Yey! It's December!

Today is the first day of December. Christmas is coming! Yey! I've always been so excited about Christmas. Why? It's because of the festivities, gifts and relaxation that come along with this part of the year.

I am a capricorn, and my birthday falls on the 23rd of December. Every year, my birthday gift and christmas gift are rolled out into one. This is the disadvantage of having your birthday close to Christmas day. If there's a disadvantage, there's also the good part of it. Since it's vacation every time I celebrate my birthday, I don't get to treat all of my friends, so less cash are spent. I usually spend my birthday with my family. Now that I have JE and Zoe in my life, celebrating my birthday is more fun and exciting. I wonder what will happen this year...hmmm...

I'm so excited that it's December!

One month to go

I only have one month to study for the comprehensive exams. Time is running out...got to focus and follow my schedule strictly.

What a day!

I was on the bus already when my colleague told me that classes are suspended from 9AM onwards due to typhoon Egay. Oh my! I need to give a pre-final test to my EK2 students, and I have to give the abstract for our paper to Dr. Guidote. It's quite disappointing to know about this suspension of classes, but what can I do? The good thing is, faculty can still go inside the campus, so it's okay. But then, traffic got heavy to the point that the vehicles are not stagnant to their positions! To make it worst, my celphone has no load to make a text message! Since I'm quite near to Makati and JE's almost done with his work, I've decided to walk even if it's raining. The walking part is not that hard, because the rain is not really strong. Then some men shouted that they're offering a ride going to MRT for only Php20.00, I decided to give it a try since I'll be going with six other passengers. During the whole trip, we we're riding on a wagon type of vehicle which is pushed by two men and called a "trolley". It's quite scary because we passed the squatter's area, plus I didn't know if the trolley is sturdy enough to bring us safe to our destination. Finally, we got to Magallanes. I didn't get my change, may be it's because I'm quite afraid that I'll be left alone with the men who pushed the trolley...they're quite scary to look at, believe me! I walked a little more distance to get to the main road, then I rode on a bus. To my dismay, it's route will not go through the Ayala MRT station, so I have to walk back to Ayala. I feel so stupid for not asking the bus conductor if they'll pass thru the Ayala station. Anyway, I got to Ayala, and I've waited for JE at Landmark. We bought some food and headed back home. Our trip was another 3-hour warming of the butt at the not-so-comfy bus seat. And then finally, we made it to our house! What a day!

The highlight of the day is my new experience which is riding on a trolley. Though it's fun and made my travel faster, I think I won't do it again. I'm not really sure about it's safety, both the vehicle and the men who go with it look not so trustworthy. I thank God that I made it to Magallanes.

Zoe's new bike

Take a look at my baby's new bike. It's so pink! Well, it's almost a month old....been very busy to post it earlier. We bought it after celebrating JE's birthday. Good thing, the bike's on sale so we got it for a low price. Zoe looks happy with her first bike.

My Lot

I've been thinking of ways to earn extra money, and then I came across the page of My Lot. About the site, I find it nice and interesting. It helps me share my insights on different matters and I got to earn points at the same time. Though I haven't redeemed my earnings yet, I enjoy visiting this website. It is a good venue for sharing stories and interests. I highly recommend this for everybody, especially for moms like me.

Migrating or not?

In the past few days, I've been convincing my husband that we should migrate to Australia as soon as possible. I told him that we should do it asap so that we could settle already. If we continue to live here in the Philippines, it would be hard to migrate especially if we have investments already.
It was only yesterday that everything became clear to me. He confirmed that he's open to the idea of migration, but then he wants to prove something here first. I agree to his position. Talking to him is like an eye opener experience. He has so many insights on everything that's playing in my mind, and every time I think of the things that he say, I keep realizing that he's right. After our conversation yesterday, I realized that I should stop convincing him because we should live in the present and we'll just see what's in store for us in the future.

Orientation, New Faces, a Wound and Cheesecakes

Work related scoop...

It's been a week since the classes started in our school. I have five lab. classes for this term, which means that I'm at school everyday. The first week was spent on orientation and memorizing the names of the students. The discussion was still relaxed, but I know this will be more intense as we start the experiments. I've just realized how confusing it is when you're handling a lot of classes. You have to know the section and schedule of this student, so that when you meet him in class, you'll call him with the right name, stuffs like that. I have to get used to it, and also to preparing lessons everyday.

Family related scoop...

Zoe has a wound on her right knee, she got this when we went to Batangas to attend my cousin's wake. It's drying up, and it's on the stage where the top part is quite itchy. I know that Zoe can feel this itchiness already, that's why I always let her wear pants.

JE had won a Zen V Plus mp3 player and it can store up to 2G info. His entry in one of their company's contest on designing a site for one of their products was chosen due to its functionality. I'm very proud of him.

