I had an interview yesterday with an LPO in Ortigas, I think it went well, but on the other hand, I always think my interviews go well even if I eventually don't get a call back:p

I don't want to jinx it but I'm already looking at condominiums around the Ortigas CBD (online lang naman, no actual visits:p)

Yesterday was also Raymund's (aka Tito Rainbow) birthday, so Krissy bought chickenjoy and peach mango pie. Here we are waking up the birthday boy.





Happy birthday Tito Rainbow!!!

RIP Mr. Moonwalker (1958-2009)

Now I get it why Trillanes et al rammed that tank into the Manila Pen a year (or two?) ago, it's because Manila Pen has the best food among all the hotels!!

Seriously though, who knows what goes on in Trillanes' head but Manila Pen does have an amazing spread.

I particularly liked the soup, potato au gratin and the cold cuts. The main dishes were kinda blah though. Sad.

The dessert selection deserves special mention! There were about 5 or so different types of sweets, but what I really liked were the panacotta with strawberry jam and the apple cobbler. Grabe, I'm drooling now just thinking about it.

Oh yeah, we were there for the Nokia N97 launch. It has both a qwerty and a touch screen, to please both Team Qwerty and Team Touch Screen groups. It's very internet friendly (assuming of course your service provider is Smart which charges Php10 for 30 minutes and not Globe which charges per kilobyte downloaded) and has other functions like maps etc.

Personally though, I'm very happy with my cheapy Motorola with the FM radio and indestructible body, and of course Tetris. I've dropped it several times, with the battery flying off in some instances, and it still works fuh-hine.

But yeah, sarap ng pagkain sa Manila Pen! Mmmmm.....

KE was transferred to Drupal (from Wordpress) two days ago and I'm still feeling my way around the Drupal dashboard. I have no ambition of knowing how the layout works, I'll be fine with just knowing how to post, schedule a post, put a photo and other blogging essentials.

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I didn't realize that gas prices went up again! My usual 500p half tank habit has now been reduced to 1/4 tank :( It looks like Toyang won't be going to Makati tomorrow after all. Shuttle is the way.

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Have a job interview lined up in Ortigas on Monday, although I'm still hoping that the immigration firm in Makati will give me a call (pretty please?).

Alrighty. Signing off.

I'm usually the one giving away prizes on Kikay Exchange, but that doesn't mean I don't like joining contests (and winning prizes!) as well.

Topaz Horizon's 3rd anniversary contest is a little tamer than her last contest for Beauty for a Living, but the prizes are still cool nonetheless (Maybelline goodies!)

So I wrote about the contest (check!), linked it up (check!) and will soon leave a comment with the link for this post (soon to be checked).

Okidoki, I do believe I now qualify for the contest.

C'mon Universe, do your thing.

As part of our five step plan to becoming multi-millionaires, G and I hied off to Makati last Friday to have our business name registered in DTI, only to find out that the business name registration had been transferred to Lawton :(

So off we went, making a quick stop at the Canon service center to drop off the camera for consultation and a repair quote.

The guard at the DTI Makati branch said that the business name reg was transferred near the old GSIS building, right beside the LRT Central station, aka in front of the Manila Hall of Justice, a place I'm quite familiar with.

We then walked around looking for the familiar DTI sign and after some quick "Manong pwede magtanong?" we finally saw this sign beside a bank of stairs.



And at the end of the dark and creepy second floor, we saw this blue sheet. Behind it was the DTI BNRS office.



From the convenience and prestige of their Makati office to this dank and dreary corner. I wonder which important person the BNRS staff pissed off to merit this punishment?

But gloomy and cramped conditions notwithstanding, the BNRS people still gave excellent customer service. From the security guard who was very energetic with giving out the correct forms and also very polite with the many questions thrown at him, to the man in Window 2 who went over my application form and patiently discussed with us which name he thinks we should register ("Parang mas angkop yata ang Media Services, pero pwede rin naman publishing....hmmm..."), it's a good thing that their yucky digs did nothing to dampen their mood.

However, this time around there's a 5 working day processing period before you can pick up your certificate of business name, as opposed to the 1 hour or so it took me to get my business name registered about 2 years ago (and no, I did not need to bribe anyone to get this). I wonder why the change? The past system was way more efficient.

This post scares me too, the BNRS released the author's certification after a month! A month!! That's insane :(

I hope what happened was just some random failure and that the DTI BNRS will honor the five working days processing period they mentioned.

Keeping my fingers crossed.


P.S.

Business names can also be registered online at the DTI BNRS website, but there's a 2-3 week wait for a confirmation, as opposed to the 5 day waiting period with a personally filed application and the 1 hour or so wait before they started this automation malarky (if it ain't broke, don't fix it DTI! Bring back the old system!). Talk about a failure at automation. I guess some human being personally goes through the proposed business name application forms submitted online, as opposed to a computerized search, that's why the delay. Who knows.

