Purely Ohtique!

BloggerWave!

2008-06-02T11:44:00.001+08:00

Let's do the Bloggers' Wave this June!

It's the month of June, and that means we're half way through the year already! God I didn't notice it, the year's ending fast. Next thing you know, it's December and you need the cash flowing. Well, That's the truth for me.

Did I mention I have plenty of friends and relatives and godchildren, and the growing number of nephews and nieces on the side.

So for me, it's better to start earning and saving extra for the rainy days (December=Rainy days) as early as June. And how do I make money online? I monetize this blog. Ya know, a little paid review won't hurt.

How? By joining Europe's fastest growing advertsing media on blogs - Bloggerwave. If you want to know what I am talking about, go ahead and check it out.

It's time for some Sex and the City

2008-05-31T10:23:00.002+08:00

From a half hour cable show, to the BIG screen. On TV, SATC wry look at Manhattan's dating scene that was more about female friendship than sex, though there was plenty of that. Will the movie live up to the series?

I am into the Sex and The City wave, so I took the SATC survey. Wanna see it?click here for answers.

David Cook: Newest AI Champion!

2008-05-22T14:47:00.004+08:00

Kudos to Cook!

This ~~might be~~ is a late post already since everybody knows that David Cook triumphed over David Archuleta. Everybody's happy including Dex :)

David vs David: The 2 American Idol Finalists - David Cook and David Archuleta

To watch the 'Idol' Finalists Rumble and how 'Simon Declares A Winner' click here. I am still happy for the charming 17-year-old David A though. For his age, it's already a big achievement. At least he made it to the finals, beating all the other contestants. And I bet music producers are already offering album contracts, knowing that David A is as famous as David C.

Am waiting for the next season of AI this soon. :)

Customer Service or Customer No Service

2008-05-22T14:26:00.000+08:00

Online customer surveys are used for various reasons, to include your evaluation of general site experience and evaluation of online customer service. Let's call them "online pop-up surveys".

In Taking Up a 2nd Course

2008-05-19T14:15:00.000+08:00

When I was attending college, 4 yrs ago (lol), okay, 8 years ago, I am interested to take up Nursing and/or Dentistry. It’s both a Science-related course if you may notice. But my parents oppose as they might not just support me financially. That’s why I finished AB English instead.

So if I have a chance to take a second course, it will be BS in Nursing. Or any other medial-related course that will lead me to hospital work. I might just be an ultrasound technician or a nurse. So my advice to those who will take up college: be sure to take up a course that you really wanted. If you want to be a Nurse, go ahead and study in ‘Nursing-focused’ school, if you want to be an ultrasound technician, go study in ultrasound schools and sonogram in sonography schools.

Really now, medicine-related jobs usually get higher salaries.

Mom's Day

2008-05-10T09:24:00.008+08:00

Mother’s day is on May 11, that’s tomorrow. And as a mom myself, I would like every mom in world to enjoy this special ~~privilege~~ day given to all mothers. If you wanna know what my heart desires this Mother’s Day, I say I wish for a diamond.

Ok, forget it! That’s just a silly wish. I know I will not have it. But the hubby is asking what I want as a gift, I say I don’t want any. Wise hubby. He knows what I’m gonna answer. Well yes, I don’t want anything as a gift. It is because it’s impractical to buy an expensive gift for mother’s day just to please me. God knows how hard we are working and saving to be able to afford our dream house. And that’s what I want, did I say something expensive? Lol. But that’s my true wish, for all occasions that is. I want to have our own house in a peaceful village wherein there is no flood, no loud neighbors, and far from Mayon.

So much for my wish, I would like to share a great poem dedicated for all the Mothers out there.

A MOTHER'S LOVE

A Mother's love is something that no on can explain,
It is made of deep devotion and of sacrifice and pain,
It is endless and unselfish and enduring come what may For nothing can destroy it or take that love away . . .
It is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking,
And it never fails or falters even though the heart is breaking . . .
It believes beyond believing when the world around condemns,
And it glows with all the beauty of the rarest, brightest gems . . .
It is far beyond defining,
it defies all explanation, And it still remains a secret like the mysteries of creation . . .
A many splendoured miracle man cannot understand And another wondrous evidence of God's tender guiding hand.

