Before I forget everything in a haze of time, I wanted to quickly write down the things that we did on our family's wonderful trip to the Philippines to relax, visit family, and of course attend Melanie's wedding.
Thursday 6/19 -Friday 6/20 - Left Chicago and flew Northwest to Manila via Minneapolis and Tokyo. Arrived late in the evening and was picked up by Nelie's mom, Ate NgNg, and Raymond. Spent the night in Tita Babies house in Manila.
Saturday 6/21 - Loaded up in a van and headed to Panguil, Nelie's father hometown. Stayed at Dad's parents house. Mini reunion as the cousins/relatives from Australia arrive at the house as well. They bring the rain with them. Me, Jason, Craig, Rodney, Uncle Larry,and Dad all get caught in a downpour that turns out to be a part of Typhoon Frank.
Sunday 6/22 - The main part of the typhoon arrives at 2:30am. Xander is up already due to jet lag so I get to hear the typhoon arrive first hand. Power is knocked out at 3am and won't be restored for another day and a half. No power in the Philippines means no A/C and that ain't good. The Typhoon also wrecks the plans for the reunion at the resort since it was going to be outside. The reunion was moved to Paete's church hall and about 60-80 people attend. It was a blast. Too many stories to write here now, but got plenty of pictures. Before the reunion we had a mass of thanksgiving in Paete's church. That parish goes back to the 1590s!
Monday 6/23 - Was going to 'shot the rapids' and to go see a famous waterfall but the river in Paete was too strong due to the typhoon. Relaxed around DaDa's Paete house (Nelie's Grandmother's house) and then took a drive to the river anyways to see the area. Surprise wedding shower in the evening for Melanie. Played some basketball for the first time in a long time.
Tuesday 6/24 - Went to kiss the hands of Jesus. Okay so not literally, but its a park with a climb of 300 steps to the top. Scenes of the bible depicted are along the way. Afterward, a lunch at a nice restaurant in little huts. Nelie did some shoe shopping afterward. I tried but all sizes were too small.
Wednesday 6/25 - Whirl wind tour of Manila including Fort Santiago, Jose Rizal's Execution site, and Mall of Asia. Checked into our hotel. Went to bed early for early wake up call
Thursday 6/26 - Crammed 30 people in a little bus man for 31 people. Not enough space for the American body or the American traveler. We don't travel lightly. Anyways off to a farm to see how rice is grown then to one of the top restaurants in the Philippines. It overlooks a doormat volcano with a lake in the crate. Very cool.
Friday 6/27 - A great day full of cultural stuff at a Villa turned into a museum. The museum was nice but they need A/C before all of their items decay. Xander got to go swimming for the first time, but Nelie was a little sick. Lunch in the river under a waterfall then got to watch a cultural show. I was happy cause they did Tinikling. Got to go malling Friday evening. Had my head shaved with a straight razor shave and head message all for 200 pesos or about 5 bucks.
Saturday 6/28 - Wedding day but first Craig and I got a nice massage while the girls got their hair done. Wedding was beautiful, if a little late. Nelie got roped into doing the offering since everyone was missing. Xander had a lot of fun and by this time has really warmed up to everyone. He didn't like to leave mommy and daddy at first but now he has no use for us. After the wedding, the guys go to explore the Manila nightlife thanks to Raymond.
Sunday 6/29 - Day of 3 malls. Checked out of our hotel then went to mass at a local Mall. I've now been to mass in the Vatican and a mall. Pretty cool. Then went to another mall to celebrate Kuya Rodney's and Wilmer's birthday. Bittersweet since it was the last time we saw a lot of the people. Everyone started to go their own way after the party. We then moved our stuff to Dad's brother's apartment then went to a third mall for dinner and to meet up with Nelie's friend Grace and Romel.
Monday 6/30 - All day long at the Mall of Asia but first we had to brave Manila's wacky traffic. Who knew that red lights were optional!? Oh and driving in traffic without A/C is not something you want to do everyday. MOA is huge. We could spend two or three days there. We only had 8 hours. Got to see an American marching band play the Star Spangle Banner. Still not sure why they were there. Had Halo-Halo and didn't get sick this time. Got to see a wonderful sunset over the Manila Bay before we headed back to pack up our stuff.
