Weekend (9/8-9/9)

Last Saturday we had dinner at The Stinking Rose over in La Cienega. The restaurant’s claim to fame is its prominent use of garlic in all its dishes. It was evidently so in every part of our meal – from appetizers, our main course and even dessert. The ambience of the place was somewhat elegant –in a dimly-lit-lounge-meets-a-Roman -amphitheater kind of way. The décor was old world Italy with muted lighting and stone and marble décor, velvet drapes and cozy booths. We started dinner off with warm garlic rolls and the bagna calda (the restaurant’s signature appetizer, “spreadable” roasted garlic cloves, in olive oil with a slight trace of anchovy).

Since I was having dinner with 4 guys (Jojo, Jules and my good friends Jeff and Ray), our meal was a carnivore’s dream. We shared large servings of the Forty Garlic Clove Roasted Chicken, the Garlic Encrusted Full Rack of Ribs, and Garlic Roasted Prime Rib – a 20 ounce piece known as “The Slab”. Each dish came with creamy garlic mashed potatoes (which were really good – my favorite part of the meal actually). And our only attempt at a healthy respite to this rich meal was the sautéed spinach which was more of a garnish rather than a side. For dessert, we shared garlic infused ice cream with caramel sauce. It was actually quite good and yes, you could savor the mild garlic aftertaste with every bite.

It was an interesting dinner to say the least and really nice catching up with Jeff and congratulating Ray – he and his wife (Janice) just had a baby. Too bad she couldn’t join us for dinner though.

(Jojo, me, Ray, Jeff and Jules at The Stinking Rose - after this meal, we all needed after-dinner-mints!)

Also on Saturday, we finally got TFC (The Filipino Channel) on cable. My hubby finally gave in and agreed to get access to 5 tv channels from back home. We have ABS-CBC (Channel 2), GMA-7, one channel that shows Tagalog movies, and two others that I don’t recognize. I spent Sunday afternoon watching “The Buzz” and “Showbiz Central” (entertainment news programs similar to E News, Access Hollywood, and The Insider). It was strangely comforting to watch these shows and to see familiar showbiz faces (although there are so many new faces and names I hardly recognize at all).

I remember when I was back home in Manila, Sunday afternoons were spent with my sisters watching “Showbiz Lingo” before we would head over to my grandparents’ place for dinner. My mom, dad and brothers would be napping while Atsi Jen, sometimes Joy, and I would avidly watch and react to all the entertainment gossip. This time, while I was watching these shows, I sort of felt like I was back home, in my parents’ room, on a Sunday afternoon, with my sisters.

(A snapshot of "The Buzz" on our tv set!)

Labor Day Weekend

The 3-day weekend could not come soon enough for me. I’ve been counting the week down till Labor Day weekend. Ironically I needed Labor Day to rest from my "labors" at work - haha :)

Highlights of our weekend include: Spending Saturday morning indulging myself at the Eden Spa in Redondo Beach. After my extremely stressful week, I decided to treat myself to a facial, body massage, manicure and pedicure. I spent the morning with Irene, a wonderful Chinese lady, who massaged the tension out of my muscles and soothed my face with scrubs while Andy, a Vietnamese guy pampered my fingernails and toenails. It was a little strange having a guy do my nails but he was really good and very professional). While Andy was pretty quiet, Irene was very talkative and chatted about everything and nothing all through my facial – luckily she kept the chatter to a minimum while I had my massage. I totally immersed myself in the soothing zen-like music, the cool room and the scented oils while she smoothed away the knots in my back, arms, legs, and scalp. It was the best three hours of the week and I totally felt incredibly relaxed and stress-free. I left the spa feeling pretty awesome. I told Irene that I would definitely be back.

On Sunday, we joined Jojo’s family for a two-hour drive to Solvang. The drive itself was pleasant enough (especially cruising the Santa Barbara coastline) and when we got there we were all charmed by the picturesque Danish village. Jojo and I have been there before but we still enjoyed exploring the quaint shops and colorful sights. After some sightseeing, we all ordered sandwiches and salads from a local delicatessen and had lunch in a shaded patio across a giant windmill. I had a really good salad (mixed greens and a light lemony-vinaigrette dressing topped with sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, crumbled feta cheese, red onions and toasted flatbread). Jojo enjoyed his cold roast beef with a mild horseradish dressing. After lunch, the kids enjoyed freshly made ice cream while my sisters-in-law and I stopped at a local bakery to pick out Danish pastries for everyone to share. The only thing that marred the perfect day was the weather. It turned really hot towards mid-day. By noon, temperatures were in the high 90’s and even hit triple digits as we drove past some of the Santa Ynez vineyards.

