Just an update

I have been meaning to add an entry in my blog but I have been swapped at work since Monday.

First, I have been given development tasks so I am not as free as I was.

Then, the bosses decided to add Canada Forms to the scope of my actual project. So I have been spending less time with online stuff.

Anyway, that's just a short update.

All I wanted to post are these dancing gif's that a friend tweeted me:

Then, this bear changes costume to continue dancing.

Then, he closes the show with a bow.

How adorable is that?

Lunch at PB & Co

I asked my friend out for lunch last night. We  made plans to do so I just made those plans concrete.

Inside the Store

I wasn't really out to do any food trip-ping soon but my friend wanted to try food at PB & Co.

 Hmmm, what to order?

PB & Co is a small restaurant that served different dishes that has peanut butter in it. The Paseo Center branch is a franchise of the US brand. The store sells meat sandwiches with peanut butter, pasta with peanut butter, fried food with peanut butter and grilled dishes with peanut butter. Don't forget they also sell different flavors of peanut butter, as well as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Photos while waiting for my friends to arrive

I tried the Curry Chicken Spaghetti and had their bestseller, Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jelly. I rarely go out to eat so I am not really one to judge technically. In my opinion, the food was good. The prices are a bit expensive ranging from P45 to P185 but the food was filling and the flavor was creamy (of course, it was peanut butter).

Peanut Butter Burger Sandwich

Anyway, I'll be attempting to recreate the curry chicken spaghetti next week. Let's see if I can mimic the taste of the restaurant's offering.

Thirdy on Running

This post shall be reposted in my running blog, That Running Buddy

Running is one of my favorite things as of the moment. However, I hadn't always enjoyed running.

When I started running

In 2010, I made it a goal to live a fitter lifestyle and part of my gym routine is running in the threadmill. I first started walking and running in the threadmill for 30 minutes and progressed to running in 30 minutes. I was so proud of myself that I attempted to repeat that feat when running on a road near our condo but failed as it was to difficult for me, then. For a month, I googled how to run 30 minutes without stopping and I was able to finish the program in a month where I became bored towards its completion so I decided to abandon running and try other cardio activities as I found running really boring.

When I started running again

Come 2011, I made a goal to try a 5k fun run race at least once. I tried to organize fun run with my swim buddies but our plans always don't follow through. But one day after a conversation with a gym buddy who is an avid runner. I decided to join my first 5k on May. I was so excited for this race that I trained for 2 weeks before and went to the venue early. I finished great at 35 to 36 minutes.

When I found running exciting

After my first race, I came to a decision to do one race per month. I had found friends to attend fun runs and we all share the same passion for running. I scheduled the next run to be Slimmerun in mid-June but it rained hard so it was postponed to July. At that time, I had already joined 2 more fun run events by takbo,ph and Milo. So my July run became 3 fun runs.

 Run to Build, May 2011

Slimmerun, my second 5k was such an experience since it was slightly raining but the efforts paid off since I got an impressive record there, which was 31:19. A few weeks later, I joined my third run in takbo.ph runfest where I run at the pace of newbie runners, Gee Ar and Dom. But had a great finish at 32 to 33 minutes.

Slimmerun, July 2011

We skipped Milo marathon since it was raining hard and we were sleepy.

And my last run AXN Runs Philippines, I got an okay finish at 31:55 despite the uphill of Julia Vargas. I still enjoy running until now and I find new running friends and set new running goals.

Running became a regular routine

As I mentioned, joining Fun Run events had became a staple in my budget. I allot money for registration fees in at least one race.

If possible, I run at least 3 times a week. My usual routes are the road in front of our condo and Ayala Triangle.

 AXN Runs Philippines, September 2011

Recently, I came to a decision of aiming to run 5k at 25 minutes. I googled a program and have been following week 2 as strict as I can. The first week was painful as I experience pain all over my legs after the speed work routines even if I wasn't able to follow it. But I am still aiming to achieve that feat and I want to get a new PR in Adidas KOTR, which is our next run in October 23.

I do hope I achieve that goal.

