Lunch at Wegmans

For lunch today, we're able to dine at Wegmans. It's been awhile since we last went out as a group. Usually, we have meetings in the afternoon so we can't just eat out anytime we want.

I love the food at Wegman's, most especially, their crispy shrimp pockets with sweet & sour sauce. Yum-O! I got some of that and then I took some spicy chicken, snow peas and tofu. Plus, a small amount of rice. I really enjoyed my meal. We had an option to eat at King's Buffet but the food here at Wegmans is waaaay bettuh than King's.

I also brought my colleague, Jan, with me. He usually eats by himself at his cube so I figured he could use a better ambiance. He shared a story about one of his hiking trips where he starved for a few days. He had already consumed his 12-day worth of food. When he reached town, his first meal was McDonald's. He got so sick afterwards.

Fast forward to late evening. Since it's Friday, we played poker. Again, I invited Jan to join us. He wanted to learn the game so I let Ogz explain the rules. Richie, Jet, Ryan and I jumped in to help Ogz. It was quite a feat for us to explain the rules in English. Nosebleed moment.

In the first game, Jet won. I was the last one out. It was a David & Goliath moment. Anyhoo, since it was still early, we had a second game. This time, Jan won. I guess beginner's luck is true 'cause last time, it was Karen who won and it was also her first.

After Jan bid goodbye to us, we had a little videoke session. My voice wasn't in good condition. Crap!

Ogz & I also tried the videoke feature in MySpace where you could actually record a video of yourself singing a song. You could also win tickets to concerts and meet your favorite artists. If you're the best interpreter of the song, that is.

Tattooed on my Mind

Told myself that I'd either get inked or pierced this year. I dunno if I can do both ;oP But for the former, I've already started looking for that nice design.

I stumbled upon this website called TattooJohnny.com. You can find beautiful designs there and download your favorites. They also have tips on how to care for your new tattoo.

This is, so far, the design (by Excalibur) that captivated me:It has a tribal and krull-ish feel to it. Most of you know, that my real name is "Salvador" and I seldom use it. But for my tattoo, I wanna use, at least, the letter "S".

I'll still look for some mo' designs. 

Songs I Listen To

Songs that I enjoy listening to right now:

"Love Remains the Same" by Gavin Rossdale - instant favorite. I ♥ this song so so much. Melody is really nice. Here's the lyrics too if you wanna sing along:

A thousand times I've seen you standing
Gravity like lunar landing
You make me want to run 'till I find you
I shut the world away from here
I drift to you, you're all I hear
As everything we know fades to black

Half the time the world is ending
Truth is I am done pretending

I never thought that I
Had anymore to give
You're pushing me so far
Here I am without you
Drink to all that we have lost
Mistakes we have made
Everything will change
But love remains the same

I find a place where we escape
Take you with me for the space
The city buzz sounds just like a fridge
I walk the streets through seven bars
I have to find just where you are
The faces seem to blur
They're all the same

Half the time the world is ending
Truth is I am done pretending

I never thought that I
Had anymore to give
You're pushing me so far
Here I am without you
Drink to all that we have lost
Mistakes we have made
Everything will change
But love remains the same

So much more to say
So much to be done
Don't you trick me out
We shall overcome
It's all left still to play

We should've had the sun
Could have been inside
Instead we're over here

Half the time the world is ending
Truth is I am done pretending
Too much time too long defending
You and I are done pretending

I never thought that I
Had anymore to give
You're pushing me so far
Here I am without you
Drink to all that we have lost
Mistakes we have made
Everything will change
Everything will change

I, oh I,
I wish this could last forever
I, oh I,
As if we could last forever

Love remains the same
Love remains the same

"Gives You Hell" by All American Rejects - nice song while you're driving.

"My Life Would Suck Without You" by Kelly Clarkson - catchy tune.

"Permanent" by David Cook - I dunno if he'll release it as his next single but this song rocks!

"T-Shirt" by Shontelle - brings out your attitude ;oP

If you wanna listen to these songs, click on the play button on my cassette player to the right. Just scroll down.

PhotoFunia

Got this link from Ogz where you can add more pizazz to your photos. You just need to upload a 2 MB (at most) file and the website will take care of it. In just a few seconds, your photo may turn out like anyone of these (had so much fun doing these pics):

Zach & Miri Make a Porno

The movie is about two very broke friends (Rogen & Banks) who, in order to survive, decided to make porno. As simple as that.

I ♥ me some Seth Rogen. I think he's one of the funniest comedians around. Can't wait to watch his next movie.

