Gabriel Just Turned One

A day after Missy's birthday, we went to our good friends' Paulo and Pauline's baby's 1st birthday. Gabriel is such an adorable little boy and Pauline's mom hosted the party at her downtown Miami condo's function room. We've been here more than a few times and the kids also enjoy going there especially since it has a view of Biscayne Bay. I didn't bring my camera so I just let Ophine do the 'shooting' with her p&s.

Ophine with Pauline's mom Gloria.

Birthday cake made by the grandma.

Missy's 7th Birthday

Missy turned 7 on May 24, the same day as her party. For days before the party, she was really so excited. She invited some classmates aside from the usual group of friends we usually get together with. She is really into 'Hannah Montana' thus we did our best that the motif be about her idol. We were fortunate to get a cake that goes with the motif at Walmart and it was really good. First time we got one from 'WM'. It's almost always ice cream cake from Carvel.


As usual we got some pizzas and made some spaghetti with meatballs for the kids. They don't really eat anything else aside from these. I also made some pork and chicken adobo and also pancit molo so we can have some Filipino food for the guests who really haven't tried them. We also served fried catfish nuggets, roast chicken, broccoli madness (Sweet Tomatoes recipe) and some deserts. Pauline Cruz sent her famous macaroons through her hubby Wilbur since she was working that day. It was quite a hot day so we just stayed mostly indoors but I believe we all had a wonderful time.

David and Missy's School Awards Day

Missy had her school awards day done on May 21 and David the following day. It's not a super formal school event but just a class awards day where the students get their certificates from their teacher. I was able to go to the events and Ophine was able to go to David's. The students get the usual certificates of completion for their grade plus some other certificates that shows where they are excelling. Missy got recognition for writing and leadership. Actually, she writes better than David even though she's only in first grade. I actually saw the vast improvement in her writing and it was quick. Better than a doctor's handwriting matter of fact. David got special recognition for Science and Math, subjects he is really excelling at. He also got a medal for "perfect attendance" after we have left. He got one in 2nd grade too so that means he has not missed school for two straight years now. A kind of rare occurrence for kids especially how easy it is for them to catch their classmates' "disease" when they have one. Anyway, we're just happy for them that they're always at the top of the class. One thing I really can't say for myself especially in HS. I just hope the kids keep it up.

Video of Missy getting her certificates.

Video of David.

The Last 3 Weeks Or So

I usually post something or anything in my blog at least once a week. It's a little more than 3 weeks since my last one and this is my first post for this month. Either there's not much news to post (well, not really), too busy (who isn't?), brain is on vacation (it seems) or maybe just all of the above.

Well, instead of writing about 10 random things about me, let me just do same ramblings and I guess that would give some insights to whoever wants to listen (or read!). This will be quite a handful.

I'm still on my reducing diet coupled with daily exercise. I was not losing much weight the past two weeks so my weight had kind of reached a plateau. I can't say it's mission accomplished since I feel I still need to lose about 15 lbs. more but it's so far so good. I just need to crank it up again. Lost 97 to date so I'm 203 lbs. now since I started this regimen September of last year. I'm back to sz. 33 pants. which was my pants size during my college days. I'm used to it now and I hope I can really maintain the weight once I reach my target. I can say that a high protein, low fat and low carb diet works for me and I can feel that my lean body weight is increasing as this was part of my goal when I started. Last month's bloodwork needed for an upgrade to a life insurance was also "spectacular" to say the least. Cholesterol at 150, the HDL to LDL ratio is very good even though I can't remember the exact figure, triglycerides way down, all other variables are inside the parameters and and are even skewed toward the better side. Blood pressure is almost perfect like a healthy teenager's. I even met the criteria for a select preferred rating and I feel much healthier!!! No more pre-diabetic symptoms and even if I started to have it, I think it was reversed. I really don't know. I haven't seen a doctor in 5 years except for a visit to the ER for a sprained ankle. On the diet part, it's a regular lean meat such as skinless chicken breast, a lot of greens, an apple for a snack with a dozen or so almond nuts in between, Kashi 'Go Lean' cereal in the morning which is not the best tasting cereal you can find but the healthiest (sometimes a low fat yogurt) with a scoop of milled cold pressed flax seed, a tbsp. of sunflower seed plus two poached eggs every other day. I guess this did the trick but honestly I was not all good. I still have a weakness for a very good cheddar so I will sometimes eat a slice of it occasionally. One thing that increased was my coffee intake. I have this 16 oz. mug and I would have 2 to 3 every day. I want my coffee strong so I add 50% more to the ratio. That's like drinking 3 cups in one seating. BAD!!! I would even have one last one at 10 pm as I usually sleep late but I would add an ounce of Irish cream to it. That would give me a good night's rest even when I also wake up early.

