Some Cebu updates

Arrived last Friday in Cebu safe and sound! The road trip through the mountains of Don Salvador Benedicto was fine though there were still some rocky areas. I was feeling queasy and so tired, since I slept only for an hour the day before, so I wasn't able to see the great view of the mountains - not even the jeepney that turned upside down on the roadside. I woke up when we reached the port of San Carlos. The trip on the barge was great coz we just rested in the van - sleeping again! hehehe…

Anyway, good news for travellers, the road from Toledo to Cebu city is great…they're already well-paved and no more dust! Another great improvement is the new South Coastal Road (from Talisay city to Plaza Independencia) aka SRP (South Reclamation Project). It is open to the public and very much a big help for motorists who want to avoid the traffic. Interesting to note is the on-going construction of Cebu's Malacañang palace by the seaside. We wanted to go inside and have some snooping but there's a sign which says, "Restricted Area". 

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The ultimate gift

If you’re going to give a gift to somebody special or important, what would you give that person? Of course, we always say it is the thought that matters most when giving gifts and the person receiving it would always be glad to accept what is given particularly if it is something he/she likes. But what do you think could be the ‘ultimate gift’? Can it be measured in terms of material things and can it be bought by money - a dozen roses, jewelry, a brand new car, new gadget or a brand new house and lot? An officemate used to lament that she didn’t know what to give her mother for her birthday. So I suggested some gift ideas, and she seemed not contented and still worried, then she told me, “She already has everything she needs.” That statement just made me stop and think about what she said. Is it really that hard to give something to someone who has everything? Maybe not. It just depends on the gift.
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Off to Cebu!

I'll be going to Cebu early tomorrow morning with my parents. We will be visiting PRC, BIR, DTI, SSS, Comelec (what else? he he…) and of course my big bro and his family, my former officemates and my good ol’ friends. : ) We will be staying there for about a week. I'm still busy packing up and preparing some food (LOL) and my clothes… I'm kinda excited coz we will be bringing our trusty van - Dad will be driving it through the mountains of Don Salvador Benedicto (for an hour or so) going to San Carlos city where we will ride a barge (with the van in it) for about another two hours ‘til it docks in the port of Toledo city, west of Cebu province. Then from Toledo city we will be on the road again for another two hours. I hope the traffic won’t be that bad when we reach Cebu city. I do hope I can still have the time to blog there. Gimingaw na kog Cebu.

Attending meetings in a ‘half-suit’?

Picture this: A man in coat and tie sitting in front of a laptop and… wearing shorts! If that’s what you call a ‘half-suit’, then so be it. Well, he may look weird but that’s because he’s in the comfort of his own home while getting involved in a serious business meeting with the other big guys from his company’s different branches in other parts of the world. His business partners can only see his formal upper attire on their screens anyway. Thanks to video conferencing which has become an important way for large companies with different branches worldwide to hold meetings online. No need to travel that far to discuss some very important matters, and that means increased productivity and efficiency. Medical, educational, government and other organizations can benefit from video conferencing.

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Meme on my mind

I'm one of the happy residents of the blogosphere for almost a year now (my first post was April 2006) and I should say I’ve been tagged by memes at least enough to make me want to create my own. Funny how I still read the word as ‘me-me’ sometimes instead of ‘meem’ as what Mr. Dictionary says so. I guess my first pronunciation of the word got stuck to my brain.

Anyway, I’m currently on a ‘meme syndrome’ or that’s what I wanted to call this weird urge to propagate something on the blogosphere. I already wrote down the rules and I still am trying to refine it. This has been an idea sleeping on my mind for ages now and it has already awaken, waiting to spread. Hmmm…. in case you’re curious, here’s a hint: it will surely make your blogmates smile when they’re tagged. OK, that’s not a good hint after all, but I will be posting the meme as soon as I’m done with the fine-tuning. Ciao!

On cell phone deals

Here’s another interesting online deal. We know the majority of cell phone deals give you a free phone for a new subscription but it's good to know that existing subscribers of cellular providers who will be upgrading their contracts through Wirefly.com can also get a free phone.

