7 Corners Crowne Plaza

Chase treated me to a nice lunch at 7 Corners Crowne Plaza last December 28, 2007. The beef stuff was great, but other than that, there weren't as many choices of food as I thought I'd have. I also liked the make your own personal pizza there. I tried out the all cheese and it was really good.

7 Corners is cheaper than Heat and Circles. It's priced at around 1000 per head... I wasn't sure. But I remember that our total bill was around 2500 (plus a service charge of around 250!!). All in all, it was a good dining experience. But for that price, and additional couple of hundred bucks, I'd prefer to go eat at Heat instead, for the primary reason that I would have more choices there. Don't get me wrong though, the food was great here as well.

Anyway, in buffets, I always look forward to the dessert! And to prove that, here I am beside the dessert bar. Delicious. They had cold rock type of ice cream, which HEAT also has, but Circles do not have.


Here's another photo of the steak we had. Looks delicious huh?


All in all, price is great, food is great, although I just hoped they had more choices. Our next buffet stop? SPIRAL!

back to the market

Dow ended up around 300 points up for the past two trading days, thus, we're hoping for a big rally for the PSE this coming Wednesday when we open again after the long two day holiday. I'm really hoping my stocks rally up so as I can sell one of them when I get it to reach its TP, which is just slightly above my buying price. It's a bit down right now, and so I'm really hoping to really sell it soon. I've had two opportunities to sell it for the past weeks, and well, greed struck, and my target price didn't get hit. So this time around, I lowered my TP and hopefully, before year ends, I get to sell it, so as I can have cash ready for a good stock buy I've been wanting to acquire for quite a while (it's currently at bargain price!!!).

For the next year, I vow to be more careful with my stock market trades. I've had a couple of "ipits" and well, it wasn't a good feeling to keep on waiting for it to go up. So, the next time, I really really have to stick to me cut-loss strategy (I did this once, and it really got me a great deal after selling my losing stocks!).

Can't wait for next year. Hoping for more money to play! More money to save, and of course, more money to earn!

great day

Chase and I had a breakfast date early this morning given that I am on leave and his work schedule for the week is from 2pm to 10pm. It was a nice day all in all. We had breakfast, talked and talked, afterwards, he got hooked playing his rubik's cube while I ended up playing this flash game in his ultra high end pc. At around 12 pm, we headed out to Robinson's Place to buy some stuff he needed for work, and 5 more rubik's cubes that his friends from work asked him to buy (apparently this toy is only abundant in Toy Kingdom). We were in a hurry since he had to be in the office by two pm. So we just had a light and quick lunch at Sbarro (his treat!). Afterwards, he dropped me off at LRT station and then sped off to work (he was still 30 minutes late for work though).

I guess, I have to say, spending time together doesn't always have to be eating in expensive restaurants and all. A simple meal, or maybe a simple chat is already a great time, as long as we get to talk and all. I believe our relationship has matured for the past two and a half years. It's a different story now altogether. And the good thing is, we're really both happy.

Camiguin-CDO Trip

We spent 4 days and 3 nights last Noveber 29, 2007 to December 2, 2007 at Camiguin and CDO for a nice but tiring vacation.



The white water rafting was by far the highlight of the trip. I didn't get any photos of the adventure, but our friends did! Will always remember the tipover!

On the other hand, the Camiguin trip was made special by the nice sights and out of this world experience with the place we stayed in (which I wouldn't be recommending, by the way).

Anyway, we're hoping for another group trip next year. But this time, I won't be the one planning it! I'm tired of planning our trips ever since (Baguio, Sagada, Palawan, and CDO-Camiguin). Actually, for the past trips, I had my friend Leda who always helped me with the planning. But this time, it was all me (Leda was extra busy then)! Special thanks though to Chase, who did all the contacting (he has free load anyway!).

'Till next vacation!

Fascinating history from fictional books

I've just finished James Rollins' Map of Bones and I found the book... engaging. I think this is the first time I've wanted to finish a book in a hurry since the Dan Brown era. It's safe to say that I'm a sucker for mystery/suspense/action that deals with fascinating history, particularly that which is related to the church.

