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.