Mar 20
ErinGarbage
[NOTE: A blog entry that started February and posted in March. Very un-procrastinator of me :P]
It all started with the desire to minimize the amount of waste we put out so I commandeered a broken laundry tub from our neighbor’s backyard and started a mini-compost pit. All of our food waste went directly to the tub which I covered with some sandy soil that I collected around the village. Decomposing is fun in its own way especially when I can find some worms that I can place in the tub to naturally hasten the decomposition process.
Then one day the chili seeds we threw in the tub started growing that I became so ecstatic. You see I always thought that I have the black thumb: the ability to kill any plant that had the misfortune to touch. When some tomato seeds started growing then that was the time I began transplanting the seedlings to pots and empty biscuit cans.
And here is the first fruits of my labor:
 |
| My first fruit harvest |
 |
 |
| Tomato Plant |
Not much but they seem to be the best tasting tomatoes that I have had. The plant gave out around 5 more fruits but they were stunted because the plant itself started to die for some reason. I think it also have something to do with the excessive heat and strong winds that nearly killed and blew down most of my shrubs.
Oh yeah, I also have the following
– 4 Oregano pots courtesy of a single shrub given by my mother-in-law.
– 6 Tarragon pots that I split from a single pot bought from Tagaytay. I still have no idea though where I can use tarragon but these seem to be the ones heavily affected by the gusty afternoon winds.
 |
| Sorry tarragon offshoots |
– 2 Mint pots that came from the single pot I bought from Tagaytay. We usually pick some leaves to put in a pitcher of Coke. When I become frisky enough, I’ll mix some mojitos.
– 1 pot of Basil that I don’t think are looking tasty enough.
– 1 pot of a Chinese parsley that had no chance of growing properly. The reason is we frequently prepare tokwa’t baboy to which we garnish with parsley. 🙂
And lots and lots of chili pepper plants. Some were already being planted on the thin front garden soil. To date I have taken two chili pepper pods from them. 🙂
 |
| The Chili Pepper Army. |
More pictures can be viewed in the Picasa Gallery.
ciao!
Feb 23
ErinGarbage
- Why did the holiday only cover the schools? Shouldn’t it be an all or nothing deal?
- If the holiday declaration is to avoid having more non-working days this year, why not hold it on the actual date of the original bloodless revolution?
- Why can’t the roads be like what it was today everyday, a joy to drive through?
- Why can’t MMDA do something about the traffic that the Kalayaan fly-over construction is causing?
- Why does our system punish the drivers who obey the law and reward those who bend it to the breaking point?
- Why didn’t I win the 6/49 lotto?
- Why do I feel I am beginning to suck at everything that I do?
ciao!
Feb 22
ErinGarbage
I have decided last week to keep both my twitter and tumblr accounts. This blog now has the widgets that gets the feeds of both micro-blogging sites. To enable me to blog from areas that prevents me from accessing them *cough*office*cough, I have signed up with twittermail and ping.fm which allows me to post via email and instant messengers. The instant messenger portion was previously handled by imified.com but their bot is no longer reliable thus a need for replacement.
To keep things simple, this blog will contain the full flege ramblings. The twits will be limited to short updates and “heat of the moment” rants while tumblr will retain my initial purpose for it: a host for shorter blog posts that may or may nob be converted to a full post.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? 🙂
ciao!
Feb 15
ErinGarbage
I can’t believe that it has been three months since I posted something here. Time flies when you are really busy and when you are pissed off (not in that order :P). Hopefully I will be able to finish up some items I want to blog about and stop being a slacker. 🙂
ciao!
Oct 23
ErinGarbage, Humor
A common computer prank is to take a screenshot of an unattended Windows desktop, configure the desktop to hide all shortcuts and the taskbar (for more kicks, move it in the left or right side) and then set the screenshot as the wallpaper. The pranksters then wait on the wing for the unsuspecting user to keep on clicking the applications in the screenshot and scratch their head why nothing is happening.
There is another behavior that makes this prank effective: tunnel vision. If using a big screen then people would have a tendency to zoom in on the middle portion and not pay much attention on the edges unless really needed. This and my work on “environment support” ensures that I make an ass of myself once a week. I normally take desktop screenshots when working with different applications. I usually position the different application windows in such a way that all the information are in a little portion of the screen. I then past the screenshot in mspaint, select the portion I need and send it to the other support team.
And then I move on to the next task and sometimes I forget closing the mspaint. Sometimes the mspaint window ends up getting the focus and then I start clicking on the the app window buttons or menus and wonder why nothing is happening. It is only after a few seconds that I notice the palette on the left side, or the title bar at the top. That is the time I press alt+f4 with a vengeance for using part of my 5-minutes of daily foolishness at that moment. 🙂
Just letting out some steam and sharing as this is the second time that it happened to me this week.
ciao!