Consider the Sony Ericsson W300i Walkman (Multimedia phone) which is FREE for Cingular upgrades with a two-year contract extension. It is a cool phone if you ask me since it comes with a Stereo MP3 player, FM radio (8 Preset stations) and MegaBass speakerphone for those music enthusiasts like me. It has a digital camera (VGA-quality in 640 x 480 Pixel Resolution Max) with 4x digital zoom and LED flash, and it comes with Bluetooth Wireless technology and expandable memory card slot.

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Let’s go FISH! for life

(continued from yesterday's post FISH! for life ) 

One lazy afternoon I just realized I wasn’t reading any book lately (thanks to blogging). So, I grabbed ‘FISH! for life’ from the shelf and began reading it. Yeah, the story is really so simple as my sister told me. It is none of those deeply written books on some complicated theories for readers who belong to the ‘H.I.’ or the ‘Highly Intellectual’ group. The conversations seemed too scripted or too unrealistic for me though. It’s like getting your theory across by using dialogues, and the result was a story with conversations that didn’t sound so natural, like motivational speakers talking to each other instead of hearing the usual ordinary conversation between a husband and his wife facing some challenges in life. I just felt that there should have been a more creative yet subtle way of incorporating the ‘FISH! philosophy’ in the story. I have read many books using stories as an approach to getting their point across and they have been successful in doing this. Anyway, this is just my own observation. I know some readers who gave 5 stars for this book and loved everything about it.

And where does the exercise part come in? On the last pages of the book, it was tackled when Mary Jane and her hubby Lonnie decided to be more careful about their health and particularly about losing that big bulge in their tummies. Oh well, this is the stuff my sis is talking about. I eagerly read on expecting some new theories or techniques, but nope, they’re all the same health wisdom we’re already familiar with – exercise 5 or 6 days a week, always eat breakfast, avoid bad fats, eat 4 or 5 times a day, and all that stuff we know.

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Health information sites

I’m no expert when it comes to the world of medical terms, and that’s understandable since I took a different field of study. But when my Mom got hospitalized twice, I was suddenly bombarded with an avalanche of medical words that left me so confused. Thanks to my cousin who’s a nurse, she really helped a lot in explaining about some of those weird terms and those medicines with Greek-sounding names. Since then, I tried to familiarize myself with medical terms such as seizure, hypertension, and even some new ones like hyponatremia.

After Mom’s scheduled visits to the doctor, I would browse the web for more details on the medicines being prescribed. Then I would browse on health information sites which had truly been a big help for me in understanding more of my Mom’s sickness. I would spend hours reading lots of topics ranging from health and fitness, to skin care and eating healthy. Anyway, here’s a new website which aims to provide resources for medical health information. One of its articles ‘Tips To Lose Weight’ is quite helpful for those weight-conscious individuals. There are other interesting articles posted like having a LASIK eye surgery, depression treatments and even health insurance plans. There’s a link to recently viewed items which is a good reminder for readers and a list of popular articles or hot topics. The site design still needs a lot of improvement though, more categories are needed and it would create more impact with visually enhanced pages.

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FISH! for life

Ever heard of the ‘FISH! Philosophy’?

“Wherever you find the FISH! Philosophy, you will find the following ingredients (although the proportions may vary): 1. Play (fun and lightheartedness), 2. Make Their Day (a focus on engaging others in ways that lift their spirits), 3. Be There (living in the present moment and giving others our full attention), and 4. Choose Your Attitude (understanding that whatever attitude you are carrying with you right now, it is the one you are choosing).”