I didn't know Mr. Superman himself, Brandon Routh, is in the film. His role here is a far cry from his superhero character. I checked his imdb profile and I don't see there any Superman roles in the near future =o(

Another familiar face is Craig Robinson, one of the bad guys in "Pineapple Express". And to all my male friends, Traci Lords & Katie Morgan are in the cast. Remember Jay in "Jay & Silent Bob"? Well, let's just say, he showed more than his acting skills here.

OMFG, the movie is hilarious. You gotta watch the love scene of Zach & Miri.

The soundtrack should be interesting too. While watching the film, all I hear in the background is some 80's porno music.

Patron-ize Me

Am not really a fan of tequila. I remember when I was still working in St. Charles, IL, my colleagues there would order tequila and we'd all take 7 rounds of shots. Shot after shot. That made me really wanna puke. Of course, that won't be "cool" to do. So I faked that I enjoyed it.

I don't do that crazy 7-round thing anymore. I still drink tequila occasionally. But after, like, 9 shots, I say "no" to it 'cause I know, I'd be spillin' my guts out, literally.

Then, Joy & Ogz introduced me to Patron. They say that it really tastes better than Mr. Cuervo. I've been wanting to taste it. The prob is, it is not cheap.

Last Friday night, my jaw dropped when Joy pulled this nice looking green bottle out of a paper bag. Couldn't contain myself after that. I soooo wanna taste it right there and then.

First shot was really nice. It was smooth. Mmmmmm.... I savored the taste in my mouth and throat.

Went back to Jose Cuervo after the third round (we only got a small bottle).

We introduced poker to Karen, Joy and Ryan. Am happy that I wasn't the first one out. It wasn't my lucky night either. I remember only winning once with a straight. Karen emerged the winner.

After finishing the second bottle of tequila, we thought of continuing the fun with beer. Joy & Jet bought some at a nearby store. We setup the MagicSing and sang our hearts away till 2 maybe.

This time, Karen, was the first one out. She positioned herself on our couch and started dozing off. Jet, too, was a casualty. Kids!

Manga

If you wanna know how you'd look like as an animated character, well, here's one for you. My friend, Riccardo, has sent me this link that helps you create a Manga version of yourself.

Do I look like my Manga character?

Now, I wanna see how YOU look like too so once you've created one, send me a copy, will ya?

Here's my evil twin sister, Joy:

Confused Weight

I dunno what happened but I'm not happy with my first official weigh-in last Wednesday. I was hoping to see a change. But it wasn't the change that I was expecting. I gained 2 pounds from last week. Whaaaaaaaat?!!!

I've been going to the gym. Been spending hour-long sessions. I've even reunited with my friends, Mr. Treadmill & Mr. Elliptical.

I've been eating healthy stuff. Less rice and more salad. Less soda. Seriously!

I've been eating less sweets. Been staying away from the ever-tempting strawberry dipped in whipped cream & chocolate.

But why did I gain 2 pounds? Life is NOT fair.

My friend, Linda, informed me that on my next weigh-in, I need to wear less clothing. Don't wear thick sweaters. Remove jewelries (I only have an earring, for Chrissakes!).

Anyhoo, I weighed this morning and I'm only 171 pounds according to my scale.

Pineapple Express

I just saw "Pineapple Express", starring Seth Rogen & James Franco, and it's so freakin' hilarious.

The story's about a pothead (Rogen) who witnessed a murder. He then turned to his dealer (Franco) for help.

Most of the time, the two actors were smoking MJs in the film. Not sure if they really are smoking the real deal 'cause they looked pretty stoned. Or they could be just good actors....

There are a lot of funny moments in this movie. The fight scene involving Seth, Franco and Danny was my favorite. Oh, the last scene in the diner was pretty funny too.

We all know that Seth Rogen is really funny but James Franco was quite a revelation here. No wonder he got a Golden Globe nomination here. I hope there's a new adventure for the characters, Dale & Saul.

Going Back to Motorola

Got a new phone over the weekend. Y'see, I've been using my own phone to call or text peeps around here. That is expensive thing to do ('cause my other phone is on roaming). I'm the only one here who doesn't have a company phone. Sooo, Joy helped me buy one at BestBuy. Thanks, Joy!

We found this Motorola Go Phone (same as my friends') that set me back 10 bucks. They got theirs for, like, 15 bucks. Maybe next time, it will be just 5 bucks ;oP I also got a 25-dollar phone card.

You need to call first from another phone or go online to activate the SIM. Unforch, the AT&T peeps must've been on vacay when I went online. Tried so many times but got frustrated because I kept getting an "Authorization Pending. Try again after an hour." message.

After maybe 3 hours, I tried again. This time, I got lucky. The authorization went through. Yay!

Next step is to buy features. I used another phone to do this. I called the 1-800 number printed on the card the came with the SIM. I bought their 5-dollar worth of 200 messages. That is only good for a month.

