Wall- E

It's Christmas Season and it's the season of parties and merry making!   

Endless buffets, parties and gift-giving await each fortunate individual this season.  I am lucky to belong to an office that will be having a party with a theme of "White Christmas with cartoon characters/super heroes/anime/super villains."

During the party, there will be a prize for the best in costume.  I decided to be dressed as Wall-E, since our wing luckily drew from  the ballot "the disney cartoon character theme."  

I just don't know if I will be able to do my own Wall- E costume as this one:

cute wall-E wannabe, right?

I just have this one teeny weeny concern: How am I supposed to eat, or sit down while wearing this costume?   I'll let you know after December 21.   I'll post pics too of me and my Wall-E.

Wish me luck! 

photo courtesy of:

http://www.google.com.ph/url?source=imglanding&ct=img&q=http://www.alyssaarmstrong.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/halloween.jpg&sa=X&ei=xzzLTrbGF-meiAeMjc25Dg&ved=0CAwQ8wc4qwE&usg=AFQjCNFamORgCJKuh1ROxfOQhfOIy1FnDw

Breakfast

the food for those on the go

   

For many years I got by with little or no breakfast at all. It was only when I got married that I learned the habit of having a hearty breakfast to start my day right.  

This year, I started with my new office and I had to leave as early as 5 am most of the time. By the time I got to the office, my stomach is already hurling expletives at me for being terribly hungry.   Sometimes, it's a bit of an effort to search for food in the nearby canteens or carinderias, so sometimes I would bring my own breakfast from home.

Lately, I have been longing to sleep longer than I should that when I wake up, I know that I will be terribly late for the office and I won't have time to prepare for my breakfast "baon" anymore.  Then one day, I decided to just "steal" from our own store, a pack of cereal thing that my neighbors keep on buying but I was so ashamed to ask them if it's any good because it is one of the most easily sold-out products in our store. It's called Energen, a breakfast cereal drink manufactured in Indonesia and distributed here in the Philippines.    Just pour the contents in a mug, add hot water, stir a little and breakfast is ready!!!

at five pesos, it's a steal

It's milky, not too creamy, and the cereals dissolve easily in the hot water. Unlike some other cereal drinks where the cereal are still a little tough and there are still grainy pieces at the bottom of the mug, Energen's cereals have this melt-in-your-mouth thing.  Oh did I mention that it's supposed to be healthy because of the cereals and the milk? 

It has two flavors, chocolate and vanilla.  One time, I was walking along Pasay Taft and there were promo girls who were offering Mongo-flavored Energen at 30 pesos for 12 pcs. I did not buy because I was aware that Energen has only two flavors and they were offering it very so cheap my antenna went haywire after hearing the price.  Who knows where it was made and if it passed quality control by the BFAD.  

I haven't tried the chocolate flavor though.  It's always sold out and I keep on forgetting to steal the chocolate flavor whenever we have stock.  At P5.00, it's a good buy.  I think for additional two hours of energy before the tummy asks for a heavier supply of food. Heehehe.

Xend it Away!

my receipt-P89.00 for shipping to Zamboanga City
and I did not leave my seat!

I'm a believer in online shopping!

At first, I thought online  shopping seemed like a dubious way to purchase goods.  How could one be assured that he would get what he paid for if one doesn't first get to meet the buyer personally and see for himself the product he is buying?  But I knew technology and more modern means of purchasing are at hand, so I tried to shop online.

I started shopping online in December 2006. Filipinos were not yet crazy about online shopping at that time.  I bought a cellphone for my mom.  To be sure that I wouldn't be swindled, I agreed to do a meet-up with the seller, brought a witness with me and only paid when I was fully sure that the item was brand -new, in mint condition and was everything that I expected it to be.

These online transactions were soon followed by purchases of various toys for my nephews that were sold at really good prices since most of them were second-hand yet still looked new.

I have to say, that I have convinced and influenced my family and friends that secure online shopping can really be done at this age, provided of course, that one reads the caveat portion in the website or one always observes the required caution, prior research and inquiry before one enters into an online transaction.

But today, my respect and admiration for online shopping had taken a higher notch.  Years ago, my "suki" from online shopping told me that it is most convenient to send products via Xend.  According to her, you just have to go to their website, create an account and schedule a pick-up for the items that you want to ship.  No believing in this, I put off creating an account with Xend for years but advertised to my friends to try it.  Of course, though I advertise Xend to my friends, I cannot give them a personal comment about how it works because I haven't tried it.  

But there came an important order that I knew I had to send immediately but I was busy so I don't know if I could send right away.  So around 1:23 this afternoon, I finally created an account at http://xendexpress.com/.  I then filled out a Waybill and then scheduled a pick-up.   

At 2:15 somebody came to my place of business to pick-up the items to be shipped!! woooaaaahhh!!!!  That  is waaaaayyyy too fast.  And get this, I was only charged P89.00 for the shipment of my beaded items to Zamboanga City.

I never thought sending via Xend would be this convenient and this cheap.  It has totally changed my view on shipping items bought or sold online which further bolstered my dream of really going full blast with my online selling.  I was told that the items would arrive in 1 to 2 days from today.  

Now that's what I call a hassle-free transaction.   Now I know I have a partner in my business. 

You may check out Xend's website here   or its Facebook account here.

Sapak ni Pakman (Pacman)

http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/manny-pacquiao-v-juan-manuel-marquez-1320812924-slideshow/manny-pacquiao-philippines-hits-mexicos-juan-manuel-marquez-photo-054833190.html

Nov. 12 (Nov. 13 in Manila): The much-awaited fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Miguel Marquez was to be held that day.  As early as 9 am, my parents were already in front of the tv, watching but not really watching the undercards trying to win their matches.  What people wanted to watch the Pacquiao-Marquez fight.

Good thing, we have cable, so we didn't have to wait for the extra-delayed coverage of the fight by GMA-7.

Finally, the two boxing champs face off.  My mother and brother swear that if at that time, their blood pressures were taken, they surely would have failed as their BPs were probably off the charts.

After Round 6, I decided that I couldn't take the beating the Pacman was enduring from Marquez.

I resumed watching during the last two minutes of Round 12.

The whole fight, I was really praying that Pacman win.  The heavens heard me and I watched as the winner was declared during that fight.

Was there doubt in my mind as to who one? Definitely. I though Pacman got a beating and there was a slight doubt if he really won and Mafia was not involved.  But in my mind, I knew that Marquez was likewise beaten up.  

But after reading this post in www.philstar.com,* there's no longer any doubt in my mind that Pacman is still the undefeated pound-per-pound champion - the boxing hero of Filipinos all over the world.  

"Based on the final punchstats provided by Compubox, Pacquiao threw and landed more punches after 12 rounds of action at the MGM Grand Saturday.

Pacquiao, the stats sheet said, threw a total of 578 punches and connected 176 times for 30 percent accuracy. Marquez unleashed 436 punches and landed less, 138.

In the jabs department, Pacquiao landed 59 of 304 while Marquez landed only 38 of 182 jabs.  In the power punches, again it was Pacquiao who threw more and landed more.

Pacquiao threw 274 power punches  and found the mark 117 times, and Marquez threw 254 of them, and connected a hundred times."

I don't care about the  allegations about his character, or whatever faults he allegedly committed.  In my mind, he is the only Filipino boxer who has put the Philippines in the boxing pedestal.  He gave Filipino boxers a face. He gave them recognition in the world boxing arena.  He deserves to be called a CHAMPION. Period. 

*http://www.philstar.com/sportsarticle.aspx?articleid=747970&publicationsubcategoryid=69