It's almost Christmas

And nothing like listening to Christmas songs while wrapping Christmas gifts can make you feel the spirit of the season.

My work desk - at home

I haven't been out to my "real" office this week - on my 4th day running.  So I thought I'd share what my work desk looks like at home.  It isn't much, but for some reason I very much rather like working at home more than I do at the office.  Although on hot summer days, I'd rather freeze at the office than fry in my own oil at home.  Anyway...

My very messy work desk at home

I've converted our old dining table into our work desk.  This is where the hubby also does his OT work or online "window" shopping :D  I do lots of things here, like work, blog, facebook, tweet, pay bills, online banking, skyping, scrapbooking, gift wrapping.  You name it, this table has seen it all.  And more, in fact :D

To my right is a window where some birds take refuge on rainy days.  To my left is the flight of stairs and where we also put the towels to dry - dual purpose.  In front of the desk is a small window and a blank wall.  I'm still thinking what to put against the wall.  I'm thinking bookshelves or paintings.  We'll see how this progress.

My trusty Blackberry and Ipod

I can't live without both.  I even sleep with them under my pillow.  I get in touch with people from work, the hubby, family and friends through my blackberry.  For me, BBM is LOVE :D  My Ipod gives me music (listening to Miss Saigon sound track at mo, and yes, I love musicals).  I'm a huge fan of Plants vs Zombies!  I play PvZ before going to sleep.  If I get stumped at an issue at work, I play PvZ to give me a short break.  I play it while waiting in line.  It's my daily doze of relaxation hehe



Blackberry earphones

 I need this for those quick calls with officemates or clients.  It works great as it takes out all the ambient noise and I get to hear clearly what the other person is saying in the other line.  And they won't know where I'm at!  Plus very convenient coz I'm hands free.

Landline with speaker phone

There are times when the wireless signal go haywire, like you know, last night, I have my speaker phone to use during conference calls.  The unit actually has a handphone, but for the life of me, I can't find it.  So all my landline calls are on speaker, even when I order our gas or set an appointment with our suking Spa LOL

External drives

Let's just say that I have lots of files, both work and not work related.  So I have lots of external drives.  There's even a red one, but it's plugged into our media drive downstairs.

I'm a fan of CD-R King

And because I have lots of stuff attached to my laptop, I need a USB port.  Hence the blue USB port from CD-R King.  And I when I need to upload pictures, I have the CD-R King card reader.  Both are really cheap and work well.  My card reader is already as old as my son and even survived about 2 other card readers.  My USB port is quite new, but so far, it's doing it's job really well.

Fan-ny han-ny

There's a small fan for my laptop.  And then a desk calendar, to keep me updated hehe!  And an well, an extension wire for the power cords.




To file and pay

 At the other end of the table, I keep the things to file, fill-out and pay.  I keep it in a separate corner where there's space for writing.

So, that's my work space.  What about yours?

To red or not to red

I'm not an expert in make-up, in fact, I don't do a lot of make-up.  I have to attend a close friend's wedding, so I had to practice putting on make up.  So I did a couple of experiments and had my boys judge.  Here's what I did:

The hubby thinks the pale pink is better.  He likes the natural look.  The little one loves the red.  Coz red is nice, right? LOL

So what do you think?

Small talk

While driving towards Laiya last Wednesday night with friends, they commented that I wouldn't last a minute without talking.  I really think that I would.  I mean, there would be moments when I'm with the hubby that we don't talk.  And not just when I don't "feel" talking to him, but those moments when we have coffee and just relax.  But then, my friends proved me wrong on that very night.  LOL.

Last night hubby and I were waiting for our take-away dinner.  We both just had our hair cuts.  And I was still mourning the loss of my long curly hair.  It was just getting too dry, so I had to chop off the dry roots. 
Anyway, the conversation went like this:

We converse in Bisaya so I've added the English transaction
Me: Ganahan ka sa akong mubong buhok? (Do you like my shorter hair?)

