Rustan’s Sapphire card

Got one in the mail. All it said was to submit the application form to Rustan’s supermarket, which I had the maid do. She didn’t come back with anything so I called and asked if I ought to have received a confirmation stub or something. The guy in customer service in Rustan’s Katipunan, without asking who I was, said everything was fine. Took his word for it.

Last night, I bought a few items in Rustan’s Power Plant. The cashier asked when I gave her my sapphire card if I still had my Rustan’s fresh. I said yes. She and the cashier beside her looked at each other. Apparently, this wasn’t unusual both wasn’t the done thing. She said I ought to have submitted the Fresh card with the application form so my points in Fresh could be credited to my Sapphire card. I said I’d do it in Katipunan then. But she said I should bring it to Customer Service right then and there and surrender it. I said fine.

Went to customer service except that their system was down. So they couldn’t tell me how much I had in my Fresh card so I could later check if indeed my balance in Fresh was credited to Sapphire. Virgie promised to see to that. I hope she does. She told me I should have submitted my Fresh card with the form. So I repeated myself: the letter didn’t say so, the customer service guy in Rustan’s Kat didn’t say so. How was I to know?
She said she’d feedback my comment to management. And then? Too late really.

Anyway, if you get your Rustan’s Sapphire card and application form, do submit that with the Fresh card. Sapphire is supposed to be an upgrade of the Fresh card and not everyone is given the privilege. When I asked the manager what the requirements were for an upgrade, she didn’t know. Marketing decided. Whatever.

Odds and Ends Nov 23, 2008

Mass in our parish church, OLPP, at C Salvador Street. 9:30 a.m. Yehey, officiating priest was Fr. Arevalo. After mass, caught him and asked when he says mass at OLPP. His answer: first and last Sundays of every month, 9:30 a.m. He is so holy and wise, I feel so fortunate when it is he who says mass when we go.

***********

Shangrila. Got a bottle of Vanilla Scent for Goodsphere at True Value, sixth floor. They’re now at 10% off. So one bottle cost P1098 instead of P1200. Eucalyptus is more expensive at P1500 per bottle. One bottle lasts many months with us.

Next stop: lunch at Sumo Sam. Tuna sashimi – six huge slices at P168. Crispy baby squid at less than P200. Wagyu Beef and Bacon rice – one bowl could be shared by 2 to 3 people. Beef teppan was plentiful too, and the meat was cooked just right. Five plump prawn tempura, no breadcrumbs just flour coating.

AFter lunch we went off to the elevator when a cute baby caught my attention. I looked at the parents — oh it was raymart Santiago, I thought. But I wasn’t sure. Then I saw Claudine beside Raymart. Nice to see them like any ordinary family out on a Sunday. Yaya was holding baby. Green Tomato, sixth floor.

Proceeded to the 4th floor of Rustan’s. Looked at coffee grinders, coffee makers. Krups, Imarflex, Braun, Moulinex and De Longhi. Price range is rather vast. An Imarflex ceramic model for drip coffee was P700 only. An Imarflex coffee maker with grinder went for less than P3k. Got a De Longhi grinder and a Krups coffee maker. There was no machine that could do a combination of both that was reasonably priced, or so we thought. We saw Imarflex version after we had made the purchase. rationalization: the Imarflex version had only one setting for grinding coffee, the De Longhi had 3 settings. Was tempted to get the De Longhi espresso and capuccino maker but husabdn wanted drip coffee. Oh well, it was a Christmas present for him, so he ruled.

HAd the stuff Christmas wrapped because the lady offered. They even made us choose the wrapper and style of wrapping. Wow, Rustan’s has morphed. Wrapping colors and designs are more modern and exciting. Imagine, they even have an orange wrapper. But I chose the more staid gold. With feathers. I didn’t notice they even had a choice with CHristmas balls. I should have taken pictures.

We looked around a bit before claiming the gift we had wrapped but when we went to check in Counter 4D, it was still there in its raw form. Asked for wrapper instead but Joel said, “next na ho yun” with a smile, so how could we resist? His pleasant countenance was a marked contrast to the ladies in Wrap Shop who sometimes have nothing to wrap but look so churlish. Joel is all energy and smiles. Rustan’s forever.

His demeanor reminded me of the waiter who attended to us in Mag:net in Bonifacio High Street. we were there for Royal elastics’ show featuring several bands, Fuzz among them. ANd there was this competent waiter who really pleased us with the brand of service he gave.  When I asked if he knew the number of Mag:Net in Katipunan, he immediately wrote it out for me and even wrote the owner’s name on it: Rock Drilon. He must be proud of his master, yes, no less than the painter Rock Drilon. As if you didn’t know.

Food in Mag:net is interesting. My son suggested I order the beef tapa. Found it a bit too salty for my taste especially after I tried the bangus dish which was just right. Our waiter suggested the pogo eggs in chorizo sauce and the kesong puti. Found the pogo eggs a bit sweet and in fact, we weren’t able to finish it. The cheese appetizer was great. The dip was interesting: vinegar with garlic, like one would use for fried tofu. It’s a pity that MAg:net in Katipunan isn’t accessible to me. I’ve missed quite a number of my son’s gigs as a result plus I can’t eat there with friends. Oh well, till Fuzz’s next gig in Mag:Net High Street. Inaccessibility has also accounted for my missing Fuzz’s performances in RJ in Jupiter.

Update on the Saga of Getting a Correction made in a Birth Certificate

Finally, I was able to ask someone to get the certificate of finality for the corrections on my son’s birth certificate at the Manila City Hall’s Civil Registrar. I instructed that person to proceed to the NSO in East Avenue to apply for a corrected birth certificate and what do you know? they asked for the original documents from City Hall (Wahhh. I would have wanted to frame those!). And guess what? The said certificate can be claimed only on December 15 at 2 pm. A good three weeks away almost, from the time the application was filed.

Meanwhile, my birth certificate for which corrections were also applied maybe two weeks after those of my son’s has no update yet. As in NADA. The Civil Registrar in Talisay City said they haven’t heard from NSO yet. Gosh. or rather GOSH.

Bibeth Orteza

Blogs back, I marveled at the fact that Moms has no less than Ansel Beluso as creative something. A few days ago, in the Sa PUla, sa Puti portion of Eat Bulaga, the contending parties were Moms and Sis. For the former, aside from Ansel and Sherilyn, they had no less than Bibeth Orteza. Wow, she’s the director of Moms! No wonder the show doesn’t have too much fluff but is straightforward. Bibeth is an intellectual. And funny because the jackpot question had to do with the mother of Barack’s children but the one who read the question misread it and asked that a relative of Barack deeper down the family tree be identified. But believe it or not, Bibeth knew the answer. Except that it was the right answer to a wrong question or vice versa.

Random Stuff

Top on the list is nearly literally bumping into Chynna Hortaleza in Unimart. This is one pretty young lady. I recall her first commercial on TV – Royal Tru-Orang or Sprite, she was in yellow and had straight, shoulder-length hair. She was perky and registered well onscreen. I was so happy when she joined the roster of GMA stars. When she saw me and realized we nearly bumped each other near the back of Unimart, she lifted her shoulders and smiled. Parang “Ay!” A real person. If she’s pretty and charming on TV, that’s how she is live. How many stars can claim as much? A number appear so warm on TV but when you see them up close, they’re like Lavinia in Bituin Walang Ningning. Not Chynna. Chynna was pushing a grocery cart.

At V Mall, while waiting for the maid, I saw this man in a brown polo: Nyoy Volante. He was with his mom or an older relative anyway.

Amazing Cones in V-Mall. Remember, I blogged about it some weeks ago? No wonder I didn’t see it in Greenhills. It’s ensconced behind Haagen Daz. It’s amazing how people are able to find it because it’s so hidden. Got 3 sets of 5 each plus 1 free. They now have sweet cones as well. And bigger cones that go for P70 or P75 per. There’s nothing like eating it hot, straight out of the oven. But it’s okay even if it’s cold. Not as exciting but not bad. Try the supremo Italiano. Yummy. Fajitas, not to my taste. It’s ok but Italiano’s better.

