Day 366 - Apr 09, 2013

Year 3 Ends... finally.

As I've been stating since before this project 365 ended, year 3 has, for some reason, been a bit difficult to go through. I guess, if I had to analyze the reason for this, it was because somewhere along the way, the passion to continue with the project just left me, and it was just sheer stubborn attitude to get things done - even if I had to make some adjustments, that kept this project going.

It may have also been because of the lack of new experiences, the need to look for something new without making what is routinary too boring or repetitive... for example, I could show my new comics, again and again every week or even month - but, so what?

Also, I guess I had less new camera tricks to learn - thus making hte experience routinary too. But... to be fair, the project does cover a year... in fact, in this case, a leap year (hence the day 366 - after all, there was a Feb 29 in it right?), and if I review the year that was, this will give me a glimpse of how I spent my year that was the 2nd quarter of 2012 through the first quarter of 2013. Naturally, I end this with a picture of me as well... one I had to search since I rarely take a shot of me, and Bernice or the others have not been taking the camera to take a shot of me. Still, this is the latest almost solo shot of me that I could find to represent how I look this day.

So now what? I don't think I'll do a year 4. Like I said, I don't have the interest right now - but who knows? I may miss it and change my mind some time. Just that, right now... that won't happen. So goodbye Project 365... or in this particular case, Project 366. It's been an experience... and I'm sure I'll thank myself for the memory some time. But three years doing something is kinda long... I mean, think about it. That's 365+365+366 pictures, or 1095 pictures... 1096 opportunities to practice photography.

Wow!

When I know what I'll be doing next, I'm sure I'll blog about it too.

Day 365 - Apr 08, 2013

Hospital Watch:

For the most part, Bea (far left) has been guarding Ben (not in picture) in the hospital, but naturally, Dict (far right) has also been visiting on a daily basis - if not taking leaves from his office to likewise stay in the hospital.

Just this past weekend, Dict brought Mommy to the hospital, the first time she's seen Ben in his condition and she was fighting back tears - all of us who were there to see this happen were likewise fighting back tears.

Ben's condition is still bad, but at least, his stay in the hospital is keeping his stabilized. He definitely has TB, but the doctors are still looking at the possibility of Lymphoma - in fact, we're all half expecting the possibility. Still, everyone is praying that it is just TB.

I took this picture as Barbie, and her mom were watching TV, while Bea and Dict take their well deserved sleep. We don't see any end to this yet... and Barbie's family is showing strong unity... not just everyone here, but those in Dubai as well.

Day 364 - Apr 07, 2013

Bernice and Buffy:

This is one of those times that Bernice wanted to play around with Buffy by cuddling her like a stuffed toy - to Buffy chagrin (notice the almost worried look?). When Bernice released Buffy, the poor dog tried to scamper away to hide - only to get caught by Bernice and once again feel the 'death embrace'.

Of course, Buffy doesn't exactly complain - an indicator that she doesn't want to get angry or fight (nor bite) Bernice. Hehehe... it's a nice picture, if I say so myself.

Day 363 - Apr 06, 2013

6-Sigma continues:

Another Saturday morning dedicated to us learning all there is to learn about 6-Sigma with the intent of becoming a Green Belt for some of us, and Black Belt for the others (an eventual goal for me as well).

Ariel, our Master Black Belt, is the one guiding the lessons for us and preparing us for the eventual examination. This is turning out to be a three month prep (as opposed to just 5 meetings - his initial estimate). At this point, we are deep into Measure (following the DMAIC process) and by the way things are going, we may still be in Measure for about a meeting or two more... but that is Ariel's way of making sure we are ready, and learned to really be considered 6-Sigma practitioners, as opposed to just 'learned-by-the-book' types.

Day 362 - Apr 05, 2013

Temptation!

It really is hard to resist the taste of this new discovery... something I first learned of during the past Christmas holidays from an article, and maybe even from a friend's post in her FB status.

I next tried to seek this out - as mentioned in a magazine article, in the St. James the Great Bazaar... but couldn't find it in the booths - and let's face it, it was hard to find something - specially if you had no idea how it looked in the first place. so yeah... no such luck. It was therefore my surprise when I just saw this cookie butter on our dining table when I arrived today, with Barbie insisting I tried it. The irony of it all... aside form the fact that Barbie was introducing it to me, and me finding it at home was the fact that I had come from a heavy snack, so had no real interest in trying it out. 

Funny how life gives you twists and turns. 

Day 361 - Apr 04, 2013

Early Morning Walks:

It seems that every morning, around 4:30 AM, I tend to have this forming routine where I bring out the trash, and as I do, the two dogs go out the gate to roam around - leash less, and explore the streets.

It becomes their daily exercise and - well, let's face it... a chance for them to do their business, which they seem to do a lot faster as compared to when I'm walking them on a leash. The other advantage of doing these things at this time is that the roads are still almost empty of vehicles passing by.  After the few minutes of roaming around, I call them back and for the most part, they do listen and return - so no worries of these dogs running anywhere like there was no tomorrow.

As for taking this picture, it took me several tries... namely because the initial tries were hand-held, but since shutter speed was a bit slow, there were visible effects of camera shakes - so for this particular shot, I used my gorilla tripod to get the view close to the road. I used a flash-less option to get the right colors of the amber lighting as well. So yeah... this is what I see in my mornings.

Day 360 - Apr 03, 2013

My new comics:

Probably the last entry about my new comics for this particular Project365, I just wanted to record - for posterity, the titles I've been reading/collecting around this time of the year... in this time of my life... after all, we wouldn't want to make things hard for people to research about me when I'm rich and famous.

