Obama Inauguration: As witness by someone far away
I stay up until 1:40 am Manila time to see a historic landmark unfold in American History. The first ever African-American President to be elected in the United States of America. Who would have thought that such an event would happen? I thought things like these would happen way beyond my lifetime or in the movies, but I'm sure glad it happen when I'm still alive and in my prime. It makes me appreciate the advantages of technology we had today. This blog is my way of being part of history. I saw, I heard, and I was amazed. This could be a turning point in human history.
I consider today also as the birth of Real Racial Equality in America. These event is the ultimate affirmation that all men are created equal.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." -- A phrase from the Declaration of Independence first used by another great American President Thomas Jefferson.
Abraham Lincold would have been proud of America if he is able to see this. Him as the President who freed the slaves and Obama as a descendant of slaves ascending as President.
Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....
Gratitude: The Health Benefits
I found a very nice article on gratitude. Nowadays, people has forgotten how to be grateful and just look after for number one. Which is themselves. It is refreshing to see an article like this. Read on......
Most people do not realize the many health benefits of gratitude. Studies indicate that thankfulness is directly linked to physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Compared to people who do not live a lifestyle of thankfulness, research shows that grateful people:
1. Experience higher levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination optimism and energy2. Experience less depression3. Better manage stress4. Are more likely to help others5. Exercise more regularly6. Make more progress towards their personal goals7. Have stronger immune systems8. Have fewer symptoms of physical illnessThose are some impressive benefits that can be yours without even increasing your physical activity or changing your nutrition plan. All that is required is a grateful heart.
Are you a thankful person? If you are unsure, then it maybe in your best interest to consider the following questions:
Are you the type of person who dwells on the good or on the bad things that happen to you?
Do you tell others about the blessings in your life as much as you tell them when things go wrong?
Are you considerate of the people closest to you or do you often take them for granted?
Are you thankful only when things are going well or do you look for blessings even when bad things happen?
Is there someone you admire who is a thankful person? What other attributes do you admire about him/her?
Are you leaving a legacy of thankfulness that others will remember you by?
There is nothing complicated about gratitude. Quite simply, thankfulness is a choice. To say we feel grateful is not to say that everything in our life is great. It just means that in spite of all we see that is worthy of complaint, there is far more we can choose to focus on that is worthy of thankfulness.
Why not choose to extend the tradition of giving thanks through the entire year, instead of limiting it to the Holiday Season? You’re physical, emotional, and spiritual health will all reap the benefits of a thankful heart. The choice is yours.
Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....
Deal or No Deal: My Gameshow Experience
What an experience I had when I joined a top rating game show called "Deal or No Deal" (Philippine setting). I joined this game show just by texting using this format: DEAL Name/age/gender/address/phone number to 2331 (for Globe subscribers), sample DEAL Juan Dela Cruz/20/M/1 Matapang St., Makising City/021234567. If you were pick as a possible studio contestant you will receive a text message. This is the exact message I receive from ABS-CBN "Gud day kapamilya dis is jimmy capulong of abs-cbn kapamilya deal or no deal u'r invted 2 come on monday jan. 12/09 for screening/exam 9am call tym centergate entrance mother ignacia st. Q.C. pls bring valid id n ballpen tnx. godbless". At first, me and my wife are a little bit skeptical if its for real or just a hoax. But I'm more incline to believe its for real. For one thing, I did register to join the show, the text message did not asked for any money, and the address is a real place of the ABS-CBN network. I need more assurance so I would not waste time in going to the place mentioned on the text message. I surf the net and see for myself who Jimmy Capulong is. And sure enough this person is for real and he did work for ABS-CBN. And I read a forum of previous contestant wannabe posting their experience.
Realizing that this was for real, it got me excited and started visualizing myself in the studio picking a number. My wife caution me not to expect much since its just a screening of possible contestant. Its not yet a sure thing since I would be battling it out with other people like myself.
Monday came and I was late. The traffic in Cainta is monstrous as always. After I reach Robinson's Ortigas, I decide to flag down a cab to take me to ABS-CBN. Me and the driver had a chitchat and suggested to him to make every possible effort to use the quickest route to reach our destination. I reach the place at around 9:15 a.m. and the line is already very long. But it did not matter. I was there and the excitement is already building inside me. After I entered the center gate, I saw 5 more lines after I got inside and quickly go to the line for male contestants. There are 4 lines for women. So, there are more women joining the contest than there are men. The line was there to check my identity against a list they have printed out. And the text message on my cellphone was also checked and deleted by the employee. After this, they would hand you a form for you to sign. Basic information, and a few questions. After this, we all went to another line for the screening/exam for studio contestant. I was in batch 2.
Batch 2 was screened at 12 noon. I was already hungry, but I ignored it when we are ushered to the studio set of "Deal or No Deal". All of us guys sat at the stage where the 26 K dance and stand holding their brief cases. And the women sat at the audience sits. And Jimmy Capulong went on the stage and introduce himself. So this is Jimmy Capulong I thought to myself. He was like a stand up comedian giving intructions and tips to all of us there. There are probably around 200 people inside the studio. He introduce us to the psyschologist (forgot his name, but a familiar face since he is the Psycologist or Psychiatrist of PBB) who would be giving the exam. He instructed us to write our name and batch on the 3rd page of our form and put a number from 1 to 8. He then asked a question answerable by "Yes" or "No". After that we passed our papers and waited for the result. During the waiting period, Jimmy Capulong entertained us by showing a clip of previous contestants. After that, he scanned the audience and called three women to come on stage. He asked question and have fun with the girls. Its like a comedy bar, we were all laughing hard. Finally, the papers were marked and Jimmy had the list of people who passed the first round. He called name after name, and when finally there are two papers left. I was praying silently, I hope my name will be called. But to my dissappointment, I wasn't called. The other people who got called would be going to the 2nd round of elimination.
