Fitness First Sucks

i'm ranting since last night.
Let me repeat this.
Fitness First sucks!

And if you plan to go to gym never, ever go to Fitness First.
You pay almost $50 a month and what do you get?
Crap! Utter crap! I go to their SM mall of Asia gym. That gym has barely opened for a year but most of the showers have broke down. Shower heads are missing. Machines have conked out.
I have experienced my stuff getting stolen at the locker rooms. And the restrooms are vandalized to extinction.

But what makes me further puke about them is their billing system.
I've heard horror stories of Fitness First's notorious billing system; like still being charged for monthly dues on your credit card even if you've already canceled your membership, etc.
Never occurred to me how frigging greedy they are but here's what happened.

I plan to go to another gym so I canceled my membership.
Girl at the counter tells me that I need to notify them one month in advance for that to be done. So if I cancel now, it would take effect January 1, 2009. Meaning you have to pay another month's due, a big waste of money since you're already transfering to another gym. Mind you, I have already paid them one month in advance. So in effect you're already wasting 2 months worth of monthly dues. To avoid hassle, I just settled, only to be told that there will be another rate increase for the months of november and december that is added to my bill! Grr....
and to add further insult to injury, girl at the counter even gave me a referral slip to refer my friends to fitness first. I should've torn that paper in front of her face.

This gym is f-ing greedy they should change their name to Money First.

Thanksgiving Fantasy NBA Picks/Busts

top picks
1) brook lopez f/c new jersey nets
this half of the lopez twins is finally starting and has 3 double doubles so far
2) eric gordon sg la clippers
now that mobley's gone and davis is not doing his job. gordon's taking on mobley's old stats, probably better with steals
3) dj augustin pg charlotte bobcats
he makes a great combo with raymond felton. his fg percentages are even better than felton's.
4) q. rich sf knicks
the knicks has 7 player playing and q rich is taking advantage of his minutes
5) bargnani f/c raptors
toronto o'neal's injury means more playing time for the italian stallion
6) paul milsap f/c utah jazz
milsap's doing boozer proud. his monster stats for the last 2 games are 21 pts 10 reb. and 24 pts and 16 rebs. get him before he's gone

stock falling
1) anthony morrow pg/sg golden state warriors
after debuting for 37 points. morrow has fallen down to earth. now that crawford is with the warriors expect him to play less minutes
2) anybody from washington except bulter and jamison
everyone's simply underachieving period
3) cuttino mobley sg/ knicks
heart condition problems? better drop him now
4) jamario moon sf raptors
this guy still is not taking advantage of o' neals's injury. drop him like a busted nerdy schoolboy
5) collison f/c oklahoma
this guy responds to his starter job by not doing much


who's back:
deron williams
manu ginobili

More US Visa tips

here's the continuation of my article yesterday.

so after paying for the application fee, booking your interview online comes the hard part- the interview. before going there, remember to double check your stuff. you may need to bring a certificate of employment your income tax form, bank statements, credit card statements plus all the supporting documents you need. Honestly the most important part is your ties to your country. a letter from your company may help.

here are more tips for that us visa:
1) be organized. the last thing the consul wants is you rummaging through tons of papers while she asks for documents. organize. organize. organize. it makes both you and that consul's life easier.
2) don't forget the important stuff. passport, 2x 2 photo, a pen, your application form. your papers. some common sense is a prerequisite
3) be there early. you're required to be 1 hour earlier than your interview time. there's also a queue of people.
4) dress appropriately. you want to be taken seriously? dress the part, but don't overdress. this is not a wedding, you're not going to the mall either.
5) bring extra money. when your visa gets approved, your visa and your passport will be mailed to your address, pay a delivery charge of Php 250 and more for provincial areas.
6) handle yourself well. this is probably the most important part when it comes to that interview. answer your questions carefully. don't buckle. answer the question clearly. don't be too restless and don't give preposterous answers.

good luck on that visa

hurray for obama!

after much hullabaloo i finally got my US visa!

It took me more than 5 years and restless nights to get this.

so you wanna go to the US eh?
here are my two-cents worth in making your us visa application successful:

1) go to evisa.state.gov.us this is where you download the application form.
be ready with information about yourself, your work, relatives in the states, etc.
2) pay the fee. its $131 US convert it to peso with the rate of 49.50 its about Php 6550 pesos. You pay the amount at any bdo branch.
3) after payment is completed, they will give you a supplemental form. fill up the necessary info. (Note: Under LIST COUNTRIES THAT ISSUED YOU A PASSPORT don't forget to put in Philippines. ) Remember to mark n/a in any question where info is not applicable.
4) book your interview. Go online and register. This is the faster way. You'd be asked to fill up information about you. You'd be charged $10 so be ready with your VISA or Mastercard.
There's a tricky part with the US Visa site. This site is not too compatible with Mozilla Firefox, I suggest you use the tricky old Internet Explorer. After registering and paying, and not scheduling your interview yet, you'd be stuck in net limbo, meaning you don't know what to do and you'd be back in the screen that asks you if what type of VISA are you applying. Don't worry and answer it again it will lead you the scedule an interview page. I suggest you schedule an early morning one (usual times are 6:30 am, 7:00 am and 7:30 am) Prioritize the first 2 timeslots.
5) Read everything carefully. One big mistake of most people is not reading what needs to be done. Remember to establish your ties with the Philippines or else they won't grant you a VISA.
The best way is to get a letter from your company signifying you have filed a vacation leave (VL) and they are approving of your stay in the US.

