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what the... my new mouse drained one "eveready" black AA battery in one week! oh no, this is not a good sign. to think that i don't forget to switch the mouse off after i shut the machine down. i do hope it was only a bad battery, even if it was from a newly opened pack. does this mean i have to switch to a gold "eveready" or to another brand?

here's the ube macapuno cake {half roll} from max's corner bakery that we had on the 24th, for 204.75 pesos. when i called on the 23rd, they told me it was 190+, and they said they don't deliver if orders are just for the bakery stuff. i think i could have gotten away with just the cake on the 24th because i could tell they were swamped when i called; it was so loud over there that the person who took my order could not hear me very well. but i also ordered lumpiang shanghai anyway. it was nice that delivery did not suffer, they were here in less than 30 minutes, like always. so reliable, max's. oh, and this cake tasted yummy too.

lechon kawali + pancakes = yummy! a play on "chicken + waffles?" but the meat was not spicy {no hot sauce here}, instead, it was salty. i discovered it yesterday afternoon. my gulay, it was delish! the left-over pork {from lunch} was salty. they cooked the pancakes this afternoon. a forkful of pork, then a bite of pancake, or both in the same bite...! the maple syrup on the cake was required to get it right. wow.

December's package no.2 arrived this morning. I'm getting in as much shopping done this week - I want to have it all done this week, hopefully. I would have taken a picture of what's inside but they're going to be gifts so... hehe. This is my second human heart nature delivery order too. Now, they have the online shopping thing worked out pretty well. They don't have a lot of products so I guess it makes sense that they don't have a wish-list feature as of yet. Here's a time-it-took run-down: Sunday evening - Ordered and paid for {in one go; no waiting for confirmation, no glitch, no hitch} Monday - Received email that package was shipped. Tuesday morning - Package arrived. Human heart nature used table rates for shipping. It's the most affordable I've worked with so far. They used LBC. Needless to say, I lost no sleep with this one.

Shopped online at tradeport.com.ph again. I bought the Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500. I wanted it in pink but their MS vendor only had it in purple, so purple it is! Tradeport had a technical problem last week -- the PAY button did not work. They had to manually send my invoice {with pay-link} before the order was processed. I kind of thought there was a problem because the last time I shopped there, I got straight through to paying without a glitch. Anyway, I hope the problem's fixed. My package arrived Friday afternoon. I paid for it Tuesday afternoon. 3-day wait = nice! They used Air21 for shipping. Air21 sent me delivery-progress text messages all day on Friday: * {8 AM} that shipment is Friday, * {10 AM - twice!} that it was scheduled then + a reminder that either I or an authorized rep be there to receive it, and * {4:30 PM} that it was delivered + name of who signed for it. So much attention from Air21; it was great. Tradeport communicated well too.

now this is messy, but it's tapsilog ! transferred from a polystyrene container, microwaved and into my tummy. yummm! i've been told that there might be enough leftover rice for sinangag tomorrow. oh no, don't you dare kid about that. nothing hurts me more than broken promises of sinangag . oh right, nobody promised anything.

5 audio minutes done in 50 minutes {clear audio, unedited}. that may be my standard speed to date. i rarely transcribe now; more important things on my plate. but when i heard this, i grabbed it. the recording was clean, clear and nearly {not quite} perfect. it took only an hour of my time {editing included}. why is it when you're busy, you inadvertently do something else? oh you don't? right.

i really like stews that are thick and savory. this is pork kaldereta {last night's dinner}, they put cheese cubes in it. i was supposed to get another plate after i wiped this out but i was still full from brunch. i remember we used to order a big bowl of rice topped with beef kaldereta, topped with a zig-zag-squirt of cheese whiz at a hole-in-the-wall when i was at uni. we didn't go to that place often but when we did, we'd always get the kaldereta. i remember we'd go there at the worse time: during our lunch break, and i hated it because we had to eat quickly or we'd be late for class. it would come out of the kitchen hot and steaming, and we'd have to wait to have a first bite. fun times.

