Queen of the Night

Unfortunately, my camrea was low-batt when it bloomed.

My friend, who has seen the Queen of the Night bloomless, has been asking me to show the photo of the actual plant in bloom, even though I had posted in my Fb soup of albums.

I have been going to Tagaytay every couple of weeks since last year, and it was only last August 19 that I got to catch it.

My cousin and -in-law would even drive all the way from Metro Manila to Tagaytay on a weekday evening just to see it in bloom, then drive back to Metro Manila.

10:43 pm.

I found it so intriguing that when my friend was thinking of plants to give to her aunt based in Antipolo, I suggested it, since I know of someone who grows it in San Juan, although their version is smaller than the Tagaytay version. My friend said that it was not practical, since the objective was to beautify the garden.  How can you beautify your garden when the plant is green most of the time?  Oo nga no.

Anyway, it was certainly more beautiful than I had imagined, and more beautiful than I could photograph.

Samsung Galaxy Tab

Galaxy Tab 2.7.0 Wifi costs P 12,990. 10-25-12

PLD asked me to find the lowest-priced Samsung Galaxy Tab in town. I asked Mic Abasolo for help, as Samsung is the sponsor of his inboundpass.com. When I showed him the price list that I got from Digital Hub VMall, he asked me to email it to him.

Dr. Harvey Uy's Blog

Harvey at the Kuang Chi Awarding Ceremony last March 11, 2011.

As my Harvey Uy post is again the top post in this blog, and since I got a call from his patient's wife and daughter asking me where he is, may I direct everyone to the Uy Eye Clinics blog, which I taught Harvey how to set up last Friday, November 2, at HEAT in Edsa Shangri-La Manila, where he treated me to breakfast buffet. Thanks again, Harvey!

While I had said in my previous post that his Binondo clinic will open in mid-November, the Uy blog says that it will open in late November.

Greenhills & SM Megamall Open Today

All Saints' Day posts totalled 406 views.

Even though I was planning to write this post today, I was still surprised when I checked my stats and saw that last year's All Saints' Day posts dominated the top positions. What most surprised me was the surge in views, and the Dr. Harvey Uy post being the top one.

Pageviews surged 59.22% today, from yesterday, from 667 to 1,062.

Anyway, I went walking in Greenhills this morning from around 9-11 am. Since it was hot, my friend suggested that we park in the building across VMall , where I went through the No Entries since there were no cars, and went to Mercury Drug in the same building for the first time.  On the way to Unimart, we saw a lot of people walking around, including a guy with a shirt that said, "I support the draft" with a beer photo.  Haha. Flapjacks, McDonald's and Krispy Kreme were open. In fact, my friend could smell Krispy Kreme.

We also went into another Mercury Drug near Chinabank where my friend went to the cashier near the door because the pharmacists manning the pharmacy ignored her.  Then we went to Japan Home Center, next to DIY, which was also open, of course. At Japan Home Center, my friend pointed out a bra hanger for me, which I might buy because our maids tend to flatten my bras. I wish I could post a photo here, but I think that I was stopped from taking photos here or Saizen.

On our way to Unimart, we saw that Mister Donut was open but Chowking was closed. At Unimart, everything was open, even Aunty Vicky's stall where we got sagot gulaman and Haw Flakes, Kookie Monster with its Halloween cupcakes, and Dolor's where I wanted to buy rellenong bangus for
P 300+ but forgot to.

When we walked to the car, it was already 11 but VMall was still closed to the public, but the employees could go in already. At the parking building, a maintenance lady told us that the elevator will be operational at 12, when VMall opens.

My friend told me that Megamall is also open.

Dr. Harvey Uy's St. Luke's Clinic

My friends, their family, their family's in-laws and so on are Dr. Harvey's patients.  As Harvey has left Asian Eye Institute, he is now the best eye surgeon at St. Luke's.  Or so he claims. :)

Dr. Harvey Uy (center) at the Kuang Chi Awarding Ceremony last 3-11-11.

My friends' reactions were varied.  One friend hoped that his new clinic would be at St. Luke's Global City, while Madam Upuan said, 'I am fervently praying he means St. Luke's QC and not in Fort?"

