I MISS INDO!

Yesterday we got a call from Nestor from Arizona and Donna talked with him for over an hour.


I called and talked with Cong Paing and Cong Mansing and of course they're excited to know how we're doing in the Philippines especially our brothers and their families over there.



Last night Eph picked us up and he took us to Carrow's in Cerritos to have dinner with the Quizon family. It was nice to see all of them, Jun and Rose, Gen and especially our pregnant daughter-in-law, Rachel!

After dinner we went to their house in Norwalk and we watched Rach and Eph's wedding DVD over mugs of hot chocolate. I have to say the video was very well shot and edited. Eph lent me the copy so we can watch it here in La Mirada but I forgot it in his Prius after they dropped us off.

This morning Josie was finally able to call and talk with Donna at length.


Ed also got a hold of Donna through her cell phone. She didn't realize I eMailed it to everyone last night.


Right after Donna and Emy came home from the salon this afternoon, Sherwin and Bobby came for a visit and to pick up the couple of things Sherwin forgot in our luggage.

I terribly miss my walks with Indo but it's too cold to walk outside so I have to settle for Nido's treadmill here in his den.


I may have over done it a bit, I walked for an hour and I was feeling woozy afterwards. I haven't walked since Saturday and it felt nice to break out in a sweat.

Giancarlo and Adrienne are enjoying Donna's cooking immensely. With Daniel "sharing in the spoils", they almost finished the whole pot of ground turkey torta she cooked last night. Come to think of it, I never got to eat any of it!

Sorry, I have no new pictures to post as yet.

It's Cold...

Yesterday, we went shopping with Daniel at the Cerritos Mall. Lo and behold - Mervyn's is closing! I was able to get me a pair of Levi's 559 for about $25 plus tax. Then it's lunch in my favorite sushi place, Samurai.


Dan took us to Island Pacific where Donna picked up some chicken which she later cooked into tinola and adobo.


Didn't realize how cold it is this time of year in California. I set my alarm this morning so I can go walking, it was freezing cold! Well, I'm exaggerating a bit here. But coming from the warm weather of the Philippines, it seems like it's freezing cold. Anyway, as you may have guessed I did not go on a walk. We waited for Eph to pick us up. He took us to IHOP for breakfast. It's good to have the Chicken Fajita in Egg Beater Omelet. Restaurant servings here are so big Donna and I are able split the order.

We went to Costco afterwards to pick up a couple of things and then we dropped by Target. Donna was hoping they had some leftover Halloween candies on sale but with no luck. We bumped with Rach's parents in Costco, by the way and they invited us to go out to dinner.

She's cooking torta right now from the ground turkey that she got from Costco earlier. Eph is coming any time soon so we can go and have dinner with Rach's parents.

Pics to be posted later tonight or maybe tomorrow.

HAC Get-Together, Pre Travel Preps, etc.

The first week of November whizzed by so quick, it was over before we noticed.

Note: Keep in mind I'm posting this one now in California.

Wednesday, Nov 5 Donna and I visited Nestor and Emy's cousin Kit at San Fernando Subd., to drop off the picture CD that I promised Nido I'll burn for her on their European trip last year. Then we proceeded to PHS to see the principal and check out the four computers JASHS Class '70 USA has donated to the school on October 5.


We invited Mrs. Macaspac to join us for lunch Thursday. We prepared a little something for Donna's Guagua school mates and for my little get-together with my college buddies from HAC.

After our visit to PHS, we went to SM Clark to do some shopping but we noticed the latest Bond installment, Quantum of Solace was showing, so we went to watch it instead and by the time the movie was done, the mall was closed.

Thursday, Nov 6 the first ones to arrive are Donna's school mates; Ate Pie, Pat and Dr. Morales. Then Jack and fiance Jake came along with Remy. Nieces Len and Berna also came along with their daughters.

Towards late afternoon is when my college buddies started coming in. Chito Castro and group initially got lost. Thankfully cell phone text messaging helped me give them directions. It's really great to see them after all these years. Joven couldn't make it so Vangie took her youngest son instead.

