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Ken: In Memoriam

When my family first moved to Canada in 1997, I hated it. I wanted to go back home to Manila so bad. I just entered high school with 200 other girls who I've known since I was 5 years old. Moving from Manila was just like ripping out a piece of my heart and intentionally shattering it into a million pieces. That's how it felt like anyways.

Because of my fervent desire to go back to how things were, I was so adamant that I'll go back to Manila after I finished high school and restart my once interrupted life. That is.. unless I get a dog. Since I was little, dogs have been a big part of who I am and I felt they offered solace from this big bad world.

We got Ken through fluke, to be honest. After some constant nagging, my parents finally gave in and started scouring local newspapers about dogs which were available. Since our only experience with dogs as a family have been with chow-chows, we decided that another chow or chow mix would make sense.

I remember being so excited the day when we went to this person's house to pick up this chow puppy. I already had an image in my mind of what type of dog I wanted. Something a little gray/ black with a hint of brown in them. I saw the perfect puppy and as we were carrying the puppy out, the puppy bit me and I went into a state of shock where I almost fainted. My parents initially wanted to just abandon this whole puppy process but after composing myself, I said no, we should go find another puppy in the litter.

That was Ken. This little bouncing golden chow/ retriever mix that no one wanted. He was the runt of the litter and was often just following all the other dogs around and just tailing behind them. In my mind, I thought, "Hey, you're the littlest.. like how I am the littlest (in the family) too. We'll go through this together."

With every dog, I find that there are heartbreaks but also happiness. Ken was rambunctious, curious and slightly crazy. Kinda like me :). From the moments when he peed and destroyed my mother's beloved garden, to escaping from the yard and for us to turn the neighbourhood upside down only to find that he's actually waiting for us at the front door to let him in, he did not lack personality and always seized the opportunity for a memorable outcome.

When I moved to Toronto for school and left my room empty except for the holidays, my brother would always tell me that they'll often find Ken laying on my bed as if he's laying claim to it. Lol. Or maybe he just missed me too.

As the years went by, Ken was was still Ken. When I last visited Vancouver, Ken trekked up the hills with my fiancee and my brother with rigor and loved the winter cold.

Last night, as I was rounding up a day's worth of work, I received a call from my parents who are currently vacationing in the Philippines with my brother and sister-in-law. Our dogsitter said that Ken has not been eating lately and has also not able to move. He decided that he needed to bring him to the hospital where the vet said he's in really rough shape. Physically, he was just deteriorating and was doing so very fast.

Everything just happened so quickly. I called the vet and the vet said that she recommends that he be euthanized. As a family, we decided that we couldn't let Ken go through this alone. I flew out to Vancouver from Toronto at the next available flight. Ken also needed to be transferred to an emergency clinic at about 5PM as his regular vet is not open 24x7.

Throughout my whole travel time, I was just mentally trying to connect with Ken to hold on.. Don't go without me saying goodbye. I arrived in Vancouver at 1AM on Friday morning and went straight to the emergency clinic.

When I first saw him at the clinic, my heart just broke. Gone was the vivacious dog I knew and here was a dog who was so physically frail. I kissed him and thanked him for hanging on and started talking to him about the memories we shared. I then connected with the rest of my family and put them on speaker phone. With each person saying hi, he slowly gained a little more strength, enough to start barking. He summoned enough to continue barking but not enough to lift his head or move his body. It was like my puppy's excited soul was trapped in this old body.

Finally, after my mom said her goodbyes to him on the phone, he started to become calmer. My mom also explained with Ken listening in that I needed to be strong for him and to stop crying. He won't let go unless he knows everyone's going to be okay. I need to just direct him to follow the light and to let go.. and that everything was going to be okay.

With that, it was my turn to summon all my strength and courage. I composed myself and breathed. At that moment, I realized that he needed to find his peace and that he will be at a better place. With that, I finally said my goodbyes.

The euthanizing process itself was fast and painless. Ken was gone in less than 5 seconds. It was unexpectedly calming and I closed his eyes and kissed him for one final time. I then tried to remember a poem which I found on the Internet to, one more time, to finally let go.

Beyond The Rainbow - Cate Guyan

As much as I loved the life we had and all the times we played,

I was so very tired and knew my time on earth would fade.

I saw a wondrous image then of a place that's trouble-free

Where all of us can meet again to spend eternity.

I saw the most beautiful Rainbow, and on the other side

Were meadows rich and beautiful -- lush and green and wide!

