Warm pools, warmer welcome

Mav invited me to tag along with her friends on the little weekend summer outing they planned in Los Banos. We went to a place called Splash Mountain, which sported four slides, a "lazy river," and the warmest swimming pools I've ever dipped into.

Excepting the ridiculous Calamba traffic, the suicidal lunatics on SLEX everyone else calls drivers, and a lost shirt, it was a wonderful weekend that unfortunately ended a little too quickly. I taught Mav how to float and swim, and she cooked a huge batch of adobo for all of us. It was nice that I could finally relax with Mav's friends and just enjoy myself. A big hearty thank-you to Jem, Mai, Joyce, Jogs and Ara for making me feel very welcome.

I love you baby Mabie!

Wasting a week

Today is the last day of my week-long vacation. What was supposed to be a break to repair my Jazz's underchassis turned out to be just a simple break, due to the many customers requesting repairs at Honda Makati's body repair shop.

At least I made some sense out of this break, though. I caught up on my lack of sleep. I had the hub-centric rings for my wheels fabricated and installed. I finally met my friend Grace on quite a wonderful date. I canvassed the tire shops on Evangelista St. for prices of the Yokohama S.Drive tires I planned to replace my aged Bridgestone Potenza S-02s with. I went to Robinsons Place Manila and spelunked within its brand-spanking-new Midtown wing. I cursed the heat. I spent whole days texting with my new friend Mav about anything and everything. I drove to Trinoma, Banawe St., Greenhills, Aurora Blvd., and C5---basically wandering around in boredom.

Perhaps the next time I have a vacation this long I should put it to better use. But on balance, this wasn't so bad.

Sore in the summertime.

Sore in the summertime.

The heat is really getting to me.

Lately my head's started to hurt a little from the uncomfortable heat this summer. After going out, my first impulse is to plop into bed and have a good nap. I was even reluctant to go out this afternoon even if I wanted to, partly because I've been out a lot lately and partly because the heat saps the energy out of me. Even after taking a shower, a few hours later I feel dirty and gritty again.

Whew. I wonder what shape I'll be in at the summer outing.

Chasing the sun once again!

Chasing the sun once again!

Our summer outing is almost at hand. Currently the date is set for April 21-22, this time up north at Club Morocco in Subic.

It's still a month off, but I'm pretty excited already.

Instead of going with the bus as I did last year, my colleague Donald and I will be riding the Jazz to its first long drive with me at the helm. By then I hope to either have the Kenwood head unit fixed and spinning CDs, or the Sony Xplod USB head unit I like installed in its stead. It'd be nice to see just how efficient the Jazz is on an extended cruise, too. Besides, it's been four years since the last time I drove solo for the long haul.

There's just one sore spot about this year's outing and it's the lack of a "battle of the bands" competition. That was what I looked forward to last year, and while I probably humiliated myself trying to ape Bamboo's stage presence while singing Maroon 5's "Sunday Morning," there's nothing like performing for an audience. Unfortunately even if there was a battle of the bands, our best guitarist Mark has already resigned, so we don't really have anyone to take up the lead guitar.

This summer outing also officially marks my first year at work, give or take four days. It's had its ups and downs, but my colleagues at the Internet Channels team have been a big part of my life so far, both in and out of the office. Although I don't plan on spending my life in the IT industry, I don't mind staying a couple more years as long as it's with my teammates.