Marcus Can Blog

Two more days and 2008 will already end. And couple more hours from now, I’d be functioning as a daddy and being Hobbes* again. So I’m thinking, why not grab these wee hours of the morning, while both wifey and baby is sleeping soundly, to review what has happened at least for my blog activity and the news or event that inspired it.

I made a run through of the blogs I did since January to date, and so far I killed time 79 times this year – that means I had 79 post overall. Of course, I’m quite sure that like photographers, bands/singers and like any other writers and bloggers of course, each has their own favorites in their portfolio. These will be the ones that when reviewed over and over again affirms that we indeed did a good job, somehow – this uplifts confidence. The opposite of which, and that is the remaining works, of course will come to haunt us like a sequel of a previous nightmare – needless to say this is downgrading and makes one interest his interest in the craft.

As any other self-respecting person would do, I will list only my favorite blogs for this year and here they are in order of posting date (starting from January to December):

1. 1000 Kilometers, 1 B-Movie, 3 Coffee. I wrote this blog for the first time from our company’s (after my shift. FYI) parking lot while waiting for wifey and while trying to compose it with the draining battery of my old, yet trusty T42 IBM laptop.
2. 2008: Year of Changes?. A start of the year reflection on what has happened and things that may yet to come.
3. SNAFU to Clark’s Balloon Fest. Not well composed, but this one reminds me of the time when my wife and I spent several hours lockpicking our brand new Honda during an eventful gas stop to Clark.
4. The Rock Star in Me. Any fictitious story coming true is worth writing. This is my first Arnel Pineda blog. And by the way, this is the most read (or clicked) – it registered 394 views to date.
5. Is Auto Financing Math or English? I almost landed a writing job for an auto forum when I wrote this. The reason why I was considered actually originated from my Rio and Gino blog which has an auto related review. Unfortunately, the financing subject caught me unguarded – reason why I haven’t heard from the forum folks anymore.
6. Part II: Ship is Sinking. Another blog sequel but which I find better than the first because the “sinking” here is more imminent.
7. House For Sale? My ebay venture blog. I learned a lot from it and have sold several items thru the internet.
8. Something Looks Familiar An F1 related blog – inspired by a familiar corporate logo – which contains one of the historic events during this year’s season.
9. Back on 2 Wheels. One of the things I did this year to save on gas is to have a motorcycle on July. I now bring it to work every chance I can.
10. Rubik’s Cube. Three words – I did it (finally).
11. Heroes Wanted: Dead or Alive. The truth is, I’m one of those who has the hatred and shame of being a Filipino but is constantly thinking how I can do my own part to get out of that sentiment. So when the “I am Ninoy” movement came out, I eagerly gave it a chance to sink in.
12. We’re Moving Out (A Parody). Despite my low emotional state, this blog is one of my wackiest compositions.
13. Photo Loco. Inspired after attending a basic photography class, the photo enthusiast in me kicked in. In this blog I posted several shots that got some compliments from other friends who are also into photography. A couple of related blogs followed next.
14. We’re now parents. An early Christmas gift for us. We now have a baby.
15. Halloween Weekend. My 1^st blog written while in wifey’s place in Batangas. This is also when I started using the “Honks!” scale in my blogs.
16. Leadership, Changes and Transition. This is what this year is all about.
17. Filipino Pride. This is one of those days when the news all over the country is that crime has ceased to exist – at least every time Manny Pacquiao is up on the ring to fight.

Next year will be another blogging year and I’m hoping that I’ll do more and better blogs. If there are things I’d like to have for me to continue doing so, these will be time, inspiration and wisdom. Oh by the way, I’d like to get paid as well. Hahaha.

*I was wondering why my wife’s been calling me Hobbes, but then I figure it’s better than hubby so let it be.

Mood: 2/10 Honks!

It’s been 3 days already since I’ve been eating the chocolate roll that we had for noche Buena. My diet since then has been on leftovers and thankfully, it looks like this day will be the last – unless our refrigerator reveals another Tupperware with foods still waiting to be consumed.