We left Solvang when the weather turned unbearable and the kids were getting antsy. On our way back we stopped at the Camarillo Shopping Outlets for a couple of hours. The place was so crowded that parking was pretty bad. What was worse was walking into stores and seeing incredibly long lines - you really had to want something pretty bad to line up for almost half an hour to buy it. It was so outrageous that the Coach store even had a long line of people waiting to get in the actual store. It was crazy. I ended up with two shirts from Ann Taylor after almost 3 hours of shopping since I didn’t want to line up anywhere else. I spent most of the time playing with my nieces while their mom tried to shop. Jojo finally got the Oakley sunglasses that he’s been wanting and a couple of shirts from Eddie Bauer. After that, we all met up and decided to go home.

Monday was our day to get stuff done around the house and relax in preparation for the week ahead. We did stop over at Sears this morning to get a water softening unit (since our old one was busted). Even with the 15% Labor Day sale it cost over $500 (including warranty, tax and delivery). I was pretty surprised it cost so much. But having soft water is a luxury – it’s really better for the skin, for washing clothes and for maintaining our plumbing. So the cost is minimal when you think of it that way. We also stopped by Carters store to get some baby presents for our friends (Ray and Janice) who just had a baby boy - Colin Adrian. :)

So that was our Labor Day weekend. I can’t believe the 3 days went by so quickly. I guess now I have to start a countdown for the upcoming Columbus Day weekend!

It's All About Work

It’s been more than two weeks since I last posted anything. Mainly it’s because I have not done anything really worth posting about. Lately, it’s just been work, work, and even more work! I’ve been putting in about 10-12 hours at the office, taking home work at night, and even spending part of my weekends finishing up projects. I’m usually exhausted by the time we turn in for the night – but even then, sleep eludes me since my mind is racing with thoughts of deadlines and meetings and things that still need to get done. What’s worse is after I finally doze off, I wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason and start thinking of unfinished projects and go through the “super-tired-but-can’t-fall-asleep” routine all over again. Of course by the time the alarm goes off at 7 AM, that’s when I’m in deep sleep and find it almost impossible to get out off bed.

I know this workload is unhealthy (not to mention the hastily prepared meals bordering on junkfood that we’ve been eating). Plus the stress and pressure can’t be good for me. I’ve been trying to wean off this schedule but somehow it’s not as easy as it sounds. My dad keeps telling me to do my best but to set boundaries – meaning leave work at a reasonable time and not to bring work home. I’ve tried that. It’s just that I seem to be getting more and more behind on my deadlines. That in itself is bad enough but sometimes there are people and projects that depend on me getting my work done on time. It’s not so much that I’m super important and indispensable at work – but rather my job is a huge part of a puzzle. Which means if I don’t finish my part then there’s a huge and distinct gaping hole and the puzzle is incomplete.

Last week I got a mid-year bonus but I also lost my assistant. She was transferred to work on another project (since we lost one of our teammates there). It’s ironic how we get paid more but the work increases exponentially too. So now, I’m working double time making sure my work is done but also covering for my assistant and the projects she left uncompleted. I’m not complaining … well, okay, maybe a little … but rather I’m voicing my frustrations. I can’t really blame anyone for this … the company is growing and heading in a different direction and everyone is just having to perform at a much higher standard and at a faster pace. It’s just the way it is.

Instead of dwelling on the downside, I’m trying to focus on the things that I’m looking forward to most. Things like the coming 3-day Memorial Day weekend, my parents’ trip here, our week-long vacation in Seattle this November, having my sisters and cousins spend the holidays with us this year, and getting our papers hopefully by the first quarter of 2008. Until these good things come about, I’m just going to have to keep going one day at a time.

Mixed Signals

Jojo and I spent a good portion of the morning at Best Buy shopping for a Vonage VOIP router. I still don’t know exactly what it does or how it works. Jojo has surrendered trying to explain it to me and I’ve given up trying to understand it. When it comes to high tech stuff, I’ll just have to trust by techie husband.

