(updated) Sendong: donations and concert for a cause

This photo is not mine and was taken from the internet.

This photo is not mine and was taken from the internet.

I'm sure majority of us heard the heartbreaking stories after the typhoon Sendong hit Cagayan de Oro and Iligan last weekend.

It's now time to lend a hand and share our blessings as Filipinos.

If your goods are ready to be sent, you can send them for free through Air 21. Don't forget to mark your donations of clothes, food and water with "for CDO / Iligan victims".

Region 10 will take care in the distribution of the goods that you are willing to share. Rest assured that the victims will receive everything we send to them.

Please help. Happiness will be unimaginable when you help.

---- The same with Air 21, LBC will not charge any freight fee when you send donations for CDO / Iligan victims.

---- Also, a colleague, Adela, is inviting everyone to join them this Friday, December 23, 2011, to a concert. The concert will feature different bands and proceeds will be given to the typhoon Sendong victims. For more info click on this link ---> Sa'less Diner and Moozika

Christmas countdown: Bethlehemian Rhapsody

When I was young, I used to love puppets. I'm pretty sure majority of us went through that stage as well. The Muppets were really famous back then.

In this generation, although The Muppets had long been out of the circulation, off from TV shows, new characters had emerged.

For Christmas countdown, let me share this video (saw this on a friend's fb page) from youtube of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, the Bethlehemian Rhapsody.

Countdown is 19 days before Christmas. An advance Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Countdown: 2012 Holidays

Now that most of us are counting down days until Christmas, bonuses, 13th month and parties, let me take you back to a post I had shared with you earlier.

I'm pretty sure that there will be plenty of surprise airfare ticket price discounts for the year 2012 and because of that, you have to plan ahead. By the time that airlines post their ticket price slash off, you are more than ready to book your own flight anytime and anywhere.

There will be plenty of long weekends, if the government is willing to move their holidays to the nearest Monday.

Check out this site for the list of Philippines holidays.

Don't forget to mark your calendars.

Christmas Countdown: Max's Food Delivery

Christmas is near! I'm pretty sure everyone is excited and doing their own countdowns.

So, what is in store for Christmas this year?

A friend of mine who's running "The Frugal Pinoy" website for different deals worldwide, is having another one of her most awaited contest for those who are based in US and Philippines. Yey!

If you happen to have dropped by her website, you'll certainly know that she's giving away Max's Chicken Food Delivery to 5 lucky winners!

http://www.thefrugalpinoy.com/2011/12/usphl-max-food-delivery-giveaway/

I had already made an entry. You should too!

Visit "The Frugal Pinoy" website (link which will lead you directly to the contest is posted below the photo as caption), follow the steps to join the contest!

What are you waiting for?

Dear Dad

Dear Dad,

I miss you.

I can still remember how you were when you were still with us. You were never much of a disciplinarian. You were a funny dad. You crack jokes, you tease us until we can take no more and cry. You share your dreams with us. When you get mad, we were scared of you.

They told me I'm a brat when it comes to you. Even the things that I didn't ask for, you gave them to me. You were a good provider dad.

I always tell my kids about you. It's just sad that they weren't able to see you. They weren't able to see how funny and doting you were to us.

Dad, I can still remember every single detail of how it happened. We were on our way home when they took you. That will haunt me until I get old.

I miss you terribly dad.

When can I see you again?

Social Media: You Amaze Me

Majority of the people existing in this generation rely too much on social media networks. I, for one, have a few accounts on the internet that would link and update me of long lost friends and relatives. In one way or the other, social media network has become a tool in building bridges even with distance.

It never ceases to amaze me what social media network can do for all of us. With the modern technology, traditional diaries which were kept in a safe place for privacy is exchanged with online blogs where people from all walks of life will be able to read it. Aside from blogs, social media networks has given the people of today a techie way of releasing emotions, be it extreme joy, obtrusive opinions or just plain boredom.

Quite frankly, status posts from friends never fail to put a smile on my face and somehow make me feel updated. Thank God as social media network has its own advantages too.

A few days back, someone from Twitter posted a photo of an old lady, Lola Aurelia, poster photos of her missing husband. If you happen to be updated, which I know most of you are, the photo that was shared on Twitter and Facebook helped Lola Aurelia find her husband.

Facebook photo posted by Reddie JS

After the photo was posted on Facebook, it was eventually shared by millions of Filipinos on Twitter which even became a trending topic. A few days after, Lolo Luis was found.

Twitter photo posted by Julius Babao

Social media network, you definitely amaze me.

