Tuesday – 2 Aug 2011

[smartads] The province comprises two congressional districts with 26 municipalities and one component city. Pagadian City, its capital, with a total of 681 barangays, has been declared as the new regional seat of Region IX.

http://zambo.da.gov.ph/profile.html

Useless Knowledge:  Horse racing is one of the most ancient sports, originating in central Asia among prehistoric nomadic tribesmen around 4500 B.C. When humans began keeping written records, horse racing was already an organized sport throughout the world. Bookies came much later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_racing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Asia

http://www.mrmike.com/explore/hrhist.htm

http://explorephilippines.net/forums/showthread.php?t=650

1 Aug – Hits @ 0110 = 798981 = 7204.

Well I decided to get out of bed at 0753 today.  It’s 0800 now and I think Lita just got back from downtown.  I couldn’t hear her voice a few minutes ago, which usually means she’s sleeping or not around.  She excited and/or mad about something now though.  I’m sure it’s not me she’s mad at or she would have been in here already.  That’s too bad for whomever is on the receiving end of that, and too good for me.  I’m sure that whatever it is I’ll hear about it in a little while anyway.  Even when others get into trouble, I get to hear about it, even if I don’t want to.

It looks like, at this point, that his post will be a long one, and tomorrow’s too.  So be sure to get you breakfast or lunch on the table before you start, so you don’t have to get up half way through.

http://www.sk.gov.ph/groups/profile/18

I bagged 24 kilos of rice again today.  Lita keeps telling me that she buys 25 kilos, but it keeps coming out to around 24 here.  I figure that either our scale is off, or the one at the market is off.  I believe that the next time she goes to get rice, I’m going with her to check on that.  The first time she said she had 25 kilos and it cost P700.  This time she tells me it’s 25 kilos and it cost P775.  I guess she bought the same kind of rice.  That she didn’t say.

It’s 10:18 and I’m still in LolyKat.  A little girl came by a few minutes ago to buy something, but when she saw it was a big, white American in there selling, she just turned shy and went to the next sari-sari store.  That happens ever so often and it always seems to be the younger girls that do it.  The young boys seem more adventurous, but that’s probably true in most cultures.

http://www.zamboangadelsur.com/category/province

Time to play Triple Yahtzee for awhile.  Lita is trying to sleep, Vicky and Sally are busy working and J is at school.

Precious came by to help me do whatever.  I let her put the dice away, because Yahtzee is a stupid game.  She is watching me take these notes so she gets another pen and is writing on a piece of cardboard.  Now we get to wave to Casandra, who is going by with Jascyl.  It’s boring, lazy right now.  I’m just sitting here waiting for customers and Precious is sitting on J’s bed, fanning herself with the same piece of cardboard she was just writing on.

It must be lunch time for Emei, he just showed up to eat.  It’s 10:56.

Grace stopped by at 11:15 to talk to Lita about something she says is important.  I suppose I’ll find out what it is all about later, as usual.

It must be lunch time for a lot of the workers around here.  It getting crowded out there at the picnic table and by the food area in front too.  It’s 11:30 now.

http://www.lovecebu.com/zamboanga-beauty-in-a-peninsula/

A grown Filipino guy came to the window just to buy a Pepsi, but I guess he was so unsure of his English, he wouldn’t even ask for that.  Jascyl was standing around next door and he asked her.  She of course told me and I got it anyway.  I mean how hard is it to say “Pepsi”.  There is no Tagalog word for “Pepsi”, it’s “Pepsi”.  That’s just weird to me.  Well crap!  No sooner did I get finished writing down that last comment, when it happened again.  This time the grown man asked Sally instead.  Why is it that some Filipinos are so intimidated by Americans that they can’t even ask for something so simple?

Dang … I just cheated a kid out of P10.  I hope he comes back soon and not bringing an irate parent with him.  I didn’t mean to do it, I just …Wait a minute, there he is.  Okay … I got that settled without any blood shed.  I feel better now.

Sally seems to have extra work today.  I’m glad she will be getting a pay raise next month.

http://www.worldsaurus.com/guide/Philippines/Zamboanga%20Peninsula/Dipolog-567.html

Useless Knowledge:  A temple of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, was discovered coincidentally by American archaeologist Iris C. Love.

http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Aphrodite.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943326,00.html

It’s high noon and Lita just emerged from the house.  I guess she just came out here to move the fan I was using, because that’s about all she did before she left again.  She said she’s going back to bed.  I’ll just point the fan back towards me after she goes back in.  Maybe she was just moving the fan from out in front of the cooler and just turned it wrong.

It’s 1:00pm now an Yahtzee is a game for ignorant people.  Stupid game!

http://www.jeromelocson.com/zamboanga-city-hall-and-rizal-park/

There were 2 little girls and a little boy by here earlier and they wanted some Lipps (small candy they have here).  There are 2 flavors, or at least 2 different colored wrappers, I guess they are different flavors, I’ve never had one.  Anyway, when I gave it to her, I held out both flavors to see which one she wanted, but she thought I was being nice and giving her 2 instead of 1, so she took both and smiled.  Then the smaller little girl bought a lollipop.  I didn’t say anything about the extra candy.  It was my fault for putting 2 out there to being with.  Losing P1 (.04) is not going to kill me.  Plus now there are 3 pieces of candy instead of 2, for 3 children.  They were happy, I was happy … it worked out better for everyone.

