We were there!

At the iPhone launch on the NY Apple flagship store, 5th Avenue. It was pandemonium. There was a line just to hold the phone and try it out. Some observations:

- It wasn't made for users with long fingernails. It is touch screen and skin contact is required to operate the buttons. Women might have to trim their nails to use it. I really had a hard time operating the buttons since I have long nails when I tried it out.
- The screen retains smudge and would need to be wiped every so often.
- It is locked to AT&T and it sucks! We have a contract to another provider so it proves to be difficult to switch =(.

But otherwise, it's a magnificent piece of technology that I'd like to get my hands on! =) But not now... we'll wait when version 2.0 comes.

Detailed reviews here.

SALE!

God help me... It's SALE season once again. The Summer collection are 70% off all over Manhattan. To top it off, the 4th of July holiday is coming and we all know what that means. Sales and clearances galore! I can even do my shopping online as my favorite sites are all having major sales too. Sigh. What's a girl to do???

Give in to the temptation, ofcourse ;). I just bought these cute Earnest Sewn skinny jeans for 75% off (from $240 to $59)! Only at eLuxury.

How strong is your Gaydar?

I definitely agree with this article. It basically says that being gay is something innate, something found in your gene pool. They couldn't help being gay as much as we "straight" people couldn't help being straight. Explains a lot actually. But I'm sure there will be some debate on this. Here's a quick checklist. I can already imagine the ladies peeking over their date's puyo to see if it goes clockwise or counter-clockwise. Hehe.

Gay men are more likely than straight men to have a counterclockwise whorl.

**But you know, just by looking at the width of their necks, their coloring and the slightly colored hair of the guy on the left I think I can tell he's gay.

Gay men and straight women have an increased density of fingerprint ridges on the thumb and pinkie of the left hand.

The index fingers of most straight men are shorter than their ring fingers, and for most women they are the same length or longer. Gay men and lesbians tend to have reversed ratios.

Gay men and lesbians have a 50 percent greater chance of being left-handed or ambidextrous than their straight counterparts.

**Again, just by looking at the arms and the way he holds the ball and bends his hand slightly more, I can tell the guy on the right is gay =).

I forwarded the article to Lex and asked him to check his puyo to verify this theory. He not only did that but he actually measured his fingers as well. Haha. I wonder if he measured anything else? ;)

Visual DNA

OMG. Shopping is really my vice.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

The Pinoy Phenomenon

I wonder what it is about Friendster that got Pinoys so hooked? And with the emergence of better sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Multiply, etc., why do most of us stay loyal to Friendster? I know some who closed their Friendster account, opened one in MySpace and found themselves alone and going back to Friendsterland. Here's an interesting article...

"Meanwhile, scant attention was paid to Friendster's users. Lunt remembers marveling sometime in early 2004 at how Friendster's traffic would mysteriously spike at 2 a.m. Intrigued, he started looking at the site's log. Oh, my God, he thought, everyone is from the Philippines. He worked backwards, looking for "patient zero"--the first American to "Friendster" a Filipino. He found Carmen Leilani De Jesus, a 32-year-old marketing consultant and part-time hypnotherapist from San Francisco, the 91st person to join Friendster. She was directly connected to Abrams as well as to dozens of Filipinos, who'd in turn connected to thousands more. In fact, more than half the site's traffic was coming from Southeast Asia."

I want to be Carmen Leilani De Jesus's friendster. Hehe =).

More here.

Found this on youtube too.

To My Parents

I didn't get to post a Father's and Mother's Day message to my mom and dad a few weeks ago. So I thought I'd do it now... better late than never right? =)

The songs below were the songs Lex and I used in our Father-Daughter and Mother-Son dances at our wedding. We carefully picked each song to fully express how we felt. The words are so poignant and meaningful that it always seem to bring tears to my eyes. To my mom and dad, we love you and miss you. We hope everything is great over there. Keep the love alive! =)

The lyrics would be appreciated more if you hear it with its melodies...

A Song For My Daughter (Father-Daughter Dance)

by Marc Cohn

Just once upon a yesterday

I held you in my arms.

You grew into a little girl

With lovely childhood charms.

Now it seems I only turn around and I see you by his side.

Oh I can't believe my eyes today,

My daughter is a bride.

I guess somehow I always knew

This day would soon be here.

Still I wonder as I look at you what became of all the years.

And no words could ever quite express

The way I feel inside.

Oh I can't believe my eyes today,

My daughter is a bride.

All the laughter and the tear drops,

The sunshine and the rain.

I would re-live every moment dear,

If I could bring them all back again.

And now my love, the time has come

To send you on your way.

So I wish you well and happiness

And the blessings of this day.

And I hope the love I've given you will forever be your guide.

Oh I can't believe my eyes today, My daughter.

Oh I can't believe my eyes, My daughter.

Oh my angel and my pride.

