Shipping Our Wedding Video
Posted on January 4, 2003 by Ching under Family.
You have no idea how much it costs to ship an expedited package internationally! Err — I had no idea how much it costs! On the up-side, I now have a FedEx account! “What in the world am I trying to send?” you might ask. “And what’s the rush?” I never wrote about it before because I was too upset but, now that we have the wedding videos, I’m not upset anymore. Anyway, we were promised the wedding videos before Christmas so that mom and dad could take a couple to show our relatives back home. The videos didn’t get done in time so mom and dad left without it. We finally got them back and I want to ship their copy over there so they can enjoy watching it with the grandparents etc. I, being Filipino and all, immediately think DHL. I spoke with Dad just a couple of hours ago and he actually suggested the same thing. We used to get a lot of DHL packages in the Philippines. I am so glad that I comparison-shopped! In order to get the package there within five days, DHL was going to cost $60 while FedEx would cost only $45 approximately. Needless to say, I signed up for a FedEx account. I even signed up for the super-saver thing that gives me a 10% discount on all my shipments. Neat, huh? I have all the stuff at my desk (at work) already. I got some mailers and waybills from the drop box in the Commerce building so I’m good to go. I don’t even have to write my credit card number on the waybill, just my FedEx account number. I’m so excited! I can’t wait to start shipping all sorts of FedEx packages (hopefully not too many international ones) already! Gack! How pathetic is this? Getting excited about shipping a package? Wait till I write about the antenna that Brian got me for my small TV at work! It’s disguised as a picture frame! I’ll spare you the details, but you better believe you’ll be seeing a picture of it here soon!
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More Christmas Loot
Posted on January 3, 2003 by Ching under Family, Toys.
This really has been a bad week for my stomach. First I have that weird stomach flu then I have a major puking binge. New Year’s even would have been great had I not decided to drink an entire bottle of Tropico by myself. I was well on my way to to drinking the whole one liter bottle. Brian, amazingly enough, drank three of those big Bud Light bottles. This is amazing because he is allergic to alcohol and usually drinks only twice a year (and even just one beer at that). Anyway, everyone left and it was time for bed — it was “puky” time. God, it was awful! I ended up puking up Tropico and Chili-Cheese Fritos. After a good fifteen minutes of vomitting into the toilet, I felt I was done so Brian and I retired to the spare bedroom. Everything seemed under control — for a while — until Brian woke me up because I had apparently barfed into his armpit. He tries to get me to get up and go to the bathroom to puke some more, but I am difficult to wake when I’m already asleep. All he did was make me vomit all over the side of the bed. He finally succeeds at pushing me off the bed and getting me up. I go to the bathroom. Not much comes out. I linger over the toilet for while, just to be sure. I return to the bedroom to find the mattress turned over and stripped of all bed linens. Brian is severly pissed. My throbbing head combined with the queasy feeling in my stomach has stripped me of all energy. I just want to lay back down. The time is now almost five am. Brian tells me to put my clothes on while he is doing so himself. He wants us to drive all the way back to our house because we have no where to sleep due to the bed-vomitting episode. I resist, but he wins. Of course, he is sober and I am out of it — it was no contest. I was so out of it that he tells me I tried to open the car door at well over 55 mph to spit outside. He had to yell at me to stop. I only have a vague memory of what transpired. I seriously thought to myself that Brian was just making it up, except for the puky taste in my mouth and the severe hangover that I had when I woke up the next day. Tomorrow I go over there to wash the bed linens. And to think mom and dad thought their house was safe! [Just kidding, mom and dad!! Don’t worry, I didn’t vomit on the carpet!]
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Ratchet & Clank
Posted on December 30, 2002 by Ching under Games.
Brian and I have been staying up late at night fighting over whose turn it is to play. The game that we are fighting over? Ratchet & Clank. It is so much fun! The first week that Brian bought it, I pretty much left him alone. I went to bed and he stayed up playing until the wee hours of the morning. He doesn’t have to get up early for work so he has that luxury.
Anyway, I got to try it while he went to the bathroom one day and things haven’t been the same since! I don’t think he expected this reaction either. After all, I’ve never really shown any interest in his favorite video games (GTA, Vice City, GT).
I like Galaga and the Tekken series and DDR — and now, Ratchet and Clank! It’s got a cuteness factor to it and it reminds me of when I used to play Super Mario (it’s a highly evolved form of the same kind of game, to me anyway) when I was younger. Now, we have to take turns..
It makes Brian mad sometimes because now he has to share it with me instead of being able to hog the game to himself. It’s not a two-player game, if that’s what you’re wondering. He often makes fun of the way I play (kind of like when he makes fun of me when I karaoke) saying that it’s painful. I do tend to run around in circles, but I can’t help it when I’m not wearing my contacts. I can’t see very well without them. I only laugh it off and tell him, “Yeah! I play Rachet and Clank like the way you type (I have always made fun of his two-finger typing style)! Only I play better!”
If you are squeamish do not read any further — I warned you!
