Ratatouille

christmas day, the 25th, me, my wife and my mom decided to have dinner out. we found ourselves walking the area of greenbelt 3. there were not a lot of people around so it was really easy to go around. we decided to have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in greenbelt 3: cascada. they have really great food; pasta, salads (not that i enjoy salads), steak and ribs too. we ordered vongole pasta and baby back ribs for me and my wife while mom had vegetable salad (she was getting tired of eating meat almost all throughout the holidays).

as we were enjoying our meal, at a table across us, a mouse came taking a stroll underneath it. it almost freaked out my wife. mom didn't see it right away since her eyesight wasn't that good. it didn't even seem afraid to walk around as there were not too many diners during the time. the mouse continued to move from under one table to another for a few seconds. finally when i couldn't stand it anymore, i motioned to the waiter and as he approached, i used my lips to point out to him the location of our friendly rodent. when the waiter saw it, he bowed to me in apology and made his way toward remy (that was the name of the lead mouse character in pixar's recent film "ratatouille"). as soon as remy saw the waiter coming toward him, he scampered away and disappeared.

after what happened, i realized, if cascada had a mouse running around the dining area, what more inside the kitchen? they did have good food but was their kitchen sanitary enough? after all, there was a mouse and who knows how many more there were inside. this was going to be the last time we were dining there at cascada. ratatouille anyone?

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Christmas Won't Be The Same Without You

it's been eight months since my dad passed on (i say passed on and not passed away because he's in a better place now).  it still feels like an uneasy dream for me.  i feel like saying, "ok, can we quit this scenario now?"  but then i realize that my dad's not with us anymore. it's really difficult for me considering that i never had any brothers or sisters to grow up with.  all i had was my dad (and my mom) to tell of my day's stories. he was my best friend at home, we shared a lot of good laughs together. i got most of my sarcastic character from him. he rarely liked being around other people and he'd always rather be at home with me and my mom. i got that attitude from him too. he always stood up for what was right no matter what others would say.

we had our share of disagreements along the way too but he never failed to let me know that he loved me. it was because of that that i respected the way he raised me. firm but loving. he never spoiled me even if i was his only child. i got spanked when needed then he would always hug me and reassure me that he did that because he cared for me. we talked a lot, played video games, went places, laughed, cried, grew up and grew old together. and all this time, he was struggling with a heart condition that doctors advised him, required surgery. he never had it because he worked in the biomedical field and he knew that this procedure was not an absolute cure. he was a strong survivor of three heart attacks, laughing at death in the face after each one. the fourth was the first attack in which his heart stopped. though he was revived, it left him with damage on most of his vital systems. three days later, he had another heart failure, this time, he lost the fight. the sight of him on the hospital bed still is etched on my memory. his name written on a death certificate never seemed right to me.

eight months, missing my dad. sometimes i forget that he's not with us anymore. whenever something happens to me during the day, a part of me says, "hey! i'm gonna tell dad about this." then i realize again, he's not here anymore. my getting a new job, my wedding, my married life are just some of the things that i wish i could tell him about. it's sad and it has hit me and my mom hardest since this will be the first christmas without him. hearing the christmas songs he used to play at home just makes it more painful. it would be around this time each year when i would tell him, "you should cut down on your fatty food intake, pop!" he would just laugh and give me that face of someone enjoying his christmas meal.

though he may not be with us anymore, his life and memory lives on in our hearts. when the time comes that it's my time to go home to heaven, he's the first person that i want to see, without the suffering of his heart condition here on earth, without his allergies (i got that from him too), and a big smile like he always had. they say time heals all wounds, for me, i wouldn't want to stop missing him, my best friend, brother, spiritual mentor, my dad.

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Holiday Rush

don't you just love the holiday season? imagine the happiness and excitement of going through heavy traffic, long lines at the toy shop counter, people bouncing at you from all sides as they run ahead to beat you to whatever item you wanted to get your hands on.

ah.. and the gentleness of the people around you, just feel the warmth of the tempers rising on the streets as you move in and out of near-miss collisions. car modifications anyone?

feel the cold as well, as icy glares is what you receive from individuals like yourself at automatic tellering machines as you take your time and try your hardest to withdraw and empty it of all of its contents.

and so this is christmas, the time of year when you just have to go outside and count yourself included in the ocean of shoppers needing to get rid of their christmas money on shoes, clothes, toys, electronics, gadgets, watches, bravias, bags, ipods, psps, ps3s, xboxes, nikes, reeboks, crocs, hps, dells, neos, techno marines, nintendos, nokias, motorolas, samsungs, iphones, treos, toshibas, havaianas, oakleys, rudy projects, and ones, girbauds, levises, tribals, casios, and jvcs. at once. now. pronto. no tomorrow. go for broke. who needs money on christmas? if you have it, get rid of it. that is the modern-day spirit of christmas. did i mention bravias?

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PS3 For Christmas

i know someone who probably wrote this song.. check out this link..

http://www.youtube.com/?v=Yi2RLLHG5T0

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There's Someone On My Workstation...

as i write this entry, i am currently on a different workstation. you might ask why is that. it's because, by a friendly request, my workstation is being used as a guinea pig for a new program at work. i feel really uncomfortable with all of those "useless" applications being installed on my pc and i really hope that the guy doing all this will uninstall these said applications before i am courteously given back my pc. don't get me wrong, i like letting them use my resources for the "betterment" of the company. i just can't work with a cluttered-up pc with stuff i don't really need.