Did I mention that there's puto, too?

At least the good thing about having a wife good at cooking is that the leftovers get to have some twist during every other meal. Like yesterday, the embutido meet up with the excess spaghetti sauce and presto, instant new spicy recipe that went well with rice for lunch. The dessert though, was still the enduring chocolate cake. Actually, it was coupled with a peach-sago salad. Not bad.

I’m not sure yet, if what’s happening right now inside my body as the last time I had an intense activity – outside our house – was when I joined a badminton dual-meet 2 weeks ago. After that whole day of flexing, jumping and smashing, I was on all out calorie collection as if some polar bear stacking some body fats for hibernation. Now, I’m trying to avoid stepping on the weighing scale. I’m now convincing myself to remember the saying, “what you don’t know won’t hurt you.” And I might as well add another inspiring line, “round is a shape.” Ti abi.

Oh calories, my calories. How can I resist the sexy shrimps.

Frankly, I don’t know if I can fit some real cardiovascular activities among some other plans I have during this vacation period. The nearest I can get some sweat out is by doing household chores – involving lots and still lots of clean up to be done, detailing the car (which I already did from 7-12 noon yesterday), and a couple of house fixes that are already on my to-do list.

Some fitness gurus say that what matters most with each person’s well being is that you look good and feel good about yourself. Well, I think I’d prefer for now feeling good about myself. Let’s worry about the looking good part next year while I compete with those running the treadmill at the gym. Hahaha.

Let me leave this blog with the following quotes:

“Eat well, not many.” – crisn (that’s me)

“People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas.” – unknown.

“Once again, we come to the holiday season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.” – Dave Barry

Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Make every day of the year Christmas. Christmas is in our hearts. These are just a couple of famous lines I’d always remember about Christmas. Even then, bringing back the same feeling of how it was celebrated during my childhood years seems to be getting more impossible with each passing year. It must have something to do with age or whatever excuses. But nowadays, I yearn for innocence and simple joys that this season brings.

Back when I was a kid, I remember my excitement the moment I’d hear Christmas carols being played over the radio – usually when the “ber” months begin. There’s always anticipation that “Joy to the world” or “Ang pasko ay sumapit” will once again be heard right after the last week of August. This is just how it was then. This is just how we Filipinos have been known as having the longest Christmas season. Most tourists and other people from other countries are fascinated by the fact that even on September Christmas decors are starting to be seen already in some homes here in the Philippines.

I actually didn’t care for years already. Besides, I’ve come to accept that times have indeed changed. Since I reached my adolescence and the more after I started working I’ve surrendered to the unavoidable – that sometimes Christmas will be spent at work. I’ve likewise accepted of course that Santa never did exist; that some ninongs and ninangs do intentionally hide from their godchildren; that as we grow old, the chances of getting toys as gifts are fading; and that Christmas after all is just for kids. A few more years and maybe I’d soon find myself as one green creature – the Grinch.

So why am I starting to fret about wanting to feel Christmassy once again? That’s because I want our baby boy to experience it just like we did when we were kids. It’s funny but looking at his wide innocent eyes peering out of the window and being awed by the twinkling of the multi-colored lights makes me mushy and brings me back in time about three decades ago. It looks like those clear baby eyes are silently questioning why is everyone is in a hurry, why are there fake pine trees everywhere and all of which are clad in various decorations, why is there a group of kids outside singing jolly carols and why is there Christmas in the first place.

Our son's first gift exchange.

Today, on our way to Batangas, instead of playing his usual Barney CDs I tried scanning the radio stations in search for Christmas songs. To my dismay, none of my preset stations played any of the tunes. All I got were every genre but no Christmas carols. And to think that it’s December 25^th worsen my disappointment. The spirit of the season isn’t on air already – not until the radio’s auto-tune stopped at 100.3 FM (RJ FM). They’re playing 48 hours of Christmas music and that one cheered me up in an instant. And although I can’t confirm that our baby boy did appreciate it as well, I’m just so glad that at least one station still dedicated 2 days of nothing but Christmas music. I know the memories of hearing these will embed in the mind of our baby for his first Christmas ever.

