it started snowing a few hours ago and we're expecting more, heavier snow in the next couple of days. damn, it's really cold! freaking below freezing temp!!!

* i'll post pics when i get back to manila....

my shoes were finally delivered last night. love it! love it! love it! worth all the effort. hehehe! =)

• 3 hours in naia (freshness, i didn’t have to fall in a long queue. thanks to www.nwa.com’s online check-in service)
• 4 ½ hours from manila to nagoya (still quite fresh)
• 1 ½ hours in nagoya airport (surprisingly, their ground attendants and immigrations people speak better english now)
• 11 hours from nagoya to detroit (literally, a pain in the ass)
• 3 hours in detroit-wayne airport including 1 ½ hours in the homeland security office (yes! my god! we were almost prohibited to enter the country!!! kaloka! good thing everything was settled or else, we would have been sent back to the philippines, and i wouldn’t be able to pick up my shoes! hahaha!)
• 1 ½ hours from detroit to washington dc (my seatmate put the talk in talkative!)
• 30 minutes in washington-reagan (uber harassed look)
• 1 hour from washington dc to gaithersburg, md (finally!)

26 hours!!! super tiring! as in, haggard talaga!!! and grimy! like i could smell my dead skin cells!!! hahaha! good thing the weather here is lovely – not as cold as jan 2005 or jan 2006. tipong, i’m only using a sweater. it’s like baguio weather lang. i like!

* i’m gonna pick up my shoes na later. yehey!

since i won’t be having a vacation in new york anymore, i’ve decided that i’ll just spend my money on shopping instead. hahaha! goodluck to overspending! I guess it’s okay though because we’ll have our unused sick leaves converted into cash on the 28th so i could pay for the amount that i’ll overspend. hahaha! but still, goodluck pa rin talaga! i’ve actually started to budget my money last night on the items that i want to buy there. so far, i haven’t gone overboard on the expenses – well, yet. hahaha! i still hope though that my impulsiveness in shopping will not kick in so i won’t overspend this time. goodluck to my e.q. as well coz i’m going to leesburg corner premium outlets. wwaaaahhh!

i actually have quite a lot of items on my to-buy list but only one item would really make me happy since i can do without the rest anyways. what is it? it’s a cole haan nike air granada sport ox! hehehe!

boy! i really need to have a pair of that. serious! last night, when chrissy and i were browsing through the cole haan website, it’s the only item that struck me and stuck in my mind. promise! it was love at first sight!!! hahaha! i got kinda obsessed so i really had to do something about it.

and so i called the cole haan outlet in leesburg. hahaha! i had to check if they have it there or not; so i could call the shops within the washington dc/virginia area if they don’t. the salesperson whom i got to talk to told me that outlets do not actually carry that item. only shops do because it’s something like a prime or a first class item. so the salesperson just referred me to the shops in pentagon city and tysons galleria.

i called the shop in pentagon city because i’ve already been there so i’m quite familiar with the area. i got to speak with a salesperson named norman and inquired about the shoes. when i gave him the item code, he unhesitatingly said, “sir, just by hearing the item code, i’m telling you now that we don’t have that here.” my god! panic!!! so i asked him if any of the shops in the vicinity carries that item. he asked me for my shoe size and then checked his database. he said that there are only 7 pairs left with my shoes size in the whole united states and they’re in boston, houston, atlanta, chicago, dallas, and two more cities I forgot. there’s none in the dc/va area!!! wwaaaahhh!

tense!!! i was really pleading by then. i was telling him stuff like: “but i really like that item,” “i really need to have a pair of that,” “god, what am i gonna do?” hahaha! i told him that i’m actually in manila but i’m flying in this weekend. i said that i’m gonna arrive on the afternoon of the 14th so i could purchase the item on the 15th. norman said that he’s willing to order the item for me but i have to provide him with some information. okay, okay! that’s easy.

he first asked me for my email address so i willingly gave it to him. i even gave him my business email address. then he asked me for a u.s. billing address. what the…??? i don’t have one!!! i told him that i actually have a visa credit card but it’s issued here in the philippines. he said that he needs a u.s. issued credit card with a u.s. billing address for security and verification purposes. dammit! stress!!!

well, i could give him my amex card number (that should be more than enough assurance) but it’s also issued here. and besides, i can use that for business transactions only. so given the situation, i told him that i’m just gonna pay for it in cash on the 15th instead since they wouldn’t accept my card. he said that he could indeed order the item but it’s difficult to put an item on hold in their shop for seven days because somebody might just walk in and would also want to buy it. so i told him that he just has to put it on hold for the meantime and i would definitely be there on the 15th, first thing in the morning, to pick it up: that i don’t care if i’d have to take the metro or a cab all the way from gaithersburg, maryland. hahaha! i also gave him my maryland and u.s. toll-free numbers, which i’m using here in manila, to show that I’m really serious about acquiring the shoes. my gosh! effort!

in the end, with my pleading and whining, norman gave in and said that he’s going to order the shoes for me and put it on hold until the 15th. yippee! pero that was such an endeavor talaga ha! hahaha! kaloka! i’m uber excited na talaga to get a hold of it. as in! tunay! i just wish norman did place the order for me. hmmm…. for that, i’m gonna call him again later to check if (and make sure that) he actually did. hehehe! =)

apparently, ross will be going home here in manila on the dates that i am supposed to be in new york. romy still hasn't called me if it's okay to crash at his and ben's place. i can't go to detroit either because eileen's going to texas for training. i'm now left without a place to stay on my vacation dates. well, i could go to los angeles and stay at my relatives place but i'd rather not. they're too conservative and i bet i'd be encarcirated in the house or i'll be chaperoned wherever i go to. hence, no more vacation for me. hwwaaaahhh!

because of this, i had to call our company's global travel agency in maryland to rebook my flight itinerary. i almost had to pay $150 for the penalty but luckily, the executive assistant (never call her a secretary or she'd certainly be pissed off) of our senior vp decided that the company will just take care of the added expenses. whew!

so i had to come up with another plan. good thing, jem and chrissy’s team will be going to puerto galera on the 27th. since i’m kinda an honorary member of their team, i’ve decided to join them on the trip instead. i'll be flying back to manila on the 25th. i’ll arrive at 10:30pm on the 26th, or the latest is 12:30am on the 27th – that is, if there are no flight delays. so goodluck daba! haggard ito! well, i’ll just have to take the toll to have fun, right? hahaha!

2 days ago, i was singing while taking a bath when i noticed that my voice had a good echo in the bathroom. so i decided to record my voice. in fairness, i love the result. hehehe! the song was only cut short because my phone could record an audio file only up to a minute. next time, i'll just use the video recorder and grab the audio from the file. hehehe! =)