www.internetisexpensive.com

About a month since my last post. How wonderful of me, aye? I do have a valid excuse, a few of them to be exact. I've been really busy and out of town a lot. But I won't get into that.

I'm a bit frustrated. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm moving. In preparation for this big move, I've been researching cable and internet service. Can someone please explain why it's so darn expensive? I've already decided that I don't need a telephone line since I already use my cell phone as my main number. I've come to accept the price for cable, although I do think it would be better if we can pick and choose what channels we want and pay for those only, but I digress. Internet. The service provider I've been looking at charges a monthly charge. Okay I get it. But in order to actually get internet, you need a modem AND a wireless router? They charge you a monthly charge if you decide to use their equipment or you spend hella money to buy your own. I just don't get it. You'd think that would have some easier way (cheaper way) to connect to the internet now a days.

So, thinking I was clever, I thought I could skip the whole internet service for my new place and just get a internet card, since I only have a laptop anyways. I've seen people use those to connect to the internet from airports, cafes, etc. So why couldn't I use it to connect at home? So I go home and start researching. I'm left even more confused. I guess it's easier to get one of those internet/wireless cards for PC laptops. I have a Macbook Pro and kept coming across this thing called "expresscard." Then I read that the 13" aren't equipped with an expresscard slot. Hmph! There has to be a way to get some kind of internet card/express card for the 13" now, right?!

All I want is some (cheap) way to connect to the internet. I just have one lil ol' laptop...what in the world am I going to do?!

Does anyone out there have any suggestions? I'm so lost!

Spinning vs. Me....

Spring is just around the corner and I've got a few trips coming up. I'm a few months behind in my goal to get fit and lose weight. I just haven't been motivated, my fault, really. I've actually avoided weighing myself because I knew there would be no difference from almost two months ago.

Well, this morning as I was waiting for the shower to heat up, I saw that little sucker in the corner collecting dust. Yeah, you know, the scale. I thought, "What the heck...mind as well." I hop on and low and behold, -8 lbs. Crazy, right?! That negative number was stuck in my head the whole day. I thought,"Well, maybe I remembered my January weight wrong." So I looked back and it was just as I remembered.

EatSmart Digital Bathroom Scale

You'd think I'd be more excited about this. But I have to remember that I was really sick during the month of January and I changed my diet a bit. So that's probably where the loss came from. Regardless, it was a great wake-up call and I told myself,"Why break the streak?"

Share asked me this afternoon to go to spin class with her. I've gone before and actually enjoyed it. It's been a few months since I last stepped into the gym, so I hesitated at first and didn't give her an answer. "Why break the streak?" So, finally I told her I would. We got there and I felt so tired and sluggish (I didn't even workout yet!). There was a small percentage of me that wanted to back out because I woke up not feeling well and had a sore throat. Sign that I am probably getting sick....again! But I sucked it up and went.

Oh my goodness, let me tell you, spinning kicked my @$$! I could not keep up, even with a sick instructor who wasn't even as tough as other spin instructors. My legs, arms, and @$$ (I forgot how much those bike seats hurt!!!) were killing me not even halfway through the class.

I won't let this discourage me. Even though I did lose a couple lbs. doesn't mean I'm fit or healthy. Tonight's spin class proved to me that I am truly out of shape (like I didn't know that already). Once I got home, I plopped myself on my bed and didn't want to move for the entire episode of The Deep End and Grey's Anatomy. Let's see how Turbo Kick Boxing and Zumba treat me!

Loving My Private Jet

Of course I don't have my own flying aircraft. One of my guilty pleasures...well not even guilty because I'm not ashamed...is my love for reality television. It's great entertainment! One of the shows I follow regularly is Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Great show, right?!

How many of you remember that episode where Kim 'finds' the chihuahua on the street? Well, when she finds that pup, she walks into a nail salon and asks them if they had OPI's My Private Jet. Me and my sister were really curious to know what color that was. Who really knows why we were so intrigued. I mean, it's only nail polish right? And if you really think about it, it was probably just an advertisement plug. Regardless...it worked and we wanted to know what nail color Kim was looking for! haha!

I haven't gotten my nails done in a while. Well, lately I've just been painting them myself. Now that I'm trying to be more aware of how I spend my money, getting my nails done just seemed like a waste of money. But sometimes a girl just needs to pamper herself and the other day I had some time to kill before going out. I drove to the small, local nail place near my work that I've gone to in the past. It's your typical asian owned place where they do manicure, pedicure, haircut, and wax. Those places are usually really cheap and get the job done.