Next steps in running

I haven't made my mind about gunning for a marathon unlike one of my running buddies who is in his 5th week of a run-a-marathon program in 3-5 months. But after achieving a PR of less than 25 minutes. I shall be repeating that feat at least 2 more races before heading up to a 10k PR. Then, I'll figure it out when I achieve that.

My Manila International Book Fair experience

As I previously posted, I have been looking forward to the Manila International Book Fair 2011, held on September 14 to 18,2011 at the Mall of Asia Convention Center. And I went to this event last Saturday, September 17, 2011.

 32nd MIBF Poster

Here is how it went:

I woke up at around 10am after late night or should I say morning. With 3 hours of sleep, I prepared and went to Mall of Asia. On my way to Buendia, I remembered that I should have brought the free ticket from OMFLit. But since entrance to the book fair is only P20. I opted not to waste P16 just to get the print-out. So at around 10:30am, I was walking to the Conference Center. Instead of being mesmerized by the amount of books and the deals they can be purchased, I went to the book fair methodically, starting from left to right.

In the far left I encountered, Crossover books which are all P100. Luckily, I was able to get 2 John Maxwell books and one CD. I got all the Maxwell titles except the one in Conversation Tagalog since I wouldn't be able to enjoy such a book in that kind of presentation. Not that I am against Tagalog, I just absorb concepts better in John Maxwell's original language.

Anyway, I continued to walk from left to right when I found the Summit Media booth. I love this booth. I had loots from this booth from 2008. The first thing I did was renew my Men's Health subscription. Since I have been becoming an avid runner, I also decided to get a Runner's World subscription. The booth is giving out 4 free back issues and a MH gym bag for any 1 year subscription. Since I got 2 1-year subscriptions, I got 8 back issues and 2 gym bags. Each gym bag had free Nivea products. So no need to get lotion and shaving cream for the next few months. I also got a Summit Magazine's current issue so I got one more back issue.

I got 2 back issues of Entrepreneur for my mom and my sister, 4 back issues of Women's Health to supplement my Men's Health magazines, 1 back issue of FHM so I could check what is inside the magazine and 2 back issues of Men's Health to pictures out. In hind sight, I should had gotten other magazines as I already have lots of magazine picture. Anyway, that would just be something to remember next year.

 MIBF 2011 Loot

I continued to stroll around the booths for more deal when I got a call from my friend who also went to the book fair. We later went out to lunch after I got a recipe book for grilling and 3 Jughead comic books at P30/each with had a tagalog dictionary which I had no use for.

As I left the convention center, I felt good to have gotten good deals and sleepy for needing more hours to sleep.

I, then went to lunch with my friend and checked out the sale in Penshoppe and other stores in Mall of Asia before heading home. It was difficult to check out sale items when you are carrying two bags full of book fair loot.

But not so difficult that I got sunglasses at Soda for P100.

Thirdy on Boxing

When my Gold's Gym membership expired, I was in search of an different kind of gym. The normal chain gyms like Gold's Gym, Fitness First and Slimmer's World pretty much offer the same thing, a place where you could use their gym equipment and attend group classes.

As group classes was impossible for me to attend as during the busy project times, I was going home at 7:10pm at the earliest. Plus, I was looking for ways to be more "tipid" in my gym dues. I decided to check out a boxing gym. By the end of January, I decided to join Punchout a boxing gym and I paid for a 5 month membership.

Regular Boxing

 Doing a boxing pose

I scheduled my boxing every Tuesday and Thursday unless I go on leave or stuck in office where I cancel my plan to do boxing. I had almost the same training coach. He first taught me drills with jab and straight then he taught me how to do uppercut drills and then hook and combos. Then, I was pretty much left on my own while I punch the bag, the wall bag, the speed ball and the suspended hanging bag. Boxing was fun especially in the summer where I'm extremely wet with sweat the most after working out. However, it later became boring and more routine-ary as I do everything on my own except the drills with the trainer and the trainer pretty much sends texts when I'm doing drill with the equipment. So when my contract expired, I stopped going to a gym and did workouts at home.

