Christmas Greetings 2006

Christmas Greetings 2006 from New York!

My Christmas tree!

It's Thursday and I find myself calling in sick and exploring NY like any tourist would.

Customer Service

I never intend to use this blog to bash people. I have always intended this blog for the advancement of people for personal and work growth.

However, today, I was a victim of bad (worst in my life) customer service. The culprit, Pauline of HSBC's Check Fraud Department. She was rude and very demeaning. She acted as if she's at the zenith of the banking institution. Her first words for me: "You are a security threat to the bank, we are closing you account for depositing a fraudulent check."

I was stunned, why in the world would you deposit a fraudulent check into your personal account? Even stupid criminals would go the long mile of cashing a fraudulent check in a different state under a different name.

The call came in at 10:25AM. She was rude and adamant about giving any details or explanation. She kept on reiterating that my account would be closed since I am a security threat. I went on posing questions to draw out the bottom line issues to the problem. Before the call ended, I had to stop her and tell her that she crossed the boundary of just being rude and her customer service is all out of place. I even mentioned that the someone in the branch could vouch for my character since they know how I handle my business with the bank.

Apparently she called the bank after that first call. At 10:41AM, she calls me and tells me that she would be giving me a week to talk with whomever to ratify the situation. She hangs up, with no remorse for her earlier attitude with me.

At 10:52AM, she calls back to tell me that everything has been resolved that she called up the issuer of the check to verify its validity that everything will be reinstated in five minutes. Again, with no apologies.

My question is: could you have called the issuer before you called me at 10:25AM and ruined my entire day?

So Pauline from HSBC's Check Fraud Department who could be reached at (716) 841-1184, brush up on your customer service skills. You may be a supervisor for a big department, but that doesn't give you the right to talk rude to your customers.

By the way, the branch that I deal with, HSBC's Chelsea Branch is the total opposite of Pauline. The people at the branch are very courteous. I even see managers get out of their cubicles to help out with deposits when lines starts to get long. Kudos to the branch. A big thumbs down to corporate.

M&M World NY opens! Chocolate is better in color!

24++ hours

As far as I can remember, last Thursday was the first time I was awake for more than 24 hours straight.

Remember my Insomia entry. Well, Wednesday after coming back from Albany at around 7:45PM I was not able to sleep up until Thursday at 9:30PM. I tried sleeping at 10:30 that Wednesday but with my mind going crazy I just realized that it's almost 6AM and at 6:30AM I was meeting up a friend to show around NY. Which I happily obliged. It's seldom you see friends so I took on the challenge. I was not really tired that day, only at around 2:30PM that I really felt it though. I tried sleeping at my mom's office, but things were going crazy there as well, that the moment I start to doze off, stuff happens. I even cancelled going to Baruch for an evening seminar.

Anyhow, I am happy to report that I was able to sleep for more than 7 hours and was alert and ready for work. It was a very cold day today, but now I'm looking forward to a great weekend.

Christmas in NY!

Insomia

I'm no medical expert but at 4:29AM and my mind being alert as "daylight", it could be insomia. As I googled the symptoms and cures of insomia I found out that stress is a major contributing factor to sleeplessness. It could be good stress, e.g., getting a huge raise or bad stress, e.g. not having a job. Both examples are crossed out from my checklist. So what the heck is bothering me?

As I start this second paragraph, I get a yawn. I guess this could provide a clue to my insomia.

Earlier, at around 10:30PM, I started to get sleepy. As I lay down in bed, I simply start to think about things. Nothing bad, but useless junk: re-arranging the layout of the living room., changing my voucher logging methods, creating a database for a "personal" project, buying a small tv for my room, planning for the future, visualizing future conferences, talking to future clients. See, I told you they were junk... random stuff.

Then I decided to count sheeps. I started counting, imaginging sheeps jumping over the fence. Cliche right? Anyways, as I count, I started to paint and get into the details of the sheeps, the color and make of the fence, the grass, the mountain in the background. I thensuddenly changed my counting perspective and turned the entire thing into a comic strip, a two-dimensional drawing. That didn't work and I was just on my 18th sheep.

