Christmas in Tagaytay

For the second time, we have decided to spend our Christmas in tagaytay. Me and my wife had our first Christmas two years ago at Taal Vista, and we literally had a grand time. Now, we wanted our baby Meekha to experience with us Christmas for the first time at Taal Vista also. Early November, we have already reserved a room for my family.

We arrived at Taal Vista at around 10am. We were hoping to get an early check-in, unfortunately all the Rooms at the hotel were fully booked so we had to wait until 2pm before our room gets available. So, before checking in, we went to Leslie's and ate my favorite Sisig and Kare-kare (The ultimate running diet!).

After the sumptuous lunch, we strolled along the area to look for a shorts that I could use, for hopefully later. The day before, because of running addiction, I've worn all the shorts that I've packed. At Tagaytay, there were lots of ukay-ukay, but I didn't feel like buying any shorts from an Ukay. I also cant stand not getting any allergies when getting inside ukay shops. I'm terribly allergic to dust and mites which causes me to get asthma attacks. Fortunately, a grocery shop at Olivarez plaza are selling shorts for 99 pesos only. I bought one and we headed back to the hotel. We arrived around 1:30pm. Unfortunately again, the room wasn't ready yet, so we decided to get some drinks at the hotel's cafe at the ridge. The hotel had invited some performers dancing different Filipino traditional dance. Meekha liked the dance. She was almost watching the whole show without whinning at her stroller while her yaya was watching her. Me and Meng, had a papaya shake. We went back at the lobby and to my dissapointment, the room wasn't ready. They gave us welcoming drinks but it was unfortunate we had to check-in at around 3pm already. I didn't want to argue with any hotel personnel and besides, they were already having a hard time accomodating so many guests. After checking in, I already strapped in my running attire and checked out the gym. As expected, I only tried the treadmill. I found running in the treadmill too boring though, so I only spent around 20minutes in the gym and headed back to our room.

For Christmas dinner me and my wife were trying to decide were to have our date. The hotel was offering a set dinner for 1000++ peso each, or if we would look for a cheaper but descent place to eat dinner. We decided to try dinner at the "Botique" inn. Besides, if you would compare the set dinner this year to last year, this year wasn't as plenty as what we have experienced last year. At dinner, we had a Kani Salad, Pork Belly and a Fish Fillet. The food was really really good. We went back to the hotel, very satisfied and full. Around 10pm before Noche Buena, since we were already sleepy, we decided to start opening the gifts and sharing a glass of sparkling white grape juice. I shared a little bit about what Christmas is all about. Talked about how significant Christmas is. I talked about it was not just a celebration of Jesus birth, but also a reminder of our salvation because of His death. It is Christmas were we are reminded of God's goodness to bring salvation to mankind because of His death from on the cross. We were no longer able to wait until 12pm so we slept already.

In the morning, we had a breakfast buffet, and packed our things and checked-out early so that we can reach the Quintos Christmas party.

Long Run From Guadalupe to Merville

Last Sunday, the day before we plan to go tagaytay, I decided to pay my parents at merville a visit. Luckily, it was sunday and it was my long run day. So what best to do my long run than to start running from Guadalupe to Merville.

530am and started doing my run starting with the usual warm up then headed inside fort bonifacio. The route was from gate 1 and then to mckinley toward gate 3. Then left to service road and right to Merville access road. Passing by the guard house, I greeted the guards Merry Christmas, and then headed to my parents house.

The long run wasn't really much of a long run since the distance was just around 10KM. But nevertheless it was fun, since it was a different route. I checked my watch and averaged a pace of 5:29 min/km.

I had breakfast, borrowed the car and drove to our place to pick up my wife and our baby so that meekha can visit her lolo and lola.

DND Race

I must say this was a very memorable race for me, primarily because it was my first relay race. It was also the first time we get to race as a team. There were actually two Fort Strider groups who joined. Kuya Art, Ate Merlyn and another guy who's a friend of kuya art were the first group. On the other hand, Me, Glenn and Tina were one group.

I was surprise to find out that there were also Happy Feet runners who would be joining this relay. Jaymie was also the second runner for their team. At last, I was able to meet Ben and Joms.

