Sportsgirl Chronicles & Musings Part 2

I don't see SBhim any more. I think he got transferred to another store or he quit. Oh well! I sure will miss seeing him. At least now I don't have to be reminded of James.

I don't talk to Whim much any more. Just too busy at work. Don't even talk about sports, personal life, etc. I also don't want to bother him because he's a family man.

I haven't seen the Long's guy because I think he's busy with school and has different working hours.

For a while I didn't see BPhim because he was too busy with his extracurricular activities to be in choir.

Baseball season is over so no more Giants for a while. Haven't been doing too well in the football pool. And my Niners haven't been doing too well either.

I'm a bit disheartened, but I've been too busy to get depressed.

Busy at work because of new console, new games, new site, and holidays.

Busy at home because of parties. Went to a party last week. Was a bit stressed about meeting piano teacher/musician Robert. Then there were two parties this weekend. Yesterday was Beverly's Baby Shower (co-hosted by myself, Liz, Auntie Irma, and Hazel). I've been stressed the whole week cooking, buying decorations, making favors, preparing the games and prizes. I made millionaire pie, leche flan, lil' smokie pigs-in-the-blanket, lumpia, kare-kare, cookies. Had planned to make corn soup and buffalo wings but didn't have time. I invited choir members but only Theresa's family showed up because most of them were busy because of other parties and BPhim had a gig in Napa. Mostly people there were family or Auntie Irma's friends. Played don't say baby/cute/ohh/ahh clothes pin game, guess the baby food game, guess the chocolate bar diaper game, guess how big she is ribbon game, and match the celebrity/baby name game. Had lots of fun. Siah was so cute.

Then today was Johnika's 1st Birthday party. Lots of food. Karaoke. Games. Thesesa seems to win most of the games. She won two and she won two at Bev's Shower.

So I finally met Patti and Arleen's friend Robert. He seems nice. He's kinda like Scott. Even though he's not my type, I'll go out for coffee with him.

The thing is I still like BPhim Seems more my type because he likes sports and Robert doesn't. Sometimes I think there's a chance that he might like me too because a couple times at Church he looked like he wanted to say something to me. Then there are times I think he doesn't because if he liked me he would call me or email me or he would go to our parties or he would tell us about his gigs or he would play with our choir more often or go to practice. He's visited my profile so he must realize that it's me. Well now it's too late. Now that there's a new pastor, our choir has been disbanded so I won't see him much any more because I'll probably start going to Church closer to home.

Favorite shows: Heroes, Gilmore Girls, Nip/Tuck, Smallville, Supernatural, Amazing Race, Brothers & Sisters. I miss watching What about Brian (same time as Heroes), L&O SVU (same time as Nip/Tuck), Friday Night Lights (same time as Gilmore Girls), CSI (same time as Supernatural), ER (same time as Shark), Desperate Housewives (same time as Cold Case), and Missing Trace (same time as Brothers & Sisters).

powered by performancing firefox

9/11 - Surprise, surprise. Busy at work. Frustrated again. Got to see Starbucks Eric this afternoon while getting my caffeinated drink. He was wearing a tie under his apron. I thought that he was a shift supervisor, but maybe he's a manager. I wonder if he's higher than Justin. Will says Hi. On my way back to the office, I start to wonder why Justin, Eric, and Will are nice to me. Maybe they've got a list of regulars and I'm on there (like the Ritz-Carlton book that Brad's in). Went to gym. WAS lost. OAK lost. I was so hoping that I'd get 2nd place. Oh well now I'm tied with about six other people for sixth place.

9/12 - Uneventful typical day. Saw SBE in the morning. Worked. Went to Salsa class then did 15 minutes on the treadmill.

9/13 - Saw SBE again. Wow. Three days in a row. Busy at work on filepulls. Then client ask for some stats. We had to do an emergency survey so I had a couple of meetings to discuss the survey. Then I had to do queries to look for some data.

9/14 - SBE was working as the barista this morning. As I waited in line I debated whether to get a white mocha or a cup of coffee. I had already gotten a white mocha yesterday (my new policy is no more than one white mocha a week ever since I found out it has over 400 calories for a tal (over 500 in a grande). Ended up giving in knowing it was going to be a busy day. SBE made my white mocha. Yea!

Boy was it busy. Trying to finish a survey that we started yesterday. Running queries to get stats off of the database. Managing filepulls. Anyways, got lunch late (1:30pm). On my way back saw him (with his tie). Thought he was off since I saw him at 8am.  But about an hour later, Lisa got back from Starbucks and he messed up her drink. Instead of her usual mocha, she got a vanilla latte. I think that she must have gotten someone else's drink.

9/15 - No SBE. Busy at work but had time to go with Lisa to Virgin Records Citizen Cupcakes so she could get a sandwich and I can get a pineapple upside down cupcake. They didn't have my cupcake. They only had Rocky Road, Key Lime, Toffee, and Mint. We saw MM, my boss about four years ago. Miss working with him. I don't understand why he got laid off. As an account director, he was such a great account director and a great boss. Anyways at the magazine rack, I found "The Unofficial PS3 Launch Handbook" which had some cool images of the games (some full-page some as little insets). Resistance: Fall of Man, Metal Gear Solid 4, Half-Life 2, Final Fantasy XIII were some of the ones featured on the magazine. On our way back to the office we saw a woman a pink tutu in front of Macy's handing out stuff. So we crossed the street to see what was going on. A few feet before we got there Lisa figured it might be something related to Sarah Jessica Parker. Sure enough, the woman was handing out samples of her perfume. But she also said that Sarah Jessica Parker was inside so we decided to stop in. When we got there, there were a lot of people. I tried to take a picture with my cellphone but there were too many people. I did catch a glimpse of her. Before leaving work, I decided to read the Daily Dish on SFGate.com and it had a blurb that Sarah Jessica Parker might be pregnant. How weird? Before leaving the office I printed out my picks for the football pool, ESPN.com expert picks, and odds. Anyways, left work at 6:55 and got to PH around 7:50. Got to the gym around 8:05--30 minutes on the treadmill (2 miles, 205 calories), 10 minutes on the stairmaster (.62 miles, 60 calories), 350 crunches, 11 laps in the pool.

9/16 - Did some shopping and ran errands. Changed a couple of picks CAR to and JAC to PIT then changed MNF score from 31 to 37.

9/17 - Woke up early. After getting ready, checked football picks against latest odds and injury reports. Didn't make any changes. Watched football before going to Church. Got lunch and watched football the rest of the day. Yea! 49ers won. And I picked them in the pool. The past couple of years I usually don't pick the 49ers. I figure if they win I'd be happy. If they lose at least I get a point in the pool. This time I had a feeling that they had a good chance of winning against the Rams. And I figured that a lot of people in the pool would have picked the Rams. So this could be the tiebreaker game. So after they won I noticed that I was tied for first. Watched the DAL/WAS game and worked for a couple of hours. Then when DAL won against WAS, I had a good chance of winning. I was tied with SA for 1st place with13 correct picks. We both picked PIT. She had 36 and I had 37. I was hoping for a high scoring game eventhough I knew that Jacksonville and PIT had great defenses. But RL and NO's friend Paul had 12 and picked the Jags.

To be continued in next week's blog.
What happened in the MNF game? Will it be busy at work? Will I see Eric?

powered by performancing firefox

8/28 - Another busy day at work so seeing SBE in the afternoon made my day. Even better, he made my frappuccino with extra, extra whipped cream. Went to gym and worked out for about an hour. Then I dropped off the Thomas socks I bought for Siah. It was almost 10 o'clock and he was still awake even though he had to go to nursery school in the morning. He was so cute in his pullups and no t-shirt. Only spent a couple minutes there (so I don't keep Bev & Siah up). He gave me a hug and a kiss before I left (what a surprise...I haven't gotten a kiss from him in over a month).

8/29 - Woke up an hour late because I had accidentally kicked my alarm clock to the floor (been sleeping sideways on the bed for over a week because of strange noises outside my window). Was able to get ready in less than 30 minutes so I got to work only 30 minutes later than usual. Got my morning coffee and SBE was working. I ended up working late because of a last minute request from LA and I didn't go to the gym for Salsa class because I forgot the gym card (which was kinda of a good thing because the furniture people showed up early and I was able to work on the request). Even after working on the request for over an hour, I wasn't even halfway done. Didn't want to stay in the city too late so I worked until around 7:40 and rushed to the train station. Thank God for laptops. I worked on the train (which I haven't done in awhile...since I heard stories about people getting beaten up or shot by thieves who were swiping laptops). Anyway I got home and worked some more.

