The Jurni is a carry-on suitcase that you can tow, carry, and ride like a functional kick scooter, with enough strength to support folks up to 220 pounds.
Source: Jurni
Category: Adventure!
Wide Path Camper
Hm, maybe Lucien can convince me to use this… ;)
The Wide Path Camper is a foldable two-person camper than can compact to half the size during transport, making it towable using a regular bicycle.
Source: Wide Path Camper
So Far…
It’s been a busy couple of months, and the real busy stuff hasn’t even started yet. I’ve been learning a lot about SharePoint. My new teammate has given me a lot of good pointers. And would you believe she has the same birthday as I do? No wonder we get along so well. I’m so grateful I was involved in the hiring process, otherwise I wouldn’t know who I would be partnering with.
In the next three weeks, I will be in meetings all day, planning to get SharePoint implemented in our company. This will be my first time experiencing the pre-planning part of an application that is not live yet. I’m usually at the support end of the application to help the end users, but never at the beginning of a project. This will certainly be an adventure!
In other news, the kids had an easy transition of going back to school. Since I have been getting them to go to sleep early and wake up early during the summer, they didn’t have any trouble. It’s because of my new hours and also the kids had day summer camps all summer. I was happy to learn both L1 and L2 are in GT (Gifted and Talented) classes this year. Yay! I got smart kids. Hope they can keep it up!
This upcoming Labor Day holiday will be the first in a long time I will experience being off on an actual federal holiday. I’m usually working on the holidays when it’s my work schedule. The only downside is that hubby will probably be working that day. Ah well, at least I’ll get to spend time with the kiddos.
That’s it for now. Usually at this time of the day, I am a zombie. Toodles!
New Changes
Yesterday was the start of something new for me at work. A couple of weeks ago, my manager had approached me with a possibility of a new position in his team. This meant leaving the customer support area: not answering phones, troubleshooting issues for numerous applications, etc. It also changes my whole work schedule. I used to work weekends/evenings, but now I will be working weekdays from 9-5. I’m still in transition this week, and then hopefully we’ll start to do more around mid-July.
The new position? SharePoint System Administrator. What is SharePoint? My understanding is that it’s like a hub a company needs for collaboration of documents, calendars, emails, etc. in one place. Here’s a video of SharePoint in Plain English. I will hopefully get in some training in the next few months.
So, the next couple of weeks were busy. I participated in interviewing some candidates that will be my partner(s) for the team. All of the candidates were good; they had great credentials and would prove to be a valuable asset to the team. However, we could only choose two, and we finally started the hiring process for the ones we chose.
It’s been very exciting so far. A really big adjustment (I’m not a morning person), but I’m looking forward to a new adventure!
Shave of the Year
Well, here I am, telling you why I shaved my head. When I posted something on my Twitter/FB feed a while back, most people have responded with shock and surprise, and asked questions like, “Why did you do that?!” or “What on earth made you think to shave your hair?!”
I can answer with two words: “Why not?”
I’m not as crazy as what Britney Spears did back in 2007, nor am I going to defend it as in observance to breast cancer awareness or even say it is for Kid’s Cancer Buzz Off fundraising. I must admit, though, that I have made that same excuse about the breast cancer awareness thing, and I was planning to do the buzz off event (which isn’t until May 4th), but I didn’t want to give a false impression or even insult those that have actually done the deed for their cause, and I had no time to do the actual fundraising for the buzz off (though I might try it next year if they are having one, and I would be better prepared).
Why did I do it? Number of reasons (excuses?). I’ve been complaining of the summer heat (years ago) that I want to shave my hair off. I’ve been wanting to shave it for the sake of getting the thinness of the hair thicker as it grows back. I wanted to see if I had any bald spots, because of the same thinness of my hair. I wanted to see what the shape of my head looks like. I wanted to see what I looked like with no hair. I just wanted to do it, that’s all.
Many may say, “..but all that hair…”, but I’m reassured my hair will grow back, as it has been a couple of weeks already and my hair has grown almost half an inch. My mother told me hair grows an inch a month, so maybe in 6 months or hopefully less than that, my hair will be back to a decent length.
Don’t worry, I have a couple of wigs to use, a bob style and a very short pixie style. My loving husband actually helped me shave my head before I shaved his for his monthly haircut. He really liked my how my shaved head looked and would rather I not use a wig at all.
Of course, I don’t want to shock many people so I use my pixie-cut wig at work on weekdays. I also use a little cap to cover up if I don’t feel like wearing the wig.
