My Life's Adventure

In our country babysitter are stay-in employees and part time maid. Unlike other countries, babysitters are not stay-in employee and are paid by the hour or whatever amount they verbally agreed upon. This post is her story.

She lived near my wife's former home (when my wife was still single) and was tutoring her on math subjects. She was a high school graduate, stand at 4' 10", dark complexion, and looks like an elementary student. She tends the cow they bought on her free time and take care of her younger siblings. Her parents are separated and both have new partners. She has 2 half-sisters by her step-father, and 1 brother from her biological father. The sad part of this very sorry set up is her step-father and brother are both alcholics. Their family were poor, and this two males squander whatever money they earn on beers and other vices that comes along with it. And to add to their misery her brother was a teenage dad who knows nothing about parenting.

Fortunately they hava an aunt who is base in Australia that is very rich that help them get out of poverty. The Aunt is helping them financially and shouldering the expense of building them a house. How I wish I could be like her Aunt, generous and tender hearted.

The aunt sends them money thru a family friend's atm account. This so-called friend show kindness to them and gave every penny that was due them. Several months went by smoothly until the financial support slowly dwindle. No more money was being sent and the construction of their new house was put on hold for the time being. Unknown to them, the friend has purchase a brand new tv, cellphone, refrigerator, furniture, made house repairs and other stuff. One doesn't have to be a genius to put two and two together. This so-called friend had stolen their money and bought numerous things for her own family. The money amounted to at least P550,000 pesos ($10,000).

Love of money is trully the root of all evil. But crime does not pay and no secret this hideous would go unnotice. The aunt came to town and surprise all of them. She wanted to check up on them and to see the progress on the house she was building for them. She was surprise to see the construction was stopped and the money she sent was never received for the last 5 or 6 months.

They confronted the friend and she denied any wrongdoing. Wow, the nerve of this con-woman, instead admitting and reimbursing the money she even had the gall to get mad and retaliate. To make a long story short, the aunt could not file formal charges against this creature. The money was in her account so its her money, that simple. However, this incident had spread to the surrounding community and this person had been branded a thief and a liar. Like what the good book said "A good name should be treasure more than silver or gold". Her credibility now is non-existent.

Let this be a lesson to all, money corrupts even the best of us. So please, if you are going to send money to a friend, relative or even to charity deposit it directly to the recipients' accounts and not to someone else.

Our yaya (babysitter in Filipino language) has a colorful but sad life. But she could still manage to smile and have a good time. Maybe I would post another story of her adventure with our family.

Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....

I was eating alone at a table in our office pantry when I saw one of our computer technician washing his utensils, apparently he just finish eating his lunch. I engage him in a light conversation. I express my thoughts about the company's current problems and was hoping that we land a major contract so I would stop looking for a new job. He smirk and commented that only good companies acquires good contracts. I was curious at his reaction and ask him why?

He said that grace comes to those business owners that fairly treat their employees. Our call center subsidiaries has just been sold and employees have been retrenched. Retrenched employees who deserve to have the employer's share of the provident fund have been withheld by the company. He mentioned other unacceptable practices that I will not share in this post. For eight years this company has given me work and paid my salary on time. I would no longer add more damage to the company's already struggling reputation.

But knowing all this things has deeply hurt the pride I once felt at being part of the company. I just hope and pray that the people on top will come to their senses and stop this unnecessary activities. All of this begun to happen when the company started loosing its clients. But this is no excuse for doing what they are doing.

God has blessed this company before and He could again if only they would do things the right way even when its hard.

Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....

I often felt sad when a team member pass his/her resignation. A co-worker have just resigned from her position as Business Analyst and will be working with a non-IT company. She decided on a major career shift.

The ratio of those resigning from our company is now 10 person per month if I'm not mistaken. I'm sad about the company's situation but I felt powerless to do anything except join the others in hunting for a new job. I just pray and hope that we land a big huge titanic contract. Whew, three superlatives to describe a contract, I just hope the company can close the deal in one or two of their prospect. Or else there would be no more crew left to run the ship except the captain and the officers.

Two more of my team mates will be resigning soon if the price is right. Negotiations are underway and they are being asked if its a deal or no deal. Wow, I never thought that hunting for a job is like a gameshow. Anyway, one of these days it would be my turn to negotiate the terms of my compensation. Until that happens I'll just keep on submitting my resume to different companies or a major deal will save the ship from sinking.

Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....

I decided not to pursue in publishing the other blog about Questions and Answers on religious topics. I have looked around the net and found other people who are equip and better trained in answering question about the Bible. I found myself just a speck compared to them. The responsibilities of answering peoples' questions about religion is an awesome task that requires experience, insight, wisdom and lot of things that I lack.

Instead, I will create a separate blog about my own convictions on religious matters. I think that is what I'm capable of. Maybe, just maybe thru this I can help people.

Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....

I just created a new blog. I don't know whether to push thru in publishing it or delete it. The blog I just created will earn me a lot of unsolicited mails and probably some hate mails as well. As a Christian, I have this desire to help people get answers to a lot of questions that are troubling them.

Blogging are a good means to reach out to alot of people from different part of the world. Religion as a blog topic will attract both nice and rude people. I am scared of the responsibility that this kind of blog will entails. I'm answerable to God of whatever comes out of these. Even though I don't have all the answers to the hardest questions I felt that I could make a difference in someone's life.

Being in an IT company I've seen alot of my peers and newly hired employee being assigned abroad. Some are assigned to the US, Singapore, Costa Rica, England and other far off place. I envy these people, they get to experience different cultures and free travel. I on the other hand have worked for 8 long years and the only place I got to travel are the different floors of our building.

