da tomāto

How much do I love Google Docs ? Let me count the ways. For one, it converts .xlsx files to .xls. This feature must've been recent (less than two years, maybe?). There are so many wonderful productivity tools on Google and if we just keep our eyes open, we can see that they keep on putting great stuff out over time. Since I don't remember seeing an in-your-face "convert excel .xlsx to .xls here" feature sign on there, I was wonderfully surprised when I tried it out and it worked. A few months ago, I received several .xlsx files from a client to process. But I had MS Office 2003 so I couldn't read them. I could've sent them back and asked them to be changed to .xls format... but I didn't since figuring things out was part of what I do - besides, I didn't want to send them back at all. And being a keep-the-pc-safe-and-secure nut, I had one limitation in finding a solution -- no software downloads! I googled, yahoo-ed, bing-ed for a fix, but all I g

Slathered the "soft and scented" Off! on. I like how this insect repellent smells. Just as I thought that cooler season is here, it's not. It's muggy earlier and now, it's cool. We started to get these fitful temps last week. It's nice at this moment, I'm just sitting here and I'm not sweating -- very comfy. But I don't think this is going to last the night, I think that in an hour or so it will be hot and humid again. Enough about the weather...

Pretty, bright lettuce in my sandwich. Tweaked the photo (taken with flash) with more saturation - did the job nicely! Notice the black background? Lights went off the entire house after a quick "pshkt!" sound from the circuit box tonight. Outlets still had power (thank goodness - work on the PC wasn't shot). So while everyone else was using their TV or laptop monitor to brighten up their respective rooms, I was better off 'cause I had a lamp that plugs in. Anyway, some jiggle-waggle or whatever they did at the circuit box quickly put the lights back in order.

When it comes to bands, it's been that they'd put out new music every two or three years. Then, they'd go on hiatus... when members usually go do their own thing. There's no assurance that they'd work together again and if they do, you wonder if you'll like what they'll put out given that they've grown and maybe want to explore new music - the kind that's totally different from what you liked about them in the first place. I'm in the verge of being in a slump... coming close to getting music that I like from these men's bands... coming close to have all that I like so far... and sadly, after that, there's nothing else that I want to have. Nothing else, for now. But what about later and there's still nothing - what then?

Brunch was pulled chicken a.k.a. meat torn from yesterday's leftover chicken adobo legs. Already tore the fried egg before remembering to take a shot. Recent posts lack visuals, this should make up for them. Installed IE7. (Planned on IE8 but pal said it was "shite".) The process was OK until after restarting the machine. The "installing IE settings" window took longer than I was comfortable with, and when the desktop showed up - I literally sighed with relief. The reasons why I still bother with IE are - that I use a particular site that isn't supported by other browsers (yup, this condition still exists) and I tinker with some html codes so I've to make sure it looks OK on other browsers. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother with it at all. But this I've got to say, IE7 is better compared to IE6. I think four years (didn't IE7 come out in '04 or was it '06?) is enough to make sure that bugs are dealt with and it's OK to make that up

lost Internet connection an hour ago. since weather's still warm and muggy (june gloom, where are you?) and devices have been plugged in continuously for three days (i usually turn the power strip off at least once a day to cool them down even if it's just a short while - couldn't lately), i turned them off hoping that they haven't malfunctioned from the heat. glad to know they haven't, obviously -- hurrah! now, it's really fast too, almost no-wait. could be 'cause it's the middle of the night but heck, i only come across it working this well so few times that it's worth mentioning. season's changed? the mosquitoes seem to think so. but apart from a 20-minute burst of rain a day or two (since last week? can't remember), it's still hot and humid. the mosquitoes are back. the ants are leaving or hiding. hope the season catches up 'cause this is just (whatever rhymes with dun-dun-ing).

