91.74 Miles in 27 Days

The Couch Body Beginners Challenge finally came to a close tonight. I logged 91.74 miles (that's 146.78 kilometers for my Pinoy friends) in 27 days for this challenge. Well, it was good enough to take the trophy! Woooohooooo!!!! I won the challenge!

I never thought I would ever win this thing. I'm not a runner at all. Not even when I was wayyyyy lighter and younger. Sure, I played a lot of sports but I never really did any serious running.

Since I got my Nike+ transmitter, I've ran a total of 98.04 miles (156.86 kilometers). That's from November 15th till today. I love how it's keeping me motivated.

I was First Today!!!

Wooohooo!!!! I'm number 1 on the Couch body Beginner's Challenge today (well.. at least for a few hours)! Below is the screen shot to prove it. :)

I'm really loving this thing. It's feeding my very competitive nature and at the same time I am getting my work out. For the first time, I've been running almost everyday. I just hate being left behind in this competition.

My Progress

I'm too lazy to write anything right now. Still suffering from the effects of tryptophan from all the turkey I ate during Thanksgiving. Anyways, just to show all of you that I have been getting off my ass and working off all the stuff I've consumed, below is a screen shot off my Nike+ page.

21.83 Miles in 8 Days

I've ran 21.83 miles since I got my Nike+ gadget. Can you believe it? Even I can't. This is the most that I've ran in my life ever in 8 days. This thing is keeping me motivated. I'm really loving it.

Now I'm off to my aunt's house to eat turkey....

Nifty Gadget

I'm back to running again. Thanks to this nifty gadget called Nike+ iPod Sport Kit.

I love gadgets. I love graphs. I love tracking things and I am very competitive when it comes to sports. So this thing is heaven sent to me!

This thing tracks my workout -- how many miles I've ran, my pace, how long I ran, how many calories burned and pretty much keeps track of my run. It uploads the data that's saved on my iPod to the www.nikeplus.com website. The best part is, you can join challenges set by other people using the gadget. I joined this challenge called "Bringing sexy back 299 miles, one mile at a time." The goal is to run 299 miles. I really love the fact that this is keeping me motivated.

Mark on Grey's Anatomy

I admit, I have a crush on Dr. Mark Slone in Grey's Anatomy. His character in the show is such a huge BUT. But but but he is HOT!!! He's played by Eric Dane.

Every Friday, my conversations at work would normally be about last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy. I have several people that I talk to about the show. My male co-workers have dubbed it my "TV Club".

Anyways, writers, please, please, please give him a lot of airtime!

Ipod on Shuffle

I found this thing online and for lack of stuff to write here in my blog right now, I decided to just post this instead.

Instructions are very simple. You just put your music player on shuffle. Press forward for each question. Use the song title as the answer to the question. No cheating!

What does next year have in store for me?
If you were gay [Avenue Q]
** I don't know why....

What's my love life like?
Defying Gravity [Wicked - Eden Espinosa]
** Definitely defying gravity!!!

What do I say when life gets hard?
Not the Doctor [Alanis Morissette]
** Yep, I'm not the doctor. I don't want to fix everything.

What do I think when I get up in the morning?
Breathe [Kitchie Nadal]
** Breathe in and out....

What song will I dance to at my wedding?
The Wizard and I [Wicked]
** I'm already married but... I'll stand there with the Wizard, feeling things I've never felt! And though I might not show it, I'll be so happy I could melt!

Your favourite saying?
No More [Into the Woods]
** Yep, NO MORE INDEED!

Favourite place?
There's a Fine, Fine Line [Avenue Q]
** Wherever that fine fine line may be...

Describe your life:
Chimp in a suit [Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]
** Give him a dandy little topper, tie on a natty cravat, buy him a castle and he'll still be an asshole and nothing you do will change that...

What do you think of your parents?
Thank goodness [Wicked]
** Thank goodness indeed or else I would've probably been such a screw-up.

Where would you go on a first date?
You can be as loud as the hell [Avenue Q]
** Right there, right there.. that's the spot!

Drug of choice?
Don't I hold you [Wheat - Elizabethtown]
** Huh???

Describe yourself:
All I need [Matchbox Twenty]
** Yeah baby, all I need...

What is the thing I like doing most?
Every Story is a Love Story [Aida]
** Umm... I guess what it's trying to tell you is I love reading women's fiction.

What is my state of mind like at the moment?
The Light in the Piazza [The Light in the Piazza]
** I don't see a miracle shining through the sky...I'm no good at statues and stories.... Geezz... this is depressing!

How will I die?
Climb Every Mountain [The Sound of Music]
** I guess rock climbing is out of the picture for me now.

What was the first song you danced to?
Both Sides Now [Susan Egan]
** Yeah, you stay on your side, I stay on mine.

What would you say to the President?
Here I Am [Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]
** So, what do you need now?

What is your favorite movie song?
Come on in from the outside [Taboo - Boy George]
** Technically it's not a movie song but a song from a musical.

If I were to start a band, I would name them:
Flying Home [Songs for a New World]
** And we'd be singing showtunes.... hehehehe....

Under the moonlight, you like to kiss your sweetheart to:
Why do you love me [Barbie's Cradle]
** Yes, why do you love me?

Wicked in LA

They finally announced the cast for the LA production of Wicked. It's Eden Espinosa and Megan Hilty for the role of Elphaba and Glinda!

I am sooooooo happy!!! They're my favorite pair. I've seen them perform together twice on Broadway earlier this year.

I was waiting for the casting news before buying tickets to the show. I was hoping it was going to be both of them or even just Eden. So, naturally, after I heard who was in the cast, off I go to buy tickets. :) Hubby and I are going to watch Wicked in LA on my birthday next year. That's 7 months from now (opening night February 10, 2007) but I couldn't risk not having tickets or not having good seats for the show. Anyways, I managed to get 10th row left of center orchestra. I am soooo stoked. This it that one birthday that I am actually looking forward to. heheheh.....

Anyways, I managed to find video clips of Eden and Megan singing at Universal citywalk today when they announced the LA cast. Stephen Schwartz (composer) is accompanying them on the piano. Can't get better than this! Enjoy!

Eden - Wizard and I
Umm... need I say more? She's awesome!

Megan - Popular
She's hilarious. She's definitely Glinda in the flesh. Love her!

Eden and Megan - For Good
Awww... the end of this video is just so sweet. They both actually look happy singing this song together. The first time I watched Wicked and I heard the two of them sing this during the show, I was crying.

TV Weekend (End)

My TV marathon weekend is coming to a close.

I may not have watched as much TV as I hoped I would, however, I think I did pretty well. So far, I've done 5 episodes of Grey's Anatomy and 12 episodes of Nip/Tuck all weekend long. Not bad. I wish I was able to finish the entire season of Nip/Tuck. However, Arvin wanted to watch it too so I can only watch it at night with him.

As for my promise not to vpn into work, well.... I broke down and vpn-ed in today. I know, I know, I shouldn't have done it but what can I do? I'm a workaholic and I needed my fix.

TV Weekend (Day 1)

So far I have not left the couch ever since I planted my butt on it this morning, well, maybe except to go to the bathroom and let the dog out. So I feel like I am making progress on my TV weekend.

The TV series for this weekend is Nip/Tuck. I am so getting hooked to it now. It's a bummer that I could not start with season 1 -- tried looking for the season 1 DVD today and I just couldn't find them anywhere so I'm starting off with season 2. I had to ask a co-worker of mine today if I would understand season 2 if I didn't watch season 1 and she said it was okay and I can just watch season 1 some other time.

Lesson for today is : "When you start aging, gravity will be your enemy and the plastic surgeon is your best bet in defying gravity."

