Birthday Cruise - First Time Cruiser

Well, its been over a year since last time I wrote a blog. A lot has change from work, vacations taken, and its been kind of crazy.  Let me start with July of this year, another year older and doing something new also. I finally went on my first cruise, a five day birthday cruise. I went to Jamaica and the Grand Cayman, a place I would love to go back to spend more time at the 7 Mile Beach.

Miami

Aboard Carnival Cruise leaving Miami

Jamaica

It was a great cruise for my very first one. I had a great time one of the best birthdays I've had. Met new people from our table during dinner. It was awesome that everyone at the table were always looking forward to dinner cause we all get to see and hang out together til the wee hours of the night.Of course according to Christina since we stayed in a room with a balcony, I am spoiled and will always get a room on a cruise line with a balcony.Jamaica is okay, I don't know if I would visit again. Grand Cayman is the place I would love to go back to specially the 7 Mile Beach where the water is spectacularly clear.  After the cruise, we stopped by Aventura Mall hoping to meet up with Shyann Malone. Unfortunately because of the time restraint I was unable to see Shyann. On the way home we stopped by my aunt's house in Boca Raton to pick up some mangoes to take home. I ended up with 3 bags of mangoes.

Overall it was an awesome birthday, I went on a cruise, which I said I will never do. I went to Hell in Grand Cayman, spent about an hour soaking up the sun and enjoying the very clear water of 7 Mile Beach. Went to Jamaica and went to Dooms Fall, got harassed by local vendors to buy little trinkets and souveniers.

Thank you to my partner in crime, Christina for convincing me to go on a cruise. We call ourselves the Lucy & Ethel of 2015.

Look back at 2013

The year 2013 is now gone, here's a look back at my 2013 at work. People left, new people arrived, some moved up in their position, I'm another year older and its a milestone birthday , spent birthday away from family, did some traveling. There's new morning team, new Saturday morning team , I guess it was an eventful 2013 for me. Here's a short video of the event last year.
I hope my 2014 is better than the year before.

http://youtu.be/CMLIWf9KVEg

Another First.....5K Race

Another first, another thing scratched off the bucket list.  I ran my very first 5K April 14, 2013.  After training off and on for two years, I finally had a chance run a 5K.  Of all the 5K races to enter, I ended up running a race called Iron Girl 2013.  This route should be familiar to me since its in my Clearwater and around the  area I usually run, specially the bridge.  The route was to go over the Clearwater Memorial Causeway and back down to Coachman park where the starting line was.  The runners consists of all women of all ages. This runners are serious about running, they are all geared up wearing belt with water holder that holds 3-4 bottles. Some got fanny pack to put their energy bar, iPods, mp3, etc.  At the starting line, runners are anxious, itching to get going.  The announcer counted down and we were off. I think there was girls as young as 5 years old running the 5K. I was impressed that girls as young as 5-yrs-old were running not just any race, but the Iron Girl race.  Funny thing about this was that those young girls are pretty much got better time than I did.   When race started, most people started running/jogging but there's also some people that started the race walking, which was fine except they were not organized like i thought they would be. Organized as in all the walkers should be toward the back of the pack and the runners towards the front, but instead some walkers where at the front, middle, and back making it difficult for the runners.  So all the runners were swerving trying to avoid the walkers.  This race for me as a beginner was brutal specially going over the bridge cause it was also windy. The winds was against you so it was much harder going up hill.  Speaking of going up hill, I noticed that some of the younger runners were either behind me or next to me as we go up the bridge.  Since it was so windy, I decided to walk it going up the bridge and save my energy for the end of the race.  Anyway by the time I reached the top of the bridge, I saw one of those younger runners were in front of me from out of no where. I thought I just passed them going up the bridge.  So, I decided to go starts running again, so at least catch up with those young athletes.  As I reached the top of the bridge with another 1.5 miles, I noticed this one young girl running already on the other side of bridge making her way to the finish. I'm impressed on how fast those girls were running. They will probably do more race than me and even bigger races like half marathon. I was embarrassed to say that those girls were beating to the finish line. Towards the finish line a lot of people wanted to finish strong, so we all started running till we crossed the finish line with a big smile for the photo finish. As I get closer to the finish line, I looked over to the side and saw my brother with his phone taking video and pictures as I cross the finish line.  When I saw him, I just flashed my pearly whites for the picture. I finished the race in the middle of the pack with the time of 44.10, which I guess is not bad for my very first 5K.  Next race will be in November for the Turkey Trot, which is also the first time I will be doing it.

First Volunteer at a Homeless Facility

First time for everything. Last Saturday was my first time volunteering at a homeless shelter. It opened my eyes on how many people they help and what is provided for them. The facility is located on a 20 acre land and shelters about 250 homeless men and women. There are 300 tents that covers part that 20 acre land and some small apartments for those just starting to get back on their feet.

The main building is where they eat also include laundry room, computer lab, library, TV area and kitchen.

There are also portable for those who need medical help as well as several portables for those with special medical needs and those recovering from surgeries.

All the meals were donated three times a day. During my visit, there were about 275 people living there.Case managers comes and to help them find a job as well as people volunteering their time to do computer workshops, help them write resumes, etc.

We served them Filipino food, which they loved specially the egg rolls.

Here are some of the volunteers preparing the food to be served.

Here's pic of people enjoying their meals and we made them feel special by actually serving then instead of them standing in line to get their food.  Overall this has been a great experience and looking forward to doing it again around Christmas time if not sooner. We were told that they are looking for donations either it be clothes, books, computers, food, and even people's time.

