Schumacher!!!

Saw this link from my hubby's FB (yes yes yes, we've all jumped into the bandwagon!)

Schumacher returning to F1

OH.MY.GOSH!!!! I'm so excited to watch him race!!! The driver every F1 fan is talking about. The Michael Schumacher! Yey! Now the wait for August 21 seems to be loooooooooonger!!!

Healthy Eating

We've been trying to eat healthy - less pork and more fish and chicken (without the skin). Over the weekend, we had pasta but not our usual ground pork and spaghetti sauce. I researched for an easy tuna pasta recipe which I found here. The recipe:

8 ounces whole-wheat spaghetti
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 anchovies, minced (optional)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can chunk light tuna, drained and flaked
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook spaghetti, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 9 to 11 minutes or according to package directions. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add anchovies (if using) and crushed red pepper and cook for 30 seconds more. Add tomatoes, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes. Stir in tuna and cook until it is incorporated into the sauce and heated through, 2 minutes more. Divide the spaghetti evenly among 4 plates, top with sauce and garnish with basil. Serve hot.

Since we didn't have canned diced tomatoes, I used the bottled tomato pesto sauce that we bought. And I don't care much for anchovies so I didn't include it. I used the hot and spicy variant of Century Tuna. Et voila!


Okay I realized what I cooked is totally different from the recipe ahahaha! But it's very very easy to do..and tastes so good!

Highlights of Hungarian GP

Saying that Saturday's qualifying was eventful is an understatement. First, it was the debut of Jamie Alguersuari. Everyone in Star Sports had a hard time saying his name heehee. Anyways, according to the experts aka Steve Slater, Jaime did a good job on his debut. If it weren't for a mechanical problem with his car he would have made a few more rounds on Q1.

And then the most devastating accident I've watched in Formula One (in all 4 months that I've been watching haha) happened. Massa hit the tire wall a few seconds before the end of Q2. They had to wait for a few minutes before starting Q3. And as one of the commentators, Alex Yoong said, it was like all of us watching are sick in our stomachs waiting to hear any updates on Massa. He was unconscious when he hit the tire wall, apparently because of the loose spring from Barrichello's car that hit Massa's helmet while riding at around 190kph. This is after last weekend's news on Surtees' fatal accident while racing on Formula 2. So I guess that added to the unnerving atmosphere during qualifying. If you weren't able to watch it..here's a video from CNN on the news.



Up until today, me and the hubby are following reports on Massa's condition. We hope he recovers fully and be able to race again..soon! I never thought I would be this affected haaay!

Anyways, there were some good news during the qualifying. Alonso was P1 and Vettel was P2. Although a few minutes before the end of Q3 the time keeping was down. No one knew who was the fastest. Alonso's so funny, he was asking all the drivers what time they did and started comparing his time with the others. But unfortunately his pole win did not convert to a win during the race. And then Vettel didn't finish his race, too. Crap! So both hubby and I were not rooting for anyone during the race. I didn't even want to finish watching the race but since Kimi was gunning for 2nd place, hubby wanted to watch until the end and was hoping Kimi will mention something about Massa. It was Hamilton who mentioned Massa and not Kimi. Although Kimi had visited Massa in the hospital.

Haaay…I'm still sad especially now after seeing the images of Massa when he was taken off his car after the accident.

I'm Ready for My Close Up

What are the things you do to prepare for an interview? No not the showbiz thing! A job interview! I went to an interview for that promotion. And believe it or not, it was the first time I ever prepared for an interview. They say that you had you had to research on the company and know some things about them, but I never did that. I remember when I got interviewed for my present job, the interviewer asked me if I knew something about the bank. I can still remember my answer and looking back, that was a stupid answer. It only goes to show I didn't even research on how the bank operates. Ugh! So anyway as I've said I prepared for this interview. I listed down my "strengths", my "achievements". I have a list of questions that the interview might ask and what you should avoid and highlight in answering those questions. I didn't want to memorize my answers because I'm sure my answers to the real interview would come as "memorized" if I did that. I wanted to be prepared for the things they might ask but my answers to come out as natural as they can. My "reviewer" was lent by a friend and it was a very interesting read. One of the questions listed there is the "silent treatment". I'll just copy the text from the copy lent to me and share it here.