Better luck next time. That was an experience certainly worth repeating. Lucky for me, I saw Charice Pempengco, Zanjoe Marudo, Nicki Bacolod, and Saizy (the dancer in Wowowee). So the trip is not a total lost. I would text again, and hopefully the next time I would be a studio contestant.
Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....
The Year 2008
It has been 2 years since I last posted anything on my blog and a lot of things has happened since then. 2008 is a very eventful year. Why you may asked, its because of the following reasons:
1) I'm now in a new job with a much higher pay and very good benefit package.
2) This is also the year that my father passed away. He was 79 and was bedridden. He died peacefully in his sleep. I miss you dad.
3) Barack Obama won the U.S. election. An event that I thought I would never see on my lifetime. But I did.
4) Pacman won the "Dream Match" between him and Oscar Dela Hoya. A man many took for granted and predicted that would lose the fight. I guess my boy proved them wrong. Again. Dad would have been jubilant if he had seen Pacman won.
5) This is also the first time I've seen a shoe thrown at a President of the United States. Not only once but twice.
6) This is also the year of hard times. Prices of oil seems to inflate at will and the economy hits rock bottom in some countries. Personally I'm grateful for my new job that its seems to be stable and unaffected by the crisis.
I hope the coming year would be a lot better. My son would be going to school and I'm hoping that 2009 would usher a new member of the family. Me and my wife like to have another baby. Its pure joy to have a baby in the house, I just want to double it. If possible quadruple it. Hehehehehe....
Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....
Energy Saving Device
I always complained about our electrical bill being to high and by chance my mother-in-law was offered this device that could cut down your electric bills by almost half. Unknown to me, my sister-in-law already deposited an unrefundable amount of 500 peso hoping to use it at their home. However, they could not produce the P5 thousand plus amount to pay in full the said device and the 500 peso deposit would be forfeited.
With doubt in my mind if the device would work, I reluctantly paid for the full amount of the product. The device is a small metal box where you can plug two household appliances that has very high wattage. The device could hold 3000 wattage capacity only, so I decided plug the air -conditon and the tv to give it a test drive and see if the thing actually works.
When my electric bill was delivered to me yesterday, I was surprise to find that charges are indeed half. From a high of 5 thousand plus monthly bill to just only 2 thousand plus. Wow, I saved almost 3 thousand pesos. It made a believer out of me. Although I must also credit the typhoon Milenyo that rip thru the country and destroyed a lot of electric cables that rendered our rented apartment in total darkness for 3 days. But still, 3 days would not dramatically lower our electric bills in half. I'll see if our November electric bills would still be this low.
Being the business minded that I am, I'm already thinking of negotiating with the store that sells this stuff. Maybe I could be an agent and generate some extra revenue as well.....
Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....
26 One Liners
These 26 One Liners have been circulating in emails and bulleting boards. I on the other hand saw this posted on another blog and thought its too wonderful not to pass around. I hope that to anyone who read this will also be bless as I am.
26 One Liners:
1. Give God what's right -- not what's left.
2. Man's way leads to a hopeless end -- God's way leads to an endless hope.
3. A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing.
4. He who kneels before God can stand before anyone.
5. In the sentence of life, the devil may be a comma - - but never let him be the period.
6. Don't put a question mark where God puts a period.
7. Are you wrinkled with burden? Come to the church for a face-lift.
8. When praying, don't give God instructions - just report for duty.
9. Don't wait for six strong men to take you to church.
10. We don't change God's message -- His message changes us.
11. The church is prayer-conditioned.
12. When God ordains, He sustains.
13. WARNING: Exposure to the Son may prevent burning.
14. Plan ahead -- It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.
15. Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory position.
16. Suffering from truth decay? Brush up on your Bible.
17. Exercise daily -- walk with the Lord.
18. Never give the devil a ride -- he will always want to drive.
19. Nothing else ruins the truth like stretching it.
20. Compassion is difficult to give away because it keeps coming back.
21. He who angers you controls you.
22. Worry is the darkroom in which negatives can develop.
23. Give Satan an inch & he'll be a ruler.
24. Be ye fishers of men -- you catch them & He'll clean them.
25. God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
26. Read the Bible -- It will scare the hell out of you.
E-Load Expenses
My wife's e-load expenses balloon to P1,200.00 pesos in a span of only 4 days. I did not even notice it until I did my accounting last Sunday. We bought a Smart SIM card and activated its roaming function. One text message from the U.K. will cost P20 pesos, and I'm task to do the loading or e-loading the Smart SIM here in the Philippines.
I'm a very thirfty person, I spend on thing that I need and not what I want. Hmmm, may be sometimes I spend on things that I want. I always like to see some money saved at the end of the day and hated when I have any financial debt.
When it comes to money expenses I'm faster than a speeding bullet in estimating the monthly cost. And when I got the calculator to confirm it I was amaze at the amount. If the cost of e-load for 4 days is P1,200.00 it would cost us P9,000.00 pesos for 30 days (1 month). Wow!!! I could buy a 2nd hand pentium 4 computer with that amount. So I devise a plan, when I'm at work we would communicate by email and I would text her (it cost only P1 from here) regularly even if she does not answer back. And she would text me at least 3 or 4 times a day and would call on the phone during the weekend to minimize our expenses. I also instructed her to look for an internet cafe with webcam, its much cheaper to rent a computer than calling by phone.
However, if she really need to call us immediately its quite ok for her to call anytime. Its only money. The plan is not a strict compliance to save money, save money on e-load only when possible. Her emotional well being comes first, family always comes first after your love for God.
Ok, that's it for now. My life's adventure To Be Continue.....
