Men's Health Urbanathlon and Festival Race Result and Photo Vendo

I am a bit disappointed with my last race, for I almost finished last in the race. Nevertheless, it was still fulfilling for I was able to overcome all the obstacles along the way - even with just 5 minutes of sleep.

I finished 273rd among the 300 runners of 5K Male category.

On the lighter side, the Photo Vendo already released the pictures they had taken during the race. As always, they captured the plastic bag I am carrying loaded with bottles for our hydration, he he.

Do I look good?

Happy Birthday My Girl

Yesterday is my girl's birthday. She had her birthday leave and had spent all day at home, relaxing. To add some spice on her special day, I drop by their place for a dinner. I brought in a cake and a roasted chicken for us to share over the table. I can see from her eyes the happiness that I had instilled in her heart. And that moment already made me equally happy.

While she was busy preparing the table for dinner, I brought out the jersey of Kerby Raymundo, my birthday present. As she opened up the jersey, she almost jumped for joy. In fact, she immediately wore it over her 2009 Timex singlet. She was very very grateful, that up to now, she is giving Thanks! for what I have done on her birthday. As for me, seeing her truly happy is the greatest appreciation I could ever have.

I am glad that I painted a smile on her face before her special day ends.

I just so love her!

Extraordinary Songs at Aliw Theater and Urbanathlon at McKinley

My weekend had been a busy one. I had watched the Extraordinary Songs concert at Aliw Theater, CCP Complex, Pasay City and survived the obstacles of Men's Health Urbanathlon 2009 at McKinley Hill, Taguig City. Doing both entail me sacrificing one thing - sleeping. I have been awake for more than 24 hours. Nonetheless, the entertainment brought by Erik Santos, Sitti Navarro, and The Company; and the fulfillment after crossing the finish line after passing through 5 obstacles made THAT sacrifice worth it.

I am really not familiar of Sitti's face. I just know about her beautiful renditions of classic songs, and her Bossa Nova songs. But now, I would definitely recognize her doll-like face in the future.

My office buddies and Sitti

Erik Santos is really a winner. And I love the way he sang Michael Jackson songs with a twist. Also the Nobody by Wonder Girls; which he had sung in different versions - versions as he see how his co-artists would sing it in a melodramatic tone.

Sitti and Erik were surely indebted to the performance of The Company as their special guests. They had awaken the crowd with their songs sang in the dance hit tunes of the decade.

Erik and Sitti with The Company

Erik's friends also watched the concert, namely Christian Bautista, Piolo Pascual, and Mark Bautista - whom we happen to take pictures with.

with Christian Bautista

with Mark Bautista

After the concert and coveted photo op with the performers, we had a cup of coffee at Starbucks beside the Manila Bay.

-- End of Extraordinary Songs --

It was around 2:30AM, and we haven't sleep yet. But we have to wake up around 4 in the wee hours to be on time for our Urbanathlon run, where gun start will be at 5:50AM for the 10K runners. My hunch is that I had slept about 5 minutes the most. And then we're set to prepare for our run.

We were lucky to arrive at the venue on time, and as for me and my girl, to have the energy to start the race. But our camera don't have enough battery to stand as witness in this event *sigh*.

A Pose Before the Race

As my eyes wander around the venue, I spotted 3 of the 5 obstacles that we will encounter along the route - the hurdles, the low crawl, and the wall climb. Merely seeing those obstacles already made me think twice if we would be able to finish the race. But my girl is so positive that we can make it. We both wanted to finish the race immediately.

As the gun start, we aimed overtaking several runners. I counted them as the first obstacle, so there were a total of 6, LOL! The next was the 3 hurdles along the way. I am glad to know that I can jump over those. But I still need to assist my girl with it. She can't jump over them.

The next obstacle was the body weaver which I find a little hard getting up after my last weave. Probably I can't carry my own weight? After which, we have to climb 8 floors up, and of course go down, so a total of 16 floors for the vertical climb. Similar with my girl, my feet climb up the building on itself, ha ha.

On the second water station, I felt a little pain in my left belly, he he. So I asked my girl to walk for a while. Maybe I got too much water. Or because we haven't slept yet?

After the turn around, I have spotted several Photo Vendo photographers. And so, me and my girl decided to run alone for us to have a good shot, he he. Hope they were able to capture our running moments.

Second to the last obstacle was the low crawl which we had finished easily and abruptly. And now, the greatest challenge for my part was climbing the wall. I pointed my girl to climb on the girl's corner so that she can be assisted by several officials of the race. As for me, I really fear that I might fall down, that I might slip from the rope. Good that I managed to overcome the wall, and passed the finish line successfully.

