Taipei Weekend!

I enjoy traveling. Granted, just a casual traveler, but a traveler just the same. A quick, weekend to enjoy a food trip in Taipei was right up my alley, especially since the weather would still be cool.

It was an affordable trip - we booked our tickets last July for P4,253.14 each. Hotel for 3,708 for two nights (twin sharing). Transportation costs were minimal, since trains were quite cheap, but most importantly, the food was very, very affordable, and very, very delicious.

We stayed at Delight Hotel, it's located near the Nanjing Fuxing station with access to both brown and green lines, making it an ideal base to explore Taipei. We were able to get around very easily. There was a 711 just around the corner, and several meal options around the area (KFC, Mcdonald's, Starbucks among them). There was also a nice sports bar called the Brass Monkey nearby, which serves really good cocktails. Rooms were of a good size, modern bathroom, and very clean. My only concern was the heat was centralized and we couldn't adjust the temperature, which was too hot in my opinion. We opened a window to help, but it still felt warm at times. Staff was very accommodating to our questions, and gave us tips on how to get around. We also arranged transfers with them and everything was prompt and hassle free. Will definitely book this hotel again on a return trip to Taipei.

We weren't able to explore all the sights of Taipei, just the main ones like the Chinag Kai Shek memorial, Taipei 101, Maokong Gondola, Shilin Night Market and Raohe night market. We tried to go to Shifen for the sky lanterns, but only got as far as Ruifang because of the limited time we had left in Taipei.

For the Maokong Gondola, I suggest getting the crystal cabins for a different experience. These are glass bottomed cable cars which give you a very clear view of what lay below. This attraction (and also mode of transportation) is worth checking out when in Taipei, Just 100 Taiwan dollars for a round trip ride across 3(or was it 4) cable car stations. There's a short food street at the end, so you can spend a few minutes checking it out while you wait for the car getting back.

And now for the food, we loved eating at the night markets. You should definitely come hungry! There's so much to try!  Favorites include the pork bun at the Raohe nighr market, grilled scallops, the blowtorched beef and the egg wrapped shrimps as well as the fried mushrooms from Shilin night market. Also enjoyed the pink guavas, very sweet and refreshing. I even tried the stinky tofu, it wasn't as bad as I thought, but still wouldn't be asking for seconds any time soon. Of course, you also need to eat at Din Tai Fung for the xiao long bao and drink all the milk tea you can which you can buy almost anywhere in Taipei.

For pasalubong, you can't go wrong with nougat from Sugar and Spice (at Taipei 101) or Milk House (at Taipei Railyway station). They're also known for pineapple cakes from Chia Te, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to try those.

Anyway, I can't wait to come back to Taipei, but it has to be during the cooler months, because I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I did if the weather was warmer. And since I'm too lazy to upload and layout pics, enjoy the flipagram I made below. :)

Taipei Weekend!

The Courtesy of a Reply

I have a lot of pet peeves, really I do. Maybe it's me, maybe my expectations are too high, but come on, if I text you, please do me the courtesy of a reply. Ignoring my texts, and then acting as if everything is normal when you finally deem it convenient to send me a message, just pisses me off.

And then you ignore me again?!

Ugh, not even sure why I'm all high strung about this, when I technically have no right to demand anything. Overactive hormones might be a factor, but nonetheless, I expect a reply when I text. Or at least an explanation that actually makes sense. But then again, maybe I don't. Whatever.

Edit: Soooo, there was a valid explanation. And I might have overreacted by ranting, but I'll still keep this post up, it's still a pet peeve anyway.

Getting Back Into the Flow

I've always loved yoga, started practicing when I first started working over a decade ago, but always ended up following this cycle: Attend a class -> get familiar with the poses -> stop paying for classes -> practice at home -> get lazy -> stop practicing.

Anyway, it's been years since I last did a full yoga sequence, and I always wanted to come back, but either felt too lazy, or unwilling to commit (yeah, I have commitment issues). Good thing Deal Grocer came out with a 15 day unlimited pass for P500. It was too good to pass up, given that most yoga studios have a P500 walk in rate per class. :)

So I went on my first class today, a Vinyasa Open Level class. The Urban Ashram yoga studio at BGC was gorgeous and spotless, and quiet, and practically empty, so in short, it seemed perfect. I was also lucky that there were only 3 of us in the class, so our instructor, Mel, was able to really focus on our form over the course of the class.

Let me tell you, it was challenging, tough but not frustrating. My focus, balance, and strength was pushed to the limit, but man did I enjoy it. And the shavasana at the end? I was ready to go back to sleep and just skip work altogether, LOL.

Schedule permitting, I'm taking a few more classes to make the most of my voucher.

Sharing some of my favorites from today's class. :)

Warrior Poses:

Planks, cobra and downward facing dog transitions:

In our class, the flow was different, moving from cobra to upward dog, plank to downward facing dog. Will try the sequence above tomorrow.

I really hope I don't get lazy with this, I completely enjoyed my last class, I just hope I can be consistent this time around. :)

Donate Blood, Save a Life

When I was a child, I was terrified of needles.

I guess every kid dreads getting vaccines, and maybe I was traumatized, but the thought of anything breaking my skin scared the shit out of me. My mind was so attuned to my fears that I once had a 40 degree fever for 3 days, but when my parents brought me to the hospital, it went down to a 37.5 because I was too scared they would hook me up to a dextrose.