TV Weekend

I attempted to have my TV week about a month or so ago and it never happened. So instead of having a TV week, I decided to do a 4 day TV weekend instead. Realistically, at the rate I am going, what are the chances that I would actually take a week off from work? Probably will not happen before the end of the year.

I decided to take tomorrow and Monday off in hopes that I would actually be able to catch up on my TV watching. I intend to stay seated on the couch and glued to the TV screen for the next 4 days and will be incommunicado with work if I could help it.

I've officially started my TV weekend tonight. I've finally caught up on Grey's Anatomy season 3. I'm loving it so far. I was a little bit upset that my husband "accidentally" cancelled the recording of last week's GA episode when I was in Dallas. So off to the Internet I went looking for last week's episode. I was so close to buying the episode off iTunes when I found out that ABC has full episodes of some of their shows on their website for free. Check out ABC's Full Episode Player.

Tomorrow, I need to get cracking on Battlestar Galactica Season 2. I think I left it off at episode 12. I'm probably going to go and try to find DVD's of Nip Tuck tomorrow. A co-worker of mine suggested that I should try and watch it and see if I like it.

Breaking Point

For the first time in years working for my company, I reached my breaking point yesterday. I'm notorious in my group for being a workaholic and working long hours and well, sort of patient in dealing with a lot of things. I work in IT operations and my job is all about proactively preventing problems, fixing problems and trying to figure out how to make things better for the user community.

This week has been hell for me. Yesterday, I just could not bear hearing another complaint from anyone especially from people in my group. Each time someone from my group approached my desk, I would ask them if they were going to complain and if they had complaints, go take a number or get in line because I just could not deal with it.

I'm a problem solver. I have a one track mind when it comes to solving issues that my group is dealing with. If there is a problem, I fix it period. I have lost count of the number of times that I was told by the higher-ups to just go and take care of the problem -- just make it disappear. They don't care how I would do it as long as the end all is the problem has been resolved. One of our users told me today that I am the "super" problem solver that's why they come to me to take care of things. Maybe I do have some sort of super hero complex after all...

Travelling Again

I'm at SFO International Airport again right now. I'm off to Dallas this week for a few days for work. I hope it's not going to be too busy that I'll never see anything else except the hotel, the office and whichever restaurant I decide to eat at.

During my last trip, I was hoping to get to the mothership (Neiman Marcus flagship store) but I never did. I NEED, NEED, NEED to visit that store. I'm planning on taking off early today just to go and see it.

50th Post

Yipey! I've made it to my 50th post. I never thought I would actually make it this far. Remember, I never had a diary in my entire life before this blog. I've always been afraid of shooting myself in the foot that's why I've kept things to myself. Anyways, I am proud of myself for getting this far and no, I don't think I will stop blogging. I've realized that in a lot of cases, this is really the only way that my friends figure out what's happening to me.

Cleaning

Is it just me? Or is there anyone else out there who does not profess their love for cleaning the house? Ever since I was little, I have been taught that it is a woman's job to clean the house and you take great pleasure in making your home clean.

Okay, I must've lost that gene that takes pleasure in cleaning. I hate, hate, hate cleaning. Sure, I love a clean house. Who doesn't? However, cleaning is one of those chores that I could do without but unfortunately, it's not something that I really could do without since I refuse to live in a pigsty.

I am a great believer of automation. That's why I love the Roomba. Why vacuum the floors yourself when you can have something (or someone) do it for you? Unfortunately, I cannot bribe my husband enough to clean the house. The dog won't do it either. So I am stuck with this chore.

Is there such a thing as a self-cleaning house? If there is, I want one! Or maybe, I should just call the Merry Maids and schedule an appointment for them to come in and clean the house for me...

Eden's Last

Today was Eden Espinosa's last performance in the role of Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway. I'm so sad that she's leaving the show and I'm definitely going to miss seeing her on stage and listening ot her perform in Wicked. I wish, I wish, I wish I got to see her perform on her last show however, I'm here in SF. The reviews are starting to come out and it seems like she gave one heck of a phenomenal performance tonight and sang notes that went straight out of this world and blew the top off the Gershwin. Anyways, I'm thankful I got to see her perform 4 times.

Wishing you the best in whatever you do after Wicked, Eden! I feel so lucky having the privilege of seeing you perform. I admire you for always giving it your all on stage and will cherish the memories I have of each of your performance that I've seen. You're the best! :)

Random Things/Thoughts

Ipod Nano
I picked up a new ipod nano (black 8gb) today. It's so teeny tiny! I'm a gadget freak and hearing someone tell me that my ipod is huge freaked me out. Hehehehehe....

Air Soft Guns
Arvin (hubby) and his friends are into these airsoft gas powered guns. The bullets are plastic pellets that probably hurt still if and when you get hit. I've never held a real gun in my life -- this is probably the closest that I'd ever hold a gun. Been doing target practice the past few days. I suck. However, I am very competetive so I'll probably keep on practicing until I get a lot better at it.

9 Ball Billiards
It's been a while since I last played billiards. When we were living in Walnut Creek, Arvin and I used to go and play often at Masses Billiards hall. Anyways, we decided to go out and play 9 ball billiards this afternoon. I think I did pretty well. I was telling Arvin that I really do not mind losing as long as I don't get zeroed out on the score. I feel like I played a decent game today. 2 games to 4.

Working at Home this Weekend
For the first time in a long time, I actually didn't work from home this weekend. Sure, I VPN-ed into the network tonight to check on something but I wouldn't consider it as working. I guess I was a lot more tired than I though tI was from my recent trip to Houston. If not for my new ipod which I needed to synchronize with my files, I probably would not have used my computer at all today. Well, okay... I'm using it to write this blog.

Running
I'm trying to get back to my running schedule. I haven't been running for over a month since I've just been so busy.

Vacation
What's that? I was supposed to be on vacation last week but I ended up going back to Houston. I haven't taken a real vacation this year and from the way things look right now at work, I don't think I'll be able to squeeze in any vacation days. Well, I guess, I should look at the bright side of things. I'm going to have a lot of vacation days next year!

TV Week
See vacation. I never got to take this. I haven't finished watching the second season of BattleStar Galactica. I think I'm only halfway through. I don't think I'll be able to finish before th new season starts. Oh well...

Reading
I have not been reading at all for the past 2 weeks. So my to be read pile has not shrunk at all. Need to really catch up on my reading. I feel like my mind is turning into mush when I don't read.

Sleeping
I always have a hard time sleeping when I am travelling. No matter how plush and expensive the hotel room is, I have trouble sleeping. This weekend was all about catching up with my sleep. Hubby knows better than to wake me up early.

It's Been a Blur...

I’ve gone through a series of déjà vu’s lately. If you go through my past blogs, you’ll find the word AGAIN, over and over. I was going to title this blog as Houston again.

I was back in Houston again this week. At the time of writing of this blog, I’m on an airplane, on my way home. The past 2 weeks of my life has been as about the Houston office set-up. Working late nights, not having enough sleep, getting on an airplane and flying back and forth between SF and Houston have consumed my time for the past 2 weeks. Although I did manage to squeeze in going to Disneyland in between my 2 trips to Houston. Time just flew for me these past 2 weeks. Everything that happened seems so hazy and just went quickly past before my eyes.

I probably would’ve hated doing this office setup just because I needed to think of all the aspects of integrating their system with ours and because of the fact that it just takes a lot of time and there’s a lot of things that need to be done. Thank goodness, the people there were very nice so it made things a lot easier.

Disneyland

I was a little bit skeptical when I first stepped into Disneyland this morning. I was worried the allure of the happiest place on earth is gone for me because I have decided to grow up. I can no longer remember how many times we’ve visited Disneyland. I expected that my husband and I were going to be bored since it’s the same-o same-o rides and we’ve been on them in the past.

