie andrews talaga o..) around, just worrying about whether we pass or fail. or whether we become members of that org that we've worked our butts off to get in to. or making sure that the MP you submitted passes your professor's scrunity and give you a decent grade. and of course, having fun.

although at work, you still feel like you're in college - uhhhhh.... well, plus the additional uhrmm.. pressures. you still get to make new friends and have fun, praying like hard that the database server doesn't fail the load test, trainings galore, working hard to be at par with your peers, etc.

im lucky that i have a schedule that allows me to swing by UP and catch up with the faculty and drop by the tambayan before i go to work (2-11pm). this way, i feel im not so much of an alumni. hehehe. =) im already planning to swing by tomorrow (wednesday) for CS4CS. and i must admit, cha & i already have plans for engg week *cougheithermagmorningshiftormagleavecough*. >:) nyahahaha. oipst cha, ung plano natin dati for engg week ha! =P

aaaahh dear old cursor. today's the deadline for filing of candidacy for the rexhead AND the miting de avance. i really hope someone runs this time. i'd hate to think that i didn't train someone to replace me. Hell, i even trained 7! =)

i was fixing stuff for turnover to the next rexhead such as the files, project documentations, forms, pictures, etc, etc, etc, and i found the envelope that kat gave me during our induction. it contained stuff that i needed for the recognition, old directory layouts, id pictures and several forms. and i found the letter that kat left for me in the envelope. i first read it after the semender that i got inducted (summer 04).

it read:
" .... alam ko na kaya mo ang job. ang rex ata ang pinakamadaling trabaho/committee. pero hindi ibig sabihin ng pinakamadali na wala ng trabahong gagawin after ng recognition at directory. sa term namin, naging parang support ako sa mga execom members na kinailangan ng tulong. sana ikaw din maging support ng execom members sa term ninyo. =) .... Pagbutihan mo sa pagiging Exec Sec, Rex Head =) ...."

that pretty much sums up everything that a rex head does. harvee, meli, kat, khen, cy, joy, gherette, soledad, rommel, laya, and the other rexheads did all of the above, and much more, im sure, for the org.

REX the best!

========================

Happy birthday to my blockmate and fellow CURSORIAN, diana! she was the one i was with during our 1st day in college. and to think that it was her birthday that day! i mean, she didn't even tell me! :)) (yes, it has been always our little joke. =P)

a-ha! so i wasn't supposed to be born in april!

2005-06-08T01:08:00.000+08:00

Your True Birth Month Is December

Logical

Patriotic

Ambitious

Not egoistic

Loves praise

Loves to joke

Fun to be with

Not pretending

Loves attention

Short tempered

Hates restrictions

Loves to socialize

Loves to be loved

Loyal and generous

Impatient and hasty

Changing personality

Good sense of humor

Honest and trustworthy

Influential in organizations

Takes high pride in oneself

Active in games and interactions

What's Your True Birth Month?

of shuttles and lunchouts..

2005-06-02T03:33:00.000+08:00

this is the 2nd time that our shuttle service left without me.

the first time this happened, they told us that someone rode in the van/car that was meant for us. weird.

and this time, the shuttle left - without calling my manager, or anyone for that matter, that they were waiting for us downstairs. *sigh*

good thing there's a car whose route passes by my house. yeay! i rode with jenny, dexter, johndel & richard earlier.

aaand, here i am, blogging. even though im supposed to be sleeping already. =) oh well.

----------------------------

lou texted me monday night - "lunchout tayo tom? Ü may interview si gino ng 10 eh. hehe. pakiforward na lang kay mike at mshel, di ko kasi alam number nila eh"

and so we did. lou, sarah, mshel, kd, cha, gino, mike and i met for lunch. well, actually, i met them for lunch. teeeheee. i had to wake up early & go to the office earlier so i can have lunch with them! =) the lunch was fun - gino already has his offer letter & employment forms, ready to be filled out. cha told them SOMETHING - i'll leave it up to you guys to guess what cha told them. hehehehehe. we saw usman there also, having lunch. and simply just catching up with each other.

im looking forward to our next lunchout. im going to insist that they stay behind one of this days so that instead of lunch, we'll be having dinner! (para fair naman sa akin. hehehe)

-----------------------------

*yaawwwwnnn* it's 4am already. must.... sleep.....

-----------------------------

oh, oh, did you guys see the trailer for the "Da Vinci Code" already? you can see it at http://apple.com/trailers. but i learned from my brother that it'll be shown in 2006! waaaahhh.... so long... *sigh* i still can't get over the fact that Tom Hanks' playing Robert Langdon... ugh. If Harrison Ford weren't that old, he'd be a perfect fit for that role. *mumblegrumblemumble*

note to self: borrow kuya's vcd of CLUE. it's a movie rendition of the game. its really nice actually. imagine my surprise when kuya told me that they found a vcd of CLUE at sm north. *sigh*. that's one hard-to-find movie off our list! =P

if anyone finds a vcd/dvd of "kiss my act" or "a walk in the park", lemme know, ok? oh, oh, and "roman holiday" too.