Hubby: Yes.
Me: Mas ganahan ka sa akong mubo or taas na buhok? (Do you like my shorter hair or my longer hair?)
Hubby: Mubo (Shorter hair)
Me: Mas ganahan ka sa akong mubo na straight or taas na kulot? (Do you like my shorter straight hair or my longer curly hair?)
Hubby: Mubo (Shorter hair)
Me: Dili diay ka ganahan sa akong kulot na buhok? (You don't like my curly hair?)
Hubby: Dili (No)
Me: Nganong ganahan man ka sa akong mubo nga straight hair? (Why do you like my shorter straight hair?)
Hubby:  Daghanang pangutana sa buhok oi! (Too many questions on hair!)
Me: hehehehe

Long Weekends are LOVE!

The long weekend almost came out a surprise.  Only was aware of it with less than a month to go, by then it was too late to plan something.  Plus, it is monsoon and typhoon season.  My cousin and I did plan to do something over the weekend - but it was not a concrete plan.  More of like lets-plan-something-if-we're-not-lazy-to-go-out.



Our weekend munchies

  So we spent Saturday holed up at home.  Watched movies, played PSP, filed out application forms, cleaned up my files. 




Photocredit: http://www.thinkhero.com/

And then after hearing mass on Sunday, we watched Cars 2 on Sunday.  My little boy was so excited to watch, but when we were watching, he lost interest.  The plot was too adult, I think.  Cars (the first movie) was a whole lot better.

Biking with my family at Nuvali

Thankfully, the rain finally let up last Monday.  So we were able to go out of the house and bike around Nuvali.  The little one was able to keep up with us, and biked with us for about 3k.

Now the long weekend is winding down.  But until night rolls in, I'm going to savour every minute.

All the talk about breastfeeding

Picture from http://www.breastfeedingproblems.org/to-breastfeed-or-not-to-breastfeedthat-is-the-question/

I’ve been reading about breastfeeding from a few blogs, such as Toni of Wifely Steps. It made it take a look back at my attempts in breastfeeding my little one, some five years ago. Getting pregnant at 28 for the first time isn’t really high risk yet. But unfortunately, I didn’t have an easy pregnancy. The first 3 months flew by like a breeze, I didn’t suffer any morning sickness at all, in fact, I didn’t think I was pregnant. I had polycystic ovaries then, so I wasn’t alarmed when I didn’t have my period for 3 months.

But then the 5th month rolled in and I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and hypertension. I went to see the doctor every week for ultrasounds and other tests. And then I was advised to best rest with long hospital admissions until the 8th month. I had to take a leave from work and delivered my little boy a month pre-mature. Good thing my doctors were really cautious. My little boy has healthy thankfully, but he was on IV the first 2 days. I only got to see him on the second day at the nursery.

Before I gave birth, I was keen on breastfeeding him. Reading and hearing of all the benefits of breastfeeding made me decide to do it, plus it’s very economical. I bought a breast pump and prepared bottles to keep the milk for when I needed to get back to work.

So I gave birth and the first time we tried to breastfeed, he couldn’t latch properly but thankfully he got the colostrums. The nurses at the hospital were very supportive, so every 2-3 hours or so, I went back to the nursery and tried. He only was able breastfeed so quickly. When we got home, we had to mix formula and breastfeeding, as my milk supply wasn’t enough for him. In between trying to breastfeed, I pumped milk. Sadly after a few days, my milk just dried up  I tried all kinds of ways to increase milk supply – my mom cooked me soup every day, I had malunggay too.

I couldn’t breastfeed. Regrettably, my son wasn’t breastfed. Fortunately though, he’s been a healthy kid. Save for a few bouts of flu, coughs and colds. My pedia said that we shouldn’t worry a lot since there are a million kids of flu viruses, and we might encounter a couple of hundreds. If and when we are blessed with another baby, I will still try breastfeeding. Maybe my milk supply would be better then.

Random for a Friday

So it's rather been an interesting few weeks.  And my thoughts are kinda scattered lately, so I'll just put in random thoughts in bullet points.

• It was my son, K, first time to have first quarter exams.  And I was the nervous wreck!  I prepared sample quizzes and pushed him to study harder... hard enough that my husband, D, asked me to stop several times.  I just want him to excel, and I worry about his Filipino.  By the last day, I calmed down a bit since it's Math and it helped that K always told me the exams were easy.  Let's wait for the report card then. haha
• Bills keep piling up.  The thing is, money isn't always enough.  But we are spending for investments and savings.  It's just hard to scrimp, and want that bag or that IPad! :D
• Finding the right school for your kid is very hard.  And applying for that school is so competitive!
• September is my birthday month.  This is the year we try to get pregnant for the second time.  Hopefully, I'll be healthy enough.  More trips to the doctors.  Again.
• October is the month we'll know if our lives will change next school year.  Anticipation is so nerve wracking!