But I still miss it

However, I still miss boxing so I decided to do a training session per month. I found another gym that offers boxing at a cheaper rate. My first session is pretty much the same drill except the trainer was watching me every step of the session. He even corrected my foot work which the coach from my previous gym did correct even if I was working out there for 5 months. The bad thing though was he abruptly ended my session even if I hadn't had a bout with the wall bag yet when another client came.

Through thread in PinoyExchange, I discovered an alternative gym. I shall be trying it out next week and if it works out I will try boxing every week.

I'll update you how it would go.

Manila International Book Fair

Every year, book and other publishing companies gather in a single venue to celebrate reading in the Manila International Book Fair. In this event, book signings, story telling and book sales occur. An event for a book, comic or magazine readers shouldn't miss.

Past Years

I remember going to the Manila Book Fair 2006 as a participant in the Literary Fest wherein I performed a poetry reading of a poem I did with my Writers' Guild orgmates. The poem is a form of poetry wherein one person writes a line and the next person does the next one and so on and so forth. Then, after our performance I went inside the book fest event and went home with a loot of comics that costs P100 or something for 10 comics. I remember not planning to buy anything then going home with a loot of unplanned purchases. I got comics at a bargain including Mutant X, Xmen and Spiderman.

In 2007, I wasn't in the Philippines when it was held so I missed it. Sad for me.

But in 2008, I got another great loot where I got my first back issues of Men's Health, as well as other titles

2009 Loot

In 2009, I was able to find a lootbag promo for P2000 only. I placed the complete paperback series ofHarry Potter and a few kiddie books which I sent to my sponsored kid from World Vision. I also bought a Carlo Vergara book and even had it signed.

 2010 Loot

Last year, I renewed my Men's Health Subscription at the Summit Media booth and got 5 free back issues. Also, I got John Maxwell book at a discount which I honestly haven't read yet.

32nd MIBF

I read in some blog posts that MIBF featured the first book readers conference on its first day, September 14. I really don't know what does that mean so I guess I didn't miss a lot. But I guess I did. They also said David Pomeranz is performing sometime which I really don't care for, too.

What I am excited about is renewing my Men's Health Subscription and getting a Runner's World Subscription. I wonder if what freebies I could get. As well, Filipino books bargain and maybe I would be able to meet a book writer or even two.

Also, if you are planning to go to the Manila Book Fair this Saturday. Gimme a ring. Maybe we could meet each other there.

Lastly, check out this link for free tickets.

Reminder (Paalala)

Dear Thirdy,

Don't forget to put pictures on your blog entries. Most of your pictures are saved in your hard disk anyway so you should be done when you get to doing it.

From,
Thirdy who is not busy at work but has no access in facebook

Thirdy on Swimming

I was reading a blog post, a Men's Health article or other Men's Exercise magazine when I got the idea to blog about my favorite sports. On the top of the list is no other than swimming.

How I learned swimming?

I learned to swim late 2008 with Bert Lozada Swim School (PCA branch) under the instruction of Coach Danny. I wanted to learn to swim the longest time and having a bigger salary than my previous work, allowed me to actually enroll in a swim school. The first link in google when you search manila swim schools is Bert Lozada Swim School which I believe is the biggest swim school in the Philippines. For 10 sessions from November 2008 to February 2009, I learned the free style aka front crawl, backstroke, breast stroke and the butterfly.

For the rest of 2009, I only practiced swimming in the small pool in our condo but I only did it rarely. Just when I felt like I wanted to swim. I think we went on pool trips. At those days, I swam and practiced my strokes.

Fitness

Last year, I decided to live a healthier lifestyle and I enrolled in Gold's Gym Intercon. Membership in that gym included free use of the hotel pool which had a kid's end at 3 feet and a non-diving adult's end at 9 feet. The gym was near my office so 3 times a week I would go to the gym and in the days in between I would go swimming at the hotel pool. Towards the beginning of 2010, I decided to accompany an online friend at a pool in Makati. The pool was an olympic sized pool called Makati Aquatic Sports Arena. I fell in love with the 50 meter pool. At first, it was extremely tiring to go from one end to another but after a few more practice sessions with more online friends from pinoyexchange. I was able to do 100m laps and I was even able to do a 150m lap at the peak of my swimming addiction. On a practice session, I would be able to do 800m even to 2km during my swimming addiction peak. Unfortunately when it started to rain around June 2010, it became difficult to organize these practice session with my swimming buddies. So I almost regularly, just swam on my own. The was a time towards the middle of the year when we tried to attempt to  make the group swim meetings regular and we did it in the morning but my complexion turned darker because of too much sun and I decided to change my swim schedule to afternoon and my swim buddies started becoming busy again. Due to other schedule conflicts, I wasn't able to swim regularly too but I try to go to MASA for a swim when I could.