---------------------------

ok, now i'm REALLY sleeping. *sigh* gnyt, este, good morning guys! =)

congrats!

2005-05-30T00:28:00.000+08:00

CURSOR placed 4th in the FOPC overall rankings! congrats to the heads - charm, jerry, kmart, toni, teejay, and to everyone who made it happen. *sniff* im sooo proud of my kids.. go rex! =P

CURSOR's off to a great 2005! =P

now, if only they could fill the rex & acti positions.... *LOL*

happy birthday, ma!

2005-05-29T01:45:00.000+08:00

yup! its my mom's birthday today! happy birthday mama! =P

... and since im already earning, the three of us (me and my brothers) are going to split the "damage" for mama's birthday lunch aaaand the spa treatment we plan on giving her.

hey, no complaints here! our mom deserves it! =P

--------------------

time flies sooooo fast. it seems like yesterday that i was cramming everything (acads + extra curricular), and then graduation, and then... work.

i still cant believe that i've been working at HP for already a month now. I didn't realize it until mark asked me last friday over dinner (buffet at dad's/saisaki! yeba! =P) "so, musta ung first month mo? ok naman?" and the answer to that one? "oo nmn. masaya. =P" thanks to mark, jenny ("ate manok"! =P), joel, rose, trixie, nikki, steve, joyce, eric, and everyone else.

and i am. happy, i mean. lou, salamat at sorry sa pangungulit ko EVERY DAY at around 2pm. hehehehe. =P hayaan mo, pag nakakuha na ako ng akin di na kita iistorbohin.... gano. nyahahaha

------------------

ey REX04-05! o kelan nyong gustong mag-EK? dali, dali, before i change my mind!

-----------------

three cheers for gino's dad! he's out of the ICU already!

let's continue offering prayers for gino's dad, for his speedy recovery and for rhea's dad, who passed away.

7000+ points!

2005-05-14T23:20:00.000+08:00

huwaw.

the FOPC team went here to gather stuff for the bagsakan, which will be on thursday, friday, and next monday. when they got here at 9:30, my brother had to wake me up! teeeeheee. sorry nmn, my body clock's whacked. :P

they told me to take a bath while they get the other FOPC stuff (PET bottles, rummageables) from quel, whose subdivision is just right arcross from ours. teejay stayed behind to flatten the other PET bottles.

we started making rounds at 11:30, ending at 1pm for lunch. we drank coke, of course. =P (para after, sama na agad sa bundle!)

... and egay & quel were raving about the sinigang na hipon! *LOL*

we conducted another set of rounds at 3:30, ending at around 5, then we bundled and sorted all the things we got - plus the other stuff from egay & rap's vehicles.

you guys should've seen the before & after picture of our garage.... (drats, we forgot to take a picture!)

i think we consumed around.... 10 bottles of 1.5L Coke (during lunch and rest periods, of course)! nyahahaha.

and egay got a tan line from making rounds! *LOL!*

to: jerry, charm, teejay, egay, rap, jamo, quel, daryll --> sa uulitin? =P

20th floor = cursor floor.

2005-05-12T01:29:00.000+08:00

congrats to kd, cha & mshel (oo mshel, tanggapin mo na yan)! CURSOR is thriving at HP!

and why the title? *points to title*

20th floor = lou, sarah, ej, tina, rose, (and by monday) kd & mshel

..... i dont know if des is also on the 20th floor. heeeheee. she's still in germany, and will be returning this june.

until my onboarding is finished, my shift's from 2pm-11pm. which is fine by me - this is the time that i usually work, anyway. =P and i dont notice that it's already night time. at around 10 am - 1pm, our side of the floor is empty (like i said in my previous post). but by 4pm... our side's alive & kicking!

after onboarding, well.... i don't know. asia/emea shift's fine with me.

VPN! VPN! VPN! *laughs* long story.. my team mates & i were still laughing about it when we finished training earlier. teeeheee...

========
my brother got married last sunday (may 8). i dont have any pictures yet, i'll try to find some. hrmm... i hope kuya gets a digital copy of their pictures from the photographer..

oh, oh, did you know? the photographer used their pre nup pictures on his calling card! :)) nice. i'll also try to get a copy of their pre nup pics. there's this one sequence of shots where kuya was creeping down the stairs, carrying his shoes, and ate raquel was waiting for him. she caught him and they fight. =P i liked that one. hrmm. i'd better find a digital copy, fast! =P

i saw a lot of familiar faces at the wedding, not counting our friends and relatives. maybe it's because i visit ateneo so often just to nag him. heehee. several of his students, DISCS/Math faculty members, and HP colleagues were at the wedding. 2 of his groomsmen are his former students (sabi nina kuya, anhirap ko daw hanapan ng partner kse ang tangkad ko daw. teeeheee.), one of their ninongs is one of the big guys at HP, and one of their ninangs is the director for marketing for the westin group of hotels (exteeeeeee!)! huwaw. and one of kuya's former students turned co-faculty turned HP employee who taught one of the topics in CS173 (proj mgmnt) remembered me, and asked when i started, which team i'm in, and told me at the reception that he thought that i was going to be the new addition to their team - it turned out to be one of my blockmates.