I actually had fun today. I think Arvin did too. I can’t say that it took me back to my childhood since the first time I ever visited Disneyland was when I was 24. Sure, the characters were all familiar and part of my childhood.

The rides were great. I was screaming my head off on the rides and I must’ve gotten Arvin temporarily deaf from all that screaming. I’ve been always afraid of rides that drop but he had me get on those. My favorite rides were the Tower of Terror, California Screamin and Space Mountain.

** I never got to post this. Wrote this while we were in Anaheim last week (Sept. 17th), never got to finish it. I really wanted to finish it and post it so here it is.

Disneyland Half Marathon

I'm supposed to be running the Disneyland half marathon in a couple of hours -- but I am not. I am too exhausted to even think about running it at this point. Actually make that I'm too exhausted to even think, PERIOD. My week has been pretty crazy and it just wore me out. Running a half marathon is not my idea of fun right now. Fun is screaming my head off riding that rollercoaster.... :D

Another Airport... Another Plane Ride...

I’m at San Francisco International Airport right now waiting for my flight to Houston. Yep, I seem to be a regular at SFO this year.

Never been to Houston before. I’ll be there for 3 days. I’m not too sure if I will actually get to see anything in Houston. I’m setting up another office there for the company I work for. So it’s another office and another server room...

Harlan Coben

I've been reading a lot lately. Been going through an average of 3 books a week. It makes you wonder where I find the time to read, right?

I've recently stumbled upon books written by Harlan Coben. He writes mystery novels which I really love. Well... right after the chickie flicks that I consider as my guilty pleasure. Oh sorry, I meant women's fiction (tongue in cheek). :D

His books are such pages turners. I've been staying up late just to finish his books. So far I've read Tell No One and One False Move. I'm currently in the first few pages of Drop Shot. I would compare his books to the early books written by Sidney Sheldon. It's pretty darn good.

Ok, I have to go back to my reading. :)

TV Week

Every year, I take a week or 2 off from work to stay home and watch TV. I've started dubbing this as my TV week. There's no specific dates. Doesn't happen at the same time each year. I just take it whenever I feel like it.

During the normal season, I don't really get to watch a TV show during its regular time slot. Well, except for 24 of course. As a rule, hubby and I do not go out on Mondays and when we do, we have to be home by 9 PM. TV week gives me the chance to watch a show's entire season on DVD.

My TV week is coming up in 2 weeks. Yay! I can hardly wait. Anyways, I have a problem this year. I don't know which show I'm going to watch. It was supposed to be season 2 of Battlestar Galactica however, I could not wait and started watching it over the weekend. Any suggestions? Hmm... maybe I'm going to start looking for those subtitled Korean telenovelas that my friends are currently into right now....

When bored...

Since it's Labor day weekend, I swore I would not work from home this weekend. Unfortunately, there is no way that I could spend a day and not be in front of my computer. So, after checking my mail and going through a whole bunch of spam and after reading the message boards that I go on, I was left with nothing much to do. I found myself foraging through the videos on youtube.com.

I was looking at different video clips of my favorite Broadway shows (of course) and favorite singers. I also stumbled upon video clips about the Philippines. Anyways, I'd like to share some of these clips that I found.


Sherie Rene Scott:
Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters
Goodbye Until Tomorrow - Sherie Style
Nothing is Too Wonderful to be True
The Next Ten Minutes -- I love this song!

I really love her voice. It's so full of emotion. I can't stop listening to the cast recording of the Last Five Years and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.


Eden Espinosa:
Once Upon a Time
The Wizard and I
The Wizard and I - SF Sephora - crappy video but she sounds awesome.
No Good Deed

Need I say more?


Lea Salonga:
On My Own (Les Miserables)
Lea's Audition for Miss Saigon - I remember seeing this on TV when I was still in school.
I Am But A Small Voice - I cannot believe I can still remember the words to this song!
Para sa Pilipino sa Mundo - Such a touching song for Filipinos around the world.

Such a beautiful voice. Never fails to give me goosebumps whenever I listen to her sing. I grew up listening to her sing. I've seen her several times (I forget how many times) in Miss Saigon and I've also seen her in the Flower Drum Song.


Kitchie Nadal: The rock and roll princess of the Philippines
Run
Wag na Wag Mong Sasabihin

I'm thrilled that she's going on tour and she'll be performing close to where I am. So you can bet that I'm going to go see her live.


Barbie Almabis:
The Dance
Just A Smile
Dahilan

I've been a fan for years! I was blown away when I first heard her sing years ago when she was still a member of Hungry Young Poets. Such a wonderful singer.

Philippines:
Biyahe Tayo
WOW Mindanao - Yeah! It's about time they sang about Mindanao
WOW Davao Island to Highland - Go Davao! I spent 5 years of my life (college) in this city.
Philippine Tourism - Alright, I want to travel back home!!!!
Regine Biyahe Tayo Ad
Wild on E! Philippines - I can't wait to go back to Boracay!

Ok, these are making me homesick and very nostalgic.

Allergies

I have been battling allergies for the past week. My doctor tells me that it's something in the air. So I guess the only way really for me to escape these allergies is to stop breathing -- uummmm.... not an option.

I can't tell you how hard it is to actually talk and at the same time breathe from your mouth. It's a good thing that I don't use my mouth to blog.....

Airplanes

I hate flying on planes. I realize that unless I learn how to levitate or grow wings or mutate into a superhero who knows how to fly, I will need to get on a plane to fly across the country.

I used to look forward getting on an airplane when I was younger. It didn’t happen often and I sort of viewed it as an experience plus not everyone at the place I grew up in even had the chance to ride on a plane. Plane tickets were too expensive (not that they’re any cheaper now).

I’m just not as thrilled now as I used to be. I guess when you keep on doing something regularly, the novelty wears off. It turns out to be a boring, tedious thing that I have to go through to get from here to there and from there to here. I can’t remember how many times I’ve been on a plane this year and I think I’ll be on a couple more flights before the end of the year the way things are going right now.

I really hate take offs, landings, and whenever the plane hits turbulence. My heart goes to my throat at these times. I usually sleep through the take off and if I’m able to, I would love to sleep through the entire flight. Landings are tricky. There’s nothing much I can do except sit through it and hope for the best.

I’m at NY’s JFK Airport right now waiting for my flight home. I can’t think of a better way to spend the time than to blog. (re: I AM SO BORED!). In about an hour and a half, I’m getting on a plane for a boring 6 hour trip home.

So ready to go home...

I am so ready to go home now. I fly out on Wednesday night. I really cannot wait. I'm feeling homesick. I miss Arvin (my hubby) and I miss my furbaby Jack. I miss seeing my saltwater aquarium as well. I just hope that everything is okay with it. I am really going to cry if my tank is dead because I've been away for so long.

I am sooooooooooooo tired. I usually don't sleep well when I travel and not being able to sleep well for a week is catching up on me. Eastern time sucks for me. I have trouble adjusting to the time whenever I go East.

In as much as I love coming to New York City, I don't think I can ever work/live here again. It's just too stressful for me. It's too crowded and people are always in a hurry. Sure, I miss going to Broadway shows since San Francisco is not much of a theatre town. But then again, I seem to be coming to NY a lot lately.

36 hours, 30 minutes and counting and I am flying out of here...

Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Babe I miss you, you know

--Michael Buble, Home

Wicked Stagedoor Picture with Eden

I normally don't like posting pictures of myself on my blog. A picture paints a thousand words and I'm the type who would rather write a thousand words than post a picture. However, I think this picture merits being posted on my blog -- not because of me (oh puuuhhllllleasssseeee... I wouldn't have posted it otherwise!) but because of who I'm with. I finally have a picture with Eden Espinosa! Yay! I'm a huge, huge fan. I loooove listening to her sing!


