First, Happy Birthday to our friend Fritz! When do we get to celebrate for real? LOL

After last night's Spring Awakening-related festivities, I settled down with Tobie to watch Superman / Batman: Public Enemies, which was adapted from the comics of the same name. It had really bad art and was always with such direct-to-video adaptations, a barely decent attempt at recapturing the original tale, although most of the key bits were there. Tobie fell asleep while we were watching while I on the other hand was wide awake. It's a good thing I managed to force myself to sleep after watching given how busy today was set to be.

I was set to meet up with my Mom for lunch and that was a nice affair. It's interesting how over the years I continue to "talk shop" with her - which refers to us talking about work. This may seem like an odd topic of conversation with one's mother, but she's been sharing here work stories ever since I was in late grade school / early high school and now it's nice that I have stories of my own to share. Naturally I was proud to share about winning Most Outstanding Participant at the recent company Leadership Conference along with some of the nice remarks some of the executives had for me, which really made my day.

Lunch was REALLY good and I snapped a few photos of what we had - will try to get around to posting the photos at a later time.

From there it was off to meet up with Jayson since we were planning to visit Brian as a post-birthday thing but given the traffic situation, I ended up getting the "secret ingredients" on my own and met up with Jase at Vella, the old apartment.

Things were generally the same except for some changes in terms of where things were situated, which was to be expected. However the biggest change was finding out that Mist had died about a week before after what is presumed to be a pretty heavy fight between her and Smoke. I was pretty much devastated and did my best not to cry or anything but it certainly left me a bit dumb-founded for some time and I just managed to stay on the couch or go visit Smoke out back to pet him, hug him and make sure he was okay. I went as far as cleaning his cage as well given care for the cats and maintenance of their cage used to be one of the things I put a lot of effort into.

I now kinda wish that I had moved to an apartment that allowed pets, but then given how bad my asthma gets when I'm together with cats in confined spaces, I guess it couldn't be helped. I love animals but I really need some sort of a yard or at least a balcony so they get aired out. One day I know we'll find a place that can support my love of pets and my asthma and I'll be happy as a clam again. Yes, even with those dreaded velociraptors with fur.

Well, I need to move on. I'll focus on my new books (including Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters), the prospects of saving up for a new megazoom camera and of course cooking tonight's dinner. Creamy chicken soup time!

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Just when you least expect it. That's life.

Our weekend thus far has been pretty much defined by the impending move to our new apartment. For yesterday the focus was canvassing a new electric range / oven given the restrictions placed upon us by the owner of the unit we're going to be leasing, today was about finding a solution for the cats.

Initially, my fear was that we'd have to let the cats go since most condominiums and apartment buildings have pretty stringent rules against house pets. Thus it certainly came as a surprise that our new landlady was okay with pets provided we continued to ensure the quality of the unit as it stands now. Given that, we now have the challenge of figuring out how best to manage the cats in the new environment.

It goes without saying that some sort of a cage is going to be needed so Brian |kitchengod| and I walked over to Cartimar to determine our options and to try out the new Japanese place. Our main item of interest was a particular pet store that we regularly visited that had their cats in a very large cage with ramps inside that allowed the cats to stay on multiple levels. It seemed like an amazing use of the space and an effective way of managing multiple cats inside a single cage. As our luck would have it, the pet store only sold the cats and not cages. Further exploration led to many different cage options but no one who seemed to have the ramp / platform system that the one pet store had.

I think we're going to settle for this pretty spacious cage with wheels and a built-in tray that opens on the side, which is pretty handy. We're probably going to put the cage on the outside balcony / veranda of sorts and the walkway is pretty narrow so we'll have to manage the space as best we can. It's about 2 feet by 3 feet in terms of basic dimensions and it should fit, but of course we'll have to make sure. It's going to set us back nearly 4,000 pesos, which is a major drag but a small price to pay to keep the kitties. I also have to find a pet store that delivers cat food so we can stop buying from Cartimar on a per-kilo basis and instead get it more directly from a cheaper supplier.

There's a lot of other things we need to figure out prior to move, especially what we're planning on getting rid of instead of bringing it along. I'm currently toying with the idea of no longer pursuing reviving the original desktop, which means we have an extra computer table (although it's pretty old) and more importantly an extra 19" MAG widescreen LCD monitor. Anyone interested in buying one second hand? It hasn't been used for most of this year and is still in very good condition.

Plus there's way too many books that need to be packed, shipped and eventually relocated into new shelving arrangements. Oh dear.

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You have to admit, the Obama hype is downright dangerous for him at this point.

Well this has certainly been an interesting week whether in terms of work or the home situation. At this point, I'm just thankful that it's pretty much over and the weekend is finally here. The internet connection here at home is working again and our PS2 is holding up just fine, so there's a lot of potential
resting and relaxing to be done this weekend.

