It is sad to hear that some companies are cost cutting on some of the privileges of an employee. Let’s take Medical Representatives for example. It used to be that if one is assigned in a province and almost every month  there would be meetings, then one would have to travel back to Metro Manila for just to be present. Aside from miles accumulated from the airlines, they used to have free hotel accommodations and allowances, too. But now I heard that some companies are just doing this with the help of video teleconferencing. People in the field would have no need to travel back to their base offices just to attend a meeting or do their reporting anymore.

Last December, we were able to visit Nuvali, a new development located in Sta. Rosa Laguna. We often passed through this place every time we were on our way to Tagaytay but we never had the time to stop, and maybe because some of the amenities at that time were not yet open. Now, there are boat rides which are available now and restaurants are also available to serve food. We were able to try Crisostomo, a typical Filipino restaurant but was incorporated with some historical, memorabilia of national hero Jose Rizal, some old furnitures and switch plate.

Maybe Crisostomo was taken from the main character from one of Rizal books, Noli Me Tangere. The menu is great especially lengua laruja but what captured us especially for brunch time was the tuyo flakes of their mongo soup. To those who are on their way to Tagaytay and or those on their way home from Tagaytay, why not drop by to Nuvali first.

Many of us are asking why the Chinese New Year was declared a holidays. Whatever the President’s reasons were and although we are not celebrating it, we are still glad that we have a long weekend and also have time to rest. I’m sure many are also going out of town. Hopefully even though this is not the usual travel holiday period, the government and other NGOs also have roadside assistance plan available not just during holidays but even for the whole year through to assist the traveling tourists.

I said to myself before that having a cell phone for communication purposes is enough for me. Until I needed a cell phone that I could use it for my line of work which is to be connected all the time for my clients. In the absence of broadband sticks and 3G laptops before, I choose a cell phone that I could to be partnered with my laptop. Until a year after,  sticks and 3G laptops were launched. Now with the availability of tablets and smart phones, you can have it all in your palm of your hand. Adding to that, the launched of iphone 4S is believed to be like having your own personal secretary anywhere you go.

I am glad to hear the news about putting motorcycle lane along EDSA and hopefully the helmet law as well along with other motorcycle-related laws and ordinances will be properly implemented. As we all know, sometime these laws and ordinances are just used for corruption purposes of some police or traffic enforcers. Hopefully these laws would be created and used also for setting the safety standards of motorcycle. Currently, it is believed that these are not within the safety standards, thus, it could resulted to accidents. Similar situation is observed for the standards on helmets and other protective gears. Cheap  helmets do not protect you. It may be better to buy expensive one like scorpion motorcycle helmets than to die.

It has been our tradition to go out of town during new year’s day if we are here in the metro. We are doing this to avoid too much smoke from the fire crackers especially since we have a kid. Tagaytay has always been the place where we usually stay although we also tried Cavite once at the Island Cove. That’s why we are now searching for another place in Tagaytay to stay. Hopefully it will be one with a pool equipped with pool heat pumps .

The best restaurant for me  will depend on many factors. It may not be enough to just be a nice place with nice basement tiles and great furniture. It should also be  cozy and easy to visit and has easy parking space. Most of all, the foods served should taste great. It will help if it’s priced value for money and waiters are friendly. Combine all of these and that’s Abe for me. Foods in Abe’s menu are just simple and classic for me but they all taste good. While not priced cheap, I think they’re worth the price. Their waiters are also friendly but I can’t give them a perfect score yet.