New Year

Sydney celebrated the new year a few minutes ago. True to its tradition, which is quickly becoming the benchmark by which new year is celebrated everywhere, it celebrated the coming of 2008 with much funfare, along with colorful, spectacular fireworks. It reminded me somehow of the way our family celebrate new year back home. I remember then that on the afternoon of December 31st, the family usually go to the market, never minding the traffic jam and the throng of people rushing everywhere, to buy the traditional "turotot" for the kids, and the family's collection of fireworks and firecrackers for the coming of the new year. Alice also becomes frantic to complete her collection of round fruits, and the other preparations she had to make for the coming of another year which she usually gets from watching all those TV programs that prods you to buy their products which are supposed to bring you a better life in the year ahead. I remember me having a penchant of buying those Dragon brand fireworks, since they are more stable and provide better and more colorful effects, which made the neighbors just wait for our fireworks display to commence and just watch our show. Those were really good memories of the celebration of new year for me, and probably for Alice too... and those are the ones that make the cold we currently feel in this country much colder and bitter, and the blowing of the wind fiercer, as we celebrate another new year with only the memories with us.

Our despair is not absolute, anyway. We have new memories to cling to, and new ones to give us hope. I called the kids several hours ago and asked them about their preparation for the new year. The kids seem happy, and that's big deal for me. Alice had her own call just an hour ago, and the kids told her they're starting the celebration, and that it's also starting to be noisy there, thus, they decided to cut the call short. For us, we'll celebrate new year with friends. That's how it is in this region. There will be no firecrackers, no fireworks. We'll celebrate new year in the same way we celebrated Christmas a week ago - by congregating in one of our friends' house, eat the various food that we'll bring there, and probably have a song or two in the videoke. The important thing is we celebrate it with friends, and not alone.

This reminded me of the new year I spent in Japan several years ago. It was by far the saddest new year I had, I believe. While training in Japan sometimes in the late 90s, I happened to be the only Filipino living in that area where I'm having my training, and my friends happened to be in far away places. There, I was forced to just had a late dinner and then afterwards slept the coming of the new year. I just called my family the morning after to greet them.

Anyways, however the celebration of the coming year happen tonight, I could say that the family is still lucky and blessed. The kids are healthy and are protected by loving grandparents there, both Alice and I are doing well in all aspects of our lives, and the good Lord keeps on showering us with blessings. I guess with those in mind, however the celebration is, we'll still have another great year.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Boxing Day

I first heard of the celebration of Boxing Day - December 26 - when I celebrated my first Christmas in Sydney in 2005. I later learned that Boxing Day is celebrated by most of the Commonwealth countries, Australia being one of them. This day which is also celebrated as St. Stephen's Day or the "Second Christmas" is supposed to be the day when the neighborhood's year-long workers such as the paper boy and the postman carry their "boxes" and go from house to house getting their Christmas gifts from everyone they served throughout the year. This reminds me of a similar scenario in the Philippines when garbage men and your all-around repair guy give you empty envelopes in which you put a little cash that serves as their Christmas "bonus" for all the works that they've done for you throughout the year. The difference is, in the Philippines these people tend to give you their envelopes much earlier than December 26; sort of getting the perennial "vale" instead of the Christmas bonus.

Anyways, the Boxing Day and all the other days before the new year which are called "days between years" in some European countries like Germany, are also the time when big stores and malls are supposed to empty their current inventories and thus give more discounts and bargains to shoppers. I remember Alice had a particular liking to the celebration of Boxing Day in Australia because of this, when one is supposed to really find good bargains from malls and department stores. I think this is also somewhat being practiced in the Philippines, with discounts and other bargains continuing until the new year.

Unfortunately, Boxing Day is not celebrated in this region, and thus, Alice is dismayed. This means no big discounts, no very good bargains, nothing of the sort from this day on until new year. Well, what can we expect, when Christmas is considered a secondary occasion, it just follows logically that Boxing Day won't also be celebrated.

Anyways (again), here are other Boxing Day origins: (from Answers.com)

• In feudal times, Christmas was a reason for a gathering of extended families. All the serfs would gather their families in the manor of their lord, which made it easier for the lord of the estate to hand out annual stipends to the serfs. After all the Christmas parties on 26 December, the lord of the estate would give practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools to the serfs who lived on his land. Each family would get a box full of such goods the day after Christmas. Under this explanation, there was nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obliged to supply these goods. Because of the boxes being given out, the day was called Boxing Day.

• In England many years ago, it was common practice for the servants to carry boxes to their employers when they arrived for their day's work on the day after Christmas. Their employers would then put coins in the boxes as special end-of-year gifts. This can be compared with the modern day concept of Christmas bonuses. The servants carried boxes for the coins, hence the name Boxing Day.

• In churches, it was traditional to open the church's donation box on Christmas Day, and the money in the donation box was to be distributed to the poorer or lower class citizens on the next day. In this case, the "box" in "Boxing Day" comes from that lockbox in which the donations were left.

life notes is one year old!

'Twas this day last year when I decided to start my very own blog site... I haven't decided on a specific subject matter when I first started writing and I thought putting some sort of a personal journal over the web will be cool... anyways, everybody is doing it, and doing content management for information that are related to my existence, I feel, is quite a challenge. While at this, the site had evolved from a personal journal to also tackle other topics which I find amusing or fascinating, and over the months I had written quite a number of them. The frequency by which blogs are posted also progressed as months passed by, which made me realize I really am hooked into it as I got hooked in Tamiya racing before :) Well, writing is an outlet they say... and what better way to do it now than to blog.

When I started this blog site, I never knew I will be this passionate for this kind of thing as I am today. As it is, it has become one of my major activities, and I got totally hooked that I started two more - one for the family, and another one for my professional works and other related matters. On top of that, I also maintain a "casual" blog in my Friendster site where I write about practically anything under the sun, albeit using fewer words and in a more "casual" mood.

I guess for me, blogging has really arrived.

Happy Birthday, Life Notes :)

Christmas

Celebrating Christmas in this country is really quite unique and different. Having been raised in a country where Christmas starts as early as four months before the actual day of the nativity of the Lord and having been used to "elaborate" celebrations the kind of which the actual Christmas feast lasts for several days, being in a country where the Christmas season is usually celebrated in the background becomes really challenging. Yesterday, the group spent most of the day normally, that is, it was taken as a normal working day and everybody went through his/her own usual work routine - writing programs, designing websites, developing online courses, etc. After the work hours passed, Alice and I went home and spent the afternoon listening to some Christmas carols. At least it can prep us to really get into the spirit of the season.

I haven't listened to our collection of Christmas songs for quite a while. I remember the last time I listened to them was way back in September when I had one of those sound trips that I do from time to time, just to while away time when there's not much to do. Listening to those songs again a day before Christmas gave new meaning to the word "homesick" for me. I remembered the kids and the other members of our family, and I thought of the things I and Alice may and could have done with them during those frantic hours a day before Christmas in the Philippines. I had a mix of emotions - sadness, happiness, hopefulness - and it made me want to cry. Anyways, listening to those songs at least made me feel Christmas as I feel it when in the company of my family even for quite a while. That's good enough for me at the moment.

After a while, I called the kids. They told me they have just started congregating in their Mima's house, and is about to start the traditional "Bingo" game until midnight comes, when they share the customary "Noche Buena" and exchange gifts with one another. My little girl Rain intimated that they are preparing noodle soups, burgers, some hotdogs with marshmallows, and other delicacies for Noche Buena, and that she had taken several bites of the hotdogs already. I told her to just enjoy the night with her brothers there and that I'll call again on Christmas day. We ended the call by saying "Merry Christmas" to each other.