Thanks Illene for taking this picture. I totally forgot to bring a camera on this trip. Last time I attempted to have a picture taken, my camera crapped out on me.

Musicals (On this trip)

It's not a perfect show but it does what a musical is supposed to do. It takes you to another world and it gives you a little tune to carry along in your head for when you're feeling blue. --Man in Chair, The Drowsy Chaperone

Every time I am in NYC, I always, always make it a point to watch a musical. It’s something that I always do. I don’t think I have been to NYC and didn’t watch a show at all. It’s always on my to do list. I love going to a show. Watching a musical takes me to my happy place.

For this trip I went to 4 shows. I know, I know, I’m still here so it’s still possible for me to go to 1 more show but I doubt it since I have plans tomorrow and on Tuesday. Anyways, I went to watch Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Wicked, Altar Boyz and 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I really enjoyed these 4 shows.


Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (8/15/2006)

I flew in on Tuesday and got into the city at around 5:30PM. Checked into the hotel and ran to TKTS since I wanted to squeeze in a show that night. DRS was on the board and at 50% off so I got a ticket for it. My seats were pretty good. 3rd row stage left. There was an overhang that blocked some parts of the scenery but it wasn’t that bad.

I love, love, love, love Sherie Rene Scott! I didn’t even know she was still in the show. It was a very nice surprise. I’ve never seen her live but I keep on listening to the cast recording of The Last 5 Years where she sings the part of Kathy. I love, love, love her voice! It has this distinct sound and is so full of emotion. I’m so happy that I actually got to see her perform live!

The show started a little bit slow for me. I had a hard time understanding some of the characters in the beginning because of the accent they used (British and French). After a while you get used to it. When Sherie Rene Scott came out, I was blown away by her voice!

It was a fun show. I really liked it. Lots of catchy tunes and it was pretty funny. I was laughing throughout the entire show. Too bad it’s closing in 2 weeks.

It was a ball… It was a blast…


Wicked (8/18/2006)

Umm… need I say more? I blogged and entire blog just for this. Scroll down below. ;) Yes you can do it.... Keep pressing the arrow key down. You'll eventually get there!


Altar Boyz (8/19/2006)

I got my ticket off TKTS for this one. I actually passed by the box office to see if they still had the rush seats for the matinee performance. They didn’t but TKTS had it for 50% off as well. My seat was on the second row, stage left.
This show was HILARIOUS! It was like a boy band rock concert. I was laughing my ass off during the entire show.

Jason Celaya is a hottie! :D

I normally don’t go watch Off Broadway shows. Since I seem to be running out of shows to watch, I’m slowly venturing towards Off Broadway shows.



25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (8/20/2006)

I didn’t have anything better to do today. I decided to go try my luck at the Wicked lottery. I can’t remember how many times I’ve tried the Wicked lottery and so far I have not won. (Anyways, last Friday is probably the last time I’ll watch Wicked for a while unless I can get my butt back to NYC to see Eden’s last show in October.) The Spelling Bee’s lottery happens right after the Wicked lottery so I put my name in. I was thinking that if I still didn’t win, I’d head to the Drowsy Chaperone lottery and try my luck there. So they picked out the names and my name was the last one that got picked! So I got front row seats.

I’ve seen the San Francisco production of the show a while back and I liked it. I’m familiar with the songs. It was nice to actually see this show on Broadway. No offense to the SF cast but I liked the Broadway cast a lot better. I really enjoyed the show. The big plus for me was I got to see Barrett Foa again! He’s such a cutie! :D I saw him in Avenue Q when I went to see it 2 months ago.


I really can’t wait for the new theatre season to start. I’m running out of shows to watch. Well, there are still shows I haven’t watched but for the reason that I just do not have the desire to watch them. Oh please… I don’t need jukebox musicals or musicals that have been adopted from movies (ok, DRS was from a movie but I never saw the movie).

NYC Again...Wicked Again...

I just realized that it has been 2 months since I last blogged. It is such a coincidence that the last entry on my blog was about my last trip to New York City. Yeah, I am back in the big apple again for work. I was actually supposed to go home tomorrow (well, technically today since it's already 4 in the morning) however, I needed to extend to finish a bunch of things in the office. The problem is I didn’t bring enough clothes with me.

You might be wondering what the heck I am doing still up in the wee hours of the morning. I had too much sugar so I am fully wired. Thanks to a HUGE serving of Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity 3 and the adrenalin that has been pumping through my system almost all day long in anticipation to watching Wicked from "god" seats that I scored for free. :D

Yes my friends, I did go to watch Wicked again for the 4th time. My seat was amazing! I was seated at Row C Seat Number 106. Yup, about 2 seats off dead center on 7th row. Awesome sight lines -- well, they should be for premium seats (re: EXPENSIVE!) at the Gershwin theatre. Close enough to see facial expressions but far enough to not see spit flying out. I felt like the actresses and actors were singing directly to me which in itself was an awesome experience. Think Elphaba looking down straight at you while flying off on her cherry picker holding a broom and singing Defying Gravity.

Here's my mini review of tonight's performances by the different actresses/actors in the show (8/18 uummmm... last night?).

Eden Espinosa (Elphaba)

She's amazing as always. She gets better and better each time I see her perform in Wicked. I've seen her in Wicked 4 times. She has definitely grown into the role. She plays this role with so much heart and soul that when she's on stage, she IS Elphaba. That's something that I actually love about her performance. I thought I've seen almost all the nuance that she could possibly bring into the role. However, each time I go and watch the show, I never fail to find something new that she brings into the show. Hand gestures, riffs and how she stings her notes together. I absolutely love listening to Eden sing live. She has such a broad range in her voice and she is such an unbelievable belter. It feels like she’s trying to blow the top off the Gershwin Theatre when she belts. You know what they say about being able to find everything on the Internet. Sure, there are clips of her singing songs from Wicked however, there's nothing like listening to Eden sing live on stage. I know when I'm listening to a very good singer (at least in my opinion) when I get goose bumps and the hair behind my neck starts standing up. There are a few singers that have that kind of effect on me and Eden is definitely one of them. I just love the sound of her voice.

You're probably wondering how many more times I would be watching Wicked before I get sick and tired of it. Ummm... well, I can still count on one hand the number of times that I've watched it. Then again, wanting to hear Eden sing live has really been the driving factor on why I keep on coming back to watch the show. In as much as I love the show itself, there are parts of it that I don't really care about anymore (It starts to become fluff after the 3rd time). I would still be willing to pay premium seat price just to listen to Eden sing "The Wizard and I", "I'm Not That Girl", "Defying Gravity" and "No Good Deed". Hehehe... I just realized that it comes out to around $75 per song if you’re in a premium seat. LOL! The other parts of the show is pretty much added bonuses at this point. I heard she's leaving in October. Will I still be watching Wicked once she leaves? Well, it really depends on who's replacing her. I would probably go and watch the replacement at least once just to see how well she performs.

I met her at the stage door after the show and I finally have a picture with her to prove it! Yay! I'll post it when I get a chance... Hopefully it won't take 2 months before I get to do it.


Kate Reinders (Glinda)

Kate has definitely gotten better. The first time I saw her, I wasn't really impressed but tonight (last night?) I really enjoyed her performance. Her rendition of Popular was hilarious! I absolutely loved it. She portrayed the role in a very ditsy manner -- having to risk being un-PC, she portrayed it as the typical blonde in the blonde jokes that you hear everywhere. She and Eden have great chemistry.