8/30 - Got my morning coffee and saw SBE again. Went to Beard Papa's with Lisa for cream puffs. It was yummy but not exceptional. Stressed at work. Went to the gym. Worked out extra long since I missed the Salsa class on Tuesday--35 minutes on the treadmill, 500 crunches, 22 minutes on the StairMaster, and swam 8 laps.

8/31 - Another stressful day at work. So during lunch I went with Lisa to Citizen Cupcakes to get a birthday cupcake for DB and goodbye cupcake for DKao. I got myself a pineapple upside down cupcake which was very yummy (much better than the cream puffs from the day before). I felt a little guilty taking in all those calories...it was a setback in my weight loss plans but I needed it after the bad couple of weeks I've had. Worked until 6:20 even though I was hoping to leave earlier so I can get to choir practice on time. I was about 5 minutes late for choir practice, but only Pattee was there. Arlene showed up around 5 minutes later. And Theresa showed up a few minutes after. Couldn't resist...went to get white chocolate gelato (extremely yummy!). Got dinner at Jack in the Box. Got train ticket. Got home. Did some surfing on the Internet. Made my picks for the first week of the NFL season.

9/1- Really productive. At work, wrote specs for 2 projects, updated 3 others, sent emails to various people, did scheduling for next week's projects. But I also discovered an issue that a programmer will have to fix. Didn't leave the office until 2:30 even though we closed at 12. Didn't eat lunch so I stopped by Starbucks and got a snack--cookie cream sandwich (it was very very yummy). Jumped on MUNI to go to the Dugout Store to buy a replacement antenna ball (someone was brazen enough to take the one off of my car over a month ago) and also left with a new t-shirt. Then I took MUNI to BART (took forever). Got to PH and was starving. Ended up getting lunner (lunch/dinner) at Fuddruckers. Then went to gym--47 minutes on the treadmill (over 2.75 miles, 170 vertical height, 270 cal) , 10 minutes on the stairmaster (.5 miles, 60 cal., 30 floors), 410 crunches, and 14 laps. Got home and watched some tv (49er game, MTV Next, What Not to Wear, Cover Shot, News) while figuring out what desserts I'll be making for next week's choir weekend getaway to Angel's Camp. I'll make millionaire pie, apple crisp, and leche flan. And after Lisa and my excursion to Citizen Cupcakes, I want to make some cupcakes. I think I'll experiment with a couple of recipes and make them for Liz's birthday party before I make it for choir members.  Oh...Giants lost. USA basketball team lost but 49ers finally win a pre-season game.

Some interesting things I've read the past couple of weeks:
* Editor for OPM writes in her blog that she'll buy an Xbox 360 instead of a PS3 in November. What??? Say it isn't so. http://opm.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=7344653&publicUserId=5380375#comments
* Article in Wired about Sony and the PS3. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.09/sony.html
* Article on ESPN about Madden07. This article had me LMAO. There are tons of lines that are so hillarious. Here are some examples.
-"But if a punter gets hurt? Eh ... who cares. No one likes those guys anyway. All they are is a reminder that your team couldn't move the ball on offense."
-"90 -- Brett Favre's morale rating...Playing against Brett Favre is absolutely fantastic for a team's morale."
-"89 -- Eli Manning's passer accuracy rating...but understand that the good folks at EA Sports aren't infallible. In fact, they rate just an 11 in the 'accurately assigning passer accuracy' ratings category."
-"25 -- The player morale rating for Terrell Owens...So apparently to get lower than 25 in this category a player has to be coming off of a season in which he actually murdered a teammate. (Maybe that's something the Bengals can try to achieve for Madden 2008.)"
-"21 -- The lowest toughness rating in the game, which was given to Carolina Panthers punter Jason Baker...he's a wimp in Madden. The games are in stores and there's no way to change it now. So, Jason, you should know that the folks at EA Sports think you're an enormous pansy. Now, now -- don't cry. It's nothing personal."
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=gallo/060822

9/2 Saturday- Woke up around 10am and went grocery shopping at Costco, FoodMax, and Safeway for cupcake ingredients and next weekend's roadtrip to Angels Camp. Then did laundry. Baked cupcakes--chocolate malt, mocha, pineapple upside down, and banana. Then I realized that I needed to buy something at Longs and noticed that some of stuff I had bought at FoodMax and Safeway were actually cheaper at there. Could have saved a few dollars. Oh well. Now I know that I should go there first.

9/3 Typical Sunday - Went to Starbucks, Church, and Target. BPhim did show up but I don't know if he was trying to be inconspicous because I could just barely see him. Then I went shopping at Best Buy for Liz & Brian's birthday gift. Finished making frosting and topping for cupcakes then brought them to Liz's party. Siah was so cute...he was trying to be Spiderman and kept trying to climb up the stools, Auntie Irma, and me. He loved my cupcakes. Yea! Siah gave me a kiss.

9/4 Labor Day - Didn't go on a roadtrip because I figured I'll be going on that roadtrip to Angels Camp next weekend. Ended up shopping at Linens & Things because of the Labor Day sale.  Then I cleaned my room and did some gardening. Then I worked out at the gym for over an hour. Cool. Hardly anyone there. Got a lot done.

9/5 Tuesday - Busy at work...making up for the 1-1/2 non-working days. So busy I didn't get a chance to get an afternoon drink at Starbucks. Had three meetings--one with LA, one with client, and one with others in the SF office. But I was fortunate to see SBE on my way to the gym. I was talking to BB and he was walking up Bush Street. I guess he was on his break. Went to Salsa class then worked out on the Treadmill (20 minutes) and StairMaster (7 minutes).

Got home and watched Nip/Tuck. They showed previews for Running with Scissors, Stranger than Fiction (looks interesting, has Emma Thompson as an author writing a book about a man played by Will Farrell who can hear her narrating), Casino Royale (007), Pursuit of Happiness (Will Smith as a father in San Francisco), the Holiday (Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet switch houses).

9/6 Wednesday - Worked. Saw SBE in the morning. I was getting coffee and he was on his way in. Went to the gym. A pretty uneventful day.

9/7 Thursday - Busy day. Saw SBE in the morning. I was getting coffee and I think he was just going on his break. It seemed like he was wearing a tie. Had so much to do since I was taking a Summer Friday day off. NO sends two data request forms around 3o'clock. Saying he just realized that it's not on my "weekly" email. Duh?? It's on there. He just can't see it. Then about a half hour later I ask PS where's the request form for a project (I had been asking for it for over two weeks). I finally get it around 4:30. Had to reply to some emails from RE. Also received jpegs of WM's new baby Aiden Dayne. Forgot to add to last week's blog that Aiden was born on 8/29. Got to remember to update it.

Was so busy I couldn't even go to DKao's going away after work drinks get together. Ended up working late (until around 7:20). I wanted to get off early so I can go to the gym (since I won't be able to go on Friday), do some grocery shopping, and start baking. I didn't get to PH until around 8:30. Went to the gym and worked out for 1-1/2 hours (even though I had planned to work out for less than 30 minutes). Finally did some grocery shopping around 10. Started baking around 11. Messed up on the leche flan. Baked the cupcakes. Made a millionaire pie. Decided to make the apple crisp in the mroning and make the topping/frosting at Angels Camp. Ended up going to sleep around 3am.

9/8 Friday - Another busy day. Woke up at 7:30am (a little over 4 hours of sleep) and called Liz about board games. Got dressed and picked up board games around 8:30. Went to Target to buy supplies. Even though I asked for the Summer Friday off over a month ago there was still a lot of work I needed to do. I started working around 9:20--wrote specs for PS's project, responded to emails, reviewed some of EW's work while doing laundry and baking the apple crisp. Started remaking leche flan around 1pm. Then went to dry laundry around 2pm. Still had to water plants, pack, shower, load the car. Didn't get on the road until 4:30 (even though had had wanted to leave by 2pm so I have enough time to make the trip to Angels Camp a leisurely drive, enjoy the scenery and avoid rush hour traffic). But when I stopped at the Oriental Store to buy pandesal (Filipino bread), I realized I forgot my foaming pommade. So I went to the mall to buy some hair supplies. Ugghhh. By the time I got done, it was 5:30. After a lot of debating, decided to take Highway 4 (then 160, 12/88, 49 then 4) instead of 580 (then 205, 5, 4) thinking I could save time since it's a 15-30 minute drive to 580 and I hit more traffic there. I ended up hitting a lot of traffic on 4. It finally let up in Antioch. It was fun driving through the Delta, but on my way to Angels Camp I was stuck behind a slow car & two trucks and had to pass them (since my Summer 2005 roadtrip in NV/AZ when I almost got into an accident I've been scared to pass other cars). Made a wrong turn on 88 when I realized that I was going West on 88 thinking I was going South. Ended up losing about 15 minutes and stopped at gas station to buy a map. Just hopped on the 99 then back on the 4. Got to Angels Camp around 8:15pm--an hour and 15 minutes later than when dinner was supposed to start. Alot of other people were late too. Unloaded the car. Brought apple crisp and games to Elena's condo. Ate dinner around 8:45. Played scrabble with Robert and Mile. Went to bed around 11:45 (the earliest I've gone to bed in a few months). I was dead tired and slept soundly.