After sometime, some of our friends called us. They said they're already going to one of our friends house, where the group's Christmas party will be held for the night. I told them we're also ready to go there, and since the house is just near our flat, we just walked there, feeling the biting cold that signifies winter, and the Christmas season is really here. Sometimes it's nice to just walk into the cold and feel that the holiday season is upon you and you're trying to celebrate it in the humble way you can. We spent the next several hours mingling and socializing with our small group of friends and celebrating Christmas in our own little way here in the Gulf.

Our celebration ended just several minutes after midnight. After greeting each other Merry Christmas, we went into our different ways once again, with some of us still trying to break into the crowded telecommunication lines calling their loved ones back home even though it's already early morning there. The longing especially at this time of year just wouldn't let up for some of us. After parting with each other, I felt like it's back to our own routine lives and to our own melancholic emotions once more.

Although today is a holiday, Alice and I still reported for work for a few hours inasmuch as there are some pressing works and assignments for both of us that need to be completed. Having done this sort of thing for two years - two Christmases - already, we really don't mind these anymore, and went to do our normal routines for the day. While riding the bus to work, Alice called the kids. They said they're already in her mother's house celebrating Christmas with their aunts and uncles, and with their cousins there. And so we arrived at work happily knowing that the kids are celebrating Christmas back home.

In the afternoon before going home, I called the kids again. They're already at home playing with their cousins there, and trying all the toys they received from relatives and friends. I found out that Ash, our youngest son, wanted to buy a pet hamster, having seen one in his cousin's house. I told him if he buys one he should take care of it properly, in which he promptly said yes. I could sense the excitement in his voice already. After that I greeted them Merry Christmas once again, promising them I'll call again as soon as I can. Maybe it's because of the holiday season...or maybe also because of the fact that they're on vacation and not busy doing their chores in school, but the kids want us to call them more this time. The least we can do is to give them their wishes.

After coming home from work, Alice and I took the chance of recovering from the missed hours of sleep from last night's party. After napping for a few hours, we spent time watching TV while the last hours of Christmas Day tick. Tomorrow, we'll do our usual routine again, just like today. Any which way...

Merry Christmas!

three things...

First thing is the cold. whenever the cold weather comes, we know it's the signal of the holiday season. it reminds us to make a list, lists actually - one, of the things we need to buy in preparation for the holidays, and another for those "lucky" individuals that we're planning to give presents to even if it means parting with our hard-earned bonuses for the month :) ... as we say, 'tis the season of giving, although most of us really prefer receiving anyway :) The cold weather also signals us to once again take our jackets and sweaters out from their usual places in the cabinets and use them to attend the Misa de Gallo, although in the Philippines it's not that cold anyway, and we can do away with our everyday attire of shirts and jeans. Anyways, aside from thinking that we could be more "japorms" wearing jackets, we also know that there's not much use of those thick clothing in other times of the year, and so we take the chance of using them during this season whenever we can. And speaking of Misa de Gallo, that's one of the things I miss during this holiday season. I miss waking up early and going to the church, although sometimes it's not really the mass which makes me wake up in those cold early morning hours, but the revelry associated with it, including of course, eating "bibingka" or "puto bumbong" and sipping "salabat" while chatting with friends inside the church patio until the mass ends. It's one of the things that makes me want to sometimes go back to the Philippines... and believe me, those times don't come too often. Although I prefer the much colder weather of this country, I still long for the revelry experienced attending the Misa de Gallo and sharing it with friends...

Another thing is the festive mood. Maybe it has something to do with Christmas carols permeating the air - from the neighbor's CDs or maybe your own radio - as early as September, but I really found it different celebrating the Christmas season in the Philippines than in other countries I've been to. Well, we know that in the Philippines, radio stations start playing Christmas songs as early, and from there, malls, restaurants, fast foods, and practically any and all establishments follow suit. You will sometimes wonder whether Filipinos don't get tired of listening to all these noise until December 25. Anyways, carols are only a part of the festivities. Also in September, houses and all structures get to be decorated with Christmas accessories - lights, labels, nativity scenes - name it, and you'll probably find one in one of the structures that are being decorated in your area. This is the time when "Made in China" Christmas accessories start flooding the Philippine market. It's kind of funny how Filipinos really celebrate the season. And I miss it too... being in a country where the celebration of Christmas is quite reserved, the "over-indulgent celebrations" in the Philippines really becomes a yearning that just wouldn't go away.

The last thing is getting together. In the Philippines (at least from my experience), the holiday season is not just the time for festivities, it is the time of renewing bonds. It is the time when old friends see each other again and catch up with each other's lives... it is the time when the family gets together again in the ancestral home and renew the love they share with one another. For Filipinos, Christmas is the celebration of the family. I remember those past Christmases when we share our noche buena with my family and celebrate the season sharing jokes and playing "Bingo"... the kind you do just to be together and keep each other's company during the Christmas eve. Then on Christmas day, both of us and the kids go to Alice's old home where a reunion of her family will be celebrated the whole day. It's those times when you'll really appreciate the essence of Christmas, and it's those times that we're really missing and longing for these past several years. It's what makes Christmas in the Philippines different, really.

Sometimes, even for just a while, you really really wanted to go back home.

cormac mccarthy and the holiday season

The holiday season is always a respite. Well, at least even for just a little while, we can relax a little and savor the good things life has to offer. Anyways, I'm grateful that during the first few days of the break I've finished several books already. I guess I really had to do it since I feel that I'm really lagging in my reading and I had to seize this opportunity and try to read all the books that I bought several weeks, months even, before.

I'm fortunate that I already discovered the works of Paulo Coelho. I made mention about it in a review I wrote several days ago. I got more fortunate after reading Cormac McCarthy's "The Road". I've heard of McCarthy first in "Oprah" when I was keeping Alice company one night watching the show. Oprah is recommending the book that time and showing her short interview of the author. I decided I'll buy the book and try it, but after buying, it just stayed in my drawer for weeks, and I was not able to even scan it. Well, I guess the timing was just bad, that when I bought it it coincided with just too many works in the office.

Anyways, after reading it two days ago, I would have to say it really was a piece of work and worthy of the award(s) it received. McCarthy's technique of narrating it thru prose-like literature is really successful, as well as his description of the end of the world viewing it thru the "real" humanity of man - the good and evil that reside within him.

In its deeper context, "The Road" does not only tells about the story of the bond between a father and his son. More importantly, it narrates about the humanity of man. Such that even in despair and difficulties, there exists in him the instinct to help, and in hopeless situations there is always the love he has for his family.

As I stayed awake the whole night reading McCarthy's book, it dawned on me that the story is real, and it's happening to all of us. There are lessons that can be learned from this book. You have to read it.

The Alchemist

I have to admit I just recently discovered Paulo Coelho. Alice told me about him, when one of our friends from South Africa who is a very indulgent reader told her about his works. When we happened to pass by Borders several weeks ago, I bought Alice this book, and after she finished reading it I took turn in scanning its pages.

The Alchemist's story is not unique. It is in fact, a very common one. And there lies the success of the book and the power of its author. The Alchemist is very powerful in its simplicity, and its uniqueness lies in the beauty of its message: pursue your personal legend and you will find happiness, for then you will know the purpose of your existence.

Santiago's story tells us that we must listen to our hearts, for if we know what our hearts desire, only then can we know the true purpose of our existence, and only then can we truly be happy. This book also tells us to continue following our dreams, for only through it can we find our purpose in life.

What makes Paulo Coelho's book a success?

Its narration of the simplicity of life. And its telling of the simple things that make our lives more meaningful and interesting. The story of the shepherd boy is the story of each and everyone of us. The quest for happiness and the meaning of life is the same quest that we try to achieve everyday. Each and everyone of us shares the same dream with Santiago.

What is the secret of one's happiness?

As The Alchemist tells us, happiness is following our dreams. And not being afraid of obstacles that can be encountered following the path to our dreams. As the book says, true happiness is understanding the meaning of our lives, the purpose of our existence. We can do that by listening to our hearts... and by following its yearnings.

Paulo Coelho tries to tell us these simple things in his little book. I guess it won't be hard for us to get his message and learn from it.