there was chaos this morning. one of our dogs ran out of the house. when he gets out, he normally returns after he's had his fun which doesn't take very long. it's just that this time, they didn't want someone seeing our uber-friendly canine. if he was a little dog, it would've been cute but since he's not... well. they didn't mind it when he was a puppy though. so i did not sleep very well because of it. i am sleepy now.

just because i wanted jollibee... me "1 piece chickenjoy with spaghetti" meal, please! for the drink, i'll have pineapple juice. {etc.} her sorry, we ran out of juice. {twss} me oh ok. iced tea, please. her would you rather go-large with a cola? me no, thanks. her you'll be entered in our one million peso raffle promo right now if you... me no but thanks. her we have a juice promo. let me check if it's still running. me ok. her oh, that ended. you don't really want coke, ma'am? me what i really want is juice. her ok, ma'am. {chuckles} your order is 1 piece chicken joy with spaghetti meal, drink is large iced tea {etc.}... would that be all, ma'am? me yes, thank you. {smiles}

what did i accomplish today {apart from the routine...}? i designed a title/header banner. it is simple, clean and classy {i like to think so}. what? that doesn't sound like much? well from concept to finished product, it sure did take a while to make. besides, time flies when you're having fun. and i can't wait when it's time to update.

i decided to cook tonight; to cook a simple, idiot-proof, super-easy giniling . heat a little bit of oil >> add chopped garlic + shallot {saute until it smells like... home}>> add ground beef {1/2 kilo probably; keep sauteing} >> shortly after, add a tablespoon of fish sauce {instead of salt; don't just dump it in, spoon it around. saute, saute...}, add water {slightly more than what's enough to cover the meat. boil, boil.} >> add small pack of tomato sauce and diced potato + carrot {stir well. boil, boil.} >> when the vegs are fork-tender, add green peas, a sprinkling of raisins and a small pack of magic sarap {haha, that magic sarap mix - i think they put it on almost everything here!}. let it boil again. taste. add more patis if you want to. This is good for four people na {or two grown men, depends on who's eating}. Y-U-M.

I did use you. You were free, and simple enough for the likes of me. Goodbye, Yahoo! Site Explorer.

i hope someone will stop watching a show that i like {i like it currently and i think i am close to getting tired of it, but not quite} while i am working.  it distracts me.  because it makes me want to watch it too.  then i want to be mean and later feel bad about wanting to be mean.  but its season is over; the last episode was tonight, so it should not be a problem any longer.  truth is, i really do not mind if the tv is on while i work as long as it is not loud {it is in the same room, so that we are clear}.  i can easily wear a headset and have music on to shut it out; i actually like doing that and i will sing along too {loudly} if no one is around.  but if it is on a show that i like, well, i cannot exactly shut my eyes.  cable company, you will not read this but please do not re-re-run it. if you do, kindly have it on after midnight when people are asleep in their beds... and snoring, preferably.  then again, i think i know myself enough to say that i will not like this show so

having my hair cut this short is more trouble than i can handle. it gets all over my face when i straighten up after washing over the bathroom sink. i used a hair band and clip but they don't keep the hair back. aunt flo paid a visit and having hair fall on my face made stuff {on my face} worse. aunt flo brings baggage {as many girls will attest} and she usually brings me one present but now, there's more {on places where hair touch my face!}. and all i can do is wait it out, wait till it grows long enough to tie back. wait till the stuff on my face run their course and disappear. i am not cutting my hair this short again!

Yum... omelet. Oh, this was not overcooked. It just made me think about eggs. The title refers to this: I've been tempted to say, "The eggs are overcooked," in the past - when they actually were... overcooked... in the past. {I've only had overcooked eggs few and far between so I can't help but notice when it happens.} I've never said it out loud though - to anyone - not that I can remember. But if I have, then I'm a dimwit.