Bougth a few items at SM Appliance in V-Mall. Got one at 0% interest for six months and my, I wasted more than 45 minutes waiting for the transaction to finish. They said the computer hung. Hayyy. What a waste of time. I had hired the wheelmobile so you can just imagine how flustered I was because the wheelmobile charges per hour. Got the extended warranty which set me back by a thousand pesos. By the way, Nikon rechargeable fan bigger than the one I have is now available. P1.5k, more or less. And if you buy a range or oven at SM, do ask for your food keeper that comes free. And raffle tickets. Sometimes they forget.

Had lunch at Sizzler. Steak ala pobre. Maid had sizzling boneless chicken. Dish comes with cornstarch soup. Honest. Maybe with a little margarine because it’s yellowish. I’d rather the broth in Kimchi. Or the chicken soup of House of Minis. Remember how I mentioned before that the steak in HoM lacks the beefy flavor? What’s happening to our cows? the one in Sizzler’s didn’t have any beefy flavor at all. Or any flavor for tohat matterl. Maid was furiously infusing her chicken with Maggi sauce and Worcerstershire sauce and I followed suit. The macaroni salad tasted good except that while it said in the menu screen that it was ham and cheese macaroni salad, I only saw macaroni and mayo in the salad; no cheese, neither ham.

Speaking of food: we finally tried the unagi rice of Pepper Lunch. No fishy taste there. And the kani salad was superb. I also like the Hitokuchi steak. I usually order pepper rice with it, which means an additional P40. Yummy. Can’t wait for Pepper Lunch in Shang. I heard it will be at the basement, though. Feel a bit sad about that because getting to the basement of Shang can be quite a challenge. Only two elevators lead to and from it. I think PL should have located itself in the sixth floor. Though I’ve seen Kimono Ken on the basement, I haven’t tried it out yet. Our usual haunts in the basement are Kimchi and House of Minis. Oh well…

Update on Manila City Hall Civil Registrar Birth Certificate COrrection

Finally, I got through to 527 7816 and while I waited a long time for Elsa to come back with the answer, deep down I knew it would be a yes. And indeed it was. The certificate of finality for the correction of my son’s birth certificate has been handed down and has to be picked up. Then I can go apply for a corrected birth certificate from the NSO in East Avenue. I hope the corrections are correct and that no new errors surface.

I’ll reserve my Alleluia for the time i finally see the corrected birth certificate.

Rustan’s Katipunan November 21, 2008

Read about some new promos of Rustan’s like 10-percent off on meat purchases for Rustan’s Citibank Visa card holders on Thursdays and some other promo on Tuesdays. Also read of their “passport” promo where one is given stickers to fill a passport after which once completed, one gets a 2009 planner. The latter promo began last 15 November.

Six days after the promo began, I was at Rustan’s. That was yesterday. My purchases ran up to P5k. I asked where my stickers and passport were. The cashier said info on this  would be reflected in the receipt. WHen she was done I asked her how many I was entitled to, she said “none.” I was flummoxed and she was insistent: I wasn’t entitled to any. There were participating brands I had to have made purchases of, I checked which ones and I saw that I did have some of them: Del Monte (i bought ketchup), Nestle (i bought cream), Century (I bought several cans of tuna), etc. So where were my stickers? She appeared very impatient and I didn’t like it. She referred me to customer service. I didn’t get her name, should I have?

At customer service was this tallish man who smiled, looked at my receipt and gave me a passport plus 8 stickers. An apologetic smile too. Vindication. I wanted to wave my passport in the cashier’s face but why bother? Rustan’s should either update its cash registers, have more pleasant cashiers rather tahn arrogant ones.  Instances like those make me want to be taray like Maricel or wish I knew how to raise one eyebrow like Dona Agueda of Flor de Luna fame, or Dina Bonnevie of more recent vintage, while saying a la Celia Rodriguez, “Hoy, kung wala kayong customers, wala kayong sweldo o trabaho.” But of course I didn’t do that. My mother would have turned in her grave.

Anyway, that done, I proceeded to the area outside where I saw another new stall: Oi, hongkong style noodles. It was manned by two gentlemen, one of whom had his back turn but was moving along to the music, and the other who attended to me. I only had my credit card and a thousand peso bill and two twenty-peso bills with me. A bowl of noodles cost P20 -P25 each, so did siomai of 4 pieces cost as much and rice with siomai. They didn’t have change, I was told so I could buy only one bowl. The man suggested the bowl of noodles with siomai when I asked which was yummy. I asked how many siomais there would be in it, he said two. Ay, bitin. He sauted the noodles, added the siomai and went in front, while asking what sauces I liked. I said whatever was delicious. He said “linalagay naman lahat eh.” Hay, so why did he ask pa. Then he said, “Gusto niyo spicy?” Gulong kausap. I said only a little. He proceeded to scoop the different sauces into the bowl: oyster, teriyaki, hot and I don’t know what. After giving it to me uncovered, asked him to cover it, thanked him and was told, “sigurado, babalik kayo.” True enough, I had the maid go back with the bowl because husband said noodles were  dry. I thought he had put broth in it. Maid went back and was told “fried noodles yun.” Ah so, but why a bowl? Bowls are for soup, right? Oh well.

Regardless, the noodles were quite good, even the siomai was. It wasn’t the dense type full of cornstarch, thank God. And now I think I should have the maid buy 2 bowls for lunch. Less spicy for me though. Uhhhm. Am excited at the thought. Really quite good and quite cheap. I hope it survives. Previous occupants of the stalls in the area have since left.

Update on Pending Government Stuff

Birth certificate correction-Civil Registrar, Manila City Hall:

Called Monday last week, was told the computer hung so could I call later? It’s been a week and I have been calling but either I got a busy tone or the phone kept ringing and no one was answering. The number: 527 7816. Care to try?

SSS – head office

Called to ask when my card would be ready. The lady was friendly. she asked when I applied. When she found out that I did September, her answer, “ay ma’am, january pa lang ang pina-process. kasi nasira ang machine noon kaya may backlog.” What a backlog, almost a year’s worth.

Oh well, at least she was nice.

She also suggested that I keep following up because they were working on the backlog. She did say too that it would just arrive in the mail.

Amazing Cones

Ever since we went to Lyric Music Store in N Domingo, we’ve been passing that street and Hemady for one reason or other. The first time we did, I saw “pizza in a cone” emblazoned in one establishment. I hinted that I wanted to try it, but the car was going too fast. Then yesterday, after Shangrila, we decided to teach our son the route to the NIA Road post office so he could claim the parcel I mentioned in a previous post. We took Ortigas, turned right at N Domingo and then left at Hemady. Before we hit Hemady, I pleaded, “we’ll pass at Amazing Cones, right?” Husband said yes. But when we neared the corner, he said “ay hindi pwede” because there was a park stuck there. He pointed that out, I said “di naman ang store diyan eh.” So finally, Amazing cones. Yippee. I didn’t get off the car, only son did. Gave him P300 for soft serve ice cream and pizza cones. I thought he’d just get one each for the three of us, but taking after the mother, he got 12 cones (4 flavors) and 3 cups of ice cream. ergo, he had to shell out P100 of his own money. His verdict:

Place is clean and it has fascinating equipment. He even asked how to get to the place from Loyola (hmm, he seems to be nurturing plans of going there without us). We had to wait quite a while (luckily husband didn’t turn grumpy) but the wait was well worth the pizza, or rather the pizza was well worth the wait. Apparently made from scratch rather than reheated. We didn’t take pictures of what we ordered, they were too inviting not to eat right away. So instead here are pictures of the posters and signage. Flavors son got were sausage, garlic and cheese, pepperoni and everything. We had butterfinger softserve ice cream. all three of us. The cones are tiny so getting just one will leave one wanting for at least one more.

And guess what, the poster in the store said it’s available in the main entrance of V-Mall. My goodness, we frequent Greenhills but never noticed. WOnder if it really is there.

