problems with my palm pilot...

I was updating my calendar in my palm desktop when I noticed a little problem. Actually not that serious a problem, just that all my reminders for people's birthdays were all a day ahead! For some reason, all birthday reminders I made from April all the way to November were ahead a day! I don't even know what could have caused it. It's just annoying since I had to manually restore the reminders to their correct date, one at a time.

Maybe it was caused by the early implementation of daylight savings. Whatever the reason, it's just an annoying thing I noticed and had to spend time fixing! Hopefully this coming fall, when we "fall back" I don't have to go through the trouble once again.

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If there is one thing I'm really happy with spring, its that Franny and I can play tennis again. We've played twice during this week, and it feels great being able to play again. I guess that's one benefit of living in florida, you can keep playing all year round. Something to consider when we decide where to settle down. Hehehe!

we're flying back for the summer!

As the subject goes, Franny and I will be flying back home for the summer. We both were granted the GSAS Summer Research Fellowships we applied to last January. Of course we indicated that our topics of study will involve us having to go gather data back in Manila. Hehehe! In case you are wondering, my topic will be relating development and corruption while Franny's paper will discuss microinsurance.

What we just don't know yet would be the exact details when we will fly out. Right now, I'm waiting to hear word whether my application for an internship this summer was accepted. If it works out, then I'll be back in Manila first week of May already and be back in New York by May 31. I really want to get this internship, it's something I would love to get into, please pray that I do get it! Franny, on the other hand, will fly out to Manila near the end of May since she still has classes to finish.

something I haven't done for sometime...

Here's something I haven't done for a long time now - a survey!!! I'm sure most of you know how it works, copy the whole thing, then change the answers to fit who you are, blah blah.

1. FIRST NAME?
Manuel Elias

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Manuel is the same name as my dad, who also got it from his dad..., the Elias was included so that I wouldn't need to put a "III" since my dad already has junior as his suffix.

3. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Not anytime recently. I can't remember having a good cry for sometime now.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Personally, I like my handwriting. I know I write surprisingly small for someone my size. But it's legible and my notes are very neat.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Lunch meat? Hmm... back in college, it was always siomai with 2 cups of rice! Now, a nice meal of beef curry with rice at Curry in a Hurry will always hit the right spot!

6. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
No kids yet. Though we plan to have a few kids of our own in the near future.

7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
I would think I'd be friends with myself.

8. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
Since I wanted to be accurate with this survey, I asked a few people and I got various answers. I guess the best answer would be what my friend niko said - Put another way, I'm potentially more sarcastic than you, thus you don't seem all that sarcastic to me. But coversely, Karla's less sarcastic than you, hence you seem markedly sarcastic to her

9. YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Never needed to take them out.

10. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Haven't tried, but I would to. Almost did it when I was in Singapore.

11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Special K with strawberries. There was a time that I was able to eat it as breakfast, lunch and dinner for almost a month.

12. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Yeah, I think you sort of damage the shoe when you don't.

13. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
I'd like to think that I am.

14. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Strawberry ice cream, especially when it was strawberry chunks.

15. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Their clothes, what it says about them.

16. RED OR PINK?
Red

17. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
Hmm... I go through times where I am extremely lazy.

18. HIGHWAY OR BYWAY?
Highways.

19. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?
Well I'm not really sending it out, I'm just posting it, so if you want to email me your own answers that would be nice.

20. WHAT COLOR OF PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING?
Dark blue basketball shorts and just my house slippers.

21. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
A nice meatball hero!

22. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
From Music & Lyrics, Hugh Grant's - Dance with Me Tonight .

23. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Maybe, if we were talking about the standard 8 color box, I'd be blue.

24. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Burberry perfume.

25. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Elitza, confirming whether we'd still be playing tennis.

27. FAVORITE DRINK?
Non-alcoholic : Orange Juice. Alcoholic : Rum & Coke

28. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Back in Manila, it used to be basketball but after moving here, it has to be american football.