We were not really racing to win but simply to enjoy the race and to get to try for the first time a relay race. Glenn asked me if I wanted to join him and his girlfriend Tina, so I'm the extra guy who tagged along with them in this race. Glenn would be running first, followed by me, and then Tina. I call this arrangement the Positive splits. The fastest runner would run first, followed by a slower runner, and then the slowest runner. Glenn is really fast, even for an injured guy still manages to go in the top 20 of several races. Me on the other hand, I just wanted to get my first Personal Record for the 7K. Tina on the other hand is not really much of a runner. Perhaps Glenn only dragged her since we needed a girl to form up our team. But at least I know Tina is capable of completing a race. (Hey, not everyone can complete a race, even just a 7K race).

When the gun sounded the first team started running. As usuall, I was now pretty nervous. I don't know if it was a good thing, but just by standing up, my heart rate began elevating to 105 bpm... hehehe.... As predicted Glenn would come around 7 or 8th place. After Glenn arrive it was my turn to run. I started with a very fast pace of 3:30 but after 100 meter i slowed down to 4:40 pace. I know I can maintain a 4:40 for 7K since I have done a 4:35 in a 5K practice run. Around perhaps 500 meters I saw Joms, the tall happy feet runner on his way back. After going out of the camp I saw Kuya Art just on his way going back. I thought to myself, "wow, we are really far in front of the lead". It was even more bliss as I was able to overtake 3 runners before heading to the turning point. On the way to the turning point, the road became really really steep. I also noticed my pace go down to 4:50, I thought to myself, I'd just maintain 4:50 and push more speed after the turning point. When I was running back, I saw of a couple of runners. I also saw Jaymie from happy feet and waved at her. I pushed my speed at a faster pace to compensate the time lost while running uphill. I was hoping to overtake the runner 100 meter ahead of me. Unfortunately, I had no more time to do so until I reached the finish line to pass the straw to Tina. I completed 7K in 31 minutes while glen did it 27 minutes. So combining our speed we have completed 14KM in 58 minutes. I thought that we were kinda ahead already. We were even ahead against the really fast Global City Runners. They even thought we would be winning the Civilian category. I was just hoping Tina would still do good enough to maintain our starting edge. We saw Ate Merlyn reaching the finish line first. We asked ate Merlyn where she last saw Tina, and she said she was able to over take her at the water station after the turning point. She also said that it was unfortunate Tina had some side stitches and couldn't run well. After a couple more minutes, we saw Tina approaching the finish line and we congratulated her. Tina completed the 7K by around 52 minutes. We didn't win any medal, but it was not bad to complete a half marathon for 1 hour and 50 minutes.

Ate Merlyn, Kuya Art and their friend got 4th place in their age category as expected. And Happy Feet runners Joms, Jaymie and Ben won 3rd place for the age 39 and below.

We had a good race, and we enjoyed it alot. I'd definitely be there on the next DND relay.

Every Nation Sambang Gabi

I'm pretty excited for tomorrow morning's sambang gabi that will be held at our church around 4:30 am at The Fort Every Nation building beside Market Market. Its a time were we are reminded of the real purpose of Christmas. It is also a time were we begin to fellowship with our Lord Jesus.

Sometimes we are caught up with Christmas, that we tend to forget why we celebrate it at all. Christmas isn't just all about Santa Clause, nor is it about gifts and parties. It is a celebration of the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ. What makes Christmas so special to us is that it is a celebration of our Victory against sin. It is the time where God has started fullfiling His promise of Salvation. For it is said in the Bible, it is by Grace that you have been saved, and indeed our salvation in Christ is worth celebrating.

After the Sambang gabi would be a time of fellowship and free flowing bibinkas. Anyone is invited. Come join us. Oh, and after the sambang gabi, ill be doing my usual morning runs.

My Morning Tempo Run

I woke up quite late already this morning around 630am and I wasn't in the mood in running at this time. I looked at my watch and decided that I'll just try running a few laps around the makati park area. I took my usual running clothes, adidas cap, and my can't run without Suunto watch and heart rate monitor. But as soon as I was about to leave the house, my 7 month daughter Meekha began crying. So I went back into the room took Meekha in my arms and cuddled her. As usuall, my cute irresistable daughter always makes my mornings a blessing. At this point I was already contemplating of not doing my morning run and play with her the whole morning instead. That wasn't a bad idea I thought. After minutes of playing with her, I gave her to her yaya, kissed her a couple of times and again I decided to continue my morning run. I thought it wouldn't take that long if I'd just do a 5km tempo run.