~Helen Steiner Rice~

My Worthwhile Travel Wish

2008-04-30T21:17:00.000+08:00

I want to do something interesting this summer, something that will somehow enrich and enlighten my ‘idle’ and sinful soul. And I have confirmed this desire after hearing the mass last Sunday in St. Jude Cathedral. The priest, Father Ham, invited anyone who wants to join in the so-called Christian Cruise. I am not sure if I can afford such Christian Cruises, but I am sure that I want and I need this kind of Christian Cruises. Father Ham said if anyone is interested, he can look for some good-hearted sponsors.

So there I searched for Christian Cruises in the internet and found the Living Passages. It is a site that works with non-profit organizations to offer travel with the purpose of a little adventure and missions services to the Lord’s people all around the globe. Anyone who wishes to join one of its Christian Cruises has the chance to experience genuine seafaring voyage on a luxury five-star yacht that can accommodate up to 170 cruisers. While on board, there will be bible teachings from famous and top Bible teachers and explorers.

Its recent Christian Mediterranean cruise will be on July this year. It is called the “Footsteps of Paul Christian Cruise” that will have Mr. Bob Cornuke, the Bible Explorer along with other Great Bible Teachers.

If God allows me to experience such Christian Cruise, I will be able to visit places such as the Bible ports of Athens, Patmos, Ephesus and Pergamum. The trip will start on July 18 and will end on the 26th of the same month.

Haircuts

2008-04-26T10:41:00.000+08:00

Your hair and face change as you get older. And so should your cut. Finding the right cut and color can give a huge boost to your overall appearance. Well, at least we think so ... what do you think?

Teh Evolution..

2008-04-23T13:08:00.003+08:00

The photo below is the evolution of a man who stayed and worked in one company for more than a year. Lol.

Now are you the CONVERTED one?Lol.

I Share What I know

2008-04-16T16:55:00.001+08:00

I am into SEO. That’s my line. I am not a Programmer. So when asked by people on how to set up an ecommerce site, I tell them I don’t know. One thing I know is how to install a shopping cart on an ecommerce site. I learnt it from Ashop.

And so, instead of telling people that I can’t help them in setting up their ecommerce sites, I tell them to browse Ashop’s shopping cart software. As I have mentioned in my other post, Ashop is an award-winning shopping cart software provider. And for me, they’re really the best because of one great feature. They have innovatively created SEO-friendly shopping cart software. Ashop people have embedded an organic coding structure within the shopping cart software in order to get your ecommerce sites in to good search engine rankings.

According to them “Your success is our success. Ashop Commerce knows that the success of all online stores is directly related with rankings on major search engines. “

Now, isn’t that cool?

What's My Name?

2008-04-13T00:00:00.002+08:00

What Raziel Means

You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something.
You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense.
You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of tro
uble is a lot of fun.
You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic "Type A" personality.
You are incredibly wise and perceptive. You have a lot of life experience.
You are a natural peacemaker, and you are especially good at helping others get along.
But keeping the peace in your own life is not easy. You see things very differently, and it's hard to get you to budge.
You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.
You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.
You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.
You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.
You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.
You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily.
Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

I think some of them are true. Though every statement is really applicable only to different situations that you deal upon in life. I say I have a mixture of different behaviors, and its either good and bad. I know I am appreciated, sometimes hated - but who cares. At the end of the day, it's still me. It's how I make my friends and loveones happy, that's all that matters to me.

How about you, What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Captain Barbell meets Who?

2008-04-12T11:14:00.006+08:00

Photo credit: Wikipedia's Captain Barbell Meets Darna article.

Captain Barbell meets Darna! kumusta naman?

