Nowadays, when Ikai is asked "How old are you?" she can confidently and truthfully answer with her usual gleeful "twooo". Ikai turned two last Tuesday, the 18th, but her birthday celebration the weekend earlier in Laguna.The small party at my folks' house was mainly for the benefit of the kapitbahays who weren't able to make it in Ikai's earlier two celebrations -- her christening and her first birthday.
Thank goodness for bonuses, we had some resources to prep a rather sumptuous feast (much to the envy of Dubai-based Wheng) which included diabetic-unfriendly and cholesterol-laden food stuff like a lechon (roasted pig), sweet red spaghetti for the kids, roasted dogs and mallows for the kids again, kalderetang baka (beef stew in tomato sauce), halabos na hipon (shrimp), chicken lollipop, charbroiled fresh fish - yellowfin tuna and samaral, and for dessert -- ice cream and fruit salad.
The center piece of Ikai's birthday feast was her Dora the Explorer cake. My daughter has developed a penchant for cartoon characters and can now easily identify Dora and her cousin Diego (with whom I think Ikai has a crush on for goodness sake!), as well as Pocoyo, Sponge Bob (whom she calls Ayayayayayaya) and the Yo Gabba Gabba throng (whom she affectionately and collectively calls "Buga").
And in keeping with the Dora themed cake, we also decked out the old abode with Dora pink and yellow balloons.
Every kid who went received a loot bag filled with goodies and they had fun with the pukpok-palayok that caused a carambola in the garage when the clay pot was struck and the goodies and coins spilled onto the concrete.
And Ikai was the perfect little host, dining with her guests and doing the rounds of the table guests. You could see that she was happy with so many people around.
More photos of the event here.
in a plateau
Speaking of the D-disease ... it seems as though I'm in a plateau right now with my fitness program vis-a-vis my continuous and will-never-end battle with the D.
My weight has been yoyoing between 197lbs and 200lbs despite continuously walking and trekking. And while I have indeed been taking liberties with my diet, I am careful not to overdo it.
I'm guessing my body's adjusting to my current weight and that means for me to lose more pounds, I will need to step up my physical exertions by running.
Now, running is a completely different exercise discipline from walking. I cannot just push myself to run right away but take it slowly and gradually until my body slowly gets used to the added exertion.
Now, with my old rubber shoes retired, I will have to go out this December and buy myself a pair to use :)
asus!!!
I rarely get sidetracked when I window shop gadget stores. But a recent trip to the Octagon Computer Store in SM Megamall had me completely blown away by one notebook which packed power and yet was reasonably priced.
I'm no techno-geek and only have a passing familiarity with the intricacies and inner workings of the gadget called a computer, or in this case, a notebook. But this one machine was perfect for my needs. Not overly packed with features to drive the price to smitherins but had more than adequate computing power.I'm talking about the Asus F5RL which for PHP 39,900 was a steal. According to the Octagon staff I talked to, they only had five pieces of the said unit and that only two units remained. He said it was a brand new configuration and was not yet readily available elsewhere.
I did the usual check online and indeed the only reference I saw for Asus F5RL was a sneak peek article done by Pooja Lapasia.
Specs?
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 1.66GHz
Memory: 1GB DDR2 (upgradeable to 4GB)
HDD: 160GB
Video/Graphics: ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 (integrated)
Screen: Wide XGA LcD Screen @ 15.4"
Optical Drive: DVD+RW Multi-drive
Others: with 1.3MP webcam, integrated LAN/modem, wireless LAN, HP Vista
It looked sleek and smooth and despite the classy appearance, you knew it packed a power punch. As someone who works on the side and engages in gaming, this machine is just perfect.
Hay, now let's see how generous the company will be with bonuses :P
new rig in the horizon
But more realistically, I'm more likely to upgrade my old rig than buy the Asus F5RL. And it will be a major upgrade for the rig as it will mean an upgrade of the motherboard and memory modules, the video card, and, if budget permits, an upgrade of the processor to either the entry level Core 2 Duo or the max of the Dual Core series.
Now, the thing is my old P4 2.4GHz processor still works perfectly along with about 2.5GB's worth of DDR RAM. The only trouble with the old rig is the motherboard because even the 128MB video card is still in good shape. In essence, I can actually have two rigs -- the old one with a new motherboard, and a new updated one with Dual Core processor and DDR2s. But come to think of it, do I actually need two rigs at home? With the electricity peaking at over 2K a month at the apartment, having 2 rigs is going to seriously mess up moolah matters.
Debating internally ...
maplestory
Since the rig has been out of commission for a few months now and installing video games on my office laptop is quite a no-no, the only option left was to play online and what I've been engaging on recently is this nifty MMORPG called Maplestory. Of course, this technically still required you to download the client but as this was an online game, you had to rely on a powerful internet connection (thank goodness for the "up to 1MBps" on our Globe connection).
Developed by Koreans (as a majority of online games are, I hear), in Maplestory you take on one of the four occupational classes - Fighter, Magic-User, Thief or Pirate -- and do the usual online game thingy: fight monsters, upgrade your character, collect weapons and jewels and coins, fight more monsters, explore the world, upgrade weapons, fight even more monsters, trade with other players, buy stuff from Maplestory's online store, and even fight more and more monsters.
Currently, my Swordsman is only in his 17th level and has yet a way to go to reach the 200LVL Hall of Famers list. But, the enjoyment comes from the open-endedness of the gameplay. You can go adventuring solo, or join a party. Depending on your provider (enroled at Nexon, the US-facing provider) there are events happening every now and then.
One key feature of Maplestory is the ability for weddings. You can actually ask another player to be your spouse and the game allows for an actual wedding event to take place (of course, wedding services account for another revenue stream for Nexon aside from upgrades, customization, weapon purchases, etc.).
First heard of Maplestory through the internet while doing a work-related research on MMORPGs. Apparently, one woman was charged with cyber-murder. After her virtual husband divorced her, the scorned woman managed to hack into her ex-husband's Maplestory account and deleted the ex's online character! Enraged, the man filed charges of murder against the scorned lady and helluva ... the woman I think is going to prison for murder?!! Egad!!!
No marraige proposals yet and I've no plans to marry my character off to someone. For me, Maplestory is just a casual distraction on an otherwise lazy day or night.
Interested? No Philippine distributor yet but you can create an account through Nexon here.
