Funeral: Sylvia Lim

Mrs. Lim's body was brought to the Mt. Carmel Church in New Manila last Friday and PNB employees wishing to pay their respects were encouraged to visit.

Some people from Treasury visited last night. Heard the mass was beautiful. Vikki told me Mrs. Lim like playing Enya's music. I'm the only other person she knows who has CDs of Enya.

The funeral/interment is today.

The Snake Cube

Rey's son Tryke has a new toy and Rey brought it to the office yesterday. It was similar to the rubik's cube but is not. Rey said Tryke was able to solve it but he can't. I think Dennis and a couple of other people in the office also tried to solve it but can't. Rey said he thinks I'm the one most likely to figure it out.

The toy is called a snake cube. It's 27 blocks of wood strung together which the player must twist and turn in order to make a 3 block cube (3x3x3). My first attempts within a span of about an hour (it was office break) were futile. Rey said I could bring it home.

Last night, upon arriving at the house, I spent another hour (could be two) with the snake cube but got frustrated and started playing Sims 2. I would fiddle with the toy when I had to wait for Sims 2 to finish saving or loading a lot. It was while I was absently fiddling with the snake that I finally arranged it to a cube.

Funny how a man's brain can sometimes think better when not so focused on the task.

After the thrill of realizing what I had just done, I pulled out the cubes into a snake again to see if I can repeat it ... had no problem rearranging it back to a cube. Bummer that Rey lent it to me on a Friday ... so wanted to show him I solved it on the same day he gave it to me. It's not easy to prove that when there's a weekend in between the time he lent the toy to me and the time I bring it back to him.

Bought a new TV

The living room TV was the same one Sally bought for Jon when we were still in Manila. It finally conked out and ofcourse, I'm to buy the replacement. Dragged Jon to Makati to help me choose one ... and more importantly, help me bring it home.

As we were canvassing, I realized that the trend today is for big, wide screen TVs. I would actually have a hard time finding a small flat screen TV. I decided that a 21" inch TV wouldn't be so bad. I initally planned to buy a 15" one, as the living room wasn't big and while growing up, I was taught that larger TVs put greater strain on the eyes unless you sit 10 feet away.

Although it had less features than a Sony TV and even the cheaper brands, I decided to buy a Sharp TV. I was attracted to the model the minute I saw it ... it's not the form exactly, it just struck me as "heavy duty" or "reliable". Beside it were other Sharp models of the same screen size but I was partial to the one I chose. I hope I am right in thinking this TV would last long. After all, the TV in Papa's bedroom was the Sharp TV I bought for my use when I was still in Manila ... it was the first thing worth around PHP 10k I bought. It's older than Jon's TV that just conked out, and it is still working pretty well.

Sylvia Chan Lim is dead

PNB's treasurer, Ms. Lim, had been battling breast cancer for the last couple of years. For the past month (or more), she was in the US for theraphy. It was too late though. She died today.

Going out the back door.

Pa, Ma and Jon left very early today to go to the Veterans' Hospital in Quezon City. This will be the first time I would be locking the house before I leave since the front door lock was changed ... as there's always someone left in the house lately whenever I go out.

So, I dutifully locked the bedroom doors, the kitchen doors, the lanai door, and the terrace doors. When I was already at the main door, where a key is needed to lock it (no push button lock here), I realized that my key gets stuck when turn to lock it, and the only way I could pull the key out is when I have unlocked the door. After repeated attempts, I gave up.

As it was getting late, I was tempted to just leave the front door open and walk out the gate. The cautious person in me shot that idea down. I had to leave by the Terrace whose door and grill I could easily lock. Initially meant to leave by the side gate too, but after looking at all the possible places, I couldn't find a key to that gate. The only alternative was going out to the terrace, passing through the grotto gate that separates the dogs Harry and Heidi, and leaving through the main gate.

As Harry has been "after" Heidi for some time, allowing them to be together is out of the question if we don't want to be feeding puppies after a few months. Passing through the grotto gate is near impossible if Harry is nearby because he has never learned how to "stay" or "sit". So, I had to persuade him to enter his house and lock him there first. Locking Harry meant that the part of the house near 3rd street has no guard dog. I decided to keep the grotto gate open so Heidi's roaming space will include the 3rd street side. With the dog problem solved, I was finally off to work.

Need I say I was late?

When I got home, I told Ma that my front door key is not working well. It turns out that although it is not a good duplicate key, I could still use it applying the technique she showed me.

Lesson? Next time someone hands me a key, I should immediately test if it works.