So... in this particular list, Nova is an entertaining read, Shadowman is likewise always a great read. Ozymandias - the last issue was... well, as expected, a tying up of his story in time to jump into Watchmen itself... specifically his thoughts upon the need to get rid of the Comedian. Ultron Unleashed is like a rushing train, where you need to grab on and see where it leads to. Prophesy took too long to tell... after all, it's underwhelming to read a story where the possible ending is hte world's end in 2012. I also need to see how things sort of bring themselves together from the past to the present.

Other than that I've yet to read some of these other issues... and am really curious about why Detective is a thick issue this month.

So... the entertainment continues.

Day 359 - Apr 02, 2013

My new device:

In the past, to augment my camera and photography capabilities, I've bought tripods (a long, a gorilla and a mono-pod), a few lens filters, a flash with a diffuser (when needed), and a telephoto lens, I needed to find an acceptable wireless flash trigger - one that would allow me to position my camera elsewhere from where I am... maybe even leave it on a tripod and still control when to take the shot, as opposed to relying on a 10 second timer, as I used to do.

I got this trigger when I learned that a certain shop had it, and that it cost a little over Php 1,000 - something I could afford at that particular time.

I still have to check, but I'm hoping this will be a first step in making wireless connection to lighting fixtures, which will then be a next step to having multiple lighting set-ups... baby steps to having things I will be needing in a studio set-up... which I hope to have at a future time. Meanwhile, it will also allow me to control lighting in outdoor shots. My next mission now seems to be to invest in some rechargeable batteries (and a charger). But like I said... baby steps - at least, until I can get a better regular income generating work - which in turn could speed up things a little.

Day 358 - Apr 01, 2013

Ben in the Hospital:

For the past weeks, Ben has been having high fever, and despite the rests wherein he gets a bit better, he sinks back into his fever after feeling well enough to go out to visit friends.

A week later, though, it's gotten worse... he's been vomiting anything he's eaten, so he has not had any nutrition. Plus he's started complaining of stomach pains - whether due to his cough or due to something more, we don't know yet. But what we did know was we couldn't not let him go to the hospital, and if need be, have him confined where he can undergo all the needed tests and be monitored 24/7 by  the nurses.

Well, that's exactly what happened. After holy week has passed, Dict and Bea brought him to Cardinal's emergency room where it was decided that Ben needed to be hospitalized.

Barbie has been contacting her siblings in Dubai, since they need to help pitch in... even if only in financial terms. In between though, she's been doing her Google searches, to try and zero in on what is wrong with Ben. The results aren't promising... in fact, they're downright alarming. For a family that is just recovering from the loss of their dad, this is the last thing they need. We hope and pray that the worse case is not the case, but looking at Ben's lifestyle... as rare as the case may be, it could happen to him. That's what sucks... the other? Ben's a health buff... this should not be happening to him - though going to public gyms may indeed be a possible source of his problem too.

Damn... damn. Things like this can make people question the existence of a God, and why he seemingly makes this happen to a family that is, for all intents and purposes, making sure they are doing what is right in this world. But it's this same family which has a never give up attitude that might, hopefully get over this new problem. There is always hope.

Day 357 Mar 31, 2013

Nails:

Summer time is when Bernice can rest after another school year comes to an end, and in the spirit of moving into vacation mode, she can have her nails done in any fancy manner.

In this case, it looks like... well, I don't really know. Bees maybe? I'm loosely assuming this on the basis of the eyes, yellow color and stripes - which goes to show what I know about bees... right? Besides, what she does with her nails and what design she chooses is up to her. It is her nails, after all.

Day 356 Mar 30, 2013

Rainbow cake:

This cake is amazing... basically, it uses the same principle as that of a Red Velvet cake to come up with a red chocolate cake. My only complaint with the Red Velvet is it's dryness.

Apparently, the Rainbow cake doesn't have that problem, due to it's multi-layered approach... and yes, aside from looking quite colorful, it tastes good.

Fred brought this to Cuenca, and he got it form a friend who;s into baking. I wonder if his friend realizes that this cake can be used in an advocacy for gay rights - as I've seen a lot of colors in Gay pride parades. It was one of the things I associated the cake with when I saw it's contents. Oh well... with or without a movement backing it up, the cake can stand on it's own.

Day 355 Mar 29, 2013

Martini Asti:

We usually reserve this for special occasions. Though in some instances, like now, we decide to open a bottle and drink an Asti for the heck of it. In this particular case, we just knew we needed to relaxation, and since we've got three bottles of these stashed - with the next special occasion months away, Barbie asked me to chill one Asti instead of another bottle of wine. Guess she missed the taste of Asti - and in my case, I thought, sure... why not?

Of course, when you drink Asti, it's best when chilled... and as you can see by this picture, that is a chilled bottle of Asti with it's surface showing signs of frosting over in a warmer environment.

This is what I wanted to capture... after all, it's easy to capture a bottle of Asti, harder still to show one that's chilled. I also like the fact that my background is minimalist... almost purely black with exception to the reflection of a glass on the background. Why, I'd even venture to say this is a good picture for an Asti print advertisement.

Milestone check: Just ten (10) more entries to 365. It's times like this that I wonder what else I shall be sharing,.. and maybe, be a bit more choosy with the pictures I would be sharing. Of course, what comes over will be likewise determined by what happens in my days to come.