Tueday 7/1 - One very long day home but arrived safely back in Mundelein, IL
Hope, Today we do not say Good-Bye because you will always be with us
Though you flew away from us before we got to know yoiu, we celebrate today the short time you were with us
So with these balloons, we send you our love up there in Heaven . . .
To Our Little Angel, Our Hope
So much has been going on with my life lately, and with Nelie gone to home to Guam for a wedding, I have some free time on my hands. Funny, she's gone not even a day and I'm sad. She is my balance. The one person who can always makes me smile even when I don't want to. I love her so much.... and I love the little tiny thing growing inside her! Yup, I'm going to be a dad. My first thoughts where "Oh crap!" (said my best Homer J. Simpson's voice). I've wanted to be a dad for as long as I can remember but now I am scared. I'm going to have real responsibilities now! Some one is actually going to grow up and be shaped partly based on what I do. But I can't wait!
I also left ABN Amro, if anyone cares. I feel bad for leaving the people behind. They where a good group of guys. Very smart. The politics and the outsourcing, I couldn't handle. I think I was okay in terms of having a job there, but I won't be able to move up. Hopefully with my new job at JPMorgan Chase I will have an opportunity to do some more technical work and move up the corporate ranks as well. Don't want to be a bottom dweller forever. I'm going to have people depend upon me! Yikes!
My life... I guess its right. Do I like my job or not depends on the day so if you would have asked me on Friday then I would have strongly disagreed!
The conflicts of distance.....
So this past weekend was a big one for me. First of course was Thanksgiving with family coming together from all over the country, but Nelie and I were also honored to being my first nephew's godfather. This made us want to be closer to my family. To come back home to Pittsburgh and help raise the little butter ball.
I also attended my 10 year high school reunion on Friday. 10 years went by frighteningly fast. It was great to talk to people who were my friends and other who weren't. I guess as time passes we all become friends as old memories fade. I emailed a few of my friends hoping to keep in contact. I really didn't try to hard after I graduated so I thought I would try now. And besides, its always nice to get email. I'm betting on one email from each and then back to seeing each other in 10-15 years. The one thing that did stick in my mind was how often people asked me if I plan on moving back to Pittsburgh/North Huntingdon.
Even with Benjamin's baptism, I still say no (not that there's anything wrong with that). Nelie and I have created a wonderful little life out here in Chicago. And while sometimes we miss out on some of the family functions, call us selfish, we like our freedom out here as well. We might be closer to going to Cali (not that we're planning on it) than we are to moving back East. I bet we'll be living in Mundelein or somewhere in Lake County for some time to come.
Leviathan --
R.I.P: January, 1996 - October 30, 2005
My dedication to a faithful friend. Leviathan, you were my first... computer that is. Oh sure I'd used other computers before you (my family's Apple IIc and LeadingEdge 486DX2 comes to mind), but you were my first computer that I owned. After I convinced my parents that I
needed a computer since I was a freshman comp-eng student at PSU, I purchased you from the back of a PC Magazine. There were no e-commerce websites back then!
$2499 for a P100 MHz, 16MB of RAM, and a 1.2 GB hard drive. To round it out it came with a CD-ROM and soundcard - non-standard in those days. And the best was a brand new release of Windows 95 -- which I promptly foobared by moving Windows' system files around ;-). You've grown a little since 1996. I added two NIC cards, another 4.0GB hard drive, and 90MB of RAM inside your case, but you were essentially the same machine from the day that I got you and until the end.
You've seen more operating systems (Slackware 3.0, Redhat 5.2, Win31, Win95, WinNT, etc..) that I can list. I learned to program, played video games (Doom, Quake,DukeNuke 'Em) and surf to Yahoo! along with the rest of the Internet for the very first time on you. You have been the backbone of my home network for the past five years keeping all the bad things of the Internet away as my firewall. And while other computers may have taken over more duties from you, you have always been the most reliable. Never once did your hard drive or power supply needed to be replaced!
You were even around before Nelie! You have seen every place that I have been in the past 10 years from PSU, back to my parents' house, to ShadySide-Pittsburgh, and finally my first home in Mundelein,IL. Its been an amazing ride.
But the end has come. I can hear your agony. Your insides are spinning, loudly. You're in pain. When I try to diagnose your problems, all you can spit out is 'bus error'. The experts say that you can be saved, but I know you. You need your rest. You've done your part.
I will miss you.
Leviathan, RIP.
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