WATCH: Conan O'Brien's 2011 Dartmouth Commencement Speech

It took me days just to be able to load and play this as the Internet (wherever I was) was just too darn slow. So finally I got to watch it this morning and it just seems like a perfect way to start one's day - with humor and inspired!

I never imagined a comedian doing a commencement speech (Though if I were to believe Conan, he did it in 2000, so it has been done). Much of the speech were jokes, but he had really good things to say. A couple of my favorite lines that struck me in his speech:

"It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It’s not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can be a catalyst for profound re-invention."

"No specific job or career goal defines me and it should not define you."

You can also watch it here or if your Internet sucks like mine, you can go through the transcript.

01.30.11 - Stillshots of Love (Wedding Onsite Slideshow)

It was really sad that I missed most of the slideshow during the wedding (my apologies to Oly Ruiz and his Metrophoto team). It was a choice between pleasing my eyes and nurturing my emotions or saving my ready-to-explode bladder. I was able to catch bits of it though, and it made me want to watch more. It didn't help that Joyce told me how nice the pictures were when I got back from my bladder break.

Having said that, you'd probably know by now what I did as soon as I received a copy of it a couple of days ago...I watch and watched and watched. I never really grew tired of it (and probably wouldn't many years from now). It may have been 6 months ago, but heck it still feels like yesterday. The photos are lovely, capturing emotions I never really noticed during the wedding as I was so into the moment. And the song...well, I don't even know the title of that song until recently, but it keeps playing in my head now!

Anyways, enjoy this preview of our wedding memories! Will try and post more wedding pictures as soon as we sort out the best of the best from the 2000+ photos we got!

Thanks to Oly and his team for these beautiful photos!

READ: Presentation Zen Design by Garr Reynolds

Garr Reynolds is probably my favorite authors when it comes to presentation design. His books gave me a different take on how presentations should look like to keep the audience in the edge of their seats and interested. I enjoyed his first book, Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery and so I thought I'd get his second book, Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations.

Unlike the first book, which touch based on design concepts and effective delivery, Presentation Zen Design focused on a more technical aspect in designing slides/presentations. If you have questions like, 'Which fonts are best to use?' or maybe 'How to use images or graphs?', then this book would be a great guide. As with his first book, this one also has a lot of great samples that are simple but eye-catching and fresh-looking. After reading Garr's two books, I upped my standards on slide presentations.

Unfortunately though, I couldn't seem to find this book anywhere here in Philippines so I ordered one from Amazon and it cost me around P1,500, inclusive of shipping (had it shipped to a Johnny Air site and then Johnny Air delivered it here). In case one would be interested to get out of the usual bullets from Powerpoint, this book should be a great starting point.

What's your guess?

The bet is ON! Joyce is guessing that Little One will be a girl, while I'm betting on a boy.

What do you think?

01.30.11 - Supplier Experience: Cecilio Abad

Overall Rating: 5 - Personally, I would never understand how can a wedding gown cost so much. But at the end of the day, I'll forget about the price and just cherish how beautiful and perfect it was on my bride.

What we didn't like? Well, I always thought the gown was too expensive (ranges from P65K- P80K). But then again, I didn't pay for it so I guess I don't have any right to complain.

What we love about him and his works? On the first fitting, Joyce said that the fit was almost perfect already. By her second fitting, it was almost done. Joyce asked if Cecil can add more design on the tulle after the second fitting. By the third fitting, Joyce was satisfied with the gown already with only some finishing touches left undone. I didn't want to see the gown before the actual wedding, so I didn't join the fittings. 

The moment I saw my bride for the first time in the gown, it was perfect! The gown, the moment, the bride - everything was perfect. Everyone who congratulated us had beautiful things to say about the gown. They all loved it! I personally loved it on my bride. The first most important thing for was, Joyce was very happy with it. The second thing -- is how easy can it be removed after the wedding! ;)

WATCH: Steve Jobs shares his story to Stanford grads

Steve Jobs is probably one of the best story-tellers in the world. In his speech to Stanford graduates he shared three stories of his life. Simple stories yet truly inspiring.

Three life lessons from Jobs:

1. Connect the dots.

2. Find what you love.

3. Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

01.30.11 - Supplier Experience: JC Buendia

Overall Rating: 5 - I could definitely wear this suit to sleep!

What we didn't like? There's really not much I didn't like, the price I initially thought was a bit steep, but like I said, it was definitely worth the splurge.

What we loved about him and his works? It took me sometime before deciding on getting a designer to make my suit. But once I had my first fitting of the suit from JC Buendia, it didn't take long before I said to myself, "I LOVET!". I never regretted spending much on something I wear. It was elegantly classic! Though there were some adjustments needed after the first fitting, the fit eventually ended up perfect! The material looks nice and has a Php20,000 feel. 

As for our JC Buendia experience, well, despite his famed stature, he made sure he was there during my fittings. On my first fitting, we were told by his secretary that his mother was rushed to the hospital that morning, yet he found time to be there and see that everything went well. Truly very much appreciated. He's very soft-spoken and down-to-earth.

His secretary was very professional and follows-up on scheduled fittings and meetings. She also went out of her way to check what type of belt should we buy when we forgot to ask during my last fitting.

Contact Details:

Landline: 438-5449
Website: None