I take this Friday with a lot of things in mind, as we ease into the weekend.  Hope your weekend will be well spent!

Dude, share the road!

I've been biking since April of 2010.  And I do enjoy it thoroughly, specially if I biked through a hilly road and I get there in one piece! :D Can't avoid passing through major roads in our area, there are really no other roads to use. 

I find that most Filipino drivers - cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles - don't know how to treat bikers on the road.  After all these near-death experiences, I though I'd share a couple of tips to drivers when they see bikers.  You might be able to save life or limb, or both.

1.  Don't honk your horns before passing by a biker.  Most bikers are aware of their surroundings.  We know if there's a car behind us - we hear you even before we see you.  There's really no need to honk your horns, dude.  Seriously.  Horns are quite loud you know, we could loose our hearing.
2.  If you overtake a biker, please give him/her, at least 1.5 meters distance.  Hello, we are balancing on a two-wheel thing, if we get distracted, we could so easily loose our balance and heaven forbid, you might run over us!
3.  Make bikers cross first.  When you're in an intersection and the biker is going straight, you'll be turning, make the bikers cross first.  Again, we're balancing on a two-wheel thing, a little consideration for us.
4.  When you're in a narrow road with a biker, slow down, better yet, wait for your turn.  Would you miss a life altering event if you just slowed  down for a bit?  Don't overtake a biker in a narrow road and again, don't honk your horn!

The above tips are not difficult to follow.  These are all I have for now... if I think of more, I'll post it here again.

Again, DUDE, SHARE THE ROAD!

Not a millionaire

I never wanted to become a millionaire when I was a kid.  But I've always wanted a comfortable life, for me and for my loved ones.  A life where I could send my kid to the best school I can afford.  Take vacations when there's time for it, to see and experience the world.  To be able to afford celebrations when there's something to celebrate.  To have a comfortable house we all could fit in and call a home.  To have healthy food on the table.  To be able to work because we want to, not because we need to.  To quit a job because we don't enjoy it anymore, without worrying about how to pay the bills.

I never craved for wealth, as much as others I know do.  I wished though that money is easy to earn and always more than enough to pay bills and spend on retirement.  But sadly, there are days when it's just too difficult to get up, dress up and get to work.  When it's so much of a hassle to get on that tricycle, van or taxi to go to work.  When work load is overwhelmingly piling up.  And really, just hard. 

But then you do, you have to.  The minute you hear your son say "Good Morning", and you know that you want to give him the best of what you can give and send him to the best school you can afford.  The second you see your husband, who you want to grow old with and spend many happy, long vacations with.  You get up.  Because you love them. 

And so off we go to work.

Cabin fever

I haven't been out of the house for more than 30 mins since Wednesday.  Yesterday, I stayed put since it was raining non-stop.  Later in the afternoon, our gasul was empty.  I needed to got out, but opted to ask the yayas to use charcoal.  And it worked, we had hot food on the dinner table :)

This morning, I was contemplating about going to Makati but then saw the cloudy sky.  I ended up staying home and remembered it was Game 5!  I did do a 30-minute walk/run around the village, just to move a little.  And then worked, watched Game 5, cheered for both teams and then worked again.

But now, I absolutely must go out.  To get money to have our gasul delivered and buy milk too for my little one.  Perhaps get a Yellow Cab pizza as well.  Who knows. *grin*

I'm actually fine with this kind of life.  Work, play with my little one, call a friend, blog, watch tv - all inside the comforts of our home.  I don't get cabin fever much, as long as I have everything that I need within reach.  In fact, last Sunday, we went out to Festival Mall in Alabang, there were too many people!  I literrally got dizzy with all the moving, shoving and walking in the crowd.  Don't get me wrong, I love malls, but only when they're not full to the brim.  I don't like crowds much apparently.

So, now, I must go out.  The promise of pizza is the only thing that makes me want to go.  *grin*

Pambahay

A cousin posted this pic on Facebook.  It was taken when we were about 2-3 years old.  It was 4 of us cousins, 3 girls on the first row all in sandos and underwears.  It's how I always remembered us dressed at home, sandos and underwears - until I went into Grade 1. 