My daughter is a bride.

The First Lady In My Life (Mother-Son Dance)

by Paul Todd

From sleepless nights and rocking chairs

Your smiling face was always there

From little trucks and building blocks

You held my hand while I learned to walk

You were my best friend, my inspiration

The one I looked up to..

Hey Mom...The First Lady In My Life Was You

There were bedtime snacks and nursery rhymes

For goodnight prayers, there was always time

You taught me to live by the golden rule

Made sure I got to Sunday School

You disciplined with Love my whole life through

A gentle touch was all I ever knew..

Hey Mom...The First Lady In My Life Was You

Then later on, came sports and games

You’d sit in the stands and call my name

And win or loose, you’d smile and say

"Son I’m proud of you, everything’s OK"

You were the one, I’d always turn to

When times were sad and blue..

Hey Mom...The First Lady In My Life Was You

There’s so many things to say thank you for

Birthdays, camping and so much more

The little things that mean so much

Like laundry done with a loving touch

And who could forget, three meals a day

Carpools, scouts and PTA’s..

Hey Mom...The First Lady In My Life Was You

So here we are today, now I’m finally grown

About to take a wife, and start a family of my own

Everything I am, I owe to you

You molded me so carefully and you saw me through

It’s hard to tell you how I feel, without a lot of mush

But I must tell you true..

Hey Mom, I’m So Glad...The First Lady In My Life Was You

So how many did I get to watch?

A measly 23% of the best films ever made. I'm sure my mom would have watched more of these movies because most of them were made way before I was born. I also feel that they left out a couple of good recent movies like Chicago, Crash, and some of the other Oscar and Golden Globe winners. It's interesting to note too that only the Lord of the Rings was made in the 21st century.

Im looking forward to renting some of these movies to watch on lazy Sundays =).

AFI TOP 100 U.S. FILMS
1. "Citizen Kane," 1941.
2. "The Godfather," 1972.
3. "Casablanca," 1942.
4. "Raging Bull," 1980.
5. "Singin' in the Rain," 1952.
6. "Gone With the Wind," 1939.
7. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962.
8. "Schindler's List," 1993.
9. "Vertigo," 1958.
10. "The Wizard of Oz," 1939.
11. "City Lights," 1931.
12. "The Searchers," 1956.
13. "Star Wars," 1977.
14. "Psycho," 1960.
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968.
16. "Sunset Blvd.", 1950.
17. "The Graduate," 1967.
18. "The General," 1927.
19. "On the Waterfront," 1954.
20. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946.
21. "Chinatown," 1974.
22. "Some Like It Hot," 1959.
23. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940.
24. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982.
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962.
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939.
27. "High Noon," 1952.
28. "All About Eve," 1950.
29. "Double Indemnity," 1944.
30. "Apocalypse Now," 1979.
31. "The Maltese Falcon," 1941.
32. "The Godfather Part II," 1974.
33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975.
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937.
35. "Annie Hall," 1977.
36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957.
37. "The Best Years of Our Lives," 1946.
38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948.
39. "Dr. Strangelove," 1964.
40. "The Sound of Music," 1965.
41. "King Kong," 1933.
42. "Bonnie and Clyde," 1967.
43. "Midnight Cowboy," 1969.
44. "The Philadelphia Story," 1940.
45. "Shane," 1953.
46. "It Happened One Night," 1934.
47. "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1951.
48. "Rear Window," 1954.
49. "Intolerance," 1916.
50. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," 2001.
51. "West Side Story," 1961.
52. "Taxi Driver," 1976.
53. "The Deer Hunter," 1978.
54. "M-A-S-H," 1970.
55. "North by Northwest," 1959.
56. "Jaws," 1975.
57. "Rocky," 1976.
58. "The Gold Rush," 1925.
59. "Nashville," 1975.
60. "Duck Soup," 1933.
61. "Sullivan's Travels," 1941.
62. "American Graffiti," 1973.
63. "Cabaret," 1972.
64. "Network," 1976.
65. "The African Queen," 1951.
66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1981.
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", 1966.
68. "Unforgiven," 1992.
69. "Tootsie," 1982.
70. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971.
71. "Saving Private Ryan," 1998.
72. "The Shawshank Redemption," 1994.
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969.
74. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991.
75. "In the Heat of the Night," 1967.
76. "Forrest Gump," 1994.
77. "All the President's Men," 1976.
78. "Modern Times," 1936.
79. "The Wild Bunch," 1969.
80. "The Apartment, 1960.
81. "Spartacus," 1960.
82. "Sunrise," 1927.
83. "Titanic," 1997.
84. "Easy Rider," 1969.
85. "A Night at the Opera," 1935.
86. "Platoon," 1986.
87. "12 Angry Men," 1957.
88. "Bringing Up Baby," 1938.
89. "The Sixth Sense," 1999.
90. "Swing Time," 1936.
91. "Sophie's Choice," 1982.
92. "Goodfellas," 1990.
93. "The French Connection," 1971.
94. "Pulp Fiction," 1994.
95. "The Last Picture Show," 1971.
96. "Do the Right Thing," 1989.
97. "Blade Runner," 1982.
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942.
99. "Toy Story," 1995.
100. "Ben-Hur," 1959.