Since we had consumed a considerable amount of time in the wall climb, there were no more free loot bag from St. Luke's left for us. And so we just proceeded with the free Kenny Roger's breakfast (a sandwich and an iced tea). Then, off to the free drinks (a bottle of Gatorade and Mineral Water). Along the way, we were given free Cecon Vitamin C. We also queued at the claiming of the Finisher's shirt - it was labeled Urbanathlete (something I am really proud of). We were about to claim a free hat from Frenzy, but they ran out of stock.

A pose with the Urbanathletes

-- End of Urbanathlon 2009 --

Surely, you won't regret depriving yourself of sleep with these activities.

Update Your Media Collection Via Queen Torrent

How do you update your media files (games, music, videos, and movies) collection? Do you simply ask a copy from your friends? Or do you download them yourselves? Or do you spend some $ for your files?

For the educated few who downloaded their files, they surely heard of torrents. It is a file sharing protocol that allows one to distribute large amounts of data. And surely, most of these download geeks has already downloaded empty or incomplete torrents.

So as not to waste your time in downloading such, I recommend a powerful search engine in the site of Queen Torrent that provided a simple interface in your downloading needs, e.g. music torrents. It is an up-to-date torrent files base that won’t keep you empty handed.

My Running Photos

In my most recent run, The 2009 Timex Run, the organizers had used advance technology - the RFID. In addition, they had photographers situated along the race route to capture candid pictures of runners, courtesy of Photo Vendo. And the result? Here's mine:







I can't help but laugh seeing all those stuff that I carry along the way, LOL!

How Do You Deal With That Annoying Notification?

Duplicates: Twins

I have a personal computer, a Dell laptop, and an iPod classic of 40GB. I also had several USB flash drives. With all these means of storing my files, I still experience the annoying notification of “low or insufficient disk space”. Well, my practice is to store the important files in all of these media, a sort of disaster recovery in my end. The not so important files that I rarely access got burnt using my DVD writer. But I make sure that I have written them in two DVDs, still, for safety purposes.

But, with all the files that I wanted to store, plus the programs that I had installed in my PC; I still got insufficient hard disk space. To resolve such, I am forced to delete old files that I found meaningless. And sometimes, when I do data synchronization in those media, I found duplicate files. But, it’s not easy hitting the Delete key on my keyboard; for I might mistakenly assume that a file is already a duplicate. In this regard, using a duplicate file finder could relieve me the burden of searching duplicate files as well as the burden of ‘worry’ that I might lose relevant files.

How about you? How do you deal with that annoying notification?

2012 at SM North EDSA, Cinema 7

Last night, I got the chance to watch 2012 in the Big Screen courtesy of my girl's brother.

Photo Credits: ScreenRush.co.uk

I've seen the poster of this movie months ago, even during the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince last July. So I guess this one's a much awaited movie. We watched it at SM North EDSA Cinema 7, free seating.

I don't wanna be a spoiler for those who haven't seen the movie yet. I just wanted to share my opinion. Production-wise, effects-wise, the movie is brilliantly made. But story-wise, I believe it has its flaws and glitches. The movie already ended but it kept me hanging or rather disappointed on the outcome.

Direct TV, What is It?

I’ve been hearing a lot about Direct TV Offers and am really becoming curious about it. Well, I think I should be. I’ve heard that this one’s more enjoyable than any cable TVs. Its tag line had been ‘More TV, Less Money’. So what has been the spark that is making everyone switch from Cable to Direct TV?

Well, getting to know the Direct TV Packages alone is already tempting. You got a lot of choices that will surely fit your need for entertainment. For a sports enthusiast like me, I believe the PREMIER Ultimate Entertainment Package is the best deal for me. This package includes over 265 channels which comprises 31 movie channels and exclusive SPORTS networks. On top of that, I would get free DVR or HD DVR receiver upgrade after instant rebate from $59.99 per month of payment. Well, that is my personal pick. You will surely land on your own based on your likes.

On the other hand, if you would just want to try it, just for the sake of feeling it, you may want to try Direct TV Deals. They got as low as $29.99 per month until 2011 that already includes 150+ all digital channels. It’s not bad a deal right?

Time is Running, The 2009 Timex Run

My running passion is really contributed by the Adidas King of the Road Running Expo 2009. To be more precise, it is because of the PhP495 singlet, he he. So, if you would ask why I am running, or why did I got the interest at running, you now know the answer -- It is because of the SINGLET, ha ha.

My Running Diary:

1. Adidas King of the Road 2009 - October 25, 2009
   
2. A Run for the Pasig River - November 8, 2009
   
3. Time is Running, The 2009 Timex Run - November 15, 2009

I should say that I am really enjoying running now, despite the odds of waking up early in the morning and commuting my way from the dusty road of Bocaue, Bulacan to the running venue. And I do prefer Bonifacio Global City rather than that of the Quirino Grandstand.

