| Writer's Block: Swine Times |
[May. 1st, 2009|12:39 am] |
This is a silly question, but maybe this can get me out of my blogger's block.
I am swine. |
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| 2007! The Five Secrets Disclosure Meme |
[Jan. 2nd, 2007|10:45 pm] |
Hey I haven't been posting here in LJ! Since it's 2007... time to post again? Nah, I just have a meme to post!
From my main blog:
the disclosure meme: five things about me you probably didn't know
Fear. I fear firecrackers, so none for me this new year. I have never lit one. I guess that saved me some body parts. I fear horror movies for the gory parts. I never watch them.
Ignorance. I don't have many skills: cooking, car repair and maintenance. I don't know sports: basketball, bowling, billiards, and even chess. I don't know how to play any card game.
Mood. I have bipolar disorder. So slow me down when I'm hyper, and catch me if my ideas are flying!
Femininity. No, not what you might be thinking! I take pride in my nice, girly handwriting. I feel I have a strong feminine side.
Satisfaction. I have stereotypical feminine food tastes: I don't like meat, but I love carbs and sweets too much, especially baked goods. I also developed the strange habit of eating with one hand only, either a fork or spoon alone. (Which is good since it slows down my eating.)
Please share your secrets!
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) bujoy,
akni,
eclair,
passion_pomelo,
and
the_chemist. Thanks thanks!
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| My Germany in Pictures |
[Sep. 27th, 2006|04:53 am] |
I haven't felt like writing a travelogue - lazy blogger me. Here are some of the things I've been doing:
Spending Euros (oi-ros over here):
Visited Frankfurt:
and entered its old church:
Visited Heidelberg, and its castle:
Finally got to eat some German food:
and catch a special Düsseldorf beer, brewed only three times a year:
And of course work. Which I don't post about, even on my main blog. Let's just say, I'm very bullish about it!
More pics in mparaz @ flickr. Taken by my friend who lives somewhere near Frankfurt and joined me for the weekend. |
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| Düsseldorf Doings |
[Sep. 21st, 2006|05:17 am] |
I've uploaded some pics to mparaz @ flickr. Apologies to the poor quality, I am no photographer.
Some stuff I've done:
walked around - it's nice to walk and you don't feel tired when it's cool;
tried the different urban transit systems - bus, Straßenbahn (streetcar) and Stadtbahn (light rail transit);
visited the Altstadt (old town) with the "world's largest pub" - streets and streets of outdoor pubs/restaurants;
visited the Königsallee - high end shopping avenue;
went up the Rheinturm (Rhine Tower), 168 meters above the Rhine with a great view of the city;
ate bratwurst mit brötchen (in bread), döner, schnitzel, turkey, fish & chips;
drank some Altbier (which had a nasty bitter aftertaste), gotta try others;
... and of course, work stuff, what I came here for! |
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| Die Wanderlust |
[Sep. 19th, 2006|01:48 am] |
I'm out of the country again. This time, for more training in Düsseldorf. I arrived yesterday (September 17). No touristy stuff yet, except for walking around the hotel neighborhood. No incidents, yet. (whew!)
The trip was long since it was Emirates: Manila-Dubai, Dubai-Düsseldorf. The line at NAIA 1 was very long since they were checking the passports of the Dubai-bound OFW's. 8 hours to Dubai, which went by fast thanks to the very new inflight entertainment system with movies and TV on demand. Then a very long 4 hours waiting at Dubai airport. The terminal here is really overflowing - not enough space for the volume of people passing through. The waiting areas are behind the security check/boarding pass submission, so no chance to properly sit down.
At Düsseldorf, the baggage claim was so fast. We waited so long for our flight's belt, to find out later that it finished quickly and our baggage was at outside the cargo office. This happened no thanks to the long lines at immigration - not enough officers. It's a Sunday! Also thanks to the Sunday, we had another little problem. The money changer was closed, but there was a slow ATM-style machine. Which only accepted up to US$50. $100's no good. Fortunately, I had a $20 with me, good for less than 15 euros, and I was able to withdraw 20 euros from my BPI account which had only PhP 2,000 left. So, I had enough to take the cab to the hotel. 17 euros.