"in pursuit of happyness"

I borrowed this movie from a friend, not knowing really what this movie is all about at first. When I had the chance to watch it on a night when there's not much to do, I got some valuable life lessons that will stay with me for a long time...

The movie "In Pursuit of Happyness", is the story of Chris Gardner, a struggling salesman with a 5-year old son. Like most of us, the movie portrays the difficulties one has to go through when we're just initially starting a family and only having a "common", average job. The life of Chris Gardner is a portrayal of the triumph of the spirit, that is, against all odds and armed only with commitment and dedication, one can realize his dreams only if he won't lose focus and continue to sacrifice and persevere to attain it.

I haven't read the book from which the movie was based, nor I know the story of Chris Gardner prior to my watching the said movie. But after watching Will Smith and his son Jaden in the movie, I feel like I could relate to their story somehow. I don't know. Maybe because their story is such that it's actually the same story most of us currently have. Maybe somehow, this story is also the story or our lives as we live them right now.

One important lesson this movie taught me is to love your kids. And don't let anyone take them away from you even in difficult times. It's sad that I could not do that. Like millions of other Filipino parents, I am separated with my kids right now. That's the sacrifice 10% of the Filipino parents have to go through. It's part of our diaspora. And although sad, it's a fact of our life. I just try to make up for it by constantly communicating with them and trying to let them feel I am not away in any way I can.

Gardner's story is an inspiration. Every one of us is in one way or another, experiencing struggles in life. And like Chris, we have to learn to face them all. We have to stay focused and committed to our goals, and move towards realizing them everyday, every minute that we can. We shouldn't lose any given opportunity.

As this movie tells us, if we persevere, if we try hard, if we dream long enough, our pursuit of happiness will eventually be rewarded.

Sick

The season is really changing already. Cold mornings are here once again, and the cool air permeates longer even until before noon. It's good to know that winter has arrived once more...

There's just one problem when the winter season comes, and for that matter, the climate starts to change along with it... people get sick. I personally experienced it the past week. Maybe it was the cold nights or the prolong cold mornings, but either way, I got hit by a flu. I even experienced some chills during the first day I got it. And so, I was not feeling well for maybe, four days... with aching muscles and headache, combined with on-off fever. I finally decided to visit the clinic on the second day. The nurse said I had an inflammation of my tonsils, which indicate something of an infection is there. Anyways, after taking some anti-biotics and vitamin C tablets, I finally felt good in the fourth day. Everything's well again :)

After my encounter with flu, I decided winter - and the cold weather - is really finally here, and so I started wearing light sweaters during nighttime. I also started to put away my sleeveless shirts, I won't use them for quite sometime.

Alice is happy... I won't be using the airconditioner anymore at night :)

Swimming!

The group had a blast in yesterday's swimming party. It was planned several days ahead, of course, but the bulk of preparation happened in Wednesday night when the group started the preparation and cooked all the food that will be brought to the beach. Almost all the gang were in Fidel's flat, which is only on top of our flat, and so we also didn't miss the fun. Actually, the dinner that night happened in our flat, of course, after they had finished cooking "bulalo" in Fidel's. After dinner, some of our friends played tong-its, while some, including me, watched movies. We had finished two movies that Wednesday night - Blood Diamonds and Over the Hedge. The group decided everything is ready and finished at around 1AM and decided to go back to their respective flats.

We started going to the beach early on Thursday, the bus is actually rolling at 8:30AM. We reached the resort before 11AM, and since it is almost winter already, we were not immediately able to dip into the water as it was still very cold. The wind, of course, is quite strong this time of year, which made the waves a little bit bigger than they usually are, and when we finally decided to swim, we had a fun time riding these quite big waves, which made the activity all the more funny. After our rendezvous in the water, the boys decided to take a little swig at the nearby clubhouse. the girls, meanwhile, stayed at the cottage, and continued nibbling on the abundant food that were prepared the night before.

We decided to leave the resort around 4PM to go to the mall and bought some stocks - food, toiletries, etc. After staying and roaming in two nearby malls, we decided to visit our favorite fish restaurant and eat good grilled fish at 8PM. We finally get to go back at 9:30, and arrived home at 11:00PM.

It was indeed an exhausting but enjoyable day...

Food and Cooking

One of my passions is cooking. It's not cooking as in cooking like a chef, but the kind which you might call home-cooking cooking. I'd like to cook and have Alice critique it, and I relish when Alice liked a particular recipe. When I'm still in the Philippines, I also cooked for the kids... I'm always looking forward to that time when I can cook for them again, especially those dishes which they really like.

Anyways, I've been experimenting with some dishes during the past several days, and I guess - based on Alice's feedback - that they are quite good. I've made our own recipe for home-made hamburgers, and we've made a dinner of hamburger steaks one time, combined with Alice's famous mashed potatoes :) It was indeed sumptuous, and both Alice and I finished two big burgers each. Then I've made some medium-sized chicken balls another day, deep-fried them and finally made a sweet and sour dish out of them. Alice liked it and thus, after that, our next meal had been chicken balls dipped in Thai sweet-chili sauce.

When we get the chance, we buy salmon steaks in our favorite supermarket. Both Alice and I like baked salmon with only the usual salt, freshly ground pepper, and butter on it, with sparse topping of parsley when it's cooked. This dish had been one of our favorites now, and we always have a nice meal everytime it's on the menu for the meal of the day.

For sure, there will be more food and recipes that I'll try, and more dishes to be perfected and made favorite. A good thing about cooking is you can always experiment. And with Alice always giving good "reviews", I could keep on doing it.

Finally, today...

I configured and put up my site... it's not really my own actually, I am sharing it with Alice and the kids... however, I am the one managing it (well, that's understandable). Putting up a site, I learned, really requires patience. You have first to register your domain, subscribe to a hosting server (if you do not have a 24-hour machine to host your website), then wait for your domain to propagate over the web, and finally create the web pages for your site.

I actually created only a single page in the meantime. It actually serves as portal to all the sites that I and Alice have been maintaining through these years. Most of these sites are social networking sites, by the way. And most of the contents are journals (blogs) and pictures about our own personal and work activities, as well as those of our kids'. Anyways, having a portal that will compile all those is really another very good step, as our friends (both existing and future) will have a single site to go through everytime they would want to visit any of our existing sites.

Although the site is currently a one-page site initially, I am planning to expand it to a full-blown personal-commercial site in the future, and hence, you can expect developments on the site in the coming days or weeks. Hopefully, and if time permits, I could improve it quickly for the benefit of everybody.

As it is right now, you can visit the site to go to our journals and blogs at http://rolandolontokjr.net or alternatively use Alice's domain which also points to that address at http://alicelontok.net.

Well then, see you there!

Celebrating a birthday...

It's Rain's birthday today... she's seven years old now... as we've been chronicling on our family's site, she's helping her Mima organize her birthday party for quite a while now. I didn't really believe she'd been that "mature" already, but indeed she is, as narrated by her Mima - my mother - when they called me this afternoon, just after the celebration...

My mother told me that Rain was very happy, and really was in a very jovial mood throughout the celebration. She said that the little girl made the table hopping herself, talking and joking with her guests - some friends in school, neighbors, and of course, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She also told me that Rain even sang a song for the visitors during the party, and distributed the loot bags to the kids who attended her party. She don't usually do those things during her previous birthday celebrations, she's always the shy type. I guess the girl is really growing up...

What really moved me during our conversation was the little story that my mother told me during our conversation: she said that in the morning when they are still preparing the tables and chairs, and doing some decorations at the place, she paused for a while and sat on a chair feeling a little pain on her nape. She rested for a while thinking that maybe she has a case of high blood pressure. Rain approached her after a while asking how she's feeling... she said she had to rest a little since she's not feeling too well. Suddenly, she said, Rain looked at her very seriously and said, "Mima, me sasabihin ako sa 'yo" ...she asked her "What is it?", thinking that maybe Rain would ask for another thing to be bought or another thing to be done in the party. Rain then said she's a little bit embarrassed to say it.

