The Lone Donut Motel

You know how people say you can do everything in a mall nowadays? Well, I never realized how true that statement is until this weekend.

Driving along the Kalentong stretch passing the Marketplace Mall, I was bombarded by several signs declaring the Lowest Rates for a 10-hour motel stay. Then when I actually processed what I was reading, it dawned on me that this motel was actually in the mall.

I took the pictures of the signs with my mobile phone so they’re not so great. Here's what they actually say:

10 hours Promo
Pay as low as 490 Php
5th level Marketplace Mall

Garage Parking open 24 hours (4th and 5th levels)

So the motel is in the 5th level of the mall. Guess where the movie theaters are? Well, they're in the 6th level. So, when you go on a date in this mall, it can go like this: see a movie, have dinner and... take a nap. Well, it's really your choice what you do in 10 hours. Cross-stitch? Complete a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle? Use your imagination - or not (you can be very literal too). After a good nap, cross stitch, or puzzle you may be in the mood for a little karaoke. Just a few meters away from the mall is Maligamgam KTV. For our foreign friends, 'maligamgam' means lukewarm. I wonder what message they are trying to convey. Not too hot and not too cold - the GROs wear pants and they're apathetic.

Somebody must have thought that people might think it's inappropriate to have a motel inside a mall. Check out this document I stumbled upon: Mandaluyong City Comprehensive Profile 2004. It has a portion actually giving consent for the motel to operate inside the mall:

5.07 Tourism

• Resolution interposing no objection to Asia Inns, Inc. for the operation of Sogo Hotel branch located at the Market Place, Gen. Kalentong St, this city

I bet they don't discuss it in city government meetings when a restaurant wants to put up shop in a mall :P

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I just noticed a couple of things about Manila Managed Services group:

1. Women out number Men 2 to 1. Interesting especially after reading this article. Amazing how similar and yet different two cultures can be.

2. Our people are either really shy about taking the last piece or they have a natural aversion to donuts. A lone donut has been sitting in our area for almost a week now.

Might be because of this: 48 Ways to Know You Are Filipino

40. You eat every last grain of rice in your bowl, but don't eat the last piece of food on the table.

It's not right to treat donuts this way. Isn't there a Donut Abuse hot line we can report this to? Homer would be horrified.

The Lone Donut Journal (Day 5): It's been five days since I was abandoned. I think I saw someone peeking through the gap of my box. He must not have seen me as I was in the far corner. Was someone really there or am I seeing things? I think I'm going crazy. No one wants me. I feel like there's a hole in the center of my being. I feel incomplete, like something is missing. A munchkin! I need a munchkin!

How Long Have We Had That?

Phrase of the Day: Monetary Morale Boosters

Hmmm. Tricky. I know the individual words but when you put them together like that, they kind of blur. My brain is apparently rejecting this concept. It cannot be true. It's so alien and unfamiliar. It's like seeing a unicorn. Somebody must have heard these words from a meeting of the NASA Chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous and just mashed them together. Those NASA guys do that you know. Remember that carbon dioxide filter in Apollo 13? Anyway, I digress.

You know what it feels like when you walk into a middle of a conversation and you just catch a word that makes you go 'huh?'. Then you try to ask them what they were talking about and they say 'nothing'. Well, that's kind of what it felt like when I first heard the phrase.

Phrase Definitions:
1. something that I do not get.
2. a currency fueled rocket for the depressed.

Drill Happy

Wow, it's been a week since my last entry. Longest lull so far in my first month of blogging :)

I've been dreaming of getting myself an IPod, HD DVD and TV, a PC upgrade, a new phone, and sound system for the car. But it just feels like a waste of hard earned money. Plus I don't really earn that much to begin with :P So, toys for the big boys are basically out. Sensibility sucks.

We've been doing some finishing work in the house for the past few weekends; putting up shelves, catches for the closets, and hanging things on the wall. So I had myself a good excuse to go get a power drill. I got an 'okay' from the missus as she must have figured if I was going to buy it, it would at least mean I would be doing some work in the house for the short time I was excited to use it :P Actually, she was pretty psyched about it as well. In fact, we gave it a test run at around 10pm at night. We probably woke the people next door, but hey, we both probably could not have slept peacefully without doing it.

So it was that I got myself my first power tool and started poking holes on our walls. I guess it's a different set of toys from now on, the kinds that cat either kill you or amputate a few limbs and appendages. Now, if I propose to build some cabinet drawers you think I can get myself a nail gun, sander, and power saw?

After several cancellations due to busy schedules and natural disasters, we were finally able to go on our well deserved team activity. We went bowling Monday night and I really had a good time playing, especially since our group won. I'm pretty sure the other team had fun losing too *snickers*. Of course, I'm only teasing. Well, mostly teasing :P

Afterwards we had dinner. Everybody got a free stuff toy with his or her order of drink. You had a choice of getting a giraffe or a dog. I suspect there must have been some hanky panky going on in that pile of stuff toys cause the dogs' necks are just as long as the giraffes'. Dogaffes or Giraffadogs hybrids. They would make interesting pets. For one thing, the dog wouldn't have to climb up your lap to lick your face.