On the lighter side of things, my training counterpart for one of the campaigns I handle had sent over a package of stuff that finally arrived this week. I know have a snazzy new tie (with the client's company logo on it but not dominating it), a small tote bag for markers, a stop watch and four packs of Arby's BBQ sauce! How crazy is that? It's all because I once remarked that I really missed Arby's when she came to visit us and she promised to eventually send some of their signature sauce over. I didn't think she'd actually do it, but she did and so I now have four little packets that I need to figure out when to use to maximum effect.

In theory, we're almost completely ready for the move. We already paid the reservation fee as of Friday morning and I already have all the documents I need to present so the building administrator can draft up the formal lease agreement and see how things go from there. As long as all the pledges for support pan out over the next few days and we come up with the amount we need for the down payment, we'll be able to cement the deal with the new unit and be able to start moving in after that. There are a lot of hard decisions to be made in the coming weeks.

First there's the general question of what and what not to bring over to the new place. It is just a one bedroom place after all and that's still smaller than the unit we're currently occupying. The built-in fixtures of the new place certainly help things along as do some of the restrictions put in place by the owner like how they don't want LPG tanks to be used for safety purposes. Given that, Brian |kitchengod| and I went around SM Mall of Asia and the Anson's near Greenbelt 3 / Landmark in order to scope out electric stoves. We're pretty much set on getting this quaint little Elba unit that has four electric burners and an oven to boot, although I'm trying to estimate if the increase electricity usage will be offset by our no longer needing to purchase LPG refills every so often.

For now at least, we'll be bringing the cats along with us. That means us needing to find a suitably large cage for them to occupy so we can secure them somewhere where they won't do damage to the unit while we're away and yet not overly cramped so they will feel claustrophobic or anything. We've seen some pretty interesting setups in Cartimar that even included ramps and such for the cats to position themselves on and that certainly shows promise.

Now if only we could figure out what to name our new home. =P

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Now that's certainly a unique way of addressing the problem! LOL

Today's the birthday of Miggi / Migoyski, originally an LJ friend who's pretty much migrated to Multiply. Happy Birthday, Miggi!

Well, Barrack Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America. The FCC has ruled that the "white spaces" may now be used for commercial purposes. And while all this was happening, California Proposition 8 won and their state constitution now limits the definition of marriage to that being the union of a man and a woman. Oh well, you can't win them all.

In much brighter news, a few minutes after I posted yesterday's entry, we got a call from our friend Ryan, who had been following up with the condominium that we were interested in since it's the unit right next door to there's. Surprisingly enough, it turns out that we were approved for the lease! It was both good and bad news since (1) we really like the unit but (2) it'll really strain our resources to come up with the initial payment. After a few back and forth calls to clarify things, we ultimately determined the initial fees that needed to be paid and how to go about things so it looks like we just need the money to be all set.

This is where Brian |kitchengod| and his little telethon of sorts really comes to the rescue given the support of some really close friends who pledged amounts to help us out. With all the amounts put together, it looks like we'll be able to come up with the initial deposit after all and this is without needing to cancel any of my insurance policies to boot! I love it how life just pulls through for you when the going gets tough and I become all the more grateful for how amazing our friends really are. Thanks you guys!

So now we just need to actually collect the money, make the final payment next week and of course settle things with our present land lord. Once all that gets done, we'll be pretty much set to start moving into our new place. In addition, it looks like we'll be able to move the cats over as long as we assure the owner that we'll take good care of the unit, and thus Brian and I are now toying with the idea of a really big cage like the ones they have in some Cartimar pet shops with all the ramps and stuff so the cats remain contained and yet still have room to maneuver. It's just a thought for now - I'm not even sure how we'll get a steady supply of pet food over there. Decisions, decisions...

I'm pretty excited about the move and Brian is as well, perhaps even more so. This should be an interesting change in our lives indeed.

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Man, those would make some pretty cool names for training rooms, haha

Gay marriages have been ruled constitutional in the state of California. Snaps for gay rights!

Let's keep this simple...

When we moved into our apartment, we named her Matilda since she's nice and homey.

We eventually brought over Brian's |kitchengod| computer, and he was named Fuzzy.

Eventually we added some feline friends to the family, and our two Persians were named Smoke and Mist.

Late last year we got a second, more powerful computer and named him Wuzzy.

Just before my trip to the US my mom and dad helped me buy a laptop, whom we've just named Dizzy.

Before that we got a Pentax Optio M20 but never named it.

Now she's named Penny.

She had to get a name because I just purchased a Sony DSC-H50 via Circuit City!

Given his 15x optical zoom and other cool options, he's officially going to be called Shane, like a well-hung porn star we like, haha.

RECAP!

One apartment named Matilda.

Two cats named Smoke and Mist.

Three computers named Fuzzy, Wuzzy and Dizzy.

And now two cameras named Penny and Shane!

Technology Rocks! I can't wait for Shane to get shipped to my hotel!

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Oh yeah, the Miley Cyrus big is hardcore. LOL

Don't you just love this weather? Sure, it makes the bathwater unbelievably cold as compared to recent months, but still in general this is such amazing weather. Odes should be written in its honor, hahaha! Of course the flip side is that my asthma is not pretty much hair trigger given other stimuli like cigarette smoke and cat hair, but still the overall comfort is hard to say no to, eh? This is the perfect bed weather - absolutely made for snuggling, cuddling and other fun activities under the sheets.