Looking back the first time I saw her, I may have been a little bit biased and was really comparing her performance with Megan Hilty's performance which really wasn't fair since when I saw Megan, she had been in her role for quite some time and when I first saw Kate, she was in her role for only about 2 weeks. I'm actually glad to see that she's growing into the role.


Carol Kane (Madame Morrible)

This was the 3rd time I've seen Carol Kane in this role. The first 2 times that I saw her, I had a hard time understanding what she was saying because of the weird accent that she was using. It doesn’t bother me now. This time, I wasn't really concentrating much on the story anymore (I was looking for small details that I never noticed the first 3 times) since I pretty much know it by heart and most of the lines are familiar (no, I can't memorize them). I enjoyed her performance a lot more tonight.


David Garrison (The Wizard)

This is the 2nd time I've seen David Garrison. I've always enjoyed his portrayal of the wizard of Oz. Whatever little material he's got, he played it really well. I don't really care much for the songs sang by the Wizard.


Derrick Williams (Fiyero)

This is the 4th time I've seen Derrick Williams in this role. I'm not really a fan of him. There's just that something’s not right about his performance. Something's missing. He's not a bad actor at all. He has a nice butt and arms. I'm just not impressed by his singing voice. I guess it's because I absolutely love Norbert Leo Butz's voice in the Original Broadway Cast Recording for Wicked (I love his work period). After seeing him for the first time, whenever I go back and watch the show, I keep on wishing that an understudy or standby would be playing Fiyero’s role during that performance. Sorry Derrick if you happen to stumble upon this. Although tonight (last night?) he actually sounded better. I guess the acoustics at the Gershwin is better when you're sitting at the premium seats. :)


Logan Lipton (Boq)

I miss Robb Sapp! I really didn't care about Logan Lipton's portrayal of Boq. I was not impressed at all -- acting wise and voice quality wise. I should really give him the benefit of the doubt since he's new. Hopefully he'll grow into the role as well.


Jenna Leigh Green (Nessarose)

This is the second time I've seen her in Wicked. Great voice and good actress as well. I loved her portrayal of Nessarose. I wish she had a lot more stage time (is there such a thing?) and she had more songs to sing.

Ok, this blog is long and I need to go to bed since I don't want to sleep through the weekend in New York city. I did get to watch the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels -- I'll write a separate entry for it. Promise.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

*** I wrote this early this morning however I was having problems posting it on blogger. So it’s a little bit behind.

NYC Trip

I was in New York City all of last week. I have been meaning to blog something about my trip but my schedule was really hectic when I was there. The main purpose of my visit was for a training class. Class pretty much took up my time during the day. My nights were dedicated to Broadway shows.

Speaking of Broadway shows, I had a 4 show quota I wanted to meet for that week. That pretty much meant a show each night except for Monday night when most of the theatres were dark. Well, there were some shows that were playing on Monday night but I didn't have the desire to see them.

Tuesday (6/13/06):

A friend and I tried to get tickets for Wicked however we struck out on both the lottery and the cancellation line. It's almost impossible to get tickets for Wicked at this time of the year when tourists start flocking to New York city. We met up with 2 other friends from JMBB (Judith McNaught message board) and they suggested that we try The Drowsy Chaperone lottery. I won us 2 tickets to TDC! We got front row center orchestra seats for TDC. Not bad for $25.

I didn't know anything about the show. It pretty much started off with the theatre completely pitch black and you hear someone saying: "I hate theatre!". After that line, I knew I was going to enjoy that show. I loved The Drowsy Chaperone! I saw a lot of myself in the Man in the Chair character in the show. Bob Martin rocks! It was pretty hilarious. I was laughing throughout the show. The music wasn't that great however, the cast was wonderful and the story was original and very unique.

Wednesday (6/14/06):

I had tickets for Avenue Q. I liked this show. It's pretty much an adult Sesame street. I wish I didn't listen to the soundtrack beforehand. I think I would've been a lot more shocked that they used certain kind of language and showed "adult" scenes. It's very humorous and un-PC. So if you're a prude, this isn't the show for you. Barrett Foa is such a hottie!

Thursday (6/15/06):

I was pretty much undecided on what to watch for this night. I decided to try the Wicked lottery (again!) and struck out (again!). There were around 300 people who tried out for the lottery that night.

I headed off to the TKTS booth to get half priced ticket for either the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels or Sweeney Todd. My first choice was DRS since I was not too sure if I really wanted to watch Sweeney Todd since the story is kind of dark and gruesome. By the time I got to TKTS, there were no more tickets for DRS so I bought tickets for Sweeney Todd.

I am so glad that I actually got to see Sweeney Todd with the current cast. The show was amazing! The cast was so talented. It just blew me away. I felt so lucky that I got to see Patti Lupone, Michael Cerveris and Manoel Felciano on stage. Michael was freaky as Sweeney Todd. He actually looked scary when he was on stage. The staging was quite interesting. The cast doubled as the orchestra. At times, it was kind of distracting that they were acting and had musical instruments with them.

Friday (6/16/06):

Did you think that I would visit New York City and not watch Wicked? My co-workers and I managed to get tickets for Wicked. They were second row left orchestra seats. The seats were alright. There were times that the ensemble would be blocking some of the scenes but it wasn't too bad. The big plus sitting this close was actually seeing Eden Espinosa's facial expressions. She has wonderful facial expressions! She's just so full of emotion whenever she's on stage. This is the third time I've seen Eden perform in Wicked. She just gets better and better each time I see her. She totally blew me away with her performance. Magnificent voice! Such a wonderful singer and actress. This was the first time I saw Kate Reinders as Glinda. she was great in her role. She played Glinda a little bit more ditzier than Megan Hilty. Kate has great vocal control and she was pretty funny. I still liked Megan Hilty as Glinda although my co-workers who saw Wicked for the first time liked Kate's performance.

My week just flew too fast. After the last show for that week, I just wanted to go back to the hotel, pack my clothes and I was ready to go back home to the Bay Area.

Me the Workaholic

It's 8pm on a Tuesday night and here I am still at work. I am pretty much watching grass grow on one of my servers so it's a really good time to blog. Plus, I have not written anything for a while.

The past few weeks, my life has been consumed by work, work, work and more work. It's just that there are so many things going on at the same time at work. My hours are prety much 9AM to 6PM however, when I get home, I cannot help but whip out my laptop, VPN to the office and continue where I left off.

I really enjoy what I do that's why I don't mind the long hours. Everything I do looks like play to me. My servers, SAN and other IT equipment are my toys. I look at every problem as a challenge and a puzzle I need to solve. Makes things really easy for me.

My name is Carmila and I am a WORKAHOLIC!

Bay to Breakers 2006

I survived Bay to Breakers! For those who don't know what Bay to Breakers is, it's a 7.46 mile (12k) run/walk that starts at one end of San Francisco and cuts across the city and ends at the beach. It's pretty much the biggest street party in San Francisco. People run in different states of dress (some in costumes) and undress (naked with just a bright green hat and running shoes).

I had so much fun doing it this year. A friend of mine and her husband ran (ok, more like walked) it with me. We had such a blast and pictures to prove it! At the starting line, there were beach balls and tortillas flying all over the place. It was impossible not to get hit by either one. While running/walking, we saw the four emus, the running Elvises, a celtic priest, nuns, the Flintsones, smurfs, spawning salmon, Mona Lisa/Da Vinci code, the Storm Troopers from Star Wars, Noah's Ark, a Wells Fargo semi trailer being pushed up on Hayes Street, beer kegs in shopping carts being pushed along the race course and lots and lots of naked people. In the beginning, we were on the look out for naked people. After a while, we just got so desensitized and didn't really care. Although, everytime we were behind a naked person, we would run and try to overtake them. We just didn't feel like looking at their butts the entire time.

