Happy birthday to me

Wow I've turned yet another year on my life. I must be getting old! Hahaha!

It was a lovely lazy day spent with the love of my life on a road trip to one of the coolest resorts in Batangas, Canyon Cove. Then we had a great dinner at Manos Greek Taverna in Tagaytay. Aibo's legs really got stretched this time as we overtook a bunch of cars at full throttle along Nasugbu and Tagaytay's streets.

Not a bad way to turn twenty-seven. Wait a minute, who's counting again?

Thanks much to everyone who greeted and everyone who gave me presents: Tita Hedwig for the gorgeous Seiko 5 SNZG57K automatic watch, Mav for the very early present of the Deuter Giga laptop backpack, Bianca for her hand-me-down 5800, Mama for the cool, racey-looking jacket, and Papa for the nice black belt.

I'm sunburnt, red-eyed, tired, pooped but very happy. Ta ta!

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!

2008 CY4A Mitsubishi Lancer GT: Shotgun impressions

Lately I've had the chance to sample my dad's new Lancer as a shotgun passenger.

The interior is a gaping black hole, but with nicely supportive seats. Interior fit and finish isn't quite a patch on the FD Civic just yet, due to a few cheap, hard plastics, but what is there works quite well. The folding grab handle doesn't feel comfortable to hold after half an hour though.

In-car entertainment consists of a 6-CD multichanger that can read MP3 files. ID3 tag information displays on the narrow LCD screen, but doesn't seem to display more than 60 characters. The head unit (HU) then powers what seems like a 6-speaker setup, with a pair of tweeters hidden in the front mirror mounts. Audio quality is okay, with nice imaging, but I'm sure it can be improved with the fitment of an aftermarket HU. How that will fit in place of the integrated HU will be a big headache, though.

My dad was stoking the 2.0L 4B11 engine along the length of NLEX. The engine has impressive overtaking punch and grunt, and it did not want for smoothness either. According to the instant fuel consumption gauge it could do 10 km/L. How reliable these gauges are remains to be seen, though.

The best part about the CY4A, however, has to be the suspension and chassis. Tuning of the springs and dampers hovers on the stiff side, but the ride quality does not suffer and the car handles road acne quite well on its 45-profile tires and 18-inch wheels. One has to force clumsiness to make the Lancer pitch and roll.

Color me impressed.

Beach trip? No thanks.

I gave up joining the Barclays summer outing to Cavite this year because it coincided with a long-planned outing my family and relatives had planned for about a month already. The plan was to go to Pangasinan.

So why am I still in Manila?

My dad decided to cancel the night before. Apparently, Nanay and Tita Hedwig were already there and it was definitely not worth the effort. After a long six-hour drive, they arrived at a resort that had so many people on a teambuilding event from some company that didn't have the common sense to just reserve the venue exclusively. They felt like gatecrashers. Add to that a beach that couldn't hold high tide in the afternoon, and with barnacles and sea urchins left in the tide's wake, and you have, in Tita Hedwig's words, "a vacation from hell."

I'm okay with that, to be honest. It's not as if the Barclays Cavite trip is anything to look forward to, anyway. Unlike the previous two outings, this wasn't even an overnight stay. Funny how the office summer outings just keep on going downhill year after year.

Glam rock and blues on the road

For this quarter's teambuilding event, my colleagues decided to try something new. Instead of going out to a restaurant to yet again eat our guts out, we tried going out of town to Tagaytay on a Saturday.

We went to hilly Picnic Grove to trek, Leslie's for lunch, Mushroomburger and Sonya's Kitchen to pick up snacks, and then headed to Caleruega's Veritas Hall for our activities. All the while, I had Beng, Paolo C. and Albert to keep me company while Queen, The Darkness and the Pinoy blues bands of "Blueskrieg" rocked out inside my car.

The changing-lanes-and-pop-up-barriers chaos of the SLEX didn't do me any favors, nor did the Sta. Rosa and Carmona traffic, nor the hideously huge rut that caught my poor Jazz out on the Sta. Rosa SLEX entry on the way back home. (Luckily, the damage was mostly cosmetic and concerned nothing vital.)

In the inclement conditions, however, the four of us had a grand time discussing the greatness of Queen, the merits of blues music, and Beng's advice for courting women. None of us fell asleep on the entire trip, even though we made it back 30 minutes after everyone else did.

Many thanks guys. If you decide to tag along on our summer outing I'd be honored to have all of you as my passengers once again.

Wanderlust strikes again

My January trip to Leyte got short-circuited at the last minute, but that hasn't stopped me from trying to organize another trip out of Manila. This time though, the travel will take much, much longer...but I won't be leaving the island of Luzon at all.

