Today we got up early, took a shower, said the rosary, and then went back to sleep until 10:30.  We then ate breakfast and then talker to her sister on the phone about the travel arrangements to Hong Kong.  We managed to get all the arrangements and then set off to Mikati to pay for everything.

When we got there they wanted us to put down a 1 thousand dollar deposit in cash and then pay the rest when they confirmed everything.  We both felt that this was pretty unacceptable, but I broke out my credit card and was about to just charge it when I was informed that there would be a 6% additional charge for using a credit card.  I just about said screw it and walked out.

I am getting so sick and tired of being nickel and dimed in this country.  As a visitor and tourist I feel abused and ripped off.  I could have reserved these same seats and this same hotel from San Diego, and would have had the tickets in hand before I left.  I just decided to do it here because it would give us more options and I did not have the kids passport information when on line in San Diego.  Also I did not carry much in the way of US dollars because I do not like to invite the possibility of being robbed.  We have always been advised to not carry cash so I paid down all my cards to zero balance, and now I am being screwed over for playing it safe. 

Here I find that none of the main travel sites work.  It is as if the IP's are blocked.  The same is true of a lot of regular services I use back home.  They are just not accessible here.  Sounds like censorship to me.  If I am ever over here again and have to make reservations for anything I will have my daughter make the reservations and then send the tickets tome via DHL.  This has been ridiculous.

Then another incident happened that kind of drove me nuts.  Laila decide to make sure her international roaming plan was up o date and paid in advance, meaning she would pay them for future service.  She went to the counter and was given a number.  We then went and got an iced tea and sat down and drank them, while watching the numbers not move.  This places was kind of set up like a California Department of Motor Vehicles number system.  You know one set of numbers for licenses, on set for sales, and another for registrations and so forth. 

Laila's number was 1075 and they were on 1060 when she started We drank out iced tea and checked and saw that they wee still on 1060, and also 2050, 3055, 4065, and 5045.  The others are just examples.  We then went into an appliance store and looked around it there for quite a while.  We actually bought a few items while waiting for our number to come up.  About an hour after we arrived 1074 came up twice.  The 1073 came up, and in the meantime the other number groups were cruising right along.  Laila asked the guy at the counter about it, and he didn't have a clue.  The lady who had been manning that position was missing in action and I finally asked Laila to forget about it and lets just get some prepaid phone cards.

I think that I have figured out the reason that certain businesses get away with poor customer service here, and that is the Filipino's have grown accustomed to bad service as far as some of these companies go, and just accept the bad service.  If the people would   quit using these companies with slow and poor service, they would be forced to go out of business and the competitors would get the message.

You are going to their business to spend your hard earned cash and you should demand fast competent service.  If you do not get the service you expect then take your business elsewhere to send them a message.  They do not have the right to take your money for services not provided or the right to treat you badly.  You are the customer and as such you are always right.

It is just this kind of service that had Laila drop PLDT for Bayantel, and for me to stop using Staples, Starbucks, McDonalds, and a few other local businesses.

Anyway we are leaving for Hong Kong on Friday.  That should have everyone up to date, and oh, by the way, the posts were delayed while Laila was updating her new PC with all her software programs.

After taking a nap yesterday we set off to attend mass.  We were late and wound up sitting in the Mezzanine, couldn't hear anything, nor see anything, but we at least made it to church.  Most of the mass was in Tagalog so that didn't help matters much.  Anyway, I was still pretty sleepy but we then went out to Dad's buffet for dinner, and to meet some more members of her family.

The food was good and it seemed like everyone had a great time, it was just by that time I just wanted to go and lay down.  I was so tired I was kind of nodding out and I kind of did that all through the night last night, since I am not adjusted here to the noise yet.  I kept waking up and going back to sleep.

This morning we were going to go to the mall and get some groceries but instead wound up at a travel agency to try and book our Hong Kong reservations.  Instead we then found out I did not bring enough cash to pay for her PC and still take some US cash to Hong Kong.  The clown selling her the computer wants to charge an additional 6% for using a credit card.  I will be using the credit card because I don't like carrying large amounts of cash in a foreign country.  This place is robbery, charging extra for the use of credit cards, not paying face value for traveler's checks.  If I come here to live permanently I will remember who was cool and who was not as fair as this price stuff went.  Credit and cash are the same thing, same as traveler's checks.  If businesses continue to rip people off, especially foreigners, then people will stop shopping there.