I went earlier to upstate New York in Albany and the hypnothizing series of lamposts as my train passed by made me sleepy so I decided to count lamp post. Again, my wild imagination brought me to counting lamposts of different designs and from different time periods. I ended up counting up to 8.

I decided to now use an eye mask. That made me still for awhile. But not asleep. As I toss and turn, I accidentally touched the end of the bed that meets the bench beside my bed. An idea came to my mind to move my bed farther from the heater which made me stand up. Which brought me to making up my bed, turning on the light then turning on the pc and logging onto blogger.

Let me try to get at least an hour of sleep before I wake up. At least today's my day off, I can relax.

Sorry for the rant people, I just want to release some tension and do something.

Inspiration

Inspiration takes form in all shapes and sizes. I get inspired by how the light bends as it casts shadows over withering leaves. I don't know what it inspires me to do, but it creates that tingling feeling inside.

Maybe this post was inpired by that. This post might inspire someone. Whoever you are, may you be inspired to do great things. 

Hope and Heroes

Over the past few Sundays, I have been attending a church in Manhattan. I've been waking up late on Sunday mornings but have been looking forward to the trip to the city for mass. I guess it has something to do with having "to do" the mass rather than going with the routine of just hearing mass.

Over the past few days there have been tons of things that have been developing without me knowingly is happening. Some of them I'd rather keep to myself until I get a concrete plan about it. There are still hurdles that I have to cross, but I am seeing the checkered flag at least.

Taking aside from Father Dave's sermon (yup, I know the priest personally that attended over last Sunday's preaching) of hope. Hope really does creep in from everything if you only know how to identify them.

On a lighter note, Heroes have been one of the multiple shows that I have been TiVo-ing the past few months... It got a lot of great characters... Great story line and of course that "ugh" feel when they flash "to be continued..." Sort of brings that inner kid in me. They have saved the cheerleader, but what's next... That we need to find out next week.

PS: I did say that my Ipod died on me yesterday... miracoulously it was revived from Apple heaven. My trip to Albany next week won't be as quite as I dreaded it to be. So here goes to my 5 hour travel time.

Bubbles in her lazy moods.

Urban Jungle

A chai tea latte, a book, a sit in the middle of Times Square. What more can an urbanite ask for?

Rainy Day in NY

Emptiness or Just Right

Saturday in NY!

Finally

Finally... the apartment is where it should be at this time... less boxes... less clutter. There is still a planned two days of moving, but I'm hoping it would be the last of it.

Anyhows, since I got the internet going I'm able to squeeze in some Boracay pictures from my recent trip. Enjoy.

20060920 - Boracay

From My Rooftop

Change Is A Good Thing

Hugo (from Lost, season 2 episode) might not agree with me but change is good for what it's worth.

As of completing this entry, I am in my almost empty apartment. With a bag full of shoes and a couple of shirts to take to my new apartment, I will eventually move out and fill in my new apartment with stuff.

With all the headaches of moving... be it next door, to a new state and even a new country... moving revitalizes the soul. People move on from a broken heart. People move on from a tragedy. People move on from a displaced job. Simply put, people move on.

I've gotten used to changes... in fact I tend to embrace change.

********

Since I got back from my two week vacation, I haven't had the chance to email family that I left behind nor had a chance to reconnect with people here in NY. Since I arrived it has just been all about catching up with work and apartment hunting. Between those two is sleep.

Hopefully by next week, I would have finished moving and would have gotten my life back in its cycle, then I can post wonderful pictures of my trip. Until then, ciao!

Busy as a Bee

Summer has un-officially ended thanks to Labor Day.

Students are back to school. Work is picking up its pace. And I'm going on vacation! Yohoo!!

I've been busy with work but found time last night to update my web gallery. Take a look at some photos taken way back in 2003 and 2004.