9/9 Saturday - Got up at 8am. Helped Pattee and Arlene cook breakfast by cooking bacon outside in the BBQ grill. Then John, Pattee, and Arlene started talking about setting me up with Angela's piano teacher who also plays piano in Pattee's jazz combo. Oh no! Not another musician. I later confessed to Arlene and Pattee that I had two boyfriends who were musicians--Scott (trombone) and James (drums) who I said broke my heart and gave a brief description of him. But I digress. When they talked about the other guy and planned how we would meet, I just kept telling them no. But there's no stopping them. They told me about him--tall, blonde, Polish, grew up in the Bay Area, a year older than me, obsessed over music, piano teacher, writing his thesis, gentleman, sweet, was briefly married to someone Japanese who was an aspiring actress who left him.

Which reminds me. Sometimes people mistake me for being Japanese. I understand why some people think I'm Latina (because some of my Spanish ancestry) but I don't know why people think I'm Japanese. There are two instances that come to mind. A few years ago some family members from Guam were visiting so I took them to SF to show them the tourist spots. We were at Maiden Lane when an elder Japanese man started talking to me in Japanese. I felt so bad and told him that I wasn't Japanese. Maybe he thought I was half Japanese, half Caucasian. And a few months ago on my trip to Guam, I was buying souvenirs at one of the ABC stores in Tumon where most tourists stay, when the cashier (a Filipino lady) started talking to me in Japanese. I had to tell her that I didn't speak Japanese (sure I know a few words having been raised in Guam) but can't she tell I was Filipina just like her? I guess I should have taken Japanese instead of Spanish at AOLG when we had to chose a foreign language class. But I figured that I'm more likely to use Spanish since I wanted to move to the mainland. But I digress...

They continued their planning, but I kept thinking that there's no way I'd date him. Anyways after breakfast; Theresa, Robert, Clarissa, Casey, Arlene, Angela, and I went to California Caverns. It was fun! Then we stopped by a Thrift Store where I got a romance book for just 50 cents. Then we got a late lunch at Subway. Arlene, Pattee and I went to the store then went back to the condo and watched Failure to Launch. Arlene made me a cosmopolitan with just a little bit of alcohol but I could still taste it. I would take little sips every few minutes, but I barely even drank 1/4 of it. I felt so bad for making it go to waste. In the middle of the movie, I started to make the toppings for the cupcakes. Then we went to John's condo for dinner. I brought all my desserts--millionaire pie, cupcakes (chocolate malt, pineapple, mocha), leche flan, and three 1/2 gallons of Thrifty ice cream (pistacio, mint chip, pecan praline). Everyone loved my desserts--especially the millionaire pie. All the women wanted the recipe. Then we had karaoke. I sangt "If We Hold on Together", "You Needed Me", and "The Rose". Wish I sang more songs but everyone else wanted to sing. So I just sang in the background. We didn't leave John's until close to midnight. On the way back to the condo. Pattee told me I had a beautiful voice, but I told her not as beautiful as hers. Then went to bed. Kept thinking about the guy they wanted to set me up with. He couldn't be my soulmate. I mean BPhim was more my type but I know he doesn't like me. Then there was SBEhim. And Whim. And... What if I do meet this guy and he likes me but I don't like him as much? Should I settle?

9/10 Sunday - Woke up around 7:30. Helped Pattee make fritada for breakfast. Watched my Michael Buble while everyone ate breakfast. Then showered and packed up. We checked out around 12:30. Met at the lake. Wish we had more time to rent a boat. Instead we had a picnic and a late lunch. Debated whether or not to go with everyone to Moaning Caverns because I was hoping to get home by 6 o'clock so I can water my plants and watch some of the NYG/Colts game--Eli vs. Peyton. Ended up going. Good choice. It wasn't as fun as California Caverns, but it was interesting. It was one big, deep cave. It didn't have as many formations. A lot of it had been touched so they were brown instead of white. It was a little scary walking down the stairs--165 feet. The tour guide was cute. He was funny too. Got home at 7pm. Watered plants. Unloaded car. Watched football.

powered by performancing firefox

Still waiting for the new tv season to start. Can wait to watch Nip/Tuck, Gilmore Girls, Smallville, Supernatural, CSI, Law & Order SVU, Crossing Jordan, Cold Case, Amazing Race.

Of the new shows I've heard about I think I'll watch Heroes (interesting premise plus it's got Milo Ventimiglia), Friday Night Lights (football and Kyle Chandler, need I say more?), The Nine (interesting premise), Jericho (keep seeing a lot of intriguing commerical spots), and Shark (James Woods makes an interesting DA). I might also watch Brothers & Sisters and Studio 60.

Strange. I didn't even know that Laguna Beach 3 has started. As much as I like the first two seasons, the third season doesn't seem to be appealing to me. First of all, the main character is Lauren's sister. They showed her once last season. She seemed boring. Second of all, the cast didn't seem to be as good-looking as the first or even the second. Third, the girls seem to be really bitchy and catty. Sure last season was pretty catty--girls fighting over boys and talking bad about other girls but the reason I watched was to see if Lauren and Stephen end up together (which they didn't) and hoped that Kristin would get what's coming to her (she was such a bitch). But this season seemed to be worse. I really don't like it when girls get all catty and back-stab each other. I got enough of it in high school (an all girls private Catholic school) during freshman and sophomore year. That's probably why most my friends in college were guys. But I digress...

Last week I stumbled upon a pretty cool show on the Food Network--Ace of Cakes. Some of the cakes are beautiful. Some I'm not too crazy about. But it's fun watching them decorate the cakes (some interesting ones like a dog, a jeep, a miniature of the building at the Preakness horse race) and stress to try to make their deadlines.

This weekend, I was watching What Not to Wear--one episode was about 2 mothers-to-be and mother with two young children, another about a woman who's going to her 20th high school reunion (her two friends whom she hasn't seen since graduation will also have an episode in the next couple weeks). After, they showed two episodes of Cover Shoot. One was about a woman with three children who teaches and is a principal of a Hebrew school. The other was about a young woman who's grandmother had died. They made the women look amazing.

powered by performancing firefox

Typical Sunday morning routine. Woke up early after going to bed late (was watching Trading Spaces and Nip/Tuck reruns). Showered and got dressed. Went to Starbucks to get my usual--a tall mild drip in my personal cup and a Sunday paper. Decided to go to Costco to get gas (instead of waiting to go in the afternoon) so that I don't have to wait in line. Then went to Target to check out the sales before going to Church to sing in choir.
 
The routine has changed a bit the past few years (like a couple of years ago when I used to have to take the bus to the train station, take the train to WC, and walk to Church because I didn't have a car or last year when I used to take Raquel and Marie to Church with me) but almost every Sunday consisted of Starbucks, Church and Target.

I was a bit early so I sat in my car at the Church parking lot going over the Sunday ads and thinking how much in a rut I've been in. My life consisted of work during the weekdays and errands & shopping on the weekend with a lot of TV and Internet surfing in between. Then, there's the occasional party, family coming over, hair or dentist appointment, pedicure, and visiting Liz in Martinez or Josiah & Bev. Yes my life is so boring.

As I was going through the ads a car pulled up right next to me. I looked up briefly and saw that it was BPhim. I totally didn't expect him to show up. I thought that he still had dragonboat racing. Anyway I went back to perusing the ads determined not to let his arrival faze me. I was getting over my crush on him. Sure it was just several months ago I just happened to see his profile on match.com and thought that we had similar interests and that he might be the one. But after not seeing him in choir practice or Church for a few months I figured that he doesn't like me. So I got over him. Then he shows up. I refuse to let him affect me. But because we were sitting by the altar I could see him. I tried not to look in the area where he was sitting.