Someone knows how to make sweet ginataan in this house! It's purple because of the ube daw (taro). I did not know that taro does not taste much at all unless you do something with it like make ube halaya or maybe, fry slices of it with sugar. I don't think I've had it fried with sugar before and I don't know if that will work even work. Oh, and that root is not strikingly purple too {stupid, I know}. I prefer to eat this dessert cold. There you go. Now, I want some ube halaya and lengua de gato . As far as I can tell, Max's Corner Bakery sells lengua de gato . I will put that on my Max's "will try next" list, we'll see if our branch has it. What other food is on that list? The food list is in my head, you see... Ah, here it goes: Ube Creme Decadence, pancit luglug , Chicken Barbeque Combo Meal... nothing else is popping into my head right now. I think I'm going to stay away from their all-day breakfast menu because I think they serve i

ahh, to take a picture in natural light is reinvigorating. if i move a little to the left, i could almost feel the sun hit me (though at the time, it was drizzling and the downpour had only passed). so... this is messy but the cupcakes have pretty colors naman , no? that's more than i could say about my nearing-redundant, plate-of-food shots. then again, i'm not into taking beautiful pictures. i just like looking at beautiful pictures, and if they're of food, the better.

i went to a nice church yesterday. i should have taken a picture of the ceiling because it was beautiful. it didn't rain while we were there but it was pouring after we left.

it's raining. i noticed that it typically rains this time of year, for the last few years at least. i'm wearing an unlikely combination of a short tube dress, and a scarf tied around my neck. it's been three years since i wore this dress last and this is only the second time that i have it on. i have a scarf around my neck because my nape is getting cold. i was told that, given a choice, many girls would rather keep their chest warm than their legs. there's truth to that, i believe. i noticed as much when i was somewhere out there, where it was cold, even when we were indoors. a group of local girls in short skirts walked past us in their small jackets and neck scarfs. a few wore high socks but others had only thin, see-through black stockings on. the rain is getting stronger now. i hear gusts. i have short hair, chopped it off a few days ago. one thing i should have considered before cutting it this way is that it will be hard to wash my face over the sink

max's corner bakery polvoron - pinipig and cookies & cream - deelish! they did not crumble easily  = easy to eat and... deelish! oh i already said that. a pack is 47 pesos. it's 10 or 8 pieces per pack. i did not count. but their website says it's 8 so it must've been 8. oh gosh, these would have been gone in one sitting so i put them in the fridge to last me till tomorrow. just now, i have been told the pinipig polvoron is all gone though. that's fine. just leave me at least 2 of the cookies and cream, please! these were delivered as our local max's restaurant has its 'corner bakery' inside too. i am loving our local max's!

i have another appetizer that i will not order again (in addition to the sizzling sisig ), it's the veggie lumpia bites. why? nakakaumay. i think our local Max's restaurant will do better with a little less oil in their fried food. nakakaumay kasi ; it coats the tongue and ruins it for other dishes. this may be why i did not like the garlic fried rice i had three months ago too. but if the crab meat fried rice i had earlier is any indication, i know that they can hold back on the oil; i'm thankful it wasn't oily, otherwise, ugh. i can't think of an english word for nakakaumay ... "distasteful" maybe? maybe not? i don't know. don't get me wrong, i think Max's food is YUMMY - just not the dishes i mentioned previously. and our local Max's delivery service is GREAT, so far. and each time i had food delivered, orders were for dishes i haven't tried before. taste test kumbaga .

