Today: July 29, 2009

Today was very very tiring. After work, I ran out and got back to the gym. It was a real pain to get into the treadmill again after a long while. It was doubly painful because I forgot my earplugs so I could not distract myself with the morning TV shows they have on front. Yeah I know nobody needs that but hey it works for me ye know!

I lifted a couple of pounds to maintain the girth of my arms. That would probably amount to like 80 lbs per arm since I use the dumbbells for a dumbbell press. Redundant as that may sound, I felt the need to do it on a regular basis since it looks good on me. I dunno, it maybe just me.LOL...

After that, never getting any sleep because my Mom and Dad suddenly asked me to go to grocery with them. With me picking up the tab, it costed around 3,500 for those which would only last about 2 weeks or so. My family has this notion of eating everything in one sitting, ask my sister about it LOL.

Anyway, my Mom bought me my favorite Chicken Balls and my Dad bought me 2 bottles of Gillette after shave... it was sweet because I haven't seen that in a long time you know!

I was late again in the office but good thing my office mate Vince was already here. =)

So I have to go to work now, see you later!

Take a Seat

It was a fine evening; I had to do reports as usual. Since I am going to sit in front of the computer for almost 9 straight hours for work, the need to be comfortable in my chair was a necessity. This however did not turn out right because the one I had on my work area was used by a co worker and replaced it with a dilapidated one. I was not a happy boy.

I did try my best to get my posture straight and had to resort using pillows for my back and head so I can at least survive the 8 remaining hours of work. I was not lucky, my back still did hurt and my neck became strained for doing that. I guess I had to call another department and have them replace it, but since I was in a graveyard shift the administration office was closed and only open at regular office hours. I was already sarcastic when I asked the utility men and women; I was getting more stressed by the minute. I need better Office Chairs.

A Good Samaritan got up and gave me his chair, from then on I was smooth sailing. I got him breakfast too because of that. The necessity of proper seating is vital for people; I got my point across and got the chair replaced the day after. I'm happy they got me the best one too!

KUMAGCOW FOOD REVIEWS: Quick bite at STACKERS

One early morning at STACKERS Eastwood

This is the day I'll tell you about a meal I enjoyed with friends a couple of nights ago. Since I work in Eastwood City there are close to a hundred restaurants that I could have gone to, but I specifically asked my office mates to eat in an Australian Burger restaurant called STACKERS.

The Stackers Premium Burger...

I already had a full stomach that time because I partly had dinner at home before I went back to the office. Richard just got back from the US and didn't want to eat burgers but I guess we had no choice but to go to the only 24/7 store aside from McDonald's... at least it is something slightly different.

The ambiance was nice since there were only a couple of employees from nearby buildings eating too. I ordered one of their premium burgers since I expect that it would probably be their best and most expensive piece of meat on the menu. Richard ate a Philly steak equivalent of the burger while Bernadette ate the salad with chicken fingers on it. I was not really that impressed when it came out of the kitchen. Service was also not that appealing since they confused me with everything they had on the menu. Their menu by the way was a little worn out, I would have wanted something on the line of laminated or plastic covered stuff but I guess they only had those made in cardboard prints. It was really a little filthy.

Her Salad was a little disappointing!

When Bernadette's salad came, there wasn't even enough effort for a presentation on it. They just put greens and a couple of leaves of romaine on the bottom then put the chicken fingers flat on top of it. They should have at least stacked them high so it would look a little better. I did it myself so it would look nice in the camera.

See what I mean? The sauce was a little Asian inspired but it was not that good considering it would have been easy to prepare that fresh. It felt like it was all bottled and packed so I was not that impressed.

I was not that impressed... =(

The burger? The actual premium burger they served me was so so. I hated the fact that I was actually gearing that this particular one would beat the current king of burgers in the country aka BROTHERS BURGER but I guess I was wrong. Their half pound premium burger was a charbroiled frozen burger inside a bun that occupied most of my plastic basket which they serve this in for. Burgers of this expensiveness and caliber should have gotten close to what the picture actually shows. But no, it was far from it and when I tasted it... it really was not that much of a challenge. I ate it in one sitting but man I was not satisfied. Presentation wise this burger was not appealing because I practically was overwhelmed with the bun than the actual meat itself. For the carnivorous me, it was a failure on 2 instances... first was the frozen mass produced state of it and second is the not so charbroiled flavor. I'm sorry but on this note, it did not beat BROTHERS BURGER.

The false Phillysteak like burger that they had was eaten by Richard. He was not amused by the content of it and did not even know that it was also charbroiled. He could not even tell! I had to tell him about it and since he already ate the Philly steak in Washington, he thought this was a joke... but he says its okay... so for 2 guys and a girl, STACKERS failed.

Ordinary Rootbeer and Sprite, nuthin special!

The drinks we ordered were just lemonade and colas, and I got the rootbeer. The colas were ordinary, and the lemonade was more of a calamansi flavor. It was not something to rave about than the simple iced tea other restaurants had.

In this round of KUMAGCOW vs STACKERS, I will give them one KUMAG for at least trying. I hope someone does research on the food they serve next time. I'll review that if they consider revising their menu.

KUMAGCOW not happy about this one. =(

Life Loved and Lost

This morning was a very sad for most of the people in our neighborhood because of the untimely death of the matriarch of the MEDINA clan. They have been our neighbors for a long time and I grew up seeing her taking care of her sons, daughters and grandchildren. A couple of her kids were also close friends of mine. They own a bakeshop just across the street from our home so it was obviously a factor that we often see each other everyday.

Being a little overweight, she had a great chance to have heart ailments because of her diabetes. She was rushed to the hospital one day because she suffered a stroke. Confined in the intensive care unit, it was really a whole lot to bear just with their family business as a source of livelihood. They even got her to the best and advanced hospital in the Philippines which is St. Luke's Medical Hospital and the bills just piled up to about 7 Million Pesos which is roughly around US$150,000. It was a really huge amount to bear and she did not have life insurance to pay for it. Her family tried to get help through public government offices, but they could only help much. She passed away this morning and we all mourn her death. We were all worried about the family she left behind because they will be the ones who is going to pay for it too. We helped financially as much as we could but that would only amount to a couple of thousand pesos. It was still huge because she did not have her own Term Life Insurance. Things would have been easier for the family if they got one.

It is a good thing that we all have life insurance and paying for it was easy enough in terms. With this as a lesson, I am sure most of you will consider getting life insurance.