 Swimming with Ae and Izzy

Swimming this year

I continued to swim not as regularly as I like so at one point, I was only able to swim 500m and I was dead tired. Also this year, I met Kuya Herman in Pex who taught me how to dive and do tumble turns of which I haven't mastered yet. On March, I came to decide that I wanna try doing an aquathlon but the dates of the event and the date of our departure for out KL-SG trip was the same so I had to let go of that event. I was actually ready to give it a whirl. I even had my friend, KC (addicted runner then) to be the runner for a relay but I had to cancel since we were leaving for a vacation trip.

 Swim Practice with the rest of the team

Anyway, I continued to swim as regularly as I could but I couldn't do 5 hour practice sessions anymore since I became afraid of having a darker complexion from the intense sun in the morning. Also, swimming with my swimming buddies came less oftern since they started to become all kinds of busy.

However, it doesn't mean I like swimming less. I will be going back to regular swimming by October 1 or 2. I have to start training for the Ateneo Aquathlon next year. Plus, I want to see my swimming buddies and catch up on what's going on with everybody.

So, kita kita na lang sa pool!

My Fall TV Plan (Thursday, Friday and Saturday)

Thursday

The Vampire Diaries

Promo Photo from Google Images

Why I am watching? for the waaaah moments

Charlie's Angels

 Cast Photo from Google Images

Why I am watching? I gave Hawaii Five 0 a chance and it payed off.
 
The Secret Circle

 Cast Photo from Google Images

Why I am watching? Witches!

Friday

Nikita

 Sticker from getglue.com

Why I am watching? She's a kiss ass woman on TV
 
Supernatural

 Promo Photo from shadowlocked.com

Why I am watching? I like the Supernatural, eh.


Grimm

Promo Photo from Google Images

Why I am watching? I like the Supernatural, eh.

Saturday

I won't have any shows to watch. This is either movie or catching up night for the other shows I missed.

My Fall TV Plan (Tuesday and Wednesday)

Tuesday

For Tuesdays, I shall be looking out for the following:

90210

Season 4 Promo Photo from Google Images

Why I am watching? Highschool drama turned College drama. More entertaining? yes.

Glee

Brittany's back to school photo from hollywoodreporter.com

Why I am watching? My best guess is its the groups last year. They're seniors now, right?


The Biggest Loser

Title Card from Google Images

Why I am watching? After 11 seasons of not watching the show, I decided to see it this fall to serve as inspiration.

Ringer

 Promo Photo from daemonstv.com

Why I am watching? Sarah Michelle Gellar

New Girl

 Poster from Google Images

Why I am watching? The trailer was awww.... Maybe the show will be awww.. too



Wednesday

For Wednesdays, I shall be looking out for the following:

Survivor

Cast photo from survivorfever.net

Why I am watching? I'm a fan and watching last season's predictable win, I am expecting a crazier game.

 
ANTM

 Title Card from Google Images

Why I am watching? My favorite guilty pleasure

 
Happy Endings

 Cast photo from seat42f.com

Why I am watching? Really entertaining and maybe this season they'll show episodes in their correct order

 
Up All Night

 Poster from filmaffinity.com

Why I am watching? Christina Applegate

 
Revenge

 Cast photo from from filmaffinity.com

Why I am watching? I saw the unaired pilot and I'm intrigued.

 
American Horror Story

 Poster from americanhorrorstory.info

Why I am watching? A friend recommended this one and I'm giving it a chance.

My Fall TV Plan (Sunday and Monday)

And the TV shows are returning!

It's already fall and the TV series season had began once again.