I told Madam Oop to fervent away, as Harvey will hold clinic at South Tower 611 starting October 27.  He will also set up another clinic at Pacific Center (formerly Pacific Bank Building), 460 Quintin Paredes St., Binondo in mid-November.

The Kuang Chi Awarding Ceremony was held at Xavier School.

This is his second clinic in Binondo.  Before joining AEI, he held clinic at State Center, when I was holding office there, too.

If not for this coincidence, we would not be friends today.  I took the elevator to his clinic and told his secretary that I just wanted to say hi. He came out and invited me to play badminton and we became good friends after that.

Skechers Sale Until October 15

I got the olive greenish beige mules (top row, third from right).

The Skechers sale at Planet Sports has been extended to October 15.

My first pair of Skechers (third from left, bottom row, in the photo) at SM Department Store at Megamall at full price.

I also got a pair of glorified 1"-high black 'glorified tsinelas' at full price less P 200 vouchers, at their VMall branch.

The Skechers sale is only at Planet Sports.

My friend got a pair of black sandals that she comfortably used for maybe three hours.  They were ouchy when she used them for a longer period of time.

Blog Stats

Congrats to my friend Dr. Gerard "Raddy" Mabasa on his two new blogs, Athletic Motion, and World Passages.

He wants to know how much traffic my generic blog makes, so I'm posting them here.

He also wanted to know where my views were coming from.  Techie She is a regular regular site, but I have not figured out why.  I suspect that most of these referrals came from backlinks?

How to get to Xavier School, dated March 24, 2011,  with 7 views, is the top result in Google search.   So is Podium Opens at Noon on November 1, dated October 31, 5 views, also last year, with the search words 'Podium Opens at Noon on November.'  Another November 1 post, Via Mare Open on November 1, 3 views, has the thirdmost views.  My fourth highest post, Clinic Christmas Break, 2 views, is the third holiday post in the list.  So I guess holiday skeds attract the most views to this blog.

In case of a heart attack, 2 views, is the second health-related post in the list.

Feng Shui Figurines,  7 comments including mine, Canon Pixma MX 416?, and Professional Dog Trainer also had 2 views each.

Both health and holidays are part of the site description.

120 of my pageviews come from the US; 31, Philippines; 5 and 3, Argentina and Singapore, respectively.

Atimiti has had a total of 18,068 pageviews from 79 posts, or 228+ views per post.

This blog had 980 pageviews last month.

Raddy, you might want to join Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs.

Fashion Advice

I have been looking for something yellow to wear to our office meetings for maybe five years.  I had not been happy with the blouses that my mom got me, but was too lazy to shop on my own until this year.  I saw a yellow blouse at Bayo Greenhills, but I did not like it.

Then I chanced on a mustard blazer at Robinsons Department Store Magnolia.  Why not?  Then I can wear any white, black, grey, or brown blouse underneath the blazer.

Short.

Then I chanced on a long cardigan with matching ribbon tie.  I was happy with it until I saw a short version.  Now I'm undecided on which one to get.  What do you think?

Now that I'm looking at the photos, I think that the long one would fit most of my clothes, as the short one's sleeves are too short.

Incidentally, my office has announced that there are plans to change our color!  I told them that they couldn't, as I had already invested in a blazer!

I was told that mustard is the company color, but that our group color was yellow.  Waaah!

Long.

Holiday Banking

Metrobank Xavier was cordoned off today.

I don't know about you, but I've been confused with banking hours this week.

BDO V-Mall used to be open on holidays.  I even took a photo to show xT Pro how many people were in it, as in marami.

Then it was closed one holiday, but I don't remember which.

Then it was open from 10 am to 4 pm last Monday, but I thought that it would be open on its regular hours, so I got there past 4 na.

Then today, I went to Metrobank and found it closed, despite my mom relaying 3i's message that Chinabank Greenhills Manager Sandra called to say that they would be closed.

