haystack in a needle [sic]

i have to admit, one of the biggest advantage of being on-shore is on the financial matter. it’s a given fact that working outside the philippines provides monetary advantage for some 10 percent of the nation’s population, the OFWs, and this number is uncontrollably increasing each year. the country, at state, is a prime example of anarchism. hence, diaspora at large.

a multitude of filipinos with university degrees are working abroad as domestic helpers, caregivers, or househelpers. there are teachers, engineers, chemist, and nurses working in hard labor totally not in sync with their supposedly professional trade, one could surmise them as madman. there is no need in saying that monetary compensation has forced these denizens to go completely astray, at least in terms of their careers. but what’s wrong with manual labor work if they seem to be lucrative?

i’ve never been an OFW, yet. for the majority of my IT career, luck has made me work and live in foreign places, which i humbly accepted as seeing other places beyond my own country has long been part of my game plan. when i was still studying, i’ve been asking relatives and family friends abroad to help me secure jobs in their places. even if it’s just for a blue-collar labor job, i believe i don’t have any qualms then. and when i was younger, i am so mesmerized by postcard-quality, picturesque germany or london from photos sent by relatives. how could an unfenced rowed-brick houses be so unordinary? a continuous line of tall buildings along a street so uncouthly? a handful of snow, an attraction. do they melt congruently?

added the fact that i have a contract binding to remain in the philippines for four complete years after university, the opportunity to work in hong kong that my former employer gave me is more than fortune, and i appreciate that that i work for them earnestly.

for most filipinos, finding work abroad is like looking for a needle in a haystack. a ton of haystack that is. while at the airport waiting impatiently for my flight, i talked to a man beside me. he is a filipino, but american citizen already, and on his way back to the states from his vacation in his hometown in bohol. i could easily remember how vaingloriously he talked about his province, and he even invited me to stay at their place if i happen to be in the island. the moment he knew that i am good to the united states for three months, he immediately asked me if i have any “plans”. as slow as my mind is, i did not see the quotes within the word plans. he meant going TNT of course, and honestly, that thing did not occur in my mind before, which completely surprised me.

could i have changed a lot?

Lake Calhoun, MN

north america → united states of america → minnesota → minneapolis → lake calhoun

the state of minnesota. also known as the land of 10,000 lakes is not an understatement. in total, the state has 11,842 lakes that are over 10 acres in size. for now, i’ve been to 3 of them: lake phalen and lake como, both in saint paul, the state’s capital, and lake calhoun, in minneapolis.

there’s a fair going on while i was there. it’s aquatennial celebration, a week-long festivities that take place during the hottest period of the summer. one of the major event is boat racing using boats of various designs, all made from empty milk cartons and plastic containers. there are several food stalls, families having picnics, people playing volleyball in the sand, and bikini-clad girls basking under the sultering sun.

unfortunately, i don’t have a powerful zoom lens, nor the guts to take pictures of sweating flesh widely in public’s view. but yes, it’s true, parks seem to be like beach shore lined with people in beach outfit going gaga under the heat.

more lake

summer swimming

north america → united states of america → minnesota → dakota county → eagan city

overnight at kuya roy’s place last friday after work. tons of food of course, courtesy of tita maricel. they’ve been extremely generous to our group, providing weekend foods and feeding us to our heart’s content! there were some drinks, booze, but i didn’t take much. i guess i had just 4 rounds of tequila and some beer. most of them had about 11 shots or so, drunk, noisy, and throwing up! several of us went home at around 2am, but since we won’t fit all in the car, and it’s late, we decided to stay overnight. the remaining boys were wildly singing karaoke to tunes they won’t be singing along when in normal state!

the next day, we went home first to have quick shower and pack up for picnic. although eagan city is just 15 miles southeast from the twin cities, it took us some time reaching the place as we had several wrong turns. eventually reaching the picnic ground, we unpacked and set the table under the shades of trees, and then it was a long table of delicious authentic filipino foods! dinuguan (very good!), palabok, monggo, tons of steamed rice, lechon manok, caldereta, etc…complete with chocolate cupcakes, cassava cakes, wide choices of drinks!, and watermelon. a few meters down the picnic area is a swimming facility, cascade bay. entrance is $9. there were so many people in the pool that it’s hard to swim around. summer here is a lot shorter than winter so many have been taking advantage while the sun out and weather is sweltering…but still, this is fresh compared to philippine summer.

