Choosing the Mobility Aid

I had the choice of picking up which mobility aid I can use while my knee heals. Here’s the situation: I can stand up on two legs. I can walk slowly but for a maximum of 5 to 6 steps (after that I’ll need to rest a minute). I can climb up and down the stairs one step at a time. I can’t run. I can’t jump. If you tell me there’s a venomous snake behind me, I’ll do a superman dive then crawl away.

Doctors will recommend which aid to use based only on effectiveness and the type of injury you have. That’s boring. I don’t do boring. I think we should really analyze the pros and cons of each option available.

Cane

Pros: It’s mobile and lightweight which means you can carry it around without much hassle. It’s cheap and will fit a standard balikbayan box. It also serves as an instant weapon in case someone wants to mug you (think you can hit a mugger with a wheelchair?). You can also hold your cane in a Battojutsu style so you look more terrifying (something like Kenshin Himura’s Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki). Carrying a specific cane also boosts your coolness factor since you’ll look like a drug lord or even Dr. Gregory House (they sell House’s replica cane over at Amazon).

Cons: You’re susceptible to falling down if someone accidentally hits your cane in a crowded place. Use it all day and you’ll end up with a sore shoulder and a sore wrist (then again, why walk all day if you have a bum knee?).

Crutches (armpit style)

Pros: It’s more comfortable and more stable than a cane.

Cons: Not so mobile because of its length and you may want to steer clear from dark alleys as you will look like an easy target. It requires more effort to use which means you’ll sweat more. If you sweat more then press your shirt against your armpits… you get the idea.

Crutches (forearm)

Pros: A little more comfortable than those armpit crutches.

Cons: Less support since your wrist now bears your weight. Everytime you look at the mirror with these on, you can’t help but replay that scene from “There’s Something About Mary” where Tucker drops his keys.

Walker

Pros: Does the job well.

Cons: A little OA.

Wheelchair

Pros: You always have a seat when you take the bus. Adds to your coolness factor if you get one that’s like Professor X’s.

Cons: Too OA. No wait, extremely OA.

Staff / Rod

Pros: It’s unique, it serves many purpose, it’s mobile and you have two cool options to choose from - you can get something like Moses’ rod or Gandalf’s white staff. When the bus stops in front of you, raise your staff and watch the bus kneel down in front of you (close your eyes and raise both arms for added effect).

Cons: No one will take you seriously in life. Ever.

The cane won by a hair. I was making a serious case for Jaye to allow me to have the Moses rod or the Gandalf staff but she didn’t believe me when I promised I won’t try to part the puddles along Dearborn St. She didn’t believe me when I said I wouldn’t stand in the middle of the pedestrian crosswalk along Clark shouting “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!”.

Darn. She knows me too well.

Bulls vs Suns

The Chicago Bulls are having a phenomenal year. Derrick Rose is having an excellent season and he’s poised to win his first MVP trophy, Coach Thibs has installed an effective but watchable defensive system, they signed the right players to plug the gaps, everyone has been healthy and the Bulls are three games ahead of Miami and Boston for the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference with just a handful of games remaining. For the icing on the cake, the Bulls also have NBA’s equivalent of me in the team – Brian Scalabrine.

We decided to get lower level seats to watch the Bulls take on the Phoenix Suns at the United Center. Why the Suns?

- I didn’t want lower level seats to watch the Bulls beat up bottom dwelling teams where Rose is already icing up his knee and Noah already putting on conditioner midway in the 3^rd quarter.

- The run and gun style of the Suns means they’ll probably score over a hundred. Their previous game is in San Antonio (which mean’s they’re probably tired) so most likely they’ll lose. Win + >100 = Free Big Mac.

- Tickets for the big games (vs. Atlanta or vs Boston) were severely overpriced. Lower level seats against the Suns are the priced the same as nosebleed seats against the Celtics.

- It will be fun watching Steve Nash and Grant Hill play.

- I can finally boo Vince Carter in person (I’ll explain later).