I have read the news about it in a blog called Komiks News Now Philippines. I was surprised and ecstatic with this awesome idea. This news for some of you might be old.. I know, this was discussed by some bloggers by the end of last year. But what the heck, I am still fascinated by the concept, okai? I am not sure if GMA will actually launch a TV series combining these 2 pinoy superheroes, I hope they will. I will be a number one fan if ever :)

Captain Barbell Meets Darna is the latest creation of GMA-7 which aims to combine the power, fame and the fans of each super hero to make a success.

Here's the Info I got from IMD:

* Mars Ravelo's Captain Barbell Meets Darna (Complete Title)
Status : Pending Edit Status
Premieres : This Year
Number of Episodes : 90
Language : Tagalog
TV Station : GMA 7
Country : Philippines
Picture Format : NTSC (480i)
Audio Format : Stereophonic Sound
Camera Setup : Multi-Camera setup
Genre : Fantasy

Thanks to Komiks News for the info.

In Selling Online

2008-04-12T11:07:00.003+08:00

My friend Janey wanted to start her online business, and she wanted to sell fashionista bags made here in the Japan. She asked if I can help her in setting up her own website. I am no expert in online business; my knowledge is limited to website optimization. So I made some research and asked my other friends who already have their ecommerce sites.

Building your own ecommerce site is not an easy task - that is what I found out after doing the research. So to help my friend Janey, we followed on the steps in the ‘Building Your Own Website’ guide. And we almost lose our grip on that project until my other friend who offers web hostinggive us some advice which is to buy ecommerce software.

We thought wow, that’s a great idea. And then I have read a lot of reviews about this specific shopping cart software provider named AShop Commerce. The positive reviews convinced me to signup on their 10-day free trial campaign. And so far, I haven’t regretted doing so. Here are the incedible features that made me decide that I should get this shopping cart for Janey’s site.

- security is guaranteed
- order alert service is great
- fantastic live customer support
- traffic reports are dependable
- it has a full web optimization feature
- you can customize your page design and layout
- you have full control and lesser pain managing the inventory
- and most of all, it is very easy to set up.

Now, tell me. Why should I look for another shopping cart software provider? I am using a shopping cart from a world-class shopping cart software provider and it has everything that we need.

And so I changed my mind, selling online is so easy! With the help from Ashop Commerce of course.

Wordless Day | Paguriran Island Pictures

2008-03-26T16:26:00.007+08:00

Some Photos Taken By Dex.

100th Post: February Random Pictures | Good and Bad

2008-03-21T20:41:00.011+08:00

The BAD

The GOOD

WTF is Wrong With Metrobank?

2008-03-14T11:17:00.005+08:00

Yeah, Metrobank's bank system is down, as in "Bankwide Offline". WTF is wrong with Metrobank? I think it's been 3 days that their ATM's are not working. Tomorrow's payday so I assume lots of peeps will be very mad - including me. How will I get my mickey mouse munnie to buy my minnie mouse grocery for the mickey mouse? lol.

I checked on their website just like Mark did, but there's no advisory whatsoever. I wish they could fix whatever their problem is, ASAP! My kids are already complaining about drinking Alaska, as a substitute for Sustagen. :(

No sweldo, means no budget. Yeah, are we really in 'good hands now'? The company must get a 'back-up' bank account in other banks like Banco De Oro. So when ~~shit~~ things like this happen, everything will be fine.

Yeah, I recommend BDO because they're open until 6 pm and even on Saturdays! Talk about innovation and customer care, I give them a perfect 10.

Btw, I am listening to Lozada's voice here. After hearing his phone conversation sa kung sino-sinong Pontio Pilato, all I can say is - he's portraying a totally different character when he's on TV. I think he's a propagandist!

Have You Tried Smorty?

2008-03-12T19:42:00.003+08:00

Blog advertising is one of the most fascinating things in the Internet today. It has become a very effective marketing avenue for advertisers as compared to other online media. This process allows advertisers, usually website owners and companies to advertise on blogs.