I've always liked to bake and try new recipes. As I was looking at baking sites for something to try in the near future, I got this recipe on how to make mini chocolate cherry cheesecakes. It looks really yummy, and I wish I'd have the time to do it this weekend or next week. Anyway, a picture of the finished product is shown at the right top part of this entry.

Always expect the unexpected

The first trimester for the school year 2007-2008 starts today. How's my first class? It's fine but I've been shocked to know that one of my students is the middle child of our Head Laboratory Coordinator! Ain't it shocking? What's worst is that I didn't recognize the student. His surname is familiar, for that's also my maiden name, that's why it catched my attention. When I went back to our deparment, he was there saying "hi" to me. I feel stupid for not having a clue about his being in my class. Now I'm starting to feel the pressure of having a student whose mother is in-charge of checking if the laboratory instructors are doing what they're asked to do. I just didn't expect this. Oh well, I think I should get used to it. Ignore this intimidating feeling and focus on my job.

Milk shakes, Fish balls and a Bad News

I had a wonderful day with JE and Zoe today. We did our laundry today, and we had mango shake and fish balls for afternoon snack. We lay down on the floor while watching cartoons. All we did were to eat and watch TV… in short, we’re bums today. What a funny way of putting it. This is how we spend quality time with Zoe when we don’t want to go out because we have no money. We don’t have money either because we’re saving for something or because we don’t have extra cash to spend on eating at fancy restaurants and making a trip to the mall. My husband is a fan of the idea of staying at home, eating and catching up on favorite TV series. Well, I’d say I’m becoming more used to it, and I’m starting to love it, too.

Just after we had our afternoon snack, my mother sent me a text message, informing me that my cousin had an accident
and didn’t survive the tragedy. I was so shocked. I didn’t know what to say. We were just exchanging text messages a few days ago just after Mother’s day. I didn’t expect that would be my last conversation with her. I love this girl. She was the one whom I’d look for every time I went to Batangas during my childhood years even up to my teenage years. I’d ask permission to sleep at their house and chat with her all night long. She lent me all the toys and nice stuffs that she had. When she became a mom, she even asked me to be her son’s godmother. I’m really surprised and saddened by her too-soon death. If I’ve known that I’ll never see her again, I should have told her about my gratitude for those wonderful memories we had during our early years. But I was not able to tell her that, I'm just hoping she'll hear my prayers. Thank you for being a great cousin to me. I promise to be good to your son. May you find peace in God’s love in the eternal life.

It's Potty Time!

Summer vacation is almost coming to an end, and I haven't potty trained Zoe yet. I saw this video to help me with the task. Hope this works on Zoe.

Guy catches glasses with face

Here's a cool video on a guy catching the sunglasses from another guy. It's hard to believe that this is real. Anyway, I enjoyed watching it so I guess I have to give credit to the performers...awesome video!

Punta Fuego, IDP, and Zoe's new Barbie dolls

I haven't updated by blog for days, so i need to catch up.

Last week, we spent our weekend at Punta Fuego (courtesy of my sister-in-law). The place was nice, but as expected, we did not get inside the room where we're staying easily. We had a long drive going to the place, and when we arrived there, we had to wait for the room to be ready. When we went swimming, I saw the happiness in Zoe's eyes, and that made me forgot the earlier hassles. The experience at Punta Fuego was fun and luxurious. For more of the pics, you can visit my multiply.

Earlier today, we went to Makati for the IDP exhibition. Since the event is free, I grabbed the opportunity. There were a number of Australian schools in the exhibit including the University of Melbourne, Monash University, and University of Newcastle. I enjoyed the seminar and the exhibit. I just wish one of these schools would give me a scholarship.

Also today, we bought Barbie dolls for Zoe. She's a big fan of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses". Since my husband is so in to buying one of the 12 princesses' dolls, I eventually gave in to the idea. Even though Zoe was sleepy when we went to the Barbie shop, we still saw her excitement upon having her new dolls. We bought the box which contains Hadley and Isla, because they have the spinning effects. I'm just wondering, are we spoiling our daughter? Maybe, but there's nothing compared to seeing those twinkling eyes of Zoe when she's delighted with a thing. I'll just try to convince my hubby not to buy another Barbie in the next few months.

One Day Blog Silence

Subic Escapade

Zoe and I joined the annual faculty outing of the DLSU Faculty Association. The outing was done at Subic, Philippines. It was a two-day summer adventure. There are lots of activities, and it seemed that all of those are jam-packed in just two days. As a result, everyone was rushing to finish an activity and prepare for the next one. But even if this was the case, I still enjoyed the event, because I saw that Zoë had a great time there.

Unforgettable moments:

1) Zoë puked on my shirt when we were on our way to Subic.