Day 354 Mar 28, 2013

Smoke:

One of the things I've yet to perfectly capture (given the opportunity) is to show smoke as part of a picture... preferably, the slow, near lazy type coming from cigarettes instead of the thick and aggressive ones from bonfires. It could also be form an incense - or in this case, an oil aroma diffusion process like this container. Like most of my pictures, I stumble upon the opportunity to capture this... I mean, I could have set up a situation where I could get the smoke, but I hardly do that. Besides, as shown here, life gives me the opportunity once in a while.

I noticed the smoke coming out from this diffuser, and decided to capture the smoke's release. Now, to see the smoke in a better manner it would be ideal if the light can touch the smoke, and the background would be darker than the smoke to help make said smoke more visible... which is why we can easily see smoke in dimly lit clubs where the pin lights would shine on tables where some ashtrays would be. In this case, though, I needed no club... not when diffusers like this can be easily seen in many establishments... and homes.

Day 353 Mar 27, 2013

New stash:

Yes, it's another entry about my new comics for this particular time frame. One would think that I'd get over showing and talking about these comics - but they are part of my life. They are entertainment and collection oriented, so I will be discussing them at least once every month... as I read up on what's new in my collection around that time too.

So what's new in the world of comics? Young Avengers is on it's second issue... and I've yet to see where this is going, but I am giving it a try. The Age of Ultron is also in the middle of it all... with two cross-overs in Fantastic Four and Superior Spider-man, and as can be expected in an event story, a lot has happened off panel. Chances are, as is the style of Bendis, all shall be resolved off panel too. The First Lantern story is getting to be boring, so I'm stopping that now. Wish I'd seen it earlier, so I need not spend on eight issues. Ah well... at least I've Justice League and JLA plus the new Green Hornet by Mark Waid to keep me entertained... oh yeah, and the continuing effects of Robin's death in the pages of Batman comics.

Day 352 Mar 26, 2013

Red Wine:

Sometime last Christmas, Barbie and I opted to buy a few bottles of wine form her office mate, Pinky, who went into selling different bottles. Among all the bottles she had available, she asked us to try this one in particular. The R.Merlo wine, according to her, is a good brand. It's semi-sweet and has good body. If there is any possible downside to this bottle, it's the fact that the wine has some sediments at it's bottom... something you wont know or taste until you're almost at the bottle's bottom.

Apparently, she got it right - everything she said was true about this bottle of wine... yes, including the sediment (which I will refer to, for lack of a better word) - though don't get me wrong... these are not dirt, rather... they're remains of grapes that were - for whatever reason, not filtered out. Is this because the grapes were introduced post fermentation and right after bottling? Does it become part of the taste? So in that manner, isn't having the sediments a good thing?

The bottle in the picture happens to be the second bottle of R.Merlo I've had (with Barbie, of course), albeit, this time... with Bea. We finished this bottle within the hour (or two), which goes to show that the ladies did  enjoy this particular wine. Health benefits aside, we wanted to relax and enjoy the day, and I can't think of a better way to do just that. Nice part is, I've got at least one more bottle like this in store for a future occasion.

Day 351 Mar 25, 2013

Apples:

Often times, Barbie and I (when we're not too exhausted from the previous day's work) make it a point to go to the weekend market and get some fruits, vegetables and seafood.

Sometimes, I get to see how nice the weather shines on certain produce, and I can't help but pull out my camera to take some pictures. In some instances, I react to how I took certain pictures in the past, and try a different approach - case in point, these apples.

In the past, I would normally take the red apples and the green ones separately - and though there is nothing wrong with that, I tried something differently now, trying to frame both in the picture, and have some contrast work between the two colors. I also tried to make sure their placement in the picture was as balanced as possible. Though in this case, the green ones seem to have more space - but the red ones are definitely more attractive, so having less of them allows the green to compensate... that plus the fact that they're on the foreground.

The rest is post production tweaking... trimming the picture to give more emphasis to the apples, upping the contrast one level higher while adjusting the brightness (lessening it a bit) so the green apples are not too bright - but not too much that the reds are lost with too much shadow.

Day 350 Mar 24, 2013

She's 15!

Our going to Cuenca this day was for two reasons - one was to, of course, visit Cuenca... see how the folks living there are doing... namely, of course, my mom, sisters, brother-in-law, niece and nephew... after all, last we saw them in Cuenca was some time late December (Migs' birthday). Two was basically to celebrate the birthdays of Tizza (14th), myself, and Bernice (24th, today).

We always time our visits with occasions - in this case, the March celebrants get together to celebrate their birthdays in Cuenca - we were even joined by Gerry (another March celebrant), and Fred, with Clorian.

As usual, we would be having lunch, talking a bit with everyone - playing catch up, and I'd be taking pictures of most everything and anyone for Facebook posterity's sake.

Still, it is nice to have any kind of celebration with family. During my birthday, Dict, Tonette, Bea and Ben were at our home to celebrate with Barbie, the kids and me. Now it's my side of the family I'm celebrating with. Our next shceduled visit would most likely be by August - to celebrate Li's Bing's and Patty's birthday.  Meanwhile, it makes me think of how fast the kids are growing - and how old I'm getting... hehehe. But of course, age is a mindset, and I'm making sure I'm younger than my body tells me. After all, I'd like to be around to see my kids get old and have their family too. If my mom and dad have reached their 75th year, I forsee the possibility of surpassing that.

