Merry Christmas and A Blessed New Year to all!!!

It's officially my last day of work for the year. Yup! No more work next week as our company declared 3 more office holidays aside from the regular holidays. Which means, I'll be back on January. (yey!)

Hoping that amidst all our joyous celebration, let's not forget the Birthday Celebrant...the Reason for the Season - Jesus.


I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!!!

See you all next year! (",)

Adieu

I consider it a great privilege to be able to work with him even for just almost 8 months (i.e. the length of my stay here in OCS). I'm referring to no less than our Technical Director, Mr. Nicolas Frick. He's the kind of boss any employee would like to have. And if only we could make him stay here, we would.

This week is his last week here in the office. Last Monday, we went to Superbowl and had a fun night of bowling with Nicolas and his wife, Muriel. Bossing Nicolas played bowling like a pro! During our session there, we also had a chance to take a photo with Mr. Paeng Nepomuceno who happened to be there as well.

Kagagaling lang sa sakit, naka-2 games pa. hehe...
The Girls w/ bossing Nicolas
Proud to be with Mr. Paeng Nepomuceno

Then last Wednesday, we all gathered to hand him our surprise gifts. First was a book containing beautiful photos of corals and underwater sceneries, as he loves taking photos of our beaches. We also gave him a nice backpack, which is his favorite actually! =)

For you, sir! =)
Watching him open the gifts
Looks like he loved the book! =)
Surprised with the backpack?! =D
Saying his "thank you's" and "good-bye's" to the guys
Giving all the girls "good-bye" kiss (uyyy...si Arlene. hehe...)
He's actually looking at me (nagtago lang kase shy ma-picturan pagkiniss. hehe!)
So happy with his gifts! =D

We noticed that he almost cried when he said good bye to all of us. He was joking that he should come back again next year so that he could get some more gifts (hehe...)

We would all surely miss him. We'll miss how he makes the employees feel good and confident about themselves. As for me, I'll miss our long one-on-one discussions as we review the test plans. I'll miss the beautiful view that I could clearly see from his office door. I'll miss his handshake every morning. I'll miss his smile whenever I meet him in the elevator or in the hallway.

Thank you, Sir Nicolas for everything! We wish you all the best and we hope to see you in France someday! (",)

It was truly a pleasure working with you, sir!

OCS Christmas Party @ Mandarin Oriental Poolside

Okay, don't look for me at any of the pictures below because you won't find me. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend our Christmas party this year (again, due to my unexpected vacation). But anyway, I decided to post some of the pictures here since I really enjoyed looking at them in their LUAU attires. Here, take a look...


Mandarin Poolside - Panoramic view
Beside the buffet table
food!
food again!
Mr. Jaques Maupin - our COO
our cool Technical Director - Nicolas Frick
Guest dancers for the evening
The bossings dancing with the dancers
Group #1 Presentation - nice Emman! hehe!
Group #3 Presentation - bulaklak dance number =)
Go gurls! ayy...guys pala. hehe!
Of course, my very own group (kahit wala ako. hehe...)
Galing ni Anne mag choreo! =D
In fairness, may hidden talent rin pala ang mga guys na 'to...hehe...
the Christmas Alphabet!
The winning team (ahem, ahem...) w/the bossings
Pretty naman ni Axel and Aspi... hehe...
Group picture! huhu...wala ako =(

So that's our Christmas Party 2005. I'm happy with the way it turned out and I'm glad that they all enjoyed it. As for me, I'm satisfied with the pics. hehe... (",)

3rd Year Anniversary Celebration

I know should have posted this a week ago. But due to my unexpected vacation (hehehe...) I'm only posting it now.

Anyways, allow me to share some pics taken from our recently concluded Church Anniversary held last December 11. My dad wasn't able to take that many shots because he was so busy entertaining the guests.

As for me, I couldn't care that much about taking the pics since my head is aching soooo terribly aside from having a slight fever. (Although the pictures doesn't show I'm already sick. hhmm...you see, pictures can be deceiving sometimes. hehe...)

Me and Mom in our Filipiniana Costumes

Me and Ate Lucille (feeling dalagang filipina. hehe...)

During our song interpretation of Gary V.'s "Gaya ng Dati"

The Moms in their energetic tambourine dance number

Posing with my friends from Manila after our Finale number
Overall, it was a successful evening celebration (Even if I ended up in the hospital...but that's another story). Indeed, God is good and He is truly faithful to our Church and to each one of us. We thank you Lord for everything that You've done and for all that You're still going to do! (",)

Just got back!