TRAPS: Beware – if you are unprepared for this question, you will probably not handle it right and possibly blow the interview. Thank goodness most interviewers don’t employ it. It’s normally used by those determined to see how you respond under stress. Here’s how it works:

You answer an interviewer’s question and then, instead of asking another, he just stares at you in a deafening silence.

You wait, growing a bit uneasy, and there he sits, silent as Mt. Rushmore, as if he doesn’t believe what you’ve just said, or perhaps making you feel that you’ve unwittingly violated some cardinal rule of interview etiquette.

When you get this silent treatment after answering a particularly difficult question , such as “tell me about your weaknesses”, its intimidating effect can be most disquieting, even to polished job hunters.

Most unprepared candidates rush in to fill the void of silence, viewing prolonged, uncomfortable silences as an invitation to clear up the previous answer which has obviously caused some problem. And that’s what they do – ramble on, sputtering more and more information, sometimes irrelevant and often damaging, because they are suddenly playing the role of someone who’s goofed and is now trying to recoup. But since the candidate doesn’t know where or how he goofed, he just keeps talking, showing how flustered and confused he is by the interviewer’s unmovable silence.

BEST ANSWER: Like a primitive tribal mask, the Silent Treatment loses all it power to frighten you once you refuse to be intimidated. If your interviewer pulls it, keep quiet yourself for a while and then ask, with sincere politeness and not a trace of sarcasm, “Is there anything else I can fill in on that point?” That’s all there is to it.

Whatever you do, don’t let the Silent Treatment intimidate you into talking a blue streak, because you could easily talk yourself out of the position.

*Okay, about halfway through typing the text I got tired and googled the 64 toughest interview questions so I just copied and paste the entire thing here. You can read the entire text here. Good luck on your interview!

I Got Promoted!

I'm so psyched! Finally finally! I texted my parents and then my mom texted back.

Congratulations! Galing mo talaga anak! Remember ako ang tutor mo nung maliit ka pa!

I don't know if I would cry or laugh because of it. It seemed like I was a small girl again back in grade school memorizing the different prefixes. I had a hard time differentiating them. I don't know what to put un-, re-, dis-, de-, ok I know I'm really stupid but English is my waterloo..hello BS Math nga e!) We had a quiz on it and I failed as in super bagsak. So my mother had me answered the whole test again..and we didn't stop until I got all the items correctly. As in if in the first try I got 10 answers wrong, I'll have to do everything all over again. Gumana ang pagkakabisote ko..pag iniba-iba na nya yung pagkakasunod-sunod ng questions mali-mali na naman sagot ko ahahahaha! But really, thanks to my mom I had good study habits and practiced them until college even until I started taking actuarial exams. I don't cram and I really study even on weekends. Sa bahay nung bata kami bawal ang TV pag weekdays and then pag may quarterly exams dapat weekend before the exams nag-aaral na kami!

Thanks Ma for everything! I'm here because of you!

*Okay, this post was supposed to be about the promotion but heck got carried away because of that text. Anyhoo, I'm just so so happy about this!!