I walked in and they were pretty busy with ladies getting their nails did. So they told me to wait a little bit and pick my color. I was in the mood for a dark grey/gun metal type color. Out of the 100+ colors they had on the wall, I could not find the one that fit my mood! It was quite upsetting. So then I started looking for something dark but with a metallic or glittery flare. I had a couple colors in my hand, but then saw this brownish/greyish color that had glitter. It looked brand new, so I picked it up and looked on the bottom. Yes. I'm sure you've guessed...it was OPI's My Private Jet! It was meant to be. I love the color. She did two coats, but now I kind of wish she did three.

Here's what it looks like. It's lighter in person. Isn't it kick-ass? I am slightly disappointed because I felt like Kelly (my nail lady) was rushing, and after closer inspection from these pictures, I can see som messy spots. Oh well...life goes on...(if you know me then you know what the next line is..hehe)...

Surfing the Internet Waves

My earliest recollection of the computer is the one my family had. I believe it was an Apple computer, with the rainbow colored logo. I remember the black screen with the green images. I didn't have any use for computers back then, except to make those kick-ass dot matrix paper banners that were heavily pixelated. You better believe that every birthday party we threw had one of these banners hanging in the house. With the image of a birthday cake on either side of the "Happy Birthday" text.
Fast forward a few years to the AOL days. I was probably in middle school when we first got dial-up AOL internet. It was the best thing ever. I got to see my friends for 7-8 hours during school, talk to them on the phone when I got home, and then chat with them online for the rest of the night! AOL chat rooms started online dating! Because it was new, no one (at least not me or my friends) worried about crazy people out there, and I have to admit that I've met up with people I've met in those chat rooms. It was completely harmless, and we were just bored and met up at the mall or something. Don't tell my mom! haha...
I probably spend way too much time on the computer/internet. But it's nothing I am thinking of giving up. I'm on the computer the entire day at work, and if I'm at home, then I'll probably be online or my laptop will be on for some reason. You'd think that 8 hours would be enough, but there's always something to look up, right?

I am taking a night class this semester and I got to class a little early one night. I sat in front of the computer and it was an automatic reaction for me to open up Mozilla. Once the page loaded, I sat there thinking, "What website am I going to go to?" And a few of my usual websites popped into my head, such as Facebook, Blogger, Perezhilton, D Listed, work email (I know...).

I visited each of them briefly and nothing was updated since the last time I checked, which was maybe 2 hours prior to me getting to class. Which got me thinking, "Why do I feel so compelled to be online all the time, to check my usual websites a few times a day, waiting for something to be updated or new information to be posted?" Then I mentally put my foot down and thougt I should really just close the browser and just sit back and maybe meet some people in my class. So I did. I clicked on the red 'x' on the upper left hand corner, pushed the keyboard away and took my hand off the mouse. I looked around at the other early birds and saw that they were all in a trance in front of their own computers.

What thought came to mind next?

"Ahh, fcuk it, I'm gonna play Bejeweled." haha!

I know we live in a digital age, and I'm glad we do! I do agree that it takes over a significant amount of time that I'll never get back, but, hey, 'everyone else is doing it...' haha!

Random Ramble

I don't really have a specific topic for this entry, not because I don't have any ideas. I always have ideas and topics waiting in the queue. Why don't I pick one of them? Eh, another time when I'm in the zone. You know which zone...yeah, that zone. heh...

Let me officially congratulate the New Orleans Saints for their first Superbowl win in their franchise history! I was rooting for you guys, love it when the underdogs prove everyone wrong. Boo-yeah! To be honest, I'm not a Colts or Saints fan, but of the two, I, of course hoped for the Saints. Great win for this team, but...not an exciting game. I believe there was only one interception the entire game, which was by Saint's Tracy Porter. That was one of the very few times I got up and cheered. Congratulations again and now the waiting game for the next football season.

I've recently added Google Analytics to this blog and let me tell you, it's so much fun! I use Google Analytics for work to track website traffic and to get metrics. But it's simply for fun and curiosity for this blog. My sister Share uses StatCounter.com (which I've used in the past but I'm trying to get the hang of Google Analytics) and she tells me that her top search words in search engines are "match.com etiquette." Try it out on Google.com and you'll find her blog as the second search result. So in the month or so that I've had GA installed, I've had two visitors that came to my blog from a search engine. And what did they search, you may be thinking? The first one was "don't wake, when i'm dreaming, california dreams just let me lay out in the sun" and the second one was "don't wake me up california dreams blogspot." Funny, right?! I mean, how many of you guys are California Dreams fans? I'm not ashamed to admit that I watched that show. Another interesting fact is that they are both international. One of them is from Saint Kitts and Nevis (I never knew this place existed until I Googled it) and the other one is from Japan. So thank you my international California Dreams fans for stopping by! Greatly appreciate it :) Feel free to stop by again.