It is astounding how rich the church's history is. Or maybe how mysterious it actually is, that authors are able to sew together pieces of facts that somehow sound really really true. I don't necessarily believe everything I read from these fictional books, however, I still believe that there are a lot of stories hidden behind the walls of the Church. Given the span of decades and centuries that the church has been alive, one can only imagine the vast wealth of knowledge, and secrets they have.

Wouldn't it be just intriguing if we were able to discover secrets of the past?

Maybe that's the reason why I just love these books! They all present a snapshot of the past, and how many events, may have shaped what we actually believe in right now.

Equity Fund - Christmas gift to my parents

As a Christmas gift to my parents, I've decided to open an equity fund account for them. I made the initial deposit for them, and vowed that when I have extra money, I'll add some more to this fund. Of course, they should do their part as well to add money once in a while to the fund. After all, this is for their future.

This will be a first for them as they really don't know much about investing in the market. My mom's quite jittery as she's more conscious about the value of the investment, as compared to my dad, who's investor profile suggests that he is willing to go through the ups and downs of the market, for as long as in the long run, you still make a hefty profit.

Whatever difference in their investor profiles are, I'm really happy to be able to do something for them, educate them about investing, and of course, preparing them for the future ahead. After all, they're starting around 30 years later, compared to me. This will be a scary ride, which hopefully, will bear its fruits for the years to come.

James Rollins' Map of Bones

As I was looking for my MRT card this morning, I decided to check my wallet if it was there. No, the MRT card wasn't there, but I did find something else - a 300 pesos Fully Booked gift certificate! And as I checked the expiry date, the gc was good only upto December 12, 2007! Lucky that I even found it! I completely forgot about this gc, which my sister gave to me last Christmas.

So as not to go to waste, I asked Chase to accompany to Gateway's Fully Booked branch and lo and behold, there I found a book, which I've wanted to buy years back, but couldn't since it wasn't available locally!



Get an overview of what this book is all about from the author's official website.

Its genre is similar with Dan Browns' genres. And since I like the mystery, suspense and action type of book, I'm really hoping this'll give me my (free)money's worth!

The book's a little scratched though as it was the last one there. But at least now I know where I can find James Rollins novels! If I get to enjoy the book, I might get some more of his other titles.

I'm no good in writing reviews, but rest assured, I'll put up a post regarding this book once I get to finish it.

Starbucks planner fever!

Starbucks planner fever is gearing up once again and when one of my colleagues in HP celebrated her 6th month at work, she decided to treat us to Starbucks (so she can get stamps as well!). I remember my sister getting the Starbucks planner last year. The planner was really beautiful! But I don't think she ever used it anyway. I guess it's there as a collectible?

Anyway, I tried this Praline Mocha Frappucino flavor, and yeah, it's really good.

Ramon Tulfo's "Here We Go Again" Article

I was at CDO and Camiguin last thursday when the Manila Penn standoff occurred. We only got a hold of the news when one of my companions received a text message that something was happening in Metro Manila. And when we went out for lunch in Camiguin, we were able to catch the news on TV and finally knew what was really going on. Going back in Manila, I tried to catch up on news and stumbled upon Ramon Tulfo's reaction to the coup attempt.

Ramon Tulfo said it best:

I hate to say this to the 11 million voters who installed Antonio Trillanes IV in the Senate: I told you so!

Read the rest of the article by Ramon Tulfo: Here we go again

Chase and Bev's Jamaican Patties

Ever since I got to taste Jamaican Patties a year and a half ago, during our company's quarterly general assembly, this food's become one of my favorite snacks since. And since I loved it so much, I got one for Chase to try out as well. Not surprisingly, he loved it as well!

Ever since, we'd buy ourselves Jamaican Patties every now and then. One day, for no apparent reason, we just asked ourselves, "why not try making one of these?"

After a couple of weeks, we decided to do it this weekend and we the plan finally pushed through! We went to the grocery this morning, shopped for our ingredients, and started making them around 3 pm, with the help of my mom. It's a pretty simple recipe. The dough's the tricky part though. The rest consists process consists simply of mixing the ingredients, and simmer.

And finally, our finish product!



It wasn't the best, but I think it was clearly a first attempt success for us! We got the filling right, but the dough wasn't right. I think it'll be nice to try creating one again some time soon.