Please, please, please. Let's go 5 working days!!!

At Perk now where the wifi is free and the coffee is wheeee!!!!!

Caffeine does weird things to me.

First time here without G and it's actually quite fun, no one to share Dagny with... :p

I think I'll make this my official hidey-hole the next time cabin fever takes over.

Going home now.

Laterz! (with a z...)

Today was the Baby Kangaroo's first day in school.

Here she is, looking mighty suspicious, in her uniform.



Papa Drago warned us not to say the "S" word (school) in front of her, because the last time she went on a trial session in a school near their house, she went ballistic.

So now we say: "Yey! New friend! New friends!"

Her Papa dropped her off, while Ninang Krissy stayed behind with her. Here's Krissy's report so far:



Me: Kamusta na ang beybi?

Krissy: Umiyak muna tapos hingi na ng hingi ng froot loops and popcorn sa classmates. Haha.

:)

Yesterday was a sad, sad day indeed :(

While trying on some stuff in Plains and Prints, I dropped my bag on the outer pockets side, where I had stashed my camera.

And then I later discovered that my camera (or rather our camera, since it's the family's camera) wouldn't turn on anymore, even with a fully charged battery.

The funny thing was, my bag fell from a height of one foot but according to the fora I visited, it's not really the height of the drop but the angle of the impact that makes the difference. Well I guess that was a very grave angle to fall on then :(

Now, the camera (I wasn't even able to give it a name because it wasn't mine to christen) is with Gary who will take it to the Canon repair center in Makati to be diagnosed. If the repair proves to be too expensive (like if the quoted price is 10k because a new unit is just 20k in Amazon.com) then I might have to let go of the the nameless one and buy myself a new camera.

I'm thinking of getting this G10 from the same store Margot bought her DSLR since it's only about 1.5k more expensive than the cheapest quote I found online.

I'm considering restarting my Project 365 if I get a new camera and am already pondering what to name her (feel ko girl siya).

But back to grieving.

This was the camera's last recorded shot:



A champagne colored top from the Rajo Laurel collection of Plains and Prints.

There's a 30% sale on it (so mga 1.2k na lang from the original 1.8, ang mahal pa rin!!) and it's ruffles heaven. I wonder though where I can wear it, because I sure as hell won't be comfortable wearing it in court:p

Take care dear camera, I hope G brings back good news.

Sniff.

This was what greeted me when I entered Sophia's yesterday afternoon...



But it wasn't for me:P

It was for this very young couple high on the thrill of young love.

These were my dates for the evening.



And we talked about annulments, idiot bosses, breast feeding, sibling rivalry, job opportunities and other big people stuff.

It was also the first time I went to a wine bar with friends and I actually enjoyed it. Wine's so much kinder than beer or mixed drinks.

Houston, I think we have an old fuddy-duddy in our midst:p

My two sweethearts.



Sometimes it's world war III (instigated by Maddie:p) but sometimes, everything's A-Ok (like yesterday afternoon)



Here's hoping that there will be more bike riding memories and less screaming matches. And that they don't grow up so fast :(

Dear Heart,

I don't think I can see you tonight.

You're not worth the effort.

Always,
The Jill

Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls was quoted as saying she would love to sing the Philippine National Anthem in one of Manny Pacquiao's fights.

I bet even if she gyrated on stage and sung it bebop style, there would still be more indignation over the way Martin Nievera sung it.

Methinks it's the singer and not the performance.

Nobody likes a douchebag.

From the insanity of the past few weeks to this almost mind-numbing silence.

Thank goodness for this Friday's lunch/dinner with Aggie and Vic, otherwise, I'd have absolutely no excuse to go out this week (save for the occasional bank chores).

I think I'll do some spring cleaning on our bags.





When's the next garage sale Margot?:p

Grabe! The shuttle from Makati practically crawled through the Skyway for about an hour!

The usual 30-40 minute trip became an excruciating 90 minute oddyssey :(

It was particularly uncomfortable because I was balancing a large paperbag, a huge umbrella and my check-in luggage (as Sieg calls my handbag) on my lap and, of course, the shuttle was jampacked.

And that's the reason why I'm never working in Makati. Or to be more precise, I'm never working in Makati/Ortigas while going home to the dirty south. The Jill is not a masochist.

The reunion was a success, as well as the Boracay side trip, petulant weather notwithstanding.



There may not have been a lot of sunshine the past few days, but we more than made up for it by slamming head on into angry waves and then going out for dinner and drinks afterwards. Fun times indeed.

I now have about half a dozen new things to accomplish on my to do list, first one being to make a to-do list, but I guess I'm at my happiest with a full plate to gnaw on. So it's all good.

I wonder if I should start looking around for employment na? I somehow don't feel like it pa. Maybe in about a month's time:p