On the other hand, this allows bloggers to earn money through their blogs. The blog for money concept is a big hit for bloggers all around the globe. And I am one of them. One of the well-known website that offers the 'get paid for blogging' avenue is SMORTY.

Just like any bloggers, I immediately check on Smorty. I signed up as a blogger as soon as I finish reading the site's Terms and Conditions. The minute I started writing about things that interest me, I easily earn money. You see, you'll get paid to blog about things that you love, and earn extra cash at the same time, which is really cool. Now, I have enrolled all of my other blogs as well. I don't say I am earning like the other get paid for blogging gurus out there though, but it already add some decent amount to my Paypal account, which I use for my online purchases.

I have recommended Smorty to my friends and some of them already tried it. Now they're earning as well. We're thankful that we're earning through our very own blogs. So if you're like me, who wants to blog for money, sign up now!

Now don't just take my word, try it now and see how amazing it feels to be paid through blogging.

Comic Relief: Lemons

2008-03-07T10:44:00.006+08:00

Just a quick post to cheer you up. I found this video in Yahoo! - it's a funny collection of babies reaction upon trying/tasting lemons. It made me wonder why lemons can really turn everyone's faces into...sour faces? lol. The sour taste make us wiggle, shut the eyes forcefully and draw our eyebrows together. Here's a sample of this reaction for your comic relief. Funny and cute!

Online Casino Reviews By Pro360

2008-03-03T11:18:00.001+08:00

One of the biggest innovations in the internet today is online casino. There are thousands of players or bettors playing in online casino everyday. That is why, scams came into the picture. So if you are new to online gambling, you should be aware which site to trust and which sites are scams.

I would recommend Pro360.com. This site is a must not only for old players but most importantly for new players. Pro360 offers honest online casino reviews and guides. I say it is a must because its reviews contain information that every gamer should know, including gaming experience, bonus offers and their trust scores.

As a bonus, Pro360 provides a casino signup bonuses link in every review page. This enables gamers to get their corresponding bonuses before they start playing. These bonuses are usually better and bigger than the actual bonus you get from the actual online casino sites.

So if you are a gamer, take my word now and check out Pro360’s top 20 online casinos lists. Be sure to check out http://www.pro360.com now and play safely!

Manila Rally Today - A Fight For Truth and Justice?

2008-02-29T12:49:00.002+08:00

Around 5 pm today, people from different walks of life will gather in Ayala Avenue, Makati City for an inter-faith rally to condemn corruption in government.

"We need God’s help for us to have the courage and (keep) fighting for truth and justice" - Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Lingayen-Dagupan

"I encourage employers to allow their employees to join the rally. Join us there. Come out of your workplace. It’s time for us to make a stand," - Alberto Lim, Makati Business Club (MBC) Executive Director

"She is neither incapacitated nor dead. So I think the best way for the President is to resign." All freedom-loving Filipinos want to get to the bottom of truth. I know that we are one in this cause" - Joseph Estrada, Ex-President

"Blah Blah blah blah and blah" - Jun Lozada, Comic Probinsyano Businessman and a Bicolano

I watch the news every night just to be updated of what's happening in our country today. So much have been said, so many people make saw-saw. I am not sure if these people I'm watching on TV speak of the truth of just another bogus puppet of the anti-government.

Ok, everybody has the right. Everybody's entitled to their own opinion. And we live in a democratic country. Yeah right. But you see, at the end of the day. What will be the truth? If Arroyo is corrupt, then who will replace her? And are we sure that whoever replaces her is not corrupt? If she is evil, then who is the saint? Are we sure that the one to replace Arroyo is a Saint? Or just another evil waiting for his chance to attack the Filipino people.

Bottom line, I am not seeing changes both in the government and in the Filipino people. We love to fight, but fighting for what? Me thinks, someone is so happy with this situation. Who? The one who will replace the President. And later on, if the new President has "evil issues" again, we will stand out again and gather in Makati and change our president again. Same cycle. When will this end?