As I was about to walk to makati park, I thought that in order not consume much time by walking there, I decided to start the stopwatch do my run and do the laps that will complete 5km for my tempo run. I made my pace to approximately 4:35 seconds. I looked at my heart rate monitor and I was averaging 88% of my maximu heart rate, which is enough for almost a threshold level. I ended the run with still enough amo, but satisfied enough for the short workout. I clocked 23:00.8 minutes. I was so happy with the time, cause it was my best tempo training run. I was 8 milliseconds close to clocking in the 22 minutes section. I was thinking of trying a 5KM race soon. Normally, I use 90% to 95% effort during races, so I hope I could get a good time on my next race.

This tempo run also made me realized how much I had improved compared to 3 months ago. 3 months ago, doing all my effort, and almost vomiting doing so, I only clocked around 26 minutes. 26 minutes and I had absolutely no more amo left. But today, a 23 minute tempo run was now just a normal day in the park.

Trail Running Shoes on Concrete

Monday morning and the wheather isn't cooperating. But I just bought a Merrell Overdrive Gore-tex XCS trail running shoe yesterday and I really wanted to test it. It sounds foolish, but I really wanted to test the trail running shoes even on concrete roads at the fort area. Then it hit me. I could test the Gore-Tex capability of the shoes which will guarantee to keep my feet dry even from rain showers while still being breathable.

I decided to hit the road anyway. My plan was to do a complete loop at the fort which is approximately 8KM and head back home. There were some muddy areas along the side of the streets, and out of sheer curiosity on how trail running really feels, I decided to try running at that area. It didn't take that long though that I had to shift back to concrete roads cause there weren't enough dirt roads in the fort. As trickles of rain were pouring, I wondered how fast I could go with a trail running shoe on a wet concrete road. So I decided to run faster to a below 6:00 pace. As my feet kept on pounding the road I really felt that the shoe was quite heavy. A trail running shoe is definitely heavier than my New Balance 902, and not to mention that its super stiff. Sheesh!! what was I thinking! Why was I comparing my other running shoe with this trail shoe. Its designed to run on trails that is why is stiffer and heavier. The Gore-tex did work such that not a single drop of rain penetrated the shoe. It was also breathable as expected. Its not as comfortable though as my other running shoes most especially when I was climbing the 40 degree bridges.

So as I finished the loop I slowly jogged another kilometer going home. As I reached home, I looked at my Suunto T3 watch and it exactly told me that I ran 9KM with an average pace for the whole 9KM of 5:22/km. For me, it wasn't really that bad. It could be better, but for a trail running shoe, I wasn't dissapointed at all. I could use it for future trail runs, and other outdoor activities such as hiking.

Btw, if anyone knows of a place where I can do trail runs, let me know.

Recovery walk in the park training

It has been 2 days since I had zero running, and I anticipated this day so that I could run again after recovering from my weekend 21K long run. As I arrived at the Net3 bldg of the fort I wanted to do my normal 5min/km tempo run. But to my dissapointment, my legs are still very heavy. Thats what I get for breaking the 10% rule. Now, the problem was my pace could go only as fast as 5:30min/km and I hated the idea so I stopped after a 1KM run. Good thing, after the short 5:30 run, joy (guy) friend was about to do his 8KM run. I volunteered to come along. He was pacing only for 6:30min/km pace and it was just an 8KM. Tagged along with us were 2 fort striders. As we were running, it was so easy my heart rate is taking only 60% of my effort. I wanted to move faster but I guess this was a good recovery session run while I'm still injured. Besides, I can't force myself if I still want to continue the 16K long run this sunday. As a consolation, I tried speeding up below 6min/km on uphills, and the last uphill hitting a 5:10min/km pace. After the run I know I could still do more, but its a bit late already and I have to go home to dress up for work.

As I was assesing the run, the 21KM training really helped in my endurance. I went home telling my wife I made an 8K walk in the park.

22K Long Run????!!!