29. HAIR COLOR?
Black

30. EYE COLOR?
Dark brown

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
Nopes, my eyesight isn't that bad yet.

32. FAVORITE FOOD?
Franny's cooking! Manang Maria's baked spaghetti, beef curry (from curry in a hurry),

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings.

34. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED:
At the cinemas - Music & Lyrics, on Dvd - Pirates of the Carribean 2

35. WHAT COLOR OF SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
White

36. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Hard choice, I guess I'll choose winter. You can always put on more layers to keep warm. And it's much more picturesque.

37. HUGS OR KISSES?
I like both, but having to choose one, I'll go with a hug. A great hug can really uplift you.

38. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Hmm... bananas

39. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
No idea whatsoever, whoever has time.

40. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Again no idea.

41. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?
Current project is to finish reading Dante's Inferno as well as the 2 other books that follow it. Lately, I've been reading journal articles related to my dissertation.

42. DO YOU HAVE A SECRET EMAIL BUDDY?
nopes. I have different accounts for separate groups but not really a secret mail buddy.

43. NUMBER OF FRIENDS YOU TELL EVERYTHING TO?
everything? Franny!

44. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
A stack of poker chips, it makes too much noise when I shuffle them directly on my study table.

45.WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
Last night, hmmm... a few recorded episodes of jeopardy.

46. FAVORITE SOUND ?
Hmm... I really don't know.

47. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Beatles

48. WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
I guess when I moved to the US for the first time, though I now consider here to be my home.

49. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I can cross-stitch and have been able to finish numerous projects already.

50. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Gainesville, Florida

51 WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
Anyone's answer will be great!

--------------------

Supposedly this will tell you about your personality...

N: Dead sexy.
O: Best in bed.
E: Good kisser.
L: Loved by everyone.

KEY:
A: Likes to drink.
B: Likes people
C: Is wild and crazy.
D: Has one of the best personalities ever.
E: Good kisser.
F: People adore you.
G: Never let people tell you what to do.
H: Have a very good personality and looks.
I: Loyal to those you love. Loves everyone.
J: Lives life for fun.
K: Really silly.
L: Loved by everyone
M: Makes dating fun
N: Dead sexy.
O: Best in bed.
P: Popular with all types of people.
Q: A hypocrite.
R: Fuckin crazy
S: Easy to fall in love with
T: Loyal to those you love.
U: Really like to chill.
V: Not judgemental.
W: Very broad minded.
X: Never let people tell you what to do.
Y: One of the best bf/gf no one could ask for.
Z: Always ready.

parokya ni edgar & bamboo...

Franny and I had just come back from their concert here in Queens, NY. It was such a wonderful performance. Too bad we didn't bring our camera! It was just nice being able to hear them perform classic favorites such as Halaga, Don't Touch my Birdie and Inuman Na. Too bad a few in the crowd had to ruin the atmosphere by getting into a fistfight in the middle of the performance.

Well I guess whenever there is a mosh pit, plus continuous drinking of alcohol, it could lead to a few issues between the participants.

Bamboo also performed, they performed very well and their drummer is awesome. Though I don't know much of their songs since I think they became famous when I was already here in the US. Parokya ni Edgar mentioned that they are coming back again in June or July to perform. We're looking forward to watching them again, but that's if we are here in NY since we might, just might, fly back home to manila for the summer.

another unlucky day at that lottery...

Today was another attempt on the part of Franny and I to get some tickets for Wicked through the lottery process they have. For those who are unaware, roughly 2 hours before the show they hold a lottery where one can win front row tickets for only $25. The regular price for those would be $110.25 so it's really such a steal! As was the case last time, we ended up walking away without said tickets. But our friend Karla was feeling lucky and she did hear her name called so she got to watch the show with her roommate Chilai.

Franny and I tried to check out some other plays but they didn't have any tickets available. If they did they were those that cost around $100 each which we weren't interested in. We ended up just watching a nice movie, Music & Lyrics. I really enjoyed it as well as the soundtrack of the movie. It was such a simple movie that really was enjoyable and not too cheesy. I just noticed that I really love the movies that Hugh Grant is in such as, Love Actually, Notting Hill, About a Boy, and even Mickey Blue Eyes. I just think that the characters he play are perfect for him. hehehe!

