Tix 4 Tonight: See a Show!

One of the activities I look forward to in Las Vegas is watching world class shows, particularly stage productions.  Last year I got a great deal on Phantom of the Opera tickets from Travelzoo, they were in the very back of the Parterre, but we didn't mind. It's just that we came in late because of a delay with our valet parking at our hotel.

I had secretly hoped to get discounted tickets for the same show so that we could see it from the beginning.  Browsing through the resort information, I found Tix 4 Tonight that claimed to sell show tickets for 50% off for performances the same day or the next day.  We decided to check it out and they had our desired tickets!

We got $40 off of great balcony seats, which gave us a new perspective of the show.  We saw how the chandelier came together.  We saw how the phantom climbed out and hung by one arm on it when he threatened the influencers of the theater.  We saw how the gargoyle slid down in the scene where the phantom hid himself behind it.  We saw the show from beginning to end and thoroughly enjoyed it again!

I believe we will never get tired of watching it!  The songs are magical - and the performers are amazing.  I could listen to them sing all night.  It definitely is the must-see show in Las Vegas!

So what are you waiting for?  Go to Tix 4 Tonight and secure your seats now!  Have a hugely entertaining memorial day, my friends!

The Great Escape

On a visit to Las Vegas last year to watch my hubby's most recommended show, we were invited to purchase a 3-night stay in The Grand Chateau Marriott for a ridiculously low price.  The catch was that we had to attend a 90-120 minute presentation - they were going to try to make us join the vacation club - which is a nicer marketing term for timeshare.

These teaser packages are actually a great way to save money on accommodations - if you can say no after the resort sales executive's great presentation.

Our track record isn't too promising.  We own time share in the Lawrence Welks program (which fortunately is a pretty great program) - and we bought this without being offered the teaser package, mostly due to my mother-in-law's prodding.  We almost bought with Shell Vacations a few years back - we cancelled at the last minute, no teaser package here either.

Now considering that this is the Marriott Vacation Club program that has been recommended to us by a couple of sales agents from other timeshare presentations and they offered us a rate that is much cheaper than what we have right now with Welks - we almost said yes.  Almost being the key term - we escaped unscathed!  We were able to say no - after talking it out in depth.

Reason 1 - we really can't afford it right now.  Reason 2 - we weren't very impressed with the facilities - considering we had the Trump Tower to compare it to - even our Welks Resort property seemed more upscale than the Grand Chateau.  Reason 3 - they didn't have as many amenities.  Reason 4 - we can avail of the most attractive part of their offer through our Welks modified points program and Interval International.

Although they really had friendly staff and customer service was top-notch - we had to decline.  We learned to say no and we're happy with our decision.  Of all the presentations we attended, the Marriott's sales executive was the friendliest and the only one who kept his promise to not hard-sell us in the end.  We were free to go after a reasonable amount of time and there were no hard feelings.  If you have the budget and the inclination to purchase a timeshare program - I'd still recommend the Marriott Vacation Club to you.

Happy vacations, my friends!

A Win-Win Birthday Request

One of my mother-in-law's requests for her party was to have a karaoke machine so that she can dance and have some friends sing live.  Have you ever seen an 84-year-old woman dance to old rock and roll music?  My mother-in-law had the time of her life with her dance partner!

But I did not get her a karaoke machine.  I thought I would just bring the white Sony CD player I had bought a long time ago.  I would just buy a bunch of CDs and make do.  But I did not want to buy CDs - I haven't done so since I've had my iPod.  And I was not sure the Sony CD player could play music loud enough for everyone in the big hall to hear and enjoy.

I've been looking at sound docks for my iPod for sometime now - and have been eying a Bose model.  But up until my mother-in-law had requested dance music for her party, I could not justify buying one.  Thank you, Mama Marie!

From the moment I hit play on the store display, I could not let the Bose Sound Dock Series II go.  It's one of Bose's more inexpensive models, but it's perfect for my simple music-listening needs - or in this case, my mother-in-law's 84th birthday music needs.  I think I inherited some of my dad's appreciation for good quality audio - and when you compare the sound quality from the Sony CD player to the Bose sound system - you'll probably just shake your head at how different they sound.  I ended up bringing the CD player still because I didn't have some of the rock and roll music on my iPod, but I hooked it up to the Bose speaker and all our guests loved the music while dining.  It's definitely a keeper!