We arrived just in time for the player introductions complete with the “running of the Bulls” video and “Sirius” in full blast. I’ve always secretly wished I could arrive in the office the same way these guys show up for work.

When the game started, I can’t help but notice how scrawny Steve Nash is and how much he looked like James Blunt. He does not physically look like a two time NBA MVP but you can see the way he does the simple things like passing to the wings, running screens and bringing down the ball that he has the fundamentals mastered. I have tons of respect for the guy.

Janice tapped me and asked if that “Grant Hill” was THE Grant Hill. I said yes. Grant Hill was considered to be one of the best players in the NBA in the late 90’s. He was one of the most popular players around because of his awesome dunks, his success from college basketball, his likeable personality and the fact that he married an R&B star. That was until he broke his foot and missed almost three years of action. It’s a good thing he came back from the injury and reinvented himself in Phoenix.

Vince Carter. Ah, Vince Carter. If you watched his highlights, you’ll love him. If you saw his dunks, you’ll line up to buy his shoes. If you watch him for an entire game (especially if it’s a big game), you’ll cringe. If you watch him for a season, he’ll make you want you to shoot yourself. He’s not the person who would lead his team to victory. He lacks toughness (mental any physical) and he doesn’t have any real passion for the game. If you want a Carter equivalent of an IT professional, he/she would be the one who creates great applications, submit reports on time but during major deployments or critical issues he would call in sick and will be seen strolling around the mall with his girlfriend.

One thing worries me about the Bulls and his name is Carlos Boozer. He has the biggest contract in the team but he’s not an elite player. He’s a decent player who shoots and rebounds well but he virtually has no defensive talents and he’s often injured. You shouldn’t be surprised if you heard he was mangled by a lion, got kidnapped by aliens or if he tripped on his gym bag… oh wait, that last one actually happened.

Kyle Korver is the other player I wanted to observe closely during the game. He only does one thing but he does it very well and that’s shoot the three. He runs around to lose his defender, catches the ball and either shoots if he’s open or passes it back then runs around again in circles. With my knee injury, I patterned my game to his by practicing hitting three pointers on the run. I still can’t shoot like him, I still can’t run like him but at least I almost weigh as heavy as he does.

Derrick Rose is the real deal. He’s an excellent player with a competitive mentality and a humble personality. Ask him about his MVP year and he’ll credit it to his coach and teammates. Ask him about his other awards and he’ll tell you he didn’t deserve it. Ask him for a dollar and he’ll give you ten. Definitely, the role model you want your kids to grow up cheering for.

The game was close at first until the Bulls blew it open and took a 20+ lead until the third quarter. It was a boring game until Vince Carter willed the Suns back in the fourth and cut the lead to 2. I still thought the Bulls would win because of Derrick Rose (and the Suns would lose because they had Vince Carter). I was right, with the Suns having an opportunity to tie the game, Carter threw a wild air ball and gave the ball back to Chicago.

This brings me by the way to the play of the night. I know the “MVP” chant whenever Rose was in the free throw line but this was the first time I heard and saw the “MVP” chant during live play. With the Bulls hanging on to a two point lead, the ball was with Rose as he was dribbling it on the right-center side. People started to chant “MVP! MVP!”. Rose dribbled the ball, did a drive fake, shot a step back jumper and swished it in. Crowd went bananas, Bulls up by four, timeout Phoenix. Korver sealed the game with a free throw. Bulls win 97-93.

It was truly a memorable game. Rose proved to me that he deserved this year’s MVP trophy. The Bulls proved that this was indeed their year. Nash proved to me that he can still play and Vince Carter proved that he really does suck. This was a free Big Mac away from being a perfect night.

The Knee Injury

Yep, it’s injured again and it looks bad. I can’t bend it or put any weight on it which brings a boatload of inconvenience every minute of every day. Simple tasks like getting a glass of water or taking a bath now takes twice as long. It hurts a lot and I always wonder how this will affect me playing sports in the future, particularly basketball.

