Photoblog - Day 227 Nov 22, 2010

Figaro on a Rainy Monday Eve:

This is one picture that I just took out of the blue - I sort of liked how the rain always tends to emphasize color while making things look cleaner and brighter (as vividly depicted by the Figaro outdoor umbrellas). On the other hand, the Piazza's surroundings always look better in the evening - with the lights added, the surroundings come alive. You'll never see this kind of liveliness and color in the daylight.

Likewise the buildings in the background - simply showing reflections... with nary a hint of activity inside them... almost giving off a cold sophisticated feeling with their reflective windows - but come evening, we get a glimpse of activity in them.

Put them all together... plus the almost surreal skyline with an evening shot, and you get this very picturesque moment. A scene I would not mind looking at - either live or by this captured picture, for long moments. I mean, I know what I was taking as a collusion of the weather, time of day and surroundings... but wow... even I was surprised with what I got.

How did I get here? Simple, I was waiting for Barbie - we were both getting off from work and since we decided to do the groceries, she opted to meet me at the Piazza. Traffic was heavy then, so I waited at Figaro's - so you could say it was simply chance... or fate.

Photoblog - Day 226 Nov 21, 2010

Greenhills decors:

This is a picture of Bryce while we were having our dinner at Pho Hoa restaurant on the side of Virra Mall, Greenhills - the one facing the garden. having gone to mass at the Greenhills chapel (just a stone's throw away from Pho Hoa), we decided not to go far in search of a place and opted for Pho Hoa.

But the reason I wanted this picture taken was to also show the decors in Greenhills. As you can see, they are simply representations of gift-wrapped boxes; complete with ribbons, with lights inside them to serve as lamps/decors. On a practical sense, I can't fault them for it... the 'gifts' serve the dual purpose well. However, and this is just a personal opinion, I guess I find the gifts (and their wrappers) as too generic to represent or signify Christmas.

Now maybe it's also the fact that there's a large Muslim population here, hence the downplay of Christmas and a shift to Happy Holidays? Maybe so... but even the gifts are still too generic for this. I mean, we give gifts to our loved ones whenever there is a special occasion - be it on birthdays, baptisms, graduations or even just a plain private term of endearment between lovers on their anniversaries. So the symbolism of gift-giving is ; at least to me, too generic to represent the Holidays of December.

Oh wait... are they planning to use these gift decors all year round? Now that would be brilliantly frugal. But c'mon... shouldn't Christmas and the rest of the holidays being celebrated be more than that?

To their credit, this is not the main decor of the Greenhills Shopping Center - after all, they do have their life-sized mural up front... a practice they seemed to have inherited and continued to do these past years - one that hies back to the old C.O.D. Cubao days. So I guess, I should ease off a little, huh?

Photoblog - Day 225 Nov 20, 2010

By my library:

This is how I imagine myself when reading a book beside my library - the surroundings are quiet (or some relatively soft background music playing is a possibility - so long as the playlist does not distract me form my reading). The weather is just fine... I mean, this was in the middle of the afternoon - but with the thick drapes and an industrial fan keeping ventilation active, it hardly felt hot at all. While my pets are likewise relaxing - either upstairs with the rest of the family - or with me (as seen here). definitely an idyllic scene for reading. Such was this particular afternoon... I should make sure I have more of these kinds of afternoons.

I used my Gorilla tripod and the camera's timer to take this picture. Yeah... and the good thing was, this was my first take - no need for succeeding takes. Definitely in the zone when it comes to imagining the scene- then taking pictures... and seeing them come out exactly as planned. I'd like to think it was all skill - but honestly? Yeah... some luck was involved here. Although, I might hastily add - I'm needing less luck these days too.

Photoblog - Day 224 Nov 19, 2010

Waiting Companions:

This evening, I ended my class around 10pm - but that wasn't the end of the night. Apparently, Bryce had a party to attend and asked me if I could fetch him around 10pm - well naturally I said yes... after all, the timing was just right. From work, I'd just go straight to Greenhills to fetch Bryce, right?

Apparently, I arrived in good time, and Bryce wasn't ready to leave his friends yet - so I hied myself over to Krispy Kreme (it was the closest to the parking I'd chosen), to while my time away. Naturally I ordered coffee, and a doughnut - nothing fancy, just a glazed piece. As my order was given me, I naturally decided to capture the moment with my camera.