Taken probably in 1979 or 1980, in front of our grandparents house

Maligayang May

May was such a blur.  We went to so many events, went to a few nice places, didn't have a yaya for a week (another blog post is needed here), went swimming a lot and threw our first ever party at our new home :)

Oh and I spent a week in HK for work.. and stayed at my favorite hotel :)



We enjoyed milk and fruit shakes galore!



Summers should be spent swimming to your heart's content! :)



My plus 1 at a friend's wedding :D

Perfect explanation

Kids grow up so fast!  My little one is not so little anymore and he asks and says the most interesting things.


Enjoying a late afternoon swim

The other week, we celebrated his Dad's promotion (congrats D! so proud of you!).  While we were preparing for bed, my little one, K, asked me "Why don't you get promoted too Mom?".  Ouch anak! haha

And really made me think.  I was a go-getter pre-motherhood.  I went for a promotion like there was no tomorrow.  I worked crazy hours and almost lived at the office, just to get promoted.  Thankfully I got promoted a lot then... I even became an Operations Manager for 2+ years. 

But then 2 years after I gave birth, I chose non-manegerial post and basically stepped off the rat race.  My role now gives me more time with my son and hubby since I could work from home and don't have a team to look after.  I don't have to render a lot of overtime work now too, which is great since my health can't take less than 7 hours of sleep.  The thing is, there isn't a lot of growth in my role now.  But it's all good and I like it.  No, I LOVE it.  It's perfect for me, since I don't need to get promoted to know what I'm worth.  I get salary increases annually, and I get good bonuses too (it could be better though haha). 

How do I explain all this to my son though?

Yesterday, I worked from home.  While we were at our room, about to take an afternoon nap, he was smiling his lovely smile and suddenly hugged me so tightly.  I asked him why he was so happy, he said "Because you're here".  And that's the perfect explanation to why I don't run after a promotion.

Online Garage Sale

I've posted some stuff over Facebook, and I thought I'd offer it here too.  I'm trying to clean out my closet... on most days I can barely close it!  So help me unload stuff by buying some of my stuff. 

Let me know if you're interested by commenting on this post and we'll talk business :)

As with any online sale, shipping will be shouldered by the buyer. I can also meet-ups if you're around Makati or Laguna.

Oh and please share if you know someone might be interested.  Thanks!

*Sigh*

There are a lot of changes at work.  My boss' boss has left, as well another team mate in S. Korea.  For a day or two, I felt lost somehow and scared.  What if I happened to me too?  But I had managed to shake it off, life still has to move on, I knew. 

But then it hit home.  And it hit home oh so closely.  My very dear friend, one I drank with, smoked with (yes I was a smoker for a time but am now smoke free for 6 years!), ate with, partied with, hanged out with and shared my life with, is leaving the company.  She told me over the phone, 3 days after being told, so she was by then, quite calm.  I was the one crying.  I felt like it won't be the same anymore.  And I knew it won't be. 

For sure, the friendship will be there forever.  But we won't be seeing each other much.  No more quick chat over coffee.  I won't be able to pick up the phone and share the latest office gossip (hey, that's part of networking too! :D).  No more short messages over email or our messaging system.

I'll so miss her.  I just know it.  She has the juicest kwentos and the heartiest laughter at work.  We have been the unstoppable duo ever since 1999.  We always had each other backs', ready to defend each other and fend off preys.  No one can top that.

*Sign*.

 I'm pretty sure I can move on, but for now, allow me to wallow in this misery. 

With all these travelling

So my family and I went to HK last month.  TBH though, it feels like it was so long ago.  The past weeks have been a roller coaster ride at work, a frenzy of activity at home too, with sprinkles of family visits, birthday parties and hospital check-ups. 

Anyway... as I was saying.  Just want to share that if you're looking for a cheap, clean place to stay overseas.  Use this website to book for stay - http://www.hostelworld.com/.  They're the best!  Yun lang.  And TGIF!  Don't eat meat folks :)

Don't bring a toy to school

We have the same smile no? :)

Conversation with my little boy last night:



Mommy: When you go to big school, and then a little boy will get your toy. What will you do?


Little boy: Who’s the little boy Mom? What’s his name?


Mommy: Let’s say his name is Jay.


