After weeks of phone panel interviews, online exams, and numerous resume revisions, I finally got a job at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, or CME, or "the Merc". CME is the largest futures exchange in the United States and the second largest exchange in the world for the trading of futures and options on futures. Cool eh! I have never worked for a finance company before; so imagine how excited I was, err, aside from the fact that I have recently been doing my own personal study on playing the stock market, etcetera, etcetera. Flying B [View Full Entry]

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In the mall, I saw a souvenir shop of T-shirts that had these on: "Be good to me. I have friends in Detroit." "I'm tough. I vacationed in Detroit." These struck me. What's with Detroit? ... ummm, aside from the fact that Eminem is a Detroit native. Well, a city of angst? Stevie Wonder also came from Detroit, but he's classy. Detroit must be a city full of variety and history. So here goes my impression of Downtown Detroit, plus a thrilling experience while walking downtown. Read on. GM Renaissance Center The General Motors Renaissa [View Full Entry]

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I just had a superb Easter Sunday! Luisa and Larry took us to Dexter, which is an hour's drive west of Detroit. Maret and I feel so glad they invited us over. I have never seen Easter celebrated this way before. Let me give you 4 reasons. First, it was snowing. I woke up as early as 6am and prepared myself for Easter mass. At around 730am we got ourselves seated inside St. Joseph Catholic Church which quickly got filled up with people in winter jackets. The snow wasn't that bad but it was freezing cold! They say Easter hasn't [View Full Entry]

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Thanks to Luisa, we finally broke away from our regular Saturday routine of going to the mall - going to church - going to the grocery store - then going home. She took us to Ann Arbor (Washtenaw County) which is an hour away from Detroit (Wayne County). Unknown to us, we were about to see the other side of Michigan. Laid back Town Going to Ann Arbor, we took the 696 Freeway and saw more barnyards as we get nearer and nearer. Not that we see cattle by the roadside, we saw acres of corn fields and wheat. Spring is [View Full Entry]

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. At Greenfield Apartment Today will be my first day in the office. As soon as I got myself dressed, I ran to the apartment's courtyard and took pictures of me and our apartment here. Snow has piled up for a few inches already and my boots were sinking deep into the ice. Still, it's a good thing the snowstorm happened a day before we arrived. Yes, it was Valentine's Day. Current Location: Greenfield Road, Oak Park, MI Current Temperature: 10F Okay, okay I myself need to convert that to Celsius... that's -12C -- Cold!!! I felt terrible. [View Full Entry]

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. We left home at 5pm to get to the NAIA Airport. It was Valentine's Day - shall I expect a romantic flight? Hehe. Corny. (Hey I'm trying to cheer myself up! This trip is going to be longer than usual. I will be away from home longer than usual. And my lifestyle, well, a lot different than usual.) This picture you see was taken at DTW - Detroit Airport, Michigan. That's me, still smiling after 30 gruelling hours of travelling via 4 change planes. (Please don't ask me why we chose to fly this way. Don't get me started. Hehe!) [View Full Entry]

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We checked out of Villa Ernesto at General Luna, Siargao as early as 4:00am. The van brought us to the Port of Del Carmen to take our 5:30am Leonida Ferry Ride. (Again many thanks to Ate Eunor and her connections.) We left for Surigao City, mainland Surigao. Please don’t sneeze or I’ll fall Eloi and I noticed how “personalized” traveling is, here in Siargao. Since they do not have elaborate ladders or bridges that passengers walk on from the docking area into the ferry boat, they have made an improvised bridge. Two people simply hold a long kawaya [View Full Entry]

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Typhoon Milenyo, a bane or a boon? Today’s our third day here in Siargao Island. It has been very sunny and dry; while Manila and the rest of Luzon has been on blackout due to typhoon Milenyo. This typhoon, though, gave a beautiful strong barrel of waves at Cloud 9, where the surfing competition was held. It was also because of this that the surfing competition we came here for finished two days earlier than expected. It’s okay though, we have already been to a lot of places in this area, plus we have gone surfing the other day, what else [View Full Entry]

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Today, we have planned to go to Sohoton Cove, Socorro, Bucas Grande Island. It is 2 hours away from Siargao Island so we hired a double engine boat that can cover the long distance and withstand moderate waves. Bucas Grande is a less popular island compared to the other major islands of Surigao namely, Dinagat Island and Siargao Island. I have not seen much pictures of it from the internet so I did not have a clear image of what to expect. Little did I know that it turned out to be one of my favorite places here in the province [View Full Entry]

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Port of Dapa We checked out of Gateway Hotel in Surigao City before 9:00am to take the most comfortable ferry that would take us to the port of Dapa in Siargao Island. Thank Heavens for Ate Eunor! She managed to book us at Montenegro Lines despite the peak season of Siargao -- We were in time for the 12th International Surfing Competition. The ferry ride was okay. Oh, that was an understatement -- it was sweeeet! It was as comfortable as a bus ride! It had cushioned chairs with matching draperies, air conditioning and “So Close” playing on DVD! Sweet ei! [View Full Entry]

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