2) Zoë made poop when we were to enter the Ocean Adventure, and I left our bag inside the bus because snacks and drinks are not allowed inside the establishment. So, I did not have a diaper with me…hahaha.. Zoë had no underwear for the entire stay at the Ocean Adventure….I’m just glad it’s over, and she listened to me not to pee during that time…whew!

3) Zoe had fun at the Dolphin show; she didn’t like the Sea lion show.

4) We had fun at the Zoobic Safari. The close encounter with the tigers is really scary. Though they’re inside their cages, I didn’t feel at ease because the tour guide told us that there is a possibility that we might get peed on by those tigers, and the smell would be unbearable. Thank God that didn’t happen.

I’m grateful for this chance. I’ve brought my baby to Subic at a low cost, and she was able to experience such quite rare activities.

Jell and Issa's 18th Birthday Party

Yesterday, we attended the 18th birthday party of my cousin's twins, Jell and Issa. The event went well. It reminded me of the fact that I am really getting older. These girls used to be the little kids that I played with several years ago. Now, they're both ladies already... the babies are now the ladies. Well, I hope they will continue to reach for the stars, and be successful individuals someday.

Shown with this message are the pics at the said event.

Zoe looks like Rory!

JE and I are playing with the celebrity look-alikes of our pictures earlier this evening. We tried one of Zoe's pics. To our surprise, one of the results is a picture of Alexis Bledel of Gilmore Girls! I am a great fan of this series. I remember the days of my pregnancy. I always ask my husband to watch an episode with me, and that happened every night before we go to sleep. I would say that habit had some effect on Zoe. When she's 5 months old (I think), we started to watch our Gilmore Girls collection again. Since Zoe is familiar with the song of GG, she'd always move her head towards the direction of the TV, as if she's heard something very familiar to her. Now, that she’s two years old, she has advanced to the next level, she’s dancing and singing the GG song when we are watching an episode. When I saw Alexis Bledel’s picture as one of the matches of Zoe’s face, I was extremely delighted, because Zoe looks like Rory!

Remember to stop, look and listen when crossing a street.

Today is the last day of the Chem Congress. I went there just in time for the free lunch. I got my certificate, removed my poster and went home. On the way to Balibago Complex, a mother and her daughter happened to ride the jeepney I was also riding. The daughter was crying. This caught my attention. I eavesdropped a little, and based on what I’ve heard, the daughter is also a mother already. She’s crying because her son was hit by a fast-moving car. The driver took the boy to the nearest hospital, and that’s where the two women are going.

This event reminds me of what I’ve experienced during the day before the Chem Congress commences. I went to Tagaytay to post my poster, and to be familiar with the place so that on the first day of the convention, I’d reach the place hassle-free. But then, after I went out of the jeepney that I rode to get to the convention center, I did not practice the stop-look-listen guidelines in crossing a street. To my surprise, a fast-approaching vehicle is coming. Good thing, I was able to move backwards really fast to avoid an accident. Thank God!

The situation I have witnessed earlier reminded me to say thank you to the Lord, and always be careful. My experience proved that God intends me to live longer, for I still have a job to do in this world. That is, to be a good mom, wife, teacher, and friend to people who surround me.

Big Revision and Poster Presentation

Just this morning, I received an email from my potential sideline. From my blog yesterday, I shared you how I was relieved by not receiving any message from them telling me that there are revisions. Today, I feel so down because of that email. It's not just a small revision, it happened to be a big revision. The client did not like my work! That is the downside of this job, you will not stop until the client is very satisfied with your work. Good thing, there is no money investment in this. Well, if there is, I think I'd be doubly disappointed.

Anyway, we just had our poster presentation. Nobody asked me a question. They're just not interested in my work. Sad, huh?! Well, that is quite expected. Most of the research works are fully finished; mine is only 1/3 done. What do you expect? I just submitted a poster since my adviser asked me to, and I also wanted to make the most of this convention. I would say that attending this Chem Congress is very worthwhile. I know that I will not win the poster competition, but I have learned so much about what are the typical questions asked by judges and what kind of presentation they expect in a poster. Shown with this entry is a picture of me and my poster on the second day of the Chem Congress.

Tomorrow will be the last day of the congress. I had fun. I know that I will attend the next convention if the venue is also near. I'm just glad I gave it a shot.

The 22nd Philippine Chemistry Congress

We just had the opening day of the 22nd Philippine Chemistry Congress at DAP Convention Center in Tagaytay. Several chemists gathered to share their research works and other projects in Chemistry. This is my first time to attend a Chem Congress. I would say that it's fun. It makes me feel like a true chemist :) This convention will finish on Friday (April 13).