I got this from the book ‘FISH! for life’ which tells a story about a couple with the usual work and relationship problems and how they handled them by applying the FISH! Philosophy.  It’s your usual self-help book but it’s none of the heavy stuff that you’ve read like the logotherapy theory of Frankl, the war strategies of Sun Tzu, or James Allen’s philosophy on the power of  thought. ‘FISH! for life’ by Stephen C. Lundin, John Christensen and Harry Paul is a light easy read, you can just finish the book in one sitting. The book was bought by my sister when National Bookstore had this ‘dirt-cheap’ sale of books. She wanted to buy something that’s just a light read. Seeing the cartoon graphic of  fishes with bubbles on a yellow cover and reading a bit of the summary made her buy the book. Now that’s a perfect example of judging a book by its cover, if you ask me. : )

When we got home, she was able to finish reading the book in just few hours. I guess she was satisfied as she concluded, “It sure is a light read!” She even persuaded me, “You have to read it. There’s a chapter on being fit and healthy.” She told me this ‘cause she knows I’ve been wanting to do some exercise to shed off some extra pounds, but never had the time or will to do so. “OK, I’ll see about that later,” I told her. Sadly, that ‘later’ turned to a few more months.

(To be continued)

For soap addicts

Are you fond of soaps? Not the bubble-producing thing you use for washing, but the thing you watch on TV that can make you cry buckets of tears or make somebody emotionally charged or even passionately angry. I know some friends who would not want to miss their favorite soaps, they would even reschedule some dates.

Anyway, for those who are soap enthusiasts, you might also become addicted with this new site, Soaps.com which is dedicated to popular shows like the NBC Soap Operas. They have lots of information on each featured program with a home page that includes links to daily updates, news room, message boards, cast list, picture gallery and FAQ. There are even links to spoilers in case the show’s fans can’t wait to see what’s going to be next. The daily updates section also lets one browse through the archives in case an episode was missed. Interaction among those following the show can be read in the message boards which has topics about their favorite characters, the show’s plot – anything goes. It is quite an informative site, though I think a video clip of some highlights from the show would make it more interesting.

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For my fairy godmother

I’ve mentioned in my previous post about my dream phone, but after browsing some more on the web and doing a bit of ‘research’ on THE ultimate dream phone for me, and considering the comments of my dear readers (yes, thank you very much), I am considering other options as well. I must admit I wasn’t that careful with the digital camera resolution, and to think that the reason why I am not a big fan of camera phones is because of the resolution when they first came out - most of them are below the minimum quality for digital pictures which is 2 megapixels. So there, my phone has to have at least 2 megapixels for the digital camera aside from having a music player, a camcorder (though this is not that important for me), it should be slim (not necessarily too small since it would be difficult to handle) and it has to be pink.  : )

OK, I just described the details here in case my fairy godmother finally reads this blog, LOL. 

Dreaming of a pink phone

My birthday is still a long way to go, and Christmas has just ended. So I’m kinda racking my brains on how I can have my dream phone, a multimedia-camera phone, as a gift.

Blame it on my recent trip to a cellular provider’s business center at a mall. I am currently using prepaid cards for my phone and was just curious about their postpaid plans. I used to be a postpaid subscriber myself when I worked for a telecoms firm before but gave up my account after I resigned. Well, I love the flexibility a prepaid account brings, with my current freelance projects, there are some days I don’t use the phone that much. Anyway, after browsing their postpaid plans, I was drooling over those high-end phones that come with the higher priced plans. I noticed you have to pay an additional fee if you want a high-end phone for a lesser priced plan. Hmmm… not really good cell phone deals for me, but well, that’s understandable. I am still considering the option though and the lure to have a high-end phone is still there… why can’t somebody just give me my dream phone for being a good girl? Hehe…

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A blogsy change

I’m saying goodbye to my previous template. I just wanted a different ambiance, hehe… though this might change after a week or so…

Here’s how my blog looked like before:

And here’s my very first template which brings back some good ol’ memories when I was still a newbie in the blogosphere:

Just putting out these images here so I’ll have something to look at in case I feel a bit nostalgic about my templates. : )

Another homesick OFW

Isn’t it cool to receive a message from an old friend? I was wondering who sent me  an SMS, so after an exchange of ‘who’s this and how are you blah blahs’, I found out it was from one of my classmates in our review. He is currently working in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia as an interior designer. So, another addition to my OFW friends' list, huh? Whenever I need help regarding some projects, I just buzz him, he is one of my ‘online consultants’. Through him, I also learned a bit about how life is in the Middle East – the food, weather, and culture.

