Who knew you could buy pizza for 40 people for only $40?

The Gear Cell had been kicking some serious butt making parts and deliveries for Torrance, so I decided it was time to do something nice for them. I wanted them to know that I appreciated everything that they had been doing as well as the rest of the Torrance team. Because I had heard that they like having pizza as a "treat," on 12/14/07, I coordinated with their supervisor Robert, and he brought them to a secret location and I provided coke and pizza for everyone. You kind of have to do the whole secret location thing or else the entire facility will show up, and I knew I couldn't afford that. :)

This was fun and it definitely made me smile. I found out that $40 will buy enough pizza for 40 people, and they absolutely loved it. If that's all I have to do to keep them motivated, I got it made.

Drinks at El Rancho & Kubo Grill

On Thursday, 12/13/07, we decided to blow off some steam after work and have a few drinks. We started the night at El Rancho and ended at Kubo Grill.

El Rancho

El Rancho #2

Kubo Grill

Bowling with Moog Salt Lake Folks

Another night of bowling at Center Mall on 12/11/07, but this time with some new folks from Moog Salt Lake.

Department Christmas Parties

On Sunday, 12/9/07, I was invited to attend the various department Christmas parties throughout Baguio. Aside from the Moog Christmas party, most of the departments also have their own parties to celebrate with the specific cells or departments. Fortunately this year, the majority of the parties were all held at Camp John Hay, so I was able to attend 4 different parties. Although each part had karaoke, drinks, and a roasted pig (lechon), each one also had a different atmosphere. It was a great day, and I had a fantastic time!

Building E (LBC & SBC) Christmas Party

Building G (Gear Cell) Christmas Party

Engineering Christmas Party

USC Spirit at Moog Baguio

Each year when the time comes for the annual USC / UCLA Football Game, there is a group of us at Moog Torrance (divided into USC and UCLA fans) that informally competes to prove which group is most dedicated to their team. Although I wouldn't be in Torrance this year for the the week of the game, I suspected that my boss, Greg (the ring leader of the UCLA group), would be organizing some rivalry thing, so I decided to organize something at Moog Baguio. When I first went to Baguio in September 2006, I brought USC shirts for some of the guys. This year on Saturday, 12/1, I asked those guys to wear there shirts, so that we could take a picture and send to Greg. Afterwards I sent the pictures out to some of the Moog Torrance and Baguio folks, and there was no longer question as to whether I had been able to integrate well at Moog Baguio. :)

Bobi, Jun, Bendix, Amanda, Lito, Alex

Another Baguio City Tour

Although I had been to Baguio 3 times before moving there, and had already been in Baguio for 2 months, I still hadn't been to the downtown "wet market," which apparently is a must see. For those of you who are not familiar with the term "wet market," it's basically a market where fresh fish, meat, and veggies are sold. For the meat, it is literally fresh, in that they are butchering it right there. Emily and Tracey from the Moog East Aurora (Buffalo, NY) plant were in town, and they expressed interest, so we decided to go. We had been warned to not wear our best clothes because there is sometimes blood flying around, and also to be prepared for the smells. In addition to visiting the wet market, we also planned to do some other sightseeing.

Friday, 11/30, was a holiday for Moog Baguio, so we figured it was a perfect day to see the sites. Our first stop was the market. To be honest, it wasn't as bad as I expected. I definitely saw some things I had never seen, but I really enjoyed going because I learned so much more about the true culture there. When I visited Thailand, we got to see so much culture at the markets, and I always thought Baguio just didn't have that. Turns out there is a whole section in downtown Baguio filled with the market.

Downtown Baguio

Meat Portion of "The Wet Market"

BBQ For Sale

Fish Portion of "The Wet Market"

The Market

The Fresh Vegetable Market

After visiting the wet market as well as the fresh vegetable market, we went to Mines View Park. I actually had visited there a few times before, but it's a nice place with some great views of Baguio, so it's good for picture taking.

Tracey, Amanda, Emily

View from Mines View

View #2

Amanda & Emily with Random Filipino Guys

Gear Cell "Thanksgiving Inspired" Potluck

With this being my first Thanksgiving since moving to Baguio, I really wanted to cook Thanksgiving dinner to remind me of home, and also because some of the Gear Cell guys wanted to learn what Thanksgiving was all about. I decided to do it, and the plan was that I would host dinner at my apartment, and we'd combine it with a housewarming party. I would be making all the side dishes and desserts and the guys would bring the turkey's. A couple of days before Thanksgiving, the guys brought me the list of people they had confirmed, and it was 30+, so we had to rethink things. I loved that everyone was looking forward to having Thanksgiving dinner at my place, but 30+ really meant 50+, and I just couldn't accomodate that many people in my place, nor could I cook the whole dinner alone. We all decided that it would be best to change our plans and have a "Thanksgiving Inspired" potluck at one of the picnic sites at Camp John Hay.

Rather than celebrate on actual Thanksgiving, we celebrated on Saturday, 11/24, since it was better to celebrate on a weekend day anyway. In the end, this was a much better venue, and we had a great time. The potluck idea was great because I got to learn so much more about homemade Filipino food. The turn out was great, and from what I could tell, everyone had a great time. I'll definitely host a similar event next year.

The Group

Ryan, Von, Amanda, Roland

Ed, Jerry, Ferdie, Robert, Jun, Lito

The Group #2

The Group #3