But I digress... Our singing kinda sucked today. Some of it was due to some of the choir members not attending practice on Thursday. Some of it was due to us not singing the way we practiced it. It was so embarrassing. It is kind of frustrating because most of the choir members can't read music. I know enough to know how many counts for each note and rest as well as when to go up or down. But it doesn't help when we decide to go against the sheet music or when the "leaders" don't realize that they're not following the sheet music. Sometimes I pipe up to correct them but most of the time I just stay quiet and make edits to the music.

Anyway after Church, went to Ross to return the mixing bowls I bought yesterday and bought the Thomas socks for Josiah, a new purse, and a belt. Then I went to Target to buy another mixing bowl and a paper shredder (it was on sale). Then I got lunch at Fuddruckers (cool the SF Giants were winning). Then I went to Best Buy to get a 1GB USB Flash drive and Dawson's Creek 4th Season DVDs (both were on sale). Looks like I'll have to go back later this week because I already have Season 4, but I don't have 3 or 5. Gilmore Girls and Nip/Tuck are also on sale. I was so tempted but I've already got my favorite Gilmore Girls seasons and Nip/Tuck Season 3 wasn't on sale.

Then I went home. Watched the rest of the Giants game (yea they won!). Cleaned the bathroom and kitchen (promised myself that I'd spend more time cleaning next weekend since it was a three-day weekend). Did some gardening. Watched more TV (A Walk to Remember, Jersey Girl, Ace of Cakes, Emmy's, Star Wars Attack of the Clones, Big Brother--didn't watch anything it its entirety). And did this blog.

What a boring Sunday. We'll probably have to sing again next week so I think I'll go on a road trip on Saturday or Monday to keep from  making it another tedious weekend.

powered by performancing firefox

powered by performancing firefox

Lists, Lists, Lists...

No, not email lists. Not direct mail lists. Not focus group lists. Fun non-work related lists.

On my walk from the office to the train station, I was thinking about what I should blog about. Work first came to mind since it has been a bad week. So bad I've been playing Bad Day (the Fuel version, not the Daniel Powter version) a lot in the office and in the car. Yeah I'll blog about work. But I felt like doing something different.

Yeah I could blog about the Giants..how they've sucked the past several weeks but managed to sweep the Padres last week, won a game against the Dbacks (but blew a couple of leads and ended up losing the other two games).

Or I could blog about how I saw blue-eyed SBEhim Tuesday, yesterday and today. About how I haven't been going to Starbucks the past couple of weeks as much as I used to. I think it's because I'm trying to avoid him. If I don't see him as much I won't get too infatuated. There's also the fear that he might be gay. Not that I'm a homophobe. I just don't want to be heartbroken if I find out he is gay. It's happened once before (that huge crush on Kevin M which caused me to break up with Scott then Scott telling me that Kevin was gay but luckily got over that crush by falling in love with James). But I digress. There was no avoiding him today. He actually took my order so I couldn't help but stare at his gorgeous blue eyes. Then he made my drink. He's so sweet. He made my tall coffee frappuccino with extra whipped cream in a grande cup (as usual) so I get a lot of extra whipped cream.

Or I could blog about football and how the 49ers are playing against the Cowboys this weekend. Yea! Something I can talk to Warren about on Monday not related to work.

Or I could blog about Whim. How I felt sad but happy for him when I was looking at his wedding pictures. How a few weeks ago we talked about baby names (he actually was interested in my opinion and we came up with some cool ones). How I'm finally over my crush on him. Sure not seeing him in over nine months helps. Finding out that his girlfriend is pregnant and him getting married to her accelerated it. But now that I'm over it, I know that he'll always be a close friend.

But then I figured. I've blogged about the Giants before. I've blogged about SBEhim before. I've blogged about the Niners. I've blogged about Whim before. Then I saw poster of Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki for Supernatural. They belong on my hot actors list. That's it. I'll blog about lists. Because it's late (OMG is it really almost 3 in the morning), I'll start on my list of lists: hot actors list, most beautiful actress list, favorite tv couples list, favorite move couples list, favorite reality tv stars list, favorite athletes list, most memorable moments or life-changing moments list, and list of crushes.


      
Laborious Week. Labor Day Weekend

I'm so looking forward to Labor Day Weekend. The office will be closed 1/2 day Friday and all day Monday, That's 3 1/2 days off. I'll probably work into the second half of Friday but I'll try my best to leave by 2pm.

It has been a hellish week at work. Today was just as busy as the rest of the week but I knew that the weekend was just around the corner. Worked on two analysis requests on my own. Worked on specs for a couple of projects for next week. Oversaw two other projects that EW was working on. Made sure that the survey JS was working on was finalized and published then had the report posted. Dealt with questions regarding the B because client wants it to be ready by week of 9/11. Uggggghhhhhh. So for the next two to three weeks I'll have to manage two developers and do a lot of testing for this urgent project in addition to overseeing tons of filepulls. It's been so busy DB and I have been putting off a couple of other update projects.

It's so busy and it doesn't look like will let up until January. In addition to this B, there's the possibility that there will be two others. In September and October, there's several product launches and loyalty programs. Then we'll have several campaigns for the big product launch as well as the holiday campaigns. I so hope that we get the week of Christmas Eve through New Year's Day off again.

powered by performancing firefox

As I was checking personal emails early this morning, I read one from CNET about Firefox extensions. Decided to download a few...scrapbook, foxytunes, sessionsaver, forecastfox, and ppf.

Scrapbook - Haven't used used it yet. But it's supposed to allow me to save other sites/pages as opposed to bookmarking them. I usually make PDFs but it's alot of work and takes up filesize.
Foxytunes - Using it right now. It adds a toolbar at the bottom of my browser which allows me to control my media player (instead of having to click on the application). Cool. Was listening to my Smallville Metropolis soundtrack. Now I'm going old school and listening to Jock Jams.
SessionSaver - It allows me to revert to how my browser looked before exiting. I can either set it so it's restored everytime I start up or not. I'd prefer to have my browser open at espn.com. So I'll just change it whenever I need it restored to the previous time.
ForecastFox - Allows me to see the weather at the bottom of my browser. I've created several profiles for different locations--Concord (home) , SF (work), Guam (mom), Kingsville TX (lil sis), Marina del Rey (office in la), Rochester NY (college), and South Lake Tahoe (just for fun). Hmmm. I think I'll also create one for Italy just for fun. But I can't figure out how to keep the zipcodes for each static. I had it earlier but as I added more profiles it kept changing. Once I get it worked out it it'd be cool. Right now I can see that it's 82 degrees in Concord, mostly sunny. Forecasted to be 90 today and 84 tomorrow.
PPF - Allows me to write blogs via an editor in my browser then post to the sites. Since I've got four blog sites, I can edit/send to which ever ones I want to post to. Unfortunately, it doesn't post to Xanga because of some security issues. Developers are trying to find a way to be able to though. I'm hoping soon so it's easier to manage my blogs. Since it's been a little bit slower today. I've decided to try it out......


Bad morning, better afternoon
Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Last night I left the office around 8:40pm and rushed to the station to catch the 8:56 train. Got to PH around 9:35 and got dinner at Wendy's. Finally got home about a minute to 10pm--just in time for MTV Fresh Meat Challenge (surprise Darrell & Aviv won the next challenge and got a pardon so they put in Kenny & Tina who beat Theo & Chanda in the Exile. Next week is going to be so great).

Got ready for bed at 10:35 but I couldn't sleep because neighbors had their side exterior light on and it was flashing through my bedroom window. I kept tossing and turning and even tried putting a couple of pillows on top of my head making sure I had enough space to breath but it was so uncomfortable. Out of all the days to have to go to sleep early why did it have to be the same day the neighbors left the light on outside. They turned off the light a little after 11 and I fell asleep sometime around 11:30.

