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Isaac’s Office

Posted on December 22, 2009 by Ching under Flickr.

Isaac’s office was a crazy mess this morning! Very festive, though. 🙂

Lance, Isaac and I got to go on a tour of Wolf Creek today. It was really cool. Security there is very tight. Since I couldn’t take pictures at the power plant, I took pictures of the models at the Eisenhower Learning Center. That’s where we all met up for a brief presentation.

We had to ride a bus to the power plant for security reasons. If we drove in our own vehicles, we would have had to stand outside for 30 minutes to an hour while security searched each vehicle inside and out. They would pop the hood and trunks open and search every nook and cranny. The bus has already been searched so it was more efficient for all of us to pile in the bus instead of taking half a dozen vehicles over there to be inspected.

Security at Wolf Creek is ten times better than airport security. Armed guards are everywhere. Multiple fences covered by barb and razor wire surround the property. They x-ray your stuff, make you go through an air puffer thing and metal detectors. They have radiation detectors that attach to you. Your radiation level is measured before they allow you to leave, and on and on. At Wolf Creek, they take security very, very seriously.

The presentation and tour were really informative. I only wish that Brian could have gone with me. Maybe I’ll get to go again and am able to bring him next time.

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Office Artifact #1

Posted on November 12, 2009 by Ching under Flickr.

The first microwave oven ever made. And it still works!

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Halloween 2009

Posted on November 1, 2009 by Ching under Family, Flickr.

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Mom’s Birthday Party – Filipino Style

Posted on October 25, 2009 by Ching under Family, Flickr, Food and Drink.

We all had our nails done on the day of mom’s party. Well, all of us except for Brian. Even dad got his nails done.

The nail tech who came over, Nory (not sure of the spelling), is the official manikyurista of Tabuc. She goes to everyone’s homes to do their nails. For instance, going to Auntie Jessica’s house every couple of weeks and to Mama Iyay’s house every month.

Nail services in the Philippines are pretty inexpensive. My manicure and pedicure cost me less than $2, even after tip. It’s not like a spa mani and pedi but, for the nail tech to actually come to your house and perform the service, that’s huge. That way you don’t have to get your toenails muddy. =)

Earlier that same day, Uncle Wesley came by and gave mom a bouquet of flowers picked from his beautiful garden (which is next to mom and dad’s house). Mom and I thought that was very thoughtful of him.

I’m not sure what kind of flower that it, but it is very pretty.

Brian did a great job of moving the car out of the car port so we could make room for the tables. Auntie Neneng’s car is stick shift and with the steep incline and the narrowness of the carport, it was very tricky. However, Brian managed to move the car out without the use of a rock (I noticed the others, including Cholo who chauffeured us around whenever we used the car, have to do that before they can switch from reverse to drive). This is further proof of Brian’s expert stick shift driving ability. Go, baby!

With the car out of the way, dad was able to clean the tile floor using walis ting-ting (stick broom) and water. The carport doubles as a patio, when there is no car parked. The architecture of mom and dad’s house in Opao is actually really creative and functional. Did I mention that, besides the tile floors, the walls are tiled also? This way you never have to worry about wooden walls rotting or having to get the walls repainted. I think the tile walls withstand the strong rainstorms better than regular walls also. Their house is very well-suited to the local climate.

Later in the afternoon, the soda arrived. Mostly Coke, but there was some Sprite also. In bottles of course.

Coke is the drink of choice in the Philippines. Brian knows this first hand now. Once you cross the Pacific Ocean to the other continent and arrive in the Philippines, Coke tastes like Pepsi (which is our – when I say our, I mean Brian and me – cola of choice here) and Pepsi tastes like bad watered-down cola.

We set up extra tables and chairs around the house. Okay, so someone else set up the tables and chairs for us. We helped a little, though.

There were tables and chairs in the carport/patio and also the front porch. We have a huge extended family so we had to make sure there was enough seating for everyone.