The hotel room was pretty small, like those you see in the movies. I wanted to sleep normally and adjust, so I stayed awake until 10pm. I walked around the neighborhood and checked the bus stops. The temperature is OK, not as cold as I had feared (whew). For dinner I ate a doener at a Turkish place. 2,40 for the doener and 0,90 for drinks.
Today we went to the office. Quite a long walk to the bus stop, then around 15 minutes' bus. The office is at a business park-style place at the outskirts of town. We crossed the Rhine river on the way - now this is Europe!
To be continued... |
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| help this guy find a date! |
[Sep. 14th, 2006|10:04 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
I've seen lots of stuff on the web... so it's about time someone thought of this.
datejoaquin.com
Exactly on September 17, 2006, is 100 days from Christmas… and 100 days from that day, I vow to prove that love can happen if you are determined. It’s not a mission.. .. or a goal… or anything like that…. But it’s a Christmas Wish … that by Christmas, I may find that smile that can get my attention…. If not a relationship, at least, someone real, and a potential which we both can work on. :-)
Can you help him? Check out his site, and refer him a date so he could fulfill his wish! |
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| denouement. |
[Jul. 19th, 2006|01:33 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | home aquarium water | ] |
I'm home. Nothing interesting happened on the way. |
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| the anticlimax |
[Jul. 18th, 2006|12:02 am] |
After all the drama that's been happening, I'd like to share the mundane things in Tel Aviv.
Carmel Market is the "Divisoria" style market, the difference being the imported goods are from Europe instead of China. We visited yesterday. Another Dead Sea products shop was here. Nothing personally interesting to me.
Today we had a quick tour of Tel Aviv. This was sponsored by the Israel Diamond Exchange, so the tour ended by visiting their museum - how they buy, cut and polish diamonds fromo the olden times to the present. Unfortunately we have no access to the exchange floor - a high security area. They have an "outlet store" for various diamond jewelry and stones.
Before that, we drove through Tel Aviv and saw some of the important streets. We only took a walking tour in Old Yafo - the thousands of years-old city of Tel Aviv, which is not yet a hundred years old. We saw an artists' colony, some churches, and a fort which was part of Napoleon's occupied Palestine.
When we got back to the hotel after the tour, we went back to Old Yafo. We were thinking about taking the bus, but decided on taking a long walk instead. My companions bought water pipes ("hookah" - though there's an Arabic name as well.) I had nothing to buy, so all I got was food - a fresh strawberry milkshake (no sugar!), and an Arabic (I think) style bagel with cheese, olives, tuna, chicken and vegetable choices from a famous bakery called Said something.
Then we went back to the hotel room of our companions who haven't got their flights confirmed and are still staying on. I had some cash with me, and it was gone! Good thing I was counting my money and checked. What happened was that when I had checked out in the morning before the Diamond Exchange tour, I left the envelope in the safe. It was stuck between the terms and conditions plastic card.
I guess I was still panicky from the events of the past few days. I was trying to hide it but it shows.
After this, we took a taxi to Ben Gurion International - around 40 minutes - and came in early for the flight. I was thinking lots of people would be flying out. I also expected a longer security interview because I wasn't able to process my "exit pass" from the office. I was fortunately wrong on both counts - there was no abnormal amount of people in the airport, and the security interview wasn't much.
Physical security was a problem. I had a pack of processed (I think) Dead Sea mud. This had to be taken out of my bag and packed separately in a carton. The airport security guy packed it when I checked in, so I'll have to claim this in Hong Kong then check it in again going to Manila. I also had to fix my ticket since it was rebooked. I had the sheet but the check-in required that I go to the ticket office and have it stamped.