Her Mima then told the little girl, "you can tell it to me, there's no problem"... Rain then looked at her intently once more, and with tears welling in her eyes said: "Mima, thank you very much, ha?... for everything." At that point, my mother told me that she was not able to contain her emotions and cried. I was eating at the cafeteria when my mother told me that story... I would've cried - I want to cry, actually - if not for the many people there eating their lunch at that time. Alice may had seen the sadness in my face that she asked what happened. I had to pause for a while and clear the lump in my throat before narrating her the story.

Anyways, our little girl's birthday party went well... as I talked to Rain after my conversation with her Mima, she was still in a party mood. She said she'd had many gifts, and even received some money from friends. She's even already had one special gift that she already liked very much - the one given by her Tita Jet, Alice's eldest sister. She said that she's a little sad that her teachers were not able to attend the party, but anyhow, she's also happy that some of her friends and classmates were there. From the way she sounded when she told me more stories about her party, I would have to say that the celebration was indeed successful even though we're not there...

I somehow feel guilty that we're not there on our little girl's birthday party, me and Alice. I even felt more sad when my mother told me that "Thank You" story. I guess somehow, our kids really had grown up and become more mature faster to cope with us not being there with them throughout most of their growing years. I guess that's a natural outcome of one's adaptation to their current environment. But somehow too, I am thankful that they're able to cope with us being not there with them... as I mentioned previously, everybody in the family is doing his or her share of sacrifice in the family's current situation, and I'm very proud of my kids for always hanging tough and still remaining their sweet and respectful self for us...

As Rain celebrated her birthday today, I could see she's really grown up... in more ways that I can imagine.

I love you my little girl... happy birthday again...

Preparing for a party...

Our only daughter, Rain, will be turning seven this Sunday. As we're not there to prepare for that important day in our little girl's life, we have relied on key family members to do the preparation for us. For her part, Rain had told everybody else there what she wants and what she needs for the party. The preparation had been going on for more than a month now... not that it will be a very big party, Rain wants it to be a simple celebration - with only the family members, some of her school friends, and teachers to attend.

Anyways, as they prepare for the event little by little, it took them a month for the planning and execution to complete everything. We found out that our little girl has a knack for events planning, as she directs her Mima how she wants the party to be. As it is, they are now into the finishing touches, just checking their orders and making sure that everything will be ready come Sunday. We told them to take many pictures so that we'll have many to see and relish. Well, that's another sacrifice we have to make :(

Anyways, I had chronicled several important communication between me and Rain during her preparation, and I posted them in the Calendar section of the family's site (http://lontokfamily.multiply.com). You can check them there. In the meantime, Alice and I are hoping the coming storm won't ruin everything Rain and her Mima had worked for...

Wednesday Club

Pinoy expats here in our place had this tradition of meeting together every Wednesday evening for a nighttime of casual conversation, good food, and just being Pinoys and friends with each other. Nobody actually started it formally, it just came into being that way. I remember the time when we're just new here, Alice and I, and two other Pinoys working in the same office as ours. We'll call each other up on the phone on Wednesday nights, asking each other to walk to the city centre for just the fun of it... we'll settle in one of the many restaurants dotting the Centre afterwards, the kind that's usually frequented by other expats trying to while the time away. We'll talk of our jobs, the office, this new place that we're in and how we're currently coping, our families back home, any and all topics, really... and just like the others, we'll spend hours there, whiling away time, until we get sleepy and decide to go home again. This simple routine usually takes us several hours - usually until very late at night - but we're thankful for each other's company... well, at least even for several hours a week, we tend to forget the rigours of everyday activities at work, and we feel like we're in the Philippines all over again with the company of other working Pinoys.

When more Filipinos began coming in this place, our small group slowly became bigger and bigger... and suddenly we found ourselves occupying several tables in the restaurant, the biggest group of regulars there during Wednesday nights. We were even given the same waiter to serve us everytime we go there. Our simple routine became an important weekly activity for Pinoy expats in this place... we had formed the Wednesday Club.

The meeting of the Wednesday Club is one activity that's always anticipated by Pinoy expats in this area. It's meeting is actually an informal one, its activities are just plain talking with other "members", sharing new jokes, and just being good buddies. But it became very important because it deepened the bond of Pinoys... it strengthened their friendship. For the last year or so, I haven't experienced a week that the meeting was cancelled. Sometimes, it's moved to Thursday or maybe even Tuesday (when there are other important activities that most "members" should attend) but everybody made it a point to be together once a week. I do believe that this is one characteristic of the Filipinos that makes them different from other nationalities. We really extend our family as much as possible... and in a foreign land, we do that through our Pinoy friends, our brothers and sisters here.

Tonight is one of those nights the Wednesday Club had their get-together... Alice and I had just arrived from the meeting, and with tonight's get-together ending quite late, Alice immediately fell asleep after arriving. I'm still listening to Alice's collection of rhythm and blues in her iPod nano... sleep hasn't caught me yet. While at it, I decided to write a blog, and well, what better topic than the just-concluded activity. The Wednesday Club had been there for more than a year already, and I haven't written anything about it yet... the Club had already witnessed many things, and for sure, it will witness still many more. Various stories will definitely be written for the Club. For now at least, the Club's history (in this blog) had begun.

Kare-kare

It's weekend today... there's nothing much to do aside from a little paperwork I brought from the office last week. And so, after getting my hair cut from the barbershop at the corner near our flat, Alice and I visited our favorite fruits and vegetables store which happens to also be near our home and bought some ingredients for the dish that we'd like to cook for lunch. After everything's ready, we proceeded to cook...

I've been wanting to cook kare-kare for several days now, and I decided this is another perfect time to cook one. We bought some cubed beef from the supermarket several days ago, and there are still some pieces left from the dish we'd cooked before which I thought will be good for kare-kare. I had eggplant and sitaw just freshly bought from the nearby veggie store, and all other ingredients are available from our stock... and so, after sometime, I had another kare-kare steaming from the pan and going to the dish...

Alice, meanwhile, had decided to cook "ginataang halo-halo" for dessert. Well, I guess you have to read about it in her blog, since I know she'll write about it there :)

Anyways, we shared these sumptuous dishes with two of our close friends at lunch, eating them while watching Pearl Harbor and enjoying ourselves with some light casual conversation. It was indeed a nice weekend.

Connectivity

In this new world we currently live in, everything is connected. Thus, you can communicate with your loved ones easily and efficiently using the telephone or the Internet, your office sends your salary to your bank which is in turn connected to your favorite supermarket, and to your electric and water companies, and even to your credit card/s. You even do your studies on the web, connected with other learners - your classmates - who are located in other parts of the world.

We really are living in a connected society these days, and for us to function well and efficiently, we have to be connected with the rest of them. Thus, our companies try very hard to be connected, both inside and outside. But getting connected is only half the story... getting connected fast - at least for companies - really makes the difference. That's why being the manager of the network infrastructure of a company serving a network of more than 600 computers really becomes very very difficult if your connection bandwidth is only a normal DSL-grade technology. And that's why, after weeks of tensed anticipation, I got ecstatic yesterday when we finally got the E1 connectivity we've been waiting for, and the assurance of getting a lower grade T2 after sometime.

What can we do with an E1? Well, that's a no-brainer actually. Having languished in our external data transmission for quite a while now, an E1 connectivity is like a breath of fresh air. That means the data transmission speed for our external connectivity will at least be several times faster than it was before. Well, it is really nowhere beside our internal speed of 1 Gigabit per second, but it will be good for our staff and also our clients' works. Moreover, having a good external speed allows the staff to get connected to the Internet faster which is essential when you're maintaining e-learning courses and is dependent on the Web for much of the information you use in your work.