Oct 16
ErinGarbage
I hate driving and find it as a chore that needs to be done. What makes me hate it even more is the amount of reckless and daredevil motorcycle drivers that are on the road today. These motorcycles give their riders enough mobility to wheeze in and out of traffic but it does not give them to right to start cutting off four-wheeled vehicles just because they think they can squeeze through. They are the ones who should be doing more of the defensive driving but they are the ones who are always on the offensive. I had my engine stalled twice because the traffic in C5 while going uphill on the bridge was already worse and a batch of these damn cycle drivers keep on squeezing through between my bumper and the edge of the bus on the lane on my left. To make matters worse, my right is also infested with motorcycles and bikers who think giving enough space across the vehicle is a sign of weakness. I have a word invented for these drivers: BORATE which is a hybrid from words meaning dick-heads and worms.
Taking lives is never a good thing but I wouldn’t really mind if some of these daredevils gets some jumpstart in getting to hell faster than the rest of us.
grrrrrr!
ciao!
Sep 17
ErinGarbage
With the additional amount we have added to our savings from my Denmark assignment we are finally able to pay off the remainder of our mortgage to the Home Mutual Development Fund (aka PAGIBIG) earlier this year. Upon hand-off of the land title we were told to proceed to the city/municipal hall encompassing our home to have the deed updated.
I have a one and a half hour commute (one-way) so to deal with the local Binangonan government means I have to take a day off. I decided to put it off until September wherein I planned to get a lot of things going. Yesterday morning was the slot I allocated with going to the Binangonan municipal hall but little did I know that the two hour stint I planned would stretch to an almost full-day dealing with an inefficient and bureaucratic process. I was complaining on how the office process is becoming like a government institutions in terms of process red tape but it is refreshing to get a taste of the real thing every once in a while. I don’t believe in stereotyping but what I saw was nothing but very fit for theatrical offerings.
I will summarize the whole process for those who are going to undergo a similar task of having a newly acquired land title. Note that this is only for canceling the hold of the previous title holder as the land title is already named to us. I would assume that the process will be longer if you will have the title transferred to your name. HDMF underwent that process after we fully paid our mortgage and it took no less than two months. The steps might vary for each municipality/city but the general flow would be the same.
How to Cancel and Update the Land Title Registry
- Before going to the city/municipal hall, make sure you have the following:
- Valid id with picture with at least two clear photocopies
- A working pen
- Land title
- Notice of deed release. HDMF provided this for us but make sure you have this as the title alone is not enough.
- Enough money[1] to pay for land tax, various processing fees, and enough for lunch and snacks.
- Some reading materials, portable music player[2], or portable gaming console to help you pass the time.
- Go to the government office early. The earliest you can finish your business, the better off you will be.
- Go straight to the Assessor’s office and request for two copies of the land tax declaration.
- Go to the cashier and pay the fees for the tax declarations. I paid Php50 for each copy.
- Go back to the assessor’s office and give back the receipt. I was asked to wait while they were preparing the tax declaration. I was asked to pay Php20 per document for the documentary stamp. Why they didn’t include this in the amount I paid in the cashier is still boggling me.[3]
- Go to the land tax windows and have your tax liabilities printed and settled. For a 50 sq. meter lot, I paid around Php800.
- Go to the registry of deed and ask for a form to have the deed registration’s previous owner cancelled and updated to your name. Fill up the form and submit it together with the deed and notice of release. Wait while your deed is being verified.
- Upon verification, you will be instructed to proceed to the cashier with your papers and pay for the processing fee. Don’t bother asking how much since only the cashier will answer you. I paid about Php700 for the processing fee.
- Wait. And Wait some more. This is where the device you brought for passing time will be very handy.
- Once you get a receipt, have the title, stamped notice of release, and receipt photocopied. Submit the photocopies and the originals to the clerk for further processing.
- Your papers will be handed back to you sans the photocopies and you need to submit this to one of the receiving areas near the releasing.
- Wait for your updated deed at the releasing area. Again, you will have to wait for quite a while.
Sounds simple. What killed my time was that I didn’t know the process and the people I talked to in the Land Tax area weren’t too versed in the whole process. They sent me to the “other” building where the Deeds Registry is located which turned out to be three building away and outside the hall compound. Upon going to the Deeds Registry I was asked if I have already paid the land tax and said they are the last stop so I had to troop back to the Land Tax and Assessor’s office. I was also hit by the lunch break just as soon as I was waiting for my papers to be released. One thing I can say with the Deeds Registry people is that they are religious in observing their time schedules. 🙂
ciao!
