from the philippine daily inquirer today :

RP pushcart educator CNN hero of the year – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

mabuhay ka efren!

inspiring exerpts from the news article…

“Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need,” Peñaflorida.

… Serve, serve well, serve others above yourself and be happy to serve… Peñaflorida.

i particularly liked what jim dalton, cnn worldwide president said before the event :

“We do something that’s not done—shine a light on everyday people that do extraordinary work,” Walton.

they say nobody can beat a filipino especially if it’s online voting. i say, i’m sure he got a lot of votes from non-filipinos, too.

if i have the time…  if i have the chance to see you…

1. i will ask you for one of your old shirts that i can overhaul and turn to this nice re-useable shopping bag found in this post. 

it can be neatly folded so you bring anywhere

or this one from martha stewart :

very easy to do!

2. i will ask you if you have an old furniture that is needing mending and new paint, and i will spend one (or maybe 2) weekend sanding it, then i’ll buy an earth-friendly paint and i will try my best to turn it into this…

very nice pieces

3. i will ask you for little pieces of papers you have saved from your travels, like a train ticket, a stamp, a receipt from a really nice restaurant, a post card or flyer for marketing, i will buy a nice blank notebook from a book store and turn it into this travel scrapbook from martha stewart ….

this one is no glue but i will need adhesives to secure your memorabilias

or i can buy a frame to keep them together like this one from this link..

so you can share to your house guests

ang dami dami ko pang ideas… i wish then i have the time, and hopefully i can see you…

a novel by cecelia ahern…

how is it possible to know someone you’re never met?

i have been reading this book for weeks. sabi nga ni ya, “hindi ka pa rin tapos dyan? minememorize mo ba yan?”, hehehe. maybe. this is the first book of cecilia ahern i have read. i have my doubts with her. after this book, i will read another one by her she has a way with words and capturing inner feelings in writing.

here are some quotes i have listed.

and still my heart pumps on. even when broken it still works.

people never truly tire of playing games and dressing up, no matter how many years pass.

i don’t want anybody around me… i want to be on my own to grieve. i want to feel sorry for myself without symphatheticwords and clinical explanations. i want to be illogical, self pitying, self examining, bitter and lost for just a few more days, please, world, and i want to do it alone.

when something tragic happened, you’ll find out that you, the tragicee, become the person that has to make everything comfortable for everyone else.

but more often than not, the easy decisions are the wrong decisions.

be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.

it’s nice to be important. but it’s more important to be nice.

you have to take your moments. don’t just go head first into everything, like a bull seeing red.

everything grows. including love.

everything builds, including our ability to cope with it. that’s how we keep going.

what was considered bizarre has now a possibility.

it is during troubled times like this that people see straight… because when you’re in trouble you look harder for answers than those who aren’t, and it’s those answers that help you through.

what do you say to someone whose life you saved?

how extraordinary the ordinaryreally is, a tool we all keep going, a template for sanity.

you have tp be careful with moving, Gracie. too much shock causes a serious, possibly a grave decline.

why do i like this book? because at one point in my life, i can relate to the grieving and longing. and then later on moving on

news banner at the PDI today

yesterday, filipinos celebrated victory once again

from the phippine daily inquirer…

The greatest fighter of era, is filipino…

He likened himself to a tiger. Actually, he could have referred to himself as a boxing deity and no one would have argued…

A tiger in seventh heaven. Although with his latest accomplishment, he is being referred to as the GOAT—the greatest of all time…

from cnn…

Manny Pacquiao cemented his legacy as one of history’s greatest fighters...

 

Pacquiao took more punches than we’d seen him take against Diaz, De La Hoya or Hatton — but was never hurt…

 

The Filipino’s ring generalship never wavered. He was too fast, too sharp, too busy for Cotto and the result was deserved…

from yahoo news…

Manny Pacquiao’s speed and power were way too much for Miguel Cotto’s heart…

“This is the last weight division for me,” Pacquiao said. “It’s history for me and more importantly a Filipino did it…

photo from yahoo news

quoting the inquirer once again from this news post (pacquio TKOs cotto, makes history)…

 

No man has won seven world titles in seven weight divisions and only five boxers have won six – Pacquiao, Oscar de la Hoya, Thomas Hearns, Hector Camacho, and James Toney.