I was in awe as I saw the training schedule on hand... It was a 22K long run! I know for serious marathoners, this is no sweat, but for me, I haven't been able to run farther than 10K in my training sessions. And the 10% rule says you should only increase a maximum of 10% in distance per week. But if I do a 22K then this will totally break the 10% rule, and ill be doing a more than 100% increase in distance.

What kept me motivated in doing this long run though is the fact that the pace will be a little bit slower than my usual 10K pace. I've done a 4:50min per kilometer in my previous race, and they have planned to slow down the pace to 6:00min per kilometer. But again, a lot of runners are saying that there is a huge difference between running a 10K and running a half marathon.

In preparation for the long run, I asked my wife to allow me to buy the nike hyrdation pack which costs around P1300. I told her its very important for long runs. I also bought a sachet of Power Gel which I will definitely needing for fuel.

Now comes the moment of truth. I woke up 4:30 packed my amo, and head off to fort to meet up with the other runners. Unfortunately as I was walking toward the meeting place, they were already running. Glen called my name and said to join the pack. He said we are just doing a slow pace. The problem was, I was wearing a jacket, and was carrying a heavy water bottle filled with water. To my disappointment I had to start 1km ahead of them, so I thought that wouldn't be fair. Anyway as I was running along with them, before the 2K mark, I felt really uncomfortable so I stopped and let them leave me. I opened up the power Gel, swallowed everything, tied the jacket into my waist, and burst into running at 10K race pace in order to reach them. I was able to catch up with them at the bridge. So for the first loop I was only able to do 6Km while they were able to do 8KM. There were also some who gave up the first loop and no longer tried doing the next loop. On the second loop though, the pace began to speed up to 5:40min/km, and this wasn't intentional. It was kuya Melvin and Glen who was leading the pack, and they were the fastest from the group. But I knew my watch couldn't lie, it was 5:40. After the 2Km mark I saw my watch telling we are moving at a 5:20min/km pace, and I knew this is now crazy!!! And the worse part is, we are moving faster on uphill. I heard now from the platoon crying out "TAMA NA!!!". But the pack kept on going playing with seconds in the 5 minute scale. On the 13K mark, many gave up. Here I am still holding on to finishing the run. I was telling myself, how long can you hold on? Then we were able to reach the 16th kilometer mark. This time around almost everyone gave up and there were only 5 of us left namely me, Glen, Kuya Melvin, Kuya Art, and a fast member who I don't know the name. I was telling myself, I can do this.... On the 20th kilometer mark there were only 4 of us left now. It was me, Glen, Kuya Melvin and Kuya Art. Now I'm along the pack of the fastest fort striders... talk about being proud. But I was about to give up when we reached the 40 degree bridge that consumed most of my energy. I saw my pace slow down to 7min/km. I told them, "no more", but they insisted that I can do it. So I decided, alright, lets finish the run! We slowed down at a 7min/km pace as we run up the really steeeeeep bridge. But after reach the top I was fully recovered I felt the pain in my knees while pounding on the ground. I normally feel the pain when running at a slower pace, so now I insisted to run faster back to a 6min/km pace. They agreed and told me that Ill be the one to pace. They also told me not to try running at a 5min/km pace because they can no longer hold that kind of pace as well. So I speed up a bit at around 6min/km pace until we reached the end. Kuya Melvin congratulated me for doing my half marathon. Since I started 1KM ahead it was really more of 21KM while it was a 22KM for them.

I was assesing my knee today, and I noticed that the 21KM run did not gave me a bad injury as much as my 10K race pace runs. So I thought, this is a cool way to end a week to have a really really long run once a week for training. I'll be running for the Yakult 10miler (16KM) this sunday and if my knee heals just in time ill try pacing for 5:30min/km for that race.

Animo Run!

The Animo Run was my 3rd race and and I was really excited about it. Not just because La Salle is my Alma Matter, but also since my brothers and parents would be running with me. All my family will race for the 5K event while me on the other hand will be racing for the 10k event.

All 10k and 5k runners will race at the same time, and the same route. The only difference is that the 10k runners will run the route twice. That sounded strange since that rule doesn't happen that often.