SO how was the food and coffee? The coffee was strong - it somehow felt like it was the dreg of the large kettle - or that was just my imagination, but it was definitely thick and strong (it kept me up and alert until 3am - time I used sharing some drinks with Ben later, at home) and definitely complimented the doughnut. I thought I would need the waker-upper and the sugar rush, if I were to stay alert while driving... boy, did this one-two punch do the trick.

Maybe they're better off as a breakfast dynamic duo - but hey... guess I got what I was asking for, right?

Photoblog - Day 223 Nov 18, 2010

Time magazine:

Today I find myself co-facilitating two trainings... Achieving Meeting Results (with Brian) in the morning, and Leader's Window (with Mon) from afternoon until 10pm - yup... a 12-hour work day. Obviously a scheduling / resource constraint problem. But need I add, a nice problem for me to have - since it means more money coming in for Christmas time.

That said, since both these gentlemen are hardly tyros in training, I do find free time and must therefore find ways and means to keep myself busy - in this case, the latest special issue of Time - with focus on the World's best inventions of 2010... and what great inventions they are... a jet pack - finally! - which I first saw in an old James Bond film... maybe they can remake that one too - but this time, using the legit thing. a car/plane! (I shudder to think of flying jeepneys and the undisciplined driver/pilot - all thinking they're Hans Solo), salvaged car parts to make much needed incubators... amazing.

It's really inspiring to read that there are such great ideas out there. Almost inspiring enough to wonder how I too can contribute to the betterment of humanity.

As for the USB stick... I brought it along because I plan to print out rather large pictures of the family that I took with the DSLR - have them framed and displayed at home. When that project is done, I'll surely show it in this photoblog.

Photoblog - Day 222 Nov 17, 2010

New Holmes Adventure!

I am a fan of adventure stories - be they set in the future, current or past... in this particular case, the Victorian times, and when we talk that genre, I automatically relate it to characters like Sherlock Holmes. I've obviously read many Holmes stories, and am delighted when I discover new ones because it means that someone took pains to tell a tale of the World's Greatest Detective... which is not an easy feat.

Add to that the fact that this story is told in a very visual medium (in graphic novel format) and you have an even greater challenge. It is understandable that this tale would meet many skeptics - myself included (that is, had I even known of the effort early enough), at the tale's start.

But... like any fan, I sincerely wanted the creative folks to succeed and add new tales of Holmes. With what I've read - and considering their challenges, I'd say this was a great story.

I rarely buy comics outside of Marvel and DC, and I normally get the separate issues - as against the pricier collected trades. Well this one is not just a trade, but a hardbound one, and I readily bought the graphic novel. Guess that shows how I liked Holmes (giving the creative team the benefit of doubt and my hard earned cash), and I'm glad I did not feel disappointed - nor ripped-off.

More so, this act of buying trades, seems to have started endearing me to the idea of waiting until certain trades are out, instead of getting the individual issues. It certainly led to a more enjoyable read... though I wouldn't mind being placed in suspense for a month by way of a good cliff-hanger either.

Still... this collected trade has not placed the title and creative team into my radar. I hopefully await a sequel - and naturally, a new Holmes adventure in the (equally hopefully) near future... and yes, I wouldn't mind it in hardbound trade format either.

Oh yeah... beside the trade (soft cover out to preserve it, while I read the graphic novel) is my new Starbucks mug from Vegas (filled with mint tea). No - I did not go to Vegas recently (I wish...). It was a gift.

I was simply enjoying the read, while sipping tea - awaiting my time to lecture in an Application Testing School. Great way to pass the time, right?

Photoblog - Day 221 Nov 16, 2010

Early Dinner:

This Tuesday happens to be a holiday for the Philippines, respecting and commemorating the Muslim event 'Eid al-Ftir'; a 3-day celebration in some parts of the world, but for us, I guess, one day will do. The point is, this would have been just a simple non-event day for me, had it not been for Bernice and Barbie wanting to do something... anything, so long as it takes them out of the house. Result? A trip to the Shang with the two of them - with Bryce opting to just stay home and play online games.

Once we arrived, one of the first things we did was to have a late merienda/early dinner (having had a light late lunch sometime around 2pm, I guess stomachs started growling) and we chose to go eat at Sango... a Japanese (or is it Korean) fusion place that serves American style burgers (and they're great too!). Even for non-beef eaters, there are options in their menu (and for some reason, we all did not eat their beef burgers that day - so Barbie and Bernice had the Chicken variety while I had the Fish fillet version.

This shot is both a reminder for that lazy afternoon and a picture that I intend to place in the Sango Facebook page (as one of their promo suggests), who knows? I might just get a free meal out of it, next time I pay them a visit.