Ukay Manila Store

I love blog-hopping! I get to read new blogs and find new discoveries. I was blog-hopping when I chanced upon Ukay Manila Store. First, saw the link of Laura's personal blog from Anna's, then from there I went to Laura's Ukay Manila blog and then finally dropped by her store. I don't know why but I was instantly excited about shopping in her store. Maybe because I know that the pieces there are one of a kind and that she really picks the item herself from the different ukay-ukay around the metro. I actually love shopping at ukay-ukay although I think you really have to spend some time there to find pieces that are really nice. I've bought a few of my clothes there. But it's my first time to shop for a dress online. I think I shopped once for an accessory on multiply but I don't like buying there because most sellers only accept G-cash or bank deposits for payments. Unlike in Ukay Manila where I get to pay my purchase via Paypal. It was quick and easy. After I registered and logged in, I checked out the dress I wanted and then I received email confirmations for it. I had to wait for Laura to come back from her vacation so the payment was done only the 21st but after I made the payment, Laura instantly emailed me that the dress was going to be shipped that same afternoon. And then yesterday when I got home, I finally have it! The fit was perfect! I can't wait to wear it. I'm usually the t-shirt+jeans-kind-of-gal or (blouse+slacks if going to the office) but I'm trying to change that by adding some dresses into my wardrobe. Well, you can't blame me…I don't wanna be stuck wearing dresses while walking along EDSA and going up and down the MRT stations. But slowly but surely, I am trying to incorporate dresses in my daily wardrobe, so this purchase is a step closer to that.

This is the dress I bought.





Will check Ukay Manila now if she has uploaded new arrivals!

Look It!

I got home last night and got this package from the guard.



Then I immediately texted Bim to tell him know I got the package!*

Inside, the package was wrapped in brown paper with our names on it.



I ripped the paper off and voila!



We have our wedding video! 3 copies of edited vids and a copy of the raw ones. Thanks so much Bim!!!

*Last Wednesday, I received the email from Bim advising that our video is now ready to be delivered. But because of the rains, I was only able to pay the balance the following day. They shipped our videos that Saturday and we finally got hold of them last night!

October Tres Para kay Cres

I wish I have some new adventures to blog about. But I don't. So I started browsing through my multiply account to look for an album which I haven't blogged about. Most of the time when I'm too lazy with words, I just upload photos on my multiply. And there I found my bridal shower album which was set to private so no lurkers have seen it and no other than my personal friends have known about it.

A few days and a month before our wedding, my friends here at the office prepared a bridal shower for me. They are the sweetest! I really wanted an all out bridal shower as in with all the dirty things put together ahahaha! I've never been to one and I don't want a girly girly shower with lingerie as gifts ahahaha.

The shower was dubbed "October Tres para kay Cres" (that's me in bisaya!). In line with the Octoberfest in case you didn't get that.

The food they prepared...barbeque, lumpia and pansit for long life or long..? ahahaha


With cupcake tower..



and look at the cupcake topper ahihihi



Complete with giveaways




We had some very naughty games!



And a stripper! This is me thinking "what have i got myself into?"



Of course, some gift giving! I requested them to gift us with things we can use in our home.



Super thanks to my officemates for this wonderful parteh

UConn Not, I Can Not!

I was inspired to write this post by Anna's post. I actually started this blog thinking I should start documenting my life in case I do get accepted in a graduate program and get relocated hehe. I applied for a program at the University of Connecticut. I was egged by a friend to apply for graduate studies in the US because he wanted to apply too. I'm not sure how we ended up narrowing it down to UConn and not in any other school but it's probably influenced by another friend who finished her MS degree there. So after researching here and there I decided to gather all the requirements – financial declaration, recommendation letters, transcript of records, I even took the TOEFL and GRE exams – and submit my application. I applied for their MS Applied Financial Math program and also applied to be a teaching assistant for financial aid. I passed my application on January 2006 but did not receive any reply from them. While my friend received a "regret" letter, I didn't receive any. So by July that year, I emailed them and inquired. And this was their reply to me.

Hello your application was received in the Math department and reviewed on January 25th, 2006 . The committee decision was not to admit you , a note in the folder stated you were competitive for admission but we could not offer you and funding and full funding was needed for you to be able to attend. A formal letter was sent to you on February 15, 2006, I have a copy in your folder. The address the letter was sent to was blah blah blah, Philippines . If this address is incorrect please let me know and I will forward a copy of the original letter to you at the correct address.

I did not receive the letter she was talking about so I asked if they could mail the letter again and clarified if I can still enroll in the proram. It seemed to me that I was accepted but they will not be able to sponsor my studies. Now this was their reply to me.