Now I've been sitting here in the terminal lounge for a while. |
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| Tension and relaxation |
[Jul. 17th, 2006|03:35 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Tel Aviv | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | relaxed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | CNN | ] |
I'm now posting from Dan Panorama Tel Aviv. It's quite peaceful now, and I am very full. We ate a burger and a kebab on the beach, walking distance from this place.
How did we get here?
Last night, the air was getting tense. I woke up many times, and looked if anything was happening outside the window. Nothing. I got up in the morning and checked the news. The administration advised Haifa residents to stay home. Still, I needed to go to work since we had two more days.
I got out pretty late, and so did 2 of my companions. Two of them went to the office ahead. While I was eating, there was a rattling sound. The 2 who were upstairs heard a boom. I saw smoke rising - here's someone else's pic. We were looking out the window, and less than a minute later, the sirens started. Time to evacuate.
The Dan Panorama Haifa hotel has a small mall. Under ground level, there is a parking lot, and under the parking lot, is the shelter. At first, the few hotel guests who had remained where filling it up. Some other people started streaming in. This included some elderly folks and their Filipina caregivers. We got in past 9. At first, SMS and voice calls could not be made - the whole of Haifa was probably busy.
The shelter had a TV, water supply, toilets... and some dust. Apparently this hasn't been used for a while. Here's a pic. We getting very bored, until one of the 2 companions at the office said that the office(our partner) has arranged for transportation to Tel-Aviv, and a hotel booking. We packed up fast, checked out, and headed here.
Heavy traffic going south. It seems many residents of Haifa and northern Israel are seeking other places to stay. At this hotel, lots of people were checking in.
Earlier this afternoon, we took a look at a Divisoria type market. I bought nothing - my bag is already too full and heavy. Then in the evening we went to the beach. While sitting down on a couch, we were still talking about the war, and watching warplanes' lights in the sky. |
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| War and Peace in Haifa |
[Jul. 14th, 2006|06:42 pm] |
So people were asking me yesterday if I was OK. Yes, the Katyusha rockets launched by Hizbollah from Lebanon.
Lebanon is not too far away.
Before the attacks last night, the military presence was already building up. Jets and helicopters were flying across Haifa on their way north. Police presence was visible on the streets, to deter terror activities.
Then the attacks came. I was at the usual hangout, the hotel business lounge, where people at free snacks/light dinner, watch CNN (and you can't change the channel), and surf the expensive WiFi. The attendant changed the TV to a local channel in Hebrew. One of the places hit was Stella Maris road.
That's around 30 minutes walk downhill. I've been there. This is a local guy with a shot up close.
The other attack was at the downtown area. We could not see it from the business lounge vantage point, but we could see the police sirens.
Fortunately, nobody was hurt in Haifa. We won't be hiding in the shelters.
Today, it was back to normal, and we went to a peaceful place, the Bahá'í Shrine, Terraces and Gardens. Still, you couldn't hide the sonic booms and the chopper sounds overhead. |
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| first bunch of Israel pics |
[Jul. 3rd, 2006|05:15 pm] |
Here's the first bunch of pics my colleague took on his cam. All souvenir shots of me! Hopefully he'll post his other shots elsewhere.
I'll label and rotate them later.
I have a few shots on my 640x480 cam phone, I'll upload them when I get back. Might get more shots since I'll still here for two weeks more ... |
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| Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and More |
[Jul. 2nd, 2006|03:23 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | hotel room | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | all quiet | ] |
Today we took a paid ($95) day tour of the Dead Sea and Jerusalem. Then, my colleague went home - he should be posting the pics. I only have a 640x480 phonecam and no Bluetooth on my laptop...
Some highlights:
- I finally got to see desert. And camels, at the Beduin settlements.
- The Dead Sea hurts the "sensitive spots" of your body. Even sea spray entering your eyes. Good thing I didn't wet my eyes while floating. The mud is nice but the noontime sun on your salty body hurts.
