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.