The lost kingdom of Erehwon

I was attending a training workshop in the Netherlands a few years ago and I came upon these displays in the lecture hall. One of the frames show the symbol of the kingdom of "Erehwon, an eagle clutching a rattle snake and 2 brown skinned natives with weapons at the ready. Interestingly, doing a little google research will tell you that the Kingdom of Erehwon is actually in a book by Samuel Butler. It was a satire on Victorian society [ wikipedia ]. It is also sometimes used to refer to a generic and undisclosed location since it is actually "…

Shrimp attack!

Shrimp attack! Originally uploaded by Jepster . I love seafood and shrimps in particular. But this is one shrimp that I wouldn't eat even if I get paid to do it. This shrimp came from the bathroom floor of one of the apartments at our company's residential compound. She was taking a bath and noticed the tiny shrimp ogling at her. She said she was a little freaked out by this and she scooped him up (I assume it's a male shrimp) using a clear plastic cup and brought it to the office the next day to show to everyone. Another person reported tha…

The hierarchy of animals and the natural order of things

Looking up... Originally uploaded by Jepster . A couple of kittens showed up where I was keeping my turtle tub in the backyard. I gave them a few pieces of Friskies cat food (I mix in some cat food into my turtle food, the turtles love the variety and I read somewhere that it's okay to do so) and they have taken residence there ever since. They are getting more demanding now and would harass me whenever I feed the turtles. I saw one of them perched on a stool yesterday, looking intently at my poor turtles. I wonder if they know that they are bein…

Giant Pumpkin

pumpkin Originally uploaded by bratkun .

Ready for Take-off!

Dragonfly Yellow 1110 Originally uploaded by Jepster . I was passing by the company's parking lot the other day and I noticed that there were dragonflies of the same color perched on dried twigs on the grassy "islands" in between the parking spaces. Each twig had its own dragonfly about a total of 3 in a row. They were just there like they were begging to have their picture taken. When I approached to take this shot, the dragonfly just fluttered a moment and settled in place. To take this shot I had to postion the camera about 2 inches …

Lunar Photography

Moon Originally uploaded by Jepster . A colleague of mine took this photo using her prosumer digital camera. I was actually surprised at the quality. It was shot at the limits of the camera's optical and digital zooms but the pic turned out very well I think. Well, the best thing with digital cameras is you don't have any film to waste by making a lot of trials to get the exposure just right. Astrophotography is one of those cases where you can't rely on the auto exposure settings. Nice pic. I really want a new DSLR but even then, I would…

Can anyone please lend me a hand?

hand Originally uploaded by Jepster . A few weekends ago I went to the mall to watch a movie. The movie ended a bit late already and there were only a few other cars left in the parking lot. As I approached my car I noticed that I accidentally left the parking lights on! I immediately attempted to start the engine but instead of the usual "engine revving" sound, it only made a faint "click" when I turned the key. Aaargh! Good thing there were a couple of off duty security guards passing by and I asked them to help me jump st…

The nappy stalker

I had this very strange experience yesterday. I was minding my own business in the grocery perusing some items of interest when I noticed that my basket had a whole pack of disposable diapers. It was the only item inside and I found it strange that I hadn't felt anything. I surmised that the item might have fallen off one of the display racks and ended up in my basket. I picked it up and placed it in the current aisle I was at (household cleaners). I know I should have placed it in the appropriate section but I was feeling too lazy and was not about…

Coffee shots

Deformed Starbucks plastic Cup Originally uploaded by Jepster . This is what a Starbucks (TM) "Grande" plastic cup would look like if it was left inside a black car the whole day at the height of summer. I have been accumulating these odd shaped plastic cups for a while now. It's a byproduct of my weekly fix of Grande Non-fat Iced Latte with Sugar-Free Vanilla Syrup during my long drive on Sunday nights to keep me awake and alert. This one was left on the cup holder for an entire week. I tried using other types of cups but these …

The angry mother hen strikes again

P1021023 Originally uploaded by Jepster . Yes. You guessed it. The same hen went back to my ledge about a month ago and laid 10 eggs this time. What's with my flower box that other flower boxes don't have? Why me!! I dumped some shredded paper on the hen and her eggs and the following day the hen made it into a nest. The eggs hatched last week. I shooed them away since they were destroying my mini garden with all that scratching and pecking. The resident cats doesn't seem to pay them any attention. The chicks were of a different color t…

Yahoo 360º is Evil!!!

Am I the only person who thinks there's something wrong with Yahoo 360º? I'm not saying it's a bad concept as a social networking hub. In fact, Yahoo is in a great position to leverage their tools from photo sharing, avatars, blogging, sharing friends lists (social networking), website customization and potentially a lot more in the future. They were able to do this with an instant user base of millions of yahoo messenger users that have signed up for the beta. Not bad considering there are dozens of other sites that offer more or less the s…

Check out my Brother's new mobile blog

My brother has a new mobile blog at http://japan.theublog.com/ . Go ahead and check it out. It's being provided by Samsung and is free to use for owners of their new phones. Instant blogging whenever an idea pops into you head or snap a picture of something using your phone and be able to just write about it at that very moment is a very different experience than waiting to go home to go online to update your blog. I used to be able to do that but unfortunately my Bluetooth CF card and my PDA aren't talking to each other right now so I couldn…

A Platefull of Mushrooms

Mushrooms Originally uploaded by Jepster . I don't know If I have posted this pic here yet. I think I'm getting old. I don't even recall which pics I have blogged about. You see I have a lot of backlog on the writeups for the pics I have uploaded on my flickr account. It's just that I'm so busy with work these days since I'm actually doing the job of 2 people right now (I wish I could have the salary of 2 people but alas that is not the case). I promise I will post those outstanding entries soon. This is probably one of the …