When I first injured my knee a few years ago and returned to the basketball court after rehab, I was getting the “old man treatment” from my friends where they never really defend me as a courtesy (“Injured na nga babantayan mo pa… kawawa naman”). At first it was annoying but when I saw video clips of myself playing it was then I realized how slow I was moving sidewards. My friends actually had a point.

That was AFTER the first injury. What now after this second one?

I know I have lots of reasons to complain but as I sit down with my knee iced up and a walking cane at hand, I’m not bummed out at all with the whole incident. I’m not sad that I reinjured my knee. Maybe I’m a little worried about the cost of the checkup/tests which I could have used to “free” some of the “prisoners” in my Amazon.com wishlist but I’m not sad. I’m actually thankful because:

1 – If my guess is right that I only tore my knee cartilage, I’ll consider myself lucky. When you tear the cartilage, you usually end up tearing the ligaments behind it. If I escape without ligament damage, it’s like when a burglar decides to rob your home, goes over the gate and steals only the welcome mat.

2 – It could have been a lot worse if Jaye didn’t have me buy these heavy duty metal knee braces that I was wearing during the game.

3 – For some reason, I got leg cramps and I ended up sitting out the last two games. If I played on those two games with an already injured knee (note that I wasn’t aware that time I was hurt) I could have injured it more. It was like God telling me "You're done for the night tubby, here are leg cramps for you, go sit down."

4 – This was the game where I did extra stretching exercises to make sure I was completely limbered up prior to playing.

I remember the first injury… when I was thirsty, I used my crutches to get up and limp to the fridge, get a glass of water then plop back to the couch. Now when I’m thirsty, I use my cane to get up but Jaye pushes me back to my chair and she’ll get me a glass of water and a pack of Kit Kat (she eats half of it though). My injured knee reminds me of how lucky I am to have someone take care of me (and eats half my Kit Kat stash).

* cue cheesy music *

American Idol 2011 Top 12

This week’s theme? Songs from your birth year. Last week was a mediocre episode and Jaye and I weren’t even looking forward to this episode but oh well, we needed some background noise while eating dinner. Jaye and I predicted a horrible episode and we ended up having a horrible episode.

Now we ask... what's wrong with Steven Tyler? Did his scriptwriters made him memorized prewritten review points? At least JLo was making some sense (albeit not much).

Naima Adedapo
“What’s Love Got To Do With It” by Tina Turner

If you’re going to be bad, at least be interesting. This formula worked last week for her only because there were at least three others who were both and and boring. This week? She was so out of tune I had to switch to other channels to check if something’s wrong with the TV. The beginning of the song was terrible, she missed most of the notes and the ending was a disaster.

Unwatchable.

Grade: F

Paul McDonald
“Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues” by Elton John

He was like this drunk uncle in a wedding who hogs the microphone, sings violently and everyone just claps and watches him enjoy himself until someone plugs out the microphone adapter.

Grade: B-

Thia Megia
“Colors of the Wind” by that Pocahontas girl

Played it safe… really safe. You can see in her face that she doesn’t have the confidence (yet) to take on the competition. Last week, she tried to incorporate some jazz tunes into her performance and the jazzy part failed so this week, she went back into her shell, went back to her normal ballad range and did a decent performance. Good enough to survive.

Grade: B+

James Durbin
“I’ll Be There For You” by Bon Jovi

Good thing he was entertaining and confident because the vocals were just decent (missed a couple here and there). I hate to make him the lock to win this competition not because he’s good but because the rest of the group is just terrible. It's his competition to lose now.

Grade: A-

Haley Reinhart
“I’m Your Baby Tonight” by Whitney Houston

Took a gamble and played around with the song using both her sweet and raspy voice but she kinda tripped and was out of tune again. At least she wasn’t worse than Naima.

Grade: C

Stefano Langone
“If You Don’t Know Me By Now” by Simply Red

Great performance except for the last 2 seconds of the song. Did a fly enter his mouth? Once he gives a mind blowing performance, I’m ready to name him as the dark horse to win. IF he gives a mind blowing performance.

