Monday, December 29, 2008

Mr. Macchiato's 2008 Review

After watching Year-end specials last night, I was inspired to create my own version of it. Haha. This post would mostly talk about some interesting events that happened to myself, my family, and people around me, in the year 2008.


1. Ate's Wedding - My eldest sister got married last March 29, 2008. It was kinda sad to watch my sister move out and live her new life with her husband but it wasn't really that hard because they live right across the street. Haha. Update: My sister is 6 months pregnant. Finally!

2. My College Graduation - Well after 5 years and 5 months, I graduated from College, again! First BSCS-ST then ADCS-MM and finally BSIM.

3. My Career - I actually expected that I would end up being an educator because both my parents and my eldest sister are teachers. Haha. I love teaching students but I wasn't prepared to handle Elementary, High School and College all at the same time. Lol

4. Being Loveless - If you read some of my previous posts here in my blog, you probably know what I'm taking about being loveless. Haha

5. New Friends - I made a lot of new friends and most of them are from work. :)

6. Higher Self Confidence and Self Esteem - I was basically a very shy person before but as soon as I got into College, all of that changed. But that transformation happened gradually and carefully. I tried my best not to be "mahangin" and "feeling" when I was still in school. LOL. Now, I'm happy because I'm sure that I won't pass out infront of my students. Haha.

7. New Gadgets - This year, I bought two major toys that I really love: The iPhone and my MacBook Pro.

8. My Starbucks Cup Collection - I actually started collecting Starbucks cup last January. As of now, I'm not quite sure about the total number of the cups on my cabinet. Haha

9. My Weight Loss - I still proud that I managed to eliminate almost 25 pounds of fat from my body without going to the gym. But sad to report, I gained back 10 pounds right now. Blame the holidays! Haha. I promised myself that when the new year comes, I'll star my daily run on the elliptical trainer. Target weight: 120 pounds. :D

10. My Tumors - Two large tumors were removed from my left arm last August. Haha. I really hate how the scars look like now. Hmp.


PS - I might add some more when I remember other events that took place this year. Haha.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

It's the time of the year again. 

I together with my whole family would like to greet you a very 

Merry Christmas!



We just finished eating our Noche Buena (Christmas Eve Feast). Thanks to my sister for preparing our scrumptious food. 

As you can see in the picture, we are now six in the family because my eldest sister got married last March. And in four months time, a new addition in the family will arrive - a baby boy! Yay! 

Here's a picture of the pasta before it got devoured by me. Haha


Wishing everyone Joy, Peace, and Hope!

(^_^)

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

What Stresses Me About the Holidays?


Food is What Stresses You Out About the Holidays



During the holidays, you tend to forget that there can be too much of a good thing.

Plus, there are so many good things to go around!



You tend to over indulge... and then indulge some more. Self control is not really an option for you.

And while you eat well, you don't like buying new jeans after the holidays are over!



True especially that last sentence. Haha

I weighed myself earlier and I reached my limit of 130 pounds. I gained about 10 pounds for the past two months and that's not acceptable. Haha.

I can feel that my tummy's getting bigger and my pants are tighter. Hmm. Have to watch what and how I eat. Lol. I promise that I will start exercising next month.

(^_^)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Twitter in Real Life

Yesterday, I received a twit with a link to this picture:



The guys from HubSpot made that funny and cute cartoon. It's very true isn't it? Haha. There are a lot of spammers in twitter that keeps on following you and expecting that you'd follow them back. Haha. 

(^_^)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Favorite Food

DISCLAIMER: I won't be responsible if this post might cause you embarrassment especially when somebody catches you with drool all over your mouth. LOL


Hmm favorite food? Err.. well maybe junk food. Haha.

This post would list my favorite food, both nutritious but mostly not. Lol. I usually eat the same thing during snack and there's a specific food depending on what my activities are and my mood is. Haha.

1. Coffee - Need I say more? My day won't start without a cup of coffee. I don't care if it's pressed, brewed, espresso, or 3 in one! LOL

2. Pizza - This is my all-time favorite food. I eat all kinds of pizza but the funny thing is that I eat a particular pizza for example at Yellow Cab but not at Pizza Hut (though both flavors are the same. LOL) I also eat bell peppers depending on the pizza flavor. It's really complicated and I think I'm the only one who can understand the likes of my taste buds. Haha.

3. Oreo - Okay this one won't be complete without milk because I like my Oreo cookie soft. I would like it to just melt inside my mouth. I'm not the "twist, lick, and dunk" type of eater... I'm the "dunk for 1o seconds and devour" cookie eater. LOL. I'm a sucker for Oero!

4. Mrs. Fields Cookies - Well I eat every flavor but make sure that it doesn't have nuts. You may have noticed by now that I like my cookies chewy. Haha. There's a special taste with the cookies in Mrs. Fields that makes me crave for more!

5. Munchies - This is the all-in-one junk food. Haha. If you love Frito-Lay products, I recommend that you get Their Munchies Snack Mix specifically the Cheese Fix. Haha. It's an assortment of Cheetos, Doritos, Rold Gold and Sun Chips. I have a pattern too when eating this. Haha. I start eating the Pretzels first, then Cheetos, Doritos and Sun Chips for the finale. I dunno how I came up with that order. I just find it more enjoyable that way. Hahaha. Yes weird.

6. Milk Chocolate - Any brand but I prefer Cadbury's Dairy Milk. Haha. I see to it that I always have a bar in the fridge. You will never know when my sweet tooth would attack.