To those of you who doesn't know, I'm an avid TV guy. I had been stucked to the tube ever since re-runs of Magilla Gorilla on RJTV 29 and Sesame Street was showing in GMA 7.

I once dared to create a TV Series blog but I became to lazy to maintain it.Anyway, this blog post generally chronicles my plans for this fall TV Season.

Sunday

To begin the week, I shall be downloading the following shows that were released on Sunday.

The Simpsons

 Title Card from Google Images

Why I am watching? Despite being the longest running TV show with 20+ seasons, I still love and will watch the Simpsons. Out of loyalty and because I am still entertained.

Once Upon a Time

 Title Card from Google Images

Why I am watching? Something about present day and fairy tales merging in one world interests me so I am watching it.

Desperate Housewives

 New Promo Poster from Google Images

Why I am watching? I'm a loyal TV show fan since it began and with this series ending, it would be stupid for me to miss this.


Pan Am

Title Card from Google Images

Why I am watching? After being recently addicted to anything Catch Me If You Can which featured stewardesses from Pan Am, I am willing to give this show a chance.


Monday

Monday aka Comedy Night is full of sitcoms and some exceptions. I shall be looking out for the following:


How I met your mother

Season premiere photo from tvfanatic.com

Why I am watching? Despite being entirely sure that they won't be revealing anything about the mother this season. I still watch this show 'coz it is funny.


Gossip Girl

 Season 5 set pictures from spoilersguide.com

 Why I am watching? Honestly, this is out of loyalty. As, it is already uninteresting.I want this to end soon but tweens might kill me so I'll just keep watching.


Two and a Half Men

Cast photo from aceshowbiz.com

Why I am watching? I wanna see how they kill off Charlie and let's face it, this is the last season as patterns show.


Hart of Dixie

 Sticker from getglue.com

Why I am watching? Rachel Bilson (period)


Mike and Molly

Scene from the show from buddytv.com

Why I am watching? C'mon.. It's adorable!


Hawaii Five 0

Steve McGarrett in Prison from Google Images

Why I am watching? TV Action at its best and Alex O'Loughlin

Target Heart Rate

In my US Trip, I decided to buy a Heart Rate Monitor. I got mine at a discount of 40-ish%.

My heart rate monitor measures the heart rate through a chest strap and by touching sensors at the watch's face. I just thought that was a cool functionality for a sports watch and will be of good use to me when I exercise.

 My Heart Rate Monitor

Since I dunno what it does 'coz I rarely see anyone with that gadget. It is just a cool gadget that does something cool. I decided to read up on it.

It turn out tracking your heart rate ensures that you are burning most calories when you are doing cardio exercise. To effectively do cardio exercises, your heart rate should be 50% to 60% of its maximum at warm up and 60% to 85% of its maximum when doing an exercise to be really burn fat and other calories.

Learn more by asking our friendly resources, Google.

Catch me If You Can On Broadway

I really should blog my US Trip adventures sequentially but songs from Catch me If You Can is bugging me so much aka LSS(Last Song Syndrome). I just had to blog something about it.

 Self photos at Neil Simon Theater

On my last day in the US, I decided to spend it in New York. In our office, long weekends meant opportunity to travel and majority of people would be catching a flight somewhere to spend the Labor Day Weekend so Friday before that weekend was only half day.

 More self photos at Catch Me If You Can venue

To maximize my stay, I asked my boss if I could skip Friday since I didn't have anything important to do. He agreed and so I was free to spend it in New York.

I went to New York on my first week in USA but I wasn't able to see the Statue of Liberty and I wanted to see at 1 more broadway show since it may be years since I return to this country.

So after spending the morning in the Statue of Liberty Cruise, we went to Times Square to check if tickets for "How to Succeed in Business" starring Daniel Radcliffe are still available. Unfortunately, it was already sold out. My original next option was Chicago but the seats weren't that good so my Tito wanted to see if we could win tickets to the Book of Mormon where we didn't win.