Grade: A-

Pia Toscano
“Where Do Broken Hearts Go” by Whitney Houston

She has the looks, the range and the guts to take on tough songs. She may be the best female contestant around but how does she rank against Jordin Sparks, Carrie Underwood, Fantasia and Kelly Clarkson? Not so good eh?

Grade: A-

Scotty McCreery
“Can I Trust You With My Heart?” by Travis Tritt

He’s beginning to be as predictable as sunrise. He has a country voice, sang a country song and will manage to stay another week in the competition. It will be interesting what he does on a non country theme week though.

Grade: B+

Karen Rodriguez
“Love Will Lead You Back” by Taylor Dayne

You wonder why she’s been holding back at the start of the song, intentionally softening her voice during the high parts and when she did try to belt it out, you wished she never did. Something tells me she'll do a JLo song first before James can do an Aerosmith song.

Grade: B+

Casey Abrams
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana

Glad to see him out of the hospital but a "rocker voice" is raspy in a unique and audible way. When they belt out, it should be loud but still audible. They don't screech. It looked like he lost a bet to someone and he had to sing a random song from his iPod.

Grade: B-

Lauren Alaina
“I’m the Only One” by Melissa Etheridge

Skit acting fail for both of them (Melissa and Ryan Seacrest) prior to the performance. The song performance on the other hand was actually nice. Maybe the flu did give her a little raspier voice but it sure worked.

Jacob Lusk
“Alone” By Heart

Oversang the song just like Jim Carey overacts scenes. He has a great range and picked a great song but sometimes you just want someone to sing it the right way. The Glee version is better for me and I hated that.

Grade: A-

Bottom three: Naima, Haley and Karen

Out: Naima

American Idol 2011 Top 13

Steven always likes it (or always agrees with Randy and JLo), JLo doesn’t make sense and Randy just seems to just go with the flow. I still think American Idol needs a gong, more contestants in bikinis and Ricky Gervais.

That tears it! I’m writing my own reviews!

Lauren Alaina
“Any Man of Mine” by Shania Twain

Picked a safe song and sang it in a safe way. She manages to give a decent but forgettable performance with the aim of just making it to next week then hopes that one or two people slip up and forget the words or something. It’s the best tactic in elimination reality shows though, just be faster than the slowest guy around.

Grade: B-

Casey Abrams
“With a Little Help From My Friends” by Joe Cocker

I guess Idol made it clear they don’t want any guitar playing soft rocker anymore and this happy guy may be what they’re looking for. I’m still waiting for that one big night where he ultimately shows his vocal range… or the night his beard gets tangled in the microphone head.

Grade: A-

Ashton Jones
“When You Tell Me That You Love Me” by Diana Ross

Didn’t like it. It looks like she was more focused on looking good on camera than nailing her notes. She did get the high note in the end but everything else before it was not so good.

Grade: C+

Paul McDonald
“Come Pick Me Up” by Ryan Adams

Came out with a marine uniform and looked really really creepy at the start. Jaye asked me three or four times if he was high and I didn’t have a good answer. Quirky has been overused to describe him and it will be interesting what he does in the upcoming weeks.

Grade: B+

Pia Toscano
“All By Myself” by Celine Dion

Great performance but again, you don’t want to peak in this competition this early. She could have danced the chicken dance, smiled in front of the camera, Steven Tyler would like it, JLo would cry and Randy Jackson would say it’s good dawg good and she still wouldn’t be voted out.

Grade A-

James Durbin
“Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney

I’m surprised he didn’t scream the entire song out. He toned it down a little and gave a solid and confident performance. He still needs to separate himself from Adam Lambert (or according to Jaye - Adam Sandler... eh?).

Grade: A+

Haley Reinhart
“Blue” by LeAnn Rimes

Zzzz... huh? Song’s done? Why is Miley Cyrus on the stage? Oh wait…

Grade: zzz

Jacob Lusk
"I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly

Three things Jaye and I were debating about: (1) whether or not he should concentrate on his low voice range or high voice range, (2) whether he should sing something more up tempo and (3) if you can fit three or four golf balls in his mouth.