7. Popcorn - Movie Theatre Butter please! Haha. Perfect food when it's movie time at home. Just microwave it for 5 minutes and you're good to go. And the smell of that butter.. Mmmm. Haha

8. Sandwich - Club and BLT sandwiches with honey mustard are my favorites. Yumm. I love to eat these in Oliver's Super Sandwiches and Subway.

9. Pancit Canton - Lucky Me original flavor to be exact. Haha. This is my emergency food most of the time especially if there's no food in the fridge and bread is not available. I love eating this together with crackers. Haha

10. Ice Cream - Sometimes I crave for Vanilla ice cream and I don't care if it's a plain sundae at McDonald's or Häagen-Dazs. (But I prefer the latter) Hahaha. Vanilla ice cream is like heaven.

11. Tamago Sushi - Ohh how I love this Japanese treat.

Okay now I'm hungry!!! Haha


(^_^)

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Are You Seriously Serious?

Okay, my hands are still shaking as I type this post.


Here's what happened.

Someone sent me a private message in another site. That person said that I've been posting a lot of negative stuff in my OWN page. It's like there's always something wrong, he said. 

I was shocked and my blood literally raised after reading that message, and I can prove it because my ears are still red. I really don't know what to do. This was the first time someone told me that. I cannot believe that he used that word to describe my posts. I am very far from being negative. He seriously doesn't know me at all. 

So I sent him a message and asked him if he is sure that ALL my posts are negative. He replied and said that he was mistaken. That not all of my posts but only 99.9% of the time. LOL. Then I laughed. It's a fact. He seriously doesn't know ME.

I don't understand why some people have the guts to tell something like that to someone he/she doesn't personally know; a total stranger. My reaction was "Dude, are you for real?".

Haha. I'm not sure what his purpose was for sending me that message; but I'm confident that he was not showing concern. So please think before you write. 

After his second message, I stopped and thought  for a while if I should still reply. Then I've decided to just ignore him and continue posting. In the first place, nobody told him to visit my site.

Telling another person something on text messages, e-mails, etc. is very different from saying it to him/her personally. You know, that smileys, "Haha", and "LOL" doesn't really talk for you. It's hard to tell if someone is joking or not just by reading an sms, especially when you don't know the sender. Likewise, your reader might not react in the way you originally planned it to be. Someone's reaction will not be everybody else's response. So be careful in choosing words, smileys, and other special characters that conveys a certain "emotion" to the reader.

Tsk tsk.

(-_~)

Monday, December 1, 2008

Christmassy Desktop - Part 2

I really can't get enough of those cheerful Christmas decorations. Haha.  Even my laptop get spruced up for the holidays. Haha. 


It started last year when I came across a couple of websites that offers Christmas applications for the mac desktop. I tried them out and they really spruced up my computer. Haha.

Here's a screenshot of my desktop last year:



For this year, I discovered a new app that completes the whole effect. Haha.
Here's a screenshot of my current desktop:


I used three applications and two of them are free! 
1. MacLampsX (free) - This adds christmas lights around your desktop. It's fully customizable and you can choose from different bulbs, snowflakes and holly.
2. X-Mas Tree (free) - I love this app! It's like having your own Christmas tree on your screen! Haha. The tree color can be changed, different lights and ornaments to choose from, and it shows how many days are left before Christmas. 
3. Snow (trial) - Let snow fall on your desktop! Haha. The snow collects on top of your open windows and at the bottom of your screen. You can also see a polar bear walking and santa flying on his reindeer! It costs 10$. 

(^_^)

NOEL and A Winter Symphony.

It's the first of December!! Yippeee!! 24 days to go till Christmas! Yay! (Yea, I'm really excited. lol)


Time to pick the album for this month but I cannot really decide between my two favorite singers in the world. So I've opted to choose two albums for this very special month. Haha

Album Number One:

NOEL by Josh Groban

This album was released October last year just in time for the Holidays. Almost all of my favorite Christmas songs were included in this album. It is hard to choose my top 3 songs... I swear. Haha. I'm a certified Grobanite! :D

Tracklist:
1 Silent Night
2 Little Drummer Boy - (with Andy McKee)
3 I'll Be Home For Christmas
4 Ave Maria
5 Angels We Have Heard On High - (with Brian McKnight)
6 Thankful
7 Christmas Song, The
8 What Child Is This?
9 First Noel, The - (with Faith Hill)
10 Petit Papa Noel
11 It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
12 Panis Angelicus
13 O Come A Ye Faithfull - (with Mormon Tabernacle Choir)


Album Number Two:

A Winter Symphony by Sarah Brightman

Finally! Sarah Brightman released her long awaited Christmas album! Haha. 

For this one, I can choose my favorite songs because I do not know some of the tracks that were included. Lol.

My favorites are: Jesu Joy, Ave Maria (Gounod), Happy Christmas, When A Child is Born 

Tracklist:
1 Arrival
2 Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
3 Ave Maria (feat. Ferdando Lima)
4 I've Been This Way Before
5 Child In a Manger
6 Colder Than Winter
7 In the Black Midwinter
8 You Are Not Alone
9 Ave Maria (Gounod)
10 Silent Night
11 Amazing Grace
12 I Believe In Father Christmas
13. When a Child Is Born ("Deluxe" CD+DVD Edition only)
14. Carpe Diem (Duet with Mario Frangoulis)
15. Happy Christmas (War Is Over)
16. First Of May
17. He Moved Through The Fair


If you really want to feel the holiday spirit, I suggest that you go purchase and listen to these two amazing albums this December.

(^_^)