No matter what, I still won't miss my daily exercise regimen even when I feel sleepy. When I'm really into something, I pour a lot of heart and soul to it. When I was still in the Phils. and I needed to be at the office at 6:30 am, I would be at UP Diliman for my daily jog at 4 am, go home, lift weights and still be on time. Although it's a different scenario now, I just have to multitask sometimes in between sets and would cook and prepare meals or help the kids with their homework while still sweating it out. One thing I've learned is that I'm pretty good with multi-tasking and sometimes doing 3 to 4 different things at one time. I guess that is 'buhay America' for me at a glance. When I'm really tired but still in a playful mood, I call out our imaginary 'Inday' as if we have somebody to help us here. It can be any name you prefer but I hope I am not degrading anybody and if anybody feel otherwise, I'm sorry.

One thing I'm not sure is how far I've improved my cardiovascular fitness. My aerobic exercise is riding a stationary bike for 36 minutes daily as that's how much I need to burn about 500 calories. My Bowflex and free weights program which I do every other day is not intended for cardiovascular fitness. Yes, I added the free weights after a month of doing the Bowflex. It was just not enough and has its limitations. During my younger days, I can play two 40 minute basketball games in succession but I don't think I can do that now. More than twenty years have passed since my 'glory' days and my joints are not what it used to be. I have added stretching exercises every other day and I can now reach my toes (again!) effortlessly. Now I'm sure I'm doing at least one of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People -Sharpen the Saw!

So much for that. I hope it was not boring. Also, Ophine and I celebrated our 11th year wedding anniversary last May 3. One thing I've learned about relationships is that it's all about choices. Randy Pausch, author of 'The Last Lecture' said and I quote, "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." I'm not a card player but I totally agree with him. However we want our marriages to work out, it's all about choosing every single action and reaction based on our principles and beliefs. Are you more of a giver or a taker? Sometimes you choose wisely and sometimes not so wisely. Anyway, we just went to 'The Ark Restaurant', our favorite restaurant for special occasions for a brunch the following day. Even though it was a buffet, I still limited my carb intake but lucky me, I love this restaurant for their prime rib au jus -medium rare among others and I made sure I got my money's worth.

During this span, we also went to three birthday parties for six people, one for a triplet, one for twins and a party just for one celebrant or the regular one. Add to that the Mother's Day Chinese buffet we had last weekend. I guess this was the reason my weight is on a standstill. Hahaha! We also brought the kids to Kid Connection one weekend for some usual kids' fun stuff. They wanted to see the 'High School Musical' show and of course it was just done by kids pretending to be the real actors but I guess they still enjoyed it. Missy is more into it than David naturally since she likes to sing the songs. After their show, the kids nonchalantly got the actors' autographs plus Elmo's, Ronald McDonald's and the Florida Panthers mascot Stanley.