Little boy: The toy have my name*, it’s mine. But I will share with him.
*right now, he marks all his toys with his name.


Mommy: But what if he says it’s his na. He won’t return it to you. What will do you?


Little boy: Why will he not return it to me?


Mommy: Because he likes to take other kids’ toy.


Little boy: That’s not nice! I will tell teacher.


Mommy: But what if teacher is not there.


Little boy: Why will teacher be not there?


Mommy: Maybe she went home na?


Little boy: But teacher don’t go home before us.


Mommy: Ok, maybe teacher is in the bathroom.


Little boy: I don’t like the little boy.


Mommy: Ok. What will you do?


Little boy: I will not bring a toy to school na lang Mommy.


So there it is :D


Every pre-school Mom’s fear is your child gets bullied in big school. My son’s an only child so every kid he meets, he treats them as playmates. Sometimes he meets a bully or a kid who takes advantage of my son’s friendliness. I hate to see that happen but it does happen, specially when we’re at a new place or at a kids’ party. I try to teach him how to handle bullies or kids who take advantage of him. I rather that I witness it happening so I can then teach how to deal with the situation.


Our little one will be in big school this coming June, I hope I’ve prepared him enough to fight off bullies. From last night’s conversation, it looks like we still have a long way to go. But at least we’ve taken a step towards that direction.

Listen, and pray fervently

Devastating news woke me up from my nap yesterday. Japan was hit by a huge earthquake and then shortly followed by Tsunami. I have officemates, friends and family in Japan so I was worried. Seeing the videos made it even scarier. My Papa, a Nostradamus fan, said that Nostradamus predicted all these - and lots of scarier events to happy by December 2012.

I fervently hope and pray that the predictions won't come true. Right now though, Japan needs our prayers and help. We must do what we can, when we can. It's just the humane thing to do.

It makes you think of course about your life. A very sad reminder for us to savor each day, do the best the you can and tell the people you love, that you love them. May we strive to do that each day. And PRAY with all our hearts and souls to keep us away from harm.

Chickun Lunch Smack Down

Back in Cagayan de Oro, we have the yummiest lechon manok - there was Coron-Coron, Dear Manok (and my Tita would always say Love, Liza hehe), The Barn, Sr Pedro, among others.  For a time, my hubby and I were thinking of setting up a lechon manok business here in Laguna.  But had to postpone coz we couldn't decide on which one.



Andoks - half chicken

Anyhoo, so my officemates and I got to talking about how yummy lechon manoks are.  Of course we couldn't agree which one is the yummiest.  The Luzon folks have their Baliwag and Andoks.  The new entrant to this is Chooks-to-go.  I actually love Chooks-to-go, so I was assigned to bring it to our "Chickun Lunch Smack Down" LOL 

Baliwag - whole chicken

The "Chickun Lunch Smack Down" was scheduled on a Friday.  Thursday night, I asked the hubs to buy me Chooks-to-go at the nearby Rustan's Supermarket.  It was 7pm, but they didn't have any available chicken anymore.  So after the hubs picked me up, we went to a Chooks-to-go take out counter, but at 8pm, they didn't have any stocks too.  I decided to just buy the next day, before going to the office.  The Chooks-to-go guy told me that they'll be open at 9am and will have cooked chicken at that time.

Sr Pedro - Whole chicken

The next day, I stopped by the same Chooks-to-go store at around 10:15am, but they still don't have any chicken cooked!  Moral of the story: don't count on the chicken before they are cooked :D  And another moral of the story:  Chooks-to-go need to improve their inventory and store hours.  Seriously.

We still had our "Chickun Lunch Smack Down".  I just grabbed a lechon manok from the Sr Pedro stall, beside Chooks-to-go.  My officemates brought Baliwag and Andoks.  To this day though, no one wants to say which lechon manok is the yummiest hehe  But in terms of pricing, Sr Pedro is the winner at P189 for a whole chicken.  Andoks was priced at P150 for half a chicken.  Baliwag was priced at around P300 for a whole chicken.  So who's the winner now? haha

*Pictures taken by my boss.  Yes, the event was co-sponsored by the management :D

Growing up

My little one turned 5 last February.  And he's so proud that he's 5.  He now eats with us on the dinner table, when before he ate on his table.  He started to shower on his own, although still with adult supervision.  He now sleeps on his own bed, although still in the same room as us, and it's actually just an extension of our bed.  And he's learned to bike without the training wheels.  In fact yesterday, we biked around our village together.  Can't wait to bring him to bike with us going to Cardiac Hill!