The pictures: Oops, just one for now. Uploading was so slow.

Philippine Postal Corp in NIA Road vis-a-vis e-2door

Last week, the registry notice of my order from Amazon arrived. Per Amazon, estimated date of arrival should have been 7 November. It came a few days late, I think on the 12th. Not bad.

Unlike in the past when the registry notice had the info that I should pay P35 upon claiming, this time it said “Pay P____. Being the proverbial optimist, I thought, uhmmm, maybe I won’t have to pay anything.

Then lo and behold, when my son was at the post office this pm, he called, “Mama, may babayaran. P1400.” Deja vu. I think I wrote a post some time ago about how a scholar of Mama who’s now a nurse in the States and doing very well sent a package of various items I didn’t ask for and was alarmed, just as I was, that the Philippine post office charged me over a thousand pesos for claiming the same. She had paid duties on it from her now. Now this, for 3 books. Not because I’m bragging but strictly for info’s sake, here are some details:

Book A – $32.97

Book B – $16.47

Book C – $10.20

_________________

Subtotal: $59.64

S & H    : $31.96

Order

Total    : $91.60

Fine, such was what I paid Amazon using my credit card.

Now to the post office’s charges:

Customs Duty                    Tariff Heading: $49.01

$91.60 (Dutiable value) x 49.35 (exchange rate)

Php 4,520 (dutiable value in peso) x 5% (Rate of duty)

Php226 (Total Customs Duty)

Expanded Value Added Tax

Php 4520 (dutiable value in peso)

Php226 (Customs Duty)

Php250 (Import Processing Fee0

Php250 (Customs Documentary Stamp)

Php15 (BIR Documentary Stamp)

Total Taxable Cost Php5261 x 12% (Evat rate)

Total Payable VAT Php631

Summary:

Customs Duty      Php226

EVat                     Php631

Import ProcessingPhp 250

Customs Stamp   Php250

BIR Doc Stamps   Php15

TOTAL:               Php1372

Any comments? Luckily my son had enough money but was left with zilch after. The man behind him couldn’t get his package because he was asked to pay P1700 and he didn’t have enough. How inconvenient.

Is it not possible for the Post Office to indicate duties in the registry notice to prevent surprises, unhappy and big surprises? Maybe shocks would be a more apt word.

Moral of the story: When you go to claim a parcel at the post office, do bring lots of cash. The computation I presented above should give you an idea how much. Note that rate of duty for books is 5%. For DVDs it’s 10%, I was told. Be warned.

Have been trying to get into the website of e-2door so I can compare which would have been cheaper: getting the books direct from Amazon or through e-2door. Unfortunately, its system must be down. Promise I’ll get round to that as soon as their site works.

PS: Lest you think any money went to the PO personnel, I don’t think so. He gave an OR plus a flyer entitled “THe Bureau of Customs Postal Service”, a primer on the most frequently asked questions and answers from the Tariff and Customs Code and National Internal Revenue Code.

The Bureau of Customs website is www.customs.gov.ph

Note: I paid my credit card an equivalent of P4467.24 for the $91.60 transaction with Amazon.

&&&&&&&&&&

Finally, e-2door worked. Here’s a summary of the payments I would have made had I gone e-2door instead of direct from amazon:
Item    Unit Price    Shipping and Handling    Tax and Duty    Total Price    Peso Equivalent
Book A    $16.47    $12.64                           $6.75                 $35.86    Php1803.64
Book B    $32.97    $15.28                           $11.19               $59.44    Php2989.74
Book C    $10.20    $11.63                           $5.07                $26.90    Php1352.92
TOTAL                                                                                  $122.20    Php6146.29
So while I spent P1372 + P4467.24 = Php5839.24, the transaction would have set me off by Php6146.29 via e-2door, for a difference of Php307.05.

If government had charged me P35 like it did a few months ago for a book that cost less than $50, amazon direct would be the way to go. But for beyond $50 purchases, it would be worth considering e-2door given the convenience of having the parcel brought to your doorstep and no shocking duties to pay. At least from the very start, you would know how much you’d need to shell out.

If you are interested in e-2door, go to this site For most packages they can deliver within 2 weeks, but once I experienced a delay. Back in May 2008, I ordered a book from Amazon that cost $19.50. Shipping and handling cost $9.98 for a total of $29.48. For that purchase I only paid P35 in the post office. Oh well, lesson learned.

One True Love

The making of One True Love is now being shown on GMA. From half-listening to it, I could almost see a parallelism to Dingdong-Karylle-Marian’s lives or careers, if indeed these two are interchangeable. If Karylle hadn’t decided to transfer to ABS, I’d tend to believe that the break-up is a mere gimmick to promote the movie. But that Karylle has bolted GMA is, to me, an indication that the break-up is true. Is it?

Dingdong looks very happy — has he become a very good actor or is he in love with Marian? I’m really puzzled.

Anyone care to enlighten me?

Proudly Filipina

If you read most of my recent posts, you’ll probably conclude and rightly so, that from Moms till Balikbayan, the TV was fixed on QTV last night. Right you are.

Forgot to blog re PF though.

PF was interesting last night. Main theme was women in sports. Can’t recall the exact order of things but it had Charlene, oh now I remember, playing golf with this little girl, then badminton with the lovely Chinoy (forgot the name). She then interviewed Bea Lucero Lhuiller, now all grown up and a mom of three, and finally the Philippine Women’s Basketball Team.She also played a little basketball with them.

As always, Charlene was very nice to everyone, very gracious so that while she said she was a friend of Ms. Badminton Beauty, which might lead one to conclude “Oh, that’s why they had very good rapport,” she also made her other guests warm up to her.

Bea Lucero is one impressive young lady. Remember seeing her doing gymnastics stuff for the Milo commercial, then taekwondo. Rumor had it then that she was supposed to be just doing the stunts while the real star of the Milo commercial should have been someone else, but she was so perky and pretty that the commercial shifted to her. It was during her portion of the show last night that I truly focused.

Bea fully breast fed her 3 children up to the time they were a year old. She won in international competitions in both gymnastics and taekwondo prior to being a wife and mother. Asked about the shift in sports, she was evasive at most, perhaps not wishing to draw attention to the intrigues that hounded that shift. Perhaps it was in the stars because then again, because of it, she showed that she could shine wherever she was. No rancor there. That’s why she remains pretty, beautiful even. I was a fan then, I remain a fan now.

And of Charlene. I’m truly glad she’s with QTV so I can watch her. Such a real lady. Ain’t Aga Muhlach lucky and I hope he realizes that. If he doesn’t stay faithful or breaks her heart, it will be his loss. Really.

(PS I am no paid hack of GMA 7/QTV. They don’t even know I exist.)

404 Not Found

Yesterday, I was on Firefox and trying to get to my Multiply site when each time I tried, I got the message “404 Not Found”. I kept asking my son if Multiply was having problems, he kept shaking his head. Then I thought of going to Firefox, accessed Help and saw there was an update. Earlier I thought the update had finished after I clicked on Update when I got info from Mozilla of an update. So I wondered if that were the culprit because when I surfed re “404 Not Found” or “Server cannot find multiply.com”, I read posts which said that it had something to do with mozilla’s updates. Some even complained about Mozilla.

Left with no recourse, I clicked Update in Firefox Help and voila, I could access Multiply once more.

Thanks, Firefox.

News on QTV (9:30 pm Friday, Nov 14, 2008)

Ivan Mayrina and Rhea Santos host this. But there’s a male voice who reads the news, now as I type this, the foreign news, earlier the local news, who sounds so frantic. Reminds me of Channel 2 newscasters. He doesn’t exude the calm of the usual GMA reporters. How annoying. Wonder who he is. He makes the news sound so scary. Please retrain him, GMA. (I had to check whether I was on the right channel when I heard this newscaster and was aghast to find out that indeed I was tuned in to QTV)

Congratulations to The Sweet Life for the CMMA Awards. Moms should have won too. Mel and Joey I don’t watch so can’t say anything about it.