Something To Look Forward To

2008-02-28T11:08:00.000+08:00

I am waiting for "something" to arrive this week. Before, I'm very excited about this stuff, but the excitement just fades away, I'm not sure why. Anyway, here's another thing that I am looking forward to:

What: Link Building 101
When: March 3, 2008; 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Who: Junior and Senior Internet Marketing Specialists
Where: IMS Area

Snacks and lunch are free. Talie and Glady will talk about important stuffs on Link Building. If you're interested, you may join. But you have to bring your own snacks and luch. Lol.

Great Discovery: Zenni Optical

2008-02-23T21:21:00.007+08:00

Lately, one of my colleagues was diagnosed with Astigmatism. He suffered from severe headache and fatigue. He also had a squinting and eye discomfort. To ease the discomfort, he was advised to wear eyeglasses. Good thing, I bumped into Zenni Optical- a site that offers stylish prescription glasses online and showed it to him. He had a hard time deciding what to choose since the site offers vast selection of fashionable and trendy frames, with single vision lens, sunsensor (potochromic)lens, tinted suglasses lens, bifocal lens and progressive lens.

Zenni Optical was indeed the site that offers the perfect eyeglass requirement, a best thing Fou nd: Zenni Optical. Aside from the budget-friendly price, Zenni Optical also sells internationally, so buying is as easy as 1-2-3. He opted for the Zenni Optical $8 Rx Glasses:

He chose the one that has a Black outside - Blue inside frame color. A brightly colored, medium size plastic fashion full-rim frame. I think he made the best choice. The eyeglass fits him well and looks nice on him. And the best of all, he doesn't suffer from any eye discomfort or irritation anymore. I can say that it was indeed a Great Discovery: Zenni Optical.

My Valentines

2008-02-17T14:13:00.009+08:00

Enough of fights. Start off with the heart's day.

Last year's valentine's day, I celebrated Vday with some colleagues and friends since my hubby is not available as usual :(. This time, he's making-up. Aside from sending me some roses in the office, he treated me to a "pre-actual-post-valentines date". Yeah, that's a whole 3-day celebration. But that doesn't necessarily mean that we have spent our whole savings away. Yeah that's right it was a very budget-friendly date.Lols.

First, we went out on the 13th and have some drinks. On the 14th, We had a sumptuous dinner date at the newly opened Kim's Bowl at Tahao Road, Legazpi City. The eat-all-you-can dinner is worth 1k each but there's a nice band, and a mini-fashion show. There were also some stars like Melissa Ricks, Joseph Bitancul, Jon Avila and Chocolate(who is so damn funny btw) that entertained the guests, and there were free beers too. So that explains the 1,000 ticket price. Yeah, it's sooo uber-expensive for a dinner, did I say I had 2 tickets, absolutely FREE?? Yeah, so nevermind the 2k. Life is good.

The most special date was the post-valentines date. We drove to Cam Sur, particularly in Naga City and had a great time hanging out in Club M8 and Roberto's Grille. We slept in a hotel in the evening, strolled along Naga City in the morning and proceeded to CWC immediately after lunch.

Wakeboarding in CWC (Camsur Watersports Complex) was really a memorable experience for me. It's my first time there so I tried the knee-boarding first. I was afraid to try the actual wakeboarding thing because I'm a cocky. Haha. Teh hubby enjoyed it a lot, and stayed in the line the entire afternoon. We went home dead tired, I fell asleep the entire 2-hr trip on our way back. Good thing my china phone's MP3 player and analogue TV keeps him company.

Will post pictures later once I'm done uploading them in Flickr.

OhTique in Manila

2008-02-04T12:49:00.000+08:00

I have been here (Manila) for 2 days already. And we're staying in a drive-in hotel, more like a motel hehe. But it's ok since it's a just a few meters away from the office. Yesterday, we had a lunch meeting at Italianni's with the big bosses along with my 2 colleagues - Phobe and Dex. I don't really love the food over there, but I definitely love what I have heard over the meeting. Lol.