My alarm clock went off at 4am but I kept hitting the snooze button (hoping to get at least 5 hours of sleep). Finally got up at 4:40, took a shower and got ready. Got to the station around 5:55. Got to work at 6:50. Booted up the laptop and was on my way down to get coffee at Starbucks when Eric showed up. So I opened the door for him and worked about 15 minutes before heading back out to Starbucks. He was done with what he needed to do by 8:15 and sent an email for Dave to do his thing (since he said that he'd check emails before he leaves for the office). So we waited. No response. Every 15 minutes I'd check to see if he was in his office. But he wasn't. By 9 I was seriously worried, Warren needed the file by 10 to blast by 11. So I desperately asked Said to do it. He did. We waited an hour and a half for him to finish. Then Eric did his thing which took forever (database has been slow the last couple of days). We found out that because we were working on stuff too early in morning the tables we were using had yesterday's data. So our files were a little bit off. This has been a project from hell. I haven't had one of these in several months. At least I'm not working over 12 hours a day like I used to when I worked with Ira. So we get the file done late--11:15. Luckily Warren's still waiting for client approval. Email ended up going out at 2:45.

Had my weekly status meeting with account team and client at 11am. After going over our portion, I put my phone on mute so they can't hear me complaining about them to Lisa. They had switched timing on several projects and now I have to re-do our schedules. Every once in awhile the account team would go over a project then I would roll my eyes or make a gesture and Lisa & I would start to laugh. If they only knew.

This afternoon went a little bit smoother. Eric and I were able to work on a couple of other projects which were so much easier to do.

Now I'm just waiting for time to pass until I can get ready and head over to the gym for my Salsa class. Yea!!


Still at work...
Monday, August 21, 2006


it's past 7:30pm and i'm still at work. i am so po'd at the account team. this time for promising that we'd get m07 out on monday when we just found out about it on thursday. originally we were told that it would be going out on tuesday and even then i was angry. i am absolutely steamed. so is warren (who still had to revise creative, get client approval then code into html).

because eric and i were working on another urgent project on friday and revising yet another one, it left us open to mistakes. and we came across several. i should have checked his work friday afternoon even though i didn't get it until after 5pm. but if we hadn't been forced to rush i would have been insisted that we run an audit report (my bad...)

turns out the email won't be going out until tomorrow (by 11am) because it needs to be need approved by people in florida. (lucky warren & ryan) but eric and i had to revise criteria to meet client's quantities. after a few hours, we finally got criteria to where it needs to be but we have to finish it tomorrow morning (if we try to finish it today i'd be here until around 11pm). so instead of being here late, eric and i will be in the office at 7am. which means that i have to get up at 4:30 catch the train by 5:45. ugggghhhh.

i was hoping to go to the gym tonight after skipping it on friday (went to the airport to visit jordan & jermaine on their way to texas) and pigging out saturday & sunday on smc ice cream, white chocolate gelato, blueberry waffles, etc. it's too late to go to the gym now. i so wanted to go and work out those extra calories and get all this aggression out. i guess i'll either have to do double duty on tuesday or wednesday.

powered by performancing firefox

on the ride home from work i was thinking that i wished i had a book to read. but i had already read the two books i had checked out at the library so i left them home. i should have brought the xmen book that scott lent me. i could have brought another romance book but i'm getting tired of reading romance novels (it kinda depresses me). then i thought that i wished i had a psp. i could be playing a game. maybe i should bite the bullet and buy a psp. even though it's a little bit pricey i would be able to put it to good use.

then i remembered that last friday in the office lisa let me play brain academy on her nintendo ds. omg! i've been corrupted. i felt like a hypocrite after my ranting this afternoon. i only played it for about 15 minutes while lisa was at starbucks, but it was addictive. maybe i shouldn't get a psp or i'd be playing it at work. nah, i'm pretty disciplined at work. i know better not to be like the guys. it'd be so much fun to play or watch a video on my way home instead of reading romance novels.

Busy at work again so I didn't get a chance to blog until just now.

Rant - Busy at work. Surveys, files, reports. At least we got a treat on Monday. In addition to our bi-weekly lunch (this week we got food from Pomodoro *yummy*), we got cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory (banana cream and vanilla bean)--*yummy, yummy in my tummy*.

Rant - Here in the Bay Area we have Spare the Air days--hot days when air pollution is unhealthy so we need to reduce the amount of air pollution. Last year they started a new program were most mass transit is free on Spare the Air days. Last year we only had one. This year they had budgeted for three, but they were used up early in the season and consecutively. They added three more and unfortunately they were used up this week. I like the idea of trying to get people to take mass transit instead of taking their cars. But it seems like people who didn't plan to travel anyways are taking advantage of the "free" rides and go to the city. On Spare the Air days I've noticed that trains are fuller on my commute home mostly because of families and teenagers. It's so annoying. Thursday someone had almost jambed the door. If the door failed to close we would have been stuck at the Embarcadero Station and wait 15 or 30 minutes for another train to arrive. And Friday, the trains were late. And it was almost 7 o'clock when it is unlikely that trains run late and cars are not packed. Annoying. More stories later.

Rave - Went to gym on Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. And Friday. Friday I got to the gym around 9 pm after getting a pint of White Chocolate gelato (yummy, yummy not yet in my tummy), watering the plants, and getting dinner (filet-o-fish and water from McDonalds). Got on the the scale and I was surprisingly pleased to see that I have finally lost 5# compared to when I first started going to the gym five months ago. Yeah!! I was so happy I wanted to work out longer. Spent 31 minutes on the Treadmill, 15 minutes on the StairMaster, 350 crunches, 12 laps in the pool. I finally left the gym a little after 11 and didn't get home until close to 11:30. And now I'm blogging.

Just got back from watching fireworks in Benicia! Why Benicia? It's tradition. In the almost 20 years since I moved to the mainland, I've probably spent 75% of my July 4ths there--except for 1988 and 1994 because I was in Guam, 1992 because I went to Great America with James and his friends, 1996 when I went with Scott to the city and ended up watching colored clouds (it was foggy), and 2004 because I didn't have a car.

I love going to Benicia because I can see the Martinez show across the Strait as well as bits of the Concord and Pleasant Hill shows if I turn my head. This year didn't seem to be long though, but at least it was longer than Martinez (they started after Benicia and ended before Benicia's). I met Liz & Brian there and lugged my blanket, beach towel, and backpack filled with snacks. I told Liz & Brian that I was surprised that they decided to go to Benicia and not Martinez...at least they'll see some of where their tax dollars are going. Liz was on the phone with Annette when Liz told her what I had said and Annette said but Cora's not going to watch where her tax dollars are going. Oh well. But I did see some of Concord's because they started 30 minutes before Benicia. There were lots of people there. The crowd seems to get bigger every year. Most of the people were families with children. But there were also high school kids hanging out with friends.

I love the Fourth of July. I'm proud of being an American citizen and given all the opportunities that I have. My life would be so different if I were born in the Philippines. I'd probably be poor, married to a cheating husband, and have kids (probably at least four). But I digress... The other reason I love the Fourth of July are the fireworks. Fireworks are so romantic. I love the ones that sparkle, the ones that split into smaller ones, and the spirally ones. I enjoy the high large ones as well as the ones that look like flowers (pink/red with green), hearts, and smiley face. Leaving Benicia can be pain. There's so much traffic. But I did see a cute Benicia cop. He's probably married.

It's weird having July 4th fall on a Tuesday. I wish I could have taken Monday off but it's just way too busy at work. Oh well. I'll probably take a Summer Friday in a couple of weeks (on a week we don't have to do HW04). I'm also looking forward to taking my birthday off. Maybe I'll go to the batting cages like last year. I'd like to go to Fenton's or Claim Jumpers.

What did I do before going to Benicia? Woke up at 11am. Late by my standards but I just wanted to stay in bed daydreaming. I had planned to do some cleaning and gardening but I figured I can just do it on Saturday. So I woke up, showered, got dressed and did some weeding. Then I went to Walnut Creek to see if they had white chocolate gelato. They did! Yea! Then I was craving a ribeye sandwich (hadn't had one in a couple of weeks) so I drove to Kinder's but they were closed. On my way home I decided to just get something at Goldilocks and had lunch. Then I went home and did more weeding and watched TV. I watched Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. Mike Rowe rocks! He's soooo funny. Too bad he no longer works for Channel 5's Evening Magazine...I'd watch him everyday. But he's great hosting "Dirty Jobs". Also watched the Giants/Rockies game.

BTW, Giants lost to the Rockies. Started watching the game in the beginning but after a couple of errors the Rockies scored 2 runs and changed the channel. After a while I started watching it again but then there was a rain delay.

It's July 2nd 1:10AM. That means it's one more month until my birthday. As usual, I'm not looking forward to it. Another year will have gone by where I haven't found that special someone. I thought for sure this would be the year. There was Whim, SBEhim, LDhim, and BPhim. Unfortunately none of them panned out. But good news though, I barely think about James.

