starshadow_rivaulx | On Vox: Stockholder meeting excitement

So I've made it through today's mail and feeds and breezed through LJ-land. Took time out to defrost a chicken and pop it into the turbo broiler, and now nice smells are coming out of the kitchen. :) I now have time to gather my thoughts together and type out a post or two; at the moment am considering making separate posts for yesterday's events and today's little bits of business, lest a single entry grow to humungous proportions.

Let's start with the Ayala Land stockholders' meeting, held as usual at the Hotel Intercontinental Manila. It turned out to be quite possibly, the most exciting meeting out of the three that I've attended. All was proceeding nicely from the moment the Chairman called the meeting to order, through the National Anthem, determination of quorum, and the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting.

Then we get to part where the stockholders are asked for any comments pertaining to the minutes of the previous meeting. The stockholder who's always "Mr. Icebreaker" asked a relevant question, was content with the answer, and sat down. The next stockholder turned out to be an Ayala fanboy, with such fulsome praise for the company that it was embarrassing; he offered suggestions that were greeted with the laughter they deserved. Mr. Fanboy was followed by a lady with very definite born-again leanings, who got up and proceeded to preface her question with was very nearly a declamation from the pulpit. I took a look behind me, being seated in the second row from the front, and saw the younger members of the audience rolling their eyes in exasperation.

When Ms. Preacher Lady sat down, she was followed with an angsty stockholder with several issues. Unfortunately, not all of his issues had to do with the minutes of last year's meeting, let alone with the company...and he was disposed to rant - slowly and at length - about his grievances, perceived and actual. When he sent an assistant to distribute packets of documentation to the Members of the Board, this action was greeted with universal disapproval from the audience. As the rant went on, Mr. Fanboy and Ms. Preacher Lady stood up to try and derail Mr. Angsty Stockholder, it very nearly dissolved into a shouting match!

Thankfully, the Chairman was both firm and diplomatic about getting all these old coots (what we call in Manila "mga makulit na matanda", or "nagging old folk", to differentiate them from the "makulit na bata" or "nagging young folk") to settle down. But while they were waiting for Mr. Angsty Stockholder to pause for breath, the Chairman and President both had that bland facial expression that translates into "OMGWTFBBQ STFU KTHXBAI!"

This is the first meeting that's run long...normally it takes only 1.5 hours, this was closer to 2.0 hours. Oye, caramba! Because after we finished with the "business pertaining to the previous minutes", everything moved quite smartly through various board resolutions, and then there was the "other matters" open forum, in which the old coots once again arose with lengthy and off-topic domination on the microphones. I swear, had the whole meeting been a blog/message board interaction, there would have been bannination and flame wars, and tl;dr commentary. ::nods::

In the end, the meeting drew to a close, and it was hilarious to see how the young stockholders jumped to grab the microphones when the Chair asked if anyone wanted to move for an adjournment of the meeting; and, the motion having been made, for someone to second it. I approached the Chair and the President separately as everyone was getting themselves together, mentioned as how it had been a *very* exciting meeting - and added that the President managed to acquit himself quite nicely during the Senate hearing about the Glorietta explosion. (Well, he did, at least in my eyes. Some of the questions asked were too obvious to be true...)

Went to claim my giveaway (a cloth tote bag) and box meal (chocolate cake, lasagna with garlic bread, tuna pan de sal) and met up with Ramon in the lobby. Because I was feeling dressed up and pretty (pictures forthcoming), I dragged Ramon into The Jeepney coffee shop, where he went a la carte while I got myself a buffet lunch. I loves me a good buffet lunch, yes, I do - and I also love how The Jeepney is cool and quiet. Ramon caught me up on how he tried to roam about the city, but had to give it up because he started to have bad headaches every time he went from cool places into the heat of the city streets. My poor sweetie!

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From the Intercon, we went to SM Makati. Parked Ramon in the Prestige Lounge so he could rest from his walkabout in the heat, and I went to the SM Appliance Center to get myself a PC laptop. Why a PC, you are all asking? Because I have a library of perfectly good PC software in the house, and it seems a shame not to be able to use them from time to time. Digital image applications, games that I'll never get tired of. Plus, it will serve as a backup for Ramon if ever the Acer needs to go to the shop. At heart, I will always be an Apple girl, but there are things a PC can do just fine, too.

It was a toss-up between a Lenovo with 1.73Ghz/120GB HDD/512 RAM specs, no OS at Php 27,000; or a Blue with 1.73Ghz/80GB HDD/512 RAM/Windows Vista Starter pre-loaded at Php 28,000. Then I discovered there was a 3% discount *and* a laptop bag thrown in for good measure - I got the Blue. ::grin:: It's a pretty little thing, 15" screen that will be great for photo manipulation and possibly vidding as well. It's exactly what I wanted - a machine with the pretty nearly the same specs as Ramon's, with just the right version of Vista for someone who intends to use it primarily as an offline machine. I've got two external hard drives that can be used with both iBook and Blue, so sharing will not be a problem.

When I got the new toy home, naturally, there was the business of storing the Quick Start guides and discs; activating Vista, and getting used to the new trackpad; downloading and installing the bajillion updates that Windows deems necessary for the system; downloading Opera and OpenOffice so that browsing (when necessary) and document creation will be the same across both laptops; installing Avast; installing the movie converter software for my ChiPod. Will have to install the software that came with the Canon D-SLR, the printer and the scanner - maybe over the weekend.

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Before we finally got home, Ramon and I stopped at the Barangay Office to see if his Blue Card (health benefits) had arrived. Unfortunately, it hadn't, but we were able to renew our Barangay ID cards - pickup will be on Tuesday, between 10am-12nn.

Still no word on the Avanza stickers. However, still racking up the mileage, and enjoying ourselves doing so.

Hm. Nearly time to set up for dinner. Will type up another entry to cover the day's events, after that.

Originally posted on wallflowerwriter.vox.com