after going back and forth to the picnic ground and pool (food is not allowed in cascade bay), i found myself both tired and stomach full! at about 7pm, we decided to go back.

we were actually using a colleague’s caliber (dodge), and i had a chance to test drive it. a really nice car, but i’m still used to operating a manual car. it has a gps, and it’s my first time to see how it operates! really cool and it gives precise directions.

more pics

EarPods

well, not really that one from doctor who, but this headphones without the headband is awesome! sound quality is very good for its price. compared to senn’s px100, the bass is less powerful. however, if you want a pair that has nice treble, decent looking, light and comfortable (at first not), get this one! reproduced sound is well-balanced, vocals are crystal clear (excellent for my nihong go pimsleur classes).

koss ksc75. recommended!

Gustave’s Anyone Can Cook - II

Giniling

0) In a skillet, fry diced potatoes in oil until half cook. Remove the potatoes leaving small amount of oil.
1) Saute minced garlic and onion until light brown.
2) Add ground beef (or pork), seasoned with soy sauce, salt, and pepper.
3) Add small amount of water, simmer for about 20 minutes, or until tender.
4) Add diced carrots and fried diced potatoes.
5) Add more salt or pepper if desired, lower fire and finally, add green bell pepper (cut into stripes), and green onions.

Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try

north america → united states of america → minnesota → st. paul

because my stay in saint paul is not for a long time, i plan to use as much of my weekends to see what’s around. last saturday, a couple of us went to science museum of minnesota. it’s just several blocks away from the apartment, but there was thunderstorm and it started pouring heavy that we had to stop by the landmark for shelter. sky was dark and heavy, and obviously, the rain won’t stop so we carried on walking when it’s not that strong. apart from science exhibits, there’s star wars collection on public display for a limited time, and the facility features an omnitheater, a 9-story high domed screen. for everything, it’s $24, and that includes a 45-minute movie in an omnitheater, admission to general science exhibit, and the star wars collection! the design of the museum is going down. lobby and ticketing is at level 5 (as well as omnitheater), and levels 1-4 are under the ground.

we get to see the movie first. it’s a domed theater, and the last time i remember watching in a similar set-up was during a primary school field trip! ages ago!! so initially, i was amazed by the graphics, and the wide panorama perspective of the visuals. however, after a couple of minutes, i felt really dizzy…(but i can still stand on my own), it turned out almost everyone of us had a slight nausea because of the show! haha… this is just visuals, yet i felt sick, how much more if we try all the rides in valleyfair!, which we’ll probably be going soon.

after the theater, we head to the star wars exhibit. it’s a timed exhibit, meaning we had to get it at 7pm, but can stay as long as we want. the exhibit was really cool!! i saw ship, costumes, miniature models, weapons, and robots! including R2-D2 and C-3PO! outfits of major characters like han solo, princess leia, padme amidala are there but on mannequin, guess it could have been better if they were wax models. there’s a copy of yoda and chewbacca, and of course the showcase won’t be complete without darth vader in his all black impression.

after more than an hour in star wars museum looking around, playing with hands-on collection, and taking pctures, we proceeded into the general science area. the collection is vast. from dinosaur bone frame structure to full-size stuffed polar bear, to genuine mummy. another good thing is there’s a large array of interactive devices and machines explaining how science works.

here -> yoda

christopher boone

..it is sort of being silly. But in life you have to take lots of decisions and if you don’t take decisions you would never do anything because you would spend all your time choosing between things you could do. So it is good to have a reason why you hate some things and you like others. It is like being in a restaurant like when father takes me out to a Berni Inn sometimes and you look at the menu and you have to choose what are you going to have. But you don’t know if you are going to like something because you haven’t tasted it yet, so you have favorite foods and you choose these, and you have foods you don’t like and you don’t choose these, and then it is simple.

i don’t normally read a book second time, but that happens when 1) i like the book very much and i almost forget the story and i wanted to remember what it is like, or 2) when i ran out of new books nearby, or 3) when i’m saving other nice books for some other nice moments. at the moment, it’s reason 1) and 3), because reason 2) and 3) can’t happen at the same time right? you can’t ran out of books and then save nice books for future reading at the same instance. what am i talking about here, non-sense inanity. haha.

this is another light read by mark haddon. the curious incident of the dog in the night-time is narrated by a 15-year old boy with autism. a math genius, he lives on patterns, rules, and then one day, his neighbor’s dog, wellington was killed with a garden fork. this deeply saddened him, but also provoked him to carry on investigation ala sherlock holmes style. hence, this is a murder story. his idealism, and perception of things entirely literally brings the humor out of the book, and at the end, he discovered something complicated, family disputes and things that are far beyond what his simple mind could seep in.

gustave

the food i cooked yesterday…hindi ‘yan la oya, kare-kare ‘yan.