Anyway, now I am trying to figure out how the heck I will pay that if they do not accept credit cards.  Oh well, I guess I will have to go somewhere to use my ATM card or something to get some cash.  Oh well, that is life. 

I am in Manila now, or should I say Quezon City.  It was a really strange flight after some delays and changes and all, but I got here after all, so I guess it is not so bad.  I got off on Friday somewhat early and stopped by the bank to get some cash and all.  I then went home and posted my final messages on my blog after making sure that everything was packed.  I then started waiting on Cloud 9 shuttle and was really worried when they were 15 minutes late. 

I then got to the airport and went to the ticket counter.  There was no waiting but the lady behind the counter was very new and had a lot of confusion over how to handle an International passenger.  I finally got through her after her manager helped her out and I got through customs very quickly.

After that the flight to San Francisco was uneventful and quick.  When we landed I set off for Philippine Air and again that is where the hold up started happening.  The lines were ridiculously long and the people behind the counter were ridiculously slow.  Also friends and family were cutting into line at the front and the whole thing was a good demonstration of incompetence, but I have learned to expect this from this carrier.  After all that the plane was going to be delayed for 2 hours and would be bypassing Guam, and going straight to Manila, getting there an hour earlier.  I went ahead and went through security there since it had huge lines and all.  I figured I would send Laila an e-mail telling her what was up, but then when I got to the International Terminal they only had WIFI, and since I did not have a WIFI device that was all over.

So finally we got on the plane and off we went I figured I would try and get some sleep on the plane, but some guy with some really bratty kids was sitting across the isle and they kept making noise until they finally started to sleep.  Then the younger of the two started having nightmares and that woke everyone up. 

Eventually the kids woke up again and started disturbing everyone again.  Anyway, I had just given up on sleeping.

When we landed I was behind some smart ass from business class that decided that he had the right to hold everyone up because he spent a little extra for his tickets.  Anyway I waited for him to finish taking his good old sweet time and then when we got off the plane, since I knew where I was going and this guy didn’t I was in and out of immigration before he ever got to the counter. 

After that was the standard Philippines Airlines “where is my checked baggage game”?  It was good that we got to Manila n hour early because I had lots of time to stand around and wait, until Laila showed up.  Well baggage took acre of all that extra time I had.  I waited and waited, and my one bag never appeared.  Finally it looked like all the baggage from my flight was unloaded so they directed me to the next carousel over and there was my bag.  It had managed to book itself on another flight.  At least it made it.  When I got outside Laila appeared almost immediately and then we headed for home and I took a nap.  I was so glad the travel day was over and that we could get rested up and start spending some time together.

This morning I woke up a couple of minutes late, and then after getting ready for work found that again, even though I expressly told him not to, my son had used my PC again.  I know this because when he sits in the chair he has a habit of bumping the power cord and I have it password protected.  He also left the glass he was drinking from there. 

Normally I wouldn't worry about it, but lately I have tracked him going to websites I do not approve of, and I am worried about getting viruses and ad ware.  I will again talk to him when I get home.  I do not like the fact that I have the sites blocked and then he just turns off all the protection and visits them anyway.

I get to go to the dentist this morning to get my crown and false tooth.  I wonder how much I will have to pay and how much will be picked up by my insurance plan. 

This morning after Laila and I recited the rosary I checked out the news and saw all the stuff that happened in Great Britain and with me taking an International flight tomorrow it has me a little worried.  It is not so much that I will have a problem on the plane, but it is that I don't want to get delayed going through airline security.  I only have about 2 hours to get through the International part of the airport in San Francisco so I hope everything is going smoothly.  I usually use my military retired ID and passport to get through customs so I usually pass through everything fairly quickly.  I hope that is the case tomorrow.

Laila started using her new DSL service yesterday and it appears to be only slightly faster than PLDT.  I am wondering if perhaps the game her kids play is robbing her of bandwidth.  Also since her virus protection expired maybe that has something to do with it.  Well her new PC will arrive Monday and I will ensure that it is protected.

Time to get to work.  I will add to this at lunch if I get a chance.

I am back from the dentist and have my new crown. I thought they were going to give me a false tooth for the one that I had pulled but my dentist is recommending an implant.  He doesn't do that so he is sending me to another dentist on the 24^th.  Sandra, the receptionist showed me a pamphlet that showed that they will put a screw in my jaw and then they will put a tooth on top.  Ouch, that sounds like it is going to hurt.