Work was light - whether or not this was deliberate, it's hard to tell. After all the ruckus caused by that pathetic failure of a coup attempt and the curfew that almost disrupted our night time operations afterward had a lot of us tired. Of course I still had to go in so I could address all the usual end-of-week concerns with the end-of-month concerns thrown in for good measure. Plus there was the fact that the Core Group is moving to a new office over the weekend, so I had to pack my things for the umpteenth time in order to make way for the movement.

Sooner or later they're probably just going to strap a battery pack to my back, mount a laptop harness and pretty much give my a mobile station. Bleh.

After shift we went over to Chris |xtianxtianxtian| and Chase's |theamazingchase| place to visit their mini-menagerie of animals and to sort of go along with Mayumi and Lester as they picked up their new puppy from the dog breeder next door. We walked over with a whole kit and kaboodle crew from Brian's office for the promise of a hearty breakfast. Chris and Chase served up hotdogs, scrambled eggs, pandesal and champorado. Yum! It was a fun morning with lots of food and furry friends.

I'm still sort of surprised how well-received my previous entry turned out to be. I guess it still follows that people like to be mentioned in other people's writings, hahaha.

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I love Dogbert's little headset. Cute, yet still evil.

A few things at random - well almost. The fact that I can write about them in a particular order eliminates the whole random bit. ANYWAY.

As I left the office today, the first thing that greeted me in the lobby was the smell of freshly baked bread. In the slightly overcast morning with the chill of the night's rain still present, somehow the perfect medium for carrying the odor of baking from the Delifrance in the lobby all the way to the exit from Tower II. It was wonderful. I found myself smiling just because of how pleasant it was to go out to pick up Brian |kitchengod| over at his office. A really, really nice way to end the day.

Smoke broke my coffee cup today. We were watching TV while eating breakfast when he decided to jump over the pillows on the floor to land beside me on the couch. Unfortunately, my coffee cup was resting on the pillows to naturally it toppled and broke. It's a shame - it was a Christmas gift from Ryan |chibato| and without it, Brian and I no longer have a matched set. I wanted to shout and scream when it happened, but of course my usual blocks fell into place and I just sort of stood there for a bit trying to calm down. The I rushed into cleaning the mess and ended up hitting my head on the book shelf while standing up too fast. I didn't realize until everything was cleaned up and I had finished the last of my breakfast that I had cut myself on the forehead. Brian cleaned up the wound for me. It doesn't hurt - I think. Or maybe I'm just not thinking about the pain.

The Band-Aid on my forehead makes me feel like a stupid wannabe faux-gangster. A Nelly who's Band-Aid got lost. Ugh.

The kitchen sink is clogged and it connects all the way to the bathroom sink too. Thus, both have standing water which smells a bit and certainly irritates me even more since it makes washing dishes annoyingly difficult. I've asked the building guy to check it out and he said he'd come by as son as he's free, whenever that'll be. Cross your fingers, folks!

I realize that even my random entries are organized. So much for that.

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Of course it had to be Rat. =P

Sunday was pretty great - allow me to go over the highlights now.

Our birthday gift for Joaquin seems to have been received well - for the curious we took pictures of the gift box and it certainly looked impressive. Technically it was a Tomy Walker Bike, top children's toy for 2003 for some awarding body. Our original gift consideration was the Tomy Push 'n' Pull Turtle Croc, which Brian |kitchengod| and I still think is adorable. Maybe I'll get one just to pester the cats with, haha.

Then it was off to the 28th Manila International Book Fair. Initially I was alone and I scouted out the entire event to see what the best deals were - both Power Books and National Book Store were offering 20% off on all titles. *squee* As soon as I had confirmed that, I messaged Brian to head over to the event after the birthday party so we could shop. In time, the folks from Star Wars Philippines came out in full costume to make their presence felt, and of course I snapped loads of pictures. Brian eventually arrived along with Iselle, Archie, Lydia and Iris and we proceeded to go around the event. Brian and I raided the gay and lesbian section of NBS and picked up a number of titles - you can check'em out over at my Shelfari page.

After that, the girls went along with us to Matilda so Lyd could finally see the cats since she's being dying to do so for ages now. Smoke was his regular charming self and immediately played on everyone's attentions while Mist did her hide-and-seek routine once more. She's always like that when new visitors come to the house but at least in time she became comfy enough to emerge and allow Lyd to brush and pet her. Yes, I have pictures of that too, hahaha.

I only managed to upload the pictures before falling asleep and missing the rest of Sunday night. So now I'm awake and I have to make sure I get back to sleep before noon. Brian on the other hand is on dayshift for the coming weeks so he's already at work. I hate it when we're on opposing schedules, but what can you do, eh? It's going to be a set of lonely nights ahead.

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Heck, I'd be counting down as well if I were him, haha.