The second day (April 12) will be the time for poster presentations... and this is where I come in the picture. How did I get in to this? I don't know (just joking!). Well, my thesis adviser wanted me to present our work in biodiesel, even though I'm not fully done with this research. Anyway, I agreed, because I have not attended a Chem Congress before. Since the place is quite near to our house (as compared to venues of past Chem Congress, this one is much, much nearer!), I said that I'm up to it. Back to the poster presentation, I would say that I'm nervous about it. I haven't reviewed our paper yet. Oh my god! I should start right now, the presentation is just a few hours away!

But before I go to that, I just want to mention that the thing I've discussed in my previous blog is quite okay now. They have not emailed the article back to me, so that means there are no revisions. Plus, I've got three more assignments (quite a lot huh??). Now, I'm wondering how am I supposed to finish them when I'm busy with Chem Congress, and I've got a final exam on Saturday?! Hmm...I suppose I should get going and do these urgent things.

Before I close this entry, I want to show you a picture of me with my friends at the lobby of DAP. Just take a look at the picture on the right side, and you would see a girl in black top, that's me!

Waiting for your reply....

I just finished the reflective essay for one of my potential sidelines. "Potential" is the term that I prefer to use for this, because I am just starting and I don't know yet if I'm gonna earn extra money from this one. I found it hard to choose a topic for this essay, because your chosen topic should contain several experiences you had in the past. Since this is not my essay, I should be careful with what I will place in the content (I am sort of a ghost writer here..). I finally managed to choose a topic; I chose loss. My choices include responsibility, aging, character and loss, but when I have to pick one, I picked loss. Why? Because for this one, I can write my own experiences, such as loss of a friend or a friend of mine lost her sibling. I don't know if the client lost one of his relatives already, so I can not assume that's the case. It's better to be safe.

Well, I don't know if they'll pay me for this job, or if I did the assignment well. My contact is on a vacation trip to their province, and she has not seen my essay yet. I just wish they'd like my work, so that they'll give me another assignment. This is a fun job, I just realized. Oh well, wish me luck!

My celebrity look-alikes

Running errands with a baby in tow

It had been a busy day. I went to the bank then I headed to a print shop to have my poster for the Chem Congress made, and then I went to Mr. Quickie to have my shoes’ soles changed. Well, if you will look at it, I did only three major things. I just feel that it’s a very busy day, for it is not my normal day wherein I go to school either for my MS class or for my teaching load. Plus, I did all of today’s chores with my baby Zoe.

Since Zoe had been good and a good companion, I decided that we should eat at McDonald’s for lunch so that she can play in the kid’s place.

I would say that she also enjoyed our trip to several places, for they were all new to her and she had a great time at McDo.

When I was reflecting on the things that happened today, I felt that I was like a stay-at-home mom running errands with a baby in tow. It was a nice experience for me. Zoe had been a good and sweet girl. She kept on hugging me. Oh, it feels good to be appreciated. From her actions, I can tell that she also had a not-so-ordinary day. I just love being a mommy to Daryl Zoe.

Posters

It's Wednesday already, and I haven't finished my paper for my seminar class yet. The days are moving so fast nowadays. Yesterday, we had our poster presentation for the same class, and I did not know if I have done well. Two of my classmates had their posters as tarpaulin, mine was on an illustration board. How was that? Although my design looks nice, I just feel that I have not given my full effort on this project. Zoe and I were sick last week, and I was not able to work on this assignment during those days. Oh well, it is okay, at least I have submitted a poster.

The infection my baby got from eating ice cream

My baby got sore tonsils last week. I got sick, too, due to lack of enough sleep and stressful school work. Days before she had fever, I brought home some ice cream and ice candies…knowing that she’s expecting some. What I didn’t see coming is this attack on her tonsils. Because she’s not used to cold foods and drinks, once she eats ice cream or the like, she’ll get sick after a day or two. I thought she had outgrown that part, but I was wrong, she has not.

What I learned from this experience is that I should take it slow in letting her eat ice cream and other enjoyable cold treats. Since I’m not giving her such foods before, her system is not used to eating them, and she needs a gradual introduction of them into her body. Noted!

Yesterday, we went to her pediatrician for a check up. Since she doesn’t have fever anymore, only a cough with phlegm, the doctor just gave her Ventolin Expectorant to remove the phlegm. I wish the medicine would take effect right away, so she won’t suffer coughing anymore. It’s disturbing her peaceful sleep.

Today is another Monday, start of a week of work. I just hope everything will go well this week. The Finals week is coming, and this week will be our last meeting for both of my classes. What a fast-paced university life!

Whew! What a week!

My whole week has been so tiring and full of complications. My research on biodiesel is draining my energy. I feel so pressured, especially now that the deadline for the results is near. I just want this research work to be over.

It's Saturday morning, yey! It's time to spend some quality time with my family, my favorite part.

By the way, here's my favorite picture for this week:



Awesome job, Sir Mike!

A long list of things to do

I had my second exam in Inorganic Chemistry today, it was really long!

