Chloe turns 5!

Happy birthday, Chloe! :-)

Holy Cow!

My babies are babies no more. Sigh. :-)

Spider-Man is single again!

Can you believe it?!

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-01-09-spider-man-marriage_N.htm

Here is an excerpt from the USA Today article:

"In Amazing Spider-Man #545 last week, Peter and Mary Jane make a tearful deal with the devil-like character Mephisto: In exchange for saving Aunt May's life, Mephisto erases all traces of the Peter-Mary Jane marriage from memory.

"In the issue out this week, subtitled Brand New Day, Peter Parker returns to his roots — young, nerdy and single. Aunt May is alive and well and Mary Jane is again just part of the cast. The marriage never happened."

Chloe, Bianca, and the Bitten Nose

Sometime in December 2005, our good friends Charmaine and Ron invited us to stay overnight at Monte Vista, their family's resort in Laguna. We left the two kids, Chloe and Bianca, with their respective yayas in Ron and Charmaine's home inside the resort while we had dinner at Max's (located in front of Monte Vista).

When we got back from the restaurant, we were shocked to see Bianca crying in pain! Apparently Chloe got too excited playing with Bianca and just decided to bite her nose. Ouch!

Check out Bianca's nose in the photo above taken the day after the incident. They were friends again, as if nothing happened the night before.

Charmaine and Ron, thanks for still being our friends and for not banning Chloe from any of your kids' parties. Hehehe. :-)

Losing My Voice

Literally, I lost it.

I blame the cough that started around the 20th of December. By Christmas eve, I had lost my voice and was forced to whisper everything that I needed to say. The people around me during our annual Angeles clan Christmas party had to labor trying to understand the words that were coming out of my mouth. I really felt sorry for them. I should have just shut my mouth tight that night.

I momentarily and partially got my voice back on the 25th and on the 26th, but it was gone again by the 27th. It's already the 2nd of January, and I'm still whispering. I went to the wedding of one my cousins on the 27th, and every time I spoke, my uncle (the father of the bride) would politely tell me to just stop talking. It was a struggle both for me (talking) and for him (listening), so there wasn't a point conversing anymore.

I never experienced this "silent treatment" before, and I hope I never will again. I also wish none of you will ever have to endure this kind of torture, especially if you love conversation with friends and family.

Though it was a silent new year for me, it was still a fun one. Definitely memorable.

Happy new year!

Dumb Business Moment #85: Singapore Airlines

Fly the don't-get-too-friendly skies. Singapore Airlines inaugurates the Airbus A380, the world's largest jet, with a seven-hour flight from Singapore to Sydney. To the chagrin of those who forked out $15,000 for one of 12 private, double-bed-equipped suites, the airline asks its passengers to refrain from having sex. Says first-class passenger Tony Elwood: "So they'll sell you a double bed, and give you privacy and endless champagne, and then say you can't do what comes naturally?"

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0712/gallery.101_dumbest.fortune/85.html

Dumb Business Moment #79: Hugo Chávez

Granted, I flunked econ ... To reduce his nation's 17% annual inflation rate, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announces a plan to chop three zeroes off his nation's currency. Economists say the move will have the reverse effect, as new pricing will tend to be rounded upward.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0712/gallery.101_dumbest.fortune/79.html

Dumb Business Moment #76: Jessica Simpson

... and cardboard boxes ... and the color red ... and, come to think of it, Pizza Hut. Jessica Simpson stars in commercials for Pizza Hut's Cheesy Bites pizza, then tells Elle magazine that she's allergic to wheat ... and tomatoes ... and cheese.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0712/gallery.101_dumbest.fortune/76.html

Dumb Business Moment #74: Google

Kidding. We kid. That's what friends do, right? As thousands of eBay's biggest sellers gather in Boston for a convention sponsored by the auction site, Google invites them to a party promoting Google Checkout, a payment system that competes with eBay's PayPal. In response eBay, the single largest buyer of search ads on Google, "tests" a shift of its marketing dollars, pulling all its U.S. ads from the search engine for more than a week. Google cancels its party.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0712/gallery.101_dumbest.fortune/74.html

Dumb Business Moment #67: McDonald's

In fact, many of our employees go on to be McBrain Surgeons. McDonald's launches a "word battle" against the Oxford English Dictionary to amend the definition of McJobs, which the OED currently describes as an "unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects." The goal, according to a company vice president, is to change the citation to "reflect a job that is stimulating, rewarding, and offers skills that last a lifetime."

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0712/gallery.101_dumbest.fortune/67.html

Dumb Business Moment #51: Apple

One, two, three, four, we'll sue you if you send us more. Nine-year-old Shea O'Gorman sends a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs suggesting ideas for improving her beloved iPod Nano, including adding onscreen lyrics so people can sing along. She gets back a letter from Apple's legal counsel stating that the company doesn't accept unsolicited ideas and telling her not to send in any more suggestions.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0712/gallery.101_dumbest.fortune/51.html

Dumb Business Moment #48: The European Union

They don't call it the European Union for nothing. To highlight its role as a patron of the arts, the EU posts a mashup on YouTube featuring two dozen sex scenes from movies it has funded, followed by the line, "Let's come together."

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0712/gallery.101_dumbest.fortune/48.html

http://youtube.com/watch?v=koRlFnBlDH0

Dumb Business Moment #33: Oral B

And we just thought our wives were really into oral hygiene. Lawyers representing Procter & Gamble send a 66-page cease-and-desist letter to British sex-toy company Love Honey, demanding that it stop using images of its Oral B electric toothbrushes to promote a product called the Brush Bunny - a rabbit-shaped piece of plastic that slips over the top of an Oral B to turn it into a vibrator.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0712/gallery.101_dumbest.fortune/33.html

Dumb Business Moment #13: Disneyland

It's a fat world, after all. Disneyland announces plans to close the "It's a Small World" attraction to deepen its water channel after the ride's boats start getting stuck under loads of heavy passengers. Employees ask larger passengers to disembark - and compensate them with coupons for free food.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0712/gallery.101_dumbest.fortune/13.html

Happy 2008!

Happy new year, everybody! This is actually Cole's first new year celebration where he actually got to watch fireworks. Hope you guys had as much fun as we had. May you all have a prosperous year ahead! :-)

My Current Favorite Quotable Quote

"You can't be the president and the head of the military at the same time."

- US President and Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush, telling reporters what he told Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf during their 20-minute conversation on November 14, 2007