Speaking of staying up, I had some really awful food poisoning last night! Brian thinks that it might have been some undercooked pork. We made one of these Campbell’s Supper Bakes, but followed the instructions and everything. I was telling Angie at work about my whole experience: excruciating cramps (imagine having diarrhea and constipation at the same time).. Anyway, it was awful. She goes, “Where did you eat?” I go, “At home.” She laughed at me, “You made yourself sick!” Like that’s impossible! It looked cooked to me. Brian thought it was, too! Well, maybe his was cooked — he didn’t get sick after all. Anyway, she tells me that it’s better to cook without timing — check it periodically and when it looks and feels done, then it is. Only one problem — how do I know what it’s supposed to look and feel like? What’s really baffling is that I have a more resilient stomach than Brian does! I can eat just about anything and not get sick. I can’t believe that I got sick and he didn’t! Not that I wish for him to suffer the same pain that I did — oh, it was awful — I wouldn’t wish for it on anyone! Anyway, I had to go to the bathroom right before bed (I really though I could just sleep the cramps off).. And then I woke up at like five am and went to the bathroom again! It was really horrible. And then before I could take my shower this morning, I had to go to the bathroom again! I seriously thought about staying home and not going to work. Anyway, I did go to work and I survived. I’m feeling much better now.. Tonight we may stay up again, but thankfully it won’t be because I have to keep going to the bathroom. Hopefully, it’ll be spent playing Ratchet & Clank! Or even better yet —
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Post Christmas Spending
Posted on December 29, 2002 by Ching under Life, Toys, Wishlist.
Yesterday was an expensive day for us. I got Brian a DVD player for the bedroom as part of his Christmas (he really thought he was getting a wireless keyboard and mouse but I thought that a DVD player for the bedroom would be more useful) so we don’t have to keep moving the PS2 around. Sometimes he’ll want to watch a movie that either (a) I’ve already seen or (b) I don’t really care to watch so I don’t want to watch it with him in the family room (where the DVD player and big screen TV are). We don’t ever spend time apart so as a compromise he’ll bring the PS2 to the bedroom and watch it in there while I lay asleep in his arms. He’d been wanting a DVD player for the bedroom for as long as I can remember so I finally relented. Little did I know that this gift would beget another expense: a new TV. The 27″ that we have (correction: had; it’s been replaced as of yesterday) in the bedroom was inherited from one of his relatives and I think it was made before DVDs were invented because it didn’t have the necessary input/output jacks in the back. We could have kept it and just hooked the DVD player to the VCR which is hooked to the TV, but as anyone who has ever tried this ghetto-ass way of hooking a DVD player up knows the picture does a very annoying light-dark-light-dark thing throughout the show because of most DVDs’ copyright protection feature. We contemplated getting a converter thingamajiggie, but I figured that it would cost 1/3 of the price of a new TV (you can get cheap 27″ TVs for like $200 nowadays) and the one the we had was really old anyway so we might as well splurge. Besides, I felt really guilty for not anticipating the need for a new TV. Hey, it’s Christmas after all! I told Brian that if he gave me the $50 that mom and dad gave him as part of his Christmas I’d fork out the difference. We found a Toshiba 27″ full-featured one for just $249 at Best Buy (to match the Toshiba DVD player that I got for him — hey, it has to match! LOL! — you’re talking about me, the girl who had to buy a new webcam to match her black and gray computer — and man, was that difficult! most webcams come in an icky cream color). It works really great and the picture quality is wonderful. The only thing that was disappointing to me was that the website said it came in black, but the ones at the store were in charcoal gray. Oh, well. At least it’s the same brand as the DVD player. So anyway, we did some creative re-arranging with (Brian’s brother) Kevin’s help. The TV that was in the bedroom moved to the office and the TV that was in the office has moved to the living room (which didn’t have a TV before — I figured it will be useful in there so we can watch the Bowflex instructional videos directly in front of the machine when it comes and we won’t have to run back and forth from one of the other rooms — Brian wants to drill a hole through the wall and run cable to it because he wants to watch TV while he’s working out — hey, whatever makes him happy). The only room that we didn’t have to mess with was the family room and thank God for that! That would have been a nightmare! We took Jen (my sister) and Kevin out to lunch at Applebees afterwards (Brian paid for everything except the alcohol, which went on Jen’s tab — she and Kevin had some drinks) to thank them for their help. Then Jen, Brian and I went to the mall to pass the time. Jen got a $50 gift certificate to Victoria Secret from Matt (her ex, and Logan’s father) that she wanted to redeem and Brian and I both had $30 mall certificates from his grandparents. Brian got some clothes from Old Navy and I got a corduroy jacket from Hollister with a fur collar and quilted nylon lining. It’s really cute — I can’t wait to wear it! I forgot to give the checkout girl at Hollister my certificate before she rang my jacket up. She felt bad and said she could re-do it, but I’m paranoid about that stuff so I just told her not to bother. The jacket was on sale anyway — I really thought it was still at the regular price — so I was kind of happy about that. We walked around the mall for a long time to find a place to spend my $30 certificate, but — for the life of me — I couldn’t find anything that I wanted. I decided that I might as well put it toward something that will last forever.. We ended up at Zales. I really wanted these 1/2 carat diamond solitaires set in platinum to go with my ring, but with my $30 they’d still be a good $470. Brian said that they were too simple and really weren’t my style so I ended up getting these hoop style earings with baguettes instead. They’re set in white gold (not really my preference), but they were on sale and one can’t argue with that! Anyway, Brian gets a new TV and I get a new pair of earrings and we’re both happy!
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Merry Christmas
Posted on December 24, 2002 by Ching under Family.
It is officially Christmas day in the Philippines (because of the time difference). Of course, we all know that true Pinoys do not celebrate on Christmas day but rather on Christmas eve.
Tonight Brian and I are headed to my parents’ house for some good noche buena food and to exchange gifts. Hopefully, Logan will be there.. But who knows? The weather has been awful lately and Matt (Logan’s father) might not feel up to it.
Tomorrow we celebrate with Brian’s family, as we have for the past four Christmasses now. I’m glad we don’t have to do that we have to spend Christmas day with MY family — no we have to spend Christmas day with YOUR family — no it’s MY family’s turn this year — but what about YOUR family thing because our families’ traditions do not intervene with one another.
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