I stayed in front together with my really fast friend Glen (7th placer in this race even if injured) . When the gun sounded, everyone rushed running. Almost everyone was sprinting, except for me. I decided to stick with my goal race pace of 4:50min/km from start to finish. So even if everyone was rushing like bulls at the starting line, I still managed to keep my composure and run the race wisely. Besides, many of those who sprinted at the starting line are 5K racers, and I need to reserve those dear energy for the next half of the race. My strategy in the 3K mark paved as I see some runners began walking and many of which who was able to overtake me slowed down. Slowly, I creep overtaking the other runners. I began to see a fast happy feet runner. He's really tall and fast! As I was looking at my watch regarding my pace, I notice we had the same pace, so I decided to try speeding up a bit to overtake him. At the 2k mark I tried speeding up and I managed to overtake him (but this wasn't the last time I saw Him).

I then manage to see a really young girl (maybe 5 years old) racing with her dad. She really had a very fast pace, perhaps a 5:00 min/km pace. Eventually I was able to overtake them. Then at the 4k mark I saw the woman who won the age category in the recent New Balance race, and was able to overtake her. At the 7K mark, I was able to overtake my mom, who walked the 5k race event.

At the 8K mark I to noticed a fort strider who was also fast, and decided to follow him, or if possible overtake him until the finish line. Then at the 8K mark I was able to overtake him for a bit, but he began to speed up his pace. So he overtook me, and right after that, the tall happy feet runner began overtaking me as well. I decided to just keep with my pace since ill be making a good time anyway. So I lost seconds from the Allan the Fort Strider, and the tall Happy Feet runner, but I got my target time of 48:22. 46 minutes will be my next target time on the next race.

Got 24th place in New Balance Power Race

Got the New Balance race results and I was suprise to find out that out of the 473 runners I got the 24th place. I never knew I'd be beating my personal record, not also because I was experiencing some pain in my lower back before the race started. This was just my second 10K race and since I lack experience, I never thought I could even place in the top 50. Before the race began I just asked God to give me a good personal record time. And God gave me a really good time to finish 10K in 50minutes and even gave me the 24th place ranking. So I give back the honor to Him and for answering one of my faith goal this year: I asked God to give me good health and sports to like this year. And he did.
Now, I'm also letting my wife experience running. Everytime I run in the morning, she'd always ask how far I ran, and I tell her, I just did a 10k. And she just smiles "ah okay". A no reaction when hearing her husband doing a 10k morning jog. But after bringing her to this Power Race she now knows how far 10k is... hehe.
Anyway just want to share this. Ill be running for the Animo Run this Nov 25 so if anyone is interested to join me, just pm me.

New Balance Power Race

This was my second experience of running a real race. First was the GK Run for Love, and now this. I could say that this race was bigger than Run for Love since Run for Love didn't have any prizes at all, and the really fast runners such as De Asis ran in this event. Before the race began, I was contemplating of just finishing the race in perhaps 59 minutes so as for me not to feel bad. I had a really bad injury in my lower back, and i leterally have some imbalance in my stride because of this injury.

If I run too slow, people will notice my limping stride, and ill definitely feel the pain in each stride, so I had to move faster to make it a little bit unoticeable.

However my friend Glen, one of the really (I mean really) fast runners I know was also injured, but his really into breaking his previous PR of 43minutes in the 10k event?? So this made me motivated.

Anway, again, since it was just my second race, I stood at the back beside my wife. I also hoped that my wife will enjoy the race since it would be her first. The gunshot signalled the start and the race was on! I slowly creeped and overtaked the runners in front of me. After 2KM, I began to see the 25K runners who started 15 minutes earlier. Boy, I felt great overtaking them. However I should'nt be too proud since I'm just running 10K and they were running for 25K!

I found a strategy I could utilize, for uphill ill just run slow pace, and for downhill run a really really fast pace. After the 10K turn around point, I now saw some runners who got passed me on the first 5K, but I was able to slowly overtake them. On the last 2K, I found two runners far away from me, but I thought I can overtake them. I began increasing my pace a bit, and soon I they were inches from me. I overtook both of them. I came to the finish line but I wasn't able to read the clock. But my watch says 48minutes. I forgot to press the watch though at the starting line for a minute or so, so I'm estimating my time was 50minutes. I'm happy with that time since i was able to beat my previous PR from run for love which is 55minutes.