There you have it. I hope this explains why I did what I did. I just wanted to. And for the adventure of it! *winks*
Updates
Hi, hi. It’s been a while. Thought you’d might like to know how things went last week.
We tried to find out the gender for the baby, but apparently it was shy to show us what was between the legs. :P Oh well. My doc also told me that I’m going to have ultrasound every visit now since I have high blood pressure and because they want to monitor me. I guess that’s a good thing since I see her in 3 weeks and again, hopefully we’ll see the gender that time. I also have yet to enroll for birthing classes. I guess that would be my priority come Wednesday or Thursday this week.
I went to court with Luci for the speeding. I was a little nervous, because I’ve never been in this situation before. The past two speeding tickets was taken care of with either a deferred adjudication or a lawyer’s representation. This time I was on my own…with Luci’s moral support, of course. So we were there, and at first the cop that pulled me over wasn’t there, but then I wasn’t sure which one was him other than knowing his last name and that he was Hispanic. There was a prosecutor that did the preliminaries and offered to lower fines and/or deferred adjudication (DA). At first, when I was called, I told her that I didn’t want to go ahead with the lowered fine and/or DA which would result in me appearing before the judge. At that time, I still wasn’t sure if the cop was there. After everyone was called, the prosecutor counted all the files and mentioned the cop’s name and gestured to one of cops hanging around in the background, and I was sure then he was there. I decided I didn’t want to stay there anymore, so I went and told the prosecutor that I would go with the DA. And that’s that.
Lani’s vet appointment went well. When I drove to the vet’s office, I noticed that the gas prices were getting high again ($2.19). After an hour, I looked in disbelief and saw that the prices went high again to $2.23; in the span of a hour. *sigh*
Anyways, that’s about it. Ta.
Bad Day
I woke up okay today, and when I started driving out and going to my first appointment with a new doctor and saw the dreadful traffic on Hwy 183, I knew it was going to be the start of a bad day.
I was fortunate enough to avoid the traffic, but my time was a-wasting. So, I tried to speed up a little bit, and when I got to Walnut Hill Rd. that’s when it happened. Speed trap! I got pulled over and was given a citation for speeding over the speed limit. *groan* This is my first ticket in 5 years, and it was not fun. My face was pink all the way from where I got pulled over to where the doctor was. Talking to Lucien on the way made me feel better, though.
So I got to the doctor’s office about 7 minutes after my appointment. Actually, I was supposed to be there 15 minutes before my appointment since I’m a new patient and I have to fill out some forms. I signed in on a sheet that had labels where all they have to do is take out the one I signed my name on and stick it in my chart, sat down, and waited for them to call me when I needed to fill out forms, but no one called for me.
I sat there for 20 minutes before I went up to the counter myself and asked if I was supposed to fill out something. And the receptionist asked, “Are you a new patient?” Argh! She didn’t even take out the label from the sign-in sheet yet! What kind of service is this? Eventually, I got the forms filled out and waited for 30 more minutes before the doctor saw me. Grr, this is the last time I am late for an appointment!
So, I saw the doctor, and he mentioned that I have high blood pressure that he’s putting me on medication for 3 months. *sigh* Good thing I’ve already started on my diet, and he said that was a good thing I was trying to do that, because just losing some weight plus some exercise will help my high blood pressure go down.
All in all, it was a bad day for me. And it wasn’t even lunch time yet. :(
More Pictures
I finally got some more pictures up. Ang bagal ko ‘no (I’m so slow, eh)? These pictures don’t even include pictures from Lucien’s camera, so marami pa (more) to go! These are slideshow-ready so you don’t have to keep clicking. Sit back and enjoy! :)
Sorry if you already saw this, but I just wanted to make sure that everyone was able to see the pictures. :)
Slacking, As Usual
Sorry for not updating since Day 6. I did mention that it was going to be busy.
As some of you are already aware, I’m back in the U.S…arrived last Monday. Technically, I was back in the U.S. last Sunday (in NY), but didn’t get back to Dallas till Monday. During the last couple of days of the trip, I caught some sort of bug, and I didn’t succumb to it totally until the day I got home. Since then, I’ve been under the weather and in bed, sleeping it off. Right now, back at work, I’m still not feeling up to par, but getting there.
I guess, right now, I’ll give a gist of what happened the remainder of my trip:
Day 7 & 8 – That night we did a bunch of rehearsing for the upcoming event. It was also getting together days with other relatives. Can you believe there are 40 of us in all in the immediate family? It boggles the mind.