Regarding the picture at hand, I did ask Bernice to smile, and I'm glad she can project a smile whenever she wants (practiced? who knows?), and since the lighting inside the house was still bright enough, I did not have to worry about shadows - in fact, in this instance, I did not worry about light sources at all. I'm just glad that any harsh light form outside did not affect my shot. On a professional perspective, the face is well lighted - nothing harsh about it... but if I wanted to capture even a slight clue on the shape of her hair and head, I would have placed some kind of reflector or flash behind her to outline her head with a slight glow.

Milestone comment: From here on, it will just be 15 days to the end of this photoblog. I, for one, will be relieved... while another part of me will think, now what?

Day 349 Mar 23, 2013

Earth Hour 2013:

This is the third year I'm making sure we recognize Earth Day by joining a lot of people in closing their lights for Earth Hour (8 to 9pm).

In this case, all lights are off - but we still keep the electric fans going - I mean, the weather is really humid, so we can't totally get rid of all appliances. As for lights, if you're wondering why this picture isn't near pitch black, it's because I'm getting ambient lighting from candles and my laptop's screen's lighting/brightness.

Now, to show that we were being part of Earth Hour, I had the option to show candles again, even if they are different candles - but I wanted to show something different, so I opted to take a shot of my lemon water's glass - complete with ice. Yeah, ice cold water... I did say it was a hot and humid day, right? Night wasn't that far off from the humidity factor, so it was really sweaty to not have a fan blowing wind your way.

The cold water is always a welcome refresher, and the lemon helps by giving me Vitamin C, acts as an anti-oxidant and helps strengthen my immunity system. So yeah... I'm keeping cool while Earth hour comes and passes us by.

Day 348 Mar 22, 2013

Grilled Chicken Sandwich:

Once in a while, eating healthy is something I crave for, and in this case, a grilled eggplant or grilled chicken sandwich is something I like ordering from Figaro's. The veggie salad on the side also adds to the attraction.

By itself, neither sandwiches aren't too heavy - but can be filling enough to arrest any hunger pangs. In this particular case, when one isn't too hungry and is just after a light lunch, this grilled eggplant fits the bill. If you want something with more kick, adding some Tabasco sauce to the sandwich will also make the taste a bit livelier... but by itself, I find it satisfactory enough, that I need not add any hot sauce.

As for the grilled chicken (which is what is on the picture), though heavier than the eggplant, the fact that it is all white meat means this can give me some protien and still be healthy.

Day 347 Mar 21, 2013

Photography magazine:

This particular mag was something I bought because I was bored, needed something to read and so happened to presented some articles I found intriguing. After all, anything else I learn more about, allows me to be an even better photographer.

I'm far from great, like my friend Jojo Buenaventura, but I'm not bad myself. After all, Jojo decided to concentrate on photography as a business - that said, he has focused on portraits, while I am still busy enjoying a multitude of experiments with different subject matters. One thing in particular I wold like to try would be furthering my black and white photography, maybe experiment on Infrared filters (soon as I buy one). Meanwhile, it's still the usual lugging of my camera around - waiting to see what life has to offer me on an almost daily basis, to add to my photoblog.

Day 346 Mar 20, 2013

Maple syrup:

I've been to Maple's roughly about three times. And in these three times, I always looked to the wall filled with maple syrup (at least, I think these bottles are all filled with the stuff - I could be wrong, of course, since the bottles show varying shades of brown - some dark, some golden), and it looks simple, yet very distinctly a testament to the business.

I also liked the way the pin lights reflect on the bottles and highlight their contents. But more than that, Maples is a place where one can enjoy really good hotcakes and waffles. Yup, in all my three visits to this place, I have enjoyed their pancakes and waffles... and I don't intend to stop visiting this, since I'm enjoying it too much.

Day 345 Mar 19, 2013

The Pan de Manila paper wrapper:

I think I said this some time ago already, maybe even in this year's project 365 - if so, well, I shall try not to repeat myself, but the fact remains that this is a very good paper bag wrapper. In fact, even if I did have something to say about their wrapper before, now it comes with a little more of an added attraction - some color, as can be seen, highlights the rather traditional drawing.

What is not so obvious is how the drawing so neatly wraps around the paper bag (another new innovative manner for said wrapper), which made finding the seam - where one side starts and the other ends, a bit difficult... specially to the casual observer.

Of course, this does not distract from the fact that the pan de sal they bake is still of superior quality. It's rather soft while warm, and goes great with their cheese spread... their hot choco mix on the side.

What does this wrapper say of the company and the product? Simple, the company does not spare any expense with quality - be it the wrapper and more importantly, it product. I mean, it's almost a shame to throw the wrapper... I'd even say it can be framed. It's very Filipino too - as it depicts, not just the classic house design, but the caretela (horse carriage) that can rarely be seen these days... unless you go to down town.

Bravo to the designers... and the owners for this.

Day 344 Mar 18, 2013

Dinner with friends:

John, Gerry and I had dinner at Pimbrera's, a Spanish'Filipino cuisine diner. Small but cozy and definitely had great food. We ended up ordering a lot and almost finishing them all (or I did we did finish them all). Dinners like these are rare with us three - but it was a good evening.

The fact that it caps my having to have paid my respect for two friends' family members in their respective funerals makes this evening quite unique. Yeah... Pimbreba has great food. I hope to find myself eating there again - in fact, if ever I do get to that part of Forbes Park again, I just might opt to eat there.

Day 343 Mar 17, 2013

Time and the New Pope:

We sleep one evening without a Pope, and wake up realizing the College of Cardinals have finally chosen one from among their conclave. Even more unique is the fact that this Pope replaces a still living one who stepped down... and it doesn't stop there.