So I'm summarizing the banking skeds here in case history repeats itself:

27-Aug
National Heroes' Day
BDO V-Mall	10 am-4 pm
30-Aug
Pinaglabanan Day
BDO V-Mall	closed
BDO Greenhills Shopping Center	upto 4 pm
Chinabank Greenhills	closed
Metrobank Xavier	closed

BDO V-Mall Open Until 4 PM Today

Clearing Cut-Off tomorrow, August 28, is 10:30 am for dollar deposits.

I was in ChaTime today when a lady asked her daughter (maybe) if BDO was open today.  I told her that it was, since I had just been there.

There was only one man ahead of me, and only because I filled up a form.  If I had gone in with a filled up form, I would have been first in the single transaction line.  There was no line in the multiple transaction line.  Hmm. If only I had brought my other passbook or another check to deposit so I could have been first in line, too.

The teller said that the line was short because it was a holiday.

Au contraire, when I bought my Asus Transformer, the line was so snaky, I showed it to xT Pro where I bought it, to prove to them that BDO was open.

Poker Without the Chips

I have plans of teaching Texas Hold 'Em to a friend maybe in a resto.  This means we don't want to go around with an unwieldy poker set.  So I'm reminded of the time when Boy Kuripot and I played Texas Hold at Astoria Boracay, where we stayed for free courtesy of the hotel.

 A possible flush.

We had both been 'abandoned' by our roommates, so we decided to play Texas to pass the time.  I had brought a deck of Qantas cards (photo), hoping to squeeze in a game.

He devised an Excel program to keep track of our chips.  It wasn't perfect, but it's only today, two years later, that I figured out a simple way of doing it.

I have not tested this in an actual game, but here it goes:

Player 1		Player 2		Pot
Bet	Balance	Bet	Balance
	1000		1000	0
100	900	100	900	200
200	700	0	900	400

If you want a copy of this file, post your email in the comments section of this post.

In and Out of My Bag

My friend gave me their batch fundraising bag.

In the Half Something, Half Pinoy Bloggers group, Tricia Tanhueco urged everyone to also do a What's in my bag? post.

I first heard of this concept from Baddicts! Founder Brekl Garcia, who had wanted to start a What's in my bag thread maybe in 2004.

I don't think that we--I was one of the founding members, along with Rickleng's girlfriend (now wife) Pho, Tinapay, Rory and Thea--ever pushed through with it.  Nor have I ever done a post like it.

And I was surprised at how many things my bag had in and outside it, and that was excluding my wallets, which I had moved to my office bag for tomorrow!

10% off at Watson's V-Mall today.

Hanging from a shoulder strap is my Blue Eagles hand sanitizer, my first Blue Eagles anything--don't even own a shirt--which my friend gave me only today!  The attachment is good for me, as I'm too lazy to go through my bag to look for my hand sanitizer.

She said that all Watson's items were 10% off today, but was not sure if this was just for SM Advantage cardholders.

Pashmina, Inquirer, key/USB case, Monopoly case, passbooks, checkbooks.

Anyway, with the UAAP season in full swing, she said that there were a lot of clean Protec Blue Eagles sanitizers, unlike when she got one maybe a month ago, when there was only one in stock, with a red liquid in it, which was appreciated by the Austrian guy who had gotten it.  The ones she got for us, had matching blue in it.

To think that when we went to Watson's to look for the Blue Eagles sanitizer, the saleslady was at first unaware that they had it and when we asked for other stock, she even suggested that we get another school sanitizer!

The camera, Monopoly and pashmina stay in the bag.

Anyway, my bag had my Samsung Corby, toilet paper, tissue paper, BDO passbooks and checkbooks, the Canon 310 that Amanda Green had given me, the Inquirer Music Museum page, a Citibank card letter, my Globe bills which I settled today, my Asia Insurance commission envelope, a Collezione shirt, a red pashmina from I don't know where, my Monopoly card deal game from APLD, my keys, Scan Disk flash drive, Thor-Lo socks,  Lineplus highlighter which I've never used since ADT paid for it last month at Fully Booked, my face towel, the Fit Right OR for the Meg pants I had altered (for ejection, the OR not the pants), Elizabeth Arden foundation stick from CGL and which I should throw away because it's used up, Victoria's Secret hand sanitizer from Ms. Vegas and the Caltex promo flyer and card slip so my friend can text her raffle entry since I used her card to get gas.