Today's a very busy day. I called up so many people and went to so many places. I am so tired...

Also today, I just got this news from my thesis adviser that she's going to Australia on April and she'll go back next year. Oh no! I need to finish my research before the term ends! If not, I'll be left hanging on the air, and I don't want that. There's another thing that I'm worried about... I signed up for the Chemistry Congress on April, because my adviser wants me to. I registered today, but I wasn't able to pass the required extended abstract, because I don't have the results yet:( I just hope the technical team of the Chem Congress will give me an extension.

I want to sleep already, it's 12:24 a.m., but just by looking at my long list of things to do, I know sleeping is not a good idea.

Excellent pics of the year 2006

I haven't posted my daily entries last week, for I have been real busy. I've been working on my research on biodiesel. I want to finish it before the term ends.

Anyway, I want to relax right now, before starting on my report. I've cheked my mail, and I saw this greatly captured picture.
Really fascinating, huh?

Zoe's Date of Birth

I'm 23 years old and I have a two year-old baby already! Zoe just turned two last Tuesday, Feb. 13. JE and I didn't go to work that day to be with Zoe the whole day. We went to Mall of Asia, because we haven't been there since the opening day. It's so big! Gigantic mall! We ate pizza together, and later on, we bought petite ice creams for Zoe (Thumbs up). To see more of the unforgettable moments, just visit this link: jelontok.vox.com

Zoe's Birthday Party

Zoe will turn 2 years old tomorrow, Feb. 13, but we decided to have the party on the eleventh (yesterday). Last year, we celebrated the party at McDonald's, but the second birthday party was held at our place (it's much cheaper).

It went okay. Most of her cousins in the neighborhood are present. Zoe was obviously happy, for she kept on jumping and smiling. Last year, she was so grumpy, because she didn't take her morning nap. She didn't even have a picture wherein she's smiling. But this year, she didn't take a nap, yet she's still active and ready to party. She's really growing, and that's happening really fast. I feel happy, for I am seeing all her development and growth. There's nothing greater than being a mom to a super cute and sweet baby.

Zoe rocks!

I feel guilty for I haven't posted an entry for almost 2 weeks. One of my resolutions is to have an entry on a daily basis. This blog would be my journal. But due to a stack of pile of things to do, I can’t wok on that resolution. I wanted to blog on POPs, music, books, but I wasn’t able to do all that for the past days. I will just make up today.

My memory of the past contains the following:

1) My husband has bought a pink guitar for our baby Zoe.

His niece doesn’t want to lend her guitar to Zoe, so my poor baby cried and cried. JE and I told Zoe that we’ll just buy her a guitar when JE got his salary. So, when pay day came, he rushed into the nearest department store to keep his promise. The guitar that Zoe liked is the one with different shapes in it and a colorful one, but JE has bought a guitar with strings! I was a bit doubtful if Zoe will like the pink guitar. But eventually, she liked it, too. We took really cute pics of Zoe holding her new guitar. One of the pics is shown above. My baby really rocks!

2) JE has bought a guitar.

We've been planning to buy a new guitar for so many months, and last week, this plan has been implemented. I'm happy for this purchase, because JE liked the idea of having a new guitar, and now that he has it already, he's much happier than I thought he would be.

3) I've finished reading John Grisham's "The Rainmaker"

It's kind of funny to know that I've read this book just now. I've watched the movie before, but I haven't read the book. While searching for a novel to read at our library, I came across this one. Since the story is more complete in a book, I gave it a shot. What happened after reading it? Well, I've had a more complete picture of the story, for I got more details. Plus, I got inspired by Rudy Baylor's character. If you will recall, he's the most unlucky man at the beginning of the novel, but then he didn't lose hope. He continued to do what needs to be done, and by doing so, he found a job, then put up his own firm, and got a 50 million dollars verdict! But at the end, he realized that he doesn't want to be a lawyer anymore, he just want to go away from Memphis and live a simple but quiet life with her new-found girl, Kelly.

John Grisham is an excellent writer on thrilling stories about lawyers and law (legal thrillers). I enjoyed watching the movie, but reading the book to which it was based is a more fulfilling experience (I guess that's always the case). To those who have watched the movie, but haven't read the book, I encourage you to do what I did, read the book! It's more satisfying and enjoyable.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the 3rd National Workshop of ARRPET. This workshop was organized by the Chemical Engineering Dept. of DLSU-Manila. Since I have an elective course under one of the department's professors, I was required to attend the said event. I would say that the time I've spent there was very worthy. I had the chance to meet several professionals who are doing research works on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). By the way, most of them are chemical engineers and 90% of them have their PhDs. Isn’t that amazing? Plus, I have learned so many things about these POPs, and knowing about their existence and what they can do, can be really frightening. Another thing that’s great about this workshop is the free food and free entrance. I would tell you, the food is really yummy! Plus, the hotel (Angelo King hotel of DLSU-Benilde) is really elegant and cosy! I’m glad I’ve forced myself to go there, because at first, I really didn’t want to attend, but since it’s free and the place is near my school, why not?