 

 

Republican National Convention 2012

My first time being part of the Republican National Convention,  which is one if not the biggest event that come thru Tampa Bay area and I'm in the middle of it all. There's a lot of preparations to do a live show on location specially when it involved politicians cause one of the most important thing is security. There is the usual security at the entrance and then there is the background check done by the secret service.  The security at the entrance is not that bad,  just like I'm at the airport it didn't take that long then again it was 2:30AM, the crowd doesn't start till probably 9AM. As the week goes on, the security get a bit tighter everyday. I would dissect the RNC week day by day, but I cannot remember what happened on which day! I met a lot of people that works in the media locally and some national journalist. Some I didn't get a chance to meet in person but admired from afar while they were doing their shows. I watched crew clear parts of the delegate floor and set up news set to be used for a national news show like The Today Show, Good Morning America, and CBS This Morning just to name a few; the news set was set up with in hour of clearing the space. I also watched the stage being changed by extending it to be used by no other than Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate.  The 10 News morning crew got to meet and know morning crew from other local station. Since one of the local station is right next door to us, we became close with one another and even became friends on Facebook. After our morning show, we had a chance to go down on the floor and watch national tv networks do their show, take pictures and just watch them work behind the scenes. We watched them do interviews with politicians. I'd say all of us were star struck some more than others. Just being in the same room with nationally known journalists and politicians were exciting enough for us.  The food situation was something I/we didn't really expect. We were told that there will be vendors so plenty of food to buy, but then we found out the hard and expensive way that they don't have a lot of vendors open around the time that we need food. The vendors that were open. (there were 2 to be exact) didn't have much food to choose from. At night is a different story, they more vendors and different food to choose from and they also have a lot of people, way more people than in the early morning. We basically loaded up on coffee, energy drinks, and water till we came back the next day and there's no water at all; that's when we mostly drank energy drinks and coffee. Other than the food problem, the whole experience was awesome! In fact, the last day at the convention was bitter sweet, we glad it's over but we had fun and our suite was great specially where we were located perfect view of the stage we didn't want to leave. It's was one of the best experiences I've had in this business so far. It was an awesome learning experience specially since I don't go on location that often for a show and it also allows me to meet other people in the business since I'm always in the studio.

Another Year Older

July is a memorable month for me, beside its my brother's and my birth month its all the month we came to the United States, on July 4th to be exact. Now is there a better time to come to the US than on the 4th of July? Funny story is when my family came here it was 9pm on July 4, 1984 when North West Airline landed at Tampa International Airport. My uncle, aunt and some family friends picked us up from the airport and home to my uncle's house. When we got to the house, my cousins were outside doing fireworks, of course not knowing anything about 4th of July celebration, I thought how cool is that we got fireworks to welcome us in Florida.

Another July has passed, another year older,  and survived a week long birthday celebration without any broken bones, sprained ankles, bruised hands, and no blood spouting out. So I 'd say it's a good birthday :) As celebrated in the past 28 years together with my younger brother since our birthdays are only a day a part, but then celebrate individually with our friends.  Ate lots of home cooked Filipino food and little alcohol ;) I can honestly say that I only celebrated my birthday with alcoholic drinks 3 times in my life, seeing that I don't drink and also happens to be allergic to alcohol.  Those three times I drank way more than I can handle (just imagine 1 is more than enough for me).  Growing up here I never celebrated my birthday during school year since it's in the summer, but my first birthday here in Florida we went to McDonald, which I don't even remember. But one of my most memorable birthdays was when I turned 18-years-old, spent it at the beach, jet skiing, then going back home playing volleyball in the backyard and learning how to shoot BB gun. I never really experienced celebrating my birthday at school since it is during summer vacation, so usually celebrate it with family and family friends, no school friends. Going out with friends to celebrate birthday here, usually my friends either all chip in to pay for my birthday dinner or one of them will pay for it.

In the Philippines, I celebrate my birthday during the school year since school year is from June-March, summer is April and May. On my birthday, I bring foods for my classmate and a party if it's on weekend. When going out with friends for a birthday, the birthday celebrant is the one that picks up the tab. Crazy right? I did not experience this of course but from what I was told this is who it is over, who knows it might have changed by now since Philippines is becoming more Americanized. I do know that friends still brings the celebrant birthday gifts. I don't really remember much on how birthday was celebrated back in the Philippines, all I know is that there are some traditional Filipino birthday food that is always on the table - spaghetti, corn dogs/hot dogs on a stick just to name a few. I would like to eventually go back to the Philippines and celebrate my birthday there, just so I can experience how birthday is celebrated there.

New Years in Philippines

New Year in the Philippines is just one of the popular festivals in the country. It is celebrated with great magnificent display of colors, clothes, foods, and people. The New Year customs present deep insight into the rich tradition of the country. People celebrate New Year with friends and family as well as have meals together. This symbolize good luck and plenty of production in the year ahead. They then offer prayers after the meal. A special ingredient of the meal is that it consists of 12 different fruits. The fruits should be round and sweet; it represent good luck for the the new year to come. Another custom is media noche or midnight mass, it offers good luck throughout the year and drive away evil forces. Like any other country that celebrate new year, fireworks is a popular to welcome the new year. The sky is lit up with different kinds of fireworks; it is said that fireworks symbolizes happiness and prosperity throughout the year. Fireworks in the Philippine is known as the Filipino paputok. In some areas of the Philippines, people beat pots and pans to drive away evil forces and bring happiness. Growing up, my brothers and I used to beat pots and pans when midnight comes. We thought its just another way for ringing in the new year, basically adding more noise. Another unique custom is that children jump up and down 10 times to grow taller in the year ahead. I'm not really sure that this custom worked on me if you see me:) There are also lots of cultural and recreational activities to celebrate the new year. Filipinos also dressed in polka dots as the roudness represent prosperity along with carrying coins in their pockets. Cultural hot spots are flooded with performances, music events, and rural dances.