Ubuntu for my Desktop PC

My desktop pc has not been used for quite a while. Since the primary computer I use now is my laptop, which is running on Windows XP, I've decided to reformat my desktop, and install a different OS, Ubuntu instead. This way, I get to learn how to use a different operating system. I'm looking into learning more on the command line processing rather than using the gui altogether. Been working at the office using Unix and been wanting to learn more. I guess this is a good way for me to learn more and familiarize myself with Unix like environments.

annoying

When you ask a question, you expect a decent answer.
That's all I'm asking and these people that I ask such a simple question cannot even answer appropriately. If you don't like the plan, reply properly, it's as simple as that. I'm just doing the asking thing as a favor.

At least the others are decent enough to reply properly.

Opportunity to Achieve Greatness

Out of boredom in the office, I was surfing through the web and found a pretty interesting article about George W. Bush. Seems that this guy's approval rating is dropping by the minute. I am no particular fan of American Politics, especially since our local politics is still much more disturbing. However, given than I am a fan of the financial market, and is keeping up with US market news, I just can't help but feel that the president has got some hand on the negative sentiments that is spreading through the market.

Random concerns aside, I found this article well written. Below is probably one of the best thoughts we, as Filipinos and human beings, can ponder on:

Here's an excerpt taken from
Rolling Stone's article: "The Worst President in History?
One of America's leading historians assesses George W. Bush"

Bush has more in common with post-1945 Democratic presidents Truman and Johnson, who both became bogged down in overseas military conflicts with no end, let alone victory, in sight. But Bush has become bogged down in a singularly crippling way. On September 10th, 2001, he held among the lowest ratings of any modern president for that point in a first term. (Only Gerald Ford, his popularity reeling after his pardon of Nixon, had comparable numbers.) The attacks the following day transformed Bush's presidency, giving him an extraordinary
opportunity to achieve greatness.

Isn't it a shame that George W. Bush was not able to utilize this opportunity for him to achieve greatness? Back here in the Philippines, throughout its history, were we able to have a leader who was able to bring us up when there was turmoil and depression? In terms of the Philippine politics arena, either my history there is rusty or it's just that I can't think of one person right now while writing this entry.

On the other hand, on the business sector, I would probably mention PLDT's rise. I remember before, that PLDT had their fare share of losses, regular employee strikes, etc. But someone did make the turnaround (do we attribute this to MVP?), and look where it is now, PLDT's the most profitable company in Philippines to date.

I guess in reality, we all have our opportunities to shine. Troubled times does not mean that we do not have a choice. We have a choice whether to allow ourselves to be remembered with that dismal failure, or to allow ourselves to be remembered by how we overcame that obstacle.

random thoughts

I guess a good thing came out of our ATG to BEA Weblogic migration project - I've learned so much since!

Things I Want to Buy

Some things that I want to buy:
1. New laptop bag! I really don't like the laptop bag my laptop came with. Acer's laptop bag is big and heavy. This one's from Sumdex and I found one in Digital Walker Trinoma branch. Unfortunately, it costs way over my budget.

2. New white shoes. Suddenly, my sketchers sneakers just looks plain ugly after two years. I want something nice. Lacoste was my preferred choice but after seeing the prices there, I just had to backout and look for alternatives.

3. New jeans.

4. New Giordano shirts.

5. I just love love love love to purchase one of these. I wish!

Maybe it would be nice to set deadlines for these huh?

sold

After holding MEG for around 2.5 months, I finally sold it at 4.4 yesterday. I have a TP for MEG at 5 pesos per share but decided to sell it off as I'm not really comfortable with the state of the market for now. I'll be coming in again once I see a good bargain, or maybe I'd go and try testing out the gold-related and driven stocks for now, like PX for example. I will still monitor the market, and hopefully, will be able to get in the best time possible.

As they say, you buy low, then sell high.

Wong-Ng Wedding October 20, 2007

I miss my sister already.

It's been just a day when my sister got married, and here I am, in my room, and no big sister around.



Yesterday was the big day that everyone prepared for for almost a year. My sister got married yesterday at Manila Cathedral and reception followed at EDSA Shangri-la hotel. I guess the reality that she won't be sleeping in our room last night only hit me when I gave a speech for her and her husband. I wasn't expecting to cry there right in front of the whole crowd of 500 guests! I had to cut my spontaneous speech just so to prevent myself from crying a river there in the stage.