I keep wondering what's it like to ride a plane? What it's like to visit another country? I do hope that one day I could get to travel around the world, see historic places, see breath taking view of nature, and meet people from all walks of life.

I imagine myself with my wife and son going to Disneyland and Universal Studios enjoying the rides and having lots of fun. Or going to Europe and visiting all those wonderful places that I only see on movies and tv.

Oh well, maybe one day my boss would notice me and give me an assignment overseas along with my family of course. Its not enjoyable going abroad without them anyway. With My family is still the best place where I would like to be.

Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....

How I wish that money grows on trees. Although my wife and I make above average salaries we still could not manage to save and budget our finances. Every month we incur additional debt that would break a camel's back.

Sometimes, when I'm the only one awake at night I kept wondering how we would overcome this problem. I never showed any worries when my wife asked me about our situation. I would always tell her to "have faith and God will provide". Most of the time I doubted even my own advise. But surprisingly we manage to keep ourselves afloat inspite of our many financial woes. I know God is teaching me a lesson. We are Christians, but we seldom find time to thank Him on even the simplest blessings. It has become a cruel habit of thanking Him after He bail us out of trouble only to be in trouble again. Its a good thing He never ran out of patience. Maybe we should pray a lot more often, problems or no problems. This is one of my major weakness in my earthly existence, I'm lazy when it comes to praying. God, please forgive me.

Aside from increasing our prayer time we have also decided that I (the all powerfull Patriach, with my wife's permission of course) should be the treasurer of our small fortune this month. Traditionally, in Filipino families (except for the wealthy), the wife handles the budgeting and is in-charge of accounting for all the money that went in and out of our pockets. Now, its my turn to take a shot at it.

We tend to buy things that are not really necessary. Except for the Gameboy for my son of course, and its my idea (see previous post). Hehehehe.....Ok, maybe that too is not necessary. But it is for my lovable son. I'll probably buy him another toy on Christmas. For now we just have to be creative in presenting the old toys and making it look new in his eyes.

Another major decision is a new job for me. My wife will be working with a new company that pays higher before the end of July (as mentioned on previous post). I'm currently on the hunt for a new boss, hopefully a more generous boss. I'm an Oracle Applications Developer (E-Business Suite), proficient in GL module but knows enough about AP, AR and CM module.

Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....

My 2 and half year old son loves to play with my wife's cellphone games. We have Snake, Dragon Island, Mosquito and Rally something (car race). At his age he knows how to control the Nokia 6600 cellphone's joy stick. He also like taking pictures with it and giggles a lot upon viewing his masterpiece. Lucky for us, he does not call the numbers listed on the phonebook or dial random numbers on the pad.

Problem arise when he is playing with the games on the cellphone and there are incoming messages or calls. He won't immediately give the cell back to his mother. He would whine when interrupted, then we have to bribe him with other toys for him to surrender the phone.

We decided to buy him a different toy, a Gameboy Advance to be exact. We bought a 2nd hand Gameboy for him to play with, of course with parental supervision. His face light up immediately upon seeing the new gadget. Curious, he took the toy look at it from all angles trying to figure out what it is. Then looking at my wife he put the toy in her hand and encouraged her to play it. Mommy turn-on the toy and played it with my son on her lap. My son recognize what kind of game it was and observe every move mommy makes. It took only about half a minute before he started pressing the buttons and arrows of the Gameboy.

We could see that our son was very please with this new contraption in his hands. He just kept on pressing and giggling and pressing and smiling. His contented for now. Now we have to buy new cartidges for us to play with when he is asleep. Buying the toy was my idea. I should be able to get my hands on it every once in a while.

Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....

Wowoweee!!! This movie is definitely worth watching again. Its like going back in time when I first watch Superman in 1978. The opening credits are amazing, the drumming & marching sound of the movie theme, then the flying credits in blue followed by the swosh sound. Its fantastic. Its really good that they retain the original music of Superman, it makes me feels like a kid again.

Brandon Routh is perfect for the part, he even look like Christopher Reeves. Kate Bosworth is definitely the most beautiful Lois Lane I laid my eyes on. The story I believe is a continuation to Superman 2 movie. Missing for five years and suddenly coming back is like seeing him again for the first time. I like the scene when he first appeared again as Superman. Rescueing a plane with Lois on board and finally preventing it from crashing in a football field. Fans cheering wildly in the stadium, people clapping on the control tower, people giving hi-fives on the bar and on the Daily Planet after watching the spectacle live on tv (except for the people on the stadium of-course). And the music again blaring its familiar theme. Its like Christmas in my ears.

Of all the comic heroes that have been published only Superman stands out. In today's society when children relate more to what they see in movies or television only Superman movies or tv series has a sense of decency. Among the character traits that I like about him is he had no attitude problem, no vice, think welfare of others first, respect for his parents and love for humanity. Unlike other comic books so-called hereos that smokes and drinks, curse a lot, act more like thugs, has an attitude, disrespect authority and looks that are almost demonic.

Children mimic what they see, and if there are any comic book character I like my son to read its Superman. All the rest fail in comparison except of one other character, Spideman.

My wife and friends like the twist in the story. I could relate to Superman being a dad. Its about time he had a kid. I could not wait for the sequel to come out, the kid would definitely play a bigger role. I wish he would fight an alien or Doomsday on the next movie. There is definitely going to be a sequel. Did I say 'definitely' again? Oh well, this is definitely fun to write.

Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....