20031230 - Baguio

Dec 28, 2003 - 10 Photos

20040726 - My Shot at Metzker styles

Jul 26, 2004 - 8 Photos

Picassa, Mi Casa para Retratos

I recently discovered Picassa Web. I have been using Picassa to organize pictures, burn cds and everything. Works great. Picassa even interfaces with blogger and now, it interfaces Picassa Web. Below is a sample of my Picassa Web albums.

20050902 - South Street Seaport

Sep 2, 2005 - 12 Photos

All I Ever Wanted To Be

After one long week, we decided to meet up for an early dinner and indulge ourselves with chocolotes. Max Brenner just openned up here in NY recently and it was worth the trip.

One thing that struck me most of the evening was this paragraph from the history of Max Brenner.

"But the truth is that I wanted to be a writer. One who gets up at noon, sits in cafes, writes until the following morning and devotes a book to an impossible, eternal love."

Very powerful. 

As we enter the Labor Day weekend, NY'ers are bracing up for storm Ernesto. Another long wet weekend. But that shouldn't bother me, I'll be busy packing for my upcoming vacation. Hello two weeks of relaxation!

I've been wearing this ME shirts by Giordano for the past two days. People have been taking notice of it. I guess the same thing goes when you let the world know the there could be days, aside from your birthday, that it is me that matter. Not in the selfish kind of way but in the sane kind of way.

10 Pounds

It is now medically confirmed, I have to lose 10 pounds. Just came back from my annual exam.

Currently, I am hovering around 185 pounds. I need to get down to 170-175. To top it all off, I was advised not to do any more running. I have to find other means of cardio that is knees friendly. So my next bet is weight lifting and pilates.

Anyways, let's see how this thing goes especially with my upcoming Manila vacation.

As summer wears off and my Manila vacation nears, my dreams of a beach body is no where near the zone. Anyhows, I'm still determined to go regularly at the gym and to top it off pilates class.

What a great Friday. Weather is great. Work load is light. Body still sore from pilates. Looking forward to a great weekend.

Happenstance

I did go to the gym. Body all sore. Sad thing though, Sherry Mae taught her last class tonight before heading to London. Glad I showed up tonight. Good luck Sherry Mae. I won't forget shoulders down, rib cage closed and tail bone tucked in.

I drink coffee as I contemplate on going to the gym. As the time draws nearer the be-a-good-boy and go to the gym guy kicks in.

What Does Your Ipod Know About You

As I was doing my 30 minute run on the threadmill the other day, I was tuning in to my regular workout companion, the BustedHalo Cast. I was so amused with one of their side topics and here I am doing the same experiment.... what does your Ipod know about you? Basically, you put your ipon in shuffle mode, ask these series of questions, and the song should give you the hint to that answer. After doing a series of question, do one more skip forward and put a question based on that song. Here's the result of my experiment.

How does the world see you?
Tempus Fugit - Miles Davis

Will I have a happy life?
Blue Moon - Orange & Lemons version

What do my friends really think of me?
The Gracefull Bamboo - Huong Tanh, Little Budda Cafe

What do people secretly think of me?
A Man and A Woman - U2, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

How can I make myself happy?
Lil Jimmy Skit - Kanye West, College Dropout

What should I do with my life?
Move On - Jet, Get Born

Will I ever have children?
Tomorrow Belongs to Me - Cabaret Showtunes

What is some good advice for me?
Private Emotion - You Complete Me CD Compilation

How will I be remembered?
Dust - Loi Hammon, Chillout Project

What is my signature dancing song?
Ghost - Dirty Vegas

What do I think my current theme song is?
A Crow Left to the Murder - Incubus

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Never Take Friendship Personal - Anberlin

What song will play at my funeral?
Smile - Tamia, More

What type of men/women do you like?
Change Me - Sanctus Real, Flight The Tide

What is my day going to be like?
Wondering - Good Charlotte

Where Am I?
Be Be Your Love - Rachael Yamagata, Happenstance

And the next song was:
Only Hope, Caidmon's Call, WOW Hits 2004
My question: Who is my current anchor?

Ok... I did cheat... i had to start three times on these... I just didn't like the first two songs that came out. :) Some songs meant something, other times they don't make sense.