We strolled along Bonifacio High Street at Bonifacio Global City. It was a bit tiring, but we definitely had a good time. It's my first time there, and I liked the place. Not only the place, but also the people. Hehe. We've seen some celebrities too, from Palos to Jen.

Now, we're on the office and seems like everyone's tensed. I don't know why, but maybe it's because of these "presentations" that are about to happen just a few minutes from now. Hehe. And btw, who's going to have a presentation on a sleeveless top and rugged jeans? ME! Ekk!

Nevermind, I'm cool, u know! Haha. I don't care about the looks, it's the content of the presentations that matters. As if haha. Don't mind me, I am just releasing the tension that envelopes me right now. Ok, got to go now, ciao!

Frustrations

2008-02-01T16:31:00.000+08:00

PMS is a great deal for me. When the monthly visit comes, I totally become an emotionally-bothered individual. And this time, I suddenly felt so frustrated about so many things. I feel like a useless individual, especially when it comes to work. I don't know, maybe it's true. Questions such as "what happened to promises, promises that were not fulfilled up to this time..." and "Am I not worth it?"..."Am I that stupid?"

This morning, a colleague slash friend treat me to brunch. We talked about how we feel about staying in the company that we're working for the past 4 years. We shared the same thoughts and sentiments about it and it suddenly made sense to me, somehow these emotional issues I am feeling is not pointless at all.

2 years ago, I had a promising conversation with the Boss. Well, what happened after that? Nothing much I say. Yes, there have been so many changes. But where am I now, after 2 years? I really should make up my mind on May. I hope in 3 months time, I'd be able to come up with a great decision, for the good of my career and my family at the same time.

I need to learn more, on my own of course. And pray that God may continue to guide me in whatever decisions/actions I may choose. How about you, have you ever felt something like this before?

The Coolest Party Ever!

2008-01-25T22:28:00.001+08:00

What you're seeing in the picture are people living in this real world. As a matter of fact, they're all professionals. We are dressed in a fantasy costume, because MBS Tek's Chritmas party is not like any other ordinary party. Our Christmas party is the coolest party that I have ever attended. Yeah, it's the coolest, because we're there..you know, we're coooool! LOLz.

In the above photo are Yona, Francis, Art and me. That's just a sample, you can see lots of our pictures here and here.

Don't you dare tell me this is a veerrry late post. I know :)

This Blog has been moved..

2008-01-22T17:17:00.000+08:00

Yeah, this is why I haven't been posting here for quite a long time. I have moved to a much shalar place..Lol.

Please go to http://raziella.com - my new humble abode!

I am not yet closing this blog, not yet! Unless all my friends here have been to my new place.

New year, new site! Let's celebrate 2008!

Raziella - the official domain of Raziel Siaton.

I suddenly miss this place, so I'm coming back! Hah. You know women, they change their minds every time.

Back on Blogging

2007-12-03T20:44:00.000+08:00

Hey guys! Wazzup? Wazzup?

Ok.what's up for me? Ohwells, been so busy with so many things, this post will be a short story entry if I enumerate all the stuffs that I've been doing these past weeks, err months. For now, this eats up all my free time *wink* :

Pics courtesy of Nel's Asus J208

I know, that's just a set of PCs in the picture. But you see, there are actually 4 of them. Does "home office" ring a bell to you?

I'm so thankful to the ONE up there who showered me with so many gifts this year. Now I understand why He wrecked our old house through Typhoon Reming last year, it's because He has more brilliant plans for me and the old house where these PCs are located now.

Now this rock, thanks also to BP, and all the nice guys (Jer2, Nel, and the rest) for helping me achieve one of my dreams before 2007 ends!

Encash Adsense Payments Through Western Union

2007-11-06T16:47:00.000+08:00

Now, this is a good news for everyone (well, maybe only for me I guess). A new form of payment that lets you receive your AdSense payments in cash using Western Union money transfer service. If you're tired of waiting for your Adsense checks and fall in line in banks - then encashing it in Western Union is ideally good for you. This process will save on bank fees, and you won't have to wait for long (2 weeks) clearing times for regional checks.