Balikbayan

Happy Anniversary Drew. It being the show’s anniversary, the show brought Drew to Guam. And wonder of wonders, his hostess there was a familiar name: Flora Baza. If you’re much younger than me, you’ll likely say “FLora who?” But me, I remember very clearly. Except that the person I saw tonight was not the young lady I saw 30 plus years ago, just as I’m no longer the teen I was at that time. Flora of today is an articulate, intelligent, lady, no longer the beauty queen she was then. She was the first Miss Asia ever. And the Miss Asia candidates and Miss Asia herself were sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bacolod in Bacolod, of course, and at the hotel where there was a dinner for them, we had our picture taken with her, Miss Singapore, and our own Mutya ng Pilipinas, the lovely Ms. Carolyn Masibay.

Tonight, Flora didn’t look at all conscious about her looks while telling Drew about Guam. She knew what she was talking about to begin with.

Here in the Philippines, not too many former beauty queens would be as comfortable looking any tinge less beautiful than they were when they won the crown lest people talk. How mean we are. How unaccepting of flaws.

Maybe we should learn to be kinder to ourselves and others?

Happy 3rd Anniversary Moms!

No wonder Moms is an intelligent show. Behind it is Anselle Beluso. First came across AB in the so many permutations of Inday Badiday’s talk shows ages past. He always struck me as beyond petty, as making a lot of sense. Not all bluster signifying nothing. Congratulations then, Anselle. No doubt you’re behind the staying power of Moms.

Congratulations to the three hosts: Manilyn, Lani and Sheryln. And to the others who’ve pinched hit for one or the other of them. They forgot to thank the likes of Christine Jacob, Bernadette Allyson, etc. Those were capable pinch-hitters there.

And their guests were mostly interesting. There were duds, no doubt, but which show hasn’t had its share of them? To Moms credit, it has always given enough time to a topic/guest and that is very satisfying especially if the guest is someone worth listening to. It is in this sense that Moms is superior to THe Sweet Life which limits each guest to only so many minutes, so it seems insufficient. Like I blogged some posts ago, it was a pity TSL didn’t devote more time to Celia Rodriguez. To Gaita Fores too. And I’m sure a lot more.

So again, congratulations to Moms, its hosts and all the people behind its production. You deserve your longer than expected stay on Philippine TV. More years ahead!

It’s that time of year. No Santa, not Christmas yet

but textbooks hunting time.

The start of any semester in college always poses a challenge to me: to find the required textbooks. This time it was a Linear Algebra book and an Economics textbook. the latter I found relatively easily in National Bookstore Katipunan, the former required several phone calls, a failed jeepney ride for my ex-maid and a knight in shining armor in my sister.

Writing the above paragraph and the mere thought of recounting the ordeal exhausts me already. First recourse was National Katipunan. A phone call met a dead end. Called Mind Mover. Nada. Called other National Bookstore branches. Nada. Found the name of a bookstore in the yellow pages. Nada. Called Edca which reprints books. They ran out and were no longer handling Prentice Hall books. The franchise or license has gone to Pearson. Called Pearson. They didn’t have it on stock yet. Possibly end November. Called National Bookstore Shang. They promised to look for it. Got a call later that it was available in the Superbranch in Cubao for, hold your breath, P6900. Wow. I thought and thought if it was worth buying. Then decided not to because he’d be needing the book for just 5 months. Asked my nephew and niece to look for it in Singapore. No response at first. Then later niece said she was off to Sri Lanka, nephew promised to look. Called Goodwill bodega (remember I got an Accounting book from there last sem?). No more stock. Called Edca again and they said their distributors were Merriam and Goodwill. Called Merriam, failed to get through. On the offchance he was mistaken and actually meant Miranda, I called the Asturias branch first. They had Introduction to Linear Algebra. I thought it was a Eureka moment, but where on earth is Asturias? Near UST, I was told. Decided to call their Morayta branch. Was told they had one last copy. Thinking that the husband of ex-maid might be working nearby, I called ex-maid. But she said husband had no money on him. The book cost P400 plus. I asked ex-maid if she could take public transpo and get the book. This maid is intelligent. She didn’t know how to get there, asked a neighbor and said they’d go. Ergo transpo for two people. Food too. The neighbor knew how to get to Morayta via jeepney rides. The girl in Miranda warned me she wouldn’t hold the book past 1 pm. I don’t know why but earlier at EDCA I asked what color the Elementary LA was, he said blue. Intro to LA I learned was black. SO by virtue of that one-word difference, I realized I had sent off the maid to get a wrong book. Darn. I rationalized, it could serve as reference material. But I still didn’t have the book my son needed.

I decided to call Goodwill bodega again, was referred to Greenhills which suggested I call Glorietta. Finally, I found the Holy Grail. Last copy and the girl there, Emer, was willing to reserve it for me. Called maid not to get the book anymore. Luckily she took a while to get to Miranda. Asked if she knew how to get to Glorietta. Her answer was tentative. Called Guinivere as opposed to the knight in shining armor, Lancelot. Seriously, called my sister in Makati who agreed to get it, yahoo. Called another sister if her driver was going to Makati to pick up her daughter. Yes again, yahoo. I felt so blessed.

You see, just before I was about to give up, I prayed. I also asked St. Anthony to help find the book. Shortly after, I called Goodwill GLorietta and voila! Found it.

Sometimes I forget to pray and want to think I have control of everything. But see, when I let go and let God, things worked out and he led me to the book. Whew. Thanks, God and thank you too, St. Anthony.

wrote the above before dinner. A few minutes ago, maybe two hours after I wrote the above, son tells me he needs another book after a cousin-in-law called to ask if my son needed any. See her son who graduated two years ago took the same course and so she thoughtfully remembered to ask. Am I not blessed? But she’ll have to check and before she does, I’ll make the round of calls again tomorrow in search of the book. I hope the search this time will not be as exhausting. will keep you posted.

Odds and Ends

I’m waiting for work and I’m due to make cheese polvoron and baked macaroni but it’s too early for either. So I’ll blog.

What about? As the title of this post says, odds and ends. Okay, I don’t know what about yet. So many things have been happening, rather stressful, I’ve been very forgetful these days.

Anyway, randomly, here goes.

Yesterday was the first day of class for the second sem. Shortly before leaving for school (wouldn’t be surprised if son was late, I forgot to ask), son cleared his expandable envelope of the first sem’s papers. Then he drew out something and said, “tagal na pala nito.” He can be very thoughtful and I was touched. Here is what he gave me. Of course I took this picture only today, because that was a surprise yesterday and I didn’t have the camera ready. When I flipped the page, this was what greeted me next. .Opened the rest of it and saw this and this. Darn, forgot to correct the size. Anticlimactic ba? Wrong fourth of the picture pa. it’s a half. But kakatamad to edit. Once again, the pictures:

(there are two extraneous pictures here, ignore them.) to reveal this:

Oops, wrong size again. More the cause of old age (forgetfulness) than a deliberate act. Son said he got it in school. I didn’t ask beyond what he wanted to say lest he might become churlish at the so many questions. He thinks I have a crush on Chris Tiu (pronounced as tu (long u, not chu)) but I don’t. Sure he’s cute and would have given me the goosebumps if I were 38 years younger, but now he’s just cute the way a baby is cute. And more than anything else, I was touched that my son brought me a “present” of sorts. A milestone. And I treasure each one, try to keep a memento of each. Like a candy he gave me – I still have the wrap, the tag of barquillos he once brought home from Tagaytay, etc. Few and far between but they do come.