Last time I ran/walked Bay to Breakers was in 2000. I also ran it with a friend of mine. I clocked at 2:45. I broke my record this year. I clocked at 2:24. Not that I had any intention of running the entire time but B2B is actually quite impossible to run. I saw on the news today that there were approximately 62,000 people who participated in today's footrace.

What's next? I'm probably going to run the 5k run/walk event during the San Francisco Marathon in July. At least this way, I would be motivated enough to actually train for the Disneyland Half Marathon in September.

Mandatory Turning Older Blog

*** This blog is a few days late. I needed to experience being a year older for a few days before actually drawing any conclusions. ;) ***

Over the years, on my birthday, there is always at least 1 person asking me how it feels to be a year older. My standard answer has always been, I feel the same as I did yesterday. It makes me wonder if I am supposed to be feeling something different once the clock strikes 12 o'clock on the day of my birthday. Truth is, I really don't feel any different when I was a year younger. Seriously, I don't really feel like I am getting older -- well, except physically -- the aches, the pain, and other things that come with age are starting to announce their presence. A day, a month or a year probably wouldn't make me feel any different. However, ask me about how I am feeling now compared to how I felt 10 years ago and I would definitely be able to tell you the difference.

Ten years ago around this time, I was fresh out of school. Wide eyed, idealistic, ever so optimistic and ready to conquer the world and nothing could get in the way of all my dreams and aspirations. I felt like I was super woman. I jaywalked across busy streets filled with crazy drivers trying to avoid running me over. I went mountain climbing and even climbing slippery waterfalls. I wasn't afraid of anything. Lyrics from a song called I'm not afraid of anything written by Jason Robert Brown (Songs for a New world Soundtrack), nicely describes how I felt 10 years ago.

I'm not afraid of anything
Be it mountains, water, dragons, dark or sky
I'm not afraid of anything
Tell me where's the challenge if you never try
So watch me fly
I'm not afraid

Now, I'm just contented to let the world pass me by. I have gone further than I could ever have imagined 10 years ago. I have never thought I could be where I am right now and living the kind of life I live. Over the years, I've become more of a skeptic -- more of a I'll believe it when I see it type of person. I'm practical and a pragmatist. I have come to the realization that some of my dreams are and will remain as dreams and do not apply to the real world. Am I disappointed that not all my dreams are turning into reality? Nah... The odds are still pretty much in my favor. :)

Nope, I have not started counting backwards. :P

Da Vinci Code Quest on Google

I've been playing the Da Vinci Code Quest on Google for several weeks. It finally ended today and I'm actually quite pleased with my performance. I did manage to finish all 24 puzzles. Today was the deadline and I finished mine yesterday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm included in the first 10,000 participants who finished all 24 puzzles. They're sending out a replica of the cryptex to the first 10,000 participants and I really want one! Too bad, I won't know until Monday if I am in the first 10,000 participants.

Solving problems is a strength of mine however, I pretty much suck at solving puzzles. I'm actually amazed at how well I did on this quest. Well, you know what they say, Google knows everything and Google is my friend. :)

Only in Dallas

It's been almost a week since I came back home from Dallas. I have several pictures on my Treo that I felt I should post in here. I know, I know, it's a phone, takes crappy pictures but I have it with me all the time so I can just whip it out and snap away.

Anyways, here are a few pictures that I took in Dallas on my Treo.

Dallas Galleria Mall. There are malls everywhere in Dallas. It's a shopping utopia and at the same time purgatory for my credit card.




Reunion Center Ball (ok, maybe I'm making the name up). Anyways, I went up on the ball's observation deck.




Dallas skyline. I took this from the Reunion Center observation deck.






This is from Fogo de Chao. Look closely and you'll see the ribs turning round and round getting cooked. I've never eaten so much meat in my life!



Ummmm... They made it sound like ordering something from a fast food restaurant. I wonder if someone ever goes in and orders condoms "for here".

More of Nothing

Dallas, Day 5:

It's my 5th day in Dallas and Murphy is still screwing around with me. I'm supposed to be going home tomorrow. Everything supposed to be already done but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... Murphy had to screw things up.

My favorite word is NOTHING on this trip. NOTHING is working. NOTHING is done. There is NOTHING to see and NOTHING to do in this city. NOTHING I can do but extend my stay for 2 more days and see more of NOTHING.

Yeah, I am bitter so back off and let me be.

Murphy's Law

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

I have been a victim of Murphy's law this week. I have been in Dallas for the past 2 days to set up the new office. The first day I walked in the new space, my jaw just dropped. I was in shock, cables were hanging loose, furniture was not installed, the patch panel was not installed, the MPLS circuit was installed in the wrong end of the suite, the rack, printer and a lot of other stuff have not been delivered. Total nightmare! Day 2, our MPLS circuit is still not up and it's the most important thing of all. Everything is supposed to be done by Monday. ARRGGGHHHHH...........

Well Murphy, if you're reading this, back off... You're screwing things up!

Everything is HUGE in Texas

I've had a lot of people tell me that everything is HUGE in Texas. I believe it now! Food servings are HUGE, cows are HUGE, even our rental car's HUGE!

I was in Austin Tuesday and Wednesday this week (4/18 & 4/19). It's supposedly a fun town to be in. Unfortunately, I didn't really have any time for fun in Austin. It was work, work, work. Worked late on Tuesday and then had to drive up to Dallas Wednesday night. I only saw the Austin office, the roof of the state capitol, my room at the Omni hotel and County Line BBQ!

Speaking of County Line BBQ, it's the best barbecue I have tasted. Servings were HUGE (of course!) and everything was homemade even the ice cream. I didn't want to leave Austin without going to a landmark restaurant. On the wall, they have pictures of their cows and they are HUGE! They also have a stuffed head of a cow.


See the 3 neon pigs on top of the sign? The pigs turn neon pink when they jump over the BBQ pit. Cute...




Here's the MOTHER OF ALL COWS! This cow is freakin' HUGE! She must've been really special. I bet she tasted really good!




What would you do if you had this stuffed head staring at you while you were eating ribs? I kept on eating.





Cows, cows and a cowboy. Yep, there's cow pictures everywhere.






Meat, meat and more meat.








Even the bread is HUGE!






Oh yeah, we (my co-worker and I) had a pimped out ride. The rental company gave us a Cadillac Escalade ESV. I tell you, that is a big ass car! The freakin' thing is like a truck! We decided to exchange it for a smaller SUV (Ford Explorer) before we kill someone with the HUGE SUV. It was fun while it lasted.




Now, this is what I call a BIG ASS TRUCK!




HUGE, HUMONGOUS, GARGANTUAN, BEHEMOTIC, COLOSSAL, IMMENSE, JUMBO, KING-SIZE, MAMMOTH, ENORMOUS, GIGANTIC, ELEPHANTINE, HULKING, ETC... ETC... That my friend is Texas!

Life is Pandemonium

Some time not too long ago (feels like it was just yesterday but I know it's longer), I felt like I had nothing to do. I had all the time in the world to slack off, surf the web, watch TV/DVDs, read books and just do nothing. Heck, I was even complaining that I was bored and begging people to give me something to do at work.

Funny how things turn out almost overnight. All of a sudden, I get a long list of things to do (yes, that's why I haven't been blogging lately). A lot of them seem to start at the same time and the deadlines are in proximity of one another. I feel that 24 hours is too short and 7 days in a week is not enough. Everyone seems to need me to do something and I also have personal goals that I need to achieve. I am being pulled in different directions.

My life is pandemonium, yet I love it. It's all about the challenge, baby! :)

Sacrifices

I have a good life. I'm very thankful for all the blessings that have come my way. I have a loving husband. I have a good job. We're financially stable. We have our own place. We have a somewhat well behaved dog. We get to do the things we want and buy the things that we need and want.

