TheFranciscos.Net

If I thought that the interval between my last 2 blog entries was long, then this one was even worse. Exactly 2 weeks after my last one. A lot of things have certainly happened since then. I apologize for the lack of entries, especially during the 2 weeks that we’ve gone from being renters to owners. The reason for it all was the stupidity of our telephone company and my ignorance to their rates.

Here’s a recap of what’s happened:

– June 28, We finally bought our house. The closing procedures were actually less painful than I thought it would be. Some people say that it can drag on for hours, but ours was about 30 minutes at the most. There was a lot less paperwork than I thought there would be.

– June 29-July 4, The hellish nightmare of last-minute packing. I don’t know what we were thinking when we decided to start packing at the last minute. I guess we were just enamored with buying new appliances and other new things and forgot all along that we needed to move all our old stuff as well. We spent the July 4th holiday trying to figure which stuff goes in what box. We were eventually successful though.

– July 5, Our actual move-in date. I just have to say that there are few feelings that are as satisfying as sleeping in your very own house. Thanks to the guys at George Moving, our move was actually very painless and professional (unlike our packing).

– July 6-present, The agony of never-ending unpacking. The house is still a mess, but we’re slowly getting it all together. We have a bottle of champagne in our fridge that we’re going to open once this whole unpacking thing’s over and done with.

PS – This afternoon, we just bought our very first lawnmower! I must be so domesticated now to be excited over a garden tool, but I think the darn thing’s really cool.

Wow, it’s been almost a week since I last blogged! Blogging just isn’t the same if you’re using a dial-up connection. I really need to get broadband soon. Maybe when we move into our new place…

Anyway, things are all right here in Elf & Whale-land (all things considered). I’m still working on getting a new job, but there seems to be some sunlight starting to shine over the horizon (more news on that when there’s something more concrete). We’re closing on our new house in 2 days, so I’ve been a bit busy with that – calling utility companies (making sure we have at least water and electricity when we move in), and getting in touch with my realtor, lender, and the whole real estate gang to make sure that we’re all on the same track.

Aileen and I have also been busy with picking out the appliances for our new place. We finally settled on a Whirlpool refrigerator and a Kenmore washer and dryer. I’ve really gotta hand it to my wife – she really did her homework when it came to the appliances. She hit the websites, and read the consumer review books about stuff we were looking at. If it were up to me, the “coolness” factor would’ve been the first priority in picking these things out (yes, I admit it dear, you’re the practical one in the family). In the end, I think we came out with very good choices (and excellent deals as well).

I’ve been hampered for the past 2 days with a swollen tongue (don’t ask how I got it). It’s been very painful, but seems to be subsiding slowly. Because of this, I haven’t been able to speak properly (think Jodie Foster in Nell) so people talking with me over the phone have probably been thinking that this state of unemployment has made me dumb. It’s been great at discouraging telemarketers though What’s driving me even more crazy though is that I haven’t been able to eat properly – I’ve been living on a soup and soda diet for 2 days! I tried eating some tinola and rice for lunch today and it was like eating thumbtacks. I had to mash the stuff into the consistency of Gerber baby food so I can eat it with only some moderate pain. Thank God that Aileen prescribed some livocaine for this so I can numb my tongue for a couple of hours at a time. Otherwise, I might have gone insane from the pain (hey that rhymes). Anyway, all this has taught me not to eat food that is blazing, searing hot!

Zoe’s new word for the day – “stinky butt”. I’m pretty sure that we didn’t teach that one to her. It was hilarious when I heard her say it though. She also did a pretty good practical joke on me recently. While sleeping one night, Zoe apparently stuck a small circular sticker right on the tip of my nose. Aileen saw it and broke down laughing. I took it off though before she could take a picture of it.

That picture down there (2 posts below) is a scene from the Lobo movie where Lobo is seen talking to the easter bunny. In the movie, the easter bunny hires Lobo, who is an ultra-violent bounty hunter, to kill off Santa Claus because the bunny thinks that he’s losing his popularity to old big red. This movie’s adapted from a one-shot comic in the mid-90s titled “Lobo’s Paramilitary Christmas Special” (see below for pic).

what is this picture about? the furrier guy looks like he came from “Bone” comics (rat creature) while the other guy is either a wrestler or a Kiss bandmember. there are times when i’m not sure what you’re talking about, edu.