Bringing down a fever that high because of a fear of needles? Yeah, I was that talented.

Eventually though, I had to learn to cope, with mandatory medical tests and all that, but every time I had to get my blood drawn, I still felt anxious. But in 2004, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, which meant I had to get my blood drawn regularly to monitor my TSH levels. That forced me to overcome my fear, and although still not a pleasant experience, getting stuck by a needle seems routine by now.

Getting over a fear of needles meant I could also do something I always wanted to do, donate blood. Sadly though, because of my hypothyroidism, I'm not always allowed to give blood. So far, I've only been able to donate to Red Cross blood drives at the office, which doesn't happen as often as I would like.

So it was a good thing Red Cross came back to the office today, yay! I happily spent a few minutes of my time to offer up my arm for a good cause, and I can't really think of a better way to spend my morning.  I do hope they come by more often though.

For more details -> http://www.redcross.org.ph/get-involved/give-blood

Words and Wit

I'm a sucker for words and wit.

Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I can't really say.

For me, words have power, whether it's written or said out loud. It can make you feel, think, realize, manipulate...it can create worlds, build and destroy relationships, boost or crush egos, seduce, incense and pacify. It's no wonder I hold people who can wield words and wit with ease in such high regard.

I'm a sucker for words and wit.

Why write about this now, you wonder? Well, I've been doing a lot of self-reflection lately, of what I'm doing with my life, what I want to be doing, who I want to be with, and it was just one of those things that I realized about myself.

I'm a sucker for words and wit.

Then I thought about my past encounters with words and wit... from my frustrations at becoming a writer, an ex who I fell for over games of Scrabble and conversations, to an unreciprocated infatuation I had because of smart and stoic tweets, to work opportunities I passed over because of poorly worded job descriptions, candidates I failed in interviews because of poor communication skills, and more recently, to the guy I went out with because I enjoyed our playful banter only to realize that he was just another douchebag.

*sigh* I'm a sucker for words and wit.

It may seem I only dwell in the negative aspects of my encounters, but tonight since I'm feeling melancholic it's what pops up in my head.

Yes, I'm a sucker for words and wit.

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Finding Comfort in the Familiar

I've changed.

Sure, everyone changes over the years, and I know I have made some improvements to myself, made the most of opportunities, achieved goals...but in the process I might have lost pieces of myself that make me who I am. Nothing too serious, but enough to make me question what's the point in getting what you want, when you miss out on things that used to matter?

I'm trying to change that this year, trying to find comfort in the familiar, going back to my old ways, putting in time for things that I used to enjoy and seeing what happens - resurrecting this blog, is one such example. Others, I already know from experience, might lead me straight down a path of complications.

Old habits die hard, and now I'm falling back to old patterns, familiar but potentially detrimental patterns. I already asked my best friend to keep me in check, if it ever comes to that, but in the meantime, I'm determined to have fun and just enjoy. If I'm right, and I have this under control, then I might be worrying about nothing at all.

I Survived Lean Six Sigma!

Going into the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training, while skipping White and Yellow Belt (which are scheduled at a later date), I knew I would need to work double time to catch up. I was very excited to be part of the class but I also felt anxious since I didn't have enough time to do the pre-work, cramming around 20 hours of pre-work over 6 hours and barely getting halfway done. What made it even more daunting was that this was only the 3rd LSS Green Belt F2F class since 2007.

I was right to feel anxious, Day 1 was not much of a problem since I was familiar with the DMAIC process cycle, but by Day 2 I was already feeling overwhelmed. With terms getting thrown around, new concepts and tools being taught at a pace much faster than I was comfortable with, and all the maths involved - damn, it was probably the math that really got to me,

But thanks to simulations, entertaining and informative classmates, and other welcome distractions, I managed to hang on and learn. I did my best to participate as well, volunteering, providing inputs and challenging scenarios whenever possible. If only just to keep my head above water (and stay awake) most of the time.

Things started to clear up again on Day 3, possibly because we did less math and statistical analyses and more RCA and impact analysis, I grasped those concepts fairly well, but there was a whole lot of information to digest. Learning was further reinforced on day 4 after teachbacks and summaries, seeing how everything fit together and realizing that the mastery will come with practice. I guess I needn't have worried at all.

And when we shortened the Sigma Station simulation cycle time from 8 minutes to less than 30 seconds, when at first we deemed 1 minute impossible? That was just freaking awesome, and leaving your instructor at a loss for words with the process improvements your team did, priceless.

I know I'll need to keep reading, re-reading and practicing the concepts I learned to fully say I know Lean Six Sigma, but I definitely know I already learned a lot. Thanks to my awesome and cool instructor, Mr. James Love, Master Black Belt, and my equally awesome classmates who made the learning fun and interactive, and my Sigma Station teammates, we totally owned that simulation. We definitely proved we're "the best class ever." :)

This was, one of the best trainings I've attended in my career, making it worth the extra day at the office and inevitable extra work days to catch up on missed deliverables over the papal visit holidays. I only hope I get to implement a project that's LSS applicable so I can get my certification sometime soon.

[caption id="attachment_718" align="alignleft" width="300"] Souvenir pic with Mr. Love and my former teammates[/caption]