Oolong the pancake bunny

Here's one the cutest things I've seen recently: a bunny rabbit who has been trained to balance objects on its head. It's name is Oolong and he belonged to a Japanese photographer.
I came across Oolong's website when I was searching for information and photos of this curious food stuff being sold at a cart near the UPLB gate. I only knew that it was something Japanese thus it took some time before I finally figured out that the little pancake thingies were similar to what are known as obanyaki. (I also eventually recalled that something similar was being sold in the Jollybean stands in Singapore.) As there wasn't much information nor photos about obanyaki, this led me to read about similar Japanese food stuff like dorayaki. So it was in the brief Wikipedia entry about dorayaki that I first read about Oolong the bunny rabbit. And as usual, I got curious about this Internet Phenomenon like so many other web surfers before me and had to find out more about the cute bunny. Apparently Oolong became very famous because of one of his images became the basis of a popular image macro with the annotation

I finally found Oolong's photo journal website where so many photos of Oolong's cute "head performances" were posted by his owner almost daily. It was sad though to read that Oolong had passed away way back in January 2003. But from what people have said in their blogs about the passing of Oolong, the bunny rabbit it seems was well loved by many in the Internet community. And so to add to the many tributes to the beloved bunny here's my humble contribution: a wallpaper I made.
P.S.
By coincidence, Oolong was the subject of one of the recent Facts of the Day over at Mental Floss.

Harry Potter Book 7 covers unveiled

Wow! Have just read that the book covers for the seventh Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, have been released. And boy, are they intriguing. The locket on the cover of the UK adult version (love the sleek black cover, by the way) is definitely the Slytherin heirloom that Dumbledore tells Harry about in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It must reflect the fact the last book will be about Harry's search for the rest of Volde- --oops! sorry--You Know Who's horcruxes. Nothing new revealed there though. But Harry along with Hermione and Ron among what looks like treasure (and is that Dobby on Harry's back holding a sword/dagger?) as depicted on the UK children's version will surely evoke a lot of debate. As for the cover of the US edition, that sure looks like a coliseum or ampitheatre where Harry and Voldemort are having a duel of sorts, perhaps with the Death Eaters looking on? Even more fodder for heated discussions no doubt.

I expect a slew of slew of essays/editorials discussing the meaning of what is depicted on those covers as well as to speculate anew what will happen in long-awaited book seven to appear on MuggleNet during the next few months leading up to the book's release.

I can only hope that it won't be as depressing as Book 6 which left me dazed and stunned for several days in July 2005. (At least I was not as unfortunate as a friend of mine who made the mistake of reading it during the Christmas break. Of course, it completely dampened his holiday mood.) I do know though that I'll be crying when I read Book 7, not because of what's happening in the book, but more from the realization that it will be the last Harry Potter book.

Doughnuts for ten pesos Part II

I've found that I was quite mistaken about ten-peso-per-donut promo of Mister Donut being only for one day. This noon, I went to eat lunch again at KFC and was delighted to see two large trays of sugar-raised and honey-dipped donuts on display again at the Mister Donut counter. And they were still going for ten pesos each! So I thought I'd buy a few to take home for Mama and Papa but only after I had run a few quick errands. (I'd hate to carry them around under the hot summer noon sun, you see.) I was shocked though when I got back a quarter of an hour later to see only two sugar-raised doughnuts left. Gee, I didn't think they'd go that fast. And no wonder there weren't any at the end of the day last week. Anyway, I just bought the last two. But at least I know there would be some available again at least for the next few days. I'll just have to be there early before they run out!

Early summer heat

Today was the first time this year that it has been unusually muggy. Can you imagine that it was at least 32C in our dining room this afternoon? Ouch. Summer seems to have come early this year and I definitely don't like it. I'm already beginning a cold due to the oppressive heat and at this time of the year when things are so hectic at the office, I simply can't afford to get sick. I've had a fan trained on myself nearly all day but it isn't giving much relief. Worse, I am still feeling sticky all over despite taking a shower (the second one I took today) earlier this evening. I might have to turn on the air-conditioning in my room tonight if it gets more unbearable. It's still 30C here in my room, by the way. It used to be a more comfortable 27C in the evenings before. Ah well ... at least I live here away from the city. Can't imagine what the temps must be in Manila!