Day 9 – We had a one-day family outing to a place called Villa Escudero. It was an old plantation that they made into a resort park. It was interesting also to find an old church in there filled with different antiques. They even had an old love letter written in the deepest Tagalog I have ever read. They could’ve done better as far as preservation of the artifacts (some of the old pictures were deteriorating). The place also had a restaurant where you could dip your feet in the water while you eat. A nearby waterfall was also a treat, for both children and adults.
Day 10 through 13 – Luci, my mom, my nephew Jorvin and I went to Banaue (also known as Banawe) to see the famous Rice Terraces, the 8th Wonder of the World. The hotel we stayed in overlooked the terraces and it’s always an amazing sight especially when you see them first thing in the morning. I was quite disappointed with the weather, though. Being in the mountains, we were told it would be a lot cooler than Manila, but it wasn’t even cool enough to give me a chill.
Also, I had the misfortune of tripping and grazing my knee before the trip, so my movements were limited though I did go up and down one of the cave sites we went to in Sagada, another town we went to for their famous hanging coffins. This picture was the exact place we went to. The way down was treacherous and you really have to use both hands to climb up and down most times. Of course, I had trouble but, I’m proud to say, I managed to do it.
Day 14 & 15 – Back to work for the event. This time, we went to a recording studio to record most of the songs we needed for the big day. It was also a chance to have all of my siblings, nephews, nieces, etc. together in an album full of Filipino folk songs and ballads.
Day 16 & 17 – I don’t know what we did during these days, but I do know that ever since I came back from Banaue, I was hooked to a local telenovela or soap opera called Full House. Actually, it’s a Korean soap opera, dubbed in Tagalog. :P My sibs keep laughing at me because of this, but I can’t help it because the story is so good. :) I even went and bought the complete season VCD of another Korean soap opera dubbed in Tagalog called Endless Love. I’m also waiting till the Full House one has come out with its complete season VCD so I can buy it. I even asked my sister back in the Philippines to let me know when it comes out. I laugh at myself by doing this, but I can’t help it, hehehehe.
Day 18 – Day before the big day. We finally get our outfits for the event, but still needed a little alteration on part of it. There was a little melodrama that went on that I can’t share since I don’t know most of the story (must be the soap operas I’ve been watching! :P), but later on, everything was okay.
Day 19 – Finally, the big day! I think I spent most of the time on my feet than sitting down as we did a lot of performing and other stuff for our grandparents. I hope they loved every minute of it. :) By the end of the day, I was dead beat, but then it was also the last day before we left for home, so almost all the sibs spent the night at our hotel room until we left for the morning. My sister Jeanne did a very touching speech followed by a likewise touching prayer.
Day 20 – That morning was the day we left for the airport. My other sister Leke and hubby already went ahead of us since they had an earlier flight.
That’s about it. Also some tidbits that went on during the trip: had some work done on my teeth, bought some contacts before the big day came, Luci lost his eyeglasses in Banaue so we had to get another pair made, watched Star Wars (of course!), I got together with a couple of my bestest friends in New York (Luke and Gayle) and had a short jamming session, and so on. I also learned that my mom and my sister Leke caught the bug also on their return to Dallas, so I wasn’t alone. Just wish it didn’t happen, though, because now I’m feeling tired all the time. Just hope I get better the next few days.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my somewhat summarized version of my trip to the Philippines. It still left me hanging, though. 3 weeks is too short of a stay. Oh well, someday, Luci and I will be back.
Day 6 – Philippine Trip
In a few hours, my siblings and I will be together again. We haven’t been together since back in the 90’s. This will definitely be a tearful reunion.
I still haven’t eaten any isaw lately. The corner where I usually get them is deserted, and has been cleaned out. Oh well. I’ll see if I can find any around here somewhere.
Last night, Luci and I went out to eat in a nice Filipino restaurant with my brother and his family before we went to pick up our mom from the airport. It was so weird to find myself so sleepy at 9pm. Maybe jetlag kicking in. Anyways, I managed to stay awake until we picked up my mom and got back to the hotel around midnight. Things will be pretty busy from now on, as we get preparations done for the big event.
There are some things I noticed that are only found in the Philippines, or so I think is only found here: green mango shakes, soft drinks being poured into a little plastic bag and straw, various condiments like soy sauce mixed with key lime, or vinegar mixed with various hot peppers, lots of soups, pork and fish dishes, San Miguel beer, lanzones, Manila mangoes, and the list goes on and on.
That’s about it for today. Short, eh? :)
I Have Cramps 