I remember, more than a decade ago, my first cellphone was a Motorola. Does MicroTac ring a bell to you? I recall, it used to give me headache because I had to check each call on the bill to make sure I was the one who made it. Hacking was extremely rampant back then. Thank gawd, it doesn't happen anymore these days.

Winter Wonderland

Playing Poker

About 4 years ago, I played my very first poker game back in Manila. Auggie introduced us to the game. He brought some chips & playing cards to work and we played after office hours. I remember back then, we used to have an Excel sheet tallying the winnings of the regular players. We also had our queen of poker back then too—Tabel.

Ahh, so many fond memories... I remember winning from getting four Aces, two nights in a row, and I'll never forget the Kirkpatrick's game in Ashburn where I won 10 bucks for placing third ;oP

Now, thanks to Zynga, you, too, can now play poker online. All you need is a Facebook account. Most of my real poker friends have accounts there so we could still play poker even though we're thousand miles apart. Also, you could play using your computer or your iPhone. Sweet!

I'm happy that I just reached my 100K-winning mark recently.

At Olive Garden

For our first lunch out together, we went to Olive Garden. I love their soupa Tuscana. And that's what I had & some green salad. 

In this photo, we have Joy, Karen & Ryan.Next, we have Ryan again, Jett and Alwyn.Lastly, here are Ogz & Faye.These guys ('cept Ogz & Joy) were "fresh" from the airport so excuse their kinda sleepy look. A new batch of AshBees ;oP

Going Jetta

This is our latest car, a Volkswagen Jetta. It's very small but the nice thing about it is that, it's fuel efficient. The gas right now is at 1.75 bucks, which is also nice. We had to buy an air freshener for it 'cause it reeks of cigarette smoke. 

Have a Break, Have a Green KitKat

Joy bought this from her brief layover in Japan. Being a Kitkat fan, of course, I had to try it.

When you open the foiled pack, the light green color might put you off. But it still is milk chocolaty & has a mild green tea flavor. I like it a lot. On my way back home in July, I'll buy some so my family & friends back home could taste it too.

Gym Days

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are my gym days. I leave my rubber shoes at work so I just need to bring t-shirt & shorts. Around 4 or 5-ish, I go down to the office gym and spend at least 30 minoots on the treadmill, another 30 on the elliptical and another 30 minoots lifting weights.

For the past coupla days, I've been suffering pains on my thighs. Can't lift my legs without cringing. That is good, right? That means, something is happening inside. Maybe a muscle is being born ;oP

I hope in my next WeightWatchers weigh-in, I'd weigh less from all this effort. I'm planning to get a new scale too. I have to check Brookstone if they have a nice one. It's a good motivation to see a change in your weight.

I'm a Weight Watcher

Am dead serious about losing weight. I went to the gym yesterday and burned 400 calories on the treadmill and stationary bike. I haven't been to the gym in a long time, y'see. I'm just happy to burn some cals.

And today, I attended a Weight Watchers meeting. Registration came first. You have to pay 144 bucks for the weekly meeting which runs for 12 weeks. I found out that it's the last meeting of a certain batch and the new batch will start the week after. Anyhoo, I stayed.

The receptionist took the weight of the participants before they took their seats.

Marilyn, the speaker, is very entertaining. She's lively and energetic. She discussed the balance between the food we love and the Filling Food. She showed Ring Dings which is equivalent to 8 points (will tell you more about this later). And then she brought out grapes, English muffin, orange, nuts, etc. which is also 8 points. She pointed out that the other stuff are more filling and will get you through the next meal compared to the 2 choco cakes, which will make you eat more. The key to losing weight is volume but few calories.

So what is the Food Points about? Well, each food has a corresponding point. The higher the number, the more fatty or calories the food has. So stay away from them.

You will also know how much points per day you need to consume. Based on the gender, age group, weight, height and type of work that you do. Mine is 29 points. WW doesn't want you to deprive yourself of the good stuff. You are given an additional 35 points per week. So it's up to you how to use 'em. Uhm, the unused allowance doesn't carry over the following week ;oP

Let's go back to the Ring Dings. You can still eat it though. But, you have to do some activity afterwards. Calories in, calories out.

There was a raffle at the end of the meeting. We put our name tags inside Marilyn's bag and she picked out a name. The winner got a WW magazine.

After the supposedly 30-min meeting, I went back to the registration and signed up. Told ya, I'm serious. I was given my Food Points guide and a book about getting smarter in choosing food. My weight was checked too. Too bad I wore my thick & heavy jacket so I don't think my weight was THAT accurate. Anyhoo, next time, I'll wear something light ;oP

No Mo' Craving for Soda

Knottydon is fond of soda. He loves drinking 'em while having lunch and dinner especially if the food is delish. He consumes at least 2 cans or glasses a day. Sometimes he forgets to drink water. Now that is bad since he gets this extreme lower back pains whenever he hadn't drunk water for a long time.