I'm on the last leg of my 2006 Guam vacation. Sitting here at the Narita Intl' Airport in Japan working on my blog.

Midnight in Guam finishing some shopping with Michelle at Kmart for a scale, macadamia nuts, gift for Casey, asparagus sticks, and Meiji cheese curls (which they didn't have) and at ABC stores in Tumon for Guam cotton pants and Meiji chips (good thing they close at 1am. Realized I forgot to get slippers at Kmart (oh well). Went home and finished packing. After helping me some, Michelle decides to take a nap. I wish I can take a nap but I might oversleep so I decide to stay up (good thing I had gotten a couple of hours of zzz's before the elders arrived). Mom calls at 2am just like I asked. Watched some tv (Intervention on A&E) and every once in a while I'd watch Jordan and Jermaine. Mom calls again at 3am. Finally start changing, fixing my hair, and packing the last of my sundries around 3:15. By 4:15 Michelle gets up (took several times to wake her up) and we met Auntie Nita/Sherry/Jack at the airport. Wish that Jordan and Jermaine were there but they were up early the day before to see Liz & Brian off plus they had school that morning. Checked in by 4:35. Got breakfast (Auntie Nita praying that the next time we see each other I will be married so I make the sign of the cross) and was through the security checkpoint by 5:30. Looked for benedryl or itch medicine for the flea bites but didn't find any. I guess I'll have to bear it for about 3-4 hours and hope I'll find some in Japan for the long flight to SFO or have to bear it another 9+ hours (15+ counting the layover). Boarded the plane (weird didn't board by row numbers so I waited a while before getting in line). Found my seat (worried that the overhead was full because it was closed but there wasn't anything up there when I opened it...whew!). I was a bit sad as I waited for the plane to taxi and takeoff. Michelle will be leaving soon for Texas, Jordan & Jermaine will be going to the Philippines before going to Texas, and mom will be going on her European tour. I also thought about Joey how I managed not to see him or call him. As the plane took off I took pictures of Guam from the air. How it looked so pretty from up there even though we hit a patch of dark rain clouds. I thought I'd be able to catch some zzz's but listened to the radio and played some games (at first I thought that I'd watch the onboard movie High Crimes but I got addicted to the game cave man). Breakfast served on board was fried rice or eggs so I chose the eggs which were scrambled and served with rice, sausage, and fruit.

The flight to Japan took about 3 hrs. 10 minutes but it didn't seem to take long. I guess I was having fun playing. As we got to the airport I realized it was one of those mobile gates where we'd have to walk unto the tarmac and into a bus. I wasn't in a hurry so I waited for most of the people (mostly Japanese tourists) to get off the plane so I can reach my rollerbag in the overhead bin. As we waited in the bus I realized that we were at Terminal 2 (Northwest was at Terminal 1)...I forgot that Continental was at Terminal 2 and I'd have to take a bus to Terminal 1. Terminal 2 hasn't changed much since the last time I was there (a little over ten years ago). Reminds me that Terminal 1 is 10x better than the first time I was ever at Terminal 1 (in 1984 when I went with mom to Seattle...at the time that terminal was chaotic). Yeah Terminal 1 is so much better now, cleaner, spacious, more organized). Had to go through a security checkpoint to catch the bus to Terminal 1. Had to wait almost 30 minutes for the next bus along with serveral other guys who were on the same GUM/NRT flight but they were catching AA/UA flights to Dallas, Seattle, and Los Angeles.

Got to Terminal 1 around 10:15am. A little over six hours to pass time. Figured I could check email at the Internet kiosk then buy some Japanese candy, big Pocky (which is over $12 so decided not to), itch medicine. Got Japanese candy (the same ones that I got on the way to Guam except for the chocolate covered almosts--2 strawberry/chocolate and miniature fruit-filled truffles. Couldn't figure out which was the itch medicine so I checked email...had over 200 but a good number of them were junk email. Took about 30 minutes to go through. Then I bought a pre-paid calling card (why didn't I do that the last time I was there...it was only 1000 yen and should last 11 minutes on US calls) and called Guam (reminder US country code is 1--had forgotten but I kinda thought that's what it was but sound a little bit egotistical that US is 1. Michelle answered so I Then I walked to other shops to find the itch medicine. Ended up going to satellite 1 which was opposite Satelline 2 where I was at. I could use the walk and pass the time. I found the itch medicine. They actually had the same one at the shop on Satellite 2 but it was described in English. Good thing I walked to Satellite 1 because I found the Japanese mini-assorted chocolates that I love. I only bought two and the itch medicine. Around 12pm, I changed my jeans to my Adidas capri pants and put on some of the itch medicine. Walked around and realized that the floor below us (on the second floor) is a public lounge that had a cafe, a mini-shop, monitors of various gates on the 3rd floor, internet kiosks/pc workstations, a massage area, and bathrooms. Cool. Better remember it for the next time I'm there.

For the next few hours started typing out this blog. Then I went to buy more candy exchanged most of the remaining yen into USD, made sure the laptop battery was charged and boarded the plane around 4:40pm. On the flight to SFO, I watched Casanova. A pretty good movie. Could have watched Glory Road, Match Point, King Kong, or A New World but wanted to go to sleep. About four hours into the flight I was so tired but couldn't sleep. For two hours, I kept trying to find the right position. Then I woke up an hour before landing--only got an hour's sleep. Good thing I didn't miss breakfast. We landed around 9:15. Got my bags. Waited for the East Bay Connection shuttle for over 30 minutes. Traffic on the Bay Bridge so we had to take the San Mateo Bridge. Go home around 11am. Took a shower and took a nap. Checked emails around 3pm. Worked some.

Finally done with the blog about my vacation in Guam. It was a very short vacation but there was so much to do. Wish it was longer. I have a lot of vacation days (even lost several days) but I can't afford to be away from work for too long. I was lucky to get away for more than a week. Thought it was a good time to go since client would be away at E3 most of the time. Boy was I wrong. We got several last minute projects. Didn't want to dump it all on my new boss so I ended up having to work while on vacation.


5/3/06 - 5/4/06
Wednesday night, Thursday PDT
Had a lot of work to do but didn't finish...thought I could just finish it when I get home because I still had a lot of packing to do. But as I was packing the downstairs bathtub and toilet started backing up. Had to clean it all up. Didn't get done until around 10:30. Then went to get gifts from Bev/Auntie Irma. Went to Liz's to figure out if she needed me to take anything for her. Got home shortly after midnight to finish packing. Took a nap around 3am and woke up around 6:45 to do a load of laundry, water plants and showered. Went to the laundromat to dry the laundry. Finished getting ready and packed the rest of the sundries. Called a cab. Left around 8:50. Got on train at 9:20. Got to SFO shortly before 11am. Checked in. Got money at the ATM. Went through security gates, got lunch (Caesar Salad), called Lucy, Jay and Warren to follow up on work. Couldn't reach Nathan. Boarded around 12:45. Got in the plane and saw the personal screens. Watched Memoir of a Geisha. Built a playlist for Jukebox--Michael Buble, Lifehouse, Hoobastank. Watched Tristan & Isolde. Got to Japan. Forgot to bring my power converter.

5/5/06
4:30pm (1: 30am PDT) Landed in Narita.
Checked in at Holiday Inn TOBU around 5pm Japan time (2 am PDT). Showered. Went to the gift shop but no US to Japanese converter. Exchanged USD to yen. Got some snacks. People talking to me in Japanese. Do they think I'm Japanese? Too tired (around 5am PDT) and fell asleep. Wish I had wasn't so tired so I could go to Tokyo. Woke up around 1am Japan time (10 am PDT) and went downstairs to work. Went back to sleep around 2am and woke up again around 4am Japan time (1pm PDT) because the sun was just about to rise. Couldn't sleep so I stayed up watching tv. Then around 5am took a shower, got dressed and ate breakfast. Finished packing, checked out and went online again. Left the hotel around 7:30am. Got to the airport around 8am. Checked in. Took pictures of the airport. Recharged battery on laptop. Boarded the plane around 9am

5/6/06
1:45pm Guam time (5/5/06 PDT)
Arrived in Guam 30 minutes early. Went through immigration and customs in less than 30 minutes. Before getting bags called home. No answer. Called Auntie Nita. She says they're at PIC and will pick me up. Got bags early. Customs didn't need to check bags.