And running through the meadows as far as the eye could see

Were animals of every sort as healthy as could be!

My own tired, failing body was fresh and healed and new

And I wanted to go run with them, but I had something left to do.

I needed to reach out to you, to tell you I'm alright

That this place is truly wonderful, then a bright Glow pierced the night.

'Twas the Glow of many Candles shining bright and strong and bold

And I knew then that it held your love in its brilliant shades of gold.

For although we may not be together in the way we used to be,

We are still connected by a cord no eye can see.

So whenever you need to find me, we're never far apart

If you look beyond the Rainbow and listen with your heart.

What was crazy was that the vet technicians said that he was just quiet and laying in his kennel until I visited him and he started barking and howling.

What was crazier is the fact that Ken has been deaf for at least a year due to his old age. He was suddenly able to hear us again.. for us to say our farewells. He was responding to our voices with his barks and howls.

I love you Ken. Thanks for all the memories. You gave me enough strength to stay here in Canada. Life could have been so dramatically different and I wouldn't change what I have now for the world.

Thanks so much for hanging on, long enough for me to say goodbye. You will be sorely missed. Now, go have fun with your other dog friends and someday soon, we'll see each other again.

Rest in peace, Ken. He was 15 years old.

Chicago at Night! + Photo Upload Update

It's a terrible excuse, but I've been so tapped out with so many things to do for work lately (plus back injury) that I have not been blogging.

Anyhow, time to catch up! :)

I spent a couple of last week in Chicago, a city I truly love. I sometimes can see myself transplanted in Chicago and go about my merry way. It's a city that reminds me of Toronto but in an American way. I don't know if that makes sense, lol. Anyhow, one of the things that Chicago has certainly done WAYY BETTTERRRR than Toronto has is preserving all their old buildings and putting some emphasis on restoration. Wish Toronto did the same!

I remember taking these pictures the night before Chicago was about to get hit by a blizzard. Well, as someone from Toronto, how one defines a blizzard is fairly relative :). I braved the cold (it was really really really cold) with a local friend who was kind enough to bring me around the city.

Here are some pictures!

On another note, I can't stand how Blogger minimizes my photos to a certain size and it's frikkin fugly. Weirdly enough, I was able to manipulate my photo size before at the Dynamic theme that Blogger offered. I tried to go back to a Dynamic theme for that sheer reason, but now I am unable to resize my photos anymore.

Wanting to keep this blog and its tools in the Google family, I also tried to download and use Picasa and c'mon, it's seriously the most confusing photo upload platform ever!! I have Picasa on my Mac and I still have no idea how to link my photos to my Picasa web account despite being logged in.

I was so peeved with the whole Blogger/ Picasa fiasco, I actually created a WordPress AND Posterous account just to find an alternative to this photo issue. I do like both platforms but I also like Blogger. I'll eventually make a decision, but for now, my photos are uploaded on Flickr.

That's it for now!

Toodles noodles.

XO,

Care

Love

Ironic as it may seem because it is part of what I do, I like to listen more than I like to talk. I love hearing stories about people, their life, history, their dreams, and everything in between.

But most of all, I love hearing stories about love. There's just something so magical hearing about how two different people got together and decided to take a leap of faith and commit their whole beings to each other for the rest of their lives. Maybe it's because I'm just a closet romantic at heart, but stories about love inspire me to the core and you'll see me bawling my eyes out at a friend's wedding or during the speeches at the reception. It also, in a way, restores my faith in humanity.

Last night, I had the honour of attending one of my friend's wedding reception. Without my camera, of course. :(. Drats. Regardless, it was such a simple and sweet event and it was one of the best wedding receptions I've been to in awhile. There's just something so moving about actually having a celebration about a couple's love rather than having to go through a ceremony just because of pomp and circumstance.

To the happy couple, you deserve all the love in the world and may you have the rest of your lives to enjoy your journey together.

Here are some pictures from my little BB Torch hehe. :)

Cheers!

Glory - Jay-Z

This has got to be one of the cutest and sweetest things I've seen in awhile. I saw Jay-Z when he was touring with Kanye in Toronto and it was AMAZING. I love Jay-Z and (most of) his rhymes! :)

He wrote and recorded this little song called "Glory" about his new baby, Ivy Blue. Enjoy!

