Do You Care?

Being asked this question makes you think... Do you think about the issues out there or only those directly involving you? What are the things you care about?

Here's a conversation in DNeero concerning this:



Now, what do you care about?

Hello Kitty Birthday Party

I've made a new post on my new hobby site. It's about my niece's 1st birthday party with Hello Kitty as the theme. I've made some invitations, tarpaulin designs, giveaways, placecards, and other layouts for her big day.

Here's the link to her Hello Kitty party: Hello Kitty Party

Halfway to 2009 and some random thoughts

Half the year is gone and I don't think I've accomplished much. I don't know if I've done any of the goals I've set for this year. Half of the year still remains and we'll see if I can accomplish most, if not all, of my goals for this year.

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I feel so damn tired... physically, emotionally, psychologically -- name it. I hate feeling angy, frustrated, depressed, stressed, etc... but I can't help it. People near me aren't any help either. In fact, they're contributing greatly. I need to escape or get away from here. Gotta start planning for this...

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I need some feasible long term goals that will help me improve my life. I already have some in mind. I need to focus, too, and not let distractions get in the way.

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I wanna go back to school but I don't think I'd like to go to any school here. I wanna study in a foreign land, meet new people, experience different culture. *Sigh* That'd be too expensive... Gotta look for alternatives.

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I'm praying my sis will pay me back all the money she owes me and diligently pay the installment she has on my Bankard Gold. Darn! It's too much already. All I ever do is pay for her... It's ruining my budget and I always end up saving nothing for myself. =(

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Enough of the rants. Gotta start looking for something POSITIVE to post next time. This blog is getting too negative.

Flash Floods at Midnight, No Electricity, and Other Events

The past few days have been really bad for me. First off, our internet connection at home has been encountering connection problems the most recent was last Saturday when we lost connection in the afternoon. I thought itwas because of the hard rain (our internet connection at work suffered from this before) but when around midnight the problem was still there, I called tech support. After doing what was intsructed of me with no success, the TSR finally said he's schedule an on-site visit to our house.

Less than 14hrs later, two Globe personnel came to "fix" it. Problem was, whatever they do didn't solve the problem and they went to the house twice with a number of calls in between coming from them. Having not solved the problem, they said they'd escalate it and see if there are other solutions. We seem to be the second client who complained of the same problem and no matter what they try they can't get it fixed. The next day, still no connection when they came. But late in the afternoon I was so happy to check that we got our connection back.

Even if it took them 48hrs to fix, I'm thankful it was solved. I'd like to thank those two personnel who came back a couple of times to the house to check and did numerous calls to follow up and try to solve the problem. Problem got fixed late Monday afternoon.

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Monday morning when they came, I was about to configure some work updates. Since I had no connection I was transferring files to my USB to transfer my work to my Bro's computer (he has a separate net connection, albeit, slower). Because they'd have to use my laptop to configure, I was in a hurry to transfer the files and did not notice I made the wrong copies and had overwritten the recent files I worked on 'til 3am. Of course since the files were transferred from USB to HDD (when it should have been the other way around) and I chose overwrite, I can't recover the files. Waaah! All those hard work down the drain! I barely rested and went on a marathon coding to recreate the files, upload and configure. Huhu...

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Speaking of my coding project, I have to make some changes to a major feature and while working on it late Monday night, my brother interrupted me telling me to watch something outside. To my surprise, the water was steadily rising, current was fast and the water is already inside the gates. This was quite a shock to think it happened around midnight when many people were already asleep! I hurriedly turned off my laptop, and other electrical appliances, placed them and other stuff on top of the beds. Since our kitchen is not as elevated as the front of the house, water got inside. We've moved some stuff... others we can't -- too heavy. 

This was the FIRST time I've encountered flooding where water got in the house. I managed to stay calm but my mom and my sis were already panicking -- esp when they saw some parents outside carrying their kids to escape their houses. Our area wasn't hit that bad... just some ankle length water in some areas of the house. Outside, the water was knee-high and the current was fast. Three of us went outside around 2am just to check, hehe... I lost my slippers because of that. What was worst was that electricity was cut off by 1am and it was pitch black everywhere with water still rising and some people trying to escape their half-submerged homes (other blocks in our village).

Around 2:30am, the water level was slowly going down and we started to do some cleaning. Since we have so much stuff at home, we weren't able to clean all. By 3:30am, we were so tired from the initial cleaning and fell asleep by 4am. It's too much to try to sleep earlier knowing that there's water in some parts of the house and may continue to rise. Gotta be sure...