Waited 30 minutes to get picked up. Liz & Brian show up in Michelle's Expedition. Where are the boys? Where's mom? Where's Michelle? Boys are at home. Mom's at work. Michelle's at work. Get home. Boys. Patrick's mom & dad. Party. Jordan can come because he's on "house arrest". Baby shower for Jared's sister. Sherry, Corazon, Aliana, Auntie Nita, Jack, Liz, Brian, Jermaine and me. Pick up Michelle. Pick up Jordan. Turns out Michelle knows the mommy-to-be. Made "card" for mommy-to-be.

Went shopping at Pay-Less Agana. While Corazon & John were barbecuing, fell asleep. Ate a bit and went to sleep early.

5/7/06 Sunday
Woke up early (around 4am Guam time--11am PDT). Went back to sleep and woke up again 5am Guam time (12pm PDT). Woke up again at 7am (3pm PDT). Got breakfast at Burger King with Michelle and the boys. Michelle and boys went to Mormon church 9-10 while I got ready. Liz & Brian arrived at Liz's house. Shortly after Michelle & the boys returned from Church. Then we went around the island and stopped and/or took pictures at Mangilao UOG, Yona, Talofofo Bay (beach and looked at the Ifil carvings), Inarajan Pool (didn't stop at fiesta but hung out at the pool), Merizo, (stopped at a fruit stand to eat mangoes and young coconut), Umatac, and Magellan's landing/Ft Soledad.Flowers for daddy and grandpa. Agana McDonald's for McChicken sandwiches for mom & coworkers. Picked up mom. and met her coworkers. Went to visit daddy and grandpa via Barrigada/Mangilao/Yona. On the way back go to Agana to Latte Stone Park and Plaza de Espana. Got mom's car then got dinner at Chuang Fu in Tumon. Walked to Westin for Starbucks frappucinos which suck. Walk back.

5/8/06 Monday
Went to Happy Mart to buy snacks for boys and empanadas and donuts. Dropped off boys at school. Shopping for housecleaning at Ace Hardware & Cost-U-Less. Cleaned for several hours. Went to the dump. Hung out with Sherry and LA (met Ethan Skye). Went to KFC. LA and Corazon arguing at home. Went to cafe in Tumon for free wireless to do work but couldn't access work email or server. So I waited for Michelle to pick me up. On way home saw a place where I could get Internet access. So I went back and worked from 1am - 4am.

5/9/06 Tuesday
Went to Two Lover's Point. Liz dropped me off at the Internet place so I can work (checked emails and did filepulls). Then Michelle picks me up on the way to PIC. Hung out by the pool watching the boys and Brian. Got dinner at GPO. Worked again from 2am-4am.

5/10/06 Wednesday
Michelle went to work. Liz, Brian and me met mom, Auntie Nita, Corazon, Sherry at
Capricossa for lunch. Then we went to Sunny Electronics because Corazon had to get somethiing from John. Then to JP Superstore for some shopping. Picked up Michelle then the boys and went to Chamorroville. Lots of cute white military guys. Didn't go to Denial because Liz said I should dress up when I didn't feel like it so I went to bed angry. Didn't' work.

5/11/06 Thursday
Did laundry w/ Liz, Brian, & Michelle. Filipino food for lunch. Then to the Mall and Bank of Guam. Went to Ritidian Point Beach which was so beautiful. Then we went to Yigo for Ifil. Then we visited Uncle Ricardo/Auntie Fe and Auntie Mely.

5/12/06 Friday
Went shopping again. Then went to PIC. Ate dinner in the room then hung out at the pool with Liz, Brian, Michelle, Jordan, Jermaine, Sherry, Jared, Jack, Corazon, John, and Aliana. Cute little Korean girl saying Hafa Adai. Shopping at K-Mart.

5/13/06 Saturday
Michelle went to work. So I take her car and went shopping. Then got we went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse to celebrate Mother's Day since Liz & Brian had to leave the next day. Liz, Brian, Mom, Michelle, Jordan, Jermaine, Uncle Ricardo, Auntie Fe, Ate Lorna, and myself. Lots of cute white guys at the restaurant.

5/14/06 Sunday
Woke up early because Liz & Brian have 6am flight. Got breakfast at McDonalds. Went to Church @ St. Anthony's in Tamuning. Picked up PIC straw hat that Liz & Brian forgot. Picked up Michelle and boys. Went home but there was no water. Elders visited for a few minutes and mentioned that they had to let kids go home early because of no water. Told them to come back at 6pm. Visited daddy and grandpa at the cemetary. Was so sad and cried. Then we went home and took a nap. Woke up to clean a little. Elders arrived shortly after 6pm but Michelle's on phone with Pat crying. Gave them snacks and juice. Elder Porter asks where in SF do I live. I tell them Concord but work in SF. Elder Porter asks if I like the Giants I say yes. He says he's a Giants fan too. He also likes the Jazz. Talk about sports. Red Sox, Yankees, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Jazz doesn't have that many black guys on team LOL, Idaho/Ventura, LA Lakers, Miami Heat. Ask about college sports. Tell them I like my college hockey team. Rochester. Palmyra. What I studied in college. What I do now. Elder Porter asks what I do for fun. Don't get a chance to answer because Jordan starts talking. Later he asks, "You don't have any children, right?" I tell them Nope No kids. Then he asks me where in the family am I. I tell him I'm the oldest. Then he says, "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" I tell him I'm 35. They look surprised so I tell them. Yeah, I'm much older than Michelle but everyone thinks I'm younger than her. Listen to Elder Baldwin teach Jordan some guitar chords. Play some songs. Elder Ashcroft mostly quiet. He looks like Finally Michelle's done with her phone call. They start their lessons with Jordan and Jermaine--ten commandments, other commandments, fasting. etc. It was an interesting visit. I learned quite a bit about the LDS faith. It's very similar to Catholicism. They leave around 8pm. Then I do laundry. Michelle gets dinner. Then we go shopping at Kmart and several ABC stores in Tumon.

5/15/06 Monday....

So last night was the night. Superman Returns on IMAX at Dublin. WoW! OMG! Even though I didn't get home until around 1:40am (watched the 10:40p show that ended around 1:10a and had to drive from Dublin to Concord), I wanted to get online to post a blog about the experience but unfortunately DSL or wireless router was down. Yep! It was so great I was willing to stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning to blog. I had a lot of time to think about it on the drive home but wanted to make sure I started my blog before I forgot.

Kudos to Bryan Singer and the writing team!! Storyline was great (although I think I could have lived without the BIG surprise there was just so much to take in this one movie).

Watching it on IMAX (with parts of it in IMAX 3D) was awesome. The part in the beginning with Martha Kent at home...it almost felt like I was there. It seemed so realistic eventhough that part wasn't in 3D. I think it was the combination of audio and video technology and the hugeness of it all that made it so realistic. Just a couple of gripes about 3D. First, it looked a little blurry and would make me dizzy after awhile. I noticed though that if I closed my left I that it was so much better. But I couldn't keep one eye closed for more than a minute or two. I don't know if it was because we were at the end of one of the rows (maybe people sitting smack dab in the middle didn't experience the same thing) or if it's because I wear glasses and my prescription doesn't jive with 3D. Secondly, having to put on and take off the glasses was a bit of an annoyance. Green flashing glasses at the bottom of the screen prompted us to put on the glasses. Red flashing glasses to take 'em off. But even with those gripes, I think I'll watch it again in IMAX just to see if sitting in the middle makes a difference. If it does, I would definitely watch it again once they're able to convert the whole movie into 3D!!!

I love the part where Superman takes Lois flying. There's a part where the score just makes me feel so emotional (happy, sad, etc.). Lisa and I have been listening to the score all week and hearing it play during that scene in the IMAX theater was just awesome.

Brandon Routh did a pretty good job. He was a great Superman but there weren't that many scenes with Clark Kent to see if Brandon did Clark any justice. But, in my mind Christopher Reeve IS Superman (and will always be) Superman. He did such an incredible job balancing and interpretting Superman and Clark Kent characters. But I may be biased since I watched him as Superman growing up.  But I digress...

Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane? There were a few times where I thought she did okay. But most of the time I kept thinking that they should have picked another actress. For one thing, she's too young. She doesn't seem old enough to have a child. Second, in the back of my mind I know she's a blond. Even with her hair dyed (which by the way should have been darker) she just didn't seem to fit. Third, she doesn't seem the reporter type...it's either the way she looks or the way she portrayed Lois. Even when she was smoking it seemed a bit awkward seeing her with a cigarette. Liz thought that Natalie Portman would have been better. I think Rachel McAdams would have done Lois perfectly. I'll keep pondering about who else might have done a better job.