after the wedding, we had the pictorials. when the time came for "bong's family and relatives" to have their picture taken, we all laughed because almost half the guests in the church stood up! *LOL* so funny.

the food was great! yumyumyum. i should know - i was present at the food tasting. =P

after the reception, that was the time it hit me - kuya's really married. i wont see him in the house that often anymore. but before leaving, he stuffed an envelope full of letters for us. he asked me to give it to everyone. i read my as soon as i got home. it made me miss my adorable kuya even more. *sniff*

but come to think of it, i didn't lose my brother - i gained a sister instead. =)

=======

i claimed my grad pics earlier. and as i passed through up, i felt right at home. it's like a sanctuary. you'll always feel welcome when you're in up -and most especially, in Engg.

i felt the hubhub of activity in Engg - the respective departments were preparing for the freshmen registration, while other students were taking summer subjects. i didn't have the time to pass by the department, since im going to be late for work. but when i pass by again to get mike's pictures, i'll drop by the dept. hrmm... maybe later. reg for the CS freshmen is today.

*sigh*
i miss the tambayan.
i miss CURSOR.
i miss the people.
i miss the department.
i miss Engg.
i miss UP.

======

*plugging....*

Gamers. Game Dev competition. Homegrown talents. Game character
cosplay. Game music bands. Exhibits. Freebies galore. History in the
making.

UGotGame? Pro annual games convention & game dev competition. May 21,
11am, Expo Exchange,GB1. Co presented by intel & slycesoft.

See you there!

for more info, visit http://www.ugotgame.net .

do you want to volunteer for the culminating event? just leave a msg at the cbox or post a comment. =P
=====

okay. i'm sleeping. g'nyt!

1st week at work, and the wedding.

2005-05-06T00:36:00.000+08:00

last week when i got home from my 1st day at work, my mom greeted me, "how's my working daughter?"

eek.

i can't believe that a week has already passed since i started. did i take a vacation before starting work? weeeelllll... if you count the semender and the 1 day in between the grad ball & my start date, then yes, i had 3 days vacation. at least i was lucky enough to have 3 days. some of us started even before graduation! =P

on my first day, there was a merienda get-together for all the new hires for the first quarter. so when we were introducing ourselves, they all laughed when i told them that i just started 6 hours ago (the merienda was at 4, i came in at 10). we met the managers and the other people up in the hierarchy. (ok, until paul martin & larry andrews.) and before that, i got my brand new, souped up laptop! (oooohhh yeah!) but i had several problems with my account. like what mike said to me on my 1st day "magiging best friend mo yung HP helpdesk!" after the merienda, i met up with mark and jenny, my manager and the team lead, respectively, and with the other members of the group.

since then, i've had trainings left and right, like sarah, mike, jan, jessie and gm. and btw, sarah & i are on the same floor, together with lou. they pass by my cubicle every time they need to go to the bathroom (since the women's cr is on our side. ehehehehe)

and on the 2nd day, the cursor people at hp had an online conference. weeeee! la lang. cursor@hp.

and i have a team mate who's a cursor alumni! (hi rose!) small world.

here are some of my doodles on my notebook:
... its cold. brrr.
... i want another cup of hot chocolate (yes, kaadik.)
... my body clock is whacked (during my onboarding, my shift's from 2-11pm.)
... i cant work properly because of the cold
... sinong rexhead, ha?
... i want an HP jacket. =P
... this side of the floor is buzzing with activity (at night). the other side's well... dead. (that's because we work in shifts, while most of the people on the other side work from 9-6. i think. =P)

for now, it's like school - you're learning things that you need for your job. after 2 weeks, it's on to the real McCoy.

========

my brother's getting married on sunday. gosh. i can't believe may 8 is 3 days away! waaaaa!

i'm going to miss him. really.

i remember the times when he used to fetch me from school when i was in elementary. he was still driving the yellow car, whose window won't close properly so that when it rains, ate cita and i get wet.

i also remember the times when we'd pass by national at q.ave on the way home and he'd let me buy a book (sweet valley kids/twins cost around 60-70+ bucks then).

.. the times that we'd buy sharksfin dunpling from kowloon.

... the times that the three of us would talk using my teddybears.

... the times that we'd make mama and ate laugh because of our jokes and other antics over the dinner table.

... the times that kuya bong, mama & i would catch the last full show of a movie at sm fairview.

... the times during christmas eve and new years eve when mama and kuya kdo had to go attend to the business (since it's a peak season) and she'd leave us a list of things to buy at the grocery. imagine the pain that kuya and i went through! christmas at new years eve un!

oh, and that choco torte. from sm fairview, to robinsons novaliches, to red ribbon commonwealth. tsktsktsktsk.

... the times that kuya would wait for me and fetch me at nec, even into the wee hours of the morning.

... the times that he taught us (not just me, but also some of my blockmates and orgmates) for our CS subjects, using ateneo resources (like the rooms,etc. hehehe. kulang na lang magklase na sha!)

... the times that both of my brothers would slide beside me on my bed and wake me up....