My own monogram/logo

I've been trying to come up with my own monogram or logo for some years now. It has been quite complicated since I normally use the initials of all four of my names and couldn't quite put all four together in a satisfactory monogram. Most monograms I see after all incorporate just two or three letters. But I finally came up with an idea the other day and couldn't wait to actually put it down on paper so to speak. So I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning today (actually I fell asleep early and somehow woke up at 2am) working with Adobe Photoshop to make it. I initially came up with the first one shown below and later another one with the colors inverted which I believe looks better, don't you?
I decided to make one for my sister as well since all I had to do was switch the first two letters and modify the "C" to look more like an "E".
I'm hoping to turn these into stamps (or perhaps stickers?) that my sister and I can use to mark our books, etc.

Doughnuts for ten pesos

Dunkin Donuts and Mister Donuts seem to have stepped up the competition these past week by offering their doughnuts for a lower price.

Mister Donuts recently began selling their doughnuts for nine pesos apiece if you buy a dozen. Then yesterday, I noticed that they were offering the sugar-raised and the honey-dipped varieties for just ten pesos. So I bought one sugar-raised one to eat as dessert for my noon meal. I thought I'd come back to buy more to bring home for Mama and Papa. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a one-day promo and they were back to selling just their fancy doughnuts which are too rich for Mama and Papa.

I also spied an ad in the newspaper announcing that Dunkin Donuts was selling all their doughnut varieties for just ten pesos each as well. I managed to buy half a dozen (three chocolate glazed with nuts and three chocolate honey-dipped) to bring home today. I hope to be able to buy more next time.

[Hmm. I've just noticed that the Blogger editor doesn't recognize the word "doughnut" but recognizes the more informal spelling of "donut". Now, isn't that weird?]

New Themes for Personalized Google Page

I had just signed into Google to view my personalized home page when I noticed a link on the upper right hand corner next to the "Add Stuff" link: a link to select a theme! This can only mean that Google has just introduced themes for personalized Google pages! Woohoo! So I checked it out and found that currently there are six themes (aside from the Classic theme): Beach, Bus Stop, City Scape, Sweet Dreams, Tea House and Seasonal Scape. There are indications that the themes (except for the Classic one) will change throughout the day according to the current time or weather which is why one has to provide city/state or zip code. The only trouble is that the setting appears to accepts US locations and zip codes only. I hope they'll start including international time zones soon as the themes do look great. In the meantime, I'm trying out the Tea Room theme which seems to be the most interesting one (i.e. cute).

KFC menu changes

I often walk from my office to buy something at KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) for my lunch. Ever since KFC took over the Burger King spot here in town, they have been luring most people away from McDonald's right across the street. And I think I understand why. Not only do most of their meals come with rice (most people here can't get along without that), but they constantly update their menu to keep the people coming back to try the new items.

When they first arrived in town more than two years ago, they had just introduced their rice bowls, the chicken salad and go-go sandwiches. Then they had their chicken tempura meal, followed by a barbeque (on the stick) chicken meal and most recently orange chicken. The taco variety of the go-go sandwich (salad veggies with chicken on pita bread) was my favourite and whenever I had the appetite, I would order the chicken tempura meal with an add-on of coleslaw. Yum-yum. (By comparison, the only new item that McDonald's has introduced in the past year was practically their McRice burgers.)

Sadly, they slowly began taking away some items as well. Around the beginning of the year, I learned that they would stop serving the go-go taco. Then they took away their rice bowls (a la king, szechuan and mongolian varieties) and then--alas for me!--the tempura chicken. I've just also noticed that they're no longer serving the barbeque chicken. In place of the this and the tempura chicken, they apparently introduce their crispy strips served with either gravy, sweet and sour sauce or teriyaki sauce. I haven't tried it because when it first appeared on their display, I was told that it was going to be served with their gravy which I really find disgusting. Now that a big ad mentions the other options, I'm tempted to try it out.

Stormy day at the eagle cam

Like I said, I was viewing the eagle cam. And gee, is it really stormy out there. The poor thing. The wind's blowing really hard, the rain's coming down in sheets. And I can just see the branch with the nest rocking back and forth in the howling wind with the eagle crouched down low in the nest.

Windows XP stability

Ha ha. I've just had an experience with my laptop proving once again the stability of Windows XP.

