graduation over!

earlier this day, franny had her graduation. she received her M.A. in Econ. It was such a fun day, since a lot of her relatives, as well as mine, were able to come over to attend the ceremonies. it was such an experience having to drive all over to pick them all up. here was the schedule i had:

17th: picked up my dad at JFK airport around lunchtime, then around 1040pm picked up franny's parents at Newark.

18th: pick up my mom in the morning from La Guardia, then late in the evening, we were at La Guardia to pick up her aunt from vancouver only to find out that she was arriving in JFK! good thing it was late in the evening so there wasn't any traffic.

19th: we all had dinner at Todai, formerly known as Minado. it's an eat-all-you can japanese restaurant in midtown. on the way home, we swung by St. Patrick's Cathedral where we got caught in a sudden downpour. i was waiting in the car when it happened and i managed to get a nice shot from inside the mini-van.

the whole family at Todai

waiting in the mini-van

20th: franny's graduation. it was such a pleasant day! the weather being just the right temperature that you can bear being out in the field for the main ceremony before having to move to the University Church where they had the ceremony for the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

tito kiko, nanay, franny, tita aida & tita emy

me and franny

tita eve, tita emy, tita aida, tito kiko,
franny, nanay, me, mom and dad

i also got to see a few friends of mine finish their Ph.D. degrees as well! Congratulations to all graduates!

franny & dr noel de guzman me & dr. sam crowe

then later in the evening, my relatives here prepared a suprise bridal shower for franny and for jill up in rockland county. my cousin ger and jill were going to get married the next day! but that's another blog entry in itself!

we will have coffee!

ger, jill, franny & me

i posted most of the pics on my flickr online account. but here are some of the pics from the past few days!

gomer in town

a good friend of mine from high school came over. wasn't able to take him around as much as i had wanted to due to the weather and just to plain scheduling problems and some important errands that i really had to take care off.

below are some pics from his visit. i'll be seeing him again though since he's going to be at my wedding. thanks for visiting miqui.

at columbus circle

heading to times square

just before leaving the apartment

no more classes ever!!!

our professor has finally posted the results from our finals last monday. and as the subject reads .... i passed which means no more classes for me!!! woohoo! just wanted to share the great news. =)

its going to be a busy week

it's going to be a busy week. i have numerous visitors scheduled to arrive in the next few days. many relatives and a friend are coming over to join us for various events through the week. i might not be able to post anything, until after the week is done.

i'll make it a point to post pics as soon as i get the chance!

am done with coursework ... i hope

i took my final exam in price theory II a few hours ago. i must say that i really didn't do as well as i had wanted to. i'm praying that i was able to write enough stuff (which made sense) to at least get me a passing grade so i don't have to wait another 2 years to take the course again.

assumming that i do pass....

... i can't believe its over already. aside from the price comprehensive which i have to take in early november, i won't have to worry about any more classes. all that remains to be done would be my dissertation. who knows how long it will take me??? though i did make a promise that i would be done with it in 2 years. in 1 year franny will be done with her coursework as well, i should at least make sure that i finish before she does. hehehe!

i already have a topic in mind, i just need to start doing research with it and make sure i have enough information about it. now we begin with the rough stuff... =)

a nice night in the city

franny and i met up with some of our friends for dinner in the upper west side area. it was a nice restaurant, the meal that i got was really good and the beef was tender and very juicy! the name of the place is Saigon Grill and its on 90th and amsterdam ave (don't believe what citysearch says on where the place is).

afterwards we then had dessert at Cafe Lalo, which packed, but we really didnt mind that much since the weather outside made waiting outside no issue. then on way back to fordham to get on the ram van, we passed by lincoln center where david blaine was locked up underwater in an oversized sphere. we didnt bother getting on line to see him upclose but we still managed to get some pics.

it's always nice meeting up with good friends to catch up with how things are with everyone else. i took some pics from the nightout.

outside cafe lalo

trying to smile with no teeth showing!

he was inside that blue globe in the background

college friend from vegas

a friend of ours from college came over to visit a week or two ago! unfortunately, she sort of caught us at a pretty busy time with school and work. but we still got to hang out for a few hours to have dinner and catch up on how things were. hopefully, franny and i will be able to return the favor and visit her in vegas sometime soon.

franny, chilai & me!

my visiting cousin!

my cousin joy from australia came over on april 11-12. unfortunately, she was on a really tight schedule which prevented us from doing much more stuff. nonetheless, we still got to check out a lot of places. i posted some of the pics from the day we had. it was a first for me as well since during our tour we went to the brooklyn bridge which i had never been to. good thing it was a pleasant day, that when we went up the empire state we had such a beautiful view. i even got to go up for free, since a couple decided that they couldnt wait on line anymore so they just handed me their ticket. lucky me =)

self-portrait using the mirror's reflection.

at the top of the Empire State Building with joy

while walking through central park

walking along the brooklyn bridge

happy birthday

happy birthday to all May celebrants! God bless and may you have many more birthdays and blessings to come!

3 - trinka l.
4 - lyn p.
7 - timm r.
10 - mae m.
12 - tristan s, dos q, ysabel b.
13 - debbie s, francis f.
14 - abi g, vince v.
17 - mom, tina k, sammie h.
19 - dina d.
24 - pat g.
28 - gian c.
29 - nowie m.
31 - ur r.

take care and enjoy!