Saturday, August 12, 2006

Been busy for the last week or so….


Saturday, August 5, 2006

We had to check in at nearby Gracelane Hotel. The house we’ve been staying here in Baliti was treated for termites and we had to stay away for 24 hours. I got so excited when I got some wireless remote connection on my laptop outside the hotel’s restaurant so I was able to check eMail for a little bit. But when I tried to do it again before we went to bed, the connection was so bad I had to quit.

Mary and her sister Ate Lynn met us at Herbs and Greens while we were having dinner. It seems their Dad Tang Dolpo is home, out of the hospital and is doing fairly well. It turned out that Herbs and Greens still serves salads with their usual dressings. It’s just that their salad veggies aren’t organic because they basically buy it from the market unlike their ‘greenhouse-grown’ ones which they cannot serve till mid month since they’re being fumigated against an infestation of white flies. I wonder how organic they still are since they’ve already been fumigated??

Sunday, August 6, 2006

We met Mary and her sister Ate Lynn at the Nepo Mall in Angeles. Then we went to visit her old friend from Japan, Lita Gonzales and we were treated with several Filipino dishes for lunch. Right after lunch Donna and I called Ephraim on his cell. This would have been the day of their engagement party. An hour or so before, my cousin Josie and husband Rey sent me a text message saying they just left the party and that it was a lot of fun and, judging from the people who attended, a very successful one. Eph was pretty emotional (translation – bawling his eyes out, sorry Eph!) saying he wished we were there at the party. For me, this was one of the toughest part of our retirement here. The other was when I left last March and it was Dan’s turn to be emotional at the airport. It was different with Donna when we were apart because I know that she would be joining me soon. Anyway.. we also talked with Rachel and her parents apologizing to the latter for not being there with them to host the engagement party. But Rose and Jun were both so gracious about it saying it wasn’t too bad at all especially since Rach, Eph and their guests all enjoyed themselves.

We were pulling in at the site one day and out of the house came three ladies, one of whom we found out later was Pong Patawaran’s oldest sister, our next door neighbor. Along with her was her younger sister Rose (she’s a Class ’70 alumnae) who’s in the country visiting from New Jersey.

Speaking of Class ’70 alums I’ve met Anita Tiomico with her daugher at Robinson’s, Racquiel Tiongson and husband at SM – twice, Willy Sapnu with daughter and grand kid at SM as well. We were having dinner the other night at Herbs and Greens and Edna David came in with a couple of friends.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

This morning I got a call from Alan saying he and wife Neneng are coming to visit along with Rene Cerdena who’s here on a job related trip. They came at noon at we piled into Neneng’s Crosswind and headed to SM’s Gerry Grill. We must have sat there for at least three hours with Rene like a sponge absorbing all the information we provided him regarding our early retirement. He was pretty impressed and appreciative of what we’ve done. Afterwards they dropped us back off at the site and we said our goodbyes.

Donna and I went back to SM (after a meeting with Kong Naring in Masamat early this evening) to have dinner. We went to Sushi Ya, my favorite Japanese restaurant there which actually is across the hallway from Gerry’s Grill. We found out tonight that one can sit at Sushi Ya and order food from Gerry’s Grill and vice versa. Now I know what to do the next time we eat at Gerry’s Grill!

All of the house’s flooring have been installed except for a little section of the guest room. We ran out of laminated floor and Armin had to order an extra box but it won’t be coming till this Saturday. The bedroom in the utility room still needs to be tiled as well. We were going to buy the tiles today but we ran out of time with our long lunch with friends above. The steel fence, garage gate and service gate have all been installed. All that needs to be done there is have the whole thing repainted. Indo runs around freely around the house and the yard nowadays. The closets for the bedrooms have all come in and the wood has been finished with varnish. They’ve already installed the mirrored sliding doors for them. They’ve delivered and installed most of the windows. The indoor falls that we had fabricated by a glass company has also been delivered – that was the good news. The bad news? We were testing it yesterday trying to fill it with water but one face of the glass panels where the water will fall shattered. It seems the ¼” thick glass cannot withstand the weight of the water. We decided to have it repaired by replacing the glass with a tempered type which is more durable and of course more expensive and upgrade the thickness to 3/8” which we’re hoping should be able to handle the pressure. The guys continue to install the washout finish of the concrete up front in the walkways and driveway.