Photoblog - Day 220 Nov 15, 2010

My Cocktail Glass Rimmers:

I know, spell check isn't accepting 'rimmer' as a word - but what do you call something that can help place the necessary salt particles on a glass's rim? Well, Rimmer works for me - until I can think of something more acceptable.

If you look closely at the picture, it's not just about the rimmer either - I also have a Bacardi ready mixed drink bottle - just add lime and crushed (actually muddled) mint leaves, some ice and viola! Mojitos the way Bacardi meant it to be. Add to the the Mojitos powdered sugar and lime on the glass's rim and I can imagine many enjoyable drinks during the Christmas season.

The other rimmer is the Margarita salt, and I intend to use it some time soon too. In fact, maybe in the next drinking session here... when next I will be making Mojitos and Margaritas.

The acorns are just for a more Christmas-like show; not to be considered as added ingredients to the drinks.

That said, I like how this picture came out - it almost looks like a commercially shot picture for the products' endorsement. and who knows, since I'll be blogging this - wouldn't that be a sort of endorsement or advertisement?

Photoblog - Day 219 Nov 14, 2010

Ben's Birthday Celebration!

Ben's birthday happened on the 9th, but we decided to celebrate in the weekend instead - this way, we wouldn't worry about work the next day. We were just a small group - most notably the Boni Bacardi regulars (meaning Jingo, Brian, Barbie, Ben and me) and we really did this in a spontaneous manner. No Mojitos this night... but that did not mean we came in dry.

We started with a new drink... the Tanduay Ice (seen in this picture) - a drink that is citrus-tasting with three alcoholic beverages (not mentioned) which made up for a cool drink with little alcohol content. We then transitioned to wine - three bottles; and complemented these with cheese. Once the bottles of wine were consumed, Jingo - using the Bar Tender's Bible (Mr. Boston's Official Bartender's Party Guide), did research on what we could come up with and discovered the ironically named Gentle Ben. Needless to say it was hardly Gentle... but it somehow fit that the drink would carry our celebrator's name.

Needless to say, any responsible drinking will be realized if one wakes up the next morning without any hangover - and kudos to our making sure we monitored our alcohol level intake (always going higher - never lower), I, at least, did not have any hangover.

Though technically this started Saturday evening, it very well extened to Sunday morning - and let's face it... it was memorable. More memorable than my mundane Sunday; which was okay too, as it befitted the concept of a 'rest day'

Photoblog - Day 218 Nov 13, 2010

Our Christmas Tree!

Today, I decided to check our Christmas lights - a move I planned dot do since last weekend, but with other things happening it got pushed back. Lucky me, there was nothing in the plate for today - so I could concentrate on the lights and the tree. When Barbie came down and saw me doing the lights and tree, she started playing Christmas songs on the PC connecting it to the entertainment system speakers, thus adding volume - to get me in the spirit of things... inspire me to continue working on what I was doing. Well it worked!

Normally, the tree would take a few days to finish, but today I worked on it continuously for almost five hours (only breaking for lunch) and when I was done, Barbie - as has been our practice, steps in to place the decors. Thus has been our collaborative effort every year - and we did not see any reason to change the practice.

I believe the result speaks for itself (hint: I can be more breathtaking if seen live). So yeah... I'm proud of our tree.

Photoblog - Day 217 Nov 12, 2010

Creative side to Leadership Trainings:

This is an activity I ask my participants to do at the end of their training (and if I had control over the course modules, I'd insist on this being a standard), namely asking them to pretend they're editors of a paper - they can choose their paper to be a 'broadsheet' i.e. a serious paper, or a tabloid - meaning sensationally gossip worthy; or they can decide to make a magazine... but the idea of the exercise, regardless of paper type, is to let them express their creative sides by coming up with the page layout of their front covers (or headlines) representing the lessons learned in the workshop/training.

This 'paper' in particular was a favorite of mine (and others who've seen it) from the last batch. It's filled with lessons discussed plus some digs at popular personalities (at least, from the organization's perspective) while putting a very 'pinoy' spin to the tabloid; keeping true to what tabloids do - namely sensationalize. So if there are digs at some personalities or blind items... well, what do you expect with tabloids?

But it's not just the content that is cleverly striking (and fictitious, I might add), as you can no doubt see... even the layout looks almost printing press worthy, not to mention, aligned with the L4 layout (but to see it, you must realize which quadrant represents what style).