After almost a week of vacation (in the hospital) I'm officially back to work now! Oohh myy...It was the loooongest 6 days of my life last week. It was my first time to be confined in the hospital...first time I've experienced to be attached with a dextrose. (not a really nice experience) Oh well... I'm very much okay now. =)

I'd like to thank the Lord for His healing and grace. And of course to my family, who's never left my side - lovingly taking care of me day and night. And also to everyone who visited me, who called me (even those from the U.S.), special mention to my team mates, to those who sent their "get well" messages and to all those who prayed earnestly for my swift recovery. My heartfelt "thanks" to all of you!!!

I missed my first Christmas Party here at OCS last Friday, though. But at least I was able to help in the preparations somehow, being one of the committee members. Oh well, some things just happen when you least expect them...and I guess I just have to accept them as they come. But that's okay there's still next year to look forward to. I'm still excited for Christmas! (",)

Team Lunch @ Seafood Island

Thanks to Axel's generosity, our team had a free lunch today! (yey!) We had to commute though going to Market! Market! Good thing, an FX driver accommodated us and so we arrived there safe and dry (hehe...) inspite of the rainy weather.

We're surprised to see 3 men standing in front of the Seafood Island Restaurant. At first I thought they were just statues. But then when somebody placed coins on the boxes in front of them, they started to move like robots. Cool! But they scare me and Anne even more. You should have heard her scream. hehe...

Anne placed a 5 peso coin on the box (nagulat sya nung gumalaw! hehehe...)

We occuppied a table by the porch and so we still had a good view of those 3 men (i just don't know what they are called)

We ordered sashimi, shrimps, crabs, tuna belly and sinigang na bangus. While we were eating, the 3 men started performing several dance numbers. Whoah! I didn't expect them to dance so well. They really groove!

Ritche asked me to memorize their steps for our presentation on our Christmas party. Hmmm... how I wish it's that easy. I was surprised when they danced "1, 2 Step" - this is Ephil's dance presentation tonight. I practiced with the Ephil folks last night and I definitely enjoyed dancing with them. I just wish I could still dance with them during the Christmas party. But anyway, I'm really glad I had the chance to see them dance somehow. Ang galing nyo! =)

It was a yummy lunch and a nice time chatting and laughing with my team mates. Before we left the restaurant, we asked the 3 guys to pose with us. Anne and I weren't so afraid of them anymore. hehe...

Kris-Kringle Gift #3

It's Marvel and DC characters for our theme this time. Picked "Emma Frost" as codename.
I don't know her so I still had to consult google. I find it amusing to pick my baby's code name 'cause it's quite related to mine. I got "Iceman" for my baby. Isn't that cool?! =)

The 3rd gift category is "something long and hard". As usual, I found it hard to look for a gift. I was on leave last Monday but still I wasn't able to buy a gift for my baby. Good thing, Anne accompanied me to Landmark yesterday. We decided to look at the home and kitchen area. After searching all the racks, I finally decided to buy a plastic blue-colored dustpan which comes with a plastic broom. It's actually nice! I also wanted to buy another one for the house.

Ritche asked me a favor to buy a gift for his baby. We picked a nice plastic broom and a feather duster for his gift. =)

The exchange gift is supposed to be scheduled yesterday. But we decided to postpone it since there were quite a number of people on leave. There were a lot of frowning faces when they heard the sad news. Yep, that's how excited they are! (hehehe...)

We finally gathered almost everybody this afternoon, and so goes the most awaited exchange gift. (yey!) Unfortunately, my "baby" was still on leave today. As for my gift...hmm... You'd be surprised, just as I was. Look at these...

Nye! si Ritche pala ang daddy ko. What a coincidence! hehe...=P

If I only knew, I should have bought a nicer gift...for me! Anyway, thanks daddy Ritche (kahit ako ang bumili at nag-wrap ng gift ko...hmp! =P hehehe...)

the broom and feather duster on my desk (picture courtesy of Axel)

New Toy in the Office

Axel and I went to Digital Exchange (Glorietta) last night to buy another 3G phone for the office. Yep, it's the Nokia N70.

We haven't explored all the functionalities yet. I just know it has video conferencing, a radio and of course, a camera (which can be switched to front or rear view).

Here are some of the shots that Ferdie took as he was experimenting on the camera.

kulit talaga ni Jung...tsk, tsk!

nyah! kakatakot...(hehehe...)

It's raining Pizza and Cakes! =D

Thanks to our officemates who received their regularization last October and November as well as the birthday celebrants! We had our stomachs filled with Pizza (from Yellow Cab) and Chocolate Mousse (from Red Ribbon) this afternoon. Yummy!!! (",)