... the proud look on both of my brother's faces when i graduated from college (yes, they have invested A LOT in me, together with my mom)

i'm glad he's happy with ate raquel. =P and with the experience he got from taking care of me, kuya kedo and anding, he's going to be a great husband, and a great dad.

best wishes kuya bong and ate raquel!

from the cs grad dinner..

2005-04-25T21:48:00.000+08:00

here's chubbs' speech during the cs grad dinner. *sniff*

The People Who Brought us Here

Prof Evangel Quiwa, College Secretary, Dr. Ronald Tungol, Computer Science Department Chair, distinguished guests, members of the faculty, and fellow graduates-to-be, good evening.

On Saturday, we will don our togas and march at the University Theater for our college graduation. Time does fly so fast. It seems like it was only yesterday when we were clueless freshmen, lost in a huge university. We called Eng’g Melchor Hall or MH, we didn’t know the Ikot and Toki routes, we dressed differently, and we wondered why there was such a riot in Eng’g during December. The time we spent here at the University has changed us in many ways. The young, clueless, and sometimes immature freshmen have now become student leaders, Eng’g week veterans, expert programmers, and graduating CS students.

As we all know, being a CS student is no joke. And finishing the course is definitely the furthest from being one. We have all gone through hell weeks of exams, machine problems, and thesis presentations. We have all experienced staring at the computer monitor at night while everybody is sound asleep. We have all lost pounds in climbing the 4th floor of NEC to finish our theses. But amidst all the hardships and sleepless nights, we managed to squeeze our way into the graduates list. For that, we all deserve warm congratulations.

The Computer Science Department, our department, has done more to us than sell diskettes a peso each and provide an air-conditioned place to stay while waiting for class to start. The faculty, staff, and students, as members of the CS Dept, helped shape all of us here tonight. I believe that everyone who touches our lives leaves a mark in our character. This is what CS has done to us; it has left a huge imprint in our lives and has become a part of us.

Needless to say, our professors and instructors deserve all the thank you’s. Their teachings have been instilled in our heads. They have taught us much, from simple hello world programs to the theoretical frameworks of our theses. Some have taught us more than just algorithms and programming. They have inspired us how to live our lives. They have shown us the importance of hard work, patience, and determination. Indeed, our instructors deserve to be admired for their willingness to help students learn and share their knowledge to others.

Then, there are our fellow students – friends, orgmates, and groupmates, all a part of the department. Groupmates with whom you’ve done your MPs and your thesis with. Orgmates with whom you’ve worked with in extracurricular activities that helped boost your leadership qualities. And friends, friends whose mere presence lifts you up from a bad day. Friends with whom you’ve shared stories and jokes and laughter with, those who make college life worthwhile.

Indeed, our instructors, friends, and orgmates from the Department have contributed to who we are now. The people who have touched our lives have shaped us well, making us ready to face the future.

As we leave the portals of our alma mater, we will carry with us the high-quality education we got from the University. We will carry with us the teachings of our professors, the memories with our friends, and the maturity we obtained from our four-year stay in the UP environment. Let us not let our alma mater down and show the world what a UP DCS graduate is capable of. Let us face the future with the past in mind, helping in whatever way we can to give back to the people who brought us here.

Thank you and God bless!

here's the original post from chubbs' blog: CS Grad Party

erratum..

2005-04-25T18:31:00.000+08:00

Jose Roberto Fernandez, batch 87 was DCS' 1st summa cum laude.
And Engg had a summa cum laude last 2002: ericson chua, BS computer engineering

...my apologies, and thanks to mam joyce & harvee for the corrections!

*switches to grad ball mode*

2 graduations, and a ball

2005-04-24T23:40:00.000+08:00

yup! i attended 2 graduations this weekend, and will be attending a ball on tuesday.

of course, both of those graduations are mine.=)

yesterday was the CoE Recognition Rites. mam wiza (tsk, still not used to calling her that. hehehe. sowee wiza) and sir jp were the emcees for the event. some of the lower batches from cursor volunteered to help with the recognition rites,and in turn, get to see us graduate *coughtuladniegayparamakitasijephcough*. oh, thanks to mami ish for lending me her digicam in my time of need. nyahahaha.

2 out of the 6 (nga ba?) magna cum laudes of the college came from CS! whohoo! one of them's my blockmate (yeay! go al! go block g25!) and the other one's my orgmate (whohoo! go idol chubbs! let's go cursor!). top 3 and 4 of the whole college. so proud... *wipes away an imaginary tear*

and ashusual, picture picture after the ceremony. although we weren't able to have an execom pic because gino, cha, ches and i cant find torya and kd, and when we did find them, kd and gino needed to go. *sigh* sayang.

earlier was UPD's 94th Commencement Exercises. and guess who was the guest speaker? the musicman himself, Ryan Cayabyab! what a treat. =P everyone liked his speech - light, funny, and most of all, short! =) some excerpts from his speech (although not verbatim. hehehe. i'll try to find a copy of his speech):