How To Succeed from Google Images

While waiting for the lottery, we checked out tickets from other shows and since my nephew wasn't really interested in watching any other shows. My Tito gave me the option to see a show by myself. I then decided to see either Catch Me If You Can or Spiderman. Spiderman as it will be spectacular with all the flying around but my nephew says the reviews weren't that great. Catch Me If You Can because of Aaron Tveit and it will be ending that same weekend so seeing it would mean I was one of the last people to catch it. Entirely, both would be risks since my uncle had seen any of them.

So we went to TKTS, a group that gives discounts to broadway plays and musicals to fill up seats in theaters. As expected, there weren't any tickets for "How to succeed in business", it starred Daniel Radcliffe so it was bound to be sold out. So we inquired about Catch Me If You Can and Spiderman. Catch Me If You Can had orchestra seats for less than $10 in Spiderman's Mezzanine Seats. Since my Uncle was paying, I choose the cheaper one so he would pay less.

 Catch Me If You Can from Google Images

So I was there in New York Times Square excited about seeing Aaron Tveit in real life doing what he does best, singing in Broadway. Although if possible, I would like to see more broadway shows.

Meet Aaron Tveit

Tripp and Nate from FanPop

Before you even ask, let me tell you who Aaron Tveit is. I first met Aaron in Gossip Girl playing Tripp van der Bilt, Nate Archibald's cousin and one of Serena's boys. His appearance in Gossip Girl made me do google searches on him. I found out he was Fiyero in Wicked in 2008 to 2009. He also played Roger in the Hollywood Bowl version of Rent, where he co-starred with Vanessa Hudgens, Nicole Scherzinger and Telly Leung.

Meet the other stars in Catch Me If You Can

Norbert with the company from google images

Aside from Aaron Tveit, the show also boasted casts like Norbert Leo Butz, who won the 2011 Tony for Best Actor and the original Fiyero from Wicked; Tom Wopat, veteran Broadway actor; and Kerry Butler, from Hair Spray.

About Catch Me If You Can

2002 Movie Poster from google images

The Musical is based on the movie Catch Me If You Can which was shown in 2002 and Frank Abagnale's autobiography. It was about a young boy who conned many institution in order to escape his parent's divorce. He runs cons by pretending to be a pilot and a doctor. In the latter con, he meets Brenda, the love of his life. Only to be caught by Carl Hanratty, a detective who is running after him.

Watching the Show

I was seated on the left side of the theater but in the orchestra side. The sounds of the production was thrown perfectly in my direction so the ending song, Goodbye was (no words could describe its greatness) but more on that later.

The musical was set in the 60's and true to its first song, live in living color, flashy costumes and sets is of different hues, giving you the traditional Broadway performances with (i dunno the term) hops and tricks from dancers as the cast sing and dance to their songs. It didn't have flying or hanging cast members like Priscilla, the Queen of the Dessert and Wicked had. But Aaron was running around the right side of the orchestra.

Favorite Songs

Looking back I decided to name 3 songs as my favorite.

The first one being Doctor's Orders which had the nurses singing about wanting to be treated by doctors. It had a sexy theme and the company sang it with great power while they were strutting moves onstage.

 Nurses waiting for doctor's orders from google images

The next one is Fly, Fly Away which was sung by Kerry Butler. It was so heartfelt that even crying while singing a line made it so fit to the scenario. Even the lyrics was in the tune of sobbing. It's great.

 Kerry Butler sings Fly, Fly Away from: google images

Lastly, Aaron Tveit ending the show with Goodbye which signifies Frank Jr. getting caught but he wasn't giving up without a fight. Before he gets defeated he declares success by ending the show before it even ends with this song. I would have screamed if I had the energy when I saw that.

 Aaron Tveit in living color from google images

Last to see it in Broadway

Live in Living Color from google images

Lucky for me, I was able to catch it before it ended in its Broadway run on September 4, 2011. I saw it on September 2, the last Friday show. The orchestra was full. Good thing I was alone so finding a seat was easy. I was trying to decipher how great was it since I saw it then. I just knew it was great. The cast was phenomenal but it was an acquired taste (because it was set in 60's and the music was pre-rock). After getting to know more elements of the show, I agree with the reviews, It was a "spectacular spectacular!" (From: New York Magazine)