For my third run, I was still disappointed with the scarcity of the available buses from Bocaue Exit Tollgate. I would spend around 15-20 minutes before I could finally ride in a bus. Good thing, it is not that heavy a traffic at EDSA at 4AM as compared to the rush hour of 8AM. So, I still manage to get to the meeting place on time.

I am relieved that we arrived with an easy pace for we were not late. We're just in time for the 5K race. As always, I keep my pace equal with my girl, for I have been her official photographer in every running even that she has. But I don't care really. I am enjoying every event.

Running side by side with my girl, especially when crossing the pedestrian.

Along the course of the race, we happen to see the Kenyan leading the event, with the videomen following him. My girl waved at the camera, while I tried to follow the Kenyan if I can run as fast as he could. Well, obviously, I can't; he's just too fast for me.

We were able to cross the finish line at 39 minutes, 35 seconds. But our Race Result showed 41 minutes, 23 seconds; simply because my girl failed to start her Timex watch as we cross the Start line, he he.

Timex Run 5K Race Result

It was another fulfilling activity that I had with my girl. And the registration fee of PhP600 is fair enough for we've got lots of freebies.

I Finished 5KM

See you on our next run: The Men's Health Urbanathlon and Festival 2009 on November 22, 2009.

Victoria Station II, EDSA, Diliman, Quezon City

After visiting Flora Vista of Phinma Properties at Peacock St., Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City last Sunday; we also inquired from the real estate agents assigned at TriNoMa for the Victoria Station situated right beside the GMA-MRT Station, along EDSA. This is still in line with our search for a home to live nearby our workplace.

We have set the appointment with the agent, and had met with her last Tuesday for our site visit. We had toured and take a clear look at their nicely designed model units; which I think cost millions with the interior design alone. But those units were really inviting, making you think that a 20 square meter space is already enough for you. Unfortunately, I cannot share any picture here for it is PROHIBITED.



After seeing those beautiful units that I fell in love with, we proceed with the computation of the total unit price (TUP) and monthly payments. It was equally overwhelming. A 40sqm loft type unit costs as much as PhP2.4M in its pre-selling state. WOW! Well, they got a 12% discount from the TUP. But still, it will equal to a great price for the additional costs that includes a 3.5% or 6.5% of government fees for in-house or bank and PAG-IBIG payment schemes respectively. Not to mention the PhP20,000 miscellaneous fee. A reservation fee of PhP20,000 which is deductible to the TUP is required, and a downpayment of at least 10%. Roughly, you will be paying PhP8,000 for 36 months for the downpayment alone. Afterwards, it will vary from PhP12,000 to PhP28,000 for the monthly amortization depending on the payment scheme and terms of payment you choose.

With the jaw-dropping TUP, we headed on our way to the model turn over unit at the Victoria Station I, the one directly connected to the GMA-MRT Station. I have to say that I really don't like the idea of having a fit-to-finish unit. It was so bare, no flooring, no paintings, nothing at all. Moving in will costs you around PhP300,000 for you to live in there. I was sort of disappointed, I must say.

But somehow, the site at that very moment is a stress reliever. City lights from East Avenue and Quezon Avenue up to the Antipolo City is mesmerizing. Would love to see it over and over again. But my girl is afraid of watching it, she is afraid of the heights, he he. We're on the 17th floor at that time.

Nevertheless, I still believe that the investment is not that worth it, specially for us who really doesn't have that extra cash for such. I still prefer a house and lot. Can you recommend any within Quezon City? Preferably along EDSA or near?

A Run for the Pasig River

I have really been enthusiastic in running after my participation in the Adidas King of the Road 2009. And so, to date, A Run for the Pasig River is my second.

I woke up as early as 3PM just to be in time to the 6AM gun start of the 5K category. Our estimated time of arrival at Quirino Grandstand, Rizal Park, Manila was 5:30AM. But, with the construction of the extension of the MRT, it caused traffic that early, making us a bit late. Good thing, we're on the staring line before the gun start.

Upon arriving at the venue

I convinced my girl to run, instead of walk, so that we could beat our time last run. But, she still can't go on with my pace. She would have wanted me to leave her and just meet at the Finish line. But I opted to stay and run with her.

There were too many runners then, around 20,000 of us, I think. There were also numerous delegates from different sectors of the society. Helicopters passes over us taking videos of the runners. There were also vehicles that took videos of the runners. We wave our hands each time they pass by us.

There were around 2 water stations in the 5K stretch, but we don't stop since we already got Gatorade with us. Upon crossing the finish line, we headed on our way to the water giveaways and try to see if there were also free banana and bread for the finishers. But, unluckily, only water is provided. Well, there is also shower a few steps away from the finish line. But I dare not took the shower.