Psych

My summer TV list includes Hell's Kitchen (which is down to its last episodes), Kyle XY (usually I catch it TiVo copies) and Psych.

Psych is one of those shows that don't get the buzz but are actually well made. If the pacing could only go faster on some scenes. Anyways, I enjoy watching this show for the mere fact that on some occasions I feel that I am a Psychic as well (google up the show to learn more about its
premise).

I am not that psychic that can tell future, however, I have this strong intuition on things that matters. Like when not to take the jeep to school (where my cellphone got picked out of my bag back in college) or to suddenly take the offer to go out of the country (something happened at work where my absence was of great advantage). When I was "younger" I tend to discard these feelings (e.g. cellphone) but now, I have learned that we can not forgo these feelings. It is actually God talking to you and your angels giving you that nudge, i.e. going to Switzerland with no plan of action (and people know that I create plans for everything).

These feelings transcends events. It also applies to people. I may not have a Psychology degree, but understanding people and figuring them out I believe is a gift. This I believe was brought about vast experiences in living with different kinds of people. Experiences that have enriched
my life.

Another TGIF

TGIF. Got to leave work early. Check. Weather is getting better. Check. Anybody for drinks?

First Day of the Heat Wave

Those who were complaining about the cold winter months, please stand up. Go out and enjoy your heat wave. As for me, I'd be very happy in my air conditioned room. No humidty. No heat.

Going to work during these months can be very dragging. You'd want to take you time walking or you'd be looking like a gym rat after a 30 minute run on the threadmill. I don't even feel like dressing up in work cloths. If I can only come to work in shorts and flipflops and a shirt, I would love to do it. I would even love it more if I can work from home for atleast the next three days.

One of my many goals this time of the year is to simplify. Sort out some stuff. Enjoy the simple things in life. The heat wave could be helping. I have been simplifying my dining experience, nutrisystem has been beneficial and cheap. I have cut down on TV. I only now watch Hell's Kitchen on Mondays and two dvds utmost during the weekends. I would tune in to the news but not finish it so I can go to bed before 11 at night.

I have started to be very diligent about bringing in a water bottle at work, that cuts me down to atleast $6 a week. That is $24 a month, that's $288 a year! That's not counting the money I save when I don't buy soda.

Simplification is good.

Joy

A moment of joy. Cherish it.

Grab a Cup of Relaxation

Today is Monday, July 24, 2006. When everybody was rushing to get ready for work, I was sitting by my bed watching the morning news. When everybody was forcing themselves into the train, I was taking a leisurely bath. When everybody was busy typing away in their cubicles, I was checking my email at Bryant Park (yes, parks in NYC have free wireless connections!).

I took the day off and I am getting paid for it. Last week, I worked myself over the weekend. As a bonus, I get an additional 5 days PTO. I should have asked for cash, but the time off is better.

So to everybody, grab your favorite cup, pour in the drink of choice (I would not recommend spiking it with vodka) and enjoy. It is not everyday that we get to experience this silence.

Binge Eating

I've been through diets and exercise. Not that I have to lose hundreds of weight but since I enjoying eating, it prevents me from getting over 200lbs.

I just realized that me being too happy is not the only reason for my binge eating, but whenever I am so stressed and irritated, I pour it all out on food. if you see me gobble up food and not show that I am enjoying it, stay away from me. But if you see me laughing and enjoying my meal, join me for all you care.

I need calming. I need peace of mind. I think alone time needs to be scheduled. If you need me, check with my secretary. Thanks.

Is My Horoscope Telling Me Something

My horoscope says that today is the start of the thirty day cycle where I become a touchy-feely type of person. A lot of people who know me can assure you that I am no way near that kind of persona. Maybe on the inside, when I'm alone but with everybody else, I'm the tough guy on the block.

Currently, I am feeling down. It could be the weather. It could be the work stress. It could also be that I am swamped with roles to fill. I am in that mode once more that I wish I was living in the middle of nowhere... maybe Arkansas. Away from everybody... away from the confusion... away from conflict... away from anger and especially away from what I am feeling now.