[1] DONT go with only large-denomination bills or else you are asking your stay to be prolonged if they don’t have enough change for your large bills.
[2] If you are going to bring a music player, make sure that you can free up an ear since you need to be alert if your name is being called. If the person processing your paper is in a bad mood, they would be happy to put your papers at the bottom of the processing stack for “wasting” their time.
[3] The fees posted for the document was pegged at Php50.00 so your guess on where the payments for these highly-overpriced stamps are going is as good as mine.
ciao!
Aug 23
ErinGarbage
Today I have a perfect example of small things that I take for granted: walking on uneven spaces. 🙁
Last Friday I suddenly felt an excruciating pain in my lower back. It was severe enough that I couldn’t walk for five minutes and was hobbling for the next two hours. The doctor in the company clinic prescribed some pain killers and suggested that an X-ray be done on my spinal column to rule out any severe causes such as slipped discs and another medical term that I can’t remember. Good thing that the company’s HMO will cover it.
Since this was already in the afternoon, I finished the pending paperwork requirements and then took a cab to the SM Megamall where the X-ray will be done. I was done with the procedure by 6:15PM but the technician said that the results will only be available the following day. I asked the reception if there is a possibility of getting somebody to read the results over the phone since I live quite far but they say they are not allowed to do that even if I give my written consent then and there.
As I am feeling better today with only a severely sore back, I opted to just go tomorrow since we also have engagements in the Quezon city area. Even if it is a medically related errand, I don’t think it is worth it to spend at least 3 hours for something that may just be normal back sprain.
The wife, with her typical optimistic attitude, is now preparing for either my funeral or the prospect of me being wheel-chair bound. Nice attitude, eh?
Back to the subject, I am still feeling a pain when doing small things that we do automatically. Bending to pickup a dropped object, going too fast from one level to another (even if there jsut an inch of difference), getting out of bed, and what have you. The good thing is that I can still drive but have to rely more on the side and rear-end mirrors since I cannot twist my body fast enough.
[update 2008.08.26] The orthopedic doctor said that there is a curvature in my spine but it is too slight to be considered as scoliosis. I am to undergo one week of (expensive) medication and three preventive PT sessions. Sounds good to me, I’ll take it. 🙂
ciao!
Aug 11
ErinGarbage
Chris Haravata posted this item in his blog which details a seemingly perfectly fine relationship between father and son that has endured trials but was shattered when the son “loves this woman, he is willing to get married in this woman’s church”.
Which one will you side on? Is it with the father who in his self-righteous narrow-mindedness thinks everything in this world fits perfectly in a black-or-white category. Or are you with the son who has the romanticist love that will forsake all just to please his bride?
I am with neither as both of them aren’t what I would call believers. The father is a lost cause fanatic that has anchored everything in what his religion espouses. He will probably spew out bible verses or quote some pastoral superstar when encroached in debates. Deep inside he is just as good as the “non-believers” that he condemns since he is a hypocritical and rabid hyena in sheep’s clothing.
The son is a spineless coward who thinks converting from one belief to another is like changing clothes (or jobs). Religion is all about beliefs: you either believe or you do not. If you are neither then welcome as you are an agnostic like me but grow some cojones and stand up for what you believe in. Love cannot make you a believe nor does love should force you to change. If it does either then that is called brainwashing. Ever heard of “love conquers all”? It doesn’t say “be conquered by love”. The same goes for the woman, she accepted the son when he wasn’t of the same faith. Why should he convert if she really wanted to be with him? Crafty manipulator.
Oops, long rant. 🙂
ciao!
Jul 21
ErinGarbage
The diet week is finally over with the last day finding us consuming brown rice and dinengdeng (well our approximation of what dinengdeng would look like). The ampalaya was too bitter for my taste but the kalabasa (squash) was a pleasure to eat. No fruit juice though as I couldn’t find any in the house and going to the grocery to fetch one is a waste of gas.
Final weigh in? I still tipped the scale at 194 lbs so my total weight loss is 6 lbs or somewhere around 3 kilos. Not bad for a week of sacrifice eh? I am pretty sure I would gain it back in a week or two but at least I have somewhat purified my digestive system so it is ready to take on more abuse. 🙂 Kidding, my lunch viand usually comprises of fried fish and a vegetables. Breakfast and dinner are a whole different matter.
Neth is asking if we will go through the diet again the week after. My answer is a hell NO. Try asking me again after six months. 🙂
ciao!
Older Entries Newer Entries
RSS