Printed then signed a document for the bank. After sending it, it was returned with instructions - "print THEN sign". My fancy-shmancy pilot g-tec ink pen made my handwriting look digitally scanned, according to the bankers! I assume they thought it looked too clean to be original - shouldn't have been overly careful about signing it then or shouldn't have used the g-tec pen! I found it disproportionately funny. Re-did the form and this time, I used a regular ballpen. The banker's feedback was "pretty penmanship". Oh gosh.

it rained today and it came down hard that it sounded like hail but then again it could just be 'cause of the new gutters we installed last week

Copy-pasted over 100 items and decided to finish tomorrow. And then, will go over another file that's twice as long. Converting to CSV, mapping and importing was an option but discovered that duplicates wouldn't be detected by the program. Already saw a duplicate on the first file that I finished copy-pasting mano-mano so I couldn't risk it - wouldn't. Besides, I don't know lick about data-mapping, learning it would take SO long, I was not confident and I don't want to risk errors that would otherwise be prevented with mano-mano . It's too hot and humid. Complained about it already (a lot). Sticky keys.

Went bright and early to the nearby public school to vote, yesterday. The only way I was able to pull that (bright and early) off was without sleeping the night before. 'Twas the first automated elections in our country - history made! When we got home, this was breakfast. It was good.

It rained! It rained! Slight drop in temp was felt and it was welcomed! April did not end without any shower - while it wasn't what "April showers" would mean to describe... it was fine. All past tense 'cause a little over 10 minutes later, now, all there is is drizzle. Drizzle, drizzle.

◙ Enduring the hottest, muggiest summer in my lifetime -- so far. ◙ Had a picture ready to post last week, never got around to putting it up. Now I feel it's irrelevant. ◙ What a difference a tiny spiral energy-efficient daylight lightbulb makes! My once "lousy at illumination" lamp isn't so bad at illuminating anymore. ◙ Lamp backstory: Bulb burned out some weeks ago. Replaced it with a spiral daylight lightbulb. All was good (for about a minute) until the lamp switch acted up - it was already loose and was held together with tape for years. Took it to the shop. Shop said it would take a while 'cause they'd have to take the whole wiring out and put in a new one. Two weeks later (after holy week), shop said they couldn't find new wiring with a switch that's why it's taking so long. Asked them to cut the bad switch out and tape ends together - I don't care about the switch, the lamp's put on a high shelf and the only way I turn it on and off

pablo honey and the bends are here only 14 days with amazon [dot] com expedited international shipping - and that makes it 3 out of 3 oh giddy, giddy, giddy me :D it's going to be a long while 'til the next order amazon GC balance is now in the tens and under fingers crossed that good mturk hits turn up with none of those shite phishers and frauds

Four minutes and I'm going... enough time to put a picture up. Tonight's din-din, spaghetti and meatballs! Makes me wonder what my darlings will be having later - hope it will be as yummy. Oohh... takes only two minutes, haha! And I'm out!

My Grimms' Tales book has been relegated to being a monitor stand, to put the top of the screen to (my) eye level. Going into the ergonomics of this latest change (just did this today, by the way) -- so far, so good! I lean against the back of my chair and see what I'm doing without straining my neck. Feels more natural and comfy now -- very good.

I feel my belly expanding. Above was last night's meal. I cleaned off the plate too. I had the pork and chicken afritada again today. *sighs* I like leftover stews, they taste even better.

Summer's upon us. Sadly, we don't have spring. Thankfully, we don't have winter. Don't have a clue with how I'd feel about fall. Summer is upon us, ergo, it's hot and sticky. While baths are refreshing, it's even better when they're done with menthol-ized soap and shampoo. Had an unhealthy dinner - fried potato hash - and for dessert, hot milo choco drink and white crusty bread. I dip the bread in the milo . You (ok, I) have to soak the bread 'cause it tastes good that way. Disappointing Internet connection lately, wouldn't even dare to touch an mturk poll with a ten-foot pole in this state. Oh gosh, pun detected. I'll go now.