The unexpurgated view includes a Chowking napkin.

Some stuff were in the Bags in the City pouch and the Pabder shoe bag.

Since my wallets were in my Lapdance business bag which DT had gotten for me, I got to thinking of taking photos of the contents of my laptop bag, but realized that blogging about it would be another major production.  So maybe in another eight years.

True Religion Jacket

With my Space pants.

Thanks to Ms. Vegas for my red, large jacket and to RKLdG for having her driver deliver it to me--to the wrong address!  After three months, R's balikbayan box finally arrived in the Promised Land of Moses.

I don't know how she figured out my size after my roundabout answer to her question that didn't include blazers, jackets, cardigans or sweaters at all!

Speaking of which, what do you call all of them as group?  Blackets?  Carditers?  Covers?  Coats?  Sears calls this category 'Jackets and Blazers,' which includes vests.

I just bought an Ann Loft overrun at Greenhills tiangge with the label slashed off so I don't know what my size is.  What do you call it when it is buttonless with a sash?  It seems that it is a cardigan.

Anyway, back to sizes.  I have a pilit Penshoppe Large that I bought because I loved the quilted design even though it was a tad too small for me.

Less pilit is my clingy Medium Meg blazer.  And the UWN jacket that AMYC gave me is a roomy Small.  I fell in love with a Large velvet black jacket at PBCom, but I couldn't button up so I didn't get it.  Good incentive to lose waist.

Track Jacket.

So, to my Kapitbahay who doesn't read blogs, ang galing mong magtantya!  Showing ang years of experience mo sa garments business.

BTW, we call each other Neighbor because I told her, buti pa tayo, ang layo-layo natin, ang dalas nating mag-usap, di tulad ng mga taga-rito; para tayong magkapitbahay.

And if my mom were to answer your question about what my favorite color is, she complains that I have so many greys, referring to my blanket and Ann Loft cardigan.

But the red jacket should come in handy the next time I sit with Mike Abasolo at the San Beda section, or at the next Fil-Chi birthday party.

Filoil Championships on June 12

Nambatac of Letran gets a free throw in their game against Xavier.

The NCAA and the UAAP champions battle for third place at the 2012 Filoil Flying V Preseason Hanes Cup tomorrow. 2010-2011 NCAA champion San Beda Red Lions and the 2008-2011 UAAP four-peat champion Ateneo Blue Eagles will play at 11:30 am on June 12, 2012.

The championship game between the NU Bulldogs and the La Salle Green Archers starts at 4 pm.

The Juniors Division has a similar line-up.  

It's the Xavier Golden Stallions versus the NU Bullpups at 9:30 am and the San Beda Red Cubs and the Letran Squires at 2:00 pm.

Letran 87, Xavier 82, at 3:22 pm.

Thanks to Mike 'Mic' Abasolo of inboundpass.com for the media pass and the company and to Rebound Magazine photographer Dr. Gerard 'Raddy' Mabasa for the ride and the guidance.

Raddy and I arrived at the Arena between 2:15 and 2:30 pm.  He said that he would normally park in Pinaglabanan at that time, but that there was a low turnout on account of the long holiday. 

He pointed out that the parking building was full.  We parked in the grassy area inside the compound.

Is that Bobby  Ray Parks (14) with the ball?

I brought some chichirya that my dad brought home from China.  Raddy warned me that bringing of food is not allowed, as there are concessionaires.  

But since I had a Media Pass, my bag was not inspected.  I had left my stash in Raddy's car on his advice.

 It was my first time to watch a collegiate basketball game and to go to my neighbor The Arena.

Raddy wonders why I would go to a bonfire but not Araneta Coliseum.  I told him that I watch the games at home on TV.  Wearing my blue shirt.

Being my age, Raddy warned me about the noise which I knew about because Mic said that he couldn't hear me on the phone.  

Among the starters were Slaughter (20), Salva (8), Tiongson (5).