I'll be training for the Animo Run, and aiming to complete it in 48minutes.

Yesterday's Adventure

I was kinda excited yesterday to join the Mizuno run club after work. It was also the time where I wanted my wife to get to meet different runners from Happy Feet and Fort Striders. One of the things I wanted my wife to do is to run and finish races with me. Unfortunately I had to finish some things at work and I hadn't have enough time to go home, change to my running costume, and join the running clinic.

So what was suppose to be an exercise for me became a mall-walk when my wife wanted to meet me at market market instead so that she can reactivate her Globe account and still get the rebate.

I was relieved after finsihing some office tasks, removed my leather shoes and strapped in my rubber shoes. I decided to pass by Mizuno just to say hi to some runners I know. Was able to say hi to Jaymie from happy feet, introduced me to a guy named Geo (i think thats his name but not sure), Art and William from the fort striders.

Anyway, as I met up with my wife, what was suppose to be a Globe reactivation became much more. Payed 1450 for the total reactivation fees and just in an instant decided to buy the LG KU250 3G phone-kit for approximately 6K for my wife. She has been dreaming for a 3G phone like mine and so I decided to let her have what she wanted. It was a nice phone full of features, and its 3G!!! Unforunately I still can't figure out how to connect the phone to the internet. I'll probably play around with it later at Seattles Best bonifacio highstreet.

Oh... and I just remembered, today is the last day of the urbanathlon registration. Would probably pass by Fitness First to register before going to seattle's best.

New Balance Running Hope

We had a great time at Rockwell last sunday at the New Balance run for a cause event called Running Hope, where the proceeds goes to Carewell. I met new friends as well as old friends during the running event.

I got to meet Diego (Red Singlet), an old colleague at La Salle Computer Science, who apparently also does running as a hobby.

I also got to meet other professional runners from the Fort Strider's club. They are a group of running enthusiasts who just smiles at 5K and really tackles the longer marathon distances of 42KM. They train almost everyday at distances 10K and more.

Pico De Loro

We climbed Pico de Loro last friday and it was a great experience. From the peak, you get to view the horizon in 360 degrees angle. It was also a good workout. It was literally a strenghening exercise to build up your leg muscles.

After the climb, I had a day of rest, and I guess climbing the mountain increased my fitness level since I was able to jog 12K yesterday without feeling too tired.

5k and 10k morning jog

Last week has been my break. It didn't rain almost the entire week so I had the chance to run. I had two major jog last week: One 5K and one 10K.

Was able to complete 5K in 26mins 53secs. Thats good for me, cause its already a major improvement to my previous record. At last, I was able to complete a 10K jog for 1hours 5mins and 55 secs.

Really love this physical activity, and I'm aiming to increase my performance in the upcoming weeks by incorporating a series of speed work, intervals and tempo runs. My goal hopefully is to be able to complete 5K in 20mins or less. Its a long shot, but I'm determined to do it.

My 6K Rain Jog

Yesterday was really a bad day, but I knew I should'nt miss training to build my endurance. Because of the heavy rain, I already had a 2 days rest, which is good, since I made a 9K jog prior to resting. However, 2 days is long enough for my next training, so I went out at Makati park, even if the floor was so slippery and made 10 laps to according to my suunto footpod has a distance of 6.08K. Completed the distance for approximately 37mins. Was not so impressive since the floor was slippery so I had to slow down a bit. But nevertheless, I had a good work out. My next target is to do a complete 10K jog with probably a 1K tempo run, and hopefully reach my first target in less than an hour. But of course, that all depends on the wheather.

Got my Suunto T3

At last, I've purchased the Suunto T3 watch, for a bargain price of 10K, and its really an amazing tool for running enthusiast such as me. I got mine, the one with the yellow strap from Time Depot. I'm not sure if there are other dealers who sells this watch here in the Philippines.

The downside of this watch is its made up of mostly plastic, and it looks like an ordinary watch. It doesn't look expensive.