Yesterday's brunch was a mass of food. I do eat a lot as far as first meals go. But this time, having the side of hash browns (a patty?) was enough to not make me finish all my sinangag or fried rice. I overestimated how much my tummy could take. Nevertheless, everything else was properly dug into and cleaned off. Yum. Now, to the "trying-to-be-arty" per plate pictures... The left-over chicken adobo from the night before, pork 'n beans and eggs: And the hash brown (patty? I don't know what to call it) and plenty of ketchup:

I mentioned how delayed some things were, a couple of posts down. The bank-related one came through within a day so I was right not to worry about that. But with the parcel, it turned out that it was shipped a week later than I anticipated. The conclusion given the stamped postmark date on it, and yes, it is here now. So that particular delay was the sender's fault. At least I know how long to wait for another one, if there'll be a next time... dun, dun, dun. Since I'm on the subject, I've been standing by for something for three days. While I've followed it up already (will do so again tomorrow, if nothing comes up before then), I've decided not to fuss about it. I'd let it go for now. I'm just standing by, for now. This is, arguably, one of the unfavorable situations when working from home -- waiting for something like instruction or confirmation from the other side, fearful thoughts looming. Are you still there? :( There's nothing much you can do

Tapsilog from last Sunday. Nom, nom, nom. Had a hard time sending pictures from my phone to the computer until today. My service kept saying that it was sent but I wasn't receiving it, so I changed recipients and it worked with the new one. It got tired of the old one or, probably, it's the other way around. Fickle.

This will be trite (or will be close to something to it or something completely different... will see how this develops) - gosh - but here goes... being a creature of habit, something that's different or I want to comment on do not happen or come very often. So, posts are few and far in between. And for an attempt at a 'train of thought' entry, I am editing myself too much that makes this, not one - I mean, not a 'train of...', yeah. I remember chatting with a pal and I was erasing what I was typing so often that she said, "What are you trying to say?" Pretty funny, really. Surprising but funny. Embarrassing but funny. Noticed unusual delays this week. One is for a package that will go through the post office (yikes, I know) and another is bank-related. The former is worrying, and the latter is not something that's making me anxious, not yet, anyway. And if I hadn't made this post any less 'all over the place', I'll go ahead with this &

combed cables too much dessert music on finishing 'ripcord' off to bed momentarily happy friday ... if anyone's there

Kind of says, "Wait! Take a picture." Doesn't it? It was pretty on the plate before I dug in too, but this isn't so terrible-looking. 'Twas seafood pasta from Don Henrico's, take-out. A serving was A LOT, fam-style, I suppose. I only took a couple of fork-turn-fulls of spaghetti, it was more than enough. Very tasty pasta, nice and al dente, lots of seafood and dried spices. Garlic buttered bread wasn't toasted though. Very hard to eat when you're clutching a small heart-shaped pillow. Pillow free from the resto? I don't know. Didn't ask. Just saying that spaghetti cooked al dente cannot be eaten neatly with just a fork, it needs a spoon to twirl the pasta against (it). Just saying 'cause I had to wipe my table off afterwards. Should've let go of the pillow while I ate, then? Nope :)

Eyes puffy from fixing somebody's laptop for three hours. What's with Toshiba satellite and Microsoft updates that do not play well together? Anyway, got the sounds working fine again. Thankfully, the fix wasn't major or worrying to try, just took a long while to figure it out. I'm beginning to think that fixes which worked before do not work on the second, third - you get it - time. Getting acquainted with pablo honey . It's by radiohead. I'm liking it.

So far, it's been a lazy Saturday and it's at half past 9pm now. It's way too early to sleep. And as if my mood's been picked up (could be 'cause of my half-closed lids), I get sugar shock with my decaf. Yikes. Wrapped up this week's to-do's yesterday so I have free time now. Been thinking if I will take a chance with amazon's standard shipping (to the Philippines) with one of my wish-list things. I've only used the expedited option for all of two times lang naman kasi , with Closer and Friction, Baby . Hmmm... we'll see. Will just sing in my head, then. Seems like it's always understood this time of year...