i would like to have my chickenjoy and eat it, too

me: "Miss One order of 2-pc. Chickenjoy, pls."
girl from jo-bee: "Sir we only have wings."
me: "nope i don't want a wing part."
girl from jo-bee: "we only have wings."
me: "i want a thigh part."

why can't have the part i want?

don't you hate this scenario when you dine at jollibee?

when you order chicken and they only have the wing part.
and they force you to order that.

it's like life... you're forced to take crap that people try to unload.
life is about choices. what you choose will affect your future.
so why stick with choices you don't want, there's always mcdonalds!

some of the life lessons when choosing a piece of fried chicken

quantum of solid

watched the new james bond movie quantum of solace.
and i'm beginning to dislike bond.
this movie is proof.

james bond used to every guy's fantasy. smooth, suave, gets the chicks, has hot gadgets, drives the hottest girls. this movie makes this fantasy go kaput.

in an effort to make bond at par with the times, this new bond is rough, unneccesarily violent, and bland. in other words they made him a jason bourne wannabe.

the movie continues where casino royale has left off. Bond has captured Mr. white. A car chase ensues in the streets of venice and his alfa romeo is destroyed. please take that this is the only scene where james drives in cool car, after that he's driving daddy-type suv's. ho-hum.
then comes the interogation where they get double crossed by a double agent (wow two doubles in one sentence) the bodyguard of m, where white discloses about his secret organization called quantum. then bond chases the fiend on the streets of venice, where he kills him in a very delicate stunt involving revolving levers. after that its all downhill...

the story is as bland as judge reinhold's careeer. the villain is a nerdy geek called dominic greene
whose organization is a cover for quantum, who claims to gain from world's resources. For this movie, they want to own the water supply and cause a drought in Bolivia.

dominic greene is the lamest bond villain ever! he gets my vote for getting the most boring henchman. and he is not even intidimidating. hey writers, what were you thinking?

strawberry field's character is too underdeveloped. I feel like she's unnneccessary to the film.
what i like about this movie is that they made global issues real. Like the dollar losing its value, countries fighting over drilling, britain getting helpless in the race for oil sources in other parts of the world.

i just want the old bond back.

notes on a scandal

the news about it was everywhere so we had to see it.
it was a badly shot video featuring passe bold star criselda volks.

looks-wise criselda wasn't that pretty. but she had thick lips and long smooth legs that went like forever. there's too much buzz about this, given her penchant for going to casinos and losing bigtime. i had to see this!

glad my officemate jhett had a copy. there were a total of 4 vids. poorly shot .3gp of an ugly guy giving her head. and worse she took it fudge style. there wasn't much to be seen. there wasn't any remorse on her face. she looks like she enjoyed it. worse she looked spiked.

i think the vids are still on the net for download. not recommending it though. a lot of girls are wild enough to go "paris" these days. sheesh!

off to highlands for All Saint's Day

all saints' day meant a whole day sweaty affair at the cemetery for our family.
this year, there's a major change.
after lunch, we proceeded to tagaytay highlands for the weekend.

my uncle was able to rent a log cabin that accommodated 5 families.
and it was great. and this was an understatement. the house was HUUUGGGE!

the rooms were as big as living rooms. the master bedroom even had its own spa.
in other words it was luxury all the way. the price tag- a hefty 1,000 US dollars per night! Ouch!

yep it was great family bonding all the way. i enjoyed the cool tagaytay weather.
the night was cold, but we felt warm and fuzzy inside. Everybody had fun, until I had to spoil their bliss with my snoring. hahaha! sorry but i haven't been sleeping much all week.

I had to wake up 5 am to go to the cemetery early. the past few days were i was on overtime.
i had fun with my cousins. Thanks to my uncles. Pics to be posted soon.

fantasy woozy

lost big time on my first week.
got burned by bad field goal percentages.
aww shooting shucks...

chris duhon averages only 20 something percent, which means he isn't adjusting yet to d'anotnis run and gun offense
luke ridnour averaged the same before getting injured
miami rookie chalmers shot worse less than 20%
jason terry shot 11.5% today.

what's happening?
get your acts together! I'm losing bigtime here.

worth a look:

ramon sessions a mean 6 cat stat machine, good fg % too
louis williams, just scores like willie green, inconsistent stats


i'm watching out for:
deron williams hope he gets back from injury
my fantasy nba lineup needs a boost