Now I still wonder, is it still Christmas? Or did Christmas fade after some of us completed the 9-day misa de gallo; after all the noche Buena have been eaten; and after all the gifts have been opened? Hopefully, it’s still Christmas…

Effect of Christmas music - sleepy backseat passengers.

Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Just as Christmas brings a lot of emotions , activities, gifts, spiritual enlightenment and almost all other sort of things that the past eleven months failed to have, I realized that it would be a pity if one just looks at one aspect of this yuletide season. Of course, when you look at everything there’s always the chance to see both the good and bad side of it, that’s whether we like it or not.

The lyrics from the song Santa Claus is coming to town, “He sees you when you’re sleepin’, he knows when your awake, he knows if you been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake…” is a good reminder that December is the perfect time to check if we’ve been good or bad alright. Sadly, while some of us are reflecting if we have been good or bad, the latter still continues to be just around during this time of the year; and sadder than that, it may even occur in the midst of our holiday preparations despite our good intentions.

Like some doctors say, “I have a bad news and a good news…which one would you like to hear first?” I’d say, give me the bad news first.

Bad news

Road traffic. Everyone has experienced this I’m sure. Whether you’re in a public transport or in the comfort of your air-conditioned car this scenario is inescapable – unless you’re one of those shameless politicians (you know what I mean). It’s during this traffic jams that each driver’s (and some passengers) temperament and courtesy is tested. Often times this is when all yuletide cheers seem to just vanish into thin air. And more alarming lately are the incidents related to drunk driving. These drivers for sure won’t get any more Jack Daniels from Santa; not even flying reindeers – that is, if they’ll survive those car crashes. Ouch.

Long queues. As if after driving from a long tiring trip to the mall isn’t enough, there are more jams waiting inside the shopping areas. Once again, this is when and where temperaments, courtesies and patience are put to the test. Observing any long queue, one will most likely chance upon someone with Christmas gifts seen smiling at the end of the line but ends up like grinches (for whatever reasons) when they reach the cashier.

Trashes. I was so glad when I read from the Philippine Star about a reminder coming from Greenpeace (if I’m not mistaken) for everyone to put the environment in mind when planning for their respective Christmas parties. Always remember to reuse and recycle. It also won’t hurt to use some common sense when disposing your garbage properly. Let’s not piss Santa Claus so much that we’ll soon find our own trashes stuffed inside our yuletide socks instead of gifts.

Recession season. As the rest of the people are anticipating a merry Christmas and a happy new year, others are bracing for the impact of the economic slump which has affected the U.S. Its effect has rippled through the rest of the world already and one of the unavoidable outcomes is the number of layoffs by corporations from all industries. One of the giant employers affected by such is Intel and as a matter of fact several of my colleagues and friends will be jobless by next year (I myself almost lost my own but thankfully I made a U-turn after I applied and got hired for a vacant position). There’s nothing more I can do now but hope that their transition and recovery will be quick.

Whew! The list can go on. Does this mean Santa will have lots of checking to do and will have lesser recipients this year? Anyway, I’m not wasting more precious time…so this time let me tell the good news.

Time to give. This is I guess is the key to enjoy the Christmas season. Actually it’s the main reason why there’s Christmas to be celebrated after all. Remember the bible verse, “For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son”? And do you still remember the three kings who had to endure a long and dangerous trip to pay baby Jesus a visit in the manger? These all show that the essence of this season is all about giving. It’s all about sharing. No more no less.

On my part, especially for this year’s holiday season, the presence of our baby boy must have an effect on how I give gifts. My long standing plan to go green by reusing what I have at home and to put some creativity to good use finally came true. Last year, I started saving the comic sections of the dailies as I see it as a good alternative for Christmas wrappers. I also pay extra attention to tips (on TV, newspapers, magazines) that may put some personal touch to the way we give. And so this year, I have already given a couple that I’m quietly so proud of.