"... una akong nagenroll sa College of Business Administration, ngunit nalaman ko na hindi para sa akin ang pagbibilang, kung kaya't lumipat ako ng College of Music, major in Piano, ngunit nalaman ko rin na nagpapangap lamang ako na maging tulad ni Cecille Licad. Tinanggap nman ako ng departamento ng Composition and Theory, na kung saan nakuha ko ang aking diploma ng summa. *pauses, listening to the audience's ooohhhsss,aaahs, and wows..* Suma-Sampung taon! *laughter*"

".... ang buhay, parang ikot jeep. kahit ilang beses kang mamali ng baba, okay lang. kailangan mo lamang sumakay ulit para makapunta sa iyong destinasyon. ngunit tulad din ng buhay, kung lagi kang namamali ng baba, ay may sira ka na sa ulo" :P

".. pwede rin namang tulad ng isang toki jeep, kung gusto mong pabaliktad ang takbo ng buhay mo." =)

and after that, he went down the stage, sat down at the piano, and sang a song for the graduates, backed up by the san miguel master chorale. huwaw. my brother recorded the latter part of the song on his phone, i'll upload it later.

fact: Ten summa cum laude will lead some 4,000 candidates for graduation at the 94th General Commencement Exercises of the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD).
The top honors are awarded to graduates with a General Weighted Average (GWA) of not lower than 1.2.
Leading the candidates is Juvelene O. Itum, BS Math, with a GWA of 1.14. She is followed by Pamela Claire Marie Lazatin (BA Communications Research, 1.158), Anna Theresa L. Licaros (BA Broadcast Communication, 1.161), Yasmeen Carina C. Chan (BS Economics, 1.163), Mary Grace C. Dumalaog (BS Business Administration and Accountancy, 1.165), Noelle Andrea V. Fabie (BS Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, or BS MBB, 1.17), Rachelle C. Ureta (BS Math, 1.17), Lauro Valente L. Abrahan IV (BS MBB, 1.18), Juan Paolo R. Asis (BS Electronics and Communications Engineering, 1.18), and Christopher A. Young (BS Math, 1.20).
Licaros will deliver the graduating class’ valedictory address.
Of the total graduates, 114 are magna cum laude (with minimum GWA of 1.45) and 495 are cum laude (with minimum GWA of 1.75). (http://www.upd.edu.ph/~updinfo/Pagtatapos05/Summa.htm)

oh, and did i mention that the last time that Engg had a summa was 2001? It was Mr. Neil Ongkingco, incidentally also the Computer Science's Department 1st summa cum laude. being engg's summa cum laude is really an honor. but hey, graduating from the college and the university alone is a big achievement already! :P

and juan paolo asis had a total of *counts* around 4 standing ovations already, incuding the one we gave him earlier. hehehe. he was also part of the EEE department's ACM-ICPC 2004 group.

but, there's still work to do for Engg's Graduation Ball on tuesday, so... hehehe. =)

congratulations to my batchmates! we did it! =)

toga relase & cs grad dinner

2005-04-20T23:55:00.000+08:00

i claimed my toga earlier and got the tickets for the college recognition rites on saturday. when i got to the release.. lo and behold! a long queue of people awaited us. grr. lucky for us, they separated the venue for the ticket release and the toga release. haha. we were first in line for the ticket release when they changed venues.

after that, i went to yia hall to get our yearbook. and to think our high school batchbook is not yet finished (opo, opo, tinatapos ko na po!)

and while waiting for the cs grad dinner, i flitted to and from the department, the engg lobby (where the exhibit for the Undergraduate Research Competition finalists is located), and the tambayan. I got so sleepy that i took a nap at the tambayan, while rowell and the others were playing VS (i think.).

cha, gino, kd and i rode with some of the faculty members to balay kalinaw where the grad dinner was held. the choco chip cookies that sir tj baked were pretty tasty! and i thought he laced the cookies with poison. nyahaha.

when we got there, some of our batchmates were already there - mostly my blockmates. while waiting, we took pictures at the lobby (butopkors! what function would be complete without lots and lots of pictures!). and the reg people (cursor members, btw..) were releasing the cursor gallery cd to the graduating cursor members! whohooo! to the records committee (ish,renz,kmart,jesse,charm,jeross) and all the other people who helped and contributed to the cd, thank you thank you thank you!

anyway, the grad party kicked off with an icebreaker. geo & dino will be saying a particular scene, and all the pairs had to act it out. when they say freeze, we all have to stop and then they'll be picking a pair to "play" the scene again. we were all laughing... or was that because we were all hungry... hehehe..

they gave certificates to the thesis groups that were finalists in the URC, after which they also gave certificates to those graduating with honors. then came the induction into the up computer science alumni association.

... and i thought i'd never call gino "bos gino" again..

who would've thought that "bos" gino & i would be elected as batch representatives to the upcsaa? he got 19 votes, i got 16. .. tsk. and i thought cha would get the other slot for batch rep. nyahahaha. during the registration, gino was betting i'd win, and i bet that he'd win. haha. funny.

and the real treat? mam joyce sang 2 songs (1 whole song, plus 2 unfinished songs. :D) for our batch! yeay! and thanks for the iPod shuffle cover, mam joyce! =)

.. i hope they upload the pictures soon (ahem, calling gino, geo, marvin, dino, jeff and mam joyce!).

