Terrified – Didi Benami

I don’t know what it is but I really like her version of this song. I also liked her rendition of Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac. Then again, I love Fleetwood Mac. Stevie Nicks rocks!

My favorites among the women this week are Crystal Bowersox, Siobhan Magnus and, of course, Didi. I hope all three make it through to the final twelve. Good luck, ladies!

March 9, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Videos

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My Sexy Hunny Bunny

Check out my sexy hunny bunny on Sunday morning…

Wakey, wakey!

March 8, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Life

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Twin Peaks

After Lombard Street, Pia drove us to this area called Twin Peaks where you can get a 360 degree view of the entire city. The view from Twin Peaks is simply breathtaking and we never even would’ve known about it if not for Pia. Thanks, Pia!

Pia and JP at Twin Peaks

Ching and Brian

March 7, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Travel

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Driving Around San Francisco

And the trip recap continues…

Besides the Palace of Fine Arts, Pia drove us all around San Francisco after lunch at Boudin. It’s funny because as Pia was driving to various locations and passing by certain scenery, Jay would chime in with facts and miscellaneous informational bits. (Did you know that the color of the Golden Gate Bridge is not actually red? It is international orange.) It was like we were on our own private sight-seeing tour.

I would pit Jay against any tour guide and he would probably come out on top. He was very knowledgeable (he learned a lot on his first day in San Francisco, LOL) and quite entertaining.

Jay and Becca

We got tons of pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge because Pia drove us to the viewing areas on both sides. Here are some of my favorites.

Brian and Pia

Jay lines up a group photo

I hate having my photo taken, but they insisted.

This one of Pia and me taken with her iPhone.

After taking obligatory photos at the Golden Gate Bridge (no one visits San Francisco and misses photo ops of the bridge), Pia took us to Lombard Street. Lombard is also known as Crooked Street.

Not only is the street crooked and curvy, but it’s very steep as well. Riding in Pia’s Tahoe as she drove down the street was a religious experience. It felt like we were going to topple over at any moment. Apparently, it’s pretty safe to drive down the street because there were several cars doing the same thing (before and after our vehicle). None of them were Tahoes, though. LOL.

The closest and best parking that we could find was on this incline. That was also scary. We were literally parked at a 45 degree angle. Once again, I was fearful that the Tahoe would tip over and tumble down the street never to be seen or heard from again. I was afraid to open the door for fear of falling out.

As soon as I unlatched the door, it flung itself open just by virtue of gravity. Who knew doors were that heavy? I guess we take it for granted because we’re usually parked on an even horizontal plane. I tried to slow down the opening of the door by hanging on to it and it took a lot of work.

If that was a lot of work, walking up to the intersection so we could take photos was even more so. No wonder most people in San Francisco are skinny. It takes a lot of effort to walk on their steep hills. I felt like a gust of wind would topple me over. It was a very weird feeling.

Brian, Jay and Becca power walk the steep incline

Lombard Street is a popular attraction. There were a gazillion tourists taking photos.

Jay and Becca

Pia packed in a whole week’s worth of adventures in one day, but I’ll stop here for now. Next up, Twin Peaks and Pia’s favorite ice cream shop. To be continued…

March 7, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Travel

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Fishermans Wharf Courtyard Marriott

This is the hotel that we stayed at in San Francisco. It is located right on Fishermans Wharf so we were within walking distance of the pier and all the touristy stuff thereabouts. As I mentioned before in a previous post, we had fantastic service from the staff (specially Edward). I wouldn’t mind staying here again, even at full price.

Brian, Becca and Jay

I love traveling with the Dills because, being travel agents, they get the best deals on hotel rooms. The four nights of hotel stay at Fishermans Wharf in San Francisco cost us less than $250. What a deal!

Jay and Becca

Brian trying out the comfy bed..

Pigging out on In-N-Out

I do not recommend taking In-N-Out back to your hotel room. That odor just permeates the entire room and you can’t get rid of that In-N-Out smell.

Brian, Jay and Becca initially planned on eating at In-N-Out, but Brian said it was way too crowded. There was no place to sit. As a last resort, they decided to take the food “to go” and take it back to our hotel.

In the elevator, Brian asked Jay if he wanted to eat in their room or in ours. Without missing a beat, Jay said he’d like to eat in our room because he didn’t want to stink up their room. A stranger in the elevator laughed and said, “That’s some forward-thinking right there.”