Let’s discuss these POPs. According to the Stockholm Convention,

“Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are chemical substances that persist in the environment, bioaccumulate through the food web, and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to human health and the environment. With the evidence of long-range transport of these substances to regions where they have never been used or produced and the consequent threats they pose to the environment of the whole globe, the international community has now, at several occasions called for urgent global actions to reduce and eliminate releases of these chemicals.”

It’s scary, right? Most of these POPs are used in pesticides, and if these pesticides are not yet banned in our country, if they’re still being used, there is a big risk posed in every Filipino’s health. Actually, this is not only for Filipinos, but for the rest of humanity.

In my next entries, I’d be discussing more about these POPs and the Dirty Dozen as labeled by the Stockholm Convention. If you have the time, please make some entries on POPs, too. It’s really scary, especially when I think of my baby, who will grow up to be surrounded by these POPs. Common, help me in disseminating information on POPs, may be in this simple way, we can help our generation and the future generation to live longer lives.

My family day at Enchanted Kingdom

Last Sunday, we had the opportunity to go to Enchanted Kingdom (EK) at Sta. Rosa, Laguna. My brother who went home from Dubai was the financier, so we did not worry about the money. Actually, we had planned to go there for almost two times - July and December of last year. I think it is just fate that those plans did not push through. I have thought of two reasons for that. First, because we can go there when the right opportunity comes, such as last Sunday --- we didn't need to spend that big money for the entrance. Second, we wouldn't enjoy the experience if we would go there without any relative. Originally, we planned to visit the place, just the three of us. But last Sunday, I realized that it was more fun to have a relative to take care of Zoe while JE and I are checking some of the rides that are definitely not for kids, such as roller coaster and up, up and away. I am so thankful for the opporunity; it's quite tiring, but lots of fun goes with this experience, especially when I saw the pretty smile on my baby's face that was brought by this magical day at EK.

The Launching of Wikiseek

I am a great fan of Google. It's a very helpful search engine who's been my friend ever since I started my college days. Right now, I’m doing a search on birthday party games for my daughter’s birthday on February 13 using Google. Then, while I’m checking Mybloglog account, I saw Megite’s site. I’ve checked out this site, and I’ve found very informative articles, very up-to-date. The latest info there is about the launch of Wikiseek, a vastly improved search engine for Wikipedia (another favorite reference site). I’ve also found some discussions on this topic such as “Wikiseek as a threat to the Google Empire”. Well, there’s so much to happen in the future. Let’s just wait and see who will reign over.

Fun and Tearful Weekend

I’ve just finished doing my powerpoint presentation for my laboratory class this afternoon. So now, I have time to update my blog. I was not able to do so during the weekend, for I spent most of my time playing with my pretty daughter, Zoe. That was really fun! Also, JE, Zoe and I have watched two movies, namely: Sandlot2 and Click.

Let me tell you something about those movies if you haven’t watched them.

Sandlot is about a group of kids playing softball. This game is just like baseball to me. I’m not a sporty girl, so I don’t know the difference (need to research on that one).

Here’s the synopsis (courtesy of my favorite site - www.wikipedia.org):

"The movie is set in 1972, 10 years after the events of The Sandlot. New kids have moved into the neighborhood of San Fernando Valley in Southern California, and have started playing baseball in the sandlot from the first movie. The previous kids have all grown and moved away. A young boy named Johnnie Smalls (James Willson), the younger brother of Scotty Smalls, the narrator of the first movie, has heard the legend of "The Beast"/Hercules owned by Mr. Mertle, who lives behind the sandlot. David Durango (Max-Lloyd Jones) is the leader of the five boys. Then, three girls join the team, one of them named Hailey Goodfairer (Samantha Burton),. The girls were league softball players, and Hailey always pitches the ball underhand. She starts to develop feelings for David, and it is revealed that he may have feelings for Hailey. In one scene, they challenge a little league team and the lead player hurts Hailey by hitting her in the belly. David punches him, telling him that no boy should ever hit a girl.

One day, when the kids' ball goes over the large fence of Mr. Mertle and they try to retrieve it, Johnnie makes them stop by showing them that there's something descended from the Beast on the other side, called "The Great Fear." That night, Johnnie tells them the story of the Great Fear, how it used to be a junkyard dog, eating or hurting others who trespassed the junk yard. There was a boy who loved the comic book hero named Rapid Rocket, and would run around fast like him. On his first day of school, he went past Mr. Mertle's house but forgot to lock the back gate, and The Great Fear got out and chased the boy. It was unknown what happened to him after he was cornered by the killer dog at the junkyard. Soon afterward, a fence made of assorted junk was built on top of Mr. Mertle's fence, and he was ordered by the officials to keep the dog locked up forever. Ever since, if anything went over the fence, it would not come out.