Grade: B- (meh)

Thia Megia
“Smile” by Michael Jackson

Great start but terrible finish. Jaye told me if I wasn’t writing anything good about her, just don’t write anything at all.

(empty space)

Grade: uh… abstain?

Stefano Langone
“Lately” by Stevie Wonder

This song is for people who can reach and sustain the high note but instead he danced his way around it. He felt as comfortable as someone who’s trying to eat soup with a fork. (Jaye: wag mo awayin yan! Love ni Tere yan!)

Grade: F... as in "Fine..."

Karen Rodriguez
“I Could Fall In Love” by Selena

I quickly pointed out that she was sucking up to JLo since JLo played Selena in one of her movies. 5 minutes into the song and I gladly washed the dishes just to get out of the living room.

Grade: D

Scotty McReery
“The River” by Garth Brooks

The song’s great. Voice is smooth and he gave a clean performance but he violated one of Jaye’s rules: “Wag kang feeling pogi kung di ka pogi”. I still think he looks like Tucker from “There’s Something About Mary”

Grade: A-

Naima Adedapo
“Umbrella” by Rihanna

She was all over the place and I think at one point she even mistimed her breathing. She was fun to watch and she gave a complete song and dance performance but if you’re going to tire yourself out dancing, concentrate on singing first.

Grade: C+

Bottom 3 Prediction: Ashthon, Karen, Haley

I say Karen goes out, Steven likes everything again and JLo still won't make any sense at all.

Finally... my first Mac!

My old Toshiba laptop has officially announced its impending retirement. It has served me well, very well. I got it back in August 2006 from Best Buy along Clark and at that time it was one of the top of the line machines available. It had a huge 17 inch display, it used the very stable Windows XP operating system and it was ready if I decided to upgrade that time to this thing called “Windows Vista”. After more than 4 years of service, the speakers have disintegrated, disk space has become a constant challenge (it had 90GB of available space for personal files), the hard drive “clicks” every minute, it took 4 years to boot, 5 years to shutdown and a decade to defrag.

Now, I have my first Mac as I tread through uncharted territories (I’ve never even used a Mac before). Jaye bought me the best, the most powerful and the baddest 15 inch MacBook Pro available. I’m still testing all its features but I’m completely blown away by the specs alone. We got it from the Apple Store along Michigan Ave. and in addition to the laptop, she also bought a wireless HP printer. I know we went a little over the budget (by “little”, I mean it’s like walking from Chicago to Indiana is a “little” far) but it’s completely worth it.

I’m enjoying the Mac life so much the past few days. Thanks again honey! =)

2011 Chicago Auto Show

The Chicago Auto Show is the biggest auto exhibit in the US. It’s where car manufacturers exhibit the “2011” versions of their cars, their new concept cars and show off their new technologies that come along with it. It’s a lot different from the auto shows in the Philippines since over there it’s mostly newly painted Japanese cars with big rims and big speakers then there’s a small section to buy different car accessories and those Ambi pur models that my brother oh so love.

We arrived late in the event since we had to go grocery shopping at Costco. One benefit of having cold weather – you can buy a rib eye steak in the morning and keep in the car without it rotting in the evening. In Manila it would have been a pot roast by then.

Before we entered the exhibit, we signed up to test drive the Kia Optima. Joesil drove while Jaye and I rode in the back. An agent from Kia sat up front to make sure we don’t drive to the border or something. Other than the two sunroofs, I really couldn’t see anything special with it. The ride was not that comfortable and it felt like riding a horse on roller blades. What’s to expect? It’s a Kia.



When we entered the exhibit area, we lined up to play games. The first was this game where you toss a sack of beans into a hole 20 feet away. Jaye whiffed on all her three attempts. I got one in thanks to all the years I’ve been tossing my shirts into the hamper. Julius and Joesil also played this hockey game but Jaye and I got impatient and checked out the nearby Dodge exhibit. I guess we realized that we should be checking out cars on a car show.



Dodge featured a bunch of Camaros. Other than the 22 inch wheels they have, they were kinda boring.