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

Kong Paing and Ate Let visited the site today and surprised Kong Naring. Kong Paing has already sent me an eMail informing me of their arrival. They’ve been staying in Manila for the last couple of weeks trying to furnish their condo. He was also the sponsor in a wedding yesterday. I had him design one of the door glass panels of our music room with the old movie making symbol of a tripod with the camera on top. They treated us for lunch at Fortune’s in San Fernando after we picked up Kong Orling and Ate Pie from Guagua. After lunch we dropped by Ate Auring’s place and paid her a visit.

Today we picked up the last batch of floor tiles which would be used for the bedroom floor of the Utility Room. We also ordered the black pebbles for the washout section of the driveway by the sidewalk.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

The washout section on the front of the house has all been completed including the part of the driveway close to the street. They’ve also 'washed-out' all three of the ponds and the mini shower for the Jacuzzi. I think the next one they’ll do is the washout around the Jacuzzi. The tiles for the utility room bedroom have been installed as well. They’ve started installing the baseboard. In fact today the master’s bedrooms should have been finished by now. We’re getting really, really close, so close I can taste it in my mouth!

It’s payday today. But before we do our payroll this afternoon, Donna and I have an invite for a lunch baptismal reception for Pat’s grand kid. Pat is one of their ‘classmates’ from Guagua. I think it’s being held in some resort in Lubao owned by Pat’s brother. I’m planning on blogging while we’re in Guagua. I looked for an Internet Café at the SM Clark last night and didn’t find one. The night before I tried to go on line at Ichitosh but there was no signal. I hope I have better luck in Guagua at Jack’s Etcetera.

I tried to download some pictures. Can't view them, let me know if you can.


Random Thoughts

For some reason the song All My Life by America and John Waite’s (of The Babies fame) When I See You Smile, are being played on the radio here as if they were released yesterday. In fact When I See You Smile has been covered by a few Filipino artists. I have yet to listen to any hard rock here on the radio. It seems as if one’s listening to KOST all the time. The closest I’ve heard of classic rock is on frequency 95.5 (sounds familiar?) of the Eagle’s Hotel California, Boston’s Amanda and Bryan Adam’s Heaven. Oh and I’ve heard Styx’ Babe a couple of times. The problem with this station is that it segues from the Eagles, to Air Supply, to Celine Dion, Barry Manilow and back to Joe Walsh in a set. They play quite a bit of OPM here. That’s short for Original Pinoy Music. I’ve started to sing a couple of them in Karaoke (they call it Videoke) and has learned to play another on the guitar. It’s just that most of these songs are ballads and mellow rock at best. I’ve seen a little bit of heavy music on the local MTV but it doesn’t get a lot of radio air play. Red Hot Chili Peppers are pretty popular here and so is Michael Buble. Black Eyed Peas are huge, I think partly because one of the members is half Filipino.

Speaking of Videoke, not sure if I’ve mentioned it in my previous blogs, when I’m waiting for Donna, I hang around SM Clark. Inside its arcade Quantum, they have a section in a corner called Music Lounge. It has about 5 little rooms where, for a minimum of 5 songs, people in a group can do Karaoke in private. Tokens cost 6 pesos each and a song cost one token. Outside these booths is a small stage complete with lights, a couple of microphones and a sound system where one can sing Karaoke in front of an audience of however many people like me are watching and hanging around at the time. I’ve tried the stage a couple of times. A song costs two tokens up there. Since this is in an arcade, it’s so noisy at times that it’s difficult to hear the background music of songs. It should be a lot of fun when doing it with a group. I see young people cheering a friend when he/she sings up on the stage.