And here they are from left to right:
Chito's wife, Chito Castro, Rey Pogi, Vangie (Turla) Mallari, Let Lagman, Alice Puno, Nestor Arcilla, Cora Evaristo and Edgar Caladiao.


Anita Tiomico also came. She's one of the Four A's in high school with Donna (for Adona), Alice Puno and Alma Palanca. Alice Puno was also our high school classmate, remember?


They stayed awhile, talking, reminiscing, singing Karaoke. Chito's wife it turned out was a sister of a store owner in Clarkview while I was living with Cong Paing and Atching Let. At almost 10 they finally left and then it was time for us to drop off the nieces and grand nieces.


Friday, Nov 7, we were getting ready to leave to do some last minute chores when we got a call from our friend and neighbor Doret inviting us to lunch. Mom and Tina's, one of the restaurants in front of Greenfields closed a couple of months back and it was reopened recently. Only this time it's called Cookbook. This was where Doret took us. The food was pretty good, with big servings.

We were having lunch when this guy started getting my attention from outside the window. It was Andy Alviz of Arti Sta. Rita. He was waiting to meet someone. When we were having dessert he came back in with a lady who's also a member of our Capampangan advocacy ANASI. Her pen name is Chase Navarre and she recently launched a book at the DHVCAT (Don Honorio Ventura College of Arts and Trade) in Bacolor.

After lunch, we went to pay bills and have our cable temporarily disconnected and then on towards Angeles City to get more stuff from Nepo Mart. I dropped Donna off and went to CKS in HAU to pay Robby Tantingco and company a visit.

We went back to SM San Fernando afterwards to have our DSL temporarily disconnected as well. In the mean time our Class '70 friends who scheduled an 11th hour meeting that night were sending me text messages reminding me. But we were becoming frantic because we weren't done packing and we still had people at the house. Finally I decided not to go but they said without me, there wouldn't have been a quorum. So a little past nine I was on my way to Gigster where they had the meeting, which was changed from McDonald's. Before I got there I received another message saying they're done and are on their way home. Apparently text messages that night are being delayed due to bad signal perhaps. So I just turned around and went home as well.

California Nov. '08

Last night, my brother-in-law, Cong Francis came to our house in Greenfields from Baguio. With the number of people going with us to the airport, we were quickly running out of room in the Innova. I had to call Lando, our scheduled driver, to cancel out his services. After the airport, they went to Muntinglupa for Leda's blessing of her new building.

We were going to leave the house this morning at 6 but ended up leaving at 6:45. We really waited till the last minute to pack this time. It was the day of our flight, right after we woke up and we were still packing our fourth and last Balikbayan box.


There was plenty of time to meet Sherwin and his girlfriend Pam at the Jollibee by the airport, though. They were taken by his brother Jojo.

Sherwin had a bit of a problem with his luggage, however: a) he brought this Parol in a crate but the crate turned out to be too big and he has to pay $150 to take it with him; b) his Mom had him take some longganisa with him to give to their relatives in the US; c) he didn't weigh his check-in luggage and it was several kilos overweight. He had to transfer some of his stuff into ours which surprisingly are way underweight this time, especially our 2 hand carried luggage.


He decided not take the parol with him and he ended up calling Jojo so he can have him take it back.

The flight to Taiwan was uneventful. Sherwin enjoyed walking around in the new Taipei terminal. There's even a gate C3 dedicated to Hello Kitty.

The flight to LA from Taiwan was pretty bumpy though. Still, it didn't prevent me from being able to watch two movies, Wall E and the new X Files movie, and sleeping most of the way. I started to watch Tropic Thunder but was too tired and fell asleep. Food on the flights was pretty decent. They served this dessert on both flights, shaped like a shell fish with some kind of ground sweet beans inside.


We landed a little after lunch. Immigration and customs were really crowded at the LAX's Tom Bradley terminal. Sherwin's longganisa got confiscated. We were pleasantly greeted by Eph by the waiting area and Sherwin was picked up by his cousin's son.

I wanted Eph to take us to Samurai, my favorite Japanese restaurant here but Donna reminded us it's closed between 2 to 4 pm. So we went to another one in La Mirada close to Emy and Nido's place.