Our new Pope chooses the name Francis (a first) and he comes from the Jesuit order (another first). Time magazine gave a good article of Pope Francis - and whether you are a catholic or not, you have to wonder how Francis's term will differ form Benedict the XVI's. As for this picture, I just wanted to experiment on a tight focus... emphasizing on Francis' face while everything around started blurring.

Day 342 Mar 16, 2013

Alabang fountains:

Would you believe me if I said I had to be in Alabang for a Saturday evening... not because I had any form of gimmick, but because I had to bring Barbie to Alabang at around 5pm, and wait for her to finish a hosting gig until 12 midnight. What's more, I had no friend to link with that particular evening. Soooo... here I was, just hanging around Alabang. What was I to do?

Well for starters, I thought of going to SM, maybe watch a movie... or even go to the Spa in Town Center... but traffic and a seeming lack of parking visibility respectively, made me rethink those options. I ended up going to Festival Mall, to check on a comic shop I have not visited for nearly a year (or is that two years?). I got to kill about two hours there, before heading back to Town Center... still could not find any parking, so ended up at the Starbucks across Town Center (when you cross Madrigal Avenue). Armed with my comics and other reading materials, I bought a Starbucks frap, and opted to relax in the surprisingly windy outside evening environment. I spotted this fountain - similar to one I;ve seen in The Fort, and opted to bring out my camera to take the shot.

It was in this particular spot that I asked Barbie to meet me later. I enjoyed just sitting, observing my surrounding, eve's dropping on some conversations, reading comics and enjoying the drink and the breeze.

Day 341 Mar 15, 2013

Birthday blow:

Hey, it my birthday! And no... I'm sure everyone who sees this picture will be drawn by the impossibility of my being just 25 years old. It's actually the other way around - I'm 52. But yeah, sometimes I feel or think like I'm younger... though hardly 25 years young.

Bea volunteered to take the pictures with my camera, which allowed the possibility of capturing this shot - and others, for posterity's sake. My celebration was simple... with family, and I wouldn't have it any other manner. The food was superb, by the way. Amicci White Vongole spaghetti, KFC chicken, Shakey's thin crust pizza, and some soft drinks. I did receive my gift a few days ago, as seen two entries earlier. I have to say, I'm lucky to have a wife like Barbie, great kids in Bryce and Bernice, and a supporting family in the Buenaobras. Life is good.

Day 340 Mar 14, 2013

Fiel in Action:

In one rare occasion, I find myself partnered with Fiel in Application Analysis - something that hasn't happened since the introduction and roll out of this particular workshop version. In fact, I rarely find myself conducting this training... and although I know what the topics are about, I've yet to conduct this training the way it is.

Naturally, I practiced taking Fiel's shot with my long lens, and I waited for a relatively nice action shot before capturing it. Fiel complained that I got another picture of him leading with his lips - and well, he does look like he is singing here... but I don't see why he should complain. After all, it is a nice shot.

Milestone note: I'm now at entry 340. Just 25 more entries before this particular project 365 can be considered complete and done with. Boy, is it taking a while, huh?

Day 339 Mar 13, 2013

Birthday gift:

Barbie surprised me today when she returned from Makati with a flat screen TV and a matching entertainment system from Samsung. She said it was her gift to me for my birthday (on the 15th, actually). I was not expecting this, as even if technically there seemed to be something wrong with our current TV, it was still useable... so I was not even thinking of getting a new TV, at least, not actively thinking of replacing it yet.

Barbie said this one would hopefully give me a reason to stay home more often as I enjoyed the home theater experience... making me wonder, am I not staying home often regardless? Hmmm...

Anyway, after my pose with said gifts, I proceeded with the assembly and setting up of my new home theater system. It wasn;t easy as I had to see which goes where, and I have to say that I found the set up underwhelming as I found the theater sound missing. Still, I can't blame the TV yet. After all, it might mean that I am missing an important step. I just have to figure it out properly. Maybe in the morning?

Day 338 Mar 12, 2013

Cables:

If any network administrator would see this picture, I'm sure he (or she) would faint or gasp in horror. After all, having what can only be deemed a mess of a cable set up runs against any and all network wiring layout practice - much less, best practice.

On the other hand, one must realize that this is but a temporary set up, so I can sort of understand why this layout was done. The idea is for a quick (and in this case, equally messy) set-up. After training, then this could easily and most possibly be pulled out. I'm sure the people responsible here had little time to practice having a more streamlined layout.

I guess I'm just surprised to see such a set-up, despite what I mentioned about the temporariness earlier of it all, in a well known, global  I.T. company. This is the reason why I took this picture - after all, you don't see a scene like this... specially in a place like this.

In a way, I sometimes feel that this picture of the messy cables is a reflection of life - possibly even mine? I hope not. I'd like to think I have some semblance of order.

Day 337 Mar 11, 2013

Reflection:

I've always tried looking for an opportunity to capture a mirror image picture, wherein the water would reflect what is on the surface... problem is, it's hard to find such a situation that can show this. More so in a city that hardly has any body of water - and in a season that's normally know for it's dryness, rather than it's wetness. So imagine my delight when, as I was passing over a bridge in a relatively traffic heavy day, I got to see this scene.

Well; I didn't think twice. I whipped out my camera and took a shot (or two) of the buildings and their reflections in the water to scratch off another item in my 'must take' to do list (though technically not a list, as more like a mental note). I only wished I had a more nighttime pic to see the lights reflecting on the water too... but, at least I got this, so I'm not complaining.

