Hello from Hyderabad, India!

Yes, friends, I am in Hyderabad.

I am holed up in my room enjoying air-conditioning. It looks to be quite hot outside, just judging by how bright the sun is.

I am staying at the Ista Hotel in Gachibowli. While my room isn't as big as what I'm used to when I go on a business trip to the US, it *is* pretty nice. I just discovered a couple minutes ago that the TV automatically mutes when you are on the phone (room landline)! How cool is that? I've never been in a hotel where they had that feature. Amazing!

I don't feel too good, though. It may be because of all the coughing and sneezing at the boarding area last night in Changi airport, while I was waiting to board the flight to Hyderabad. I am ordering breakfast in the room because I don't feel too well to go downstairs to get breakfast.

Today I have to call my teammate to tell him what time is okay to start tomorrow. Yes, my teammates are all meeting me tomorrow here at my hotel and they are going to take me around the city! I am so excited about this! Then I have to call the travel agency to ask them to have someone from their company come over so I can change US dollars to India rupees. I had US$100 changed in Changi last night so I have money to pay for the cab. The exchange rate was INR41 to US$1 so I got INR4100. I'm missing INR600, if we are to go by the going exchange rate. But 41 to a US$1 is still a pretty good deal I would say. Not like when I changed US$1000 to Euros in Schiphol. I only got around 600 Euros for US$1000. Can you believe that?!

I am waiting for breakfast while typing up this post. I should try to remove the SD card from my mobile phone so I can use my card reader to download pics. Windows sucks in that I can't use the bluetooth to connect to the phone and browse the SD card. Sucks! That's one of the things I love about my Mac---it lets me connect wirelessly to devices and browse its contents. The annoying thing with my phone (a Nokia 6700 classic) is that the SD card is a pain to take out! I think the probability of me taking off a fingernail is higher than getting the damn card out.

Socks for big people

I am knitting my mom a pair of socks!

I finished the first half very early this morning, around 4 a.m. I couldn't sleep so I thought I would just keep on working on the socks.


I am very excited about this! But I have to say, my hands hurt a bit with the repetitive knitting motion. My mom is excited, too! She was surprised when I made her fit the sock this morning. She probably did not think I would finish it. :-) Technically, I am *not* finished, but I am determined to see this through.

I made chocolate muffins!

They didn't look great but they tasted okay (I'm still debating on whether I should put up the one photo I took or not). I wasn't expecting it to taste super duper great since the mix I bought wasn't the best. It was a local el-cheapo mix that I thought I'd try. I just followed the instructions for muffins on the back of the box. When I poured in the mixture, I added Nutella to it. I think I should've melted the Nutella a bit so it swirled inside. Oh well. Better luck next time. Next time I'm going to mix my own batter instead of getting the ready mix ones. And then I'm going to melt the Nutella a bit to make it more like chocolate syrup. :-D Can't wait to do that!

But first, I really gotta buy my mom better bakeware. The lack of nice bakeware in our house is frustrating!

I feel like doing something, but what?

I was supposed to have gone to a wedding today but I skipped. I'm not particularly close to the person getting married and I have no doubts about not being missed. I also do not feel like getting dolled up and enduring making small talk with people I often see at work. I'll see them again at work on Monday so I doubt I'll be missing anything.

I feel like going out today, though. I want to go to the mall to get a gift for my friend (who's been my friend since college) who is celebrating her 30th birthday tomorrow. I'm not sure what to give her. I'm thinking about buying a book, but we'll see.

There's also the matter of just going out to get coffee and cupcakes, people-watch, and knit. I really also want to get a couple of local yarns to knit into decorations for our Christmas tree. I want to put up a Christmas tree this year. We totally did away with decorations last year because my mom, sister, and I were too lazy. But my mom and I were talking yesterday about re-arranging the furniture in the living area to free up some space and get some areas cleaned, and hopefully we'll have room to put the tree in.