Next topic: we were at Galleria yesterday. It’s the time of year: claiming the check for his educational plan. Prudential Life to be exact. We got there close to 5 pm (closing time was 5) so of course you can imagine how tense I was as we parked at 4:30 (B3), went up to the elevators leading to the hotel. Stopped at level 3, wheeled to the mall and again experienced the same dilemma – what floor leads to the corporate center so we could get to prudential life? Guard said one thing (level 2), elevator girl said another – level 1. We tried level 3 because we were sure it wasn’t in either 1 or 2. Level 3, wrong. It’s in Level 4. Okay, the elevator girl told us later she was right it was level 1 but there was access through level 4 too. When we reached the connecting doors to the corporate center, a security person asked where we were headed. He was big but smiling. we said Prudential. He led us to the elevator and held it open by pressing the button. Landed on Level 6 and luckily it was still not 5 pm and there was just one other lady there claiming her check. I laid out my papers and was attended to by a lady. She was taking her time but not too long. Then a gentleman took our papers from her as the lady entertained the other lady first. The man promptly made me sign the documents and released the check. Whew, another close call.

Went off to the mall. Checked out National Bookstore for textbooks for my son, not available. Saw Collezione from the fourth floor, one level down. Dropped by and got two shirts with Philippine maps on them for my son . He saw YOSHA (the band) wearing similar Collezione shirts and decided he wanted to have them too. I was pleased. Collezione is a Philippine brand, is well-crafted and reasonably priced. Less than P600 apiece. Back in college I used to wear Collezione shirts myself. The shirts in the picture come in other colors (dark brown, among them) and they have other shirts with the Philippine map either embroidered or printed. The shirts I got, the maps aren’t too distinct but in the others, the contrast is more stark. Would have wanted to get a black one for my son (that would have red embroidery) but they ran out. Available for ladies too. was thinking of getting one for my balikbayan friend but they don’t have them in pastel shades, just bright orange, yellow, apple green, etc.

After Collezione, we went to Level 2 to find Choi’s Kitchen. At least two friends have said the food there is good. That was 5:30 when we came and the first thing I ordered was Peking Duck with mango wrap done 2 ways (with hoisin and fried). Then shanghai fried rice (yang chow has become so common, shanghai is brownish because of oyster sauce), sweet and sour pork, hakao and spareribs with taosi. quite a lot, no? Should have ordered the set meals that went for less than P200 per but we were past the cut-off of 5 pm. SO how was service?

Sweet and sour pork came first – I thought it would seem reheated but no, it was freshly cooked. I could tell. Smoking hot, crunchy. Good. Then the rice came. Delicious. Then the hakao – had to ask for chili sauce. Then the spareribs. As we ate, I tried to pace myself because I wanted to try, at least try, the Peking duck before taking it home. I was full and still no sign of the much awaited duck. Also had to remind the waitress of our drinks. Asked for the bill and checked, no Peking duck. We had ordered that first from the man in black. Told the waiter (waitress -can’t remember now) about our Peking duck order. Was told “Gusto niyo ho? Sandali lang yun.” Waved my hand to say no. Already we had sweet and sour pork and some rice left over. Peking duck would have been superfluous but was curious how it would taste. Oh well, maybe next time. Husband and I thought if service was like that at 5:30 when not all the tables were taken, what would service be like at lunch or dinner time? It occurred to husband that maybe, they just had a skeleton force then. benefit of the doubt, but service could certainly stand some improvement. Food, no doubt, good quality and reasonably priced. Earlier texted a friend who had recommended the place asking what we should order. His answer came belatedly: corn soup, pancit and tenderloin. Maybe next time. (Got a bottle of their lemon sauce which means I can now make lemon chicken at home. Will feedback once I’ve tried it.)

After Choi’s Kitchen, veered to TGI Friday’s to get my son what he said he wanted as pasalubong (okay, dinner): a huge burger. Charming personnel of TGI suggested the Jack Daniel’s burger. Comes with fries, veggies in the bun and an extra serving of sauce. Jack Daniel’s they told me was whisky so the sauce had whisky. Son analyzed the contents later and he said it had an Asian twist to it. He enjoyed the burger immensely.

While waiting for the burger, asked husband to check out computer shops on the ground floor for a cousin’s adapter (for macbook) and ear pads for my son’s earphones. He came back with neither. There’s no Mac store in Galleria. Weird, no? Greenhills has a lot, Podium and power Plant have two each at least, Shang has also. Paging Apple.

Shall edit and continue this later. Time to make the polvoron.

Finished making the polvoron and in between blogging and that, called Bookmark because someone who read my post on Voyages in English asked how much a book cost. Good news to Voyages in Engish fans. They have the 2008 edition at P365 per. Workbooks too. Available at Bookmark in Pablo Ocampo Sr. Avenue, San Antonio Village Makati. And this info leads to my next post.

Eat Bulaga and Wish Ko Lang (Nov 8 2008)

Watched EB yesterday, and was particularly curious whether Gigit Sulit would carry the Survivor team through. He didn’t. wasn’t quick enough to press the buzzer. A pity. I would have wanted to listen to repartee from him. Instead the Starstruck survivors won. Regardless, i was happy that they won the jackpot becuase they shared it with a school for special children which has  a faculty of 3. Operating in the Quezon Memorial Circle. Seeing the teachers dedication and devotion to their pupils tugged at the heart strings. It amazes and impresses me that they are so selfless. They could earn so much more financially elsewhere, but they chose the road less trodden.

Wish KO Lang featured among others, the then 3-year old boy who lost a leg in the Rizal Day Bombing 8 years ago. He’s eleven now and what a sprightly young man. He plays basketball and bikes. No sign of bitterness there. I hope he’ll keep his disposition and reach greater heights, showing to all and sundry, the bombers especially that hey, you can’t get me down.

Buying Fruits and then Some

Buying fruits is a perpetual challenge for various reasons, mainly price and quality. While in the province all one needs is a long stick with a hook at the end, maybe even not, to prise fruits off branches, or perchance strong arms to shake the fruits to the ground (our maids would sometimes do this before), in the city, one needs cash. And whereas one, more or less, knew the quality of fruit one could get off one’s trees in the garden in the province, in Manila, one parts with precious pesos only to discover a few days later that one got lemons even without buying a lemon. (corny joke).

Last week, I got 4 mangoes. They were green and looked promising. Two days later one developed black specks. Oops, I thought, this looked ominous. I didn’t buy me a leopard or a dalmatian (I already have one of the latter), so why the specks? The specks grew in number across mangoes and they weren’t even ripe yet, darn. True enough, when one mango was finally sliced it had tender, not yellow enough portions. And mangoes cost. It occurred to me to bring them back to Rustan’s for a replacement, but should I have? Maybe, next time, I should bring the matter up with the manager there who approached me as I was about to pay that next time, I should just call if I wanted some groceries so I wouldn’t be inconvenienced. I was impressed and asked, “what’s the minimum?” he thought a little and said “none”. I was even more impressed. It occurred to me that he was so kind, but it also occurred to me, a mean thought actually, that maybe he didn’t want me around? That my presence lowered the image of Rustan’s? Just kidding. (he looked sincere) But little does he know that in a sense, trips to Rustan’s, notwithstanding the risks attendant to traveling in a wheelchair in Katipunan where cars, trucks, trikes and motorcycles, and their ilk wheeze by, are therapy for a bored housewife, imprisoned unless taken out because she’s in a wheelchair. Trips to Rustan’s are a treat, never mind the heat of the sun, the occasional drizzle. Trips to Rustan’s spell “f-r-e-e-d-o-m” and “b-l-i-s-s.”

Oh I was supposed to be blogging about fruits. (But I also wrote “and then some” so indulge me). Just had a slice of papaya, the native kind, not the dwarfs, and I swooned. Red orange rather than yellow orange, it was sweet and juicy. But not everyone likes papaya. Early on in my paralysis, an older sister came early and saw me having a slice. With a wince she said “eek, you like papaya?” I don’t remember what I answered then, but well, papaya can taste great plus it aids digestion.

