Hmm, long time no blog. :) It's partly because I haven't felt too well the past few days. Started with a mild sore throat late last week, and progressed to sneezing and congestion by Sunday. Fortunately, most of the symptoms have subsided except for the sore throat, and even that is getting better.

Anyway, I attended Jimari's baby shower on Saturday (fortunately before I started getting sneezy). It was so much fun. Mari looks great and I think she and Jim will be great parents. I'm excited about being an uncle to their son-to-be. :)

I attended a team outing with my co-workers this evening. It was a good time. We went to J Randolph's, a sports bar downtown just a block or so from our office building. Good way to bond with my teammates.

I *finally* ordered broadband internet service through AT&T! They've got a pretty good promotion happening right now, and a Linksys cable modem was on sale at Circuit City recently so I decided to take the plunge. The service will be installed this Saturday. I'm looking forward to the increased surfing speed. Should make visiting content-rich websites (and no, I am not talking about porn!) more enjoyable.

Great weekend in Chambana! Mark & Amy's wedding was so nice. It took place at Amy's parents' home. It was an intimate ceremony but very nicely done. It was great to see Mark again, as well as several of his friends from Edwardsville who I had met while we were roomies at UIUC. After the dinner (which was wonderful), there was some music and dancing and socializing time, then Amy's dad started a big bonfire in the yard where several of us gathered to sit and chat.

After the wedding I hung out with Greg & Julie at their apartment, and slept on their easy chair. :) I treated them to Sunday brunch at Perkin's, then on my way home I drove around campus to see what has changed since I left there. I also took a few minutes to walk around the engineering quad to check out some of my old hangouts. Then I drove home and took a much-needed nap. :)

Tomorrow I start my new project downtown. I'm looking forward to it mostly. The only thing I'm not so excited about is that I'll have to wait for the trains and buses in these darn below-normal fall temperatures. I had better find my scarf and gloves...

I'm assigned!!! Yesterday afternoon I got word from the staffing manager that I've been assigned to a project at a healthcare client downtown starting Monday. I'll be on a Java app development team. I'll have to get reacquainted to the ins-and-outs of commuting downtown (via Metra and CTA) but I'm happy that I'll be working in Chicagoland, and that I didn't have to spend too much time on the bench (although another week would have been nice, hehe).

I'll be heading to Chambana tomorrow afternoon. I talked to Greg and everything's cool re: me staying overnight at his place. I have Mark's gift but I need my mom to help me wrap it tonight. :)

Hmm, I think I might sneak out of the office a little early today...

I got some of my Orlando photos developed today. Most of them turned out pretty well. Maybe I'll scan a few and post them. I also took some pics with my digicam. That reminds me, I need to return the photo printer that I borrowed from my cousin. I also need to go buy some refill pages for my photo album. I'm a year behind in updating it!

I went to the gym today for the first time since last Wednesday. I've noticed that I start feeling a bit lethargic if I go more than a few days without working out. I guess that's good. Anyway, I increased the weight on one of my exercises, and pushed myself to do a few more leg lifts than usual, so I anticipate being horrendously sore tomorrow. :)

Tomorrow I plan to go buy a wedding gift for my buddy Mark. I'm looking forward to attending his wedding. It's taking place near Champaign so I'll be visiting my cousin Greg too. In fact I will be staying over at Greg's apartment that night so I won't have to drive home right after the wedding reception. Should be a fun-filled weekend.

I returned from my Orlando trip this morning. It was a great time! Elaine and her new husband Joe had a lovely wedding ceremony, and a small but fun reception. Afterwards, Elaine & Joe and several friends and I headed out to a mall near our hotel to hang out and have a relaxed dinner. My parents and godmother, Elaine's parents, and another couple went out separately around the same time. Guess which group got back first? Yup, some of the "kids" (including myself) returned to the hotel shortly after 10pm while the parents waltzed in laughing and giggling around 11pm. Well, I'm glad they had fun too. :)

Right now my mom is in NJ at a reunion with people from her hometown in the Philippines. She was chosen to give the opening speech at the reunion dinner. I hope it went well. I also hope someone videotaped her so my dad and sister and I can watch. hehe

OK, gotta fold laundry. Fun, fun.

I'm in a training class at work right now, for a web portal tool (hi, I'm a tech geek :)). The class is fine, but my computer runs really slowly with the web server running. I guess I should have asked for a memory upgrade before the class started. Oh well.

I'll be heading to Orlando in a few days for my friend Elaine's wedding! Can't wait. My parents are going too (Mom is Elaine's godmother and will be part of the wedding ceremony). Hopefully I'll be able to get some good pics.

Last night my parents and I went to a family friends' place for a 40-day memorial of her father's passing. In attendance also were Jon, his two little kids, and his mother-in-law. I got to hold 5-month-old Jerald for a little while. He's gotten so big since I last saw him! He loves to smile, and he likes to wiggle, so it was a bit tiring to hang onto him. :) Then he decided to drool all over my shoulder. I'm thinking he's about to start teething. :P

I'm still unassigned at work. I'm trying to figure out what kind of training I can participate in while I wait for a project assignment. One class I was considering is currently full, and another one goes from next Monday thru Friday, and I won't be in on Friday (that is they day I leave for Orlando). So that might be a problem.

I RSVP'd to my buddy Mark E's wedding invite yesterday. He and his fiancee are getting married near Champaign-Urbana in a few weeks. I haven't been back down there in over 4 years. Should be fun to see Mark again, and also revisit the Chambana area.