11 Months to go… Pasko na uli (We’re only 11 months away from Christmas)

January 26, 2010

Wow… I suddenly realized that January 2010 is in its last week already.    Past few weeks have been very toxic due to work and personal commitments.    At any rate, let me share with you my 2010 list of resolutions.   Come to think of it, this is the first time I consciously came up with one.  However, it is not your “life changing” kind of list but rather contains stuff that would want to get back into (or out of).  Here it goes…

1.       Comb my hair more than once day:    I brush my teeth regularly but combing my hair has always been a once a day affair (in the morning).

2.       Maintain a blog site:  As you can see, I failed miserably last year on this.  Let’s see how things will fare this year.

3.       Revive my succulents collection:  In particular, I would like to revive my Lithops collection.   Will probably have to renew my membership with the Cactus and Succulents Society of the Philippines for this.

4.       Revive my collection of National Geographic Magazine (back issues):  Time again to visit the second hand book/magazine stores.

5.       Go back to scale modeling: I am nuts about light to medium tanks and armored vehicles.  Hopefully, I can finish at least two this year.

6.       Get a bowling average of more than 180: Last time I checked, my average is about 160.   Every week, I am in at least two bowling alleys not to play but to drive my kids to bowling practice.   Let’s try changing things this year.

7.       Stop cursing while on the road: To date, I am failing miserably on this resolution.   I have 11 months to go to address this.

- dugas-

Quiapo

January 9, 2009

Today is the feast of the Black Nazarene.   I intentionally went home late  hoping to avoid traffic along the Quiapo area (where the church-shrine of the Black Nazarene is located).  From Makati, I took my usual route leading me to SM Manila.   The traffic was nowhere to be found until I reached the bridge leading to Quiapo.   Lo and behold, I was in the middle of Quiapo while the Black Nazarene is being led back inside the church after an almost 13-hour procession.    I learned about it since I was always tuned in to an AM radio station but It was too late because there was no room to turn back.     There I was, spending about 30 minutes just to crawl through the Ayala (?) bridge.    Another 30 spent on about two blocks worth of road (in front of the Quiapo church) because by the time I reached the foot of bridge, the devotees were starting to go home since the Nazareno was already inside the church.

This is the first time I have seen this event up close and personal and it was an impressive scene.    –dugas–

Peyups

 Before the long vacation ended, my wife and I brought our kids (Ivan and Andrei) to UP Diliman to go biking.  I was surprised to see that they’ve implemented a one-way traffic scheme around the Acad Oval.    Before we went there, I was already conditioning my boys that we will not be able to bike around the oval as it is only closed to traffic on Sundays.   IMO, this was a good move since my kids can bike around the oval.    My youngest (Andrei) likes playing stop light in the intersection between Melchor Hall (Eng’g) and the Tennis courts.   He would wait for the light to turn green before crossing the street.   I guess for a 6-year old, this would be one of the few times that one can play with an actual traffic light.   This was an early evening well spent. — dugas –    

My First Time Blogging

January 5, 2009

I finally recalled the password I used for this site after a dozen or so attempts to logon.    This is what you get for not writing down passwords .  

Actually, I had a way out because there was a Forgot Password link but once again, I failed to remember the answer I supplied to the secret question I chose.   Being an IT security guy, guess you can call this a case of getting a taste of my own medicine.

 

After visiting the blog site of a colleague, I suddenly got this urge of attempting to register this domain.  Fortunately it was still available so here I am now trying my hand at personal blogging.    I originally promised myself to start working on this during the rather long Yuletide break but I ran into some password recall challenges and bouts with laziness.   I am not making promises to myself but I do hope that I will find time to maintain this site with entries worth spending a mouse click or two.   –dugas–