Raddy asked me after it was over if I found it noisy.  I told him that I had attended an Appetite Restaurant Festival at Eastwood where a drum act was well-received.  I didn't enjoy it as much as the drumming of the school teams, even his school Xavier's, which Raddy did not notice.  The San Beda Red Lions' starting drummer gets the Bigay na Bigay award from me, as he even put his foot on his ledge for added power.

Raddy also asked me why I wasn't wearing blue.  I told him that my skorts were light blue.  Time to get a blue shirt.  I wish that Blue Eagles shirts are sold in malls or even at the Arena.  Aside from the expensive Adidas shirts.

Mic pointed out the best Blue Eagles cheer to me.  What was it?

I had suggested this to the Loyola Grand Villas library when I accompanied my friend Joy Uy but was referred to the gift shop.

Anyway, I hope to attend the championships on June 12 as I enjoyed myself last Saturday.

Two people held up banners each time the Bulldogs scored a basket.

Surprisingly, the Xavier-Letran game was interesting to watch as it was a close game and the Eagles-Bulldogs game was a yawn.  La Salle led San Beda all throughout until 38 all near the end of the game.  Wow!  That woke me up!  Was it in the third quarter when I told Mic that it looks like it's going to be San Beda versus Ateneo tomorrow?

9-year-old Joshua, who was yawning earlier, also stood up and bit his nails.  Literally.  When, after the tie and San Beda was down by four points and it was clear that La Salle was winning the game, he cupped his head in his hands.

Size

Today, I got this email from Miss Vegas: 'Miss anong size ka…. LARGE?????'


My answer: S to XL.  I don't mean before or after diets, I mean today, before, during and after diets, successful, accidental or not.  I have not lost or gained a lot of inches since last year when I went to Boracay when I bought my Artwork shirt, until sometime this month when I bought Collezione shirts.  My old clothes fit just about the same as my new ones.  My tops sizes are either 3 for Collezione, S for Artwork or XL for Lonely Planet.  I do not own a M or L shirt.  In a shirt company's eyes, I am either fat or thin, never just right.


The same is true with bottoms.  According to Space, I am S (shorts or denim pants), but according to Fila and Adidas, I am XL.  According to Nike, I am nobody, as it does not have XL and their biggest size, L, does not fit me.


Only Debenhams and Plains and Prints think I'm normal, at sizes 8 and USA 6.  But Plains and Prints is not normal.  They have clothes that, like Nike, do not carry my size, or of a different size.   I tried on three pieces of clothing at Plains and Prints at The Shops in Greenhills and they were all of different sizes.  Two fit me, and the other one was too small, even though it was the biggest size that they had.

   

Paging the size police!

     Tops

Spaghetti strapped 
 Space XL 

T-shirt 
 Artwork S
Collezione 3 
 Lonely Planet XL

Bottoms 


 Pants 

Maong
 Space S 

Sports 
 Adidas XL 


 Shorts

Mid-calf adidas jogging pants: XL.

Space S 
 Skirt 
 Denim 
 Debenhams 8 
 Semi-Formal 
 Plains and Prints USA 6 
 Skorts
 Fila XL  

Linda Salon's Holy Week Schedule

My Caronia moment in my bathroom.

Thanks to Ms. Linda Salon for rushing my manicure this morning.  I called up at around 8 am to say that I was getting picked up at around 8:30 am for work.

Ms. Linda told me that her niece-manicurist was still in the shower, and that she had just washed the A/C.  But sure, I could come over.

Ms. Linda removed my chipped polish until her niece (Nievel?) took over.

I brought my friend's Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Glazed Candy Frost (now Gla ed Cand    ost) nail polish which my friend shared with me (thank you!) as the usual salon polish, whether Bruno's Rockwell (P 380 for mani-pedi), Linda, or Ness Astillas (P 190 for one manicure and two pedis), lasts less than 24 hours on my fingernails (weeks on my toenails). Le Charmant lasted weeks, but no to snootiness, coupon or not.

I put the nail polish in the Body Shop cosmetic case that my friend gave me.

Although it is glass-enclosed and it's summer, Linda Salon was not warm.  Ms. Linda said that it was because of the mango tree in the Araneta property across the street.  At one point, Ms. Linda even turned off the fan to control my flying nails hihi.  Still not stuffy.