Next up was the Kia section which I had to go through because that’s where I saw the garbage bin (oh wait, that was the Kia Soul, my bad). I saw their cool concept van – the KV7 that had comfy seats and a conference room behind. I guess “getting busy in the backseat” has a different meaning here. The van also had cool headlights which was like Geordi La Forge’s visor in Star Trek.




Mazda was next. I looked for an RX-8. Didn’t find one. Skip…

Suzuki featured the Kizashi and they wasted no time comparing theirs with the Lexus cars. The most interesting thing about their exhibit is the Tokyo2LA tour where the Kizashi together with their crappy SUV and not so crappy bike drove from Japan to Los Angeles through Russia and Canada. The actual car was exhibited together with the dirt it accumulated during the travel. You call that dirty? When it drizzles and I drive through EDSA, my car looks exactly like that.




In the Subaru section they had an engine display and Jaye asked me how Continuous Variable Transmission works. I left the area.

The Mitsubishi exhibit was more appealing to Jaye since she’s familiar some of their vehicles. I immediately looked for and Evo (they had one, looked cool) and an Eclipse (they had one, looked crappy).



I’m not familiar with Volvo cars so when we got in the Volvo exhibit, we just looked for the car that Edward Cullen must have driven. By the way, for each exhibit, we’re getting shopping bags – one for each exhibit. I was starting to wonder why there were so many cars in this shopping bag show.

In the Ford exhibit, we checked out the Ford Sync technology where you can perform functions like make calls and control the radio via voice commands. It’s made by Microsoft which means it’s possible that your car hangs in the middle of the freeway then asks for patches to be downloaded first.



Finally, I saw the Prius. I’m thankful that finally we’re getting a “green” car in production… then again, it costs 2.25 million back in Manila :S



Then there was Hyundai and their Picasso inspired concept car, the Curb. Like the Kia, this was the only interesting part and I’m not surprised – Hyundai is a part owner of Kia.




From here we went to the other exhibit where the second part of the exhibit was held. It had spaces for Porsche( very cool), Acura (boring), Mini (predictable), Saab (what the heck is a Saab?), BMW (kinda cool), Infiniti (cool batmobile), Mercedes Benz (they all look the same to me now), Cadillac (worst concept car in my opinion), GMC (trucks, trucks, trucks), Buick (they had the best… shopping bag) and Range Rover (had 1 car in the exhibit).

The Lexus LFA was featured here but instead of women standing beside it and waving, it had a guy in the suit asking the crowd to basically test him if he really memorized all the technical stuff they made him remember.



Ford had this wall climbing area where you go sideways. It says “Explorer Agility Challenge”. I don’t get it.



Last exhibit we went to was Honda and I thought the Civic concept car looked cool (especially since it was wearing sunglasses).



It was a so-so event. I missed the really really cool supercars (I was hoping to see a Bugatti Veyron or a Pagani Zonda) but they had an off-road test track where you can drive Toyota off road vehicles. I guess if you were able to line up and wait for your turn (around 30 minutes) it would have been worth it. I think it was money well spent but I’m not really looking forward for it when it comes around again next year.

Crab Rangoon

It’s basically just cream cheese and chopped crab in a fried dumpling. It’s greasy, it’s unhealthy and it’s really delicious… if properly prepared.

We got a recipe from our friend Joahn. She’s the one here near the microwave oven. She gave the basic recipe but not the details which is good because it means I'll have to improvise (bwahahahaha!)

This is her recipe:

Mix crab, cream cheese and onion leaves. Use a spoon to measure how much filling will be put into the Rangoon wrapper (less is better since so you close it better). Use the egg as a sealant along the edge of the wrapper. Since it’s a square wrapper, folding it will make it a triangle. Deep fry.

When I finally prepared the dish, Jaye told me to tell Joahn that we’ve tried out her recipe. I say we don’t just tell her...

we show her.

Step 1: Gather ingredients.

This was fairly easy since there was a Jewel-Osco supermarket two blocks away from our apartment and I bought a can of chopped crabs from there. As for onions and cream cheese, we already have those in our pantry.