Presenting: The Mall of Asia

I just recently accompanied a few friends to the Mall of Asia I keep hearing so much about. I think it's supposed to be the 2nd largest Mall in Asia. It just opened a few weeks earlier and it was still in a "soft opening" period with almost a 3rd of the shops already open. "Sprawling" is the first word that popped in my head when it first came into view. The place is huge! The fact that it was the only large structure in the reclaimed area by the bay also added to the effect. The mall even provided free tram rides around the comp…

Making the most out of family and friends

Our company just launched an exciting program designed to attract mature talents into its workforce. They plan to do this by offering rewards to employees with successful referrals from our friends and family (yep including family). The reason why it is so exciting is that the company will give us lots of freebies and wads of cash in exchange for these talents. There are certain conditions however before you can get that reward. The applicant should stick to the company for several months and the employee should still be employed with the company at t…

Turt at Large!!

Turt at Large!! Originally uploaded by Jepster . Hi I'm Turt. A red eared slider turtle. Help me I'm lost. I need to go back to my tub with my other turtle friends (Turt Jr., Pong and Kiko). Please help me find my way home. I measure about 7 to 8 inches long and I have red streaks on the side of my head. I love to bask in the sun with all my feet stretched out.

More Poopoo Bread Goodness

Poopoo bread up close Originally uploaded by Jepster . Last week's Poopoo Bread was such a hit that I decided to make more. This time with raisins! I also made ones in the traditional bun shapes but I really liked the turd shaped ones the most. I also made a few Adobo Siopao (steamed bun) that I always wanted to do but didn't had the time. Might as well take advantage of my turd shaped bread making frenzy huh. The steamed buns were great by the way. The pork adobo filling also tasted good! :D This batch was a lot better than the last one. The…

Poopoo Bread

Poopoo Bread Originally uploaded by Jepster . I decided to bake some bread a few weeks ago. I thought it would be cool to make interesting shapes with the dough. Here's my favorite creation. A dog turd shaped bread I call "Poopoo Bread". Doesn't look that appetizing huh? But trust me it tasted great! Hahaha. :D I always enjoyed baking bread. There's something very relaxing about kneading bread and waiting for the yeast to do its magic for a few hours and punching the dough and kneading it again. And the smell of freshly b…

A matter of privacy

I was in a restaurant jotting down stuff for my blog on my PDA when one of the crewmembers approached me with a hefty looking logbook. For a minute there I thought I already overstayed my welcome given the fact that the salmon teriyaki I ordered was already finished and digested probably hours ago. She was looking at me so intently with the logbook in her hands that she looked ready to beat me with it. Well, as it turns out the logbook was a customer feedback record. I quickly answered the questionnaire and jotted down some generic comments about how go…

Happy Easter!

I spent the entire long Holy week weekend cooped up in my new apartment. It was so hot during the day that I did most of my activities at night when it was cool and spent most of the day sleeping and napping and snoozing some more. I still haven't installed the airconditioning unit in my apartment and as the days passed by I increasingly wished I had. I also didn't have cable yet so I had very limited viewing choices apart from the usual lenten specials and televised holy mass. Oh, it wasn't so bad like when I was younger when all free TV st…

Yeast Matters

"All breads contain yeast," the person in front of me declared. "No, I don't think so," I managed to say with a straight face while hiding incredulity from my voice (at least I hope I did). My friend sitting beside me expressed his agreement. I tried to explain further that there were other leavening agents aside from yeast such as baking soda and that other kinds of bread aren't leavened at all. Surely this person has heard about unleavened bread? Well, apparently not for he was vigorously shaking his head and muttering that…

Fertility totems and white sandy beaches

I received a weird postcard from my mother a few months ago. Not that she sends out postcards; she has been doing so on an almost regular basis since she went on vacation. It was weird because the postcard depicted 2 African fertility statues from Ripley's that were supposedly responsible for thousands of women getting pregnant simply by touching them. I wonder. Is she trying to tell me something? Hmm. Her message on the card was innocuous enough—something about sinkholes, I think. I also picked up a couple of postcards when I went to the beach last…

Bowling Blues

I think the only reason why I signed for the company's bowling tournament is to have the nice maroon bowling uniform they provided for the team members. I am not a good bowler. Sure I have taken up bowling in physical ed when I was at the university but I barely passed. Now I'm stuck with it twie a week untill the end of the month. The first game was last Thursday. I got a measley 60 on the first game and it deteriorated further to 52 on the 2nd set. I don't think I had that much excercise in months! My thighs were sore and I couldn't go…

Angry Mother Hen

Chicken Originally uploaded by Jepster . ...and speaking of eggs. A few weeks ago, I was watering the plants at my plantbox (my flat has a small plantbox just outside my window). Summer has arrived and the few scraggly plants living (barely) in that space looked like they needed a good soaking. I was so busy the past few weeks that I didn't had time to check their condition. There was a water valve connected to a perforated pipe that ran through its length so I just opened the valve and let the water spray the ground a couple of minutes. I purposel…

Turtle Tales

Red-eared sliders. Photo by Jep  via Flickr. 2 new turtles have been added to my turtle family. My colleague asked me to take care of his 2 baby turtles. He and another colleague are taking care of the turtles and several rabbits. Rabbits being what they are, however, soon they found themselves with too many rabbits on their hands and no time to take care of the turtles. I gladly accepted the 2 turtles since I have enough space on my turtle tub. I named the 2 turtles “Kiko” and “Pong”. I still can't distinguish between the two, however. They do have…

Of Giving One's Flower (huh?)

Of Giving One's Flower (huh?) Originally uploaded by Jepster . A colleague of mine spotted this caption on one of the thermos bottles in our office pantry. She snapped the picture not me. I find it particularly funny. Heh. :p >