After all this time, I don't have a photo of Linda Salon because, for security reasons, I try to travel light when I walk over.  Plus I'm always in a hurry when I'm there, and my fingernails are wet when I leave.  This morning, I pulled out my payment (P 100) and tip (P 40) before the manicure started.

Not too light, not too dark.

Incidentally, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Glazed Candy Frost was not available in the Watson's Greenhills branch that we checked out.  Same with the Ateneo Blue Eagles alco-gel, which we tried to look for at two Watson's Greenhills branches, V- Mall and the one near Unimart/Kimpura.  Is this area called The Shops?  If so, no one I know uses that name.



Ms. Linda told me that the salon will be closed on March 28 to April 3, and on April 5 and 6:

Holy Week Schedule
Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
March
25	26	27	28	29	30	31
CLOSED
			Linda's Salon
April
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
				Holy Thursday	Good Friday
CLOSED
Linda's Salon				Linda's Salon

Ateneo: Fresh Air in the City

 When I read Soliloquium's post, I thought of  the Carnation Food Tour 2009 where we went to Balai Isabel and Tagaytay Highlands, Astoria Boracay in 2010 and Lima Park Hotel last year.

What do you call this tree part?  Seeds?

 There's already a lot of info on these places, so I thought of a place where I have played tour guide before:Ateneo.

I've brought clients, relatives, a balikbayan, her husband and a tourist to Ateneo before, and they seemed to enjoy it.

My Isang was surprised that a place with so many trees was so near San Juan.  She thought that Ateneo was far, far away.

Isok said that Ateneo reminded him of his school in China.

Besides, my Atenean friends don't know what Ateneo looks like anymore.  And my Favorite Cousin, who had gone to UP, has not been there yet.

The Bs posed in front of these trees.

My latest trip to Ateneo was last November 1, when the choice of places to go were limited.  I asked my balikbayan friend JK where she and her husband would prefer to go, Ateneo or Makati. 

The Makati plan was to check if Glorietta was open in the morning.  If not, we could have pancit luglog and halo-halo at the Pen 'if necessary,' as BB put it.

Football field where Jayson watched games before the Bonfire.

JK decided that Ateneo would be interesting for B, because of the Ateneo Fil-Chi books that she had bought in the mid-2000s at the UP University Press.

Everyone I know thinks that entering Ateneo is as difficult as entering DLSU or CSB.   At least, that was my experience when I went to La Salle and St. Benilde with friends.

And the last time I went to UP, I was asked to pass the visitors' gate (versus the sticker gate).   I hope to bring my defunct UP ID next time I go to UP.

When Jayson went to an Ateneo bonfire in 2010, he said that he was a media person.

Plant at the Ateneo Grade School

I told him that to enter Ateneo, all you need to do is leave your ID with the guard.  Just say that you're going to Gesu (church) or Moro Lorenzo (sports center) and you're good to go.

As Moro was probably closed, I brought the Bs to 'the forest,' the Grade School, the Loyola House of Studies where I had borrowed A Question of Heroes as a student, and the Church of Gesu.

I had not been to 'the forest' in years.  In the mid-2000s when JK and I went to Ateneo, there were shrubs lining the paths with benches every 100 meters, maybe.  Around that time, I remember that someone was praying the rosary as she (or was it they?) walked around.

 Now it was a full-blown 'forest.'  Too bad the pond was dry but the frogs still hung out there.

The funny thing at the Grade School was that, amid so many trees and plants, we saw a fake plant.

Trying to replicate my friend's shot of The Church of Gesu.

Walking to the Loyola House, we saw a swimming pool center which was more like Xavier's.  It looked more competition-style than the Ateneo Grade School's, where I had swim class as my college PE subject.

Because I sucked at gym class, my PE teacher assumed that I was not good enough for the intermediate swim class.  He thought that Basic Swimming was more appropriate for me.

Little did he know that I had gone to ICA when it was mandatory to know the Individual Medley and life-saving.  I wrote our swim teacher Mrs. Arellano a thank you note for being so strict.  She in turn told my mom how much she appreciated my letter.