Step 2: Uh, did she say onions or green onions?

Darn, I forgot the recipe called for green onions and not regular onions but aren’t green onions just onions that have already sprouted? Just place the onions in a drawer and wait a couple of days and you get this poor man’s green onion. I was about to chop them but they looked nasty while I was washing them. Hmmm, better ditch the onions, white or green.



Step 3: Mix!

Mix one can of chopped crab with whatever’s left in your Philadelphia Cream Cheese plastic container (no really, I never measure stuff). Mix them until they look like oatmeal.



Step 4: Wrap!



Take out your lumpia wrapper and place a teaspoon full of filling in the middle.



Beat an egg (yawn)



Fold the wrapper and use the egg as a sealant. No one told me how to fold it so I folded it like an envelope.

...and I learned that was wrong. I had to Google another method of folding dumplings and found this one: crane-style!



Step 5: Deep Fry!



Plop the dumplings into hot oil and watch disaster unfold. I made 15 dumplings and...
4 dumplings blew a hole and spilled cream cheese into the oil
3 were stuffed with too much crab that it unfolded while deep frying
8 were burnt to a crisp



As you’ve probably figured by now, I have no idea how to deep fry food. It turns out these things cook really really fast. All dumplings were dark brown and the cooked oil turned black thanks to all the charred remains of the wrapper.

At least they were edible. The recipe was good, the cook was just nuts.

Quitness Returns

The event was so hyped but with good reason. When the NBA schedule was released after “The Decision”, I immediately looked for the two Miami @ Cleveland games and I marked them on my calendar – December 2 and March 29. The first game is the only one that matters since the March game is just too far off to be considered.


(photo from ESPN.com)

I was watching ESPN all afternoon and the game was really overhyped – from the security plan, to the “wing flap” issue with the plane, to Mo Williams wearing a BoSox jacket to the arena, to whether he'll do the powder thing, all the way to the opening tip. When Jaye arrived from the office and I filled her in with what has already happened, we were both rooting for the Cavs to win… until we were reminded that they sucked really really bad by the middle of the first quarter.

It was so bad, I had to look closely if Miami was really up against the UP Maroons and not the Cavs.

Now what? Another Comic Sans letter from Dan Gilbert?

Black Friday

It’s what they call the Friday after Thanksgiving which marks the official start of the Christmas shopping season which means stores put lots of stuff on sale and shoppers line up at dawn, go wild inside the store once it opens and kill each other to “get it while supplies last”. It’s like Greenhills during the Christmas season though there, it happens every day until December 26.

Before this, Jaye and I would like to sincerely thank Bruce and Ethel for hosting the pre-Thanksgiving dinner at their apartment unit and then Rian and Trisha (and family) for hosting the actual Thanksgiving dinner at their house. After co-hosting Thanksgiving back in 2007, it was only then I realized how tough it was to host the event, cook the food, don’t screw anything up and have enough energy to enjoy the party (and clean up afterwards). So again, thanks guys!

Jaye and I had lots of fun shopping and basically enjoying everything that came with it! Here are a couple of Black Friday thoughts:

1. It pays to know the reputation of the stores when it comes to putting items on sale. Some stores honestly do try to empty their inventory and give decent to good deals for almost all items (like say, Old Navy). Some “scrooge” stores are just forced into the whole black Friday thing and put minor items on sale or just give you additional useless stuff (like that store along Michigan Ave with the big apple logo outside). Some stores are just jerks by pretending to put items on sale by raising their prices then “reducing” them back to normal (too many to mention).

2. Two ways to do black Friday shopping: online or going to the actual store. Online is fine but you tend to go overboard because it’s easy to “overclick”… you know what I mean. I want to go to actual stores since the Pinoy in me wants to smell, touch, feel the actual product before purchasing it. This year, we got a car (a really cool Dodge Charger) and drove all the way to Kenosha. We woke up really early and arrived home late and exhausted but there’s a certain feeling of accomplishment that comes with it.