The Hunger Games

Yes, I had already read the Hunger Games trilogy (thanks to my college friend Herbert Bergancia) and I'm so looking forward to this. I hope the directors had not ruined a good book.

Here's the official trailer of The Hunger Games which was released on August, 2011.

Christmas Station IDs

We hate to admit it but the youth today are rather different. They grew up side by side with technology. TV is their companion before sleeping and after waking up. Computer games are their hobbies, especially online games. Even then, it's still a good thing that there are responsible programming found on TV networks. Even with how major technology gives an impact to our children's lives, it's a relief that they can learn something even from TV.

To be honest, I had always been fond of ABS CBN's programs because of the family values and the moral lessons it shares to the youth. Just like this program which is about to end, my sons watch with me before we start reviewing their lesson. And, through that, even with a busy career, I can share with them and teach them values that they need to learn.

Before I head off to another direction, the recent Christmas station ID that they made for this year tells us of family. That distance is never a hindrance to share it with them, especially now that we have a lot of means to be with them virtually.

True to what it shows us, Christmas spent with family and Filipinos are one of a kind. :)

Oh, before I end this entry, here are GMA's station IDs also. (I think the official station ID is shown on the first video below.)

Delayed Opinion: Pacquiao vs Marquez

I'm sure majority of the people all over the world were glued to their TV set, be it pay per view or the regular telecast loaded with a hundred advertisement. We were one of the lucky few since we were able to watch pay per view for free, thanks to my sister in law!

Honestly, I'm not too much of a boxing fan but as I was watching the entire 12 rounds without a blink, I certainly felt that Pacquiao never did gave Marquez a solid punch. Okay, well, let's just say, I was multi-tasking between watching Pacquiao and Marquez exchange jabs and tweeting / facebook-ing when I noticed Pacquiao's performance. *grins*

Anyway, at the end of round 10, I had already concluded that Pacquiao stood no chance in defeating Marquez and that he had finally lost his touch. I hate to say this but his performance deteriorated big time. While the boxing analysts thought him to be having too much priorities (boxer, tv host and congressman) and unfocused, his coaches blamed it to over training.

Although, Filipinos weren't disappointed, at all, when he retained his title as the featherweight champion, I still think that Marquez deserved that game. No, I'm no hater of Pacquiao even with the constant news headlines of his allegedly womanizing abilities.

With the different reactions that are being publicized to different newspapers, blogs and tv interviews, a video of an apparent "coincidental (?)" foot stop was being circulated to prove Pacquiao's winning (aside from the annoying statistics that was displayed all over facebook and twitter for a thousand times).

Anyway, here's a video of the said "foot stop" where a lot of my friends shared it to prove that Pacquiao was the rightful winner of that match.

So what do you think? Did Pacquiao really won or did he sack the victory because of this?

Christmas season

The end of All Soul's Day marks the start of the Christmas season!

Thank God for long weekends, we finally finished setting up our tree! Another good thing is that instead of buying a new set of Christmas decorations, we settled for the old ones which were used last year. However, I still have to add a little more for areas that are quite bare.

My youngest son was super excited when we finished setting up the tree that he has to plug in the lights at 3 in the afternoon. Well, we gave him the pleasure of enjoying the twinkling lights yesterday since it was cloudy and the skies were dark.

Anyhow, we finally get to enjoy our first official day into the Christmas season.

And, I must say that we're finally ready for Christmas! 

How All Soul's Day was spent

We spent ours visiting loved ones who had departed from this world. We woke up at 6am, prepped up and left our home at 8am.

First stop was Buhangin Cemetery. The kids cleaned their grandmother's (hubby's mom) grave, lighted their candles, placed flowers and said a short prayer.

Second and last stop was Chinese Cemetery. The kids had fun eating loads of ice cream while doing what they do best, laptop games.

How did you spend yours?

Oh by the way, I just couldn't resist buying these shoes for my nephew.. it's ultra cute..

Gmail's new look

Have you checked your Gmail account lately? Well, if you did, I'm sure you had found the pop up message at the lower portion of your gmail account.

Did you went for the "new Gmail look"?

I certainly love how kind to the eyes the new look is. I ♥ Google. :)

Angry birds met the inspirational and influential Mario

Have you ever wondered what would happen if angry birds was born during the family computer era? Well, lemme give you a little idea on what would have happened.

it's officially the Christmas season

So, according to a friend of mine who I follow on twitter and facebook, it isn't Christmas until the coca-cola truck shows up on television.