But it sure has plenty of features you won't see in other normal Heart Rate Monitors. The watch is capable of detecting your heart rate, calories burned, and a unique feature in suunto which is Training Effect. It has a capability to store up to 15 training sessions, which is good if you want to keep track of your progress. You can also connect it to your laptop using the Suunto pc pod, and you can analyze your progress at a much better way using the Suunto downloadable software. You can also mount the watch in a foot pod, to meausre distance and speed.

This watch is really a running motivator, and keeps you moving and push beyond your limit.

The 3G K618i

I've got a new phone and its the K618i. The primary reasons why I bought the phone are as follows (ordered from Highest priority to lowest where 1 is the highest priority):

1.) Its 3G
2.) Its a relatively cheaper 3G phone
3.) Its design looks like the Sony Ericson Walkman Phone
4.) It can play mp3/AAC/AAC+
5.) It has a 2MP camera (There are other phones with better camera, but its the least of my priority)

Top at my list is its 3G capability. The reason being, as a techy traveller, I like to bring my laptop a lot of times so that I can program and surf anywhere I choose may it be at the beach or at any coffee shop or restaurant. The phone can be used as a modem to my laptop so that I can surf the internet anywhere at 384KBPS with an internet cafe rate of just 10pesos/30mins. And this really works well for me.

Its also relatively cheaper with other 3G phones that caused 15K plus at malls. Well, I was able to buy a brand new cheaper k618i with 256MB M2 memory at e-bay for only 9,400pesos. Don't buy at malls, since k618i there has a rocketing price of 12500pesos. Of course, make sure that seller in ebay has tons of positive feedback, and zero negative feedback.

I also like the design cause it looks like a sleak Sony Ericson Walkman Phone. I bought the white one, and it really looks great. It looks better than other new released Sony Ericson handsets.

It can also play Music, and the sound quality is quite good.

Last but not the least, is it has a 2MP camera. It works fine with me taking pictures of my current activities. Its an average phone camera. Its not as good as the K800i, but its the least of my priority. I only need to take pictures for blogging, and I don't need dazzling photos for exibit.

The Easy Walk to Become Fit

You've all heard of these new exercise inventions shown in TV shopping. And they all have the same marketing slogan: That you don't have to work hard to stay fit. I don't believe in any of their products. Besides, my mom had bought plenty of their products, and they all ended up at our garage.

But I do know of one form of exercise that is in my opinion easy, and effective. A couple of years ago, I had plenty of time for exercise. That's because I used to teach in college, and I practically own my time. But ever since I moved to a software developing company, my time to have my weekly exercise routine became slim. And this was the start of me gaining more weight than ever.

I knew I needed to do something about it. And this is the easiest and effective exercise I'm doing until today, and I lost so many pounds. The amazing exercise is walking.

Yes, that's right, it just walking. You can convert time spent in bed to time spent in walking and enjoying your surroundings.

I started by walking to work, back home, and walking at the mall. If you tend to spend more time watching TV, then just limit it and go ahead and stroll along the neighborhood. A friend of mine once asked, how am I able to walk the whole 6KM going home from work. I simply said, its just an hour and a half walk. Your practically doing it twice during weekends when you go to the mall. If you spend 4 hours window shopping, imagine how many kilometer you have walked. I also suggest, to get a backpack, stuffed some things you might need like water and an extra shirt. Additional weight will add up to the calories burned.

To give a more concrete benefit of walking. Say if you are just 150lbs walking at the mall for 2 hours and you are just strolling with a speed of 2.5mph, then you would have already spent 516 calories. If your weight is higher than 150lbs then you would have spent more than 516 calories. But of course, you don't normally just spend 2 hours walking in malls, most of the time you spend around 4 hours, or even the whole day strolling around.

Finishing the Deadline

Oh here we go... the deadline for our program enhancements is just along the corner. Techniacally 3 days from now and I'm hoping that there will be less or no changes from the functional review.

I'm sure a lot of you can relate when it comes to meeting the deadline. Oh well, as much as I trust myself, who knows what can come up.

This experience just reminded me about life itself. You don't know what will happen next. I'm sure you heard about the saying life is like a roller coaster. Well, it is, you will experience a lot of twist and turns. A scary experience, but nevertheless you know your safe. You know amidst of all those scary turns, you will still come out alive. Yeah, I know life is crazy, but I know I'm safe. I know God is there to protect me. I may not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future, and thats God.