3. Driving here in Chicago is weird. I use this thing beside the steering wheel which lights up the left arrow on the dashboard and the car on my left lets me pass. I saw this bus and it didn’t try to sideswipe me. The pedestrians were all crossing this path with all the white striped lines. Cars stopped whenever this thing above us had a red light on. It's like everyone was following some sort of traffic rule. Weird.

4. Unlike Los Angeles, Chicago is not overrun by Pinoys. There are only a handful if Filipinos around here and only 2 events force us into one place: Pacquiao fights and outlet malls. For some reason, Pinoys really love outlet malls… outlet malls and stores like Marshalls and TJ Maxx.

5. I learned that outlet malls are different from tiangge stands. I grabbed a jacket I wanted then went over to the check out counter. I asked if it was the last place, they said yes. I asked if they didn’t have any more discounts, they said that was it. I asked if it came with any more freebies, they said no. I asked if it came with a discount coupon, they said no. I asked if they can give me the hanger where the jacket was. They gave it to me.

It was really a fun day and Jaye and I were happy with our purchases even though our expense metrics indicate that we spend almost 500% more than our usual expenditures. Home metrics suck.

A City Called Naperville

Naperville, Illinois. A city found 30 minutes west of Chicago. Once voted as the second best place to live in the United States. It has one of the best public libraries in the nation and Naperville is where you’ll find the majestic Moser Tower and Millenium Carillon.

We never saw any of these. Instead, we hit the shopping areas and restaurants.

We visited our curly haired friend CheChe who works near Naperville. Jaye and I took the train from Chicago to Naperville then from there, CheChe picked us up with her Nissan Sentra. Since this was the first time I left Chicago since I arrived in the US, I immediately felt the difference between being in downtown and being in the suburbs. There were less people on the road. There were no taxis, no buses. There were just a few tall buildings and between them are wide open spaces. There are big ponds with geese munching on… whatever they usually munched on. No subway noises. No trains. No ambulance sirens. Just the noise of the tires against the pavement and the chattering of your curly haired friend. Our first stop was Cracker Barrel. I had no idea what it was.


Waiting for the train to Naperville

Ok, turns out it was a restaurant. It has a nostalgic aura which again is a welcome change from where we usually eat. We all ordered the usual all-American meal consisting of sausages, hash, grits, biscuits, jam, gravy and coffee. Food was better than we expected. Expensive, but good. We’re never eating there again anymore though... I forgot to tip the waitress.


Our curly haired friend


Jaye and me at Cracker Barrel


Jaye and CheChe outside Cracker Barrel

Our next stop was the Chicago Premium Outlets. Yep, it’s the same outlet mall as before. Unlike before though, their stock was not impressive and their “sales” were fake so we ended up buying virtually nothing. Check this winter cap I saw at Reebok:




Walking along the Chicago Premium Outlet

We left Aurora, went back to Naperville and had lunch at Olive Garden. I loved the stuffed mushrooms. I loved it so much that the next day, I went to Jewel and bought a pack of fresh mushrooms and replicated the recipe. Jaye says it tasted the same but mine cost a couple of dollars cheaper. Take THAT Olive Garden!


Outside Olive Garden. Jaye's all bundled up while I have a spring jacket on. :P

We next went to Burlington Coat Factory (where I bought a cheap running jacket), Old Navy (where I bought cheap gloves and Jaye bought a cheap jacket) and Walmart (where one section smelled like dog pee). After doing all our shopping, CheChe drove us back to the train station where we had 10 minutes before our train leaves for Chicago.
We had lots of time but while driving there, Jaye and I can’t shake the feeling that we might miss the train. What if the train left early? What if the car’s clock was late? What if CheChe got lost along the way? (which almost happened)

When we got off the car, we had a quick hug with CheChe then it was a 5 minute walk to the other side of the rail. The train hasn't arrived yet but Jaye suddenly ran because she said she didn’t want to get left behind. I ran behind because well, that’s what good hubbies do. Little did we know that there were a few people behind us that were also catching the train and when they saw us burst into a sprint, they sprinted too causing a mini panic at the train station.

The train arrived 20 minutes later. :P