Sailing, I’m sailing boat…

north america → united states of america → minnesota → washington county → bayport

a very nice colleague, brian, invited us to go sailing with him last week (yup, this is an overdue post). it’s the peak of the summer season at the moment, and daylight is much longer, so after office, people still have enough sunshine to do things like boating, going to the park, strolling with their dogs, etc. we went on a weekday after work, to brian’s house first where we toured around his solitary place. his house is not massive from the outside, but the inside, there’s lot of space. it’s a 4-level house, 2 floors deep, and 2 floors above the ground, he showed us 3 of his bathrooms, which he proudly did by himself! labor, in particular, service is expensive here (for that reason, i had to fill-in unleaded gas by myself..) so americans have been doing house maintenance much on their own. i remember in the philippines, there’s an american tv show about doing crafts for home design and improvement (that i watch when bored. hehe). there’s also a show called (like? not sure) home improvement that demonstrates how to fix things in the house or make your space better.

anyway, brian did a fantastic job with his bathrooms. they looked professionally done indeed, with bathtub, mirror cabinets, granite tops and lavatory. judging by his works, he is really adept!

then, on our way to bayport, it’s a town on the south east direction of saint paul, overlooking the next state, wisconsin. the trip by car is about 45 minutes. brian has a parking space for his boat, which is not really big but there’s just enough space for 5 of us. there is no bathroom in the boat, but there’s a small room under the front part where we put our bags. we moved by motor power first, so we could get out of the docking area, and then started sailing! brian taught us the basics of sailing, proper way of tying knots, purpose of each ropes, how to steer, and techniques in navigating. he’s still quite new to sailing, as he just got his unnamed boat only a year ago for about $8000. for me, really huge money to put on a luxurious hobby equipment. of course, took a couple of pictures, we have some pop (they call pop for softdrinks/soda here) in a cooler, which is the philippines, pop is a proper noun of a cheap brand of soda. each of us had a turn in trying to get around by sailing. occasionally, the wind is so strong, and steering becomes so hard that we are tilted in an angle with one side of the boat’s brim almost touching the water! it appears to be scary for some of us, but definitely fun and exciting, haha. the fastest we sailed is about 6.5 knots, which is 3.34 m/s.

with the wind being less intense as the time passed by, we headed going back about half past 8, still the sun shining.

grabbed quick dinner at burger king on the way back where i lost the stupid retainer. hay…

pics -> more

time off

sorry friend for being gone for a few days. i haven’t posted recently because i feel so stressed out at the office. there’s something so simple that i can’t work out!! my friday ended still unable to figure out the problem. it’s not about program logic, or algorithm..that would have been fairly done given sufficient time. i’m annoyed by some technical error i’m getting when trying to debug my program. PRINT-FILE error!!! i’ve done everything i could, recreated a new program, modified working existing one, remove all i/o files first, but still to no avail!! ai ya!!!!!!

‘would look at it again on monday.

on other things, i’m actually cooking at the moment. it’s kare-kare. haha. i’m still tenderizing pork hocks, it’s taking a loooong time.. ‘don’t have pressure cooker here. yesterday after work, i went on bike to university avenue to get some veggies from the asian groceries, and a bottle of kamayan shrimp paste, plus a 25-lbs rice!! everything in my backpack, the ride going back to hilly downtown saint paul is tiring! but really cool especially along the downward slopes where i could go as fast as my bike allows me to go!! really fun!

i started doing my week’s laundry earlier today (still not finished), and will go to science museum later after lunch. it’s just a couple of blocks away, and i’ve been really wanting to go there ever since because they have star wars theme exhibit going on right now.

may the force be with you all!!!

later..