The most amazing feeling I feel
Words can’t describe the feeling for real
Baby I paint the sky blue
My greatest creation was you, you
Glory

Ooooh Glory

False alarms and false starts (ugh)
All made better by the sound of your heart (yeah)
All the pain of the last time
I prayed so hard it was the last time
Your mamma said that you danced for her
Did you wiggle your hands for her?
Glory, Glory, Glory, Sorry
Everything that I prayed for
God’s gift, I wish I would’ve prayed more
God makes no mistakes, I made a few
Rough sledding here and there, but I made it through
I wreak havoc on the world, get ready for part 2
A younger, smarter, faster me
So a pinch of Hov, a whole glass of Béy

Glory
The most amazing feeling I feelWords can’t describe what I’m feeling for real

Baby I paint the sky blue
My greatest creation was you

Your grand pop died, a ***** fell yeh
Then he died of liver failure
Deep down he was a good man
God damn, I can’t deliver failure
Bad ass Lil Hov
2 years old, shopping on Savile Row
Wicked ass lil B
Hard not to spoil you rotten looking like little me
The most beautifulest thing in this world
Daddy’s little girl
You don’t yet know what swag is
But you was made in Paris
And mama woke up the next day and shot her album package
Last time the miscarriage was so tragic
We was afraid you disappeared
But nah, baby you magic (voilà)
So there you have it, shit happens
Make sure the plane you on is bigger than your carry on baggage
Everybody goes through stuff
Life is a gift love, open it up
You’re a child of destiny
You’re the child of my destiny
You’re my child with the child from Destiny’s Child
That’s a hell of a recipe
Glory, Glory, Glory, Sorry

XO,

Care

Cost: Free

Tools Used: YouTube, Google, Blogger, Chrome

Filipino Cuisine

As a Filipino-Chinese-Canadian, I am so, so, so glad that the Philippines is finally putting some effort into promoting the country! Despite the minimal budget, I certainly think that the attempt is a good one and hopefully, it works!

Growing up in Manila was priceless. The Philippines is the only place I know where all of these unique cultures are infused into one. Spanish, Chinese, American, you name it, you got it. Where else can you find old Spanish basilica-type churches, haciendas, giant malls, amazing beaches, rice terraces, etc. all in ONE country. The Philippines is one of these places where someone just needs to experience the culture to know what others are talking about.

CNN recently published 50 foods that define the Philippines and it totally made me miss the country even more. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Filipino food and I need to get my fix at least once every month. People ask me what does Filipino food taste like? Again, it's a mesh of all of these different cultures and it's part Malay, part Spanish, part Chinese, part something else!!! So yum! :)

Okay, getting hungry.. lol.

So, all for now.

XO,

Care

Cost: Free (I do need a trip back soon so I can get a fix, lol)

Tools Used: Chrome, Blogger, Google

Google in 2012

Hola everyone. No posts yesterday, it was too cold and my fingers were numb. Just kidding, hehe. Yesterday was just the first day back at work and I was bent on being focused :).

Anyhow, as the new year starts, there are articles now published about what Google should be doing in the new year. Here are some examples and I've summarized all the main points for you because who has time to read all of them right?! (me.. lol):

4 Big Moves Google Should Make in 2012

1) Google+ comes into its own

2) Android puts its house in order

3) Ceding tablet territory while building content

4) GDrive cements cloud domination

What Google Should do in 2012

1) Release a killer tablet (a.k.a. iPad killer)

2) Stop talking about GoogleTV and just start shipping it (gawddarnit!)

3) Raise the bar for what's ready to ship

4) Aggressively design for users, not nerds

5) Stop playing catchup.

6) Compromise less, play hardball more.

What will Google do in 2012

1) Launch an iPad competitor

2) End Google+

3) Google Wallet

There are a gabillion other posts out there but these 3 were my favourites. My POV is a mixture of the 3.. but I am quite confuzzled as to why no one is talking about the Google Wallet more. Um.. hello? NFC? I totally believe that Google can up its game in this space and subsequently endear itself to end users, especially as merchants and customers alike are looking to alternatives to cash/processor-merchant relationship. This is certainly obvious with the success of such payment-disrupting organizations such as Square.

Double this up with Google and its recent acquisition of Zagat. Google should perhaps look into rolling this whole NFC bit to a portion of its Zagat-rated merchants as a pilot, provide them with a minor incentive (and their regular customers) and see how it goes. I can see this building momentum (at first, locally) and a widespread adoption of NFC technology will follow. They can even focus on large local events (such as the London Olympics as post 3, point 3 states) as a start!