I dedicate this video to you both! Enjoy :)

Part II: Relief Efforts for Typhoon "Ondoy" Flood Victims

About a week ago, I blogged about the aftermath of Typhoon "Ondoy" in the Phillipines. Hundreds of thousands of families have lost everything because of the flooding and I just felt like I needed to something. So I coordinated a donation drive with the help of my family. I asked my uncle if we could set up shop at his filipino grocery store, and he was more than willing to help! We left tubs at the store for people to drop stuff off and I have to thank everyone who has helped out!

I've also been very impressed with how our community has really come together to help. The Bay Area has a huge filipino community, and it's so refreshing to see all the efforts. There have been night club events where 100% of proceeds go to the Philippines flood victims, restaurants donating a percentage of proceeds, donations, and benefit concerts!

Let's continue to pray for those who have been affected and try our best to help as much as we can.

This picture just breaks my heart...

Photo courtesy of Xinhua/AFP Photo

Here was our set up! We were collecting a variety of things such as, toothbrushes/toothpaste, perishable food items, vitamins/medications, soap, etc.

Thank you again for everyone's help and support this week! We got a ton of helpful items to send over to the Philippines. Remember, one small gesture will help thousands!

Relief Efforts for Typhoon "Ondoy" Flood Victims

So I'm going to share something with you that not many people know. I'm a pro when it comes to tuning out bad news/uncomfortable situations. I'll deal with things in my own way but if at all possible, I'll just pretend that it doesn't exist.

When I started hearing the news about the typhoon in the Philippines, I just thought, "Wow...that sucks!" I asked my mom if our family there is effected, and she said that the province that majority of my family lives in is safe and high enough that they don't have to worry about floods. So I just tried to not think about it, because I knew my family was okay. One day last week, my mom was chatting with one of my cousins in the Philippines and asked them how they were doing. She lives in a different area from the rest of my family, and she told my mom that their entire downstairs is flooded. I figured, "Hey, she's on the computer so it can't be that bad, right?" So again, I just put it in the back of my mind.

Last night, my uncle who lives here emails me and a few of my other family members asking for donations. It turns out that one of my aunts in the Philippines is in need of help. Her entire house is flooded. My uncle never asks us for help, so that's when it really finally hit me. I could not stop thinking about it.

So the next morning, I bring up the idea to organize a donation station. A place where people can drop off items to help the victims effected by the flooding. There is supposed to be another major storm hitting the Philippines this weekend. I started reading articles and looking at some pictures and realized that I could not just sit here and do nothing while hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything.

If you live in the Bay Area and would like to participate in our donation, please contact OndoyRelief.Payumo@gmail.com for details.

To find out more about how you can donate to help the victims, please visit the Philippines National Red Cross website.

This is what happens when you get too busy...

You remember you entered a photo contest two days after the polls are closed! I can't blame anyone by myself on this one. FAIL!

I entered a Summer Photo Contest on Tiffiney's Photoblog a few weeks back. The rules were simple, just submit a photo of a summer day. I chose a picture I blogged about earlier in August and voting started on Tiffiney's blog on Sept. 5th. I am totally FIRED because voting ended on Sept 12!

I have to thank Tiffiney of Tiffiney's Photography for posting my picture! It such a good feeling seeing your work posted somewhere other than my blog. I'll have to be better about this next time!

Here's the photo I entered of my two neices:

Im waiting, anticipating for you baby....

Heh...don't let the title of this blog fool you. I'm not waiting or anticipating the way Mike Jones' Next to You song explains it.

I'm pretty excited because I've been asked to shoot pictures at this upcoming event. I can't go into too much detail but in about a week, you'll know why. Without revealing too much, this is kind of the first event where I'm invited as a photographer and not as a guest! It's something small, but still, I'm stoked!

I'm not getting paid, nor did I expect to. I'm just excited to practice and take pictures of people other than my neices or inanimate objects. So wish me luck and I hope I don't disappoint.

Happy Monday!

"Get Bitten!"....I'm Trying!

So as many of you shopping goers out there know, Steve & Berry bit the dust and joined many others in the bankrupt-economy in the sky. It happened a couple months ago, but for some reason I was thinking about it today. I've only been to Steve & Berry once or twice, and it was towards the end of its time with us. I wish I listened to long-time BFF and name-twin when she told me to go there because everything was so cheap!

During my shopping visit, I discovered Bitten. Bitten is Sarah Jessica Parker's affordable clothing brand! I bought a pair of jeans for under $20 and because they were closing, it only came out to like $5.00!! Great deal and it's one of my favorite pairs of jeans. Everyone knows that it's hard to find a great pair of jeans, and if you find a brand you like, stock up.