Ria and I are thinking about going to faraway Vigan in the summer, possibly in late April or in May, on a very long road trip with my Jazz. While I have no doubt that my little hamster is up to the task, I wonder if I'm in the same condition.

Another concern is passengers. Ria will not be allowed to go if it's just the two of us; we'll need at least one more girl who's willing to go. I've invited Denise, but I haven't had any reply from her yet.

Oh well. We've got two months to think about this before the idea officially goes kaput.

We've come...and gone.

We've come...and gone.

We never got lost while traveling the 175 kilometers going to Subic, Zambales. It's all thanks to Jerry and Donald who proved themselves to be very good navigators. Thanks guys.

If anything, were it not for the distance, the drive was actually pretty relaxing. Off the NLEX and all the way to Subic, the roads were generally smooth and well-maintained. Driving was an easier affair than it is in Manila, despite the challenge of the winding mountain roads we took instead of the Tipo Expressway through Subic Bay. We ran into crawling traffic at Lubao, Pampanga, but nothing else troubled us on the four-and-a-half-hour trip to the venue.

On the three-hour return trip, I had a blast driving with a full load of people and cargo through uphill stretches and overtaking slower traffic at 120 km/h. The whole trip had us returning 16.8 km/L---nowhere close to 28 km/L, but impressive considering the effort my little Jazz had to endure.

Enough about the drive. How was Club Morocco?

Personally I didn't quite enjoy this year's summer outing as much as last year's. Sure, Club Morocco has vastly improved facilities, but the activities and beach were both a little disappointing. There was no battle of the bands this year, and we were unlucky enough to arrive when it was low tide. Ergo, all attempts at trying to swim in the beach were spent wading in thigh-deep seawater and sinking in muddy sand. The ridiculously warm pool water didn't help things much either.

Still, it wasn't all that bad. Food was a little nondescript, but you could never say it was lacking. The outdoor games went a lot more smoothly this time around, and we had a live band performing onstage at beachfront dinner. There was even an open-mic session where a few brave souls sang their hearts out (Gracey, Paolo C. and I not included). PJ and the others drank to their hearts' content, but I called it quits after three bottles of San Mig Light at 11 p.m.

The big attraction though was waking up at 6 a.m. and walking along the beach. It was pretty damn beautiful. I'm going to shut up now and let the pictures speak for themselves.

Check out my Multiply site for more photos. Enjoy!

Nervousness before the road trip.

Nervousness before the road trip.

Tomorrow's the big day.

It's the company summer outing and I'm one of the idiots who decided not to join the bus and bring my own transportation going there instead. It's my first time driving to Subic and I am feeling pretty damn nervous.

After buying a couple of road maps and asking friends for directions going to Club Morocco I am still quite unsure of myself. No doubt I have the stamina to stay in the saddle that long, and I've made sure my Jazz will get us there and back (to the tune of a new battery worth PhP2900---there goes my budget for the new head unit). But I'm still pretty scared of losing my way. Even more than having a steady supply of music on the journey, getting lost is my foremost worry.

At any rate it's going to be a real adventure either way. Donald's riding shotgun with me and he's my navigator, and I'm supposed to pick up Jerry at Dinalupihan, Bataan, somewhere along the way to Subic. I'm also dying to know if I can get that phenomenal fuel economy once again, especially after my last fillup today returned a frustrating 10.056 km/L.

Watch this space for photos. Until then, pray for me, my friends, my colleagues, and our safety.

"I'm in the coolest driver's high..."

"I'm in the coolest driver's high..."

The Barclays summer outing is less than a week away, but I guess I got too excited about the prospect of a long drive to Subic and testing my Jazz's ultimate fuel economy. I also wanted to see if I had it in me to drive for an extended period of time.

So, purely on a whim, this sweltering Sunday afternoon I decided to leave Market! Market! and drive headlong to my dad's hometown of Baliwag, Bulacan...as a dress rehearsal for Subic.

I filled up my gas tank at Petron C5 where I learned my city driving the past week returned a rather pathetic 11.2 km/L. No matter, I thought. I will better this today.

Off I went, overtaking cars on C5 and EDSA on the way to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX). This was my first time to use this road after its rehabilitation a few years ago. I paid a rather hefty PhP70 on one-way toll, but it was obvious where your money went. The NLEX is now a smooth, wide traffic-free ribbon of tarmac that's reminiscent of the better US freeways. As not too many people were on the northbound NLEX I cruised at a steady 100 km/h, with a few overtaking spurts.

I got off at the Sta. Rita exit, then navigated the long roads going to Plaridel, Bustos and finally Baliwag town proper. Along the way I overtook a lot of slower traffic and motorcycles, making sure that I kept the L13A3 engine spinning close to its 2800 RPM torque peak---uncharacteristically low-stressed for a Honda.