Family of bikers :)

Our bed has been invaded

... by Mario, Luigi and the Angry birds!


This meant no space for Mommy :(



Philippine Tourism as it's finest... or NOT!

At the Hong Kong Airport

My whole family travelled to Hong Kong last February.  I booked the tickets online through Cebu Pacific's seat sale promo last October 2010.  Got the tickets for just about PhP3k/per person round trip.  Pretty neat price, right?

As we were travelling on very tight budget, I prepared a detailed budget.  It was the first time my whole family will be travelling together, a group of 6 people.  Needless to say, it was a difficult task and I horrifyingly forgot to include the Travel Tax that travellers on budget airlines are required to pay.  As I went to pay the travel tax, each person had to pay P1.6k.  That's already the equivalent to a one way fare!  And seriously, where does this travel tax go?  Only Terminal 3 is working fine.  But Terminal 1 is still awful.  I mean, seriously?  What was I supposed to do but pay.  Grudgingly.  Plus we had to pay Terminal Fee of P750.  What for?

Anyway, we got to HK airport.  We were travelling with child, so we went to the immigration officer together and he was pleasant.  My son couldn't reach the counter, so the HK officer stood up, and asked my son his name, again very pleasant.  What a way to great a visitor to their country. 

When we went home to Pinas, we lined up for immigration counter for more than 30 minutes.  It was around 4am, we didn't have any good sleep and still we had to line up for a very long time.  The special counter opened up, so we moved there.  My son was so tired by then, so he was sitting on my feet.  The Philippine immigration officer, asked us very rudely, where my son is.  I replied, he's sitting down on the feet.  He answered, again very rudely "Ipatayo nyo.".  Whoa!  Is that how you get treated in your own country?  Welcome back Pinoys!  I stared at him, at his name plate so I wouldn't forget his face or name - Officer Domiguez.  I remember you.

My mom came here over the week to attend a seminar, and dropped by our home last Friday.  On Saturday, we brought her to the airport.  Before going to the airport, we passed by Rustan's where she got a wallet.  We didn't have much time, so she just shoved the little Rustan's package inside a bigger paper bag.  After going throug the first set of Xray machine, she noticed that her Rustan's package was missing from the paper bag.  She went back to the Xray people, and they all said they gave it to a Pinay with a foreigner husband.  Mama saw the Pinay and asked her, she said she gave it back to the Xray folks because it wasn't hers.  But the Xray folks at Gate 2 of Terminal 3 denied it and wouldn't even answer my Mom anymore.  She reported it to the Police, but they couldn't do a thing.  Lesson this time?  Be careful with all your belongings, if they Xray folks like it, it becomes their belonging.

We all brag about our wonderful country.  And it is a wonderful country, but our airport show a diffirent story.  It's not lovable at all.  We locals don't always have good experiences, what more if you're a foreigner?  The airport is the first impression a traveller has of a country or a place.  Why don't we improve it so travellers feel welcomed and ultimately, someday return to visit.

4 months?

The majestic Disneyland castle

It has been four long months since I last posted here.  Life just took over.  I posted about our problems with the Registry of Deeds (Calamba) in my previous post in October.  We finally were lucky enough to get all the papers prepared come December, so we were able to move to our (relatively) new house in less than 7 days.  Frenzy of activity, stress levels were so high!  We had to look for a carpenter to do a few minor repairs, get the screens changed and have a screen door installed in just 3 days.  But we did it, we moved in and spent our first holidays in our new home!

January came banging with piles of work.  School vacation is over, my Yayas came back from their annual trip home and my Mom went back home.  Then we had to prepare again for a trip to Hong Kong in February.  I spent practically the whole of January planning that trip, booking our hostel (thanks to http://www.hostelworld.com/), working on the schedule and the budget.  I'll write another post on that trip.

Then we went home again to Cagayan de Oro after our Hong Kong trip for my cousin's wedding.  It was an awesome, intimate wedding.  It was good to be with family again, to laugh, eat and chikka.

And now February is almost over - just one more day left.  Imagine that!  One thing's for sure this 2011.  I'm gonna be more active in blogging.  Swear! haha