My real favorites are atis, lanzones, and santol. Mangoes too. But getting the good ones not off the trees in one’s garden but in the grocery is a hit-and-miss thing. Once I got atis in the grocery and the seeds couldn’t be prised off the fruit easily nor the flesh from the seed. Lanzones – I press them because in the past I bought them based on looks only to find out later that they were sour. (like getting a boyfriend who’s so good-looking but has nothing up there where it matters). Look for lanzones that are tender to the touch, with brown specks and ants lazily or frantically moving about them. Santol, bangkok santol. More often than not they are fleshy and sweet but again, I’ve had my share of lemons and they were santol. Get the drift, I’m sure. Anyway…

Last night we were at Unimart for additional stuff. Unimart beats Rustan’s in terms of choices and price anytime. Like it now has Australian harvest muesli in 45-gram (?) boxes, like Kellogg’s cornflakes. And many other types of muesli which my husband takes every day. Muesli with this, with that, all sorts of permutations. It has Armour corned beef hash, Armour lasagna, macaroni with beef, etc. And lots of paper cupcakes in different designs and sizes. And Ricoa in 1 kilo packs. And flour in 4-kilo packs. Yes, these were the reasons why I knew I had to go to Unimart even after going to Rustan’s in the morning: to get baking supplies for December: Ricoa, flour and cheaper walnuts. Success. I would have wanted to get Queensland butter but decided not to even look because they might have melted in the car. Traffic was bad and it’s not even December. Queensland butter is perpetually out of stock in my part of the world. True, Magnolia Gold and Anchor may taste a tad better, but just a tad. Queensland gives value for money. It’s cheaper and tastes good.

Had dinner at Italianni’s after a long hiatus. Son had pizza (italian sausage pesto something), husband had chicken risotto, I had one cut porkchop. Taste-wise, I had the best except that the bone of the chop was a bit big so it wasn’t filling and was quite a challenge. The knife given to me was the thick one that sliced well but couldn’t get very near the bone because it was, well, thick. The sauce was superb. The pizza could have stood more sausage. The risotto was okay but it wasn’t chistorrado. Or Cibo’s even. Still, we intend to go back. Italianni’s in Greenhills (parking building) has very gracious personnel plus service is quick. After dinner, we dropped by cheesecake etc close by. Son had pistachio cheesecake, husband mocha milano, me, turtle thingy. Tried the pistachio, it had an odd taste, the turtle thingy was too dense ( a bit tough), I didn’t try the mocha milano(sugar free). At first glance, the pastries of Cheesecake etc look like Bizu’s but cost maybe half. But Bizu’s pastries still take the cake. No comparison. And Goodies and Sweets turtle thingy tastes better as well.

That reminds me, at Power Plant last Sunday for Quantum of Solace, Pepper Lunch (believe it or not) and the Bakers Dozen.

First, Quantum of Solace. Okay, I’m mentally challenged I guess but most of the time I wasn’t sure about the alliances. Casino Royale was better. But Daniel Craig is impressive. The girl who looked like Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider, minus the ponytail, was pretty. Judi Dench as usual swung the iron hand but showed her heart as well. Actually on the way to Power Plant son said he had read no positive endorsements of the movie. Husband said CNN said it was a must. I was neutral. Conclusion: don’t trust CNN. Joke, but seriously.

Next: Pepper Lunch. (Paolo Contis was there with his family, not Isabel Oli.) Son and husband wanted beef curry but it wasn’t available. So husband ordered pork and son ordered chicken. Son said chicken looked a tad lighter. I was happy with my beef pepper rice. Saw that they now have unagi. Might try that next time. Son asked how unagi tastes, we said good. (Looked for unagi in Cold Storage in Rustan’s yesterday so he could try it but it was out of stock. Later we’re off to Power Plant because Hangad will sing at mass. Now I wonder if dinner will mean Pepper Lunch again? The servers there smile at us like we’re friends already. Our perpetual presence must amuse them. We’re happy to be made to feel welcome.)

Now to the Bakers Dozen. Remember the Paolo Coelho book? Decided to find something to give Mariel, the one who so graciously lent me her copy. Wanted to get her peanuts from IYA but they weren’t on stock (oops that’s the third time I use the term in this post out of stock or its derivative). So we went to George Rocha’s table. Okay, admittedly we went there because she is who she is, the crush of college boys? We tried her empires. These are cheesecakes rolled into balls with different coatings: black and white chocolate, peanut butter, sprinkles, capuccino, etc. They’re so good. Cost P30 per lollipop. Cheesecake center is soft, melts in the mouth. They also sold pralines, no macaroons, oh I don’t know what they’re called. First tried them when a friend gave me a whole container from Bizu. They come in pastel hues: round thingies. Will look again later. But these we didn’t try. Just the cheesecake lollipops. The I don’t know what sell at P30 or P35 for the special edition.

After GR, went to Quiksilver but Mariel wasn’t there. Only two men. One of them smiled when he saw me and asked, “tapos niyo na?” Oops, he remembered who I was. Mariel wasn’t around, he said but they’d see each other Monday. Darn, I hope the 3 cheesecake lollipops will not have melted by then. If they do, it’s the thought that counts, right?

More later.

To the fans of Chris Tiu and the rest of the Blue Eagle Team

Grab a copy of Lifestyle Asia November 2008 issue! Or borrow one. The team is on the cover and each player (almost) has a solo shot inside, dressed to the nines. They look dapper, preppy. Cute. Do read the editorial by Anna Sobrepena. Very touching.

The magazine costs P175 per. Learned about this from Chris Tiu’s latest blog post at his site. Got my copy this afternoon at National Bookstore Katipunan. May also be available in Rustan’s and Buffini, etc.

Hairspray – For tickets to the November 14 and 23 shows…

Hairspray in Manila: All Set

Posted by Stewart on Nov 5, ‘08 9:53 AM for everyone

Atlantis Production’s highly anticipated production of the Tony Award winning musical HAIRSPRAY is all set to open on November 14 at the Star Theatre, CCP Complex.

Heading the cast is newcomer Madel Ching as Tracy Turnblad. An Ateneo student, Madel was one out of over 300 people who auditioned for a part in the musical.

Joining her are Michael de Mesa as Edna, Dulce as Motormouth Maybelle, Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo as Velma Von Tussle, Nyoy Volante as Seaweed J. Stubbs, Monica Reynoso as Penny, Noel Rayos as Corny Collins, Enchang Kaimo as the Female Authority Figure, Gabe Mercado as the Male Authority Figure and also making their professional theatre debut, Tim Espinosa as Link Larkin and Christine Allado as Amber Von Tussle.

HAIRSPRAY is directed by Bobby Garcia.

For tickets reservations to the November 14 (Friday opening night, 8pm) and November 23 (Sunday, 8pm) shows, you may contact me through:

Email: song1@jnjph.jnj.com

Text: 0917-8735412

Ticket prices at 1200, 1000, 800 and 600.

Venue at Star Theater, CCP Complex.

Free delivery in areas within Metro Manila.

Perfect Pitch North Edsa

Last year, bought an electric guitar for my son in Perfect Pitch, SM North Edsa. In my typical kulit fashion, I cajoled them to give us a giveaway (redundant, no?) to console us for parting with our money. They promised to give us a jacket as soon as they had this on stock. Months later PP-North called to say they had our jacket and to drop by any time to get it. We’ve been to North Edsa twice since but never found the time to get that jacket because we’d usually go there for a purpose and near closing time.

Today, after confirming that my son was not too keen on getting a lens for his camera for Christmas, I asked if he wanted a musical instrument. We surfed the Internet together and saw something he liked in the Yupangco website. I called PP Megamall and asked for the entry level model of the instrument. Was told they no longer had it on stock and neither did any of the branches. The next model was several thousands more expensive.

Not one to give up easily (in the past I thought I was Ms. Pessimist, now I think I’ve become Ms. Hopeful if not Ms. Optimist), I decided to call up PP-North whose number along with the Megamall branch’s is in my cell phone directory. Oh no, writing that made it feel like deja vu. If you recall when I did a post on the camera flash, some shops had told me it wasn’t on stock but I found one in Kamera Haus. Now Josephine, the PP-North lady who answered me said they had it on stock. I told her what the girl in Megamall said and she said that theirs (North’s) had been reserved actually, but the one who reserved it decided to give it up for a higher model. SO I was in luck, or rather my son was. Josephine offered to deliver it right away and she did. Of course I cajoled for a freebie, anything. Aside from the discount (10%). I teased, “drum sticks?” No, she said, she offered a Roland T-shirt. Better than nothing, I thought, so I agreed. I also asked if she happened to find a jacket lying around as promised for me. She said there was none. (She had just been assigned to North). I insisted, “but they promised.” She said kindly, “ma’am binabalik yun sa head office pag walang kumukuha.” I teased, “5 t-shirts” she said only 1.