2 days more and i'll be graduating.

i still can't believe it.

8 days and counting!

2005-04-18T20:01:00.000+08:00

.. at Grad Ball na! =)

things to be thankful for..

2005-04-17T00:14:00.000+08:00

i was supposed to do this yesterday, but people keep messaging me. thanks to those to greeted me! =) you guys made my birthday a lot brighter. (mam joyce! di ako banned sa dept ha! nyahahahahaha.. )

things and people to be thankful for:

my mom, who took care of me ever since, and tolerated all my extra curricular activities, the late nights, countless overnights and review sessions here at home.. thanks ma.
ate cita(uhrrrmm... tita actually.), who also took care of me eeeever since (she's the one who brings me lunch when i was in elementary, and fetches me from school until she was 8 months pregnant with my cousin..), cooks all those yummy food (diba, diba, diba? *cough plansem & review sessions cough*)
my dad - speechless. hehe.
my 2 adorable older brothers - kuya bong and kuya kedo. thanks for fetching me at ungodly times (yes kuya bong, i can hear you complaining already!soweee naman!), waiting for me (wag mainit ang ulo kuya kedo!), helping me with stuff, for teaching me about life in general, and simply for being such great brothers. i'm really going to miss those times when the both of you used to wake me up just to goof around.. and a whole lot more. kuya bong kasi, magpapakasal na eh! :((
my high school kada - hope our friendship grows stronger as we grow older. i will never ever trade the experiences and memories i have during our grade school & high school years. you guys made my life at angelicum a lot better. =)
to block g-25: THE BEST block sa cs! ay, oops. one of the best na lang. hehehe. as a freshie, having you guys around made that first year a lot easier. i still remember all those midnight MIRC chats that we used to schedule, and the block party.. and all those birthday celebrations... and all those other stuff that happened. san na ung lakad natin ngyong summer? dali dali! plano na! or, bowling na lang muna! diana's boylets vs. pumping loyas! :))
ang next family ko sa UP, CURSOR! THE BEST ORG in ENGG! *whohoooo!* you made my last 2 years in UP one of the best years i've had. this is where i've really enjoyed engg week, met new people be it from CS, other courses, or other schools, helped organize events, and really felt the org spirit. sana sumabay na akong magapply kina kd or cha. =) i dont regret joing CURSOR. it's one of the best decisions i've made. CURSOOOOOR... SEXYYYY!
at shempre, pwede ko bang kalimutan ang EXECOM 04-05? shempre nde! to bos gino(haha. ako lng tlaga tumatawag syo nito. :P), mon-ay, kaydee-dear, torya-tors, cha-chi, aydz, and kada ches - the best tayo! :P nyahahaha. galing galing natin. like i said in one of my previous posts, it's been an honor working with you guys.
new found friends sa UP ACM at Inhinyero 2005! =) who wouldv'e thought that i'd still meet people who have the passion to serve the college and the CS community? keep it up UP ACM! and to i2005, congrats! grad ball na lang!
ihihiwalay ko yung UP Engineering Webteam,together with the ECR tambays, kasi you're my NEC family. =) to joe-e, aldwin, olan, aimee, jeph and kcarl --> thanks guys. i've learned a lot from you - both technically and otherwise. mamimiss ko ung overnights natin, roadrash and movie marathons na nakaproject pa sa wall (oooopppsss...), the times where joe-e gets mad with the delivery man... (nyahahaha)..
the CS faculty - i admire your zeal and passion for teaching students like us. thanks for being patient with us, answering any questions that we have, giving us the chance to complete our requirements (mam joyce & sir tj! heeeeheee..), and giving us the knowledge that we need to compete with others in the corporate world.
passing all my subjects.. (umiiyak na ako dahil sa 131! buti na laaaang!)
getting a good job. =)
for getting into UP
for simply graduating on time
for everything else that i've forgot to mention
and to God, for giving me all these wonderful opportunities and giving me the chance to meet these wonderful people during the past 20 years.

happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday happy birthday... haaaapppyyy biiirrrtthhhddaaaayyy tooooo meeeeeeeeeehhhhh! =)

sem-en-der! and other stuff

2005-04-15T00:59:00.000+08:00

yes, i know, it's a bit (A BIT?!?!) late, but the pictures from the semender are here! yeay!

... ok, antagal magupload, hemmingways...

the semender was fun - it was my first semender wherein i did not cook or clean! nyahahaha. i just swam and lounged around and.. and.. hrmm. although my legs ached during the induction.. mon kasi, piangdeploy nnmn ako ng inductees. (not that im complaining. hehe.) at forever nlng ako nkaassign sa waiting station!