I can't seem to find the latest ad on youtube yet. Anyway, here's train's "shake up christmas".

Auto correct may not always sound right

Honestly, I can really relate to the auto correct features of mobile phones and quite frankly, I don't like them either. Good thing my mom doesn't use the sms service, otherwise, I'd go red as a beet if I send a really odd text. *grins*

http://www.damnlol.com/mom-it-was-an-autocorrect-honestly-8605.html

Chrome Application: Alchemy

This is the first chrome application that I find really neat. It must be that I'm a chemical engineer that I find this application so close to my heart. Here is a snapshot of the application.

Here is a tip: water + air = steam. (You can obtain that by dragging the water icon to the black column, then drag the fire icon and place it on top of the water icon. The result is steam.)

Just click on this link ---> Alchemy.

I hope you'll find this application as much fun with it as I did.

On Steve Jobs

This photo is grabbed from @JimParedes' yfrog account.

If you're in any social media marketing site like Twitter and Facebook, I'm sure your timeline is bombarded with Steve Jobs, his passing away, how he has made an impact to the world with his technology and how he left everyone brokenhearted and sad.


Indeed, Steve Jobs has been an inspiration to everyone, even to those who hasn't followed his career. Whether you know him personally or you're one of those people who are in awe (like me) because of the constant technology evolution from Apple, you will never cease to feel the sadness and aver that the world has lost another great man who has contributed so much to the fast modernization of technology.


Let me just leave a few Steve Jobs quotes, in remembrance and honor of a great man, that literally made sense to me and perhaps to everyone else.

• "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life... Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."
• "Stay hungry. Stay foolish."
• "We don't get a chance to do many things, and everyone should be really excellent. Because this is our life."
• "Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."
• "You left your mark on our desks, on our ears, and in our hands." (from a twitter post)
• "3 apples changed the world: Adam and Eve's forbidden apple, Newton's apple and finally, Steve Jobs' Apple." (from a twitter post)
• "The world is immeasurably better because of Steve." (Apple Statement)

Let the great man continuously be an inspiration to everyone for "Steve Jobs was born out of wedlock, put up for adoption at birth, dropped out of college, then changed the world". Indeed we have no excuse to complain and blame the misery to what happened in the past.

Rest in peace, Steve Jobs. The world will surely miss you. #iSad

Twitter gadget on Gmail

Are you frustrated that you can't access Twitter from work because your IT Department blocked it?

Fret no more because a friend of mine just taught me how one could access Twitter through a Gmail account. Thanks to Twitter Gadgets.

So, here are the steps to get immediate access on Twitter.

• Open your Gmail account.
• Go to mail settings.
• Click "Labs".
• Click enable beside "Add any gadget by URL"
• Click on "Save changes".
• Go back to mail settings.
• Click "Gadgets".
• Under the "Add a gadget by its URL", type http://www.twittergadget.com/gadget_gmail.xml.
• Refresh your gmail account.

If you noticed the "TwitterGadget" box at the bottom left side of your gmail account, then, you're ready to start tweeting away by logging in and authorizing the application.

Oh, by the way, if the gadget box is too small for you, you can click on the word "TwitterGadget" to make it bigger.

Enjoy tweeting!

(updated) Vacation Destinations: Red Parrot Inn, Samal

For the nth time, we're having another expense free chillaxing Sunday today courtesy of my sister-in-law, Emy Zeng. My husband's niece, Michelle, picked out Capt. Hook's Red Parrot Inn located at Kaputian, out of the different resorts in Samal. Apparently, she saw this flyer from Zest Air and took an interest in the photos that came with it

Anyway, we left Davao a little after 10 am. Took the barge to Samal and travelled more than 30 minutes of more than halfway of zigzag roads to reach Capt. Hook's Red Parrot Inn which was owned by Brock and Cleo Hook. My husband actually compared our short trip to the last one we had at Caraga, Davao Oriental.

Honestly, I wasn't really expecting anything impressive of Capt. Hook's Red Parrot Inn. Quite frankly, the pictures that we saw posted on the internet wasn't really that appealing. At the back of my mind, our Sunday will be spent ordinarily . Much to my surprise, I find the area serene and cozy, just like a typical rest house where you want to enjoy alone time and/or bond with your family.

So, here are a couple of photos I took of the 3 bedroom building of Capt. Hook's Red Parrot Inn which costs at Php 5,500 a night. Like most hotels, check out time is at 12:00 noon. Sorry if the photos I took isn't as good as professional photographers. I'm just an amateur but I hope I'll be able to show you photos of how nice this inn is.