TO cut a long story short, one of the representatives of PP who came to the house, Jess, he with the long hair, asked if I remembered reserving a jacket in their store. I immediately asked, “bakit nandiyan?” He handed me a green plastic bag with the jacket.

Apparently when they were about to deliver, he saw the receipt and found the name, my name, familiar, so he brought the jacket just in case.

Whew. PP-North for musical instruments forever, or at least a first stop?

The Man

Back in the late sixties or the early seventies, I saw in our bookshelves a book entitled The Man. Written by Irving Wallace, it was about the first black American president. Back then the idea seemed far-fetched, incredible, unlikely.

Now, 40 years later, the thesis of that work of fiction is about to become reality. A case of life imitating art.

I won’t be surprised if the book will see a resurgence in bookstores. It was prophetic, to say the least, although the circumstances behind the Wallace character’s assumption of the presidency were different.

MOMS 4 November 2008

Watching Moms on QTV now and the guests are Survivor Philippines finalists. Failed to catch the start of the show and I don’t watch Survivor regularly. So I’m not sure if these 4 have been eliminated. Suffice it to say that two of them are truly impressive. One is a lady who’s very articulate (nina ortiz?), the other is web designer cum free spirit Gigi Sulit. Very, very articulate. When he starts talking, you have to listen. His message, his choice of words, his ideas — you can put him with the greatest minds and you’ll be happy you did. He has brains, presence, the works. If life were a movie, he’d be one of the brains calling the shots in it. The wheelchair guy in X-Men, for example, etc. You get the drift. He can shift from Tagalog to English and vice versa with ease. his diction is very good. Won’t be surprised if he makes a career on TV, no not as an actor but maybe as an anchor, a broadcast journalist or something. GMA grab him before anyone else does.

Patani is one of the 4 present.

The write-up on Gigit Sulit from Pep’s website follows:

Cesar “Gigit” Sulit (The Lone Rider)

He treads his life path alone but Gigit is confident that he can tackle any challenge on his own.

With his chiseled abs, you’ll think Gigit is a 48-year-old man trapped inside a 28-year-old’s body. A freelance web designer and mountaineer, Gigit considers his well-built physique as his biggest asset.

He also describes himself as intellectual and free-spirited. With an unquenchable enthusiasm for life, Gigit is driven by his need for achievement and aspires to be forever young.

Though he is the oldest castaway, Gigit is determined to prove that he can do just as well, or even more, as the others who are half his age.

Manila City Hall and My Son’s Birth Certificate

Minutes ago, I called Manila City Hall’s Office of the Civil Registrar. As chance would have it, it was Elsa who took my call again at 4050081. And this time she had something to tell me. The paper from the NSO had come. So next week, I should call the Civil Registrar again for an update. Hopefully the certificate of finality will be ready? If it is, I’ll have to pick it up within six months, go to the NSO in Quezon City for a revised birth certificate.

The rigodon may yet stop with Elsa. Sana. I like Elsa.

The Sweet Life with Celia Rodriguez

I’m sad. Sweet Life should have given Celia Rodriguez more air time. My goodness, she is Celia Rodriguez and how many minutes did you give her? An entire show you should have – she deserves that and more.

Still, thank you for revealing facets of the person that I didn’t know about. Sure she wears scarves like a second skin but you showed us the different kinds and she gave tips on how best to use them. Another thing, you showed a talent I never knew she had: gift wrapping. Beautiful. And she took up a course along that line in New York.

More, more please, of Celia Rodriguez.

I think I had a post on Celia Rodriguez before where I mentioned seeing her in National Bookstore in Shangrila. When she saw me looking at her, she gave me a bright smile. I think that’s what sets apart the movie stars of yesteryears vis those of today. They had more breeding because the studios saw to that. SO they smile at their fans. those of today snub the lesser mortals like us. OA. Rosa Rosal, Gloria Romero, Caridad Sanchez, Celia Rodriguez, they smile. Oh, Barbara Perez doesn’t. Image issue?

just wondering…

At the height of the UAAP season, when I started to post things related to Ateneo players, particularly Chris Tiu, visits to my site increased geometrically. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. But it reached the 600 plus mark, certainly a high for me. After the UAAP season ended, like Wall Street and Philippine stocks, the spike hasn’t been topped and the visits have gone down, fluctuate perpetually, and only a few now click on Chris Tiu and the other Ateneo posts. And this is where the puzzle emerges– guess who gets the most hits these days?

St. Anthony of Padua. In June, on his feastday, I posted a prayer I got in the parish on my site. He is, after all, the saint my mother prayed to in the hope that her 7th child would be a boy. I turned up instead.

So why is St. Anthony getting so many hits in my blog? I feel so unworthy. Is it because I filched two pictures of him in the Internet? Have they found me with his help? But I’ve since acknowledged my sources, yet the visits linked to a search for him persist. At first I would cheer whenever I’d see hits to my post on him. I was happy that people were praying to him. I’d smile and even clap. But now I wonder. Like I said, I feel so unworthy. There are so many other sites that are devoted to him, certainly not my site which has just one post on him. Is this a sign that I should give more space to my favorite saint?

Reactions please.

A Call Center call

Last week, in the midst of finishing some work, I got this call I should have blogged about sooner. Thing is I was in the thick of things, which may have explained my errrr… “rudeness”?

Phone rings. I say “Hello?” Girl says “Is this ______(my phone number.)?” I confirm it. She then gives a name – not mine nor anyone else’s in the house. She gives an address in Novaliches. Certainly not ours. But the number was right. And she said she was calling in behalf of Meralco. So I said, “sorry but that’s not my name or address.” She then said “pero eto ang binigay sa amin.” Wanted to ask her “problema ko ba yon?” Instead I said, “mali yun.” She then asked, “ano ang pangalan at address niyo?”

ayyyyyyyy, I said “hindi ko bibigay sa yo yun” as I put down the phone.

Heavens, who was that girl? And if indeed she was with Meralco, why the call? Sure PLDT calls to ask if we receive our bills, I guess to verify the type of service their courier renders. But Meralco? Or was that girl part of a syndicate that asks how much electricity you consume so they’ll know if you’re a prospective victim of whatever dubious ruse they have in mind?

Shangrila on a Sunday

AFter mass this morning, we drove off to Shangrila. But as it was so hot, we decided to have a pit stop: Lapid’s chicharon along Katipunan Avenue in White Plains. Chicharon laman now costs P162 for 1/4 kilo I think. Comes with two empty cups and 2 or 3 packs of vinegar. Wonder if anytime soon Lapid’s will have a way of allowing its customers to enjoy chicharon with vinegar on the road. If one pours the vinegar in the receptacle, it is bound to spill. If one pours the vinegar into the bag with chicharon, the chicharon will become limp.

To Shang: First stop was lunch. Went to the 6th floor to see where we could eat. Resto row was filled to overflowing: Cyma, Sumo Sam. My son asked, “wala pa ang Pepper Lunch dito?” How’s that for brand loyalty?

SO we wondered where to go next. At first we thought 2nd floor where choices would include Fish and Co, CPK, CIbo and my favorite (and it seems mine alone), Shabu-shabu. Then I can’t recall now who thought of Secret Recipe on the fifth floor. And happily we weren’t disappointed. Service has improved considerably since we first and last came. The grouch was no longer there, everyone was cheerfully serving the food. Husband and son ordered pepper chicken (the closest they thought that would satisfy their craving for Pepper Lunch.) Son also ordered flavored fries with mozzarella. I ordered Irish lamb stew and tom yum soup for sharing.