I tried one of the little chocolate Chubby chews.  Not too bad, but Tootsie Roll doesn’t have a thing to worry about.

There are 2 old guys, German I think, waiting out in front of LolyKat for a ride in a tricycle downtown.  They have 4 nice looking Filipinas with them.  That’s not really an uncommon site around here though.

http://www.travelbloggersunite.com/profiles/blogs/leaving-basilan

There are so many different bus lines around here.  A lot of times I see buses running with few or even no passengers.  If I had the money, I would not invest in or start a bus line here.  On the other hand though, there are only 2 van lines here, Grand Tour and Van’s Vans, and both of them could probably be improved on.

Bagged, cubed ice with mineral water is another thing that is not here that could be something to think about for the future of things to come.  Once the people here figure out all the things you can do with it, it’d probably be a good business, especially if you get a franchise on it quickly.  If any of y’all decide you want to do that and would like to reward me with a measly 2% of your profits, I wouldn’t say no.  I’m not even sure of everything it would take, but it’s something I think I’ll look into once all my finances are straight.  As I said before, that will probably be another year unless the lottery numbers are favorable or this blog turns into an ATM machine.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/csxmit/3425985790/

Sally has a sister.  A younger sister I think.  She was just here to buy some food.  I don’t know if she got a discount or not, but she did pay something.

Victor showed up with Cathy and Crystal on his motorbike.  Maybe Khan was there too, I wasn’t really looking, I was writing and teasing Sally about her sister being my sister also.

It’s 2:02pm now and Lita says she will take over from me in the store, just as soon as she changes clothes.

Okay Lita is out here now, but she won’t let me take the fan, so I will just stay out here also.

Sally and Vicky are bring out the banana balls and banana egg rolls now.  It’s 2:20pm.

I went back inside to watch TV for just a bit.  There wasn’t too much on worth watching.

It’s 4:51 now and this is only my second trip to the computer today.  The first trip didn’t last very long.

Man I need to shave, it’s getting itchy.

http://zamboangajournal.blogspot.com/2008/08/photo-fort-pilar-in-zamboanga-city.html

That little story I put in a post a day or so ago about that Red Pepsi I was drinking being my last Red Pepsi?  Well that didn’t last very long.  I’ve already drank almost 3 liters since that time.  It would have been a full 3 liters if Lita didn’t drink a little and even get a cup full out of one of them.

Today I had to get adventurous in making something to eat.  Sometimes it doesn’t turn out so well, and today was definitely not one of those days.  It was so wonderful in fact, I don’t even want to tell y’all about it.  I want to use it when we get the Blue Gazebo Cafe operational.  I will say that it surprised me that such a combination would be so good.  That will just make me want to food experiment some more.

The leak under the sink is fixed.  It was a quick fix for someone who knew what they were doing and had the right tools.  It only cost us P100, so that will work for me.  After it was fixed, I asked Vicky if it was fixed yet.  She nodded her head and then I told her, “I’m the one that fixed it”.  All I got then was the eye roll.

http://www.touristspotsphilippines.com/mindanao-tourist-attractions/pagadian-city-zamboanga-del-sur-the-little-hongkong-of-the-south/

That ‘battle of the wills’ for the left over soup?  Remember that from the post yesterday?  Well, as I suspected, I was the victorious one in that battle.  Lita wanted me to eat it, but I didn’t want it because it smelled sour to me.  I just threw it in the garbage.  But I’m not even sure if Lita even knows if I threw it away or not.  If she doesn’t see it in the refrigerator, she will not even remember it.

Useless Knowledge:  After his infamous 1997 ear-biting attack on Evander Holyfield, the Hollywood Wax Museum moved boxer Mike Tyson’s figure to the Chamber of Horrors right next to the figure of Dr. Hannibal Lecter (from The Silence of the Lambs).  (I always thought, and still do think, that Mike Tyson is an idiot)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evander_Holyfield

http://www.hollywoodwaxmuseum.com/hollywood/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Tyson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_Lecter

http://www.touristspotsphilippines.com/tag/magellans-cross/

Well I have had longer posts, but this one is one of the longer ones.  I hope y’all enjoyed it.  Be sure to check out tomorrow’s post, I think it’s going to be just as long and maybe a little longer.

Salamat, Palaam

Today in Philippine History

1 AUGUST

President Manuel L. Quezon (1878-1944)

1898 – The Act proclaiming Philippine  Independence is declared in Bacoor, Cavite  during the first convention of town/municipal  presidents that included representatives from Tanguay, Nueva Ecija, Laguna, Morong,  Pampanga, Manila, Tarlac, Bulacan, Batangas,  Bataan, Infanta, Union, Pangasinan, Zambales,  Tayabas, and Mindoro; ironically, as the act declares that the Philippine Revolution against Spain is a rational and legitimate action of the Filipino people, who are valiantly defending their national pride and dignity, and asks all foreign governments to recognize the Filipino nation and its sovereignty, during the very same day, the troops of the imperialist United States earlier  freely allowed to enter the country (by a gullible  Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo) are organized into a division commanded by Gen. Thomas Anderson, later to take part in the undemocratic American invasion of the Philippines and commence the bloody and protracted Philippine-American War (1899-1914).

1944 – Manuel Luis Quezon, first President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines under the colonial occupation of the  imperialist United States, dies from tuberculosis at Saranac Lake, New York during World War II while the Southeast Asian country was under Japanese Occupation.