On the radio on the way to and from the dentist all I heard about was all the stuff going on in the press about the terrorists arrested in Britain.  This is going to be very ugly trip, trying to get through all the security that is going to be stepped up.  They are now saying that there will be no carry on luggage.  I guess I will have to watch the news tonight and make sure I am ready for any new procedures or changes.  It looks like I will not be able to take my laptop and camera on the plane, but will have to check it through instead.

Well I guess that is it for now.  I will try and post something before I leave tomorrow and I will post from Laila's when I get there. 

This morning started very early since I had to get up at 4AM to take Judy to the airport.  I was a little worried that I would have a hard time waking her up, but she was already downstairs when I went to take my shower.  We got her to the airport about 5:15, which was plenty of time for her to get on her flight.  I hope she had a nice flight home.   It is lunchtime now so she should already be there.

Laila had her new hookup for Bayantel DSL installed yesterday but they were not able to configure her modem yesterday so they will be doing it today.  Her PLDT phone line was working again yesterday, I wonder if the Bayantel folks fixed it for her and so she had phone and DSL last night. 

Since I had to get up so early this morning I went to bed at 10 PM and had no problem getting up on time.  Laila went out to the gym for her weight loss treatment as soon as I signed off.

Well only 2 and a half days and I will be on my way.  I need to stop on the way home to pick up a few items for the trip, and I will start packing today.  I also have to take David to the grocery store to get the items he likes before I leave and some extra dog food.  I want to make sure he does not run out.

Well I guess that is it for today.  I am working on a little project for work and when it is lunchtime and quiet it is the perfect time to knock these things out.

Well tomorrow morning I have to get us very early because Judy will be leaving to fly home.  Her flight to Washington DC leaves at 6:30 in the morning so I will have to make sure she is at the airport by 5.  Then I will have to fight all the traffic to try and get back to the base for work.

Laila and I were checking out deals for our Hong Kong vacation yesterday.  It is amazing how much the price differences are.  She is also getting a new PC built and I have asked her to make sure she keeps her kids off of it.  Currently whenever they use it they change all of her settings and they mess with the operating system all the time.  I wonder how many of her PC problems could be a result of people messing with her operating system.

I was allowing my kids to use mine, but they kept shutting off the firewall, adware and virus protection, and all the rest of the protections.  I got a virus about a week to ten days ago and that was the end of them using mine.

Today the furniture gets delivered and I can hardly wait to get off and go home to see it.  It will start feeling like a home again.  That is provided my son wakes up to allow them to deliver it.  He will be the one staying home for the delivery today.  Sometimes he has a habit of sleeping through and if he does it today I will have to pay the delivery fees again, so he better get up.

Also I am expecting a few things to get delivered today via Fedex or UPS.  If he wants he can sleep downstairs and he will hear the door.

Well time to get to work.  I hope everyone has a great day.

Wow, am I sore today.  Yesterday Judy and I did something I have been trying to get David to help me do for a long time.  That was move the TV and computers out of the family room and back into the house.

We got it all done and everything set up after church yesterday.  As soon as we got home we ate breakfast and I chatted with Laila.  As soon as her PLDT High Speed Internet (40K) decided to go to 5K she went to bed early.  As soon as she went to bed Judy and I went to work.

We vacuumed and cleaned everything inside and out.  We then moved it, which was a big task for us.  I am not supposed to lift more than 10 pounds but everything we moved was heavier than that.  I just made sure I was lifting properly, and made sure Judy was helping and ready should I have a problem.

We got everything moved but I am paying for it today and could really use one of Laila’s massages.  The place looks great, though I do have to dress up a few of my PC cables.  I would have done that yesterday but after we got everything moved I just wanted to get some rest.

This morning when I got up I was paying for it, because my back was really aching.  Anyway I am really proud of my daughter and the work she put in to make the place look better. As soon as the new furniture comes in I will be posting a few pictures on flickr, so Laila can see what it looks like.

We are actively working the Hong Kong trip and have been in touch with Eric so that our families can get together.  We will be staying on the Kowloon side since it is closer to most of what we want to do.  I can hardly wait, especially since this will be Laila’s first vacation in a long time.  I want it to be special, a time for both of us to remember.  

Well time to get to work.  I hope everyone has a great week.