The main conflict comes when the space rocket for the future of NASA and the United States built by Hailey's father is blown over the fence, because Johnnie accidentally sets it off. The kids try many things to get it back, including hiring the one called The Retriever (Griffin Reilly Evans), but he fails, and retires from his job (even though he never really had one). Then, just like Benny Rodriguez from the first film, David is chased by the monstrous dog all over town. It is shown that he was the young boy from so long ago who was chased by the dog, revealed by the Rapid Rocket cape that he brings with him. When they get back to the sandlot, David falls onto the ground on the other side of the fence, and into a deep ditch. The dog then digs him up, and saves him from suffocation. David sees his tag, which says that his real name is Goliath (a play on the title of the Biblical story David and Goliath). The boys then meet the blind Mr. Mertle (James Earl Jones), who tells them that the same situation happened in the summer of 1962, how the boys got something over the fence, and how he could have gotten it for them. Johnnie was able to save the rocket, and David and Hailey become boyfriend and girlfriend. The movie ends with the revelation of what happened to all the boys when they left the sandlot."

This movie is just fine, we picked this one for Zoe would be watching with us, and we wanted a movie that doesn't have kissing scenes and adult scenes (though this movie has one kissing scene, just before the ending). In a scale of 10, I would give this movie a 6. If you want to know more about this movie, you can visit these sites: Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb (Earth's Biggest Movie Database).


Another movie that we have watched is a movie of Adam Sandler, "Click". This movie really made me cry...

I know that most of you had watched this movie, so I won't include the plot here. For photos, trailer, and if you want to know the plo of the story, you can go to these helpful links: about:humor and counting down.

I really love weekends! I can spend quality time with my family, and I got to watch movies I didn't see inside a moviehouse. I always look forward to this part of the week.

Nice Photos taken from Misamis Occidental Aquamarine Park in Illigan

How do you spend your holidays? Wouldn't it be good to just relax, spend time with family and visit extraordinary places? Well, last Christmas vacation, I was not able to do the out-of-town part with my family, but I was able to spend quality time with them.

All the people spend their holidays differently, and here's one lucky guy who have visited a very beautiful place in Illigan called Misamis Occidental Aquamarine Park. I just love his pictures! Nice work, man!

Helpful Links from a Friend

I was not able to make a post yesterday due to my enrollment conflicts. Finally, I've paid the required amount already, and I can now have a peaceful day.

While I've been checking my email, I saw a message from a friend in my recently registered Mybloglog account. It’s a good thing I’ve registered for that one. He gave me these links, you can check them out if you want to: Highest-paid Adsense, Lemon Apparel Sourcing, Apparel Designs . Thanks Vignesh Prabhu!

I guess this is my post for now. I will try to make one later, but first, I need to do other things.

My desperate need for Home-based jobs

I haven't write a post for almost 5 days now. It's because everytime I sat in front of our computer, my hand keeps on clicking the mouse and looking for home-based jobs in google. My extra time was spent on this for the past days.

Well, I saw so many ads looking for typists, encoders, telecommuters, but almost 90% of them are asking for money. They're saying that they need the money for the software and for programs needed to start the typing job. A first , I became interested. But after learning that most of them are scams, i've learned to close the window when I saw money involved.

You might ask, why look for a home-based job if I am currently employed by DLSU. The answer is I feel that I need to help my husband in our financial needs. As I am currently taking my MS degree, I am not earning that much, for I am a part time instructor only. The other reason is I would like to take advantage of the availability of our internet connection. I am starting to like the internet.

This morning, while surfing the net and continuing my search for those work from home jobs, I ran across Alfa Mercado’s blog. She’s also a Filipina, and she’s one of those internet savvy people who are fond of blogging. She has posted articles on different home-based jobs, and I am really glad I have found her site. Her posts are very helpful and informative. Thanks Alfa!

That’s it for now. I still need to fix my things for school this afternoon. Today is the start of classes for the third term of school year 2006-2007 at DLSU-Manila. I hope everything will run smoothly for me.

SFI and Gery Carson: Are they for real?

Yesterday, I woke up early because I have a laboratory meeting at DLSU. I checked my mail before taking a bath. I saw another email from the "SFI Marketing Group". It says in that email that I have now 15816 affiliates under me. How did that happen?!