That was pretty much how our day was. Hopefully luck will be on our side the next time we go for the lottery.

monday weigh-in...

Finally got back to the gym! Played some basketball with the undergrads. At least I wasn't a total embarassment since I was able to keep up and run up and down the courts with them. Much better than the last time I played I was panting after one run up and down.

As is the case, after I was done, I did a weigh-in and was pleasantly surprised that I made some improvement.

past weight: 252lbs
current weight : 250lbs

I'm making some progress which is a good thing. Slowly but surely, I'll get to the goal I set.

Crazy weather!!!

The weather has been extremely crazy the past few days. It started with Wednesday being such a beautiful day, the weather actually was up to 60s which was unusually high given that its just March. It was the same the very next day, it might have been a nicer day one could say. But on the way back, I found out that the very next day (it was 70 degrees at that point) that it was going to start snowing around midnight.

True enough, once I got home I checked out the weather forecast and that was the case. For two straight days its been bitter cold. I can't wait for winter to be over. In some ways, it is a bit weird lately. Daylight savings was in place a few weeks earlier than usual, then you have the warm weather. It really can make you feel that winter is over and spring is about to begin. But of course, nature will give you a nice reminder that you can't take out your spring wardrobe yet. Hehehe!

Good thing I didn't get sick this time. I usually have a rough time when the temperature really changes drastically.

busy weekend... part 2

... Saturday was going to be an interesting night for us. It was a night that was agreed upon. by most of us here, to be a night that we will really drink and try to find our limits in terms of how many shots of a particular drink (our choice) we can take.

We decided to start around 930pm and each have their own dinner. We pretty much only had a choice of 3 drinks, tequila, rum and vodka. I think we had just been into the session for about 3o minutes when one of our group started to really act a bit drunk. I won't say any names, since I think it might be nice to omit the name of the person who got a bit wasted. It was around that point that she then mentioned that she hadn't had dinner. Big Mistake!!! A few minutes later, she was soon lying on the floor trying to gather herself and more important (for her) fix her hair!

Soon she was crawling all over the floor, stating that she still wanted another drink and that "I'll still remember all of this yesterday!" To think this was the same person who was telling us that there were 4 stages in drinking, you get tipsy, tripsy, drunk, and last dripsy. I must say that she fairly accomplished all 4 stages in less than an hour! Pretty much she was the only one who really found out what her limit was, cause everyone else, sort of slowed down cause we had to help take care of her.

We pretty much finished around 1am already. One of our group decided to call it quits and head back home before having too much. And our host after locking the door, ended up on the aerobed and soon was fast asleep. There were 3 of us left, and we decided to fix up since it didnt make sense to keep drinking since one of us wasn't drinking at all (she had taken some medication that's why alcohol was a no no for her).

At the end of the night, it was a pretty eventful and tiring one given that one of us really got wasted and really needed our help just to get to bed and to the bathroom, for obvious reasons. Below are some pics from the night, again I won't show any of our friend who was wasted, it just wouldn't be nice of me to do so. =)

starting things out

goofing off while our friend's on the floor =)

the last 3 standing

ps - oh in case you're wondering, i managed to wash all the dishes and not break anything.

busy weekend... part one

It's been a pretty busy weekend for me and franny. Had a nice get-together with friends last friday to celebrate jonner's birthday. It was a bit of an impromptu get-together, just a few quick phonecalls and we were there to just relax (that also says something with us graduate students, friday night and no plans of going out to bars). hehehe! Given that it was a friday, no meat was served, we just ended enjoying leanne's mushroom lasagna, as well as various kinds of cheese with crackers and wine. I'm more of a mozzarella or cheddar cheese kind of guy, not much into the other types. Of course, no birthday would be complete without a birthday cake, which was provided by leanne.