Day 336 Mar 10, 2013

 Habit Seven:

Covey came up with his Seven Habits for Highly Effective People, and the last habit to master is Sharpening the Saw - an analogy of making sure your skills remain sharp. Now... there can be several ways to do just that. Read a book (or in this case, photography magazines) with the intent of making sure lessons are constantly learned, or re-learned, maybe even go on a sabbatical - hoping for that 'eureka' moment... there may be more, but this entry isn't the venue.

Nope. All I want to say is that I am sharpening my (photography) saw by way of reading the latest issues of (and at times, back issues of) these two magazines... 'Digital Photography' and 'i-mag'. These two give me lots of tips in taking better pictures,and while we're at it, learning even some ideas I did not think I would use - others, I already know of... but had not realized (in another naive moment) how to use the community. Confusing? You bet. But that is what time paradoxes are about.

Day 335 Mar. 09, 2013

Wine night:

Nights like these rarely happen. It's not by choice, mind you... more by chance. After all, I wouldn't turn down an opportunity to share a bottle of wine with family or friends, but lately... well, let's just say that schedules don't seem to line up properly.

This evening's drinking session is a classic example of doing things in an impromptu (no plans at all) manner. I mean, I've tried setting up a Bacardi night with colleagues and friends, but for whatever reason, these sessions just get pushed back due to unavailability of the others. So I'm somewhat thankful for unplanned evenings like this one... a bottle of wine with some grapes and cheese - being shared with Barbie, Bea and Ben (who shouldn't really be drinking at all while he's in medication). Ah well... hakuna matata.

Day 334 Mar. 08, 2013

New Mugs:

I started seeing these mugs about a month ago - it was in one of the low rise floors of CG1, and I was surprised to see them - not just because they represented an elegant design (which they did), but the size of these cups were very much half that of their older mugs.

It also make sense that prior to these cups showing up, the coffee dispensers would dispense nearly half as much coffee per serving as it used to do - I guess it was always in the plans to serve these lesser than before content, with said cups - which, by the way, serve coffee in just the right amount (for the cup's size).

Apparently, I'm not the only one who finds these cups rather cute, because, for some reason, the guards are given instructions to check all outgoing bags (for possible pilferage, it seems). That made me chuckle a bit - after all, some people really try to bring these home?

That said, these are slowly phasing out the old, chipped, but larger versions (like I said, the new ones are half the capacity of the older ones. Me? I just choose to use the older mugs (while they''re still around), and press the coffee dispenser twice to fill up my cup.

Day 333 Mar. 07, 2013

Gina in Retail:

This is a Retail training of which Gina and I are normally the instructors for - in fact, we're the only two doing this right now, and it gets tiring... tiring because there are so many talking points in the slides that it's easy to go beyond the allotted time, and there's so little time to do just that.

You see, and I don't know if I've mentioned this before... but Retail is a two-day training, begging to be a three-day training (and that's with it's existing content). Anyway, here's something rarely captured... Gina in action while also showing the rest of the class.

Day 332 Mar. 06, 2013

New Starbucks Libis:

I brought Barbie here for a pre-meeting, meeting of her team - this before they faced the client with some proposals. Naturally, while both meetings were happening, I stayed here and marveled at the place's size, and enjoyed some sandwiches and drinks as I read my comics and used my iPad... all while wiling away the time.

I would have wanted to take a long shot of the place, but I wasn't in the right location to do so. So I just took a shot of this large community bulletin board hanging on the wall where the cream, sugar, stirrer and tissue can be found. It was a nice place to hang around in... and certainly fulfilled the organization's motto of being the 3rd place to spend time aside from home and the office. I ended up staying here for close to three hours, before being informed by Barbie that I need not have to wait for her (sigh)... all that wait for nothing. Oh well, at least I got ot read my comics.

Day 331 Mar. 05, 2013

My March readings (some of them):

Been a while since I got some comics, so I opted to grab my accumulated stash and do some long overdue reading (and catching up) with the titles I am following.

Of this particular batch, I'm enjoying the All New X-men, Justice League of America and Avengers. I'm also trying out the Shadow Year 1 (shows promise), Nova (I still need to  see where this is going), XO Manowar (did not thrll me as it's earlier issues did) and the Savage Wolverine (if only because it's drawn by Frank Cho... an artist known for drawing great female forms - and he does not disappoint with Shana the She Devil in this issue). Lastly, Sherlock Holmes (it's been a long wait, so the sotry sort of lost it's glamour) and the Green Lantern issues connected to the 3rd Army (which I feel is a bit of a waste as it does not really capture the immediacy of the the threat - though there are some good moments). Yeah... I did not get to read these immediately... waiting for the right, 'no bothersome moment' time.

Day 330 Mar. 04, 2013

Meet Carlie (or is that Carley, Carly?)

She's a toy poodle - the latest dog brought here by Ben, also belonging to a friend of his. Reason for Carly coming over? So she could spend a few days with us while her owner has to go abroad.

Naturally shy in her new surroundings, we're also making sure that Buffy does not fight with her. Needless to say, everyone else here also liked her and played with her. Me? I just stood far from her, observing the other doggies too. Besides, I'm worried that if I do play with Carly, Buffy might get jealous. So I played the role of one who would make sure the other doggies are not seemingly ignored. Still, this did not stop me form trying ot take Carly's pics... thos one is my favorite among all the shots.