As soon as they were done eating, I made Brian take out the In-N-Out sacks and leave it in the hallway for the housekeeping staff to pick up. It’s good burgers, but I can’t stand that smell. Blech. I think the hotel staff and other guests were probably ticked off at us because the hallway stank of In-N-Out the next morning. LOL.

Jay and Brian playing with the touch-screen computer in the lobby..

The touch-screen computer thing was really neat. You could get weather reports, maps, directions, local attractions, restaurants, shopping and all sorts of information. Of course, it couldn’t replace the knowledgeable concierge staff who you can count on to tell you exactly what bus numbers to take to get to specific places. (Edward was the best!)

The Spacious Lobby

This last photo was taken while we were waiting for our Super Shuttle pick up to take us to the airport. Unlike Vegas, which Brian despised.. He absolutely loved San Francisco. I’m pretty sure we will be back.

We so did not want to leave. Until next time, I guess.

March 2, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Travel

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COX, FAIL!

As many of you know, recently Ching and I moved out of our house and into an apartment. One of the many frustrations that occur is transferring your services from one place to another. I decided to get a jump on a lot of these by calling the week before we left for San Francisco (2 weeks before our move). Out of all of the services I called, none were as frustrating to deal with as Cox.

I called Cox the week of Feb 8th and spoke to a young lady in their Sales Department. She was kind but not very helpful. Being an ex-employee of Cox I found myself telling her how to do her job because she could not figure out how to add me to the bulk discount that Quarters at Cambridge offers. After several minutes of conversation she informed me of my new bill and the call was over.

On Feb 24th I called back to provide an accurate number of outlets and to make sure that the transfer was set up correctly and that the service would be activated on Saturday as I requested. I spoke to another rep that could not find any information on my new address and looked at my old address and found that the person I worked with before had simply set up my service to be disconnected but didn’t bother transferring any of my services to the apartment. I spent several more minutes on the phone with this rep making sure that everything was going to be set up and that I would receive the service I had on the day that I requested. Again, I was told with confidence that everything was fixed.

Saturday rolls around and I hook up the TV to make sure that everything is working. We checked the internet and to our surprise we had service. Satisfied I go to the business of putting together my new home and vegging in front of the TV in the evenings.

On Monday we come home from work and start to make dinner. We decide that we were going to watch some TV while dinner was cooking and that’s when we realized. We had no TV or Internet. I immediately called Cox and fight through their unbelievable automated system. Finally getting a hold of another tech person they ask me several questions only to tell me that I need to go to sales. I speak to a sales person who tells me he can fix my problem, places me on hold and then comes back several minutes later and tells me that everything is transferred and that we should have service in 15 min. I wait at least 20 because I know that it takes a little time to push the signal through. After the 20 min I call back and get a hold of a very nice woman named Bethany. She pulled up my account and found that the sales guy transferred my equipment but failed to activate it. She took the time to make sure that my internet was working and that all of my questions were answered. She advised that it was going to take an hour for the service to push through and that she would call back to make sure that everything was working fine. I advised her that I had been told this already and that they had all failed to follow through. She convinced me to trust her and sure enough an hour later she calls. Unfortunately, I was not home at the time and asked if she could call me back in 30 min. She agreed and sure enough, 30 min later she called and my services were working perfectly.

As compensation I was offered $20.00 towards my service for over 3 hours of frustration and the loss of confidence. If it were not for Bethany, I would have canceled my service and looked into an alternative method of entertainment. I have since sent a letter to Cox corporate detailing the above and advised them, it’s on them now. If they were in my shoes and had to go through what I had to go through, would $20.00 be enough. Would that pacify your frustration and disappointment in a service you have had for over 10 years.

In the mean time while I wait to get an answer from them, I am looking at alternative services. I like the Cox service and have never been disappointed with them in the past. They have always been helpful and more times than not, have resolved my issues with a minimum of effort. Hopefully they will see the error of their ways and offer something more substantial in the way of compensation. I guess only time will tell.

March 2, 2010 | Posted by Brian under Life

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Palace of Fine Arts

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the Palace of Fine Arts.

This is my friend Pia who I hadn’t seen since our wedding in 2002. The last eight years has gone by so fast. It was wonderful to see Pia again.

Fun picture of Becca, Jay and Brian taken at the Palace of Fine Arts.

Pia was a real trooper and drove us to several places on Friday. Her seven-seater Tahoe was perfect for driving around. The Palace of Fine Arts was just the first of many stops. Stay tuned for more pictures of all the places we visited on Friday, our first full day in San Francisco.

