[smartads] This morning I managed to get out of bed around 0738. No one woke me up, it just seemed like a good time to get up. Lita was getting ready to go to the market with Vicky, so I just checked my mail and blog. Nothing new for comments this morning. When I went to bed early this morning I had 15407 hits and when I checked there were only 15532. Not that many. Before Lita went to the market she brought Precious in here for a visit. Most of the time Precious is smiling, and today was no exception. I usually show her some of the pictures I have on the computer and ask who they are. She doesn’t answer except for me and her, than she just points. She’s getting there though, she says more words everyday. She still likes to call everyone Momma, but as long as she knows the difference, it doesn’t matter for now.
I didn’t mention yesterday that they had the water off all day to replace 3 valves along the water line. I had so many things to write about yesterday, I just decided to put it in today’s instead. Water was off from about 9:10am to about 5:10pm. We had warning so Lita filled up some buckets in the bath room, just in case. Since the water was off most of the day, it rained like crazy today. While Lita and Vicky were at the market it was coming down in buckets. I know they got wet at that market. It’s covered there, but not very well, and the place is old too. I know the few times I’ve been there, the dirt floor is so muddy. I wonder if the new market is going to have a concrete floor? I’ll have to ask Marlou about that, he’s the Engineering-in-Charge of the project. It sure would be nice if it was a concrete floor. It already looks like the top is going to be much better, because it is being built that way. The one downtown now, is all make shift stuff. Just a bunch of individual places built close to each other. This new place will have places already built for the vendor’s, I think. I’ll have to get Marlou to let me in there to take some pictures. It’s not very far from the house. In fact, if we stand on the second floor, and the trees weren’t there, we could see it clearly.
I need to answer Winda’s questions now. I already told them that rodents in the house is nasty. I’ve been telling them that since I’ve been here, but all I get is a smile and a, “They don’t eat much” remark. Once Titing told me that if I kill one of the rats, many more would come take it’s place. Think I told y’all that already, but just in case.
We usually go to Tambis the non-mountain way. There are only 2 ways, mountains and no mountains. The mountain way is too much up and down for me. We were coming back the mountain way last time, when the wheel fell off. Seemed like we were always going around a curve and/or climbing up or down, nothing just straight.
I don’t know the names of the towns we pass through, other than Catbalogan. The names are too hard to pronounce and remember. I need to get a road map of this area, if they make such a thing. That way I can better understand the route and the names. The trip takes between 8-9 hours. But we always stop at least once to eat and have an extended rest. I would guess a 30-45 minute stop. We’ve only been there once in the pos, and we had 7 total passengers in it then. Since Filipinos are so small, if there was nothing to carry except people, I think we could get at least 9, probably 11 people in there though.
I’ve been talking about giving this pos a test drive before our Tambis trip, but I forgot that we are not taking the pos this time. We are taking the big Pepsi truck. I remember I told y’all about that, because I was talking about making a stop on the way there so we wouldn’t interrupt the cash cow.
I hear Mar and Ludy out there. They haven’t been here the last couple of days. Or whenever I told you last, was the last time the were here. I need to go out there. Maybe they will say something that I can put in here, because I’m out again. I know I’ll think of something though.
I had some pansit for supper tonight. Not too much, just a small bowl of it with rice. I ate it outside while I talked with Mar and Ludy. Yes Mar did ask about the MJTS, and unfortunately I had to report to him that there is no activity. I reminded him that there are a lot of tourist services that are well established and ours is new, so it’ll be harder to get people. He seems to think I can get people to come, but that’s probably him just saying and being nice.
