Daily Report: Damn YouTube

I overslept a bit today; I forgot to set the alarm. I have to start putting out more effort to start my days right, as the success of my day seems to be directly related to my rising time.

So, that having been said, my late waking led to a crappy day: I blogged for a while, and then got to work about 4 hours later than I should have. I had some leftover spaghetti for lunch.

I got sucked into watching YouTube again today. It happens about once every two weeks... where I just go from one video to the next. Today, I was working my way through music videos I hadn't seen in a while. Two hours of my life wasted. Well, at least I wasn't blasting aliens or something.

In the afternoon, Epril and I took a cab down to Kinse Amigos, where I left my motorcycle last night. I had planned to use the bike's receipt stored under the seat to call the dealership to have them come fix the bike, only to realize that the receipt was back home. Therefore, Epril and I took a cab to the dealership and told them in person about my non-functioning bike, and dropped off a key to have the mechanic go fix/fetch it.

From there, we did some quick shopping at Limketkai Mall. It seems that the next great "where-can-I-find-it? challenge" in Cagayan De Oro will be for dry vermouth. No martinis until then. Man, I'm seriously considering doing visa runs instead of visa extensions here in the Philippines just for the opportunity to hit duty free.


Spooks Friday night buffet is a well-
attended weekly get-together of local
expatriates in Cagayan. Price is 180
pesos for all you can eat. Tonight was
chili dogs, beef stew, pasta, and
several other dishes.After the mall, Epril and I went to Spooks A-GoGo for their Friday night family buffet. The food there is hit-and-miss: Last week was bad; this week was great. I think the price is a little high when I calculate in the fact that Epril eats only a couple of scoops of rice there. (Beers are 35 pesos, though.) The main thing is that, as far as opportunities to socialize and meet the expatriate community in CDO, this is currently the best. People wander from table to table introducing themselves, or sidle up to the bar and get in conversations there. The ladies bring their babies and children, and join in their own social networking... though not as much as the men. (I haven't seen any kano (Western) women at the dinner yet... although I have seen a couple around town.) Dinner starts at 4:30, and the dancing girls don't come on stage until 9:00, so there is lots of time to meet new friends.

After Spooks, Epril and I took a walk through the Divisoria, the square in the center of town. Every Friday night, they close off the streets there and have a bit of a party and night market. We walked from there to Kinse Amigos to check the status of my motorcycle; it was gone. I assume the mechanic took it back to the garage to be worked on... or was driving it around town with his buddies... or taking it to Zamboanga to sell for parts. I probably shouldn't think too much about that.

We took a taxi home, and then I did a little more work to make up for today's earlier attempt before going to bed.


My neighbor, Frenchman Serge, ponders
his tomato garden, with the river in the
background.One thing you notice in The Philippines is that a lot of the young people shout out "Hey Joe!" as you (the light-skinned foreigner) go by. I suppose it could be an insult, as my friend Ross believes, but I'm thick-skinned enough not to let it bother me. Besides, "Joe" was the name given to the American soldiers who fought and died in The Philippines. I'll just take it as a Filipino guy's unaware reminder of what my countrymen did here 60 years ago.

But, hey, if you're going to let it bother you, when someone yells "Hey Joe!" at you as you go buy, just shout back a friendly, "Hey Ferdinand!" That might make your point.