The first one was when I was cramming for gift ideas for my father’s 75^th birthday. After combing SM Bacolod, back and forth, I bought a small cheap plastic tool box (Ace Hardware), a silver ribbon and then a birthday card (National Bookstore). At home, I wrote in the card and placed some “Ninoy” bills inside the tool box and sealed it off with a lovely ribbon – with the help of my wife – presto, a unique gift indeed. Goodbye boring red envelope.

The second one was when I was preparing a gift for a colleague for our team’s Christmas party. Wondering how I’d hide any hint that it is a book, I arrived at the idea of putting it inside an empty 6-liter PET bottle. Then I stuffed shredded newspapers and wrapped the clear bottle with another newspaper. In the end it appeared more like a bomb than a harmless gift. Well, at least she got what she put in her wish list.

A thick message in a bottle - tranformation from book to crap.

Tonight, we’ll have our own simple exchange gift giving at home. It will be just my wife, our 8-month old boy and myself. I don’t know if they’ll like what I did, but then again as the cliché goes, “it’s the thought that counts”. Hahaha. Looks like a good excuse for having crappy gifts and wraps.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Like any other bloggers, the most feared blogger or better known as writer’s cramp has hit me. It seems like that I’m beating all odds just to make time to do it and it’s also as if I’ve got all the reasons (or alibis) of not being able to come up with a regular post.

There’s of course the baby who has gotten most of mine and my wife’s attention not to mention energies. There’s the “mysterious” hectic schedule at work that always makes me wonder why despite the economic slowdown, decrease in demand, people separation and the upcoming shutdown still manages to take a large portion of my time. Lastly, there are also several parties that have to be attended and the booze that goes along with it dilutes every blogging ideas and replaces it with a bad hangover.

And since most of these reasons I mentioned generate overwhelming ideas to write about, everything eventually ended up into one reason why I’m stuck with a mind full of bright light bulb moments and yet unfortunately and desperately, none made it to the blog world. It’s like having an intersection of late employees eagerly wanting to drive through it and in the process collided with each other causing a more chaotic and hopeless traffic jam.

But tonight, our baby who has become more energetic (and more entertaining) by each passing day has somehow run out of steam. It must be the cold December breeze outside or it may be because of the hot bath I gave. No matter what made him hit the sack early, this for me is plain opportunity. But then again, I don’t know if I should feel lucky or not for having some time to blog because I actually feel right now that my blogging brain has quit running. I’m so desperate to purge those ideas that have been raring to get out of my nutshell.

This situation I’m currently at made me remember two people. One is Jim Paredes, whom in his article in the Sunday (Dec. 7, 2008) edition of the Philippine Star wrote, “Why I Write”. This article likewise appears in his blog. Another one is Saedel Pensoy, whom I incidentally happen to know when I read his comment in one of Jim Paredes’ blog.

In his article Jim said, “But sometimes, “constipation” traps the thoughts, feelings and words in the deep bowels of the mind. The more one tries to write, the harder it seems to produce output. And that can be worrisome when one has a weekly deadline…” Then he added, “And yet, one must write, not because of a deadline or the pay, and not because, like the analogy of the toilet ritual, it can be toxic to keep it all inside. I write because I am one of those cursed people who have been awakened to writing and have been enlisted to do so…”

These words are just my exact sentiments; it’s just that Jim eventually had it in writing. Mine became a bad case of writer’s constipation – for the lack of a better word.

Unfortunately, Jim’s recovery didn’t infect Saedel. Just like me (that’s my opinion), I find Saedel a writer and blogger in progress. After I learned about his site, I kept on coming back to read his present and previous blogs. And from it I saw how he has improved a lot in almost every aspect of writing – i.e. grammar and composition. At some point he even decided to monetize his blogs and everything went spontaneous from then on. Not until he wrote, “10 Drafts and a Focus“. When I read it I knew he’s having the most hated writer’s cramp. And like helplessly watching a friend die, I soon witness that it became the last entry in his website. Currently, it has become an attraction for spam commenters. I can’t help but hope that he has moved to another blog provider and continued what he do best – blog.