Now every time I play music by Michael Buble, Frank Sinatra - and well, practically anyone's music really - I feel like relaxing with my eyes closed and just letting the music flow through me. It's amazing how soothing great quality music can be!  Definitely a great de-stresser.

There Can Be Only One

After Angelology reading the book, Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin, felt like a denouement.  Coming from a world of symbolisms, saving the world and the grandeur of angels - this book about everyday life and relationships seemed very simple to me.

I was intrigued by it years ago, I love Emily Giffin's titles - it just pulled you in through curiosity.  And I was curious about Giffin's writing style compared to Sophie Kinsella since they both wrote what I assumed was chick lit.  They are very different apparently.

I find Kinsella's style highly entertaining.  She finds ways for her character to not take themselves too seriously - injecting humor at even the direst situations.  Giffin's style is very analytical - or maybe it is just her character, Ellen, in this novel.  More often than not the lead character in Giffin's story is analyzing how she feels or what's going on around her - like she's having a conversation with herself.  The story is about her internal struggle more than anything exciting happening.  I found Love the One You're With builds and builds in anticipation of a great climax - then right before it gets there - it's curtailed by a not very convincing epiphany and goes downhill from there.  I think although there were a lot of analyzing in the book - that the decision Ellen made in the end was not supported by enough analyzations to justify what happened. It was a sudden-lifting-of-the-fog moment, the trance is broken with the snap of a finger type of realization.  Because of how analytical Ellen is throughout the book, you'd expect her to have a long-winded discussion with herself about choosing her husband - but it was not there.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with the heroine's decision to stay with her husband - but I find the "loving two people" conclusion faulty.  You can only love one person with the love that is reserved for a husband - the longer you stay together - the more you forget all the ones who "got away" - the more you fall in love with the one you're with.

That's how I feel, anyway.  My husband constantly surprises me with his gestures of affection.  I find myself in awe of how deeply he loves me - finding out from his actions more than his words.  When I started reading this novel I thought it would remind me of someone from my past, instead I found myself thinking about my husband - the younger version of him when he was getting into all kinds of trouble - I found myself wondering what it would have been like loving that young troublemaker, knowing him at that stage in his life.  In a sense, the only person I could think of that I'd alternatively be with is my husband - in his bad-boy stage - there's just something about that man!

When you marry your soul mate - there will be no regrets, no could have beens and definitely no settling.  Just love, happiness, a dash of annoyance from time to time - and pure contentment.  Spice up your love story today - spend quality time with the one you love - who is hopefully also the one you're with.

Something Blue...

Several weeks ago my mother-in-law asked me to wear a gown to her 84th birthday party.  A party I was organizing and was thinking of doing a luau or retro theme with.  She said she is wearing a gold-colored Filipiniana-inspired gown - she showed it to me and I figured maybe I can get away with a colorful birthday theme in decorations and some old music in the background.

My mother-in-law kept reminding me to wear a nice dress/gown for the party though.  I do not think the party will be formal enough to wear a gown to - for me, that is.  So I thought of wearing a nice dress - then realized that all my nice dresses were predominantly black - and my non-black dresses were very casual.  I didn't want to wear black to my mother-in-law's party - people may get the impression I don't like her or something.  And since we are celebrating mass before dinner, I didn't want to wear a very casual dress - but it's not a cocktail dress kind of party either.

So I proceeded to the online shops to look for dresses that you can wear to mass and to a dinner party.  I was thinking of wearing blue since we were also doing a thanksgiving party for the continued Fatima Devotion - I have always associated the color blue with Mary.  I found several very expensive dresses I liked and was going to ask my husband to go to the department store with me, but he was returning DVDs near a discount apparel store - and I decided to see if I could find an inexpensive dress there instead.