Weather turned muggy again so I chopped my hair off. It's so short in the back now that my nape's showing. I would've had a professional do it but no one from the salon was free to drop by tonight. I expected as much since it is a Sunday, their busiest day.

days are short and nights are long. so, sardines, my go-to ulam when nobody wants to cook. eating it straight out of the can is fine but it's better heated with quartered shallot and tomato. don't de-seed the tomato though, that's key to a milder and less metallic canned sardinas .

i don't get fevers very often so here's a brief rundown of what happened: # first sign of fever - the 13th at dawn. # it was on and off for 3 days. when it came, it did not get any higher than 38.5C and it was not terrible; i felt okay to get up and go about my day. it was only at bedtime that i felt the brunt of it. # i let the fever run during the day and only took one dose of acetaminophen after dinner. # on the 16th, the fever finally broke and then, the sniffles began: drippy nose, watery eyes, sneezing and all. # now, the 20th, no more sniffles but i am waiting for the fluid in my ears to go away (i'm hoping to speed it up with the kamillosan's help). the ear thing is a bother; any quick movement and i get this pressure in my head and feel dizzy. i think i did well. it was reined and gone in a week. that is expected i suppose, that's typically how long the bug lasts, no?

i'm nursing a cold and looked forward to get kamillosan for my throat. it was disappointing when the sprayer did not work. bought this kamillosan m spray this morning but i don't know the pharmacy's return policy, so i ran with what i had -- an extra spray-head. of course it doesn't fit, as luck would have it, so i hold it up unscrewed and pray the liquid doesn't spill when i take a dose. for my future reference, this costs P351.50 at mercury drug.

there it was. 38.4C, the thermometer said. i've boasted about being fever-free for more than a decade; good-bye to that.

at a quarter to 5pm, it was cool and dim -- bed weather, as one might say, just like yesterday when i was reluctant to get out of bed & start the day. yesterday, i took my time and my coffee went cold. i woke up to a bloody lip today; it cracked. i will smear lip balm before bed tonight, that should keep them lips cut-free until morning.

itlog na maalat + tomato + onion. marinated bangus , fried. fish tasted of vinegar and pepper. mouth-watering almusal . nom, nom, nom.

the oatmeal ones, from marks&spencer. commercially packaged dessert for wedding favors - interesting. got to try a 'brownies unlimited' customized cupcake with caramel last week but i did not like it as it was overly sweet.

the more info i get on this piece of hardware that i want, the more i'm discouraged. reasons why i shouldn't get it pile up, mainly it's because of -- location! the Others take your DRM (shaking fist)! here's someone willing with monies that you won't (ok, "can't") take, eh? how's that for business? yeah, so your hands are tied with territory/licensing laws but the fact is that amazon sorted the int'l license chu-chu on some (not a lot but it's a start) of their offerings (still wishing they can extend that to their mp3's too... wishing) so now, you should be working on it too; get a piece of that pie! read through your forums and see how much business is slipping through your fingers 'cuz of it -- yeah, you know what i'm talking about. but for some reason i don't want to call you out, it's not like you'll read this anyway. so little, i am. [sigh]

someone was in a good mood... me liked :)

just might spring for 'name' tonight. if not tonight, then, very soon. old house. power quit running in one of the newer lines that were put up when previous improvements were built in. i think one of my bedroom lights is affected. put the desk lamp on a high shelf to light up the work space. i think this new arrangement's fine - apart from the fact that it takes up my spare socket - it's fine.

i sent my thanks to opera on twitter when opera mini connected fine earlier today. Sadly, its server is down again tonight. Sadly. I'll reserve tweeting opera that it's down again for me... the fyi-it's-down-then-thanks-it's-back cycle is tiresome. Much rather be visible with my gratitude (positive note) and when it isn't working, bear it silently. Quiet until it comes close to a week, i think. Someone has to report it when it's down for that long, don't you think? Surely.

my pahimagas (dessert), usually. i prefer my PB on soft wheat bread or pandesal (pinoy-style roll, if you will). this one was by gardenia, from the grocery; i don't like it so much.