Everybody thinks about themselves. Everybody thinks about doing things for others. Everybody thinks of doing things for other forces you to go along. Can't I for once, think about myself?

Can I go find a bum job and no one pass judgement on me. Thanks.

Basurero

Friday night dinner at El Basurero. A Colombian restaurant at Steinway, Astoria Queens.

Feels Like...

There are days when it feels like the week drags for eternity.

It's Thursday and when I got in work, it felt like a Tuesday. After catching up with paper work, it now feels like a Friday!

Since I am preparing for my Manila trip this September, I have been busy going to the gym. Hopefully in two months time I'd be thin enough to stuff myself with food when I get back to Manila. That's the only reason I go and exercise, so that I can gorge on food later. Getting that beach body is I believe genetically impossible but there is no harm try to feel like achieving it, right?

All Together Now... ohm... ohm... ohm...

Everybody is such in a hurry. Rushing to work. Taking accelarated school work. Working while on vacation. Getting into relationships for the wrong reasons. Why don't we just pause, take a deep breath and enjoy the moment.

Mets, cheese cake and friends

The Mets Museum was great. Catching up with friends over drinks and cheese cakes were superb!

Saturday in NY

Saturdays in New York is usually devoted in doing laundry, cleaning the apartment or sending out the bills. But what could be more comforting but an iced cold coffee on a warm Saturday morning.

TGIF

Photography

There are but a few things that we remeber doing as a kid. Picnic at the park. Flying a kite with dad. First bowling game with mom. Fights with sisters. But one thing that strikes me is that since pre-school, I have been fascinated with cameras. I remember a family friend bringing over a camera of which I see clearly in my mind but can't describe for it being to archaic to describe. That camera took my family picture during my pre-school graduation.

Ever since, I have loved taking pictures. I may not be the best at it, but I continue to harness the skill.

Below are just a few of my photos taken during my intro to photoclass at Photo Manhattan. Enjoy.




 

A Good Day

God gives us challenges because we need to learn and grow. Tomorrow will be another day!

Hole

"Hole" 7/1/06

Hope

A feeling of hope.

Mobile Post

July 4th Weekend

July started with friends coming over from Ohio. Technically they are
coming from Ohio but most of them were based in Manila. It's an offshore
thing.

For most of them, it was their first time to visit NY. While it was
their first in the city, there were some first for me as well. First
time to enter Bloomingdales. First time to visit the Apple Store in
Fifth Ave (would you believe, they are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week, 365 days a year??!!)

I had a blast showing off New York. Even though I grew up in Manila, for
now, New York is home.

Happy 4th of July!

Non-conformist

First of all... congratulations to my sister... hats off to you for graduating with a degree in Nursing!

I'm again on a period of sleepless nights. It could be brought by my waking up late during weekends. Anyways, these night have brought about my endless and sometimes crazy thoughts. One of them have been seeing myself as one that goes againsts the flow.

Since high school, I was always going against the grain. When everybody was attending regular music classes, I went and joined the school band. When everybody was doing push-ups in gym, I went out camping. When everybody took all available c0llege entrance exams they could take, I took only 4 exams.

This did not change in college. While everybody was enjoying new found friendships during our freshmen year, I find myself running at the other end of the campus for a stint at the Cultural Arts Office as a student staff and creating a vast network of contacts. When everybody was taking ROTC, I found myself excempted from it!

I guess old dogs can't be taught new tricks. After college, when everybody was grabbing high paying IT jobs in Ayala, I decided to fly to NY. Found myself in a teaching position. Now that everybody is in front of the computer doing their codes and programming. I find myself doing totally the opposite.

I'm learning to enjoy my being different. I'm a unique individual. Unique just like everybody else! Lol!

Digirati at Stars in Stripes

I spoke with one of the organizers (yes, it was my sister!) and the event was a huge hit. In terms of advertising mileage, I guess we got a elite status. Look at all the stars, they got the DIGIRATI names!!

If you have any events that you would like on the spot IDs or even picture cards, get in touch with us, we will help make it a special day.