I found this beautiful sea foam-colored (ok, so it's bluish green) dress with a brown ribbon/belt at the waist - in the exact same style as the one I was going to find in the department store - costing 60% less than the dress' sale price at the mall.  I wasn't too sure of the print at first, but when I tried it on I knew this was the one. It reminded me of a dress my mom wore in this black-and-white photo taken when she was still single.  What do you think?  Nice, right?  So I said yes to the dress and it's now hanging in my room - ready for Saturday.

I hope my mother-in-law likes it.  My husband's parents are very formal people - his father did not want him to wear jeans because in their province only farmers wore jeans - of course, that didn't stop my husband from wearing shorts (his staple attire because of the beautiful California weather).

They didn't say anything when they noticed that jeans, denim shorts and the like are my usual weekend clothes, but she always compliments me when I visit her in a dress.  And this is her day - so I'm ditching my jeans for a cute dress so everything is as she wants.  Now you know why I'm her favorite daughter-in-law!

Banana Split for Breakfast

Today is my husband's birthday.  When I asked him what he wanted to do for his special day he said he wanted to go to Watson's for breakfast.  And yes, we had the banana split!

You should have seen the sweet old ladies' and retired gentlemen's eyes as our server brought us the treat.  They were all volunteering to help us out.  But this treat was just for the two of us.  Three scoops of ice cream - he has the strawberry and most of the vanilla while I have the chocolate and most of the whipped cream.  Very very delicious!  A perfect way to begin a very warm day.

After breakfast we rented DVDs from the vending machine, got a few things for our party next weekend and headed home.  We were together - that's what my husband wants for his birthday.

Last week we spent my birthday in much the same way - had breakfast then spent the morning walking along the pier and then a bike ride down the beach - just the two of us.  I wonder if having kids will change us, but as long as we're together - we are content and that's what I like most about us - as a couple.  As long as we have time for each other - we're happy.

My mother-in-law's birthday won't be so quiet - as she already requested a big party from us.  The roast pig has been ordered, I've bought most of what we can buy ahead of time.  The invitations have been sent and her priest has confirmed the time for the mass.  Tomorrow is another party-prep day - so we're enjoying today as much as we can

Enjoy the beautiful days of spring, my friends - share them with the ones you love!

When Web Apps & Chemical Engineering Collide...

I found Google's Crisis Response Page on the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and was hit by instant nostalgia.

Back when I was qualifying patents and indexing journal abstracts - still applying my chemical engineering background - we were always particularly interested in oil spill clean up.  We include every new patent, painstakingly index every new journal article that talks about it.  Apparently, companies who subscribe to the American Petroleum Institute's publications study these clean up methods in depth.

While reading about new innovations and researches in the oil and natural gas industry, I dreamed of actually being one of those authors - doing research and conducting experiments.  I had a taste of this in college, but we had to be resourceful - we didn't have those high-end and very expensive equipment needed for research - I even had to fabricate my own strength-testing machine.  Someday I hope to give back in some way - maybe even in developing an application for them.

Eventually I shifted fields - into web programming.  My biggest ambition while I was taking my graduate studies in Information Technology was to be able to develop an application that would help researchers and educators in the chemical engineering field.  I have yet to embark on that pet project.  But it is still in my bucket list.

This Crisis Response Page for an Oil Spill gives me hope that the web and my initial field of study can come together.  As a web developer versed in chemical engineering, I can develop information resources that can help the field I studied for five years.

Thank you for the inspiration, Google!  

California Driving...

My new California State ID came in the mail yesterday - I think that my photo is much improved since the last time and love the OC address finally updated out front.

Now if only my husband will find the time to start teaching me how to drive so I can make use of my learner's permit already!  My dad had once advised that I'd be better off going to a driving school, but I still think they are too expensive.  A few of my friends have offered to teach me, but I think I'm a terrible newbie and I'm too embarrassed to take them up on the offer!

I need to start driving - get my little practice car - so I can get around efficiently.  There's so much I can do - like take writing classes, meet clients for freelance work, go to beautiful places to take photos, shop!  Driving can become expensive, I see - and it's not just the car payments, insurance bill or the gasoline - hehehe...

I'm still excited though, I should have learned a long time ago - wish me luck!  And I'll make sure to warn you when I'm out in the road ;)