Note that NFC is not only for payment processing. Here's something I just thought up:

I'm in a new city and there's a tag for a cupcake shop just posted at a traffic light post on a popular street corner.

I can then scan it and find its location. Google Maps will bring me to the location.

I arrive at the location and I see an amazing cupcake display with all these yummy goodies.

All of them are tagged of course with what flavor it is, maybe even the ingredients and price.

I can then start scanning what cupcakes I want and voila, my list goes to the cash where I can then use a (hopefully) encrypted payload. :) While I eat my cupcake at a local park, someone asks me where I got them. I can then NFC the info to them which will then start up the process again.

Nom, nom, nom, nom.

Oops, here I am blabbing on about NFC but if you don't know what it is, this video talks about it:

Fully explained by folks from Google to boot (note that the first 17 minutes are what appeals to the business users and the remainder of the video is more technical. Skip to 39 minutes for Privacy and Security).

One of the points in the list above is also to design for users, not nerds. I get that. I'm not a technical person and I love Apple's intuitive designs and feel that Google can certainly make things a lot more 'user-friendly'. Perhaps to the point where its technology does not and will not necessitate a manual. That's the gold standard. I think NFC will certainly be more talked about if it reached more of a greater mass of end users, specifically those that are not too technical.

Okay, all for now!

XO,

Care

Cost: Free

Tools Used: Zagat, Chrome, Blogger, Youtube, Google, NFC

Toronto is cold. Brr!!!

Toronto is under a cold alert with windchills of below -25C. In short, it's FREEZING so keep warm folks!

Yesterday was a different story. The moment I woke up and saw the sun peeking through the clouds, I seized the day and took my little Canon out for some exercise, lol (Yes, I like to personify hehe). I had some colourful shots which totally brightened up my day! Yay!

Sigh... summer. 6 more months maybe? Oh well! I'll take sunny days, rain or shine, anytime!

Now, a question.. why are my pictures so small? I uploaded them on Blogger and they're frikkin large-sized photo but it automatically has been shrinking them and I've been uploading them as 'large'. Grr!! Geebuz!

Anyhow, small pictures for now 'til I understand how this whole thing works.

Toodles noodles! Most people are going back to work tomorrow after the Holiday week so bundle up!

XO,

Care

Cost: Nada

Tools used: Chrome, Blogger

Cat Can Cook's Awesome Banana Recipe

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!! :)

One of my many hobbies include baking muffins. I love muffins. Not cupcakes, not bread, but just cute little muffins. I just love how they are enough to be part of a meal, be a standalone snack, can be made savoury-ish and also is easy to share.

I've been searching for a great banana bread-type muffin and have tried many. Some turn out too dry, too sticky/ moist, not enough texture, you get the drift. I'm really looking for a simple staple I can just stash in my recipe book (a.ka. Evernote, lol).

Today, I'm trying out Cat Can Cook's awesome banana recipe. I happened to also catch this lovely lady at a local television show and she was great.

The link can be found here.

With JUST 8 ingredients and over 1000 comments, this should be killer right? We shall see!

Just the wet ingredients

The wet + dry ingredients

Before it goes into the muffin tin!

The 20 minute wait begins..

Et voila! One is a little muffin that I usually make so I can taste it pronto, hehe

Close up of the bunch..

Single muffin

Peeled single muffin.

Overall, I thought this muffin recipe is a keeper. I followed the recipe to a T and it tasted great and the top was a little hard and crusty while the bottom/ inside remained light and fluffy (how I like it). The only downside was that I felt the not-too-ripe banana aftertaste which was completely my fault because obviously, I didn't wait for the bananas to get a little riper, lol. I was so excited to try out the recipe and was also craving them. This recipe is not for the ones that enjoy really moist and sticky banana muffins recipes.

I'm trying out different ways of uploading photos on Blogspot and most photos were size "Small" with only the 2nd to the last photo as size "Large". Signing up for a Picasa account soon so we'll see how the photos get affected too. :)

Alright, all for now. Again, Happy New Year to everyone! Hope you had a fabulous holiday season!

XO,

Care

Cost: Maybe about $4 for the muffin recipe. Yield = 10 full muffins. The only real 'expense' I had was buying the bananas which were on sale at Walmart for $0.69/ lb.

Tools Used: Blogger, Chrome and Google (where I found Cat's recipe)