It�s hard to believe, but I�m finally done with this school quarter. I posted my final about 20 minutes after midnight last night. It was slightly after the midnight due date, but my professor said it wasn�t a problem over e-mail this morning, so I�m good to go and I�m crossing my fingers that my optional quiz, assignments, course project and take-home final that I have been rushing to turn in over the last week are good enough for another A.

It wasn�t all cramming and scrambling to get assignments done however, I did manage to go out to an �S60 Event� in Nokia�s Chicago Flagship store in Michigan Ave. I got so used to buying my phones online and around Devon Avenue that it flew over my head there was a Nokia Flagship store so nearby. For those that don�t know about the S60, it is a smartphone operating system used in many N-Series, E-Series and a few other Nokia phones. It was basically a promotional event for those phones that use the S60, so I got to play with the N95, the E90, the E61i, the E70 and a few other phones I�ve been drooling over. I was tempted, really tempted to get one, but I fought off the urge, knowing that come June 29th I�ll either getting or I�ll be on some wait list for a new iPhone. Sometime down the road perhaps�

Yahoo supplied some �Yahootinis�, basically a lemon-drop martini with a splash of cranberry to make it more like Yahoo�s logo. Other refreshments such as soda and beer were available as well as some nice hors d�oeuvres. I learned about this event through h0ward f0rums and even wound up meeting Howard himself as well as a few other bloggers and forum posters, some who flew in from different parts of the US and Canada. And I thought I was hardcore with my tech geekness� =p It was cool though, if another one of these events pops up in Chicago I am definitely there. Anyhow I made a slideshow of some of the pictures that I snapped.

I think I�ll take it easy for the next few days, catch up on that lovely little thing called sleep and hopefully when I�m rested enough, start hitting the gym as late as next Friday, possibly sooner. The weather is nice enough that I�m thinking of getting a bike. Not sure if I should get a road bike or a hybrid mountain bike. I�ll have to ask Acorn (the Lance Armstrong of my friend�s list) about all that sometime. I still need a good pair of running shoes, but I�ll use the old pair for now and do cycling or the elliptical instead of the treadmill for cardio until I get around to buying a better pair.

Anyhow, I mentioned a bit of good news from my last entry. Aside from me moving back to my bachelor pad this September, something nice happened to me two Saturday�s ago. I attended this formal Filipina beauty queen social function thing at the Hyatt Regency with my mom and uncle. Basically one of my mom�s co-worker�s daughters was one of the �beauty queens� at this function and there was a whole dinner and dancing thing. We shared a table with a few of my mom�s co-workers. I was first at the table, basically holding seats for my mom and uncle. One of my mom�s co-workers who I�ve met before and attended her last b-day party brought her cousin, who I found very attractive by the way. She asked if the chair next to me was taken. I told her �no, it�s all yours�. I said hi to the one I already knew and introduced myself to the new girl and introduced my mom and uncle to them when they finally came in from their cigarette break.

So anyway, it�s a bit unusual because it has been a while, but the chemistry and everything else seemed to be going very well between me and this new girl. During our small-talk, I found out she just arrived from the Philippines fairly recently and is staying with her cousin and the family. But I also noticed how she looked at me. I tried not to stare at her but when I did glance at her direction we had a tendency to make eye contact a few times over. I noticed she had two different phones and she was sending and receiving quite a few texts. It turns out one is from T-Mobile for her local calls and the other is Cingular for long distance text messaging to her family back home. I asked if I could see her phone and punched in my number and name and saved it into her phone and told her here�s my number. She responded by calling my number back so I could have hers.

Although she didn�t drink because she is allergic to alcohol, we went outside to have a few cigarettes together. I was able to draw out the fact that she still has a �boyfriend� back home. Although there was no �official� break up unless she is somehow forced to go back home or he finds a way to come over here, it would seem to me their relationship is going to be dying a slow death so who knows? What I do know is that she seems eager to hang out. She sent me a text saying hi a couple of days after and we talked on the phone a few times. Unfortunately she had a plan to visit California where quite a few of her friends from back home migrated to and she will be there for a few weeks, otherwise we would have already gone out together and the few days she had left here I was busy with my finals. She should be back in about a week though and once she gets settled back, I see an end to my long-standing dating slump. Where this is going to lead, I have no idea but I have a good feeling about it.

Before I wrap things up, my sister not only graduated from High School last Friday, but she got accepted from the wait list in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne. I can�t believe how fast my little sis is growing up. It looks like she is going to dorm there so both me and her will be moving out before September. She�s about a 3 hour drive away though so it�s not too bad. She will be back around weekends and holidays when she isn�t partying of course. I�d be lying if I said I wouldn�t miss her, because bonding with her is one of the few things I don�t regret about moving back home. At least we will have this summer. But anyway, that�s all I have left to talk about for now, so until next time...