I really have nothing much to complain about my life. Well, except maybe for the fact that we're so far away from family and friends. It really sucks being so far away. I guess this is the price I have to pay for having the kind of life that I currently have. I keep on missing events in the lives of people that matter to me. I have not seen my family in almost a year. I haven't seen a lot of my friends in about 3 years. Today's my brother's wedding. It's my only sibling's wedding and I cannot even be there. It really stinks but there's really nothing much I can do about it except sulk.

We have to make our own sacrifices and this is one of mine. Oh well, that's life...

Grey's Anatomy Marathon

What do you get when you combine Grey's Anatomy and running? A Grey's Anatomy Marathon of course! Muwahahaha....

Over the past week, I have officially watched 21 hours of Grey's Anatomy. Yes, I was having my own Grey's Anatomy marathon. I finished Season 1 in 1 night (9 episodes) and I have finally caught up with Season 2 (21 episodes).

Do you think it's too much TV for a week?

Seriously? Seriously! Seriously?!

Grey's Anatomy

I am so into Grey's Anatomy now. I have been reeled in hook, line and sinker. I watched the entire first season last night. It was only 9 episodes but you get the picture, I was up till the wee hours of the morning watching this show! I just could not stop watching until I finished the first season. It's is THAT good!

The show feels like a combination of Friends, House, ER, Sex and the City. It's drama, comedy, love story rolled into one TV show. The characters are very believable. They have their own quirks and issues.

Patrick Dempsey looks really HOT in this show. Yes, he sure is Dr. McDreamy with this perpetual 5 o'clock shadow on his face. I've always thought he was dorky in the past but nooooo not in this show. He looks really cute.

The show has a lot of great lines and the music is pretty good. I love Meredith's (Ellen Pompeo) voice overs. She talks about things in life that I can totally relate to.

I love this show!

Running

I'll be doing Bay to Breakers this year (3rd Saturday in May). This race is the biggest street party in San Francisco. People come in different states of dress and undress. Yep, lots of people in costume and some naked people running around. It's almost impossible to run it since there's so many people. I think I clocked at 2:44 last time. It took about an hour just to go through the starting line.

I also signed up for the Disneyland Half Marathon (13 miles) in September. I know, it's crazy. I've never done anything like this in my life. I'm going to be doing it with other DN's from the JMBB.

I'm looking forward to those 2 races. It's going to be such a challenge considering that I am on my butt all the time and my only exercise is walking from the bus terminal to the office and then from the office to the bus terminal. I went a bought a threadmill so that I don't have to run outside in the cold. Yes, I have started training. ;) Can you believe it? I've started doing 3 miles daily. I surely don't want to get picked up by the sweeper and getting transported to the finish line.

Lately, I feel like I am starting to degenerate. I'm aching here, aching there, etc.. etc... I figured if I don't do these things now, I would probably never get a chance to do these kind of things ever. I am doing this for myself. Hey, you'll never know, I might just run a full marathon (26 miles) one of these days.

Treo pictures

What interesting stuff could I possibly post when I am running on Vicodin fumes? Absolutely NOTHING! LOL! You might wonder why I'm on the good stuff. My sciatica has been acting up and it is the most painful and most annoying thing. It hurts when I stand, it hurts when I sit. The only comfortable position is lying down and even when I'm lying down, the darn thing still hurts!

Anyways, since I keep on losing my train of thought halfway through, I'm posting pictures I've taken on my Treo 650 instead and let them do the talking for me. The picture quality is awful -- it's a PHONE, not a camera.

Spaghetti wires in our server room. Forget about fixing it and making it all nice. After a few weeks, it's going to look like this again.




A foggy day in San Francisco.






My babies at work.






More servers at work. The blue lights remind me of Battlestar Gallactica.




Here's my puppy with his new toy -- Mr. Bear.





Zooming down I-880 after the Bon Jovi concert.




Bon Jovi concert. Yeah, he's there somewhere where the light is at.






The Chrysler building at sunset from the NY office.





My boys.






We color coordinated the floor with Jack's hair color.



This is the horse in the 7th floor lobby at work. Very nice piece and also anatomically correct.






View of the bay bridge from the 7th floor kitchen at work.





Self portrait. Yay, my wrinkles are starting to show!



Megan Hilty -- Wicked's Glinda on Broadway. Some guy asked her to sign his cheek. She's a hoot. She still had sparkles on her face and it felt that you were still chatting with Glinda at the stage door.

Eden Espinosa -- Wicked's Elphaba on Broadway. If my camera didn't run out of batteries, I would've had a picture with her. She did actually pose with me but the juice on the darned camera was gone. Anyways, she was giving me the thumbs up in this picture. Very sweet and very nice lady.

Look who's baaaaack!

I went to my happy place (re: the fish store) over the weekend. Picked up a couple of things and one of them is the queen beotch of my tank -- Heatha tang! You might wonder why I call this fish the queen beotch. Yellow tangs are very aggressive towards other tangs/sturgeon fishes in an aquarium. This fish just kicks the other fishes asses. She's the ruler of the tank. She swims around spreading her fins and looks very obnoxious. She's a real beauty though. Very attractive fish. the last yellow tang in my tank got stuck at the side of one of the recirculating pumps inside the tank.

I also picked up this clown tang. I haven't decided whether it's a he or a she and I haven't named it either. Any suggestions for the name? Sorry, the picture is a little bit blurry. It's unfortunate that some of my fishes do not know how to pose for a picture.

Aside from the fish, I picked up 3 different acropora (hard stoney coral) mini colonies. The colors in these pictures really do not do justice to the coral.


I've never seen anything as purple as this piece in person. When i saw it at the store, I just had to have it in my tank.


This another sweet piece. It has this blue-ish purple-ish hue to it. If you look closely, you'll see my kole tang (also unnamed) behind this coral.


This one's very colorful. It's almost bright yellow. I really like this piece as well.


Here's another full tank shot taken tonight by Arvin. I've added more rocks and moved some stuff around. I still see a lot of empty spaces though. My tank is far from being full in my opinion. My hunt continues for more corals that I can put in my tank!

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

We went to watch the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee last night. The premise of the show is these adults who play the role of kids competing in a spelling bee. The performers were wonderful. The show was hilarious! I was laughing a lot during the show. I've never heard of most of the words that they were asked to spell like for instance: syzygy, yeoman, crepuscule, chimerical.

The show had a lot of funny lines. My favorite was when Marcy Park (one of the participants in the contest) shouted out: Jesus, I always knew you were asian! LOL!

Lot's of catchy tunes and truly an enjoyable show.

Rent (The movie)

I picked up a copy of the Rent DVD. I missed it when it came out on the big screen few months back.

They did a good job making the movie and keeping it in its musical format. The actors and actresses were great. Such wonderful voices! I felt something was missing from the movie though. I still like the stage version a lot better. Nothing compares to watching it live on Broadway. It's an experience in itself. I love feeling the energy and enthusiasm radiating from both the performers and audience in the theatre and sadly enough, this is something that could not be captured on film.

It's been a while since I last watched Rent on Broadway. It's one of my favorite musicals. I was singing along while watching the movie. Gotta love having subtitles on the DVD. I was actually singing the correct lyrics instead of butchering the song! I already butcher it enough with my singing.


I know almost all of the songs in the show. I've overdosed on Seasons of Love long time ago. This is my favorite song from the show:

Finale B

There is no future
There is no past

Thank God this
Moment's not the last

There's only us
There's only this
Forget regret or
Life is yours to miss

No other road no other way
No day but today

YD: Yoohoo, Green Chick!!!