again, opera mini? Eto nanaman? It's just like it was in july. Sigh. Mini is failing to connect again, it's been 2 or 3 days na. Been checking tweets if any one else was affected but only a handful of peeps were complaining. I assume opera mini servers (one of them, at least) is botched since my built-in mobile browser is working well. Sigh. I miss how fast mini is; i miss my feeds. I hope they fix that buggy server so i can use mini again. Oh, mobile version of gmail is buggy lately too. This xml parsing issue comes up. But its html version is okay, just takes a couple of clicks to get there, no biggy. Fussy but no biggy.

looks like small fiesta on a plate, no? food in mini-cups were brown-bagged from last night. the chicken leg was from two nights ago; it was in-adobo so it was still good.

and we're out, so disappointing... Just un-followed uaap on twitter. Not interested any more; only until next year. Hope next season will be much better than this.

If there was a nook app for symbian/nokia at the moment, i'd be a happy clam. I wish those at b&n are working on it, but I'm not holding my breath. Five boiled quail eggs at 9pm should be enough till breakfast. Note that i had dinner at 6 and it's now, what? 2.30am. Haven't had the urge to google food pictures yet so i'm good, as long as i fall asleep very, very soon. Is the book always better than its movie or its adaptation for tv? I'm starting to think so, so far. I don't like it when they change who did or said what. I should strike out the 'always' from that last question. I'm not comfy with generalization.

So, my basketball team's in the final 4 (uaap). To say it was lucky would be mean. Saw the quarter scores and thought that I should've watched the game. Maybe, that time, it was exciting. *Update* Spoke too soon, no final 4 yet. Just that their win today means they have a shot at the 4th slot.

What's worse than a bad blog? A dead one.

Liking the fact that we've had fried rice these last few days. Brunch today was sayote (chayote) and pork liver. I like liver. It's rich and tasty, as long as it's not overcooked. It's easy to overcook pork's liver but with chicken's liver, it's easier not to mess it up. I think I prefer chicken over pork when it comes to liver, then again, it depends on how it's cooked.

Max's delivery again. This time... good choices, good... Kare-kare (+bagoong), lumpiang shanghai (+atsara +dipping sauce), and a small cater tray of pansit bihon (+calamansi) = Yummy, busog. Scratch my first max's delivery experience. This time, my picks were ace.

Birthday present for those who had their birthdays this lovely month of August! Found Weemall[dot]com from weepay's list of merchants. Successful transaction, obviously. Happy. Notably, this was the longest that I waited for shipment (so far) - with a local online shop - six business days from date of payment. Six business days is a long while in my case. Fortunately, they reply to text messages right away so I was only worried a little bit. Anyhoo... this arrived the day before someone's birthday so it worked out OK. Needless to say, I would've not been a happy camper if it was delivered later. But all was well. I'd buy from weemall again. I like them.

bahu... cats still using earth plot outside our windows to pee and poop. Orange peels put the fiends off for a short while and now, they're back. Stinks.

So, Max's delivery... Was hoping to order from Max's online but they didn't have our city in their drop-down list, when I tried to register so... Shame, assuming that's what they'll use for a delivery address. Boo. So, I called to order. Got our branch's direct number off their store-locator. Delivery was quick, less than 45 minutes in this case. I called early (5:30 PM) so my order wouldn't get lost during their dinner rush. My choices were disappointing. Should've ordered any of the stews, not the sizzling tofu. Nakaka-umay . My garlic rice was nakaka-umay too. I don't know... It was a metallic taste in the mouth... So it could've been just me - not the food! Awww, sad that I did not enjoy it. I liked the leche flan, that was the one good thing in the lot. Someone said the buko pandan was so-so, that we made better ones at home. OK, lesson learned - chicken or stews next time, and leche flan. Hopefully, they get our city up on the reg

Rainy Sunday. Bed weather. Just had lunch. Will take a quick nap & be up by the time my game starts the second half. Eee, excited! I hear thunder, oh no, hopefully neither cable nor power will go out.

When there are 6 small hotdogs left, slice 'em up and fry them with your scrambled eggs.