Definitely an inspiring work of creativity. One I felt strong enough to take a picture of and preserve in this photoblog. Heck I wanted to bring home the paper, which was just discarded after the training.

Photoblog - Day 216 Nov 11, 2010

Leadership Game:

This picture shows my participants concentrating on one the Leader's Window's game where they need to internalize the ability to identify which leadership style fits what case best.

I never grow tired of facilitating Leader's Window. It's got a lot of 'Aha' moments and I appreciate seeing these moments happen from my perspective because it means I was able to impart the essential ideas of the training to them (my participants, that is).

Photoblog - Day 215, Nov 10, 2010

Plants vs. Zombies anyone?

have you played the game? It can be a bit addicting... meaning it can be a great and enjoyable time-stealer. The game is compact and simple... the idea ridiculous - but it still is seemingly played by a lot of people (at least a whole lot more than many will admit to) - and anyone who's played the game can definitely identify the creatures I have beside me.

As for these creatures... the picture sort of shows them in the vein as muppets - at least, that's how this picture comes across to me when I had finished fixing and uploading it in Facebook. Where exactly did these plants come from? You'd be surprised - they're formed from paper (or cardboard) and were (seemingly) expertly crafted by team members of an I.T. project - then again, who'd be in a better position to know these critters, right?

Apparently, these were remnants of a Halloween display in the project's cubicles, and after said Halloween celebration, it looked like the members (who made all these) had separation anxiety with their creations. I liked them so much that I decided borrow just three of them and have my picture taken with them. Too bad, some of the others were already broken or disassembled - would have been nice ot have a picture of the entire lineup (with a few zombies tossed in).

Oh well... at least, I got to these three for my photo ops. I used a timer for this... after all, it might look awkward to ask someone to take the shot for me - with me, specially since this was a work environment, so anything unofficial, I just do myself whenever possible.

Photoblog - Day 214, Nov 09, 2010

Comics for the Week:

In contrast to the last time I bought comics (where I ended up getting almost a month's worth of issues in one visit - and a costly visit it became at that), this week's pull was relatively light with just five(5) issues. Of these issues, I take special interest in... well, the Captain America limited series because it is written by Roger Stern, and this is the first time he's writing Bucky as Cap. Another issue catching my fancy is the last issue of the Thanos Imperative... and boy, what an ending it had. The rest... well. let's just say they're nice to have.

As for the lesser numbers, I wouldn't worry too much - guess it simply means that shipping has fouled up (putting it in diplomatic terms) and could not untangle it's situations.

Photoblog - Day 213, Nov 08, 2010

Life-like Tips:

I'm currently reading (or more like perusing) a new digital photo reference book that I happen to find in Fully Booked yesterday. Well, technically this will be my fifth digicam book, but I thought it worth getting since the author is Life Magazine's photographer himself - Joe McNally.

It may have been a bit pricey (a little over the thousand mark) but I believe that the lessons he shares within the pages will be worth the purchase as his tips and anecdotal sharing will greatly help me improve my digital photography skills. The book is naturally filled with wonderful pictures, and I may even be tempted to say that even without the narratives, the pictures themselves would be worth the cover price. You see, by observing how the photo was composed, I still learn a thing or two about how to strive for taking great pictures.

The book isn't too heavy, as it isn't hardbound - which in itself is both a pro and con - pro because it won't be a burden to bring around... con because it means it's not too sturdy, and will need some guarded care to ensure it's long (not just library shelf) life, after all... I intend to refer to this a lot.

Photoblog - Day 212, Nov 07, 2010

Roaming around Rockwell:

Today was a different day for us. With Barbie in Guam, I wanted to have a not so mundane Sunday - I mean, I could have stayed home and watched some DVDs or something similar, but I wanted to go out. More importantly, I wanted to spend some time out while this Sunday was not yet half through.

Of course we had to do some things - like Bryce and I getting a haircut. Plus, I also had to consider groceries replenishment; and naturally, going to mass. Aside from that - anything was possible - almost spontaneous in fact.

So what else did we do?

Well for starters; we had lunch at Rockwell's basement - ending up at Kentucky Fried Chicken; then we tried to peep into a bazaar called 'Pinoy Pride', but with entrance at Php100 each (and there were 3 of us), we thought it not a good idea to fork out the money with no guarantee we'd like to buy more stuff inside. Too bad for them.