- From Haifa to the Dead Sea, we passed inside the West Bank! There were Israeli military security checks going in and out, but we didn't enter Palestinian Authority area.
- Old Jerusalem is very much "in use" and lived in, despite its age and thousands of years old walls. In the distance, a new wall is going up - separating Jerusalem from the Palestinian territory.
- I finally entered a synagogue, filled with Orthodox Jews in hats and suits. This is beside the Western ("Wailing") wall. Too bad I forgot a write a note to stick into the wall.
- The Arab market is big, and has all sorts of neat stuff. I wasn't shopping for anything in particular, though.
- The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is... nakakakilabot, even if you're not religious. Among others, Golgotha and the tomb of Jesus are there. The hall of the Last Supper, rebuilt by the Crusaders (same guys as in Akko) feels lighter.
- Old Jerusalem has plenty of stairs, you need to climb up and down.
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| Israel Notes |
[Jun. 25th, 2006|03:37 pm] |
1. Took a tour yesterday to the old, historical city of Akko ("Acre") and the historical border with Lebanon, Rosh Hanikra, in Northern Israel. Now I feel we should appreciate our local historical heritage more.
2. There are plenty of street performers here, playing for tips. At the downtown bazaar, there was a jazz quartet playing at the back of my truck! (I took a camphone pic -- just don't have a bluetooth dongle now)
3. Did Hugh Laurie (of House) visit Israel? There's a guy in the hotel who looks just like him. No, I didn't steal a pic. |
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| Up and Down Haifa |
[Jun. 25th, 2006|03:24 pm] |
Friday and Saturday are the weekend in Israel. The Jews observe Shabbat Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. Haifa is said to be the least observant cities, so restaurants are still open. Shops and some public utilities are closed.
I got up pretty late, since it's my chance to go alarm-free. I missed the hotel breakfast which I found out ends at 10. A friend of mine told me to go to Haifa University and check out the classes. I won't have that chance, since I work on school days. Still, I wanted to see it since its towers are a landmark on the mountain when you drive by the coast. I walked in the direction I understood from a cab driver - down Hanassi Street (where the hotel is), where it becomes Moria Street. No sign. At least I got to see how Friday lunchtime goes on the cafes along the street. Near the hotel there's a chocolate shop which I never got to see open. I was able to get in - full of kids, and a mix of imported packaged chocolate, local delights by unit weight, and toys and stuff.
I headed to the Carmelit station - Haifa's funicular subway. It's like a cable car but underground. I went "downtown" - labeled "French Carmel" though I'm not sure where that is. I had some trouble at first since I thought I was lacking coins - it's NIS 5.50, I had a ten but the machine didn't accept that. Only later did I notice that there was a change machine. I also left some of my smaller change back in the hotel - these are confusing, I once mixed up the 0.10 with a ten when paying cab fare.
The hotel area is the topmost station. I believe it's at the highest point of Mount Carmel. I went to the lowest station. Now, this looked more like the "Israel" I was expecting. I saw what appeared to be Christian churches with crosses on top, but closed. Some were partially in ruins. A nearby building with a strange shape is something I can see from my hotel window - giving me an idea of the trip distance. I found a cordoned off section of the street with guards on both ends - apparently a Friday market. I went in. I ate chicken shawarma (they spell it differently here - shoarma? and I already had some lamb near the hotel) and tried the local "Crystal" cola. Nothing interesting in the shops.
I headed back up the mountain, since I didn't know what time the subway would close in observance of Shabbat. I spent a few minutes at the poolside - which is directly down my hotel room window - then went back up. 2PM. I took a nap til 4, and hung around til 6, when it was time for another mini adventure.
The hotel, mall and business building are called "Panorama." While the Hanassi major street is in front, at the back is a "Panorama Street" - Yefe Nof (if I got that right). We had already walked its other half, where it passes the topmost gate of the Bahai Gardens. This time I took the other way. It passes the Holiday Inn "Bay View," and Dan Gardens Hotel, another member of this chain. I was in jeans, but other folks were hiking in shorts. I guess it's a common Friday afternoon activity. At first I was just walking down the street, until I noticed that there were stairways. I passed one, started going down, but thought that - will this go all the way down to the base of the mountain? That's too far (especially back up). So I went back up, then took the roads going down.