Starting this year, he decided to lessen his soda intake. Maybe gradually ending the drinking altogether. Just like when he was in college, he actually gave up drinking soda for a year. The following year, he stopped eating chocolates. That dropped his weight to 130.

Now, knottydon is overweight and is trying to fix the prob. Little by little, he's watching his diet. He is drinking apple juice now instead of Coke or Pepsi. He loves "Simply Apple". The funny thing is, Coca-Cola company made it ;oP

Weekend in Tagaytay Photos

I just posted pictures from our last year's trip to Tagaytay. You can see them here: Day One and Day Two.

With Nikks

Cooking the Perfect Breakfast

This tip is for those who enjoy eating good breakfast. We all know that this is the most important meal of the day. If you like bacon, eggs and fried rice for brekky, you're in for a treat. I'll share with you how I make my favorite brekky. Make sure also to follow the sequence and use medium heat.

First the egg. Sunny side-up is how I like my egg to be cooked. Make sure that the oil is hot enuff. You can test this by sprinkling water on the oil. If it doesn't fight back, then it's not hot enuff. When you're targeting a sunny side-up egg, be sure that the yolk is still jiggly and not chalky. 

You can still use the same hot oil & pan.

Second is the rice. When I wanna cook fried rice the morning after, I refrigerate the rice overnight. This prevents the rice to get sticky. Break 'em with your hands. It's fun! Garlic, garlic, garlic. Chop them up and saute 'em (make sure that the oil is hot). When it turns golden brown, that's the time to dump the cold rice. Put some salt. Mix 'em up.

By this time, your rice has used up all the oil but the pan would still be hot. Perfect for our last item.

It's time to line up your thawed bacon strips on the pan. No need to put oil. When the whole thing changes color, flip. Put the cooked ones on paper towel to drain the excess oil. When you can grab the end of the bacon and it doesn't bend, you have done a good job. Bacon should be crispy and never pale.

 
Bon Appetit!

I Have Nothing

It's my first time to fly Japan Airlines. My friends say the service is nice. Since I got zero sleep the night before, I passed out during the four-hour flight. Good thing, when I woke up, there's a sticker informing me that I could get brunch anytime I want. And this is what they served me:The pork was tasty. I think the yellow shredded thing there is egg. Neat-o! The choco dessert was yummy.

Japan airport was huge. We had to transfer (by bus) to Terminal 1 where United/NW is located. I was given a boarding pass but I didn't have a seat yet so I had to request for one before I boarded the plane at half past 4. The nice thing was I'm a Premier client so I was one of the first peeps to get on the huge plane ;oPFor entertainment, I watched "Eagle Eye". Shia was his usual self. Running. Acting scared. Being the hero. I enjoyed the film. I also caught up with episodes of "Desperate Housewives" & "Gossip Girl". Good to see Chuck again in B's arms. Same goes with Dan & Serena. J is being a good girl now. Where is Nate? 

For dinner, I got some beef. For brekky, I got noodles. 'twas delish or I could just be hungry.I'm glad I got to catch some shuteye. Usually when I travel, I don't get to sleep at all. Even in a 12-hour flight such as this one. That's why, I'm jealous of Ogz. This friend of mine could sleep VERY easily. There's this one time, we haven't left the runway yet and his mouth was already open. Teehee.

Lunch was a choice between pasta or omelette. I opted for the former. Bad decision.We touched down on Dulles at 2:30 pm. I immediately took my spot in the non-US citizen line. First question to me by the immigration officer was, "Do you still work for Telos?" I said yes. He asked me what my job title is. And then he wrote some stuff down. Then he asked me to do the finger scan thingie. When it's time to look at the camera, he said, "Look at the camera and sing the last verse of Wowowee". What?! He said that it's becoming a national anthem now. I told him that I don't watch it. Teehee. Then we chatted about the weather. Before leaving, he told me to get some rest 'cause it was a long flight. OMG! I want all officers to be like him ;oP

Found my luggage right away and then exited the airport. I quickly got a cab to take me home.

Then bad news. I have no phone, tv nor internet. Bummer! I called Linda at work and told her about my situation. She informed me that she'll pick me up for grocery shopping in a few minoots. At least, I'll have food for the weekend.

After my bath, I heard a knock. It was Linda. We went to Harris Teeter to buy some stuff. She also informed me that I'll get back my home entertainment and car by Monday. What an interesting weekend it's gonna be!

Around 8 pm, there's another knock on my door. It was Hugh. I told him about my situation. He offered to give me the key to the other apartment. Sweet! I could go there to call my family and get online. Thank God!!!