Anyways, getting an E1 line is definitely good news, both for the company's staff and me (especially). At least in my case, complaints from staff about the Internet connection speed will be diminished for quite a while (I hope). More so, I can focus now on other infrastructure matters like consolidating our servers and getting blade servers for that purpose, and upgrading our storage capacities by implementing SAN instead.

Well then, I think I can relax even for a little while now...

Notting Hill

This is definitely my favorite movie.

Let me just make it clear. I'm not really a fan of Julia Roberts (although I'd say some of her movies are done well), nor of Hugh Grant (I prefer the other "Hugh" of the series "House"). But I really really like Notting Hill. And I don't know why. Maybe it's because of the simplicity of the story... or the fact that it's the most successful love story formula: similar to that of Cinderella and other fairy tale classics. And this one's with a twist: the guy is the not-so-famous-and-rich one. Well, whatever it is, I always get that familiar rush of emotion on the scene when Anna utters the most important dialogue of the movie: "... i'm only just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her..." as well as the last dialogue between the two, when Hugh asks Julia if she'll reconsider... maybe I'm a sentimental romantic afterall :)

I got the chance to watch it again tonight when a friend of ours brought the VCD to our place for a night of good movie. What can I say? It's definitely feel good... I love it.

Isaac Asimov's Caves of Steel

It is always good to go back to things that you love. Be it movies, books, or places, you always want to re-experience the thrill and the emotion you get when you read, watch or visit them again.

I learned to know and like Isaac Asimov from his Foundation series when I started to get fascinated by science fiction stories during the 90s. Way back then, I think I read every book of that series and the other Asimov works that are related to it. Anyways, when I visited my favorite bookstore sometime ago, I happen to pass by those "bargain" books that they have - those with two stories or novels in one paperback. More fortunately for me, I saw a classic Asimov novel, Caves of Steel, together with an extra series, The Rest of the Robots. Of course I bought it.

I just finished reading the Caves of Steel three or four days ago. It was actually one of the first novels written by Asimov, and also the one where he introduced his so-called "new generation" of robots that are the opposite of the mephistophelian variety that existed before it.

The Caves of Steel is where Asimov introduced the three laws of robotics. This is where he introduced the idea of positronic brain and the humanoid robot. It is a police story set in the future, when humans and robots co-existed, and when extra-terrestrial colonization is the norm. Asimov painted a picture of the modern "city", where efficiency is prioritized over individuality and privacy. It is the future earth according to Asimov. And it is classic.

The story of The Caves of Steel, its setting and its ideas may be absurd to some, but it can also be real...in the future. One good thing about Asimov's work is that they are close to reality, and the more we read and think, the more convinced we become that they could happen someday. Robots and humanoids and space colonization could be eons away from us, but reading Asimov make them quite already here now. That is why I like reading his works. They always are interesting pieces.

Coffee

Alice had always loved coffee. She drinks it in the morning, and also drinks it at nighttime. Sometimes in the afternoon, she also drinks it. And Alice loves good coffee even more. Thus, she can spend time (and dollars) sipping coffee at Starbucks, or Gloria Jeans... and sometimes also at Costa and Seattle's Best. Well, if it's about coffee, you bet Alice will be there (to sip)...

Anyways, while wandering around the mall one weekend, we passed by a new coffee shop. The place is kind of small, similar to those small kiosks you'll usually see at the middle of mall corridors in-between the shops at the sides. The coffee shop is situated under the escalator in one of the wings of the mall, and people are crowding, that's why we got interested. The coffee shop's name is Barista Espresso.

After finding a seat, we ordered two short cappuccinos as well as two blueberry cheesecake. The cakes were good... well, knowing this region, definitely cakes will always be superb. The coffee?... better! They even have those big coffee cups, the variety that's being used in Costa - those ones that are the size of a small bowl. I really really like to drink my coffee from those cups (sorry Starbucks!). Anyways, Alice loved the coffee (as usual) and put it on the same league as the others.

And so, we spent a little bit of time at the Barista Espresso, sipping our coffee and savoring the cake... and reading on the side... it was a good way to spend the weekend.

Missy Higgins, Akon, and a long road trip...

I need to go to the main office of my company three days ago to submit some important papers. I was actually ok with it, except that the main office is almost 200 kilometers away from my place! Well, this is one of those times I couldn't do anything to postpone it, and so, after waking up early that morning and doing all the necessary activities one has to do after waking up, I started with my long journey...

This is one of those rare moments when I curse myself for not buying a car... I just contented myself riding in the bus, and brace for the two or more hours bus ride that I will have. After settling in one of the seats near the front, I plugged my iRiver earphones and proceeded on listening to my favorite Missy Higgins songs... well, at least I have Missy Higgins to give me company during this trip. This is one of those times when I really appreciate my iRiver and the Missy Higgins songs that were saved there.

And so it went... I had the iRiver phones plugged in my ears and Missy Higgins constantly humming there while I waited for the bus to finally arrive at the destination. The bus ride took a little more than two hours, I arrived at the main office, look for the person I need to talk to, and then finally submitted the papers. It took me just a little more than 30 minutes to finish my task! And after that, I have nothing to do anymore...

I don't want to bear the agony of taking another two-hour bus ride that quickly, and so, I went to the mall first. I spent several hours roaming the shops, which allowed me to find a Tissot watch that I really wanted to buy. Anyways, I think I got my wits back at the last minute and I decided not to buy it that time... at least I will have enough time to think :)

Anyways, after window shopping at the mall, I proceeded to a favorite eating place - the one with very good grilled fish, and ate a good dish. After that I decided everything is finally settled, and I decided to go home.

During the trip home, the bus driver started playing Akon's music. I decided to just listen to Akon's "R" lyrics for a change, and it somehow made the trip back home a little less discomforting. I arrived late at the flat that night and with that, another day is over...

The Google Story

I finished reading this book more than two weeks ago. However, due to pressing deadlines in the office, I was not able to write anything - reviews, blogs, anything - in all my web spaces in the past couple of weeks, and thus I am only writing this review tonight...

The Google Story is the colorful story of the Google Guys - Larry Page and Sergei Brin, and how they build, developed, and made a dot com empire that is now called Google. The book narrated how these two PhD students from Stanford University met each other, became friends, made more friends and contacts, and from there had the idea of building a dot com company that will evolve in an important product - the search engine. The book also intimated how the then two would-be billionaires decided not to be conventional in all their business approaches, choosing instead to build their company using the alternative ways, and constantly trying not to succumb to the charm of being businessmen, and do their business ways as businessmen do.

Larry and Sergei chose to remain technologists and run their company as technologists would, and in the process maintain their mantra of "Do not be evil" in creating their empire as we know Google today.The Google Story is a success story - we all know that, of course - that shows how it pays to chase a dream and constantly working to realize it. It also shows that a company can be big and dynamic, motivated and progressive without having to be similar to others. The Google Story tries to teach its readers that to build a motivated company, one (or two) have to make the employees happy and contented, to the point of providing them gourmet free lunch and spas at work. The Google Story is a triumph of technology... but more importantly, it is the triumph of the human spirit fueled by an ordinary dream. The Google Story is probably played by gifted individuals, but the story can be realized by anyone... its story is for everyone.

As an added bonus, the Google Story also narrated some inside happenings about the dot com business as it is today. It intimated how Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, and many other big players in the IT arena constantly haggle, quarrel, and make friends with each other again, to survive, win and stay on top of their business areas. It gives us a glimpse of what's happening at the corridors of IT powers, and how the big players lay their cards on the IT business table. Indeed, it also teaches us a point or two in IT business.

For these and for all its worth, The Google Story is indeed an interesting read.

Google Fast Facts:

Google Inc. was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergei Brin, when the two were only in their late 20s; Page and Brin, both 34 years old this year are worth 18.5 billion US$ today (according to Forbes magazine); Google has been in the top 5 companies in terms of value for several years now; the company's last quarter profit is approximately 2.5 billion US$; as of December 2005, it has 5,680 fulltime employees; Eric Schmidt previously of Cisco Systems is the current CEO; Googleplex is the name of the sprawling complex of the company; Google came from the word Googol, a mathematical term for the number 1 followed by a hundred zeros.