Day 329 Mar. 03, 2013

Grass decors:

These are plastic decos in Serenitea Abad Santos (San Juan area, near Wison and P. Guevarra), and I just simply took the picture out of boredom while enjoying my tea and accompanying Barbie.

What I did not realize was how the picture's simplicity would make it look interesting - showing a mostly white unfocused background, greatly contrasted by the decor's black wooden containers. Had these beeb real wheat grass plants, I'm sure it would have given a whole lot better look. Still, not to raise my own bench or anything, but it is a simple and wonderful composition. Somehow befitting the serenity of the place (no pun intended).

Day 328 Mar. 02, 2013

Great looking Backyard:

This happens to be at Monchot's place in North Forbes Park - and the picture looks so idyllic... it could easily be mistaken for some kind of resort. But what would you say if I told you that beyond this garden's tall walls would already be the corner of E.D.S.A. and Buendia? Beleive it, in fact the visual treat is intruded by the noise of cars and buses passing by... it's almost a dichotomy between what my sight and my hearing senses register - my mind is in denial thinking 'this can't be'.

What was I doing here? It was a S.A.G.A. get together for March - sort of celebrating Monchot's birthday, but really just wanting to have an evening of chatting, seeing old friends, having some alcohol and enjoying Monchot's cooking. It started with Fred signifying he would like to learn drinking some more, and from there... well, let's just say I started making some inquiries (primarily asking Monchot if he was free this 2nd of March, and if we could gather at his place - he said yes to both) and when things were set, it was just a matter of inviting people.

I'm sort of glad we got this done, as it allowed some friends who did not make it on the pre-Christmas get together, to make it this time out. Funny that in al those times I enjoyed staying at Monchot's place, I never bothered looking beyond the room and seeing this garden, Had it not been for the fact that it is right beside E.D.S.A., I would have wanted to hang around in this backyard garden,

Day 327 Mar. 01, 2013

Waxing session:

Today I had to accompany Barbie to her meeting in Makati, and this afforded me time to do something I was not able to do yesterday... namely, go to the Glorieta mall and check on a comic shop I have not visited or some time.

Since I had an hour to kill, I did just that - and, wince I was there as well, and the car needed a wash, I was convinced by this attendant to have the black car washed and waxed. So two birds with one visit. Besides, since I just got my pay yesterday, I could easily afford the wash - and I really did want to have the car looking clean. I just wished that Ben had cleaned the car before coming over... though given the circumstance that happened to him, I understand that he couldn't do it. Lucky for me, we have this option available.

Day 326 Feb. 28, 2013

Coffee meet:

Yup, being the 28th, it was time for us to pick up our checks. So Fiel, Gina and I agreed to meet early - have breakfast, then get our checks.

We were also hoping that Brian would join us - and the idea was to have hot coffee with pan de sal. But since Brian could not make it, the plan dissolved... but that did not stop the three of us to do have that coffee.

Now, while I was taking some pictures of our surrounding, I happened to get a shot of my companions, hence here they are. Nothing much really happened - we were just biding out time. We were not doing anything, and my next appointment was technically to fetch Barbie at work around 4pm, so I, too, had a lot of time to kill.

Day 325 Feb. 27, 2013

Morning Moon... again.

Believe it or not, this is around 6:30am, and the moon is still very much visible, probably because it was a relatively bright moon since last night.

That said, it was a bit difficult to focus on the moon - probably because there were a lot of visible things around, but lucky for me, I had the zoom lens to sort of block out everything else, and focus on the brightness of the moon.

I guess, the simple elegance of this picture stems from the fact that the moon is isolated from everything else - I mean, who would suspect that this picture was taken in the middle of a street, in a community, found within a large and densely populated city? Nope... not I. Oh yeah... unlike the last time, where I had to take the shot while on a paused pace while driving, this afforded me a lot of time, since I wasn't driving yet.

Day 324 Feb. 26, 2013

Sheps on the run:

I took this picture while I was outside Fred's place. You see, I had had breakfast with Fred and Alnette in Abad Santos, in San Juan. Not a planned thing really... well, meeting Fred was the plan, but the breakfast wasn't. But since I did not have to bring Barbie to work that particular day, I was free much earlier than expected.

From there, we first went to Fred's place, before going to Greenhills, where I would copy some files from Fred's portable hard drive. So we had arrived, Fred got his hard drive and as I was waiting for Fred to come out (he seemed to have forgotten something, so he went back in his place), I noticed these dogs. So, I grabbed my camera and took a few shots.

This one was my favorite, since it shows the  Shep's facial expression clearly, even as his legs were showing forward movement. If we could understand what they were probably saying to each other, I would guess that the dog on the left of the picture, was sort of goading the other to pick up the pace.

Day 323 Feb. 25, 2013

Shadows:

I found myself in Rockwell this particular morning. John wanted to meet up with me, and it so happened that by the time he got back to me regarding the meet, I had moved from the Fort to near Rockwell - with the intent of going home.

But John did get to text me, and I did say I was near Rockwell. He then said, he'd go to Rockwell then, and I just had to give him 30 minutes. So I went to Rockwell... specifically, the Power plant mall.

Unfortunately, as malls normally go, 10am is still too early (and I was there as early as 9:30am), and the mall was literally still closed - with the various eating places still going through the rounds of opening up (cleaning up, setting up and whatever needed to be done to properly greet customers). Similarly, the parking spot was mostly just dark - with the lights still closed. Had it not been for the natural sunlight, I wouldn't be surprised of the place would have been pitch black.