I guess my younger sister said it best: "nakakalungkot, pero masaya pa din naman ako para kay achie."

And as I write this short entry down, I can't help but feel so lonely and sad. I miss my sister already.

5 more days...

My sister's getting married this Saturday. Wedding ceremony will be at Manila Cathedral, followed by the reception at EDSA Shangri-la.

On another note, today will be the "moving in" day. There's a Chinese tradition wherein the girl buys and prepares all these stuff that she will be bring to their new home. My parents and grandparents have been busy the past weeks buying these lanterns, tubs, tea set, etc etc. I don't know how these Chinese people came up with these traditions, for it sure is expensive! In addition, my sister also has to have new shoes and bags to match it. Surprisingly, she somehow managed to prepare 6 sets. That's 6 new shoes and 6 new bags altogether!!! Since today is when these items will be brought to their new home, only guys are allowed to bring it in. This is another one of those traditions in Chinese that we all have to follow. My brother will be leading the pack (He took the day off just for this occasion, of course, and it won't hurt that the "kargadors" will get their share of ampaos!).

If I'm not mistaken, the groom to be will have to sleep in their new house tonight, with a relative who's supposed to be born in some year. What the heck! Who cares?

Chinese traditions are surely mind boggling.

After this, we all get to dress up for the big day this saturday!!

My sister's the first grandchild to be married in a Chinese tradition way which is probably why my grandparents are all so involved in this whole process (they even went all the way from Canada just to attend!).

Need to take care of what I eat this week... need to fit into the dress.

Be a winner in your own country.

It is true that career professionals move for better pay. But it should not be the monetary consideration all the time if you really want a high-flying career. Don't move just because the work is near the place where you live. Don't move because you just want to move. Pay an expert the way you pay for a nice-looking Louis Vuitton purse or a top-of-the-line mobile phone.

The best career is in the Philippines nowadays. Blue-chip companies are coming our way. This is the place to become successful. The most comfortable life is here. You leave the country because you feel you cannot make it here. If you cannot make it here, you cannot make it anywhere.

Be a winner in your own country.

Read the rest of the entry: By the time you're 30, your salary should be P120,000 by Dan Magallanes

In the green!

After one and and a half month of being in the red zone, my lone property stock has finally pushed forward to the profit side for my portfolio!

TP has been reached! For now, simply continuing the profit run.

Gaining momentum

Finally, after the sub prime crisis, the PSE is now getting back up on its feet. With the DJ gaining record highs again last night, today will most definitely be an awesome day. Looks like my 9:30 am to 12 noon will be a very busy 2 and a half hours once again!

Yesterday, looks like MEG had a breakout reaching a high of 3.9 and closing at 3.85 with lots of foreign buying. At one time, there were 10M at selling side, and after refresh, the 10M disappeared just like that! I checked and saw that JP bought a whole bunch. By 3.75... Phil equity was practically eating the sellers!

To catch up, I bought my shares of GEO to try to buy and average down on my MEG. However, as luck would have it, my bids didn't get hit.

And now, looks like GEO's gonna be mighty fine today. We'll see if we can get back in.

Hoping for a really really good trading day today.

And it just keeps getting worst...

A string of.... unfavorable events the past weeks.

1. My laptop's been on the service center for almost two weeks. There seems to be something wrong with the chipset. My contact initially said that they'll replace the chipset first, however, they changed their minds and said that they were going to replace the laptop with a new one instead. Either way, it's been quite long and I really really need it as I have an upcoming project already.

2. My uncle just passed away recently. And the bad thing about it, since my sister's wedding is in three weeks, we were not allowed to go the funeral due to some Chinese culture or belief. It's been real hard for us, especially to my mom because that's her brother! Moreover, because of this, a lot of my other relatives won't be able to attend my sister's wedding. :(

3. Finally, last friday, as my brother and I were going to work, we ran into an accident. The back of our car was hit by a bus, and the whole back was a total wreck. The impact was so strong that our car hit the moving car in front of us as well! My brother's suffering a stiff neck. As for me, my head's just sore.

As they say, when it rains, it definitely pours.

Hoping for better weeks ahead.

Do You Have What it Takes to be a Great Leader?

Here's a short article featured in Yahoo! Finance:

Do You Have What it Takes to be a Great Leader?

Yesterday's review.