Well, today I was thinking that I need to stock up. I know Steve & Berry has been gone for a few months, but in the back of my head I didn't worry because there is always online shopping. I've been looking for an online store for the past hour and haven't found any! I've found some on ebay and other sites like that, but I don't want those. I came across an article in People magazine online and it said that SJP has gotten offers from retailers to be the new home of Bitten, but she wants to make sure she is making the right move for her customers. The right move is to make it available online, like now!

If anyone knows where Bitten is being sold...like a reliable online store...let me know!

Saving the World, One Plastic Bag at a Time

If there's one bandwagon to jump on, its the re-usable bag one! I'm totally hooked on these. If you're like me, then you have tons of plastic bags laying around. I recall seeing Target, Forever 21, and Macy's plastic bags in my room as I left this morning. I'm still getting used to remembering to bring my re-usable bags with me, hence those plastic bags currently in my room.

Well, in my quest to save the world, I came across some merchandise in Macy's back in December. They were really cute so I started to look more closely at them. At the time, I was buying Christmas gifts so I thought the make-up-sized bag would be perfect for my girls. And then I noticed the tag said "featuring artwork by Kanye West." I started looking at other ones and there were some by Heidi Klum, David Bowie, Giorgio Armani and Gwen Stefani.

Here's a tid-bit of what the tag said:
The signed artwork reproduced on this garment is the original work of the celebrity artist and has been donated for the exclusive use of the Whatever It Takes campaign, which has so far raised over $1,500,000 for charitable projects worldwide.

How cool is that? These celebrities actually drew out these designs! I wanted to research more about what Whatever It Takes.org is all about and found out this organization is based in the UK. Which got me thinking, "Why are they selling things here?" Then I saw they are trying to tackle key global issues, such as poverty alleviation, environmental conservation, and the protection of children. These celebrities contribute their designs to the items sold from Whatever It Takes.org and the sales of their products go to the celebrities' charities of choice.

This organization supports tons of causes around the world, not just in the UK. A few that I picked out from the list are:

• CARE International - works in more than 70 countries around the world tackling poverty where ever the need is greatest. It has impacted 45 million people worldwide


• LIFEbeat - the US music industry's charitable organization, dedicated to reaching America's youth with the message of HIV/AIDS prevention.


• St. Judes Children's Hospital - discoveries made here have completely changed how the world treats children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases.


• Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program - works to improve the lives of patients and their loved ones by providing at-home help, childcare, transporation, access to support groups and patient care srvices offered within Cedar-Sinai Medical Center.

Check out a full list of causes and their charity report here: http://www.whateverittakes.org/causes.php

Well, when I was at Macy's looking at the Whatever It Takes.org merchandise, I came across a bag that contains four reusuable bags! I didn't buy it at the time because I was Christmas shopping and told myself not to buy anything for myself. Well, ever since then, I've regreted it because the bags were really cute! I started looking online for them, but the Whatever It Takes.org is based in the UK and the prices were listed in pounds. I'm always a little scared to buy something that's not in dollars. And the website didn't have the bags I wanted. I searched in other places and saw other people who were like me and discovered this organization in places like Urban Outfitters. Well, long story short, I found my bags! I got the ones designed by Lucy Lui.

What I like about them, besides the fact that they are loud and colorful, is that they roll up and are secured by a button so they are only about 3 inches big, which means they are easy to carry!

Ode To A Cupcake

This week, even though it is a short one, has been oh so uber hectic. The sucky thing about it is that it's not over yet. Today marks my busiest and longest day thus far.

It started off at 5 AM when my alarm clock goes off. I usually don't wake up that early (or shall i say...I NEVER wake up that early), but I had an uber early meeting. Let me take this opportunity to thank my collegues in Boston for scheduling it. I actually didn't wake up exactly at 5 AM, so I had to call-in to the meeting from my car (thank you renee for the bluetooth, it came in handy!). Getting into work when no one is here actually made me feel good. I won't be doing that often, but at least I got to experience it once, hah! So moving on. You would think that because I came in early, I would leave early. That's not the case, my friend. I actually have to stay later than usual! And not only that, I have class tonight and will have to sit there for four straight hours.

So knowing that my day is not even close to being over, I decided to take a mid-day Starbucks break. I needed some caffine in my body, like ASAP. (Oh, did I mention my 'coffee only once a week new year's resolution' is totally over?) So me and my friend from work head over to our fave Starbucks spot and we are in line. Then I hear her say, "Red Velvet Cupcake!" *Gasp...I know! I look into the pastry section, and like a ray of light shining on it....I see it. Two red velvet cupcakes. (pause for dramatic effect)

It was perfect, one for each of us. It's amazing that this little cupcake changed my whole outlook on my day. It doesn't beat Marita's though (if you don't know about Marita's then you are certainly missing out). But it did hit the spot. Mmm...cupcake.