I came to a point where I took a road curving along the side, and I could see the hotel towering above. (I think this is among the tallest structures here). So I figured, let's take the stairs going up! I found a stair path going up - they have names - and sure enough I ended up on a higher street. When you pass these stairs, you also pass the entrances to private houses. Some are really interesting. I also never thought I'd see pine cones and cacti at the same place. On the higher street, I found the original stair path by name. I went down to see if it will go all the way. No, it ends too. To continue going down, you go down another path but that was too far already. I went back up the stairs, crossed the street, then went back up the first leg. I was tired. This reminded me, I need to get serious exercise when I go back. |
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| במבה and other food trips |
[Jun. 20th, 2006|10:05 pm] |
I'm now eating the Israeli national snack, במבה ("Bamba"). Think cheese curls with salted peanut butter. They always eat merienda here at the office - a mix of junk food and healthy stuff, salads and fresh fruits.
I may not have gone out much, but I've had:
- roast chicken with hummus and pita (and fries and salad).
- two kinds of local pizza, one is more like what you'd have at Cafe Mediterranean.
- a whole lot of different stuiff at the caf a short walk away from the office.
Well we did go to one significant place: the beach! It's near the office so I didn't have beach shorts, but we still got to eat a pizza and drink Pepsi Max by the Mediterranean sunset. (They don't have Coke Light here, they have a "lasang gamot" Diet Coke)
Back to work... |
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| Geek in Israel, part 1 |
[Jun. 18th, 2006|01:42 pm] |
Just as bujoy put it: her boyfriend (that's me) is a geek in Israel.
I'm now posting this from our partner's office in Matam, the technopark district of Haifa, northern Israel. There's another guy from the office with me. Sunday is the first day of work here. From Friday 2-3pm to Saturday sunset - the Shabbat - everything is closed except for some restaurants/cafes.
I had a long trip starting Thursday - a quick 2 hours from Manila to Hong Kong, then a first-hand experience of the strict El Al (Israeli Airlines) check in at HKIA. The flight from HK to Tel Aviv-Yafo was a long 12 hours since they have to take a roundabout flight path through Kazakhstan, Turkey and other Asia Minor countries. Obviously, they can't take the shortest route. I could hardly sleep since the flight was crowded and it was noisy with crying babies.
Upon landing we had an escort through Immigration and Customs. Ben Gurion International Airport looked nice but I was too sleepy to appreciate it. The next trip was a 1:30 fast private taxi drive northbound from Tel Aviv to Haifa.
When I checked in the hotel on Friday morning- Dan Panorama - we ate a heavy breakfast then I caught up with my sleep. In the late afternoon, we walked around the vicinity, where most everything was closed. We did see a wonderful sight from the Panorama Road - the Bahai Gardens, which are open for tours by appointment. Then Friday night, I took advantage of our room plan's access to the business lounge, where we had some snacks. So, no need to buy food!
Saturday, I woke up with a headache. It's probably a combination of - sleeping too much/too little/puyat, and from neck pain from twisting it during the flight. (See more of that in my Computing Pain blog.) So, I just spent the day alternating between lying in bed (but keeping myself from sleeping, with the curtains open and the light shining in), and surfing/chatting on the expensive paid in-room WiFi. I had wanted to go out Saturday night, and try the funicular (cable-car type) subway going down the mountain, but I decided I should rest so I'll be all OK to work. Besides, I have two more weekends here. We'll be leaving Israel by July 1.
Today was our first cab ride. The cab from the hotel to the office is very expensive by Pinoy standards - 45 NIS (New Israeli Shekels), or about 500 Pesos. Well, that's the price of working in "high tech." |
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