I was viewing the eaglecam just earlier when that dialogue box about so-and-so-application-caused-an-error-and-has-to-quit popped up. This time it was Windows Explorer that caused the error. Yikes! As expected, my taskbar disappeared soon after I clicked on the button on dialogue box not to report the error. If this were Windows 98 or Windows ME, I'd be stuck with my running applications and no taskbar to manage them or let me shut down leaving me with no choice but to turn off the laptop by pressing on the power button. But lo and behold! After a several seconds of suspense during which my wallpaper disappeared as well, the taskbar was restored slowly with Quick Launch...then all the buttons to applications I was running when the crash occurred ... and then my wallpaper!

Even Linux OS running on my PC at work isn't this stable. I believe that crashed about once a month ever since I installed it two years ago. Sigh! Although I'd recommend going open source, at least it's good to see Windows stepping up to the competition. Now only if they could get rid of those viruses and improve on the interface. (Have been drooling over Apple's interfaces!)

More birthday greetings and celebrations

I received another series of small birthday greetings today. First there was the text message from my good friend Tina all the way from Singapore in the morning. Then this noon I treated the folks at the office to sotanghon and puto. Our director even bought me a cake with a "singing candle", one which played a tune after you blow out the flame. Hee-hee. It was cute.

Birthday treat

I was treated by Mama and Papa to lunch at Joe's, a small local restaurant specializing in Italian pasta dishes. This was their birthday treat for me but since Mama was going on a trip to CLSU on my birthday (tomorrow 14 March), she decided to have the celebration early.

Now about that pasta restaurant. I had already eaten their pasta before when Mama would order some to go after eating lunch there a few times. We've also planned a few times to eat there but always found the place closed (because it was Sunday--we didn't know then it was closed on Sundays--or else closed for the holiday break). So this was really a good chance for me to finally see the place.

Anyways, I was supposed to be picked up from the office around 11:30am but I received text from Mama well before that asking that we postpone lunch until she finishes watching Rafael Nadal play his tennis match against Verdasco. (It was being aired live over Star Sports on cable tv.) As soon as Nadal won the match 6-4 6-4, I received text again from Mama saying that they were on their way to pick me up already. It was around 12:20pm.

By the time we arrived at Joe's, it was well past 12:30pm and there was quite a "crowd" there already. I'm saying "crowd" because the place was really tiny--perhaps only five to six tables were set up in the place--and all but two tables were occupied. A true case of three is a crowd. He-he. As soon as we placed our orders at the front counter (I ordered a spaghetti alla amitriciana while Mama and Papa ordered their usual pollo pasta thingy), we took a table in the back room to await our order. As the place was "crowded", we expected to be served after a long time. In fact, it took probably half and hour before we were served our drinks, and still another half hour before we finally got our pasta dishes. The pasta I ordered had pancetta in pomodori sauce. Yum-yum. It was definitely a trillion times better than Filipino spaghetti with its sweet sauce, bright red coloring and topped with hotdogs (ugh!) served by local restaurants/cafeteria as well as by--heaven help us!--McDonald's, KFC and Jollibee here in the Philippines. The freshly squeezed lemonade juice was good as well. I haven't had fresh juice for a long long time.

We were done eating just before 2pm, by which time was I supposed to get back to work. So I got dropped off at PhySci before Mama and Papa went on their way home.

Watercolor "paintings"

One of my recent obsessions was creating watercolor "paintings" using Adobe Photoshop. It started with a photo I took of a kalachuchi flower that turned out to be out of focus. (Sigh!) In order to salvage the photo, I thought of turning it into a painting and was pretty much pleased with the results.
After that I thought I'd do the same thing with some photos my sister and I took. Here just a couple of my favorites: a) a pathway at the National University of Singapore andb) a gallery in the Vatican Museum.For the photo of the Vatican Museum, I had to apply a ripple filter so that edges wouldn't be perfectly straight.

Eagle cam

I'm a sucker for animals and wildlife.

I've just read recently about a webcam trained on an eagle's nest somewhere along the coast in Maine showing a bald eagle protecting its newly laid egg from blustery winds and frigid temperatures. I decided to check it out myself and got to view the live video a few hours earlier. It was already dark (past midnight US Eastern Standard Time) and although I could barely make out the nest and pine branches and leaves nearby, I could hear the strong winds whistling by, buffeting the camera and rocking the branch on which the nest was built. Awww. Doesn't your heart just go out to any poor mother trying so hard to raise and protect its young? It was also fascinating to read about how the eagle would get up periodically and rotate the egg to prevent the embryo from sticking to one side of the egg. Talk about dedication.