Borders... and reading again

I have always loved reading. As far as I can remember, I read and read and read since I was a kid. I remembered spending countless hours reading the then very popular "komiks" when I was still a boy in my small hometown, even spending time squatting in our local market with other kids during lunch breaks renting them and reading them there. It is good that I heard Carlo Caparas and his wife is trying to resurrect "komiks" - and the Filipinos' habit of reading them - in the Philippines. When I become a little bit more "mature" in my hobby (that is not to say that only immature readers read "komiks"), I started reading magazines and pocketbooks. I remember starting from Hardy Boys stories in high school, then gradually shifted to science fiction, particularly Isaac Asimov's Robots and Foundation series during my first years in College, and finally into conspiracies and thrillers with the popular authors of that time - Ludlum, Clancy, Forsythe, Sheldon, and others. My favorite in this genre - and in this era of my reading - is John LeCarre, but it did not stop me from reading the works of all the other authors, whenever and wherever I get hold of them. I've read about spies and agents and Jason Bourne long time before they got the chance to be watched on the big screen. After that, I moved into reading legal stories - the John Grisham variety. And I was totally hooked. I became fascinated with each novel so much, that I practically collected all of Grisham's books and read them... you could say learn them by heart, even. During this time, I did not only become more mature in my reading, I also reached a certain maturity in life, as you might say.

When I become a teacher, my love for reading became more intense. If before I want to read just for the sheer pleasure of doing it, this time it became an inherent requirement. I feel that to become the best in my craft, I need to read more. Not only on the areas that I learned to love and appreciate all these years, but on all areas possible. I started exploring (and reading) new genres, and I began expanding my reading habit in the process. During this time, I got fascinated with reading general business and management books, aside from books about IT and computers. And so, I started collecting them also. I read about Microsoft, Intel, National Semiconductor, IBM, General Motors, Dell, and countless other successful stories of organizations. This provided me the foundation to be curious and interested about the life of the people that run them, and so, I started reading about their lives - Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Jack Welch, and many more. It dawned on me that reading biographies and memoirs not only give you immense reading pleasure, more importantly, it gives you important lessons - life lessons which you can always practice in your own context, in your own situation, and in your own time. I bought and read books about the life of Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Albert Einstein and a few other individuals who, in one way or another had very colorful and important lives from my own perspective. I even read a chapter in the life of Osama Bin Laden in one of the books written about him, the title of which is lost on me now. And I continue to read and read and read...

When I read about Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, I become fascinated with everything religion. I read several other books relevant to it and for that matter read and learned also about the Knight's Templars, the Freemasonry and the Lodge, and the so-called secret and discarded gospels. I become facsinated with Dan Brown's stories that I also read his other novels. (Sadly, except for Angels and Demons, his other stories did not measure up to the same league as the Da Vinci Code, so I thought).

When I first came to this place, I had a hard time finding books to read. And I don't know for the life of me why I decided to accept a job here in the first place because of that. It was actually the first time in my life that I couldn't read anything, except for some old educational textbooks and newspapers. I'd been to several places already - and always, plenty of books are there for reading. And I thought, this is becoming not fun anymore... but then, I need to sacrifice a bit inasmuch as circumstances really need for me to work here in the meantime. And so, I waited... something, I hope, will eventually happen.

Yesterday, when I visited the city center once more after a long vacation, I was greeted with a new shop called Borders at the newly-constructed wing of the mall . It's actually one of the biggest bookstores I've ever seen in quite a while... and the good thing is, it houses thousands of books that I love! The place even has a small Starbucks Coffee shop in one corner, which made Alice very happy :) Now, Alice can stay there and wait for me while I scan all the titles there and choose my next read. Borders really get me going again.

I actually did not stop reading during the whole time I stayed in this area. Although there's not that many books to get, I contented myself reading magazines - computer magazines for that matter. I even collected one publication which caught my fancy. From time to time, I also download eBooks (although good titles that do not have copyrights are scarce). Overall, my reading did not suffer too much, and I would say it's not that bad afterall. However, the coming of Borders is indeed a very welcome development, and the resurrection of my reading hobby is definitely in the offing once again - I already bought three new titles for me: The Google Story, one by Isaac Asimov, and I'd like to try Cormack McCarthy now by planning to read The Road. I bought Alice one as a gift - A Mighty Heart, to prepare her also for a long time of reading again.

If you wish hard enough, and hope long enough, everything is possible... really.

The 50th Post....

Well, what can I say? After ten months and a handful of topics, I am now in my 50th post in this blog... time sure flies real fast, and when you're blogging, it flies even faster... but then, the skies become much more colorful doing it anyways, so I guess the fun continues...

Just so there's something to see in my 50th blog, I included in here a picture of me and Alice at the top of a castle during our recent trip. What can I say (again), the feeling's kinda at the top right now...and it's a good one! Hope it'll last...

On PressCon and Writing

River had good news to us the other day. He said that he won in the Division Schools Press Conference (for elementary students), although he only got the 9th place. It was in the editorial writing category. He's actually kind of sad getting only 9th place, but Alice told him that it's alright, and that it was only his first venture in the journalism area, and that still has next year to improve on his skills in writing. She said further that it was indeed an accomplishment on his part, because he was not prepared - there was no formal training and coaching before the contest unlike in other schools - and even so, he still managed to be included in the top ten.

It was indeed an achievement for River. The division press conference is quite difficult to hurdle inasmuch as all the best writers in the province are there, competing with each other. And with no formal training in his school on the category in which he competed, that means the kid really knows how to write and got what it takes to compete in this field. Maybe it's the product of those years of reading anything he lays his eyes on. River you knnow, is a voracious reader.

While looking at the mother and the son chatting away about writing and press conferences, I cannot help but remember my childhood experiences in these areas. I was a writer too, having nurtured by my mother in this field at an early age. I actually started in press conferences in much the same age as River, and had been editor-in-chief of my schools' official papers from the elementary until college. I had been to various press conferences, in different levels, and I guess I really developed my skills by competing with the best students in this area. I believe that most probably just like me, River will hone his skills slowly but surely, until it comes to that point when he'll be there competing with the best of them. You know, just like me, River likes to read a lot, and I think that's one of the most important characteristics you need if you want to become a good writer. It reminds me of the time when I was still in high school competing and besting all of them in the regional and national levels. I usually rely on phrases and words I read, and remembering the writing styles of the authors of the articles I often read. I know River could go on much the same way. I can sense in him the interest and passion in this area which I felt when I was his age. While at it, I came to realize that the only difference between me and him in this field is that River likes to write editorials and features, while I wanted to be a good copyreader and sportswriter then.

Anyway, we finally put up a plan to further hone River's skills, and it is that he should continue writing manuscripts in his chosen areas, send his writings to me for comments, and then improve them throuogh my guidance and write more. This is again a time when you appreciate the developments in technology since it will not be a problem for us to do that, because we have emails and chats nowadays, and sharing and transfer of files is as easy as browsing the Web. River is sad that this year, he won't be able to compete in the regional level since only the best seven will be sent by the division. I told him that it will be an opportunity for him to practice more and learn more... and to become a better writer for next year. He liked the idea. He's really looking forward to participate in a higher level next year, and he's ready to do what it takes to get there.

Going on a Trip...

Alice and I both got week-long rests starting tomorrow... that's definitely good news! Well, for one, we'll be able to finally push through with our long-delayed plan of having the one-day tour of the areas near our place. You know, when you've just transferred to a new place of work, there's just so much to see and explore, and for quite a while already we've been wanting to do that. However, the last few weeks had been overwhelming for both our jobs and we couldn't just find the time for it. Now, due to this recent 'development', we'll finally make it happen...and it's fun! We actually talked to some friends already regarding this, you know, asking them to come with us and make the day more enjoyable (and less costly)... as the old adage goes, "the more, the merrier...".