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Taking the long way home

I was walking slowly along the sidewalk which was already dark except for some yellow light radiating from the lamp posts and the occasional glare from the cars and motorcycles passing me by. The last Mass for Sunday at the Ruamrudee church in Bangkok had just ended and people were scurrying to their cars, while others hurriedly rode in those motorcycle-for-hires lining up in the sidewalk. I was already tired and it would take me ten minutes more to reach the Ploenchit skytrain station but I was not in a hurry. Some motorcycle drivers waved at me, asking me if I wanted a ride. I shook my head. I chose not to. I just wanted to walk and walk. As if every weary step eased the inexplicable mixture of feelings I had that time.

My hands were getting heavy from my bag and the other things I was carrying but my soul felt lighter with each step. Somehow I felt safe walking in the dark road. It was just me walking hand in hand with God.

Dancing with Google?

I didn’t know what a ‘Google Dance’ is until I looked it up in a search engine marketing glossary. It is actually a term given to a time when Google updates its search algorithm which then causes website rankings to ‘dance’ up or down. How about a ‘Black Hat’, a ‘White Hat’, a ‘Minus 30 Penalty’ or a ‘Google Death Penalty’? Hmmm… sounds interesting, right? Want to learn some more SEO (Search Engine Optimization) jargons?

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Stepping out of a dream

"The building is 309 meters tall, or about the height of 182 people standing one on top of the other. The area inside the building is 179,400 square meters or about 30 football fields. There are 1,740 windowpanes in the building. About the same number of windowpanes which can be used for over 200 townhomes. There are altogether 2,060 steps from the bottom to the top. It takes more than one hour to reach the top. The piling runs 65 meters deep underground, about the height of a 22 storey building."

These interesting facts were taken from a colorful info sheet we grabbed at the counter of "the tallest tower in the Kingdom of Thailand", the Baiyoke Sky Hotel which boasts of 85 storeys in height. It is the 30th in the list of the world's tallest buildings.  
 
I was with my parents, my sis and her hubby, and my sis-in-law. After spending daytime at the ruins in Ayuthaya, and a brief yet unforgettable visit to the Grand Palace that afternoon, we proceeded to the country’s famous tall building which is just within the city of Bangkok. It was nearing dusk when we reached the Observation Deck at the 77th floor. Going up was like riding an airplane, my ears felt the pressure. The elevator shot up and we were there in just a few minutes. The view of the city was awesome, imagine yourself like a big giant looking at those little buildings below and the zigzag of the expressway with those tiny dots of cars. We can't help but take lots of photos; of course, it's my first time to be feeling like I’m on top of the world. : )

Sawasdee! A 'wai' pose at the 77th floor.

Through the looking glass (yep, I was like Alice in Wonderland that time)

Afterwards, we rode again another elevator to the Revolving Roof Deck at the 84th floor. I was so excited like a kid as soon as I stepped on the moving floor. The view below was simply breathtaking as we were turning around the building, and the sky slowly dimmed from grey to dark.

We were only snapped back to reality when my bro, who didn’t join us for our trip that day, called up and asked about dinner. After arrangements were made, the group decided to leave, though I wished we could stay longer. We went down to the 83rd floor to avail of their complimentary drinks and stayed a while in their lounge. We were told that there would be some live band later, but our tummies were already grumbling, and we had to travel to meet my bro and the kids for dinner, so it was time to go.

We joined some tourists in the elevator going down to a lower level. As the doors closed, I could feel the elevator falling down speedily, I watched the floor numbers on top of the door rapidly decreasing – 82, 81, 80, 79…  It was then that I sensed a feeling of being here before… like it happened before… and it suddenly dawned on me, it really did. This took place in a dream before which I realized was actually a premonition of my holidays in Thailand. I could just relate some parts of it, though some were not even logical - the big jump to the rocky cliff on the other side was actually a trip to another country, and the feeling of falling down, being inside an elevator… I was still pondering on this as the doors slowly opened and we stepped out… it was just like coming out of a dream.