Cheese!!!

jonner slicing his chocolate cake!

At some point though we craved for more food so we had to order some more chow from the nearby mexican restaurant. Of course, I had to make fun of the nice round containers. And as is usually the case, we end the night just playing a few rounds of mah-jong.

goofing around with the containers!

may quorom!

That was just last friday, saturday was much more interesting...

working on my multiply site...

As the title goes, I've been working on my multiply site the past few days. I've had an account with them for sometime now, but it's only now that I've really tapped into all the things that one can do with it. It really is a convenience to have all your blog, photos and videos all in one nice site.

I've been debating whether to make that my primary site. One of my issues is that I won't be able to transfer all of the old entries that I've written. I could do it all manually, which would be a pain. But I guess the benefits of multiply does make the switch a sensible one.

So I guess that's what this entry is for, to tell those who do frequent my blog that I will be using my multiply site as my primary site. I will still keep this account of mine still active since multiply has the feature of cross-posting entries. The only difference is that you won't have access to any pics or videos I upload.

I guess I'll just have to make a note and make a link to my multiply site on the sidebar of my blog.

here is the address (as well as link) to my multiply site -> http://noelmnh.multiply.com

I would recommend signing up and take advantage of what you can do with it.

monday weigh-in

It's been over a month already since I've last posted a monday weigh-in. The whole month of February was a rough one with regards to my health. For most of the month, I either had the flu, a bad cough or the sniffles, and sometimes a combination of the three. I've finally regained my health and decided to hit the gym again.

If I remember correctly, I last weighed in at 261lbs (this was taken during my trip to florida). One of my resolutions for the year would be to get my weight done to 230lbs. I was almost there a year and a half ago, when I was able to bring myself down to 235lbs already. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to maintain it and I gained a substantial amount of weight afterwards.

But this year, I plan to be serious about the whole thing. It also helps to have as an incentive Ate Nerrie's wedding this coming August. I need to make sure that I still fit into my suit. I have no intention of buying a new suit.

current weight : 252lbs
target weight : 230lbs or below

Hopefully, I can make progress every week. I really need to get back to the routine that was effective for me before.

Friday Mass

If there is something that I haven't done for a long time, it would be attending Mass on a weekday. Honestly, I always loved the hearing Masses with Jesuit celebrants. I've always enjoyed their homilies, how they make it relevant to our daily lives and how it is something that I can feel I can relate to. As I shared Fr. Manny (our celebrant during our wedding), I always found the homily to be what I use to determine whether it was a good Mass or not.

So I attended First Friday Mass and I knew who the celebrant was going to be and I was looking forward to his homily. He has never disappointed when it comes to his homily. I've always found it very moving and at the same time very down-to-earth. Here is a short excerpt from his homily which I had requested.

"We spin a veil of self-sufficiency when we live out of anxious striving and self-assertion to sustain ourselves with bread from stone. This veil shuts out from our sight the God of our life, not letting him be the God who gives us everything of life and joy."

I've told some people about this already, but coming here to the US has really made have a stronger relationship with our Lord. and it's something I can say that I might not have been able to achieve if I had stayed in Manila. I don't know why, but that's just how I feel. Coming here to the US really made me trust in the Lord and accept that He does have a plan for us, we just have to listen to Him and accept it.

A birthday shout-out to all March celebrants!

Hello! I know I haven't been blogging as much, but whatever happens I will make sure that I greet all those celebrating their birthdays this month on the 1st day. May all those celebrating have a great time being with their loved ones. Nothing makes a birthday special than having friends and family with you.

2 - sophia h.
4 - jc j.
5 - marj s-c., leigh s-d.
6 - lolo vic
7 - ignacio h.
8 - tita tess
9 - jonner n.
10 - franz s.
15 - aaron-mark h.
16 - denise t.
19 - patrick m.
21 - philip a.
25 - raymund c.
29 - gerald e., mian b.
30 - jem u.

God bless to all of you. May you continue to enjoy the blessings that the Lord has showered on you all.