Tuesday morning came and we're absolutely shocked at the extent of dirt and damage we have to clean. The place was so muddy esp. outside. The neighbors were already starting their cleaning. Since the men in the house had to leave for work, there was only me (since I'm working homebased and I can't work without electricity) and Jessa who made the cleaning. We're not even halfway done yet. In the evening, power was restored between 9-10pm. We got some help from Joemar when we continued cleaning. And we called it a night by past 1am. Again, we're not done yet. Today, we're doing the laundy and the amount of clothes, blankets, etc... we have to wash is 3x than normal because of the flood. There are still too many stuff to throw because they're heavily damaged by the muddy waters. We'll probably be finished by the end of the week.

I researched on this before going to sleep and read that these flash floods (it happened in many areas) occurred because the dike in the upper areas near here overflowed from all the heavy rains of the past few days. Some areas (esp. those near the dike) suffered heavily ours would pale in comparison. Their houses are probably submerged in water. Some have half their homes submerged while ours here have only ankle length water in some areas.

Well, I'm just glad it's over now. What an experience! And I hope I won't experience it again.

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Now I have to make some marathon coding for the changes I have to make to the project I'm working on. If only I can concentrate well I can finish this soon. But as it is, my body is aching terribly -- esp. my hands (from all the brushing, sweeping, and other hard cleaning work we did at home) :'(

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On a sidenote, I'm glad I was able to give some pens and pencils to Pens of Hope in Davao last Saturday. It's such a nice feeling to know you can help others in need.

To know more about it and how to help visit this blog:

http://pensofhopeindavao.blogspot.com

Rants, Cleanliness, Malls, Etc...

Today didn't start well for me. After sleeping really late last night, I woke up to my almost 2yr old niece apparently complaining that her bed is a bit wet. Seemed like her diaper was already so full. Her mom left so early for work and probably forgot to check her diaper. So I was left with the changing diapers task.

Then I realized my sis still hasn't paid the amount she owed me and I have to use that money to pay my bills, one of which was due today. I'm getting so depressed now because my budget gets terribly messed up. I always end uplike this -- one reason I can't really save and I need to save. =(

Then while Lexi and I were sitting on the front porch,we saw somebody pass by the gate and spit so loudly outside. Both my niece and I had the same reaction: Ewww! (her fave expression). I hate it when people do that 'coz it's so disgusting. I experienced another one while I was going to the bank to pay my credit card bill -- I stepped on some chewing gum in the pavement. Gross! I was really feeling all the more down and angry by then.

In Singapore, littering and spitting anywhere is prohibited. Streets are clean and you won't really see spit marks randomly on the pavement. I think it carries a $1,000 SGD fine if caught. Here in the Philippines, people just spit anywhere and throw their garbage anywhere including used chewing gums. To think that you see trash cans everywhere (even in public utility vehicles) still people here are being lazy. I'm not saying all but a good number probably. Hey, if only a few do these our country wouldn't be so polluted and dirty as it is now.

Why am I complaining more about this? We all know that the threat of the Swine Flu Influenza virus is still prevalent now. There are so many news clips about what to do with cleanliness being on top of the list but why do people still do these in public?! The complain immediately if problems arise but I hope before they do they'll look at themselves and see if they've contributed to the problem.

While I was entering SM (was there to withdraw some money to pay the said CC bill) I noticed there was now a "foot bath" as a precaution for the swine flu virus. Looking at their "foot bath" I thought it was ok... looked clean unlike the foot baths I encounter everytime I travel between CDO and Davao (which look so dirty I always have second thoughts stepping on them as I feel I'd probably get a virus from doing that than preventing a virus) so I had no complaints. 

After the "foot bath" came the customary checking of bags. It's the norm when entering malls here. But there's just this one mall here which irks me the most when doing these bag checking. Once you enter the main doors, you get checked/frisked. When you enter another section (grocery, dept store, etc), your bags get checked again. Wherever you enter your bags get checked -- only for mall owned stores, I guess. It's such a hassle, seriously! Try to get stalled waiting for others to have their bags checked while the lines of people waiting to get in grow longer. Not to mention, the attitude of those guards aren't really customer friendly most of the time.

