adorable enzo

i'm a godmother again. saturday, october 11 was lorenzo antonio s. rivera's dedication; enzo for short. enzo is the muy gwapito son of my dearest friends ben & tess who got married in 2003 then migrated to canada. they were here two years ago and this year, they're back for the dedication. the occasion also served as some sort of reunion for the petiks gang.

i *heart* globe....

i *heart* globe. i do. i truly do. oh my god...i love my service provider, i love globe. yesterday, last night rather, i was at my wits' end on how i was going to get my moto razr v3x up and running as a modem. i needed, desperately needed, an internet connection. i didn't make it to the internet cafe and i had to send an assignment. aarrrgghh...what am i going to do? when i got home, i tried to set up my phone using the motorola phone tools program but, to no avail. i even used up my prepaid credits because i dialled the isp ergo, i was charged per minute for the rate of mobile to landline...AARRRGGGHHHH how stupid could i be? i called the globe hotline. the customer service rep couldn't really help me, i wasn't actually expecting he would solve my problem. truth be told, i was frustrated. i just informed the people expecting my assignment that i had trouble with my internet connection.

this morning, i went to my "satellite office", trinoma and first order of business: send my assignment with profuse apologies for the delay. once that was accomplished, i checked my mail. then, i received a call; it was from globe technical support. the tech rep's name was ron (ron, thank you so much!) and he guided me thru the process of setting up my v3x and internet connection to globe. it really helped that i was in front my laptop and my mobile was connected so the whole process was smooth, easy and fast. i gotta hand it to ron, he was patient with me. now, i wasn't an angry customer; i was nice :) believe me, i'm usually an assertive customer.

when we set-up my internet connection, he asked me to try connecting to the internet. naturally, i couldn't start a session because we were using the phone so he asked me to hang up, try connecting and he'd call after 15 (was it 15?) minutes. i hung up, tried to connect and OH MY GOD! it worked!!!!!

true enough, he called back and i immediately said "ron? it works!!!!!" i know he could tell i was sooooooo happy because i could tell from his voice and tone that he was smiling too because of my happy reaction. i said thank you over and over again and he said, "thank you ma'am for taking my call."

awwww....i'd like to shake the hand of his foundation (and/or soft skills) and product specific trainer; good job!

ron, thank you very much :) i can't thank you enough..i didn't get your surname ...

globe, you've got a happy and satisfied subscriber here :) (i hope it stays that way)...

oh and by the way, i got my assignment back and i needed to edit it. it's 12:04 a.m. and guess what? i just sent it back using my v3x, laptop and globe internet connection. I LOVE IT!

"hot" chocolate

for me, a good life has three C's: coffee, cheesecake and chocolate :) and i love my 3 C's. now what if i could combine one C with another C that i also like? well, i have been, for the past 3 months, on the lookout for the 4th C; "hot" chocolate. and by hot i don't mean the hot cocoa drink. i literally mean, hot as in chili hot. yes, my 4th C is chili. i'm looking for a chili chocolate bar.

it all started when i researched for chocolates in singapore that i hoped a very good friend of mine would bring home for me (he didn't but he's still a friend hehehe). of course in singapore, there's royce; also godiva and leonidas chocolates. all mouth-watering but not uber interesting. then, an online "singapore street directory" lead me to my first encounter with chili and chocolate; i was truly intrigued. next, i came across the chocolate gallery. oh dear, this for me was the best (website and selection) among those that i saw. imagine, espresso, raspberry truffle, hazelnut truffle, champagne truffle, coffee ganache and of course, dark milk with spice power (or is that "powDer"?) pralines! it is the second to the last picture but again, the thought of chocolate and spice (chili) was enough to set me on a hunt for something like that here...

i consulted my best friend, google (hehehe) and i learned that sarotti is available locally, in SM! alas, when we inquired at the snack exchange in megamall, the elusive chili chocolate bars weren't in stock :( i tortured myself some more and googled sarotti chili chocolate and found myself reading a blog that had a post on sarotti. more research and whattaya know, there's also Lindt Chili Chocolate!


oh dear... :( i gotta get my hands on one of these bars !







(l-r: the sarotti nuss chili bar; lindt chili chocolate)

it's 802.11g Jollibee!

whenever dial-up just can't cut it, (yes, i don't have a dsl connection yet - go ahead and laugh your head off) i head off to my 2nd office, the glorious Trinoma Mall ... :) of course, wi-fi is what i need so i usually trek to a coffeehouse. but, i have been for days intrigued that there are a few patrons of Jollibee who have their laptops setup while eating chickenjoy! hmmmm....so today, i decided to ask them if they do indeed have wi-fi and lo and behold, they do! they gave me the password for access and here i am, blogging from Jollibee! while i didn't get the chickenjoy today, i had burger steak and their crispy fries, yes carb overload hehehehe .

(l-r: the "terrace" where "wi-fiers" usually are; what's left of my crispy fries)

i got my motorola phone tools installed, i blogged (well, still am) and checked my mail. the only downside is there isn't any available electrical outlet and my battery lasts only for 2 1/2 hours (and that's on power saver mode).

but, it's nice to know i have an option for my wi-fi :) i'm bad aren't i?

aaarrrggghhh!!!!

more often than not, i find myself wishing i had a secret hideaway that i could retreat to everytime my life dishes out more than i can handle. a place that's quiet, cool, sunny, lots of trees, a beach - yeah, i am describing bora aren't i? but if i can't drop everything and go to bora, where can i go? the metropolis i live in, known as manila, has a few places that i go to just to chill. one of them is starbucks greenbelt...

(l-r: the view from my table just outside the entrance to starbucks greenbelt; what did i have? my fave combi - croissant and coffee ...)

an addition to my list: last week, i had lunch at the park with a colleague of mine. at first i thought it would be "weird" to have lunch in the park aside from the fact that it conjures up childhood memories when mom, dad and i would go to the park, have a bbq or go apple-picking. anyway, i was pleasantly surprised. we ate lunch in the legaspi park. i only took two pictures; i failed to get a shot of the mini-bridge with a koi pond flowing underneath.

(l-r: the view from my end of the park bench...yes the second picture is slightly askew, i took it that way...)

sometimes, exposure to "greens" really does you some good....after that wonderful late breakfast (first set of photos), i became a freelancer again and i'm happy about it :)