I was expecting a big jump at yesterday's PSE session. Market was up around 70 points, by the end of the session, however, I was expecting, or probably hoping for a bigger jump.

Early minutes of the session, my property stock soared, but ended just 0.15 up by the end of the session. At least it went up, considering it has been sliding down for the past week.

My overall portfolio is still down though, I'm still hoping for a nice really by the end of year.

Hoping for a PSE rally today!

Feds cuts rates by half a point!

DJ was up 300+ points, which just means the Philippine stock market will make a bull run today. If I had loads of cash, I would've bought a lot of stocks yesterday or the past weeks. Unfortunately, given the small money I have (including the money stuck on some lagging stocks), I wasn't able to buy some good stocks. I guess the only consolation for me then is that my laggard stocks will hopefully ease up, to my break even level (if not, at least close to it anyway).

I always get this feeling of "damn, I should've sold early, cut loss, get in once the market stabilizes or has hit bottom". Then again, who wants to cut loss? But I guess that's a new strategy that I have to work on to prevent stuck stocks, and be able to take advantage of other opportunities that come by.

Regardless, no regrets. I'm still looking at a very very happy PSE market today!

Makati Shang Circles Buffet!

Rach has been having a string of blessings these past weeks, and so she decided to share those blessings by treating us to Circles Buffet at Makati Shangrila. None of us have tried it there so it was truly a treat!



We were there for practically three hours. I really enjoyed the Lechon. It was so good. And the tortilla soup! Tiramisu tasted so good, although a bit too liquid for me. BA enjoyed the prime rib, Chase enjoyed the salmon, Rach.... tried out practically every dish!

But I have to say, EDSA Shang's Heat buffet had more choices, and better food. I particularly noticed that Heat had a way bigger desert area than that of Circles.

We were talking about trying Spiral's next. Hopefully by end of the year? :)

Development Inspiration

I've been blog hopping for a whole full hour when I came upon a blog that talked about Software Development in the Philippines. The blogger himself is a Sun Certified Enterprise Architect. I love how he has this vision of creating true blue programmers and engineers in the Philippines. I can see that he's just a guy who wants his company to make it to the top, not by just adding clients, getting new hires, increasing income, but instead, want his company to make it to the top simply because they are excellent people with skills who deserve to be make it in the business.

Third World Software... Development

I got so inspired, that I just opened my Spring in Action ebook and continued where I left off a couple of days back. If my company can't provide a good enough project for me to learn something new, then I better start on my own. At least when time's right (which is a couple of months from now), I will be ready for the next big challenge out there. For me, programming is not just programming, it's an art. And I want to I want to work with people who really loves and knows what they're doing and talking about. That way, I can learn some more everyday.

Get Rich Slowly's "What if the Stock Market Makes You Nervous?" Article

Let me share to anyone reading my blog an article I stumbled upon regarding the stock market these days: What if the Stock Market Makes You Nervous?

I want vacation!

After the three day weekend, I want another long vacation, but this time, a really long vacation and not just at home, but somewhere else! This November, we'll be going to Cagayan de Oro for a fun filled 4 days. I haven't really gotten into it as it's still three months away.

But I want something else. I am restless. However, another long vacation somewhere else is really not part of my travel budget this year. Which just means, I have to wait for next year, to plan up a long vacation. How about a long vacation right after I resign?

Haha

If I get a better opportunity elsewhere that is.

Subprime woes

The recent subprime problems in the US has hit its toll in the Philippine market as well. The PSEi has been down too big, too fast, which is creating panic out of our investors.

Inquirer's Money Smarts explained this subprime issue quite clearly. Now I finally have an idea why this "subprime" terminology has caused so much pain to us investors, especially to small investors like me.

Currently, I'm stuck with a big purchase I recently made, before the whole subprime issue came into the picture. I wasn't able to cut loss at an earlier time, thus, the value of my portfolio has continually slipped for the past week. Since I'm already in a major negative position, I've decided to ride through this outrageous and volatile market, and look at this whole investment as a long term ordeal. After all, I still believe in the fundamentals of this company I've invested in. I'm still looking at a very good market run for the next few years. In case market continues to drop, or market recovery is very slow, I'd just wait it out. Good thing that what I've invested is pretty much extra extra money I have, which I won't be needing anytime soon (hopefully).