Time really flies so fast when I’m in front of the PC. I checked and I’ve been here thinking and typing for a couple of hours already. HBO’s rerun of Mr. Bean’s Holiday has ended and another movie is almost halfway through. My second shot of my night cap has evaporated (did it really?). Good thing though that our baby boy is still sleeping – of course, like a real baby. Tomorrow is the start of our two-week vacation and if time permits, I’d sure be glad to blog some more. Maybe.

"I'll be right here when you're done..."

Mood: 5/10 Honks!

This is another time I’d deviate from my blog rule of not jumping to the bandwagon. I’m so sure that after watching the boxing match between the Golden Boy and the Pacman, the web and specifically the blog world is abuzz with the result of the recently concluded match. I can count right now things that boxing enthusiasts might be doing at this very moment – there’s just two.

The Golden Boy has lost his glitters.

Some might still be reeling from the unbelievable (yet, predicted somehow) ending of the De La Hoya and Pacquiao fight. I don’t want to sound discriminating, but generally Mexicans I’m sure are disappointed that another of their boxing hero has fallen into the hands of the Filipino sensation; and needless to say, most Filipinos are celebrating once again for another victory that our homegrown hero, Manny Pacquiao, has once again stood against all odds and let his hands do the talking inside the famous MGM arena.

With his English also improving, will the victorious Pacman eventually join wordpress?

On the other hand, there might be another good thing that I’m quite sure of is that whatever camp one is in, and either one is celebrating or lamenting, the chances of being with a beer and a couple of friends to be with is just high. Unfortunately, I’m in no position to be in that kind of event or scenario right now. But of course I wouldn’t trade that for me to be at home with my wife and baby and watch the fight live on TV courtesy of our Barzaga “friends” – Congressman Pidi and Mayor Jenny.

Another "effort" from our Congressman, Pidi and wife, Mayor Jenny Barzaga.

I realized that this is the second time in a row that I’ve enjoyed watching live boxing feed (last one was between Pacquiao and Morales). Both of which have been sponsored by the “friends” I mentioned. I can’t seem to think what to make out of it – except to enjoy the free live feed – as I can’t help but think that the “efforts” of our friends doesn’t actually come free after all. I know for a fact that to watch this match live means that some sort of amount of money had to be shed. And that money might have been spared at the expense of our town’s road improvement and/or maintenance. It’s pathetic, but then again who knows Dasmarinas will produce more Filipino pride that our baby will be cheering at when he eventually gets to appreciate the sports of boxing.

Big and small boxing fans (Taken just before the Golden Boy called it quits.)

So while I can’t have any influence yet on how our town’s budget is spent, I just might as well enjoy what is presently being celebrated by millions of Filipinos worldwide. Manny, you’re the man! You’re indeed a (one and only?) Filipino pride.

Mood: 1/10 Honks!

Postscript: It’s a coincidence, but I clicked my mouse to Arnel Pineda’s album in my My Music folder while drafting this blog. I’m thankful, that there’s another Filipino pride other than Manny. Lastly, another one I can think of right now is another singer Charice Pempengco (did I get the spelling right?). At least, I got 3 in my list. Ti abi.

“A coward is a hero with a wife, kids, and a mortgage.” -Marvin Kitman, author and media critic (b. 1929)

Today is my first time to be left alone with some so little yet so handful to be with – our baby. I had to skip work just to see and feel how well I’ll do with this tiny living gift we got just less than a month ago. Likewise it’s my way of checking if the baby routines systematically listed by my wife on the cork board will work out fine if followed to the dot by our neighbor whom we asked to babysit for him while we’re out.

The drowsiness and a bit of headache didn’t keep my enthusiasm to face the day – more than 12 hours ahead with just me and him. And the moment my wife closed the gate and headed for work, I was mentally conditioning myself and was trying if I can remember the routines even if I’m not looking at it. There’s breakfast, vitamin and supplement intake, bath time, playtime and lunch for the first half. The second half upon review shows two more playtimes separated by two other routines. Wow! Isn’t that overwhelming enough for someone who’ll be left alone with such demanding baby?