*sings with matching actions* i wanna be a tutubi.....

ish! dalhin mo ulit ung hammock mo ha?

the place was really big! big enough for 50 persons. i think. basta, anlaki! and we played videoke, scavender hunt, the classic charades and command & conquer - which tells me time & time again that cursor people are in always in engg week mode, basta games. orgmates man ang kalaro o nde. =P

----------------

and i thought my wake up call for bos gino was my last duty as rexhead.

noooooooooo....

there's still the requirements for fopc (recognition, list of officers & members..). *sigh*.

although, sabi nga naman ni bos gino (from our conference last tuesday...):

kb8_drlmvp (12:03:13 AM): ok. so ano na nga yung kukunin namin sau mommy tina?
gino_adriano (12:03:38 AM): parest nyo naman na si tina
gino_adriano (12:03:53 AM): recog na lang
gino_adriano (12:03:53 AM): hehe
solootions (12:04:03 AM): actually recog na lang
solootions (12:04:09 AM): may list na rin kasi of graduating CS students
gino_adriano (12:04:09 AM): dapat last work nya na yung wake up call sa akin nung semender

awwww. =) thanks bos gino.

--------------

the CS Grad Dinner is on April 20, 6pm @ Balay Kalinaw. Tara, punta tayo! =) buti nlng hindi na birthday ko. ahehehe. the original plan was on the 20th, then they moved it to 16 kse may lakad daw ung faculty, then moved it back to the 20th. whew!

--------------

Happy Birthday Daryll Mariano (aka Da, acad head, cha's successor)! =)

-------------

FOPC is just around the corner! Here's the list of activities for this year's FOPC:

April
22 - 1st GA
25 - start of tambay
28 - 2nd GA

May
5 - 1st PET and aluminum can bagsakan, 3rd GA
6 - deadline of shirt design contest entries, 1st newspaper bagsakan
12 - 4th GA
16 - deadline of order of shirts and downpayments
18 - 5th GA
19 - end of tambay, 2nd PET and aluminum can bagsakan, deadline of shirt payment balance
20 - 2nd nespaper bagsakan
23 - rummage bagsakan
24-29 - rummage sale
30 - block bidding, block handlers' seminar, release of shirts

yeay! maeexperience ko na ring tumambay sa fopc! tatamabay ako ng 25 at 27! nyahahahahaha. so that i'll be able to experience it before i start working @ HP on the 28th.

if you guys have PET bottles, aluminum cans, rummagables and paper that you're going to throw away anyway, just give it to us! leave a msg so we can arrange for the FOPC heads to pick them up at your house.

good luck and great job so far charm, jerry, kat & toni! (uuuy! im so proud! rex lhat yan except for toni! *wipes away an imaginary tear*)

-----------------

yeay! almost done uploading. the photos are at http://cursorpix.myphotoalbum.com . some of the CS Week photos are also there.

last day as rexhead..

2005-04-09T00:03:00.000+08:00

in 6 hours time, we'll be leaving for Bulacan for our semender.

and approximately 24 hours from now, we will be inducting cursor's new execom for AY 05-06.

and looking back on our term, i honestly think we did a great job. =) we went into our term as friends, and we're going out - yes, still friends. more tightly knit, i'd say. oh yes, there were little skirmishes here and there. but still..

ang mga plansem... na si kd ang nasusunod para makasama sha..
mga exemit na the night before lang tinatawag..
ang pag-upo nyo sa mesa dito sa bahay para kumain ng hapunan bago umalis... (grabe, da best un! :D ansarap nyo daw pakainin kse antatakaw nyo!)
mga hiritan..
pagpplano para sa cursor week, engg week, cs week...
ang homecoming! (whohooo!)
yung pakain (haaaay. hrmph.)
ang pabalikbalik ni gino sa ESC...
palipat-lipat ni mon ng events nung engg week (from kickball to command n conquer to tabl to etc etc etc)...
si cha na taga sigurado na nde nadedefault ang events..
ang pagiging call center ko.. (naway mamiss nyo ang mga wakeup calls ko! :D )
ang indaker na si torya! (grabe, sobrang secret ng steps nyo miss chanet!)
si gino, cha at kd na naghahanap ng sponsors
si aydz na halos laging may exam pero pag exemit, anjan sha!
si chesca na may boypren na... ay oops, mali.. na naglalabas ng monitor at banners... congrats sa fudfest!
si mon na umaasikaso sa alumni,mem at apps (si gino din!)..
si cha (tag-team!) na naharass nung cs week.. pero sobrang OK naman ng kinalabasan! =) congrats cha!
forever na paghingi ni tors ng paper for paper drive at damit for rummage sale..
ung iba pang mga naisip nating pakulo na di nten natuloy...
mga kalokohan nten..
(kelan execom dinner? :D )
ung sakit ng ulo na naramdaman natin sa pagiisip ng name ng alliance. (urgh. sakit. promise.)
pangungulit sa members sa mga bagay-bagay..
ang luto ni aydz at mon! :P
boldstar pose ni gino at aydz. (ahehehehe.. naalala mo pa gino?)
si mon na nangc-candid shots nung 1st plansem sa pampanga..
picture picture!

ano pa ba...
madami pa.. pero sa dami di ko na maalala..

it was and is, an honor working with you guys. from the bottom of my heart yan. i hope i did well as rex. =)

*sigh*

wow, a movie?