this is the kind of news we filipinos need now (after all the typhoon tragedies, politics and other source of depression) – a lot of pride and glory.

sesame street turns 40 a last week! oh my… that makes me near ancient! hehehe…

when i was young i consider the sesame street charaters my friends. they are my afternoon companions after school. i would copy the messy way cookie monster eat the cookies and how oscar would hide inside the trash can.

like me, i’m sure a lot of kids then learned to count as count dracula would. and would envy the kids who get to hug big bird. i would even ask my parents to buy me striped pajamas like the ones ernie and bert would wear to bed.

as a tribute, google featured the sesame street charaters in google doodle

every day last week i would check out google to see the day’s sesame street treat.

thank you google!!!

BOO!!!

this post should have been published days ago… i was busy and then i thought – wag nalang kaya? but looking at the photos a while ago… i can not bear not to share it

so here goes…

this year, same as last, i volunteered to accompany my nephew trick or treating. my nephew’s costume is a dragon — according to my friend mimi, the co-founder and owner of bumblebee. but because of the color na green and purple, people kept on saying, “hello, barney!”, o kaya naman, “look! it’s barney!”, hahahahaha! he would often say,”hinde! dancing dragon ako,”… then later on napagod na sya. sabi na nya, “tita anne, sabihin mo sa kanila, dragon ako.” DRAGON nga kasi! hehehe.

mukha bang dragon?

medyo right? hehe...

despite the back to back typhoon, calamities and tragedies our country have experienced, it is a refreshing break to finally be a part of something festive.

waiting...

the hulk with his pumpkin

sister, this way pls...

cute face, scary painting

more photos at random nice things…

i was up and excited by 4am and woke up mark who slept over so we can go together for the big event! the adidas king of the road 2009! this will be my first 5k run as the last time sa smash and run we ran 3k only, hehehe… together with some senior citizens and kiddos so, this one is really something i look forward to. i tried to train and jog despite my busy, busy week and despite the weather.

we arrived at the fort a few minutes before gun start and you feel everyone’s excitement. so, naturally as we ran along we lose each other especially kung hindi kayo magkaka pace.

1. gathering up for the gunshot

2. with first time runners don and minette

i kept on looking over my watch kasi alam ko sa UP oval which is 2.2k kaya ko sya ikutin 2x by 40mins only so i think kaya ko naman ang 5k ng less than 1hr… so i was in a wonder na why i was far from the finish line by the time i’ve been running for 55mins so i kept on running/walking lang… aba nakakapagod no kaya me walking. i finished at around 1hr 3mins i guess… was a little disappointed but happy that i was able to finish the run…

3. can you see me? i was sooooooooooo tired....

but wait! wait! wait! apparently, the route we took was not just 5k as originally planned… it turned out we ran an extra 1.41k!!! woohoo!!! this is very good news! how did we find out? syempre the mayayabangs quickly posted the achievement as soon as they went home after the race… some even via mobile phone posting shoutouts via twitter and facebook… ako, i waited until after lunch na… hehehe. then, this morning a friend commented on my fb shoutout saying :

apparently, that was 6.41. there you go. you’ve ran more than 5k now!

4. the supposed to be route and the actual route

oh wow! oh wow! oh wow! we googled it and true enough… via i2runner in this post, we found out we ran more than the planned 5k. i quickly spread the news espcially to those who ran with me in the 5k

5. team 5k (fr right to left) : mark, thets, minette and me

photos : 1, 2 and 3 by my cousin ica; 4 from www.i2runner.com and 5 by my officemate joey using my phone cam.