While we were out there some young ladies showed up selling a light that looks like a small flood light and it has a switch on the side of it that says “AC-Off-DC”. It works without electricity for up to 24 hours maximum, or so they say. It did work while the were out there showing us. I’m always suspicious of things like that, but we did buy one. Mar and Ludy bought two. It looks like the flood light, but as I’ve stated, you don’t even have to have it screwed into the light socket, and it still works. Like having a flashlight. I don’t know why they bothered buying one. I wouldn’t have if it would have just been me. Unless it recharges when you put it in a light socket or some other way, after you use it 2 or 3 times, it’s useless. We have to climb up on things to put in any lights around here too. If there is a brownout, then we have to climb up to install it and then climb back up to uninstall it when the lights come back on. Maybe we should just use it outside for the BBQ area during brownouts. That’s the only real area that we would need it in. We can use flashlights for the house. We wouldn’t have to climb up on anything for the BBQ area either. Thanks for helping me work that out.
Mar was talking about us going to Cebu next month. He was also saying that he would take care of all the transportation. But he also said that he probably wouldn’t have enough money to go to the Jungle Restaurant when we got there. Well if I’m going to Cebu, I’m going to the Jungle Restaurant. Besides we have our little get away plan for the early part of December in Cebu. I don’t know if I want to make 2 trips to Cebu and a trip to Tambis all in less than 1 1/2 months. Think I’ll pass on the Cebu in November and wait until December when Titing and Neneng will be going. Titing really would like to have the best steak he can get. He’s never had one with really good beef. I’m going to make sure he gets it. I’ll settle for the Tex-Mex food with pleasure.
World’s Best Finance Minister
In 1997, Roberto de Ocampo who was serving in the Cabinet of former President Fidel Ramos, was recognized as the “World’s Best Finance Minister” for overhauling the country’s tax system through the Comprehensive Tax Reform Package.
World’s Best Central Bank Governor
In October 2002, international magazine Global Finance named Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Rafael Carlos B. Buenaventura as one of the world’s two best central bankers for “his remarkable skill in guiding” the Philippine economy under a trying year. The other central banker named was Reserve Bank of Austalia (RBA) Governor Ian MacFarlane.
World Young Business Achievers
In 1995, Joseph Donato Pangilinan, president of Manila Pearl, won the World Young Business Achiever Award (WYBA) in London. In 1997, Renato Pangilinan, chief executive officer of Juventus International won the Entrepreneurship Award in Newfoundland, Canada. In 1998, Andrew James Masigan, founder of Dimsum n’ Dumpling won the Award of Excellence in Business Strategy.
They were so short I just put 3 of them.
Tagalog word of the day: tubig (to-big) means water.
That’s about all there is for today. Before Ludy left she bought 25 ice candies, all Mango, because we didn’t have any orange, lemon or pineapple. I don’t know if she plans on giving those away, putting them in her freezer to keep for later or if maybe she is going to resell them around that area for P3 each. I’d sell them if I was her, bet she could get P3 each. We only sell them for P2 each for large and P1 for the small. Of course the small ones are normally just mga bata here, because 1 peso is easy to get from the parents.
Salamat, Palaam
What do you need to open bank acct.,I heard now you need a ACRcard is this true,what did you need to open yours.When will the new market be open and where is it located.Have you ever thought of taking people on tours of samar there are more people going there,day or two day trips,you have the mits. to drive them around,i would have like that service my first few times there.
To open our dollar and peso accounts we needed 2 forms of ID and a good hand for writing, because there is a lot of it. I’m not even positive what an ACR card is, so I don’t have one. Isn’t that the Alien Registration card?
Not sure when the new market is open and I know where it is but not sure how to explain it, I’ll try. Well since you know Calbayog, I’ll tell you this way. If you are leaving Calbayog, you go past the new hotel towards Catbalogan, there’s a road that goes back into downtown Calbayog on the left. Go down that road about 1/2 mile or so, and it’s on the left. I think there is a Mormon church very close to it on the opposite side of the road.
Interesting thought on the Samar tours. I’ll ask Mar about his knowledge of Samar. We did plan to have a tricycle show people around Calbayog when/if they came to the hotel, but didn’t think about just Samar. Not much to see as I understand except mostly up high where foreigners shouldn’t really be going, or Filipinos for that matter. Mar says that in some of the mountains here, there are still terrorists. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I don’t care, they aren’t bothering me.