Ciao Bella!

Hello, it's me, Jack the yellow lab. I've had so much fun blogging last time and I still have a lot of things to say so I am back. My mommie has given me Expilict un-Spoken Permission to write on her blog. I think that's what you humans call as ESP. I'll be prefixing all my blogs with YD as in Yellow Dog so that you won't confuse my blogs with my mommie's blogs.

A nicely framed poster has magically appeared on our wall. I still haven't decided whether the green goes well with our orange walls (I better say that it does look good or else my mommie might get upset at me and won't let me blog anymore). The poster has this picture of 2 women with hats. One of them is white and the other one is green. The white chick is whispering something to the green chick. I wonder what she's saying that's making the green chick smile. Oh, and then there's something scribbled on the poster using a silver sharpie and a pink sharpie. Different handwritings so obviously it's from 2 different individuals. Sorry, I'm just a dog so I don't know how to read the scribbly thingys. Teehehehehe...


Somehow, something tells me that it has something to do with the music that is blasting over and over on the stereo. Even I, the yellow dog can memorize it already. It goes like this:

It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes: and leap!
It's time to try
Defying gravity
I think I'll try
Defying gravity
And you can't pull me down!

Apparently, so it seems, one of the chicks fly. I'm guessing it's the green one. I've always wanted to know how it feels to fly. I've tried putting on my superdog costume but unfortunately, I still didn't fly. I have also tried the AHVEN, TATEY, AVEN TATEY AVEN AH MAY AH TAY ATUM AH MAY AH TAH TAY MAY TU SE SAY TA levitation spell I found off some libretto on the Internet but it didn't work. Maybe I'm pronouncing it all wrong with my doggie accent. The best I have done so far was fly from the floor and on to the couch when some guy who was a visitor of ours was sitting on it. Yep, the person sitting on the couch saw 85lbs of dog! I gotta find this green chick and ask her what her secret is. Y'all know what they say, "Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly!"

So if you know who the green chick is, can you please ask her if she would be willing to share her secret with a nice somewhat well behaved yellow doggie?

Arrivederci per ora! I don't really speak Italian but Google is my friend.

Amore sempre,
Jack il lab giallo

Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

I finally finished Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West book by Gregory Mcguire. Originally, I wasn't too sure if I was going to read this or not since I really loved the musical and I heard that the book is so much different. I decided to just get it over with just read the darned thing.

This book wasn't an easy read for me for 2 different reasons:
1.) I have a preconceived notion of how some of the charcters looked like and what their relationship was with one another. I was imagining the characters in the book to look the same as the characters in the musical. I had a hard time going along with the charater descriptions in the book. Take for instance Elphaba. In my head I see Eden Espinosa in green. It doesn't really work for the book since she's much prettier than the descriptions in the book and her features are so much different. Plus the fact that in the first part of the musical, Elphaba was this very naive and vulnerable girl and it wasn't played out this way in the book. She was more of a skeptic and quite fiendish from the start in the book. I know I should've separated the book from the musical however, I could not help it since I saw the musical first and I really loved it.

This is Eden in green:


2.) The pace of the book was really sloooooooooow. I enjoyed the first part of the book that talked about Elphaba's childhood up to the point when she was at Shiz. I wasn't really too thrilled with the middle part of the book. I was so tempted to skip the middle chapters but I promised myself that I was going to read the whole darned thing. It just dragged on and on and didn't really start picking up until Part V: The Murder and Its Afterlife when Dorothy appeared in Oz and things started to pick up and became interesting again.

If I had to rate the book, I would give it 3 stars out of 5 just for ingenuity. The book has such a wonderful premise. I applaud Gregory Mcguire for taking the fairytale Wizard of Oz, shaking it up and making the story stand up on its head. It's a completely different view of the Wicked Witch of the West and the Wizard of Oz. They writing style is a little bit dry and oftentimes boring as hell. In the middle part of the book, I can only go through several pages before my eyes would start to roll towards the back of my head. If I probably haven't seen the musical, I would've given up after the first part of the book.

The book is so much darker and has a lot of political tones and some sexual scenes which is absent from the musical (well, of course!). The musical is a very loose adaptation of the book however, I enjoyed the story in the musical a lot more. I liked the fact that they concentrated more on the friendship of Elphaba and Glinda. Hey, what can I say, I'm shallow. :P

This book would've been wonderful for discussions regarding good and evil in the Philosphy of man class that I took in college. It brings up questions such as: a.) What is evil? b.) Does evil exist? c.) Is a person born evil or is evilness thrust upon them? I guess I could try to find discussion groups for the book but I just don't feel like reading it all over again at a much slower pace.

My favorite quotes from the book that are pretty much absent from the muscial are the following:

"People always did like to talk, didn't they? That's why i call myself a witch now: the Wicked Witch of the West, if you want the full glory of it. As long as people are going to call you a lunatic anyway, why not get the benefit of it? It liberates you from convention" --Elphaba

"People who claim that they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us. It's people who claim that they're good, or anyway better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of." --Boq

"Remember this: Nothing is written in the stars. Not these stars, nor any others. No one controls your destiny." --Princess Nastoya

I'm putting down my notes here regarding some of the differences of book from the musical that I'd like to remember without having to read the book all over again. If you have plans on reading the book, please read this blog no further.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

* Frex did love Elphaba although not as much as he loved Nessarose. He considered Elphaba to be the strong one among his kids and she didn't need any type of protection.
* Boq knew Elphaba before they met at Shiz. They were in the same play group when they were little.
* Fiyero is married with 3 kids. So pretty much, Elphaba was having an affair with a married man. There were rumors that Glinda and Fiyero had relations but it was just rumors.
* Avaric is not Fiyero's servant.
* Elphaba is allergic to water. So it may be true that water did melt her when Dorothy threw a pail of water at her. Not with the intention of killing but instead of saving her from burning.
* Fiyero was murdered. It's a little bit unclear whether it was because of Elphaba or because he was a Winkie prince.
* Chistery was not the wizard's monkey servant. Elphaba saved the monkey from being killed by the dog while on their way to Kiamo Ko. Later on she was trying to teach the monkey to talk.
* Elphaba found the Grimmerie at the floor of a wardrobe at Kiamo Ko. The wizard only got hold of the Grimmerie through Dorothy after Dorothy killed the witch and went back to Oz with proof that the witch was dead. Dorothy also brought back the green elixir bottle back to the wizard and not Glinda.
* It was Glinda that placed a spell on Nessarose's shoes and not Elphaba. Glinda was more of a secondary character in the book. There really wasn't that much about the friendship between Glinda and Elphaba in the book.
* Boq was more of a primary character in the book and Glinda was a secondary character.

Open letter from my computer

Why the hell are you always in front of me? You look at me more than you look at anything else. I could not remember a day that you were never in front of me. If there was such a thing as having a reflection burn in, I would have the imprint of your face smack dab right at the center of my screen.

You oftentimes complain about lower back pain and stiff shoulders. Well guess what? It's because you sit on your butt all day long! Good thing thing the chiropractor's office is just round the block from work. You've had carpal tunnel syndrome yet you don't cut down the number of hours that you spend tapping on the keyboard. Whatever you're doing must be very important or not but I promise I will never tell!

You my dear are addicted to the web. No doubt about it. You spend countless hours on the Internet just poking around or going to your countless message boards. I am pretty sure that you will suffer from withdrawal syndrome if ever your Internet connection is taken away.

You want me to do what? You are way too demanding! You take multitasking to the nth degree. You like spreading the love around, no wonder I am not your only computer at work. You're such a control freak too. You always need to have full rights on everything you manage or else you won't manage it at all.

Please, get off me and do something else!

Love,
Your computer (you never gave me a name)