It was another fulfilled experience after we cross the finish line. I encourage my girl to improve next time. Hoping to beat our personal time on our next run.

F I N I S H

Flora Vista of Phinma Properties

Mondays through Fridays, I have been spending almost 4 hours with travel time alone. And it is really annoying that 99% of the time, I deal with heavy traffic along EDSA (Balintawak - Muñoz). I have been longing to find a house to live in near my workplace to save time, energy, and of course, money.

Me and my girl already inquired to a few even when she was still with Smart Communications at Ayala, Makati City. But none approved to my taste – and budget. Just recently, we also inquired from Francesca Towers near the GMA MRT Station. But I really find the price unreasonable (the PAG-IBIG housing loan).

Now, our eyes is set on Flora Vista situated at Peacock St., Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. We had inquired from their exhibit booth at Trinoma yesterday and requested for a Free Tripping at the Site.

Vicinity Map of Flora Vista

A unit, which is 30sqm in area, is worth PhP877,000 (5th floor). Of course, the lower the floor, the higher the price. They had in-house financing and PAG-IBIG loan (they will do the loan application for you). The required reservation fee (to be deducted from the total contact price) is PhP15,000. While the down payment (payable in 6 months) is PhP50,000 (still, for the 5th floor unit). The turn over of the unit will took place 1st quarter of next year (January-March 2010). And the monthly amortization of the PAG-IBIG loan will take place upon move-in.

I find the offer light on the pocket. With our interest, we'll be touring the place by Sunday.

Holiday Recall

Photo Credit: Marler Blog

Got your plans for the coming long weekend on November 27-30, 2009? If not yet, well, good for you. Palace recalls the holiday proclamation.

I am really looking forward to this holiday as I never wanted to take a leave from work as much as I can. But, there’s nothing we can do here now. Also, we need not to rejoice on succeeding holiday proclamations by the government. Before we knew it, they might have recalled the declaration months after.

Cheap Holiday Deals from ULookUBook.com

“Ber” months had always been associated with Holidays, Yuletide Season, Gift-Giving, and Vacation Spree. And now that we are already nearing December, what are your plans? Have you taken note of your wish list and gift lists? Be sure not to stress yourself with last-minute shopping. You could grab a poor quality present if you’ll do.

Have you booked your vacation escapade already? If not yet, you might want to take a look on cheap holiday deals at ULookUBook.com. They got cheap holidays, discount hotels, and last minute flights across thousands of holiday destinations all over the world. They could help you in your break either on hotel accommodation, flight booking, or both.

If you are considering Barcelona or Madrid, they got packages for Holidays to Spain. The site provides suggestions on when to visit Spain in order to enjoy cheap holiday packages. Generally, they advise off peak season visits, specifically, on May and on October where most of the Spanish festivities are held and resorts become less crowded respectively. Some of these are Spanish Labour Day and Fiesta de San Isidro. They also stated that drinks are cheaper during this period. So, it’ll be best to book half board accommodation to save as much from your travel expenses.


In your quest in Spain, try to have a Benidorm Holiday. It is the most popular resort on the Costa Blanca and in Spain per se.

The 2009 Men's Health Urbanathlon

We haven't ran yet The 2009 Timex Run, but then, we are already eyeing another one.


We were planning to join The 2009 Men's Health Urbanathlon. This time, a little twist of the usual running activity had been introduced. There would be obstacles along the stretch that we have to deal with. Participant's of the last year's Urbanathlon even mentioned that there will also be wall-climbing activity. So I guess this event is much enjoyable.

Will I see you there? For more details, click here.

Eyeglasses for the Holiday

Aside from being fond of cool gadgets, I also am doting of shoes and eyeglasses. I already lost count of how many pairs of eyeglasses I already bought. From the cheapest ones to those of Polaroid lenses. But, I don’t find it as an addiction, rather an appreciation of these fashionable eyeglasses.

An online shop of such, the Zenni Optical, offers a wide range of eyeglasses that is presented by category. I take a look at their New Arrival section and got overwhelmed of their collection. I found a frame that looks like a Transformer collectible.

Browsing over, they got wonderful collection of Holiday Fun Eyeglasses. They got colorful frames as well as simple yet elegant ones. Here’s my personal pick.



It is perfect for the coming Christmas. Labeled as “Dashing Through The Snow”, its frame is decorated by Santa and his sleigh. It costs $15.95.

Another one that’s great for this Yuletide season is this Cobalt blue-framed eyeglass.



It comes with a night scene of Santa and the reindeer across a starlit sky. This one also costs $15.95.

With Zenni Optical, they offer not only these fashionable eyeglasses. They also got the cheapest pair over the net. They got as low as $8 Prescription Zenni Glasses.