This was what greeted us when we reached our destination.

Entrance was supposed to be at the other door but apparently, the inn was occupied so we had to use this gate here.

The island you see is Talikud. Somewhere in that strip is the famous Isla Reta.

To be honest, this is the first resort I went to that posted a warning at the gate before you proceed to the beach and I highly appreciate their safety precautions for their guest.

The tempting beach.

Their mini bar and store. Although a little expensive, the customer service is superb and they have free purified water for their guests.

The birds that greeted us with their whistles.

The open shower located before the entrance of the inn.

The top view of the stairs leading to 2nd floor.

Before you reach the 2nd floor, Capt. Hook's Red Parrot Inn made sure to provide their guests with a fire exit. I'm sure this will be highly appreciated by the guests who are going to check in. Oh by the way, other than the fire exit, they had also provided fire extinguishers in different areas of the inn just in case of fire.

The 3 bedrooms is located at the 2nd floor. The masters bedroom door is at the left side (not shown in the photos).

The master's bedroom with 1 restroom looks this nice.

The 2nd room looks this pretty also. They provided 2 double decks for 4 guests.

Just the same with the 2nd bedroom, the 3rd and last room is provided with 2 double decks.

The inn's living room and kitchen.

A relaxing Sunday wouldn't be complete without fun companions and, of course, food! Thank you sponsors! By the way, my sister-in-law is the one in black and white stripes. Beside her is her husband.

I noticed a few quotes posted on the wall. I thought it would be fun to share it.

The other cottages that are for rent are located at another area. Other cottages available ranges from Php 1,200 to Php 2,000.

Currently, we're still here at Capt. Hook's Red Parrot Inn. I'm pretty much enjoying the free wifi here which is ultra fast but you have to request for access before you can start browsing. 

I'm honestly looking forward to coming back here on December. As early as now, my sister-in-law has reserved the 3 bedroom inn we're staying now.

In cases that you may want to drop by at Capt. Hook's Red Parrot, make a reservation or just inquire, you can contact the following numbers listed below:

• Landline Numbers: 
• (082) 286-1658
• (082) 305-9257
• Mobile Numbers: 
• (0908) 944-7805 for Cleofe
• (0907) 122-2091 for Aries 
• (0930) 304-7055 for Caloy
• (0919) 443-6080 for Boyet

If you want to check out their website, you can just click on Capt. Hook's Red Parrot Inn or type in http://www.redparrotinn.com.

Philippine Holidays for 2012

Hey friends! If you're planning on taking vacations for the year 2012, check out the Philippine holiday list via Our Awesome Planet.

Watch out for these holidays:

• January
• January 1 (Sunday) - New Year's Day
• January 23 (Monday) - Chinese New Year
• February
• February 25 (Saturday) - Edsa Revolution Anniversary
• April - possible 5 days long weekend from April 5 to 9.
• April 5 (Thursday) - Maundy Thursday
• April 6 (Friday) - Good Friday
• April 8 (Saturday) - Easter Sunday
• April 9 (Monday) - Araw ng Kagitingan
• May - possible 4 days long weekend from April 28 to May 1.
• May 1 (Tuesday) - Labor Day
• June - possible 4 days long weekend from June 9 to 12.
• June 12 (Tuesday) - Philippine Independence Day
• August - possible 4 days long weekend from August 18 to 21 and 3 days long weekend from August 25 to 27.
• August 19 (Sunday) - Eid'l Fitr
• August 21 (Tuesday) - Ninoy Aquino Day
• August 27 (Last Monday of August) - National Heroes' Day
• October - possible 3 days long weekend (depending on proclamation) from October 26 to 28.
• October 26 (Friday) - Eidul Adha
• November - possible 4 days long weekend from November 1 to 4 and 3 days long weekend from November 30 to December 2 .
• November 1 (Thursday) - All Saint's Day
• November 30 (Friday) - Bonifacio Day
• December - possible 4 days long weekend from December 22 to 25 and December 29 to January 1.
• December 25 (Tuesday) - Christmas
• December 30 (Sunday) - Rizal Day
• December 31 (Monday) - Last day of the year

Don't forget to plan your vacations ahead, you'll never know when a piso fares will show up.

By the way, thanks Our Awesome Plant.

(updated) Google Search Site

I love how google constantly changes the pictures on their search page. Don't you?

Google never fails to bring out the child in everyone, especially me.

Oh, I just found out that you can actually make the cartoon characters move and open their mouth. You just need to click the colored circles located below each one of them. That actually spelled F-U-N!