Last night my mom and I also talked about what we're preparing for Christmas eve dinner. We both want to keep it low-key and stress-free. And so we've come up with the following food to serve on Christmas eve:

• Hotdog cocktails—We plan to go to a deli to get cold cuts to use with the hotdog cocktails and some yummy cheese!
  
• Lumpiang shanghai—I think this is what other people call spring rolls?
• Fresh lumpia—fresh spring rolls as opposed to fried
• Pancit
• Margarita—drinks for the girls (water for the boys haha!)
  

We haven't talked about what to do for New Year's eve fare. I'll most certainly put it down here.

*****
I'm kind of torn between using electronic devices to keep notes and using pen and paper. I have an E2 Tungsten that Robert gave me when we were still together. I have not been using it at all. I also bought this notepad from Barns and Noble a couple years back and it has since been gathering dust in my cabinet. Let's not even get into my cell phone that is a smart phone and you can use it to keep notes as well.

When I think about going electronic, I think about how it's a pain to keep the item charged. I mean, it has to have power so you can use it. But what's nice about electronic devices is you don't need other lighting to use it because it has its own lighting. If I go with pen and paper, I can't write in the dark.

*****

Where am I going with this post anyway?!

Nowhere, it seems. I just want to "talk". And Plurk is dead-zone land today what with the North Americans sleeping, and my European friends sleeping or working.

First knit sock!

OMG, I was able to knit my very first sock!

Yes, it's just a sock. LOL.

You see, I'm planning to send knitted Christmas items to some friends so I tried to see if I could follow a sock pattern. Thankfully, someone in Ravelry put up a free pattern for a baby sock! It was easy to follow---just as soon as I had figured out what to do after googling for videos of sock knitting. I made a few boo boos during the course of following the pattern because I had never knitted using DPNs before. The videos I googled helped a lot and it became very easy after that.

I also lucked out on the kitchener stitch. I followed a written tutorial (without practicing!) and just did it! I'm not sure it came out the way it's supposed to, but, heck, who cares?!

I also want to show you the hole in the gusset that I forgot to close after I weaved in the loose end.

Pattern: Just Your Basic Baby Sock by Patti Pierce Stone

My Ravelry page for this FO.

Cheesecake!

I don't know what happened but I've been into cheesecakes lately. I'm still very particular about how it should taste like, meaning I don't want my cheesecakes to taste like the cheese you use when making cheese sandwiches. Ugh.

Anyway, I've been following a blog called Bake at 350, and she posted a recipe for a no-bake freezer cheesecake. I am so going to make this!!!

I also shouldn't forget that I want to make snickerdoodles. Rho (an NFF*) talked about it in Plurk and shared a recipe from Martha Stewart's website. I so cannot wait to make this cookie!

Wish me luck!

*NFF: new-found friend

I ❤ Burt Bacharach

I've been listening to his songs whenever my dad plays them but I never bothered to find out who composed it/sang it until this afternoon.

I was rolling some bilo bilo for guinataan that my mother's making when I heard "This Guy's in Love with You" playing.

I can't get it out of my head. I wanna head outside and sing it in karaoke.



Just look at him. He may be old and he probably has trouble playing, but he still ends up playing it so well. I love it!!!!!!!! I can't tell you how much I love it except by plastering this post with a lot of exclamation points!!!!!!!!!

Can I also just say he looks so damn good? He's super sexy for an old dude. And look at the Japanese girl, she looks just about ready to swoon or drop dead at Burt's sexy feet.



This Guy's in Love with You
by Burt Bacharach

You see this guy
This guy's in love with you
Yes, I'm in love
Who looks at you the way I do
When you smile I can tell
We know each other very well
How can I show you I'm glad
I got to know you, 'cause:
I've heard some talk
They say you think I'm fine
Yes, I'm in love
And what I'd do to make you mine,
Tell me now, is it so?
Don't let me be the last to know.
My hands are shaking
Don't let my heart keep breaking, 'cause
I need your love
I want your love
Say you're in love
In love with this guy,
If not I'll just die.