It's not a full English breakfast but what we often have is pretty close. If you've seen what my brunches have been, as I've put more than a few photos here already, you'd agree. Arguably, a Pinoy longsilog or any other "silog" is one of my favorite foods. But I've been pretty careful about coining something as "my fave" because tastes do change. Case in point, peanut butter spreads used to be my favorite when I was younger. For some curious reason, they're not anymore. I don't hate it, I just don't look for it like before. OK, let me rephrase my previous statement... Arguably, a Pinoy longsilog or any other "silog" is yummy, hearty, savory grub - indeed!

As I'm almost always hungry (ravenous even! ok, that's an exaggeration) when I wake up, it may not be helpful that I've googled and bing-ed "full english breakfast" for the past 40 minutes. Yes, I want to have one. And maybe I will, one day. Shouldn't be too hard to make since it seems that all you do is fry the ingredients up. It's just that there's a lot of it - ingredients, I mean. I wonder what we'll have tomorrow...

Goodness, man, you're asking stupid questions - stop it! Tonight. ANC. Ricky Carandang phone interview (with - I didn't catch the lady's name). Increasing number of HIV and AIDS cases within young urbanites with disposable income, particularly, call center employees. Mister reporter, Ricky, started off the phone interview all right. Expected questions were asked, and the lady guest answered well. Then he asked the opinion of his guest if those who have HIV or AIDS "should" disclose this fact to their employers. OK, to be fair, he has to go there - once. His guest answered eloquently, that there are human rights issues, that there's a stigma of having STDs. OK. Then mister reporter shared that he recently saw Tom Hank's movie about being discriminated and that Tom was playing a lawyer with the disease. Yes, he was talking about "Philadelphia". All right, you watch movies, mister reporter. How timely it was that you saw this particular one before t

Sunday brunches are wonderful with mini-hotdogs, bacon and (an) egg. There is a corner here where shadows appear - a perfect spot for mosquitoes to congregate and wreak havok on legs (meaning, my legs) that have nowhere to land on as far as (my particular) work-space logistics allow. Woe. If I don't make sense, I am sorry, I am distracted by the itch on my limbs. I will buy "Off!" tomorrow.

Last year, in February, I wrote about Fliptunes Plus . As an update to that - the site is now nonexistent! Hurrah! About time too, and while I don't know exactly when it went under, for some reason a link to it is still on its local counterpart, Fliptunes [dot] net. It goes to a confused, what-are-you-talking-about? blog now. That is a turnoff (to say the least) and goes to show how unprofessional and suspicious their set-up is. I am never going there again - and neither should anyone! Poor form, flip-whatever!

Lovely weather now. It's cold - not too cold that I have to bundle up - it's nice. It's windy outside too. Mosquitoes in my room are not afraid. It used to be that when you wave a hand over one that's "dining" on you, it would fly away. Now, when I feel an itch on my leg and put a hand over it ever so calmly, I squash the bug. Gross. Here was my dinner yesterday, chicken congee or arroz caldo . Suitable dish during cold weather 'cause it's filling and the spiciness from the ginger hits the spot.

Here's yesterday's brunch. Bacon strips were delicious and portions were huge! And since bacon shrinks when fried, I can just imagine how big the rashers were. An earthquake at around 6pm yesterday left us dizzy. It wasn't strong enough for somebody here to recognize it as an actual quake (I knew it was one, though, right away) but it was enough to make us a little light-headed. But it was nothing compared to the devastating 7.0 earthquake in Haiti yesterday. Oh, God.

No more holiday get-togethers to look forward to (or dread). The first week of the new year was fun. Learning rockin' new (or old!) songs is eagerly anticipated. Hello 2010!