I am not shooting much right now so I took the time to do some DIY stuff for the studio. I'm almost done adding some flexibility to my set-ups and instead of just relying only with monolights/strobes, I made some adaptors so I can also use interchangeably continuous lights using 5500 K compact fluorescent lamps for the different light modifiers I have. When I'm done this week, I'll end up with a max. of 1800 watts equivalent. Now that's more I like it. I'm also gearing to shoot some maternity shots next weekend which I haven't done yet. I'm preparing for one so hopefully it will turn out the way I'm envisioning it to be.

Finally, I was able to add a needed tool storage in the garage. I'm really a kind of DIY guy and having the appropriate tools is important to me. Our steel shelves in the garage is not cutting it anymore so this Craftsman tool storage was really a welcome addition. I was able to finish some home projects that was on the backburner for a while and I really found myself working faster and more efficiently. But you know, once I cross out an item in my 'to do list', another one or two crops up. I used to organize myself with just a PDA but I went back to low-tech. A large compartmentalized notebook, a small one for short day to day lists and a couple of yellow pads for different areas of concern. Just thinking about what needs to be done sometimes gives me a burn-out. I just try to if at all possible to 'EAT THAT FROG' first but still there are times I do wish there are more than 24 hours in a day.

One thing I'm happy about is that the veggie/herb garden I started doing in March is already doing fine. Since last year, I have been using herbs from pots in the garden but maintaining one was kind of hard too so I added some drip irrigation to the sprinkler system last year and then the drought came and I had no choice but to do almost everyday hand watering because of the water restriction (yes, it does happen in America). Come spring I decided to add the same herbs to a garden plot so they can grow more abundantly. I ended up making probably a 40 feet by 2.5 feet long veggie and herb garden so far around the fence. Not one time but for a period of six weeks probably giving it a few hours here and there when I got the chance. I already have basil, lemongrass, flat leaf parsley, cilantro, mint, tarragon, chives, rosemary and oregano so I added the usual tomatoes and bell peppers and a lot of chilies. I can't live without hot peppers and when I don't have fresh chilies, I have at least 5 different kinds of hot sauces in the fridge. Since I already started the veggie garden, why not add some bittermelon (ampalaya), winged beans (sigarilyas), malabar spinach (alugbati) and sweet potato (for the tops) so that's what I did. I also added a single blackberry and it doesn't need a battery. Now I need some kangkong and probably some pandan and I'd be satisfied. This is my mini-farm sans any domesticated animal. I'm probably living part of my dream to have a farm LOL. That would give Randy Pausch something to smile about too. I'll post some photos next time.

Now, I hope these birds who regularly visit our garden since I added a bird feeder will stay away from the potential harvest. Speaking about bird feeders, two years ago when we went to North Carolina with my Mom and stayed with a friend of hers, I became fascinated with one. Imagine, blue jays and cardinals regularly feeding from it. I don't think we have cardinals here in South Florida but since I added the feeder just last week, it's being visited by a couple of blue jays and a lot of the black ones, crows probably. Aside from the wild bird seeds we use, old stale bread and the like don't go to the waste basket anymore. Leftover french fries get eaten too. It has now become an efficient waste disposal unit.

I'm almost through but these gas prices are just ridiculous. It goes up every few days and it's now almost $4.00 a gallon average. That's more than a dollar a liter and I'm just wondering if it is entirely possible that it would go back to even just $3.00 a gallon. That's probably wishful thinking.

Finally, David was watching a program about the 'crystal skulls' legend last night which is what the new Indiana Jones movie is about and then he heard that if all these crystal skulls are not found by 2012, it will be the end of the world. I sort of teased him at first and asked him how old he's gonna be by then but tears slowly streaked down his face. Reassuring him, I told him not to believe everything you hear or read. Only God knows when the 'end of the world' will come. Why am I saying this? I continue to receive a lot of chain emails and 99% of them are untrue. From stuff about Art Bell's 'insult' to Filipinos (still in circulation for almost 10 years now) to Barack Obama and if only people will do a a little research before they forward anything. I've tried a number of times to correct the email senders but I'm getting tired of it.

This I believe is my longest post so far and I'm done.