On our way home, I was half-serious and half-teasing when I told Jojo that I would probably understand “technology” more if he could clearly describe things in lay-man’s terms, instead of his usual “techie mumbo jumbo”. Jojo (being as brilliant as he is), not only describes things using hard-to-understand terminology, (he’s mind probably works so fast), he skips stuff normal people have to go through to understand the big picture. I illustrated what I meant with a “simplified” example, I told Jojo this is would be a typical conversation I could have with him:

(Remember this a “pretend” conversation to illustrate my point!)

Joanne: Ni, I was wondering can you tell me what a “dog” is?

Jojo: Dog? The Canis lupus familiaris is a domestic subspecies of the wolf, a mammal of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora.

Joanne: What does that mean? I just asked you what a dog is and you sound like an encyclopedia!

Jojo: You asked what a dog is and I’m telling you.

Joanne: Well, what does it do, what does it look like, sound like, smell like?

Jojo: That’s oversimplifying it – there are hundreds of dog breeds that I can’t describe just one for you!

Joanne: Well, where do dogs it come from? What does it eat?

Jojo: Again, it’s not that simple. The fact that dogs should eat bones is actually not entirely accurate. Bones are not all that good for them as there are changes in the chemical and physical properties of bones so that they cannot be chewed properly, also they splinter into jagged shards, and are really bad for a dog’s digestion.

Joanne: Who said anything about bones? I didn’t even know about bones! All I wanted to know what what a dog is!?

That is a typical conversation in our household … you would just have to substitute the word “dog” for words like torrent file, modem router, thingamajiggy, etc, etc.

Jojo countered that a conversation with me would be something like this (again, this is another “pretend” conversation):

Jojo: Hon, you know that new dog Sam got? It was pretty noisy last night, huh?

Joanne: What dog?

Jojo: The one he brought over to the picnic.

Joanne: I didn’t really notice … but now that I think about it I think it was a cat.

Jojo: No way, I was looking at it and it’s clearly a dog. Besides it was on a leash. You can’t walk a cat like that.

Joanne: You certainly could. Lions … tigers … those are cats.

Jojo: Yes. But Sam’s pet was a lot smaller and housecats are not walked with a leash around their necks.

Joanne: Whatever. I think it’s cute and cuddly.

Jojo: Yes, it is … all I’m saying is it’s a pretty noisy dog.

Joanne: Actually I still think it’s a cat.

Jojo: Hon, it’s a dog. I asked Sam and he told me it’s a dog.

Joanne: Yeah? Well, I knew it was a dog all along!

With conversations like these, it’s no wonder our marriage is anything but boring!

Rambling Thoughts

One of my good friends from work resigned last week and we threw her a good-bye party after work today. We were a big group (about 25 or so people) when we headed across the street to TGI Fridays for Happy Hour after work. It was nice to just hang out, talk, laugh, relax and have a couple of drinks. It reminded me of after-work events I had from back home and after-class events back in Berkeley.

Back home we used to go to this place called Il Ponticello (which was my absolute favorite place) after work. It was small restaurant/bar located in the heart of the Makati business district. Since it was on the 2^nd floor of an office building and not visible or advertised from the street, not a lot of people knew where it was. I loved its dimly lit, cozy atmosphere. It was the kind of place you dressed up for but not in a pretentious kind of way. It wasn’t really the place to go to be “seen” but rather a great place to unwind with drinks and really good food. I loved their menu and there were many Friday nights we’d go over there for cocktails, dinner, and dessert. I wonder if that place is still open …

As I was talking to some of my colleagues I kept thinking to myself that it’s so strange how different people are when they are at work and when they are hanging out at a bar. You see such different sides of their personality that sometimes they don’t even seem like the same people. It’s nice to see a more “human” side to the people you work with every day. I think everyone felt the same way because we talked about doing this again sometime. I’d like that and I think it’d be good for us to get together after work, especially since our company culture is so distant and so “strictly business”.

I’m sorry to see my friend leave but I know she’s moving on to bigger and better things. I wish her well. It’s always kind of sad to say good-bye. We keep telling ourselves that it’s not “good-bye” – that we’ll only be a phone call, email, text message away. But then life happens and it gets harder and harder to stay in touch. I guess that’s life. I don’t mean to sound negative but rather realistic when I say relationships need work.

I’ve re-read what I just wrote and realized that there really isn’t a point to this post. I guess I’m just rambling and thinking out loud …