PS : if you have not tried the social vibe in this blog, so do by clicking on the social vibe badge at the right side of the screen

hello readers!

notice at the left side of my blog template is the social vibe widget. from it’s homepage…

social vibe  is a “social media utility connecting people with brands, empowering them to engage with sponsors and share branded content with their social graph to benefit a cause of their choice”,

how? by simply clicking on the widget and doing a very simple activity. it will only take not more than 2 minutes of your time… easy diba?

my chosen organization is world wildlife fund – an international organization dedicated to evironmental conservation by protecting the nature for more than 45 years now.

so, this requests you to help me raise funds for wwf by doing this simple social vide acitivity, every hit you make is a corresponding donation to wwf.

thank you!

from the random nice things post today…

last weekend was not a time to relax or rest for us. after more than 12 months of stay in our las villas in valle verde apartment, my friends and i are moving out and moving in to a new one. saturday was spent, doing last minute errands, taking to our previous home management and to the new building management, packing things, throwing away excess stuff that will soon turn into clutter, saying goodbye (well, not really kasi we we’re somehow avoiding the dramas…), cleaning up, moving out…

endless packing

and moving up! yes, finally i convinced rhea to move to a building and try out the condo life.

view from the living room

it was not an easy weekend indeed. we have our move team which includes my favorite brother – eggie (nevermind that he is my only brother basta favorite ko sya) and the 2 good friends of rhea’s brother (nasa london na kasi si keith so he sent representatives, hehehe), do endless tasks of moving. hay… sobrang pagod! we had dinner at nearly midnight na … naturally hindi kami natapos to unpack. we, had to call it a day and tried to sleep but was not able to do so soundly because th aircon is not working properly

sigh… so i woke up early sunday to continue cleaning up and unpacking. we had to run to the mall to buy kitchen tools and other basic stuffs, drop by to our previous apartment to clean up some more and i had to go to the grocery pa to buy our supplies… i was so, so, so0000000 tired… i kept on hitting shelves and other people in the grocery with my cart — endless apologies from me. and it’s already 5:30pm! i had to rush to megamall pa to claim our race packet for the adidas king of the road 2009 and the claiming is only up to 7pm only! i need to hurry! i had to call rhea so i need not drive all the way to basement 5 to park the car. i told her to meet me at the lobby para mag mrt nalang ako kasi sale sa megamall and sabi ng kapatid ko super dami daw ng tao… so, i had to hitch a ride until edsa central and walk all the way to megamall. grabeng pagod na pagod na pagod na pagod na ko…

i was literally about to faint of stress lack of energy when a was hit by a random compliment from a stanger

she was there manning the entrance area of the claimin stations and i was just looking through her. as in i am not paying attention because gusto ko nalang matapos na ang gagawin at umuwi nalang. then out of the blue, she told me. “ma’am, i like your top,” and gave me a sweet smile. she made me smile and she made me feel so much lighter.

taken at the hotel

giving strangers random acts of kindness like a smile, compliment or a simple hello can indeed do wonders. at least sa akin effective sya. this girl made me feel likeable (kahit and meant nya ay yung suot ko    ….) and she made me forget for a moment how tired i am.

is a virtue. this is what my mama would always say whenever we would as children start to raise our voice and simply refuse to just wait. 

today while i was on queue at the grocery and waiting for my turn, i hear this man yell at one of sm hypermart’s staff (he was holding a grocery push cart na apparently not working properly and pushed it over to the poor guy)… as in ang lakas ng boses nya. he said and i quote, “e kung sira to, alisin nyo na to dito! sipain ko pa yan eh,” all heads turn to him (mean no?) and then hindi pa sya naging happy dun… sabi pa nya, “you’re wasting our time!”

sigh…

really… what’s will he lose over 2 to 4 minutes to check over a perferctly working grocery cart? i don’t know… made me think — siguro at point in my life i may have lost my patience over such a petty thing. maybe in past i used to think my 5minutes which i thought was wasted was more important than other people’s feelings.

there is a reason why i saw this man make an ugly scene a while ago… maybe, this is God’s of telling me — “see, how embarassing it is to lose your patience over a petty thing? in this world of text messaging, emails, mobile phone calls, excellent customer service, atm machine, online services, 30-minute delivery and fast food services — patience is still a virtue.”

so next time i start to lose patience over :

1. a cashier who does not have enough change for my purchase and had to ask for change in the next counter,
2. a long queue in the building parking entrance
3. a long queue over the elevator lobby
4. my staff making me wait for a feedback or input ot report that is due an hour ago
5. over my sister endlessly talking about her day
6. and over other everyday routine… that is taking more time than usual…

there is nothing wrong with waiting… making a scene is not the solution. in the end, you will only regret it.

so, we must learn how to wait again….

proverbs 19:11