Label cloud for blogs

I found this cool widget for Blogger. It's a label cloud that displays labels/tags in different sizes depending on the tags' frequency. It looks so much better than a linear list of tags and helps save space in the blog/webpage. It seems that Flickr first began using a label cloud for tags of photos and that made the widget popular. Now Yahoo! has included one for its Yahoo! Photos. I was able to install one into each of my Federer Express blog and my Woggie-logue blog. I plan to install one in this blog but only when I have more posts.

Missing Bryan

This is the first full day I've spent without our beloved dog, Bryan. It was quite sad especially when I discovered and realized how much of a presence Bryan was here at home, mainly because Bryan stayed here inside the house with us and shared our space.

This morning when we all left for church, there was no Bryan to put into the guest terrace and to instruct to go "up the chair" (to sit on his blue cheh) to await our arrival. Then on coming back, there was no Bryan to greet us with his eager wagga-wagga running backwards and nearly running into chairs and table legs. (Nor will he be around to greet me in the kitchen or out in the driveway when I get back from work tomorrow.)

And throughout the day, I simply missed hearing the usual noises that he would make: scratching himself, scratching his cushionee or ruggie, snoring loudly while sleeping, his "mmmmph" at doorways demanding to be let in, the clicking of his nails on the floor as he trotted around the house ...

Then later this afternoon, I automatically checked the clock to see if it was time to prepare his dinner. But there was no dog to come barking before 5pm (always on time!) to demand that his dinner be prepared or that we keep constant watch over his food whether it was being heated up in the microwave or cooling off near the electric fan. Now I miss preparing his dinner, spooning it into his special bowl, bringing it outside telling him to sit down, setting the bowl down on a pail (to serve as a table) then telling him "Okie!" to give him the signal to start eating, rewarding him with a pat on the head. No woggie to instruct to "mamam water" before coming back inside the house to help wash away all that rice sticking to his mouth.

During dinnertime (our dinner time), there was no dog lying down under the table on mama's "quarter" or against the glass cabinet. No dog accompanying us to the kitchen afterwards to scratch on and sequester one of the kitchen rugs, particularly the one placed in front of the fridge. Nor was there a dog going to lie down in the rear terrace, his chin over the ledge, watching us have dinner/lunchie.

And now tonight there's no dog poking his head through my doorway (barging in perhaps) to demand attention or playtime (with the tuks, bola-bola or boney-boney) or some other special request (like a cushionee twansfah soivice or that the aircon be turned on during the hot summer months) or simply to be let outside for him to do his "jobs". Nor was there a dog to wipe his nose along the side of my bed's mattress or to "crash land" his nose on my knee or bed's mattress or to knock over one of my bags or mess up with the cables of my laptop in order to annoy me and in the process get my attention (usually for a wubby). There was no dog sleeping near my cabinet, switching from "stage 0 ("thinking")" to "stage 1 (lying on his tummy)" to "stage 2 (lying on his side)" to "stage 3 (lying on his side and snoring away, paws, mouth and ears twitching while dreaming)". Nor was there a dog awaking from his sleep and stretching on his back, paws waving in the air and the sides of his mouth flopping over for a weird upside-down view of his jaw.

And I especially miss giving him a wubby, a pat-pat and a hug, smelling that woggie smell about him, not minding the smell even if he hadn't had a bath for weeks.

I miss Bryan.

BBC clips on YouTube

Now, here's something interesting for those who like to watch clips on YouTube (like me):

The BBC has struck a content deal with YouTube, the web's most popular video sharing website, owned by Google. Three YouTube channels - one for news and two for entertainment - will showcase short clips of BBC content. The BBC hopes that the deal will help it reach YouTube's monthly audience of more than 70 million users and drive extra traffic to its own website.

With content like that available on the web, people will surely be lured away from watching the news on tv to spending more time at their laptops or PCs watching the news online instead at their own schedule.

Our dog Bryan

Bryan's cushionee where I put it last night for him to lie down.

This has become one of the saddest days in my life.

Our pet dog Bryan died this morning around 9:50am while we were trying to get him to a vet. Mama woke up to find him having a hard time breathing and immediately woke Popsy and me. We noticed that his gums were very pale and his limbs already growing cold. We put him in the van to rush him to a vet but since the vet med hospital here in campus is closed on weekends, we had some difficulty getting help for the poor woggie.

Bryan is now buried near the croton plant below the mastah bedroom window. He was 9 years, 3 months and 12 days old and a wonderfully affectionate dog and faithful companion.



Rest in peace, Bryan. We'll miss you.