Movies to look forward to:

Tomb Raider 2! Unlike the 98% of the movie-going public that were horrified by it, I actually liked the first one. And huh-ho, what’s this? It looks like somebody’s found the cheat code to get Lara to remove her clothes. According to the report, Angelina Jolie’s gonna be showin’ more skin in the sequel.

Lobo The Movie. All I can say is it’s about bloody time, you bastich!

Daredevil. This is shaping up to be the must-see movie for me in 2003. I’m even more excited about this movie than The Hulk, the third installment of The Lord Of The Rings and the Matrix sequels. Judging from the pics, it looks like it’s heavily influenced by the Frank Miller run on the book, which is the only way it should be.

For the record, I think doing “Red Dragon” (the prequel to “Silence Of The Lambs”) is a huge mistake. First of all, the book by Thomas Harris had Hannibal Lecter in it for about 5 pages total. That translates to maybe about 2 minutes of screen time. However, judging from the teaser trailer, our favorite crazy cannibal will be one of the main characters in the movie. Call me picky, but I believe that film adaptations have an obligation to stick close to the storyline of the original source. Looks like this won’t be the case here.

Currently listening to: Never Mind The Mainstream: The Best of MTV’s 120 Minutes Vol.1. Lots of classic tracks here including the Stone Roses’ “Fools Gold”, “See A Little Light” By Bob Mould, “Mandinka” by the ever-lovable Sinead O’Connor and “Carolyn’s Fingers” by The Cocteau Twins.

Reading material: The latest issues of Stuff and Business 2.0 and “Thick Black Kiss” by Howard Chaykin

What I learned this past week:

– There are TONS of suckers in the world. Did you know that horse racing is a $15 billion a year business in the US alone?

– “Teabagging” sometimes does NOT refer to a type of drink.

– I am more in the mood to do work when I’m not currently working. I can’t believe I did some ASP programming today. I finally got around to finishing up the comic tpb database that I’ve been planning for a while. I’ll upload that list after I scour the net for more images.

– Inversely proportionate to what I learned above, I surf the net lesser than when I was at work. It’s just more fun to surf the net while you’re working 🙂

– I miss listening to the Howard Stern show. That was one good thing about doing that long daily commute every day. Sure, I can listen to the show on any radio, but somehow it’s more fun while you’re in the car.

The VH1 Classic channel is an insomniac’s best friend! I had another bout of sleeplessness last night and I decided to watch a little telly to make me sleepy. The videos they were showing though were so good that I ended up sleeping at around 5 or 6 AM this morning. Among the videos played – Blue Nile’s “Stay” (what a beautiful song), Midnight Oil’s “Beds Are Burning”, Red Rocker’s “China”, and Icicle Works’ “Birds Fly”. A new wave fan’s dream come true.

I’ve got an interview tomorrow with a company called Magna Entertainment. Apparently, they’re the largest horse racing entertainment company in North America. The interview is for a position that will take their off-track-betting system online so that the gamblers can spend their money from the comforts of their own home. I’m not really a gambling or a horse racing fan, so I don’t know if this would be a job that I’ll be enthusiastic for although I used to enjoy going to the jai-alai games during my college days. Maybe I’ll get the appeal of horse racing as well.

The consideration of job enjoyment is not going to matter anyway. I probably won’t have the luxury of having a choice of jobs to pick from so I think I’ll have to take the first thing that comes my way.

From a techie standpoint, the project sounds pretty challenging. I’m sure that during horse races, it can be a high-transaction system. Also, it’s real-time so the developer has to make sure that code runs as fast and robust as possible. Actually, as I write about it, I’m starting to think that this could possibly be an exciting job.

Walangya naman….. if this guy wins the elections in 2004, kiss the Philippines hopes of economic recovery goodbye. The sad thing is that he may actually win it.

Happy Father’s Day to my dad, who’s taught me that no sacrifice is too big for family. We miss you a lot, dad! We’re looking forward to seeing you in September.