Good luck to us all!

Photography at Trinoma

Yesteday, we had an impromptu trip to Trinoma. Chase wanted to try out his top of the line camera and see if we can get some nice outdoor and indoor shots. Unfortunately, we only got a couple of nice shots, the others were grainy and blurry. It probably just means that he needs a whole lot of practice to get the photography going for him as a hobby.

Ratatouille

Chase convinced me to watch Ratatouille with him last night at gateway mall. I don't usually watch animation movies so it took a lot of convincing from him for us to watch this together. I remember watching The Incredibles with my family and sleeping halfway through the movie. Anyway, Ratatouille was surprisingly entertaining! The story revolved around a rat, who had real talent for cooking and who really wanted to make use of this gift. For me, the main concept of the movie is that, anyone can really cook! I particularly liked how the ending was crafted. How this little rat, made a big difference in people's lives. In addition, the movie has its funny moments. Don't really want to spoil, but the health inspector scene and the "Ratatouille blast from the past" scene was truly hilarious!

It's a relaxing movie which I would recommend to my friends and family.

HEAT!

I've always wanted to eat at Shangri-la's HEAT buffet, and guess what? I was finally able to eat there, twice, two consecutive weeks, and both for free!!


The first time was a lunch out treat by the bosses!



The second time around, it was a surprise dinner! And luckily, it was a seafood specials night! How lucky can we get?

IPO Resurgence

The continued IPO resurgence is taking a toll on the market. People are liquidating their stock position in order to buy these IPOs. IPOs are most likely instant profit for the investors. I remember when I bought the IPO of LOTO priced at 8.80 pesos, if I can remember right. Opening day it surged up to its ceiling of around 16 pesos! That's practically 100% increase in your investment.

But not all IPOs perform similarly. Take for instance the recent Aboitiz Power IPO. It closed flat on opening day, and then even went down further the next day.

But I think the GMA IPO, which will beging trading end of the month will make it big.

Daytrading!

Seeing an actively traded stock earlier during trading hours, it took me a while to actually gather up the courage, to sell some existing holdings of mine, at a commission loss, and try to ride up with the current trend. And I was able to do so.

I was observing the stock when its price was hovering around 0.64... and saw it go all the way up to 0.74. By the time it was hovering around 0.72, that was when I decided to sell my other holdings, and buy this one, hoping it would hit up.

And it did.

I was able to get in at 0.72, and sell during its intraday high of 0.75. Not bad. Around eight hundred to a thousand peso profit for the day. Not bad at all.

Moreover, the excitement was better. :) Every refresh of the sellers' and buyers' bid gave me chills!!!

I'm gonna try this one again next time, when another opportunity shows up! :)

Anna's quote for me.

it's a matter of dealing with pain while maintaining enough respect for yourself - Anna Chan

Thanks for the talk. I needed that.

thanks abro

My programmer friend Abro messaged me earlier about getting the new template for the website we are developing. Since he works in Makati, and I in Ortigas, I usually ask him to give the materials to Chase so that Chase can hand it over to me when we meet up. This time, I had to hesitate and told him that it would be best if I get the materials from him myself.

Abro, the ever sensitive guy asked if things were ok. I didn't tell him anything, just told him that just some serious stuff has happened recently, and if I'm ready, maybe, just maybe, I'd share it to him so that I can just get it out of my system.

And I was really touched by what he said afterwards... almost brought me to tears.

Abro: "...but i can keep u company if you need some to talk to"
Me: "Thanks Abro, I really appreciate it."
Abro: "gaganti ako dun sa friendship na binigay mo nung nagccrumble ang mundo ko"

During times like this, it's really heartwarming to know that you have friends who will be there for you no matter what happens, which makes you want to be there for them even more when they are also in need.

Love Lost.

I always thought he was the one.

I never thought that in a relationship, you reach this point where things just go idle. Who's to blame? He probably wants his life back. Tells me that this thing, this issue with have, isn't fixable anymore. That was a heart crushing statement. I was hoping to make things right, given the right time and space. However, that wasn't what I got. If one side of the party doesn't make it work, then the whole relationship isn't going to work. Who am I to force the situation?

I felt so sad last night, that when he left after we talked, that was when I literally broke down, in the car crying. Just like one of those television or movie scenes where it's pouring rain outside and there goes one of the lead characters in the show/movie, crying over a guy.