2005-04-07T13:24:00.000+08:00

Which File Extension are You?

Which OS are You?

switching modes!

2005-04-06T00:09:00.000+08:00

from acad mode, i'm switching to extracurricular mode! :P

it all ended when i handed our group's thesis paper to ate mila (since sir festin & mam susan were out, and we need to return to NEC. hehehe). actually.... i forgot all about the thesis when i handed the peer evaluation forms last monday. oops, there's still the final demo. hehe. uhrmm.. groupmates? (al,obi,brian)

after i handed the evaluation forms, i met dianne for i2005 work (read: GRAD BALL WORK!). we went to eastwood to give letters/pacakges to the restaurants there in the hopes of getting gift certificates to be given away as prizes during the grad ball. we were pretty productive - we had 2 shops/restaurants in the bag (GCs to be picked up within the week! yeay!), another .. .uhrmmm... 3 or 4 (so that's SBC, italliani's, recipes, pinnacle spa..)that's pretty sure and the others.. well, they need to "forward it to the head office". we'll invade katipunan later (wednesday na di ba?) and on thursday. oh, oh, and we need to fix the other details pa(band, program, decor, etc..). *sigh*

anybody interested in becoming a member at Fitness First? if you apply through us (me & dianne), you'll only pay a total of Php5,190 (1500 joining fee; 2190 monthly, 1500 admin fee) when you sign up for a lifestyle membership. aaand! if you apply this april, you'll only pay 1095 for the membership fee meaning you'll only be paying 4095 when you first sign up! btw, the membership is transferrable. hehe. (cmon! *coughulteriormotivecough*)

i have several gradball invites with me! for those who haven't claimed their invites yet, or if you want to buy one (@ Php1,100 each. masarap pagkain sa mandarin! dali!), just text me or.. hrm. text nyo nlng ako.

We had the deliberations for the applicants earlier (CURSOR). may part 2 pa mamaya! This one will be bloodier than the apps' delibs - 117 members! ugh. oh well.

Con-con pa nga pla sa ACM.

i2005 pa.

*slaps forehead* what thesis? (nyahahahaha)

which reminds me, the dept's having a faculty meeting later at 1:30pm regarding the graduates. ooohh no.

and i still haven't touched, not even looked, at the forms i have to fill out! (miiiiiiiikkkkeee! kelan ka magpapamedical checkup?)

narmph.

semender nlng tayo! =)
=================
"wala ka nang pahinga!" ~ my mom to me earlier.

yipee!

2005-04-01T18:56:00.000+08:00

155 - presentation on friday --> done! na-complete na namin ung 155!

yippeeeeee! *jumps for joy*

acctg at thesis nlng!

status update..

2005-03-31T01:22:00.000+08:00

i just got my completion form from ate mila earlier. yippee! i have officially completed cs165. 155 nlng! i hope the presentation on friday will be better than the one we did last tues. hrmph.

hell week is almost finished!

155 - presentation on friday
URC paper - done!
Thesis paper - uhrmm.. uhrmm.. deadline is on thursday. *sigh* pwede pong pamove ng deadline?
accounting - third exam on saturday. (rl! jessie! aral tayoooooo!) tell me, why did i get this subject as an elective again? *scratches head*

on top of that, *points to previous list* here's my extracurricular activities to-do list:

fix rex files (kahit wala pang rex... *sigh*)
compile member's attendance during committee meetings & genmits for mem delibs on fri
acm plansem later
i2005 stuff (bands, marketing, kulitin si cha regarding the tribute to the graduates...)
UGotGame Pro.. (sorry, after hell week ko na to maasikaso. hehe)

*malalim na buntong hininga* oh well, what's new? =)

... gusto ko nang magsemender. kudos to the new execom for finding a great place for the semender! ;) dali, sama kayo!

academic checklist..

2005-03-29T00:27:00.000+08:00

complete 165 - check! did just that earlier(mar28). yehey! i can finally reformat my old laptop! :P
complete 155 - uhrmm.. hopefully by tuesday (mar29). mam joooyce! =)
finish writing the thesis paper - will..MUST be finished by 5am. (oooh nooo.... walang tulugan! so what's new?)
accounting1 - hrmm.. kelan nga ba ung third exam? does anybody know?

dumdidumdidum...

2005-03-28T00:07:00.000+08:00

my first post! yehey!

it's easter sunday, oops,monday. past midnight na pala. holy week is supposed to be for prayer and meditation, but what did I (and probably, lots of other UP studednts) do? 165. 155. thesis paper. *sigh* poor us. students from other universities have already sat through their finals, submitted their final papers and got their diploma while we are still spending sleepless nights just to finish submissibles on time. haha. wish ko lang graduation na. although its fine with me - i get to stay in the university for a few more weeks before actually stepping out into the real world. *shivers*

on a happier note, happy graduation to my high school kada - jho (she graduated last tuesday. hrmph! di man lang nangimibita!) and to my sis sam(on march 30)! im so proud of you guys.

fiiiiiiiiiiinalllllllllyyyyyyyyy! my groupmate has uploaded his part of the thesis paper. i can start working.