Friendly Takeover

Look who just opened a store across NYSE.

Hermes

At the ground floor of our apartment building, Thomas Pink is setting up shop.



This is the friendly takeover I'm really anticipating. Coming soon Fall 2007, one tiny block from our place.

Tiffany & Co.

Lex said that if Louis Vuitton will be opening a branch in our area we would move out. Haha! I love our neighborhood! =)

More Expensive?

I saw the following article at cnn.com about the World's Most Expensive Cities. Singapore came in at no. 14 and New York at no. 15. Singapore is more expensive than New York?? When did this happen? Having lived in both cities for the past 2 years, I definitely know that living in Singapore can be much less. Don't even get me started on how much the rent difference is. How do you think the guys at CNN came up with their numbers and ranking?

Eventful Weekend

Like Paris Hilton, I was on house arrest last Friday up until Saturday afternoon. Why? Not because of any "cool" reasons like a DUI conviction but because I was stupid enough to get my right ankle sprained. I was going down the stairs to board the subway when my heels suddenly got caught on a crack and I went tumbling down. I also heard a sickening "pop" coming from my poor ankle. It hurt really bad and I first thought that I had seriously broken it. I couldn't put any weight on the injured foot so all I could do was hop to a corner. It was just 6:40AM so Lex was still home and able to help me back to our apartment. I called in sick for work and we went to a nearby hospital to have the ankle checked and x-rayed. The doctor wrapped my ankle in bandages, gave me a cane to walk with, and gave instructions to put my feet up and press some ice to it. I'm almost good as new! The highlight of my trip to the hospital was my ride in the wheelchair. It kinda felt nice being wheeled around =).

Lex took a picture for posterity's sake

Saturday saw me spending the morning and afternoon hopping and awkwardly moving around the house. The pain from my ankle has lessened somewhat so I could move around without my cane. But not as gracefully as I would like though. I'm getting bored so thank God we were going to New Jersey that night for some barbeque. We're going to the home of one of our favorite couples, Lanie and Rommel. They are friends from our previous company and it's really great that we get to keep in touch after all these years. The food was excellent and very filling. Conversation was good too. I hope we get invited in more home-cooked meals and barbeques, hehe. It's great to drive out of the city once in a while as well.


With my ankle feeling stronger, Lex and I went to the American Museum of Natural History on Sunday. We have been there once before when my sister and mom came to NY for a visit. We didn't get to see everything because we were pressed for time. We figured we can always go back given that I can get in plus 5 guests for free! It is one of the benefits of the company I'm working for right now. It saved us from paying $14 each. Not bad! Anyway, I really love this museum. There's so much in here that interests me... like land and sea animals, dinosaurs, precious metals and stones, origins of humans, etc. We were just able to go around the 1st floor (the museum is HUGE!) and decided to come back another time for the remaining floors and private exhibits. The exhibits are not free but we can still get to see it at a discounted price. I'm particularly interested on this one. Oh, and the AMNH was the museum featured in the movie Night at the Museum starring Ben Stiller =).

Little boy

With my anorexic friend

Pride is such a cold bedfellow

I'm sorry. Bati na tayo.

A visit from my sistah!

The past Memorial Day weekend was memorable for me in more ways than one. Aside from our whitewater rafting adventure, I got a visit from my sister, Kaisy, who came all the way from the land of shopping malls and chicken rice -- Singapore! My sister, who has a new Australian boyfriend (haha binuking! =P), had been my roommate for a year when I was working there. It was really great to have a relative, especially a sister, living with you in a foreign country. My parents also didn't worry too much about us since we both have each other to depend on and make sumbong (hehe, how coño). I'm also glad that we had a chance to bond before I got married and moved here in NY. Because growing up, my sister and I were mortal enemies. We would pull each other's hair, beat each other senseless and then cry ourselves silly. I guess that is normal and common among siblings. I'd like to think that we've outgrown that phase and consider ourselves friends now. It's just sad how we now only see each other on very short occassions when we used to get tired of seeing each other too much. We're living very different lives now... totally different from our dress-up and Barbie doll days and Mango shopping days on Orchard Road. Huhu. I just take solace in the fact that although we're apart, we're both living our destiny and our best lives thus far.

Our Bangkok trip before I headed to NY

More than a year later in a NY resto

So to my sister, I'm really glad you made it a point to drop by and visit us here in NY. Come visit us again coz I ain't going back to Singapore any time soon (hehe)! Let's push through with our South America vacation plans next year ha! Promise?!? =)