A highlight of the trip is going to the fish market. Locals say that there is an area that is nearby our place that is very famous for fish. I don't know yet the exact name for it, but it will definitely be mentioned in the coming blogs :) They say that fish there are not only fresh and in abundance (meaning, there's just too many variety of them there), but also very very cheap. This sort of thing reminds me of the Sydney Fish Market where you can find just too many different species, choose what you like, and have it cooked while you watch the sun set while passing time at the marina... or it could be the Marina Bay in Singapore, where after paying 12 dollars you could practically eat all the seafoods you want (as long as you could take it). Well, if it's any of these two, that's definitely fine for me... but who knows, maybe this one has qualities that will make it unique in itself...

Then, there's an old castle just 20 minutes drive from our flat that I really would like to visit. I read about it in a book many weeks ago and I couldn't wait to check it after. This castle is one of the oldest in the region, and is an important component of the history of this place. Unfortunately, unlike the other younger 'forts', it was not properly maintained, and right now is undergoing a vigorous renovation. I always feel that by visiting places like this, you get to know more about the new place... you get to understand more about the country where you're living in for the moment... and I always wanted that, to understand the country and its people... I guess that's the only way we could be truly 'global' individuals...

And there's more... having been raised in a country full of beaches, I'd always liked the beach. And every chance of getting to one and touching the water and feeling it roll on my feet is always a welcome moment... and when there's fish, there's water... and of course beaches. Well, swimming, probably, is out of the picture right now, but we'll see :)

For Alice's part, well, she's a typical woman... she's looking forward to visit one of the biggest malls there is in this country, and it's there in the place we'll be visiting soon... she'd heard from a friend that there's a nice coffee shop there, offering varied 'specials', and if it's about coffee - everything about it - Alice will be there.

There will probably be other places to be visited during the trip, we don't know for sure right now. And that's the good thing about it... there's nothing better to look forward to than embarking on an adventure :)

Today I Realized...

That Filipinos can also compete with other nationalities in the area of education and training, and that Filipinos far from their homeland really become brothers and support each other during times of trial for one. This is a very different scenario from what I usually see and experience in the Philippines, where in every possible opportunity, other Filipinos will take cheap shots and backstab their colleague/s so that he/she will not be able to prosper.

Today I also realized that given the opportunity and the chance, Filipinos like me will do what it takes to excel in his field and help his organization realize his vision in his own humble way...

I got exactly that today. The chance to do a presentation about a strategic plan that I drafted two days ago for the educational technology center of an institution. This is in relation to my development plan for the said center. There are several development presentations given, and each one proved to be unique in itself. I happen to be the last presenter which enabled me to observe the various presentations and analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Applicants are varied, and that means they come from different nationalities and different academic background and industry experiences.

I do believe that based on the plans presented, my plans for the various action programs for the Center could compete with the best of them. Of course, it will sound bias since I am the one assessing everything, but objective as I can be, it really dawned on me that Filipinos could really do it, that is, we can really compete in the international stage provided we work diligently and devote serious time to our work. I know that more than 10% of Filipinos work abroad. But most of us work as ordinary employees. Some probably get lucky and are appointed in various administrative positions, but then, what I'm saying is, Filipinos outside of their native lands, really work their butts out and compete. And if they just put more efforts and more commitment to it, better positions can be there for the picking for them.

As I realized today, Filipinos are really one gifted people... the problem is, we tend to show these gifts to us when we are far away from our land. In the Philippines, we're contented on just being dead woods and always show our crab mentality... of course, not all of us are like that there... but then, those ones that are not are the rare ones... the exceptions, rather than the rule...I wonder, why is it so?

Today I learned...

That it takes almost two hours to teach a five-year old how to download a picture from the Internet...

It's like this... after chatting with River for about a half hour, Ashvin followed his 'Kuya' in chatting with me. Now, Ash, just like any other five-year old boy, needs to know everything about something he is currently doing, and after only five minutes of chatting, he asked me to give him a "download". Well, Ash is not new to chatting. We chat with him almost everyday, and he's already familiar with signing in and out, turning on the webcam and the voice chat facilities, and many other features of the Yahoo! Messenger that other adults wouldn't be able to learn in their lifetime. Maybe he heard it from his Kuya, who is in himself another tech-savvy boy, maintaining his own Friendster site and also doing other techie things on the Net, but Ash is very curious about downloads right now...

And so, I told him that I will send a picture to him. It is actually one of his pictures... taken just before we left once again to travel and work far away from them, and the one where he is bragging about his new shoes just before going to school. The initial steps were kind of easy... I just transferred the file, asked him to accept the file (which he missed the first time by clicking 'Decline' instead, so I transferred it again), and told him to wait until the file transfer finishes. That part was completed with minimal glitch, and everything was fine. And then...

After completing the transfer, I asked him if he saw his picture and he said he did not see anything. I told him to open the file and he said what button to press. I told him to describe to me what he sees in his YM window, and that's when the trouble began... Ash couldn't find the file, and much more he doesn't know where and in what folder it was saved (well, what can I say? He's five years old!)... I asked him to put the camera in front of the computer's screen so that I could see his YM, but it didn't work (of course...) I asked him to call his Kuya River, but River seems to be doing something and is unavailable for the moment. Alice joined the fray already because Ash is starting to get tantrums and we can clearly see him crying on the webcam. We've done the process again (transfer file)... then repeated it once more...until Ash got completely into fits... Alice decided to call them on the phone, talk to River in a strong voice (so he helps Ash), and finally solve the problem.

When River arrives, we repeated the file transfer one last time and it took only five minutes for Ash to learn how to download his picture from Yahoo...

Well, sometimes you have to learn things the hard way...

Pacquiao Land Once More

Today, Filipinos are once again gathered in that land of unity called the Pacquiao Land... well, that is not mentioning the fact that it is not only there in the Philippines that Filipinos are glued to their TV sets, but indeed, in all lands where Filipinos thrive, Pacquiao Land rules today!.. a colleague at work was asking me this morning if there's any news yet, obviously he doesn't have the Pinoy TV at home, and he's hoping someone from the group is a subscriber, which turned out no one is... with that, we just relied on the breaking news from Inquirer.net and hope that tonight, somebody will upload it on YouTube so that we, unfortunate ones, can at least watch the recorded versions of the fight... that's the problem when the fight's beamed by a network rather than TFC, and you're outside of the country during the event...

Anyways, so much for the (no sense) ramblings... as expected, Pacquiao did win the fight, although it was not what Filipinos are hoping for. As you can see, we wanted it to be an exclamation mark... sort of punctuating Barrera's retirement with a knockout. But it wasn't meant to be. It was probably because of the fact that he had to shed three pounds the day before the actual fight, or maybe it was - based on persistent rumors - because of the distraction (about Ara Mina?) he had during training, that he never really perfected his arsenal of weapons to bring Barrera down. Well, a win is still a win, as we say, and Pacquiao winning another fight is indeed good news for us. For the Pacman personally, it is a saving grace. After the bitter defeat from last election's battle, the Pacman had some sort of redemption in winning this fight, and we should see his popularity, which had waned during the last few weeks, soar again in the coming days.

For most of us, well, it was another day of unity for a country and a people mired by never-ending bickerings and divisiveness. At least, even for just a day, the Pacman once again becomes the Filipinos' hero... the only one that can unite them...even if it's only in that place called the Pacquiao Land.

Canon in D Major

Several nights ago, while Alice was busy looking for some songs to be added to her Friendster site, she came across a nice classical piece which quickly got our fascination. The piece turned out to be Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major, and in the next few hours we had downloaded more than a few arrangements of it. The piece had since became Alice's default audio for her site. We had selected some beautiful arrangements and would like to share them with you. You may want to visit our family's site at http://lontokfamily.multiply.com for these pieces. (copyrights of the pieces are reserved by their respective owners.)