We did not leave empty handed though, as both Bryce and Bernice got purple bonnets, while I managed to take a picture of the mall's tall outdoor Christmas tree - which is shown here with the kids. To emphasize the tree's height, take note o fthe people sitting at a bench by the tree's base - and take note, the tree also has a star (not in picture) so it's over-all height is higher than the picture could emphasize.

After this we bought tickets for Megamind, and attended mass (then the movie) and culminated our Rockwell experience by doing the groceries.

Yup, I'd say this day was far from boring.

Photoblog - Day 211, Nov 06, 2010

November's Bacardi Night:

Since I missed the last time this happened, I was determined to make sure I attended this particular Bacardi Night; after all, it has been months since I've seen or talked to some of these friends of mine.

As tradition goes, we'd normally try to have a get together to catch up with what's been happening with each other, maybe relive some fond memories, talk about absent colleagues (don't worry people - we were relatively gentle), and share some food and drinks - in this case, the usual Bacardi Mojitos mixture that Jingo and I have somehow concoct as our group's own version - one we call the Manila Mojitos.

As Bacardi nights would go - this one was a successful one. No one was too bored or too late - and everyone was able to follow the evening's conversations - and boy, did we talk about a lot of things.

What's new about this particular night? A lot actually - from Gina's Chocolate Fondue, to Melody's Rum Cake. It was equally a gastronomic delight - but hey, this only happens at least once a quarter (at most, once a month... though rarely has this happened).

We even ended a bit early - if you can call 1:00am, early, but I'd still say that everyone was satisfied with the evening. We even started talking about our next Christmas edition Bacardi Night, as we realized that the exchange gift we did was almost a year ago. How about that?

Here's to more Bacardi Nights with friends.

Photoblog - Day 210, Nov 05, 2010

Mirrored Tiles:

This is a post in Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at the Rockwell Mall. I had the occasion to be here and when I saw the near mirror-like tiles, I thought how mirror-ball like it was, and how it would definitely shine light back... even if it were in a myriad pieces (like the mirror ball). So I experimented with it by taking a shot.

The result was rather ordinary - nothing spectacular, since the light reflections was not showing in the picture. So this time, I tried a different track... I used my camera's flash this time and this is what came up.

I'd say this was a much better (livelier) picture representing how the flash's light reflected through the many shiny surfaces, thus making the surface rather dark - but lo and behold, the light did not reflect against the tiles' bonding (which is a non-reflective surface). This resulted in the tiles looking rather visible by their outline, even if they themselves did not shine - which was because I took the picture at an angle to prevent exactly that. End result... a more unique picture.

Guess I can chalk this up to a picture of patterns - in this instance, square patterns.

Photoblog - Day 209, Nov 04, 2010

Confirmation:

Today, Bernice got her confirmation. This was a long anticipated day - not because it was a very special time for Bernice (it was, of course), but that it was one activity long prepared for by her school - from a confirmation seminar to prepare the parent(s) by educating them about the sacrament, and hopefully giving them the right foundation for a catholic life (in case they missed the meaning of the ceremony).

I could give more details about the confirmation, but I guess the main difference between this one and the one with Bryce was that I had my trusty DSLR this time. So I decided to act the photographer and take Bernice's picture as she went through the ceremony. I also made it a point to take a few picture od her with her 'ninang' Bernadette.

This particular picture captures both - the important aspect of Confirmation, and having Bernadette in the picture as well - not to mention the Cardinal too. I als made it a point to have this type of picture taken because I already have a mirror-image of this pose... with Bryce and his 'ninong' Dict. Naturally, I plan to put these two pictures side-by-side.

Photoblog - Day 208, Nov 03, 2010

Piano player:

I always wanted to get a picture of a piano - possibly with a player. WHy you may ask? I just liked the symmetry and lines (specially inside the piano) that one can play around with as far a taking pictures are concerned.

That said, when Barbie and I went to Rockwell's mall, I knew there was a piano there, and it was being played regularly - so I considered the possibility and hoped I could get a decent shot in.

Well this one was taken (obviously) from above - the floor above the piano to be exact, and what was a simple shot (just set, point, shoot and hope there was no need for 'second-try's) and I just considered myself lucky to have the shot. I was even not too happy with the angle so I decided to take another shot - this time form the piano's side (an equally good picture too), so what made me decide to go with this shot for my photoblog?

Simple... yet I guess, minimalist in such a way that it's not so obvious - but it can be a focal counterpoint to the seeming stillness fo the picture. I refer to the right hand being a bit blurry (signifying movement) which is equally matched by a cropped figures walking past the piano player. Guess this is a sample of a picture looking better the second time around, huh?