Speaking of that mall, I went there today to buy some stuff (SM didn't have it) for the snacks I wanted to prepare. So I had my bag checked a number of times before I got inside the grocery section. I was still inside when noon came. After the Angelus, the grocery attendants fell in line and started "dancing" (they always do this) and until now it annoys me. It's ok to do this. I understand the staff needs a sort of "exercise" from all the standing they do but they should also know that THEY SHOULDN'T BLOCK THE WAY. I was shuffling through the aisles and getting stuck because they haven't finished dancing yet. Not to mention, you can barely find an available attendant if you need to ask something since most of them are dancing.

Whew! Quite a number of rants I have here... My day seemed so negative. Luckily, I watched the latest Naruto Shippuuden episode just now and there were some ITACHI scenes!!! Yes! It made up for my dismal day. Hehehe...

Now, if I can just get back to working...

Pens of Hope in Davao

For the past two years, my former landlady's househelp [in CDO] would muse about the poor state of children in her hometown [Zamboanga]. Children who would like to go to schools have problems doing so. And if ever they get enrolled in public schools, many have trouble sustaining it as they can't afford school supplies. They can barely afford the daily meals and they'd place that as the highest priority rather than school things. Children would walk how many kilometers just to go to school (like you see being shown on TV) and some barely have good slippers to wear.

This househelp I call Ate Julie would say she pities the kids going to school because of this --  because she has experienced it before. She wanted to do something even in her small litle way -- even if she can give something that's for one class (that'll be around 40-50 students).

Since she's a househelp with a very small income (we all know how much they earn here in the Philippines) giving something for those poor school children will be way too much considering she sends money every month to her family, too. But her desire to help was bigger and so for months she saved whatever small amounts she can. She talked about it to us and we pledged to help her in our own little ways, also. That got her really excited and she planned on giving enough for one class. I'm not sure what grade level -- if Grade 1 or 2.

Those living in the house (me included) contributed erasers, sharpeners, colors, pencils (my share), pad papers and notebooks. I joined her as we went to buy these things (not in malls as they are so expensive and we're on a limited budget) and we got both excited. I love shopping for school supplies :-). She packed a set for each student (around 45-50 sets), placed them in a box, brought them to the bus terminal, paid for the "cargo" and asked the bus conductor to drop it in a certain terminal where her brother will fetch it. We waited for an sms from her bro whether he got it or not. Fortunately, he did and he brought it to the school.

The teacher in charge was very, very happy at what Ate Julie has done even if it's only for one class. The children who received them and their parents were ecstatic. And we are, too. I asked if there's a picture and she said they've taken one from an old film camera. But since it's in a far barrio and there were no digital cameras or internet connection there, the picture got lost. I was hoping I can post the ithere :-(. We did this again last year (and added some rulers) and the beneficiary was a different class this time.  This year, however, I'm not sure as I already resigned from work and returned home. Maybe I'll ask her if she's still doing this or probably not as we're not there anymore. Still, maybe she will and I'll send her some money to buy those school supplies. I better send her a message. :-)

Now, why am I posting this?

I've come across this Blog via Twitter entitled Pens of Hope. It's about donating slightly used pens and/or pencils that will be given to the needy children of Davao City [my hometown]. According to the blog:

The "Pens of Hope in Davao" is an outreach program initiated to help address the scarcity of writing materials in developing countries like the Philippines.

This blog post made me remember Ate Julie's charitable act and I wanna do something to help also.

I'll try to find some unused pens/pencils here and donate. I know I have some. If not then I'd just buy some. Better give unused ones...

If you wanna help, too, go to Kikit Avenue for more details. You can also tell your friends about it and/or blog this.

Now, I gotta look for those pens and/or pencils...

Design suggestions anyone?

I changed my custom blog template to one available in Blogger so that I can use widgets. This design will be temporary, though, because I intend to make my own.

When thinking of site designs/layouts I will normally get stuck not because I can't think of any but because I can't seem to decide on what I want. Normally, I'd start one, before it's even finished I'll grew tired of constantly working and looking at it that I'd start a new one again. I better learn to change this habit.

Aside from this, Blogger seemed to have changed the way templates are made and I'll have to familiarize myself again with the coding style to be able to make my own. *sigh*

Now, care to suggest some ideas for Blogger designs? 

Get your Facebook Username NOW!

Having a username in Facebook is now available. Get yours now before somebody gets it first. Of course, that means I will be using pinkroma again. Haha!