 It was my first time to see it.  JK was impressed that Ateneo was progressing, what with the new Rizal Library with its modern look and moat.  We also saw the old Rizal Lib, maybe twice as big as when I was a student.  I wonder if the new lib was an extension or a replacement of the old one.

Hilda Kapauan-Abola?

At the Loyola House where I last went to attend Fr. Lahiff's wake in 1998, we chanced upon Fr. Guido Arguelles' wake.  We met his niece.

Leaning plants at the Ateneo Grade School.

I told the Bs that it was customary to leave a wake without saying goodbye.

I wish that I had given them the overall view of Ateneo in the car then looked at the campus more closely by foot.

We ran out of time so we didn't even see Bellarmine, the High School and even the facade of Moro, where I would have wanted to show them the PT clinic, the 'suspended' running oval from where a now-deceased colleague had called out to me in the badmin court below, and my favorite place in Ateneo, the quiet, Zennish prayer room.  Heck, it's one of my favorite places in the world.

I'm partial to light green leaves.  AGS.

Come to think of it, soon would be a good time to bring a depressed friend to the prayer room.

And of course, I'd like to show them the Ateneo Art Gallery and the University Press, as they thought that the Ayala Museum was fantastic.  Not that the Ateneo Art Gallery--I haven't seen it since I graduated--is better, but they're art lovers.

Maybe I can show these places to J's brother D, when he comes over late this year.

Total cost for going to Ateneo: gas.  Maybe P 50 if you want to run in the oval.  And change for the vendo machines.

Tree trunk at AGS.

Incidentally, I'm sad to learn that Ateneo does not allow dogs anymore, as it is perfect for dogs.  This reminds me of a dog owner, who was disappointed to learn that Velasquez Park does not allow dogs.

Isn't it what parks are for? she went, standing on the periphery of the park one Salcedo Market day this month, along with other dog owners and their pets.

Acer or eMachines?

320 GB versus Acer's 500 GB.

Took all the photos in this post at xT Pro.

Ever since my friend got an Acer Netbook for
P 12,000 (display unit, P 12,500 at xT Pro) in Greenbelt around third quarter last year, I thought of getting it as my next laptop, as I'm happy with my Acer Aspire One which I've had since around Chinese New Year 2009, which makes it 3 years old!

Now I'm torn between the eMachines Acer 355, which looks exactly like my friend's Acer, and the Acer Aspire AOD 257.  The eM costs P 12,500 at xT, while the Acer costs P 14,900 at PC Depot.

According to the Unofficial eMachines Forum, the em 355 - 1609 with 1 G of RAM is almost identical as the Aspire One 533.

This is the data that I could find online, which is not the latest since the eMachines 355 at xT Pro has 2 GB memory and 6cell Li-on Battery which makes it the same as the Acer AOD 257:

	eMachines	Acer
	355	AOD 257
processor	Atom Dual Core	Atom Dual Core N570
display size	10.1"	10.1"
CPU Speed	1.66 GHz	1.66 GHz
Installed RAM Size	1 GB	2 GB
Installed Hard Drive Size	320 GB	500 GB
Installed Operating System	Windows 7 Starter	Windows 7 Starter
LCD	color
Battery	4 hours	8 hours
		Intel Graphics Accelerator

The Asus was too heavy.

Feng Shui Figurines

When Ms. Vegas asked me to get her and her friends some figurines, I told her that the best time to get them is now that there are Chinese New Year exhibits.  She thought that I would need to go to Binondo to get them.  I told them that San Juan has everything that Binondo has.

Blue dragon, elephants, horses, birds at V-Mall.

Ms. Vegas sent me the World of Feng Shui links to guide me on what she wants:

Blue dragon

Ox

I might hop over to Megamall this long weekend to check out the sale that ends on January 31, but maybe the World of Feng Shui is a shop that Ms. Vegas can check out herself since it's a permanent shop or stall.

Green dragon.  Thanks to my friend for spotting and styling.

Anyway, when I checked out the V-Mall exhibit on the ground floor, it turns out that most of them have a stall or store upstairs.

The Chinese New Year sale ends on January 24, Tuesday.