I guess love's just not enough to make it work.

And if indeed this is not fixable, then I guess I better start trying to move on.

How? Maybe I'd better start doing what I've postponed doing for quite a while, since it will require a lot of time and effort for me. Right, maybe I should start doing that already.

But still in my heart, I know, this decision we made, or maybe the decision I had to agree on is a decision I'm going to regret this forever.

I'd always love Chase no matter what. It may not be the right time, it may not be the best time, etc etc... those are just excuses for in the end, my heart will still be hurting for a very long time.

LOC

LOC - Line of Codes

I was asked by our current development boss Josie to check out programs that can count the lines of codes from the source code of our project. Having looked through them, comparing each other if their resulting statistics are similar, I decided on using LocMetrics.

Counting lines of codes, logical lines of codes, blank lines of codes, is not consistent with all applications as each LOC application uses different algorithms to implement this. However, what I liked about LocMetrics (aside from the fact that it is free) is that it provides us with statistics and summary, and even creates excel files for the data extracted. It also has support for C#, C, SQL, Java. In addition, its application is just sized at around 530kb.

Yellow Rose

Chase surprised me last week with a single yellow long stemmed rose he bought from Holland Tulips to celebrate our 23rd month of togetherness last June 28, 2007.



Flower's a little off though, as I took the picture two days late.

Yellow means friendship right? :) If there's another thing I've gotten to really appreciate with this relationship, it's the friendship that we have as well.

Patience???

My patience is being tested...

My second liners are down even if they're fundamentally sound.

And my work life's shit.

Wtf?

Market down.

My portfolio suffered a major set back yesterday, with all my stocks plummeting. I saw red all over the place. I just couldn't stand it, so I did what was necessary, I logged off from my online account. Seeing my stocks that bad just isn't a great feeling. ;) Thoughts ran through my mind such as, "I should have sold earlier... I should have taken profits, I should have... etc etc".

But funny thing is, that's part of the whole investment process for me. You have to learn when to put stops, you have to learn when to get in, when to get out, and most especially, learn how to handle the ups and downs of the market.

And look here, we have green all over the place, but I've still got some stuck stocks.

Oh well.

Family Love

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
~Jane Howard

I'll deviate from my usual investment topic, into something more personal.

The past days, Chase has rediscovered the extra care and love that his family has for him, when he got sick starting last Wednesday. He had high fever then, and was having wild stomachaches every couple of hours (or was it minutes?). Chase, who lives in Manila with his brother and sister only, has grown quite independent himself and usually, given circumstances such as this, can recover with simple medications and rest. However this time, there was something very wrong. His sister was worried sick, that she hardly slept Wednesday and Thursday night. By Thursday, his brother (who's a doctor) became increasingly worried as well, because Chase is complaining of having heart aches ( not the love kind! ). Now by Friday everyone was so worried, thus their mother decided that she needed to go down to Manila from Baguio to take care of this sick boy.

This story is not about Chase getting sick. It's about his family being there for him when he needed it the most. The outpouring of love was enormous, that made him think of how he really wanted to be there for them, not just when similar circumstances arise, but to be just there for them.

Isn't it wonderful how lucky we are that these people love us so much?

I remember a couple of years back, that I felt so strongly loved by my family as well. I had food poisoning from school and had the effects while I was riding the LRT. My stomach ached so badly that I got off at Central Station because I felt like passing out already. I hyperventilated, couldn't move my fingers, and the stomach ache was unbearable. I went to the bathroom, but I just cannot get it out of my system! Good thing, LRT Central Station had a clinic ( I didn't know they had one, I just thought of going down there because they had restrooms for sure ). So the station called my mom, who called my dad to pick me up at once, who then called my brother to get to the LRT station ASAP. However, my brother then had a math exam, but he was so worried, that he did the exam so fast, left the class, and went straight to see me there.

You know, such stories, just make us want to just say to ourselves, "damn, we are so blessed!"

And it makes us realize, that we really do want to be there for them as well.

Our family, is a blessing. We should always thank the Lord for giving us such wonderful people who love us unconditionally.

The Start of Investing in the Stock Market

Last saturday, Chase and I decided to fix up our excel sheet to track down our stock investments. We're not big investors yet, but we're starting to get really interested in investing in the market.