I have discussed your situation with Professor Bridgeman who is the Program Director for Applied Financial Mathematics, Master’s Program. He said it is to late at accept any further students for the Fall semester which opens in approximately 1 month. However if you can show the appropriate financial documentation, indicating support in the amount of $36, 500 USD he will reconsider admission for the Spring 2007 semester. Please understand International Students need to show a full academic year of funding regardless of which semester they enter. All information on this matter is listed at the Graduate School website at www.grad.uconn.edu. Also please understand funding for students in this program is limited and the possibility of future funding is minimal.

Yeah, right! If I had 36,500 dollars I wouldn't spend it on my studies ahaha! I would have just travelled to Europe or something hehe. So goodbye UConn! Goodbye East Coast! I wonder what my life would have been if I were able to study there. Would I have gone back to the Philippines? Would I be married now? Hmm...

Thoughts on The German

The hubby and I were both very happy with the weekend race's results! We both didn't expect that either Vettel or massa will end up in the podium. The two didn't have a very good qualifying and during the first few laps of the race, both weren't doing very well. Thanks to the 3-pit-strategy of the Brawn boys, Vettel and Massa were able to bag 2nd and 3rd place respectively. I was smiling the whole time watching the post-race press conference. I love it that Vettel was happy for Webber but at the same time I feel that he's starting to think of Mark as threat to his quest for championship points. He was very honest to say that of course he wished that he was the one who won. I hope they have a clean and healthy competition and not really go against each other during the next few races. It would have been perfect if Vettel won (he's German), I'm sure the fans would have loved it that their national anthem was played. As for Massa, he sure did miss being there. Hihi and I was so right, he did sounded like Fez.

'Til the next race! Will Hamilton be able to finally get a podium finish? Will Force India finally get a championship point?

Prince

Saw this last night. Prince is so cute! Watch it, watch it! I can imagine my hubby teaching our kids to play chess at that age.

Awwww

I had to fight tears while watching this. I watched it (from the website) here in the office early this morning with an officemate because I didn't catch it on CNN.



Paris: I love him so much!



Brooke Shields: What's up with the glove?

Gym Withdrawal

I haven't been to the gym for ... ???? .... I can't even remember the month I've been there last. It's been that LOOOOONNG! Ever since I got married, my date with the gym has been erratic until I totally said "goodbye" to it. Haaay! I think I need to go back there. I don't feel as fit and I feel as if I've gained so much weight. Which is really frustrating for me because I know when I do go back I will only lose a few pounds as in 2-3 pounds lang. Plus the change will really not be that drastic. E ako pa naman gusto ko yung may pumapansin sa kin na pumapayat ako. Although, I must admit no one has said na tumataba naman ako. Either that's true or all the people I meet are really wonderful people hehehe. But I wish I could go and learn another sport. I think I'm getting bored with doing cardio exercises and even boxing. I need to get my rhythm back.

I'm In Love

Was looking around flickr and started searching on homes. Then I found this flickr account: JELD-WEN Architecture.


This is the first photo that I saw from my search results. I would love to have our house to have a patio leading from the living room. So I excitedly went to the photo set.



And then I saw this! Aaawww I love the backyard!


It doesn't hurt that the front of the house is beautiful as well.

I am so in love with this house!

Dear God

I was about to send a friend a package. We talked it over the phone and agreed I'll send it by registered mail. Already inquired about it with the post office and we're all set. I just have to buy a few more things to be included in the package. So anyway, my friend then sends me this email about the post office. When I read it, I immediately remembered the movie of Greg Kinnear, Dear God, who is also about a postal worker who answers letters sent to God. I don't know if this email is true though, I mean if this really happened. But it's such a sweet story. I'm sure the little girl was really happy. Read on..

*******************

Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could so she dictated these words:

Dear God,

Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick.I hope you will play with her. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her You will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.

Love, Meredith


We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.


Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, 'To Meredith' in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, 'When a Pet Dies.' Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith and this note:

Dear Meredith,

Abbey arrived safely in heaven.

Having the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away.

Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture in, so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by.

Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you.

I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much.

By the way, I'm easy to find, I am wherever there is love.

Love,
God