Now after 12 hours that seems to me like months of workout in the gym – at least there you don’t wipe someone else’s poop – I didn’t realize that I finished everything that is listed. Right after I set the innocent and handsome looking small guy in his colorful crib, with his eyes beginning to show his sleepiness, I was so ecstatic that I feel like calling a celebration. Unfortunately, I can’t shout for joy as I’m so sure it will be like waking a sleeping little giant – who’ll be so eager to get out of his sleeping pen once again to play like there’s no tomorrow.

A dad's mandatory and embarassing picture with the Jollibee mascot. Taken in SM Bacolod.

Mood: 2/10 Honks!

As previously mentioned, my mother’s 2 year PC remained almost in its pristine condition. Until now, the only files that got updated or added in it are pictures. And normally, it is always us who did the downloading every time we pay them a visit especially during December. The whole year round she uses it only to get connected to us through emails – thankfully she learned how to do it.

Having used it again for this week’s short vacation, I had mixed feelings when I discovered about its almost untouched state. I feel happy that at least she haven’t installed any bootleg softwares in it. But at the same time I feel a bit frustrated as it still obviously lacks MS Office, photo editors, file compression and other tools that I need to do a blog – easily, and also share pictures to my distant sister who always craves to see what’s happening back here.

So instead of wishing I had another $100 to shed for a genuine MS Office installer, my desperate mind remembered to check the web for what might be legally free so I can proceed with my business of blogging, editing, and uploading of pics.

Fortunately, my web searches became fruitful enough and with the help of my mother’s PLDT Vibe connection I diligently (mark this word) spent some time checking these freebies. The following are the result of my downloads:

*OpenOffice. This is an underdog with a surprising package compared to Microsoft’s Office. I’ve actually heard about this before from a friend who is an OSS (Linux) fan. But since I have a genuine MS Office software back then, I ignored the existence of a free OpenOffice. Now, after downloading the approx 150MB file, I instantly became a fan. I never knew that this free software will match that of its Microsoft counterpart. In fact, I’m now using its Writer (to do this blog) and I find the interface and features not so far apart from MS Word. It has all the basics such as spell checker, formatting buttons and what surprised me most it also has an autorecovery feature – no need to worry when the PC shutdowns after the baby pressed on some buttons intentionally or not.

*GIMP 2. It’s short for GNU Image Manipulation Program 2. I downloaded this free photo editor with the intention of just resizing the large image files for an easy Flickr.com uploading. It came as a surprise when I saw that this one is almost the same with my Canon photo editor. One cool feature I find is its ability to scale an image just by selecting the scale button and then dragging the corners of the picture. During the process a window shows the aspect ratio of your file so that one can stop at the desired size. The downside of this software though is that it’s a bit slow and cannot accommodate multiple files in an instant. File size: 15MB.

*VSO Image resizer. Now this one means business when the job is just about resizing. VSO resizes multiple files in a jiffy. Period. This one is highly recommended. File size: 6MB.

With these files I now feel that I’m getting hooked with online freewares (legit). I’m now actually looking for a free screen grabber but so far the one that I’ve downloaded (sreengrabberinstall.zip) seems to be a disappointment as its installation requires another file to be downloaded. Anyway, the three files I mentioned may be enough for now. Somehow, this just proves the cliché, “the best things in life are free.”

***

I said to mark the word “diligently” when using PLDT Vibe’s connection. Why? That’s because it did not perform to my expectation. My mother have a P999 plan and it’s supposed to have at least 500kbps (or even more) connection speed but upon using speedtest.net’s tester it only yielded 196kbps download speed. My Digitel connection at home can even match that at some point and my subscription plan is just for 128kbps. I have doubts now if I’ll change DSL provider next year. Ti abi.

Mood: 3/10Honks!

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