I, personally, invest through my real life broker who works wonders for me. I know I'm a very small client, which is why I do not expect that my broker give me all the time and attention for my inquiries. Let's just say that for now, once he recommends, I research, and then push on with the transaction if I believe it's pretty good as well. This small task has done wonders for me, but credit definitely goes to my broker!

Of course, trading with a real life broker is awesome, but we also need to learn the ins and outs of trading. There's so much scientific knowledge to be learned from this experience, which is also the reason why I opted to sign up for an online account, so that I can have a real feel as to how to actually perform transactions, research, etc. And it's been a pretty good ride I should say.

So given this preparation that we are going through, we are slowly learning the ropes of investing our hard earned cash. Unfortunately for me, I'm quite cash strapped as of the moment due to my laptop purchase recently.

It's really nice that Chase's getting into it as well!

Laptop

I've recently bought myself a new laptop - Acer Aspire 5583WXMi. I've wanted one ever since and I was finally able to convince myself to buy it! And so far, I've had it for a month and I'm loving every bit of it! It's processor is Intel's core 2 Duo, with Nvidia GeForce 7300 graphics card, 120 gig hard disk space and 1 Gig DDR memory.

Not bad.

My Investment Portfolio

I've recently started building up my stock portfolio. My objective is to invest on companies that have very good fundamentals. I'm not looking into short term trading (I have my broker to do that for me). This one's for my own portfolio, which I am building through the use of an online account. Currently, I've worked up a hefty gain considering I only started with the minimum amount. Not bad. I actually hit it big with an IPO that I bought a couple of months back. The rest, well, I'm holding on for the long term.

Currently, I am holding only two stocks for my long term portfolio. I really don't have the hundreds of thousands or millions to invest, so I'm taking it one step at time. I try to add some when (1) money's available, and (2) when stock prices are at a discount.

In addition to the stock market portfolio, I've also invested on another long term instrument - Sunlife's Balanced Fund. I haven't added there for quite a while since I'm currently focused (and very much interested) on the stock market. Besides, I just bought a new laptop, so my cash flow's a little tight :)

Sometimes Investment Returns Aren't Financial

"Sometimes Investment Returns Aren't Financial" - Chase Tan

Ever since I've started working, I've been reading a lot of articles and books, all about how to make it to the future financially secured. It's been a real goal for me to be able to achieve financial stability at a young age. I'm just afraid of seeing myself in the future relying on other people to take care of me. I'd want to be stable, and can hold up strong on my own.

My first real investment was buying up some shares for a Unit Investment Trust Fund (UITF). It went well the first few weeks, thus I decided to add more. But just weeks after I added a huge chunk, the huge May 2006 selloff happened and the next thing I know, I was losing 3000 pesos already. For a first timer like me (who at that time was working for about only a year), that was big. And the panic settled in. I redeemed my shares, cut losses, and waited for the market to turn alright. Which it did, eventually.

So there goes my first lesson: Do Not Panic!

Panic doesn't do one any good. That was what happened to me. I panicked and sold everything at once. What I didn't know was that I didn't look at the investment for the long term. Considering I really didn't need the money at that time and it was simply extra cash I had saved up over the months, I could've waited it out and eventually it would've gained upward momentum again.

I guess one of the major issues that time was that I wasn't educated about the whole investment field. I lacked the experience, awareness and knowledge of how everything works. If I did my research, I would've known that the whole economy outlook was actually very bullish at that time. It was a correction, that just so happened to occur during my initial attempts in investing.

Don't get me wrong. I did get a lot out of this experience. Not only did I learn to be more careful about my investment actions, I was even able to help out my parents on their business. The money I took out from the UITF, I loaned to my parents to help them cut back on the interests they are paying the lenders. For example, if their interest per month was 12%, then paying out a part of that debt would save them thousands of pesos a month. And instead, they pay me an interest of only a measly 5%. Not only did they save a whole lot of money, they made me somehow feel like a part investor of the company! Not bad eh?

So you see, even though things didn't turn out the way I wanted them to be, I even had a sweeter deal in the end. Even though I am not getting bigger returns as the UITF would've given (given the market these days!), at least I know I was able to help out my parents, and that in itself, can never be replaced by any bigger amount that is waiting for me out there.