Johann Pachelbel's Fast Facts:

Johann Pachelbel was one of the great organist-composers of his day, a man who could count Bach's teacher among his pupils (He taught Johann Christopher Bach who gave his younger brother, Johann Sebastian Bach, lessons in music). His life was tinged with tragedy and hardship - his first wife died with her baby son in the plague of 1683, and he had to flee from the French invasion of Stuttgart in 1692 - but he settled in Nuremberg and his second marriage produced seven children, two of whom became musicians, one an instrument maker and one a painter. His church music is highly regarded and innovative in the way it links the pitches of the notes to meaning - steadfast faith denoted by repeated notes, for example. His lilting Canon in D is a throwaway little piece by comparison to his big sacred works, but its charming grace has made it a favorite filler of compilation CDs. The canon in D major was written in or around 1680. Pachelbel was born in Nuremberg in August 1653 and died there on March 6th, 1706.

Where you may have heard of Canon D:

- films such as Father of the Bride and Ordinary People
- some TV ads
- Coolio rap single in 1997, The Farm single All Together Now used in Euro 2004, Go West by the Pet Shop Boys
- in shopping malls
- in the funeral of Lady Diana Spencer

Sound Trip, Part 2

Yesterday, while preparing for our weekend ironing chore, Alice decided to organize her iTunes song list in her computer. There are songs that are repeated, primarily due to re-copying and re-updating of the list over time. Since she is currently 'crazy' over Pachelbel's Canon in D Major, she wanted to add a few of the good arrangements of the piece which she downloaded several days ago to her iPod, and thus before doing so, she needs to organize her iTunes list so that no songs can be repeated in her iPod. While at it, she decided to play our favorite songs done by local artists.. and so after quite a while, we had another sound trip there...

As I already intimated, sound tripping gives you varied emotions... when you're listening to your favorite songs, certain memories flood your thoughts, and you cannot help but just let them flow. Yesterday was the time to reminisce important events about me and my family... it was the time to remember precious events I shared with my kids... it was the time to rewind events of my life once more...

Sometime when you're listening to music and you're rewinding your life again through your thoughts, it cannot be helped that both good and bad memories will come. Good memories are always welcome... they serve to refresh both your body and your soul, and make you face life in a brighter perspective... bad memories... well, you cannot do away with them... good thing about them is, they give you important lessons in life... lessons that helped mold your character, if not made you a better person altogether...

Yesterday, aside from the ironing, I have done another important thing with the help of songs I listened to... that is, meditate about my life again... time and again, I need it.

Friends

It's always nice meeting and talking with friends...old friends that you haven't talked to for a while especially. Yesterday, while chatting with my kids, I chanced upon a friend who was also my student in the graduate school sometime ago... We chatted for a while - the usual pleasantries - and then the conversation later turned into our respective jobs. He said he's currently in the middle east, working as a lecturer in a college there, and right now in the second year of his contract. He further said it is quite boring there, sort of being inside the jail... Well, he said, that's primarily because there's just nowhere you can go to whenever you get that extra time to spend on leisure. (I guess that's the perennial dilemma of OFWs in the middle east). Anyways, he said that he's currently looking for a better job, maybe in another country... one in which he can bring his family, he says, so that he'll not be homesick anymore... we talked for a quite a long time... probably because both of us had nothing to do anyway to spend the weekend rest time, and probably because somehow, when you're in a foreign land, chatting with an old friend is really a time that you can treasure... I told him also about my job, and how I'm having the same emotions as his because I'm far from my family, and other trivial things an old friend will tell another old friend when they talk to each other again after sometime. We parted saying that we should always keep in touch, so that at least we can pass important 'trivial' information between each other :)

The same thing happened to Alice today... while preparing to chat with our kids, she chanced upon an old friend whom she met as a co-scholar in Sydney... they talked about many things - family, friends, work - and they also chatted for quite a while... Alice found out that she also visited Singapore last summer for vacation, and it was unfortunate that we were not able to see each other there, and probably spend some kind of a reunion there. Anyways, she's inviting us to come and see her place, probably in the summer, and Alice said we'll give it a serious thought. Alice and her friend even swapped new pictures of their adventures to further update each other of each one's new experiences... they also parted ways promising to keep in touch, and chat with each other again...

Friends are indeed treasures... they provide that extra 'push' so that we could go on happily with our lives, and continue with our own journey... chatting with old friends fill some space in our lives and somehow make it more colorful... meeting them even in the web after many years still brings us fond memories that provide more colorful pictures to our lives, both then and now... that's one purpose of the Net we should be thankful about.

On this day...

for Alice...

On this day marks a very important day in our existence... it is not because this is the day I first met you (although that is also important) nor is it the day you finally had enough of my "kakulitans" that you finally said 'yes' (it's very important as well!)... more than those, this day is important to us because this day starts our life together... eleven years ago.

I know that so many things happened between then and now... I had witnessed three miracles as you gave me our three pride and joy - River, Rain and Ash. I had witnessed how you bear the pain of introducing them to this world, and your patience of nurturing them to be the good children that they now are... thank you...

Our journey together is not without problems, and time and again, you showed your trust...and love, through all the hardships that we've been through. You had given me strength, many times when I needed it, and you had always been my guide through the times that I've been lost... much more, you saved me so many times already I cannot keep track anymore.

The good times we have are the most memorable ones I have... my time with you, as well as with the kids, are the sweetest... I may not always express it, but your company is the one I always long for.

On this day, I want you to know that you're the best that had happened to me (but you know that already, of course)... I want to tell you that knowing that you're there with me all the time, I could endure and go through anything and everything... I want you to know that my journey is the sweetest because I'm doing it with you.

On this day, as I always do in my prayers, I renew my vows and commitment with you... until my last breath...

Happy anniversary... I love you!

e-Learning

Working as an administrator for the learning content management system of an organization is both challenging and entertaining. For one, you get to meet lots of people, especially learners, and with it, you get to analyze how different people build thought processes and acquire knowledge. I find this very motivating as it is amusing since I learn to understand many kinds of people and their inherent qualities. On the other hand, working as a content administrator, especially for materials concerning training and education, could be frustrating at times. You have to always check whether modules are updated, whether new concerns are raised by both learners and mentors alike, and whether the whole package - the system - is working effectively and efficiently on both fronts - the technical and the social.

One thing that really annoys me in the current scheme of things is the fact that I need to manually enter all the participants whenever a new course, or module, is opened. Well, as there is not much security present currently in the network, I guess I have to bear with this task for sometime... anyways, each training course usually caters to an average of 20 - 25 participants, and so, it is not really a burden if you would really look at it...

As of now, I am proud of the fact that there are currently more than 15 courses being offered by the system - these are really diverse courses ranging from professional workshops to business-related to engineering-based and IT modules - and most of these courses are either created or put up with my help. There are more than 50 mentors and close to 500 learners already. I am equally proud that I am really progressing fast in this new area, which happens to be one of the hottest IT areas nowadays. Technically, I would say that I still need many things to learn and to develop, which I currently am giving priority in terms of time and effort. But then, when you're in a field that you love and doing something that you're just so passionate about, everything will be as simple as they can be, and everything will just come out naturally.

Of course, even though I am currently venturing into this new skill, I'm not forgetting that I am still, and will always be, a teacher. I guess it will always stay in my blood and in my system... I came from a family of mentors anyway, and I guess it really develops in the genes as an end-result of the never-ending human evolution. And thus, I keep a course or two as a mentor/teacher in the LCM system. It allowed me to hone further another important skill - being a specialist in learning development. But more than that, it enables me to continuously interact with different kinds of learners, be they new ones in the field, or old peers that like me, are not easily quenched in their thirst for learning new things. That's where my further development is anchored, I believe. Much more, it fuels my continuous evolution as a human being.