February 28, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Travel

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Boudin

Each day that we walked to Fishermans Wharf we were greeted by the fragrant aroma of fresh-baked sourdough bread. Brian and Jay would bask under the Boudin exhaust duct to get the full aromatic experience. The delicious aroma is like a drug that you just can’t get enough of… We would always walk on the Boudin side of the street toward Fishermans Wharf. LOL.

We worked up quite an appetite, wandering around Alcatraz. Jay and Becca had built up Boudin in their descriptions. The delicious aroma helped to seal the deal. We decided that we would go there for lunch.

In-N-Out is pretty hard to top for a first meal. We figured that Boudin could do it, just based on the smell. It’s so enticing that you just have to stop in.

Luckily, Sheryll had a break from her busy job fair schedule and was able to join us for lunch. Sheryll is my best friend from high school. We lost touch for a while after my family moved to the US in 1993. However, we got to spend a day together in 1998 (when mom, Jenni and I returned to the Philippines for vacation). That was the last time I’d seen Sheryll. We hadn’t seen each other since then.

Sheryll and her husband Clayton had just started seeing each other around that time, I think. Now they have three wonderful kiddos: Steffano (10), Cameron (9) and Sam (6). Sam is a spitting image of Sheryll.

I’m really grateful for Facebook because it makes staying in touch so much easier. It helped Pia — who I hadn’t seen in forever (almost eight years) also — and Sheryll and I to coordinate our San Francisco meetup. It was great to see Sheryll again and it was wonderful to finally meet her family.

But I digress… Going back to Boudin. I had a New England clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. It was delicious!

Everyone else had chowder also. You can’t go to Boudin and not have soup in a bread bowl! LOL.

February 28, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Food, Travel

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Alcatraz

Photo highlights from our Alcatraz tour…

Alcatraz was definitely one of the highlights of our San Francisco trip. It’s one of the items on Brian’s bucket list that he can finally cross off. He was adamant about going and told Jay, Becca and I several times that he would never be able to forgive us if we made him miss the Alcatraz tour. LOL.

The cool thing about the Alcatraz tour is that it is self-guided. The ferry takes you to the island and, once there, you’re pretty much free to explore on your own. There are several areas that are blocked off though, for safety reasons. You can spend as much or as little time as you like on the island. Ferries travel back and forth between the pier and Alcatraz every 30 minutes and you can return at any time.

There is a guide booklet that is available for a dollar and there’s a short informational video about Alcatraz. However, it’s the audio tour that is not to be missed. It takes about an hour or so to complete (longer if you keep pausing to take pictures like we did). LOL.

We boarded the 9:30 AM ferry and the four of us spent almost three hours touring, exploring and taking photos on the island. We probably could have returned to the pier by noon, but we missed that last ferry so we had to wait for the next one. I took 200+ pictures during our Alcatraz adventure. I couldn’t post them all here, but if you want to check them out visit my Alcatraz set on Flickr. Enjoy.

February 26, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Travel

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Overheard, Chingisms

While leaving the Walmart parking lot today, Brian and I almost crashed into a van that was cutting through the parking lot. Good thing Brian was alert and stepped on his breaks. Ticked off, Brian instinctively honked his horn. The guy kept on driving and, while still talking on his cellphone, managed to flash an obscene hand gesture our way.

BRIAN: What the hell?

ME: He obviously thought he had the right of way.

BRIAN: He didn’t. I hate stupid people.

ME: Chill out. It’s a parking lot.

BRIAN: But it’s so frustrating. Especially when I know I’m right.

ME: Now you know how I feel all the time.

Fast forward to this afternoon when Cory stopped by after work to pick up the cookbooks we found in the attic and the souvenir shirt we got for Gavin from our San Francisco trip (see above). We chatted for a bit and he is the one who suggested that we post our old dining table on Craigslist.

CORY: Do you guys like crab?

BRIAN: Ching loves crab.

CORY: If you want a break from moving, come join us for dinner. I’m cooking crab legs tonight.

ME: We can chip in. [To Brian] Do you still have cash, babe?

CORY: I got a good deal on crab legs. Only $5 per pound.

BRIAN: [Hands a $20 to Cory] Ching can eat her weight in crab legs.

ME: Well, in that case, that’s not going to be enough. I think you’ll need your credit card.

Brian says I’ve been acting weird all day. I don’t think I’m being weird. Just a little funnier. Okay, maybe I’m a tad wackier than usual. It must be the stress of moving. LOL.

February 26, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Life

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