When I got to the Baliwag glorietta, I turned back and did the same thing going southbound. This time, however, I piled on more pressure on the throttle as I went down NLEX at 120 km/h with more aggressive overtaking at 5000 RPM. I did the same thing on EDSA and C5, leaving other cars in my dust.

I felt good during the four-hour drive. Despite the oppressive heat which my aircon struggled to banish, it felt really good just letting the kilometers roll by with me all by myself. This was me driving just for the fun of it, searching for what L'Arc~en~Ciel call the "driver's high." I was literally just driving my recent problems away.

Pulling up at the Petron station along Dona Soledad Ave., I noticed the fuel needle had barely moved from the "F" position despite my hard driving over 141.8 kilometers. I had a fillup of 93-octane fuel again. Barely a minute after putting the nozzle in, the pump had stopped after 5.06 liters.

Do the math and you'll see my Jazz returned a truly phenomenal 28.024 km/L.

This was better than my wildest dreams. It's easily more than double my city driving figure, and proved that despite my driving style, the Jazz is a supreme champion of fuel economy. It also pointed to the realization that maybe my pathetic city driving economy isn't just a function of my driving: it's also due to the heavy traffic on weeknights and the relative brevity of my daily commute.

While I thoroughly enjoyed today's endeavor, I also realize getting that driver's high is quite expensive. Notwithstanding the PhP140 I plunked down on toll fees, I also spent PhP1100 on the two fillups today---although the last one worth 5.06 liters cost just PhP190.

Let's ride!

Let's ride!

Paolo rode shotgun with me today to seek out the Pioneer DEH-P7950UB head unit as he was more knowledgeable with car audio than I was. We were out on a limb going out on Black Saturday, as it's a neither-here-nor-there kind of day: some shops will be open and some won't be.

9:30 a.m. We rolled out of Paolo's house and into the highway. The Holy Week emptiness of Metro Manila's streets beckoned at my Jazz, and proved once and for all that it really is just a small city we're living in.

Our first stop was Makati, where we tried visiting a row of shops Paolo was familiar with. Unfortunately most of them were closed. I did get a PhP12,000 quote and a calling card from one of them, who agreed to send me a text message when they'd have one in stock. Afterward we proceeded to literally get lost while looking for two of the more popular shops we had in mind. When we finally did find the first one, it was closed, and we decided to just call up the other one in Pasig to determine if it was closed also (which it was).

We decided to go to Glorietta, buy my present for my dad, have lunch and look for a pair of retro Jordan sneakers Paolo wanted. It was surreal seeing Glorietta at 10:45 a.m. with 1/8 its normal load of people. We tried another car audio shop at the Fort, but it was also closed and we figured it was pointless going to its sister shop in Alabang, so we retreated to Paolo's house at 1 p.m.

It was then that Paolo's dad Tito Alex chimed in with a suggestion: why not go to Banawe? I had my reservations going to this mecca of surplus car parts. I've heard horror stories of people parking their cars there, only to return to them missing their side mirrors. I figure it would be worth the trip, though, seeing how free-flowing the roads were.

To prep for the trip we swung by the gas station for a fillup, where I garnered a disappointing 11.18 km/L. No matter. We were going to Quezon City this time, and the normally traffic-stricken roads of Sta. Mesa were cooperating very well!

We were amazed when we finally got to Banawe at around 2:30 p.m. None of the shops were closed! People were waving at us with pieces of car window tint. We didn't know which shops to stop at so we ended up making several U-turns along the length of Banawe St. Finally we decided to pull up at a nice place with a security guard watching over the parked cars. I was wary about the less-than-scrupulous hawkers Banawe was fabled for, but the shop we went to had friendly staff. I got a quote for PhP11,500 with free installation, but unfortunately the Pioneer HU wasn't in stock until next week either. I feel I'll be coming back here with Paolo next week though.

After that little adventure we drove serenely along E. Rodriguez Ave., Aurora Blvd., Katipunan Ave. and C5---all normally clogged arteries on weekends---to go back to the Fort by 3:30 p.m. and check out the Nike store there for Paolo's Jordans. He ended up buying them at a cool PhP7,500. It was nice seeing Bonifacio High Street being modeled after the open-air malls of Santa Monica in the US. Weakened by the heat and drowsiness, we were back home by 5 p.m.

Today I drove the most relaxing 98.5 km I've ever driven in city streets. If only everyday traffic was this free-flowing...but that may be asking for too much.

I'm getting excited about the 7950 finally making a home in my dashboard, but when we do make the return trip next week we'll have to contend with the crawl going to Makati or Quezon City once more. Oh well.