What came first were the fries, followed by the chicken dishes. WHile my son was busily eating, I picked on my husband’s chicken because my lamb took a long time to come. It arrived with the soup which I ordered belatedly. Wait was worth it for both. Tom yum is spicy but bearable. Very, very good. And the lamb, so tender. The buttered rice wasn’t that great, a tad dry and didn’t look nice. Catatonic.

We didn’t finish the lamb and had a little soup left. We didn’t touch the bread that came with the lamb and I only took a few spoonfuls of the rice. So takeout. Except that when the waiter handed the plastic bag with the takeout to my son, my son noticed that the soup had spilled. So they had to fix things and that took quite a while. While waiting we ordered marbled cheesecake. Quite light and very delicious. We shared one slice. Next time we’ll try what they said was their best-seller: fibre cheesecake which has nuts galore: pistachio, hazel nut, etc. Looking forward to that.

Saw this new store on the 4th floor. Gadgets something. The layout looked so Greenhills, think not elegant, not shangrila. Gadgets and gizmos: cellphones, DVD players, etc. SOund systems. And the clerk proudly told a prospective customer, showing off a piece of glass, “tampered glass eto o. matibay. Tampered.” huhuhu.

Third floor. Debenham’s. Up to 50 percent off. But poor cashiers. there were two of them and the lines were getting longer. Why? In a previous post, I said the store must have retrenched. Very evident today. The cashiers didn’t only see to the payments but also wrapped the purchases. If a customer had 5 items each to be individually wrapped, care to think how long that will take? Tere was sniffling, I think she was getting colds from the stress. But she managed to remain pleasant and smile. I had Mentos in my bag and thought of giving it to her, but husband shook his head. It was a Mentos moment really, but husband said no. I was the obedient wife today, so I didn’t hand over the mentos which was in my hand, in a canister. It was husband’s gum after all. But I reasoned: you still have two at home. He still shook his head. Corny.

Went to Marks and Spencer on the same floor as Debenham’s. Male section and food stuff are sold there. DIdn’t browse the food offerings but went directly to the toiletries. Got two bottles of Harvard powder for men, for myself. I like its clean scent. Son got a pair of dark brown corduroy pants. Cheaper than usual.

Then we went to Rustan’s to find a gift for a debutante. Looked at the Kipling products. The sales clerk said sale ended on the 30th. We were 3 days late. She said some of the things were 30 percent off. Pity. Ended up not buying there.

Just remembered on the 3rd floor is a photo exhibit. Of cities. Scenes in cities: Manila and elsewhere. Husband referred to some as photo essays. One could appreciate a picture only because there were two others with it that explained it. Gulo ba?

Then off to the first floor. We skipped the second. Just as we had skipped the 4th. Also skipped the sixth although we parked on the eighth (sixth and seventh parking were full, we got there around 12:30. Weird coincidence to have skipped all the even-numbered floors).

At the first floor went to National for plain gift tags. Didn’t have any. Clerk suggested we get board and just cut them up. Wee did. Jenny of the wrapping section was smiling at no one in particular. I guess she was reminded to be nice to a crochety woman in a wheelchair (see previous post, rather many posts back). At the glass encasements in the gift wrapping area, saw something I never expected National Bookstore to carry. Some posts back, I wrote of Booktopia’s bookmarks with caricatures of authors. National had magnets and bags of the same. Magnets were grouped into women authors (Louisa May Alcott, Virginia Woolf, Jane AUsten and I forgot the fourth) and male ones (Shakespeare and co). A box of four cost P499. Then they had two bags with zippers: one had caricatures of painters: Van Gogh, Monet, etc. The other had caricatures of women authors. These bags cost P1495 each. Wanted to get one for myself but then thought I had to spend on Christmas presents. Maybe after Christmas? Wishful thinking. The clerk there said they used to have umbrellas at P1495 too. But she couldn’t find them. That one husband would have wanted to buy.

Oh yes earlier we went to Wrap Shop on the fifth floor. To buy ribbons for my banana cakes. Ribbons there of different colors (1/8 inch wide) measuring 100 m cost P110 per. 1/2 inch ribbons of 50 meters cost P110 each. Note that these ribbons are the satin type. The more fancy ones — plaid, gossamer, they cost P8/yard. Do the math. I noticed in Wrap Shop the girls are generally sad looking. I don’t know why. They didn’t have customers so they weren’t exactly stressed. I’d be happy working in such a shop except that I’ll never get hired there. I don’t wrap gifts neatly. How I wish they would smile more. Although just before we left, the girl attending to us did say thank you and punctuated her words with a slight smile.

So why did I remember Wrap Shop? The place is a tad tiny so I coudln’t see most of the stuff I wanted to check out. At NAtional I could, but guess what? Wrap Shop sells the ribbons cheaper. Promise. I was surprised. Oops, Mr. and Mrs. Limjap of Wrap Shop, please don’t think you should raise your prices. Please don’t.

Then To Rustan’s, still to look for a present for a favorite debutant. Ended up buying a bottle of shower gel from L’Occitane. Nice bottle. Cherry blossom scent so the bottle had cherry blossoms embossed. Color of shower gel is peach (almost copper). Bottle is clear.

Walnuts and how prices have gone up.

Diamond Walnuts – I have 3 cans now, bought at different times, of 1-lb each.Each with a different tag. If I were friend C, I’d make an Excell table for it, except that: one, I’m not C; two: I’m not confident about using Excell (software-challenged) and three: there are only 3 entries or okay, 4.

The oldest one best before 15 November 2007. Tag price P262. Source: Unimart. (It was found in the refrigerator, a forgotten being)

Second can best before 27 March 2010. Tag price: P377.95. Source: Unimart. Bought a few months ago.

Third can: 27 March 2010. Tag price: P412.75. Source: Rustan’s. Bought just last night.

A fourth can: best before September 2009, 1/2 lb P188.50. Source: Unimart. Bought months back.

Why do I have so many cans? I bake banana cake, accept orders for them. Try to stack on it becasue it has happened that Christmas, I ran out and couldn’t find any. My sister’s driver had to get in Raon for me. But that’s another story and I’m not plugging here. Just want to share my observations re prices and grocery shops.

Where do I start? By the way, Rustan’s and Unimart have the same source: Global Distr. Checked at the bottom of the can. They have this tiny sticker with green print that says so. So in that sense, ceteris paribus, right C? Plus the fact that two cans have the same expiration date (27 March 2010), chances are both Rustan’s and Unimart bought it at the same time. NO? then Global Distr. should have sold it to them at similar prices. No? If Rustan’s got it at a higher price, Global Distr. is not playing it fair. Like some petroleum producers selling oil products at prices not based on how much they got it for but on the high prices when they sell the oil product (current, especially if it’s much higher).

Okay, assuming that Rustan’s and Unimart got the stuff at the same time or that Global Distr. sold the cans to the two establishments at the same price, one can safely conclude that Rustan’s prices are considerably higher than Unimart’s. By how much? In absolute terms: P412.50 – P377.75 = P34.75. That’s almost 10 percent higher

Two: How fast prices have gone up. Basing this conclusion on Unimart’s prices alone: P262.75 and P377.75 in two years, granted that indeed they were bought two years apart. That would be P115 or 43.7 percent.

If only for that I should sell my banana cakes at how much higher than last year? But again, that’s neither here nor there. Not part of the story.

I rest my case. (Sorry accountants/economists if there are some erroneous conclusions/computations above. Mind correcting them through comments portion? I won’t mind. Just don’t call me a dunce, haha, even if I deserve it.) I know, the dollar-peso exchange rate is partly responsible for the price spike because the walnuts are imported. Oh well, is that also beside the point?

Podium again, would you believe?

And more often than not, Podium means Terry’s selection on B1. Son was hankering for the European mixed platter of cheeses and cold cuts (I don’t think that’s how they refer to the latter, though). I was hankering to go out. To anywhere.