Also in the beginning, it seemed that Kate and Brandon as Superman had way too much makeup on. Liz agreed and said that Superman looked "plastic". Lisa thinks that maybe it's because I watched it on IMAX so everything was magnified. I also noticed that in closeups Kate's eyes didn't seem to be the same color. Her left eye was blue and her right eye seemed like they were hazel. The more I think about it I think it was all because I watched it in IMAX.

I have a lot more to say but I don't want to be a spoiler. I'll probably remember more things so if I do I'll add as edits.

Overall, if you're a big movie fan Superman Returns is a can't miss. And yes watching it in IMAX is worth the extra few $$. Out of 5 stars, I'd give it four.

Another busy day at work. Went over all projects and it doesn't seem like it's going to let up anytime soon. Oh well. At least I love my job. Just wish I had more of a personal life. Was able to leave work in time to make it to the gym so I can catch Salsa class. I didn't make it early enough so all the lockers were taken. Damn! I love the class. I'm getting addicted to working out. Never imagined I would. For years I refused to join a gym. Thought it was a waste of money. But I've noticed that since I got a car I hadn't gotten much exercise. I used to walk all the time. When I lived in Walnut Creek it was so convenient to walk downtown. If I missed the last bus after working late I could just walk home. Even when I moved to Concord I would walk to the bus stop. But I digress. I'm so glad Liz works at 24 headquarters and I was able to get a discounted membership. I love swimmng and I get to keep track of how many calories I burn. I love the Salsa class. But as soon as the summer ends and the fall television season starts I don't know what I'd on Tuesday nights. Salsa class is from 6:30 - 7 which means that I'd be getting home between 8 and 8:30 which is Gilmore Girls time. I guess I'll have to video tape it. Anyways tomorrow is Superman night. Not only will I miss The Hills on MTV, I won't be able to go to the gym. I'll just have workout a little longer on Friday. But I'm so excited. Superman on IMAX!! Can't wait.

I woke up at 5:15 (earlier than usual). By 6am I was almost done getting ready and figured that I wouldn't have any problem getting out by 6:25. But just when I was ready to leave I couldn't find my keys. It took me almost 5 minutes to find my keys and ended up leaving the house around 6:30. I hit almost every single red light on Treat. Not looking good. I wanted to get to the Pleasant Hill BART station by 6:35 so that I can be the first in line at my usual spot because it was another Spare the Air Day. I parked my car around 6:37 (5 minutes to catch the train to Montgomery). As I was getting my backpack, my gym bag, and my purse; coins started spilling out of my purse. I just said quietly, "God you must not like me today." I ran up to the platform and a train was already there but it was going to Daly City not Montgomery. The trains were running about 15 minutes and I ended up waiting for the next train which was going to Montgomery.  I guess God was looking out for me. Giving me signs that I should just take my time.

I got to SF and stopped by Starbucks for my morning coffee. Yea! Eric was working. I was so worried that he had quit because I didn't see him on Tuesday - Friday. He must have been on vacation or was sick. I was so relieved to see him. That was the highlight of my day.

Work was busy. Trying to work out problems with reporting. Figuring out scheduling. Juggling two projects that were due that day. Updating status reports. Reviewing surveys. Helping out the new employee. Trying to finish work when Scott started IM'ing me. Ended up leaving work 6:55.

Got to PH BART. Went to the Mall to get shampoo and ended up only spending a little over $1 for a bottle that costs over $20 (used up my free $20 after filling up my punch card). Went to the gym--21 minutes on the treadmill (36 vertd, 1.41miles, 130 calories), 23 minutes on StairMaster (1.3miles, 120 calories, can't remember how many stories), 225 crunches. Didn't have enough time to go swimming. Had to get home by 10pm to watch Fresh Meat on MTV (can't miss it because Wes and Johanna were going against each other in the Exile) and make sure that I'm videotaping How to Get a Guy.

Able to wake up early - Good
Running late - Bad
Trains running late - Good (usually it's bad but because I was running late it was actually good)
Seeing Eric - Good
A lot of work, another long day - Bad
Chatting with Scott - Good
Train running late - Bad
Getting shampoo for $1.03 - Good
Going to the gym - Good
Not being able to swim - Bad
Watched Fresh Meat and How to Get a Guy - Good


Can't wait til Wednesday. I got tickets to watch Superman Returns on IMAX at Dublin with Liz & Brian. I really wanted to get tickets for Tuesday night but didn't want to take a chance that Liz & Brian would be late. Just realized I'm not going to be able to workout on Wednesday or watch The Hills. Oh well...

Scott IMed me today to ask if I'm going to watch Superman. I told him that I'm going to watch it on Wednesday. I ask him if he's going to watch it. He says "Eventually". I tell him that I'd watch it again if he wants someone to go with. I send him several cool links about Superman Returns.

Then he tells me that he got a book with old re-prints of Xmen in b/w. It's volume 1 from 1975 - 1977. He says that it has the issues about Phoenix and that there's even a part where Nightcrawlers tells Colossus that he's going to watch Star Wars. How cool. Asks if I'm interested in borrowing it. I said sure. Gosh I remember how senior year Scott and I used to go to the comic book store every Friday after school. Then we'd go to TCBY to get white chocolate frozen yogurt. I used to be the best girlfriend.

But I digress. I am such a Superhero movie geek. I have to watch the movies the first couple of days the movie is out (wish I could watch the first showing but I'd be too tired at work).
Last year - Star Wars: RotS and Batman Begins
This year - X-Men 3. Now Superman Returns (in IMAX no less). Yea!!
I am such a geek.

Last Thursday, I noticed that SBhim has blue eyes (when I had thought that he had brown eyes). I just glanced up and saw his sparkling blue eyes. I usually just smile when I give him my order or pick up my order and try to avoid eye contact. (I don't know why but I do that with every guy that I like...either because I don't want him to know that I like him or because I'm sabotaging the relationship before it even starts. I did that with Andy, Joe, Ernie, Phil, Whim, BPhim, SBhim, and Longs guy.) His eyes were so mesmerizing. I was so drawn to them. Hopefully he didn't noticed that my eyes lingered longer than usual.

Anyways, I was hoping that he was working on Friday and that I'd be able to see those gorgeous blue eyes again before the three-day weekend, but it wasn't to be.

Then this morning as I walked to the office I saw him walking out of Starbucks and unto the street. He was probably on his break on his way to get breakfast. Out of the corner of my eye I can see him walking in his khaki shorts. Shorts. I had never seen him in shorts.

From a distance he reminded me of James. His long strides. His long legs. His brown hair. BTW I've gotten used to his goatee. How ironic? James once mentioned that he'd like to grow a goatee. And I told him that if he did I'd stop seeing him. But I digress...

Went to the office to get settled in. Read/replied to emails, updated the status report, and talked to Lisa about Xmen 3 and the wedding she attended. Then I went to get coffee. Eric was back from his break. I looked straight into his blue eyes as he took my order. (Yep, they're definitely blue. Thursday wasn't an imagination.) He does remind me of James but he's much better looking. I love his smile. He's so sweet. Sometimes I wonder if he's smart (if he's a bit geeky...the way I like them), if he's musically inclined, likes sports, and strong physically, emotionally, and morally.

Yep. I'm definitely over BPhim. Getting over LDShim. I just wish I can see those beautiful eyes everyday.

Last night was BPhim's gig at Oakland. I really wanted to go but had no one to go with (Scott was busy, Liz didn't want to go, Bernard didn't want to go, and Bev's probably busy with Siah). I stayed home sulking--sleeping, folding laundry, watching tv. I gotta stop thinking about him. Don't want to get heartbroken again. Besides, he's got too many things going on--band, work, dragonboat. Plus, I just keep thinking about the Elder from Guam. He's cute, smart, kind, loves the Giants (and Jazz), good with kids, and a leader. Problem is he's much younger than me (10-15 years my junior) and he's a Mormon. On the plane I kept thinking...what if I fell in love with someone who was Mormon and he was in love with me would I ever give up Catholicism. LDS and Catholicism share the same basic beliefs (listening to him and the other two elders teach Jordan & Jermaine and Michelle talking about how similar they are), but I don't think I can ever convert because of Josiah, John Paul and John Jr. (Jordan's essentially a Mormon now). I wouldn't be setting a good example if their Godmother became Mormon.

So no more BPhim.