Two weeks ago, I was searching the net for some jobs online that I can do to have some extra income. I came across this group: SFI Marketing Group (you can google the name, I can not make a link, I dunno why). After doing the registration for free, I have received so many email messages from the said group, telling me that I should advance to Executive Affiliate (EA) position. Yesterday, their message contains the 15k+ affiliates listed under my account, and they were telling me that I should advance to EA position to start getting the commissions from my affiliates. After seeing the number of my affiliates, I became interested in their company. I started viewing the page on how to advance to EA position, and then I saw that to do that, I need to buy their products or sell their products. I saw one product that I can sell to give me 10 Sales Volume Points (SVP). When I have these 10 SVP already, I will become an EA (that's what they have said). At that time, I was so impressed with how their system works, and how they're so organized. They even have pics of their products, staff, office and warehouse. I thought that was quite amazing. I even told this to my husband, I told him that I want to try this online business.

This morning, I have checked the site again, and I try to google every name related to SFI: Gery Carson, SFI Marketing Group, Carson Services. The first few pages showed positive results for the group, but I have found some forums and blogs stating that SFI is a BIG SCAM! I suddenly gained my consciousness, I do not need to pay attention to this SFI group. May be it is true that they will send you pay checks as your commission from your sales and that of your affiliates, but that may be true for the first few months. I haven't given them any money yet (thank God!), but just by doing some research on them and analyzing how their system works, I am convinced that SFI and Gery Carson will not help me earn more money.

I am looking for some jobs on the internet, because I need extra cash for my tuition (I am currently taking my MS degree at DLSU-Manila). I am also teaching there as a part time laboratory instructor, so for the past terms, my tuition fee was free. But for this new term, there are some subjects that I need to pay on my own (one subject that I need to re-take and unfinished thesis). I got really interested in this SFI thing, but I am glad that I didn't give away that $35.

Lesson from this experience:
Before you jump into a new situation, do some research and think it over and over again.

May this experience of mine help those who are thinking of joining Gery Carson and his buddies.

New year...I should be up for a fresh start

It's the third day of the year 2007. Would it be a good day? Would 2007 be a good year for me and my family? Hope everything goes well for the three of us and for the rest of our relatives.

I was not able to talk about how we spent our New Year's Eve. Well, here it goes...

We went to my uncle's house on December 31, because my parents requested that our family spend the year-end celebration with them in Batangas. I would say the event was better than our Christmas Eve celebration. I am not saying this because the latter was spent with my in-laws. It's better because there were a larger number of people in Batangas whom we've spent the evening. There were my parents, brother, cousins, uncle and tita. Plus, I got to visit the remaining brother and sisters of my beloved lola. I wish them good health and longer life. Another thing that happened there was we had the chance to chat with my brother in Korea and my another brother and sis-in-law in Dubai. We even saw them through the newly-bought webcam of my cousin (courtesy of JE and I). It was nice to see them again:) It felt good to have a chit-chat with my siblings once in a while. But I do admit, it's much better to just have a chat using keyboard than to use the headphone. Well, it's because there comes a time when the conversation stops and its quite awkward to just be there and say nothing than "ah" and "okay" (JE agrees with me on this one). I guess I'm not that talkative.

One more thing that happened on the last day of 2006 was Zoe fell down while running around Ninong Nitoy's house. She got a bleeding lips when I saw her. It was not a very nice scene to look at. My poor baby... Plus, after an hour or two, I saw some wounds on her cheek, nose and leg. I guess it is just normal for a child to experience something like that in her life. At least now, she would be more careful (hopefully!).

On January 1, 2007, we spent the day running around (running after Zoe), eating crispy fried pork, singing using the "Magic sing" microphone, and catching up with siblings & friends using the internet. When Kuya Wen (my eldest brother who went home from Dubai--it's just for the holidays) arrived after spending some time with his girlfriend, we started to place our baggage inside the van and prepare to leave. At around 8PM, we arrived at my in-laws house (my MIL was watching TV when we entered the house; my FIL was out spending some time with his friends). We told her some of the things that happened in Batangas. She mentioned that my bro-in-law's wife, with her son and relatives dropped by to say hi and bring some gifts. They left a gift for Zoe, a set of eggs with shape sorter feature. Zoe likes it:) It's just bothering me that we were not able to give Zoe's gift for JA(my BIL's son). During the Christmas, I thought he will not be able to pay us a visit, so I decided to give the gift (red car) for him to my husband's other nephew Enrique. Then, I opened the original gift for Enrique (green car) and gave it to Zoe because she's been eyeing that car when we were wrapping the gifts. Good thing, JA got hold of the green car when they dropped by on Jan.1, played with it and brought it home with him. At least it looks like that's our gift for him, though it's not wrapped. We'll just buy something for him on his upcoming birthday.

All in all, our year-end celebration is fun. I hope this 2007 will be good to us. I should catch up on my astrology readings. I should know the description of "year of the pig". I should know what's in store for us in the year 2007... that's what Tita Rose has said to JE and I. :)

Note: You can check out our pics in here.