Banana In My Mind

I was in a kind of stupor the whole day yesterday as I only got a few hours of sleep. A zombie; just lagging around and moaning every now and then. And like any good zombie, I had a one-track mind. Only it wasn't about eating brains. Solving a client's billing problem, that was all I had in mind. That is, until the 'lunch lady' came and I got myself a meal. She gave me a banana as part of the meal I bought. From then on I had a banana and billing in my mind. I don't know why the banana stuck but here are a few things that popped in my head:

- Put a banana in that billing engine.
- Have a banana!
- If MacGyver had a banana, he could fix this.
- Bananarama
- Banana zombies, instead of coming after your brain, it comes after your banana! Mwahahahaha!! *screams*

I don't actually like bananas. In fact, I wasn't able to eat the banana or my lunch. I took it home and gave it to the missus – “Sorry I'm late, I brought you a banana *smile* ". I usually brought chocolates for these occasions, but I already had the banana at hand, so I went with it. I guess you could say I was going bananas. My blog. My jokes. Deal with it.

Strange things you find on the internet. While writing this entry, I wondered what I would get if I googled "Banana Zombie". Didn't think I would get any relevant results, but I got the picture posted here. Apparently he's a Dancing Banana Zombie, what could get better than that? A Dancing Banana Split Zombie! And if you want to get all intellectual, I also got this result.

There are exactly 20 bananas in this blog entry. Yup, 20, don't forget the one trying to grab you.

Deliver Or Die Trying

A quickie. A lot of blog days have gone to waste and topics are piling up. Work just gets in the way of blogging :P I've been staying really late in the office past couple of days. Well, later than usual. The wife says I should stay here since I like it so much. Said lovingly, of course (she might be reading).

We received one of those pieces of work that fall under "the world will end if you don't finish it ASAP!" category. So, because misery loves company, I involved a few other people in it. To them, thank you and I'm sorry :P I wish I could say I won't do it again. We've sent the client a reply, hopefully we never hear from again about that particular issue. But that is wishful thinking at best! I dread reading my Inbox tomorrow morning.

Working Late

I gotta learn my lesson. Never utter the sentence "looks like it's going to be a slow week" in reference to work. It always comes back to bite you in the ass.

We were finally able to do a team activity. For a while there it seemed like fortuitous events were conspiring to stop us from having any kind of team activity. But we kinda snuck this activity in. Didn't really announce it to everyone, just went "let's go!" and we did. Went and had ice cream crepes at Crepes and Cream, what rebels we are!

So, one of the project groups has 5,000 hours worth of work to complete in one month. Wow. And I was complaining about 1,400 hours worth work to be completed in two and half months. Well, stock up on the coffee and red bull people, long nights ahead.

Acquisition this week:
The Tower - Valerio Massimo Manfredi

Well actually, I didn't buy it myself. It was a gift from the missus for our 2nd anniversary. That makes the gift almost a month overdue :P But I love it, she really thought about this one.

Better than sliced bread

Actual email excerpt ->
"You just need to bring-up a CC&B screen and type in the new file name. Easy as pie. Although I know how to use the idiom, I was never quite sure of its origin. I've seen my mom make pie and it's not easy at all. Now eating a pie, that's easy. Well, a slice of pie, cause eating a whole pie isn't easy. It also has to be good pie, terrible tasting pie is hard to consume and might not go down well. So, to be clear -> Easy as eating a really good slice of pie. *whew!*"

Came the reply ->
"You crack me up................ who would have thought that one simple pie saying could cause so much thought! What other crazy stuff do you think about? What about the saying "better than sliced bread?" have you heard that one?"

Answered back ->
"The question is probably rhetorical but I'll reply anyway, cause it's fun. Also, people watching see I'm writing an email and they think I'm working.

I'm familiar with the expression but I'm a baguette person myself. Good bread and you can use it as a weapon for self-defense in case somebody tries to mug you on the way home from the bakery. And if the mugger ends up in a hospital:

Doc: What's the injury?
EMT: Blunt force trauma.
Doctor: The cause?
EMT: A day old baguette.
Doc. Nurse, get me 20mg of pate, stat!

Sliced bread is great. Who wants to spend half their breakfast time slicing bread? So I say it's a valid expression :P
P.S. - I hate baguettes. Tough bread. I just thought a baguette was funnier than regular sliced bread :P"

Not very business-like exchange, but hey, I had fun. Put this down to improving client relations. Oh yeah -> Disclaimer: To protect the identity of paties involved, names, dates, and places might have been changed.

New look for the blog, more "sandish". Trying out Blogger Beta, more user friendly I think.

Easy as pie

I was writing an email to a client and I used the idiom "easy as pie". Although I know how to use it, I was never quite sure of its origin. I've seen my mom make pie and it's not easy at all. Now eating a pie, that's easy. Well, a slice of pie, cause eating a whole pie isn't easy too. It also has to be good pie, terrible tasting pie is hard to consume and might not go down well. So, to be clear, next time use -> Easy as eating a really good slice of pie.

But really, this link, makes this entry pure blabber :P