Still, this gave me something to play around with the shadows and light; plus the differing angles of the pillars and cars - or in this case, some silhouette given by a motor bike. So this was an amalgam of many shapes, sunlight and shadows.

Day 322 Feb. 24, 2013

Garden combination:

It's nice to see plants and stones combine to make a near picturesque setting. Rarer still to discover one that nature seemingly came up with, as opposed to something that was manicured and maintained by a gardener.

This is one such instance. It can be slightly noticed that this plant, aside from having a nice growth pattern of leaves, started off from the side of the stone, and proceeded to move in between these stones to give the image of a seemingly manicured piece of natural artwork. Something I don't think was intended. I mean, I've seen the place - and although it may look a bit clean, it's hardly something that is seemingly manicured. In fact, had I been in a different state of mind, I might not have even noticed this simple, and natural combination.

Day 321 Feb. 23, 2013

Spaghettata once again:

I'm trying to stretch the use of this gift that Jaypee gave us, while at the same time trying to check what is in this mixture, with the hope of replicating it at a future time. Heck, I even tried researching on the Internet about Spaghettata; only to be given the realization that it means spaghetti noodles mixed with anything you can find in an Italian kitchen... sort of like a 'free for all' type of cooking.

Generally, though I noticed dried chili pepper (the red colored items), garlic chips (the light brown floating items), and the small green items below the olive oil is parsley. So I'm glad I identified them - btu I'm not sure if there are more ingredients aside from what I've mentioned. Still, I think I got the more important items down. It will just be a matter of setting aside some time to try things out, and see if I was really able to get this Spaghettata, or whether there's a secret ingredient I was not able to account for.

Meanwhile, I've probably got two or three more cooking of said Spaghettata, before I opt to reproduce things.

Day 320 Feb. 22, 2013

Pork Steak - grilled:

After having done the pasta, I now decided to thaw out the pork chops and have them grilled for dinner. I was unable to marinade them before cooking, as I was still tired from all the other chores I did today.

Still, I decided to massage each piece with minced garlic and some 'magic sarap' ingredients before grilling. Apparently, the kids liked it - though Bryce did say it was a bit bland to the taste - bu in my book, bland is healthy, and they could just add seasoning for taste. The only problem... and I don't know if I could have done something about it, was how tough the meat was. Damn tough, really. On the up side, we did get to eat our meals - it was only tough in the tendon area - the meat was eatable.

And, since Barbie was not around to eat the 5th piece with us (Ben was having dinner with us, and Bea did not come as we thought) I just told Bryce to half the last piece for the two dogs. It was funny to see how Bubbles was trying to eat her piece without dropping any portion - a task made harder by the fact that her mouth was much narrower than the piece given her.

Milestone check: I've got just 45 more days before this blog ends - after all, after my project 365, what else will I place here? And as I've been mentioning in the past, I may retire the idea of doing another project 365 after this. Not because I don't find it a nice thing to have... but maybe I'm just too close to the idea right now. After all, three years is probably too long a time to do one thing without losing interest.

Who knows? I just need to rest and not do this for a while, and I may find myself missing it after a month or three - then opt to do it again. Or... as I said, I might try a variation of the idea - still maintain a blog... most likely a separate one, and consider more than one picture in some days - or even skip some really boring day altogether, and just put in a brief text about it.

Day 319 Feb. 21, 2013

Spaghetti Al Tonno:

With Barbie off to Malaysia, it falls on me to be the cook of the family, and I did say I would make some spaghetti, so I did.

Presenting my first try at making Spaghetti Al Tonno. You see, it was usually Barbie who does this - the tuna version I normally make is tomato-based, while this is more olive oil-based. Both happen to be a healthier version to any meat-based sauce (not that I'm ready to stop eating meat-based sauce), and as I said, I'm up for the challenge of making something I didn't make yet, so... here it is. Based on my kids' reactions, it looks like I got it on the first try (and I credit my being attentive to when Barbie makes it, or when she explains making it). The only difference? I did not mix the pasta with the sauce - this is because  Ben may not be able to eat this sauce, so he can mix the spaghettata sauce I also prepared on the side.

Come to think of it, I think I'll also have the spaghettata instead. Not that I don't trust my own cooking, I just wanted to eat healthier.

Day 318 Feb. 20, 2013

Breakfast:

Day 2 of Application Testing School, and I got caught in traffic just when I was neat the Fort... that's life. And after almost two hours of driving, I just had to sit and relax with some breakfast. And going to McDonald's at he Piazza seemed the best option - it being the cheapest, closest breakfast area to Accenture in McKinley hill.

In this case, though I was really tempted to order a big breakfast type of meal, I just had an Egg McMuffin, with Coffee and a Hash Brown on the side. It's not as heavy as the big breakfast, but it gets the job done - I lost my hunger, and got to rest after that long drive. Now I'm ready to go to training. No rush there, since Tess is handling the morning part, but I don't want to stay out for long, after all, having eaten my breakfast, I need not spend for more - which I will definitely do, if I stay here.

Day 317 Feb. 19, 2013

Doggie Bag!

Okay, so it isn't really a doggie bag from the colloquial term, but it is a bag designed to look like a dog... complete with it's semi-floppy ears on the side.

This is obviously a Japanese cartoon inspired animated dog, and if it is a particularly known character, it's lost to me... after all, I'm not really a fan of anime.

But I do appreciate how it can stand out in a crowd - more so in a corporate crowd at that. After all, this bag is in Accenture... so I was slightly surprised, after all... you don't see these things often in this place. Definitely wanted to capture this moment, so I did.