Here's how you can encash through WU:

Log into your account at www.google.com/adsense
Click the My Account tab
In the Payment Details section, click 'edit'
Select Western Union Quick Cash'
If there is a payout limitation, the amount will be listed on this page

In order to pick up your payment by Western Union Quick Cash, please complete the following steps:

Visit http://www.payment-solutions.com/agent.asp to locate a Western Union Agent.
Call the Western Union Agent to confirm that they offer the Quick Cash service.
Bring the following information with you:

a valid government-issued photo ID (Passport, Driver's license, National ID etc)
sender's information: Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California 94043, USA. Phone Number: 650-253-4000
amount of your payment, which you can find on your Payment History page
your unique MTCN (Money Transfer Control Number) which you can find by clicking on the 'details' link next to the Payment Issued line on your Payment History page

When you go to the Western Union agent, please let them know that you would like to pick up a Quick Cash payment. Additionally, please remember to pick up your Western Union payment within 35 days of the payment date, or the amount will be credited back to your AdSense account.

Now that's easy isn't it? This payment option btw is only available in countries such as Argentina, Chile, China (Mainland), Colombia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, and Romania.

Now that's cool!

Update: Yesterday, I asked Western Union's Legazpi City branches and found out they don't have Quick Cash service yet. So that's bad news for Legazpeño bloggers slash Adsense earners slash freelancers (lol). Now I'm back on bank checks again. Pfft!

Thoughts On New Homes

2007-10-26T14:59:00.001+08:00

Last year blotted a traumatic experience for me and my family. This is because of the extra strong storm Reming (Durian) that left us devastated, physically and emotionally. That experience made me strive hard to build a new house that is strong enough to stand through strong storms and floods. Though I am not planning to stay there forever, I still want it strong because my own family might leave but my parents will surely stay there for the rest of their lives – for reasons that are sentimental. So it’s better to leave them with a safe house.

My husband will inherit his mother’s house. We plan to transfer there as soon as his youngest brother migrates to US. This house is bigger, it has 5 bedrooms and 2 rest rooms. No doubt it is big enough for us. Not to mention it has a spacious garage too. This garage really interests me. It is messy today as their pets are there, but as soon as we transfer I will rearrange it for sure. I am planning of a complete garage transformation. There are lots of valuables that are taken for granted scattered everywhere. I am thinking of getting a garage storage cabinets to keep these valuables. I will persuade my hubby to convert the garage into a small office - an office where I can work from home. You know, I do not plan to stay in my current company for the rest of my life.

I am sure my hubby will allow me to do so. So, right now, I am looking for ideas on how to rearrange the garage. I hope this plan will stay put if all things goes well. Because we never know what’s in store for us. Things might change, but I hope not.

Lazy, Lazy Me..

2007-10-25T18:39:00.000+08:00

I don't understand myself..i'm too damn lazy this past days. Despite of all the bad news, the stuffs that really made me upset - i don't feel like blogging it. Ohwells, I'm fine, in case you wanna know. It's just this some kind of feeling that made me thinks, hey you don't actually need to blog. But I just can't let this blog of mine die in agony. I may have a small number of readers, but who da hell cares..this is my blog - its worth keeping. So here I am typing this words again, 30 minutes before I go home.

It was fiesta yesterday, not a big day for me - I don't prepare foods - as in NO HANDA. Everybody's texting me, asking if they could come. We have some relatives who came, my mom shooo them away.Haha. I don't invite my friends. Mind you i'm too lazy. Partly because I'm actually missing my husband this much. I was a bit frustrated when someone told me that the training will be over on the 15th f Nov. Hell, I will be celebrating my birthday without him..Booo! But still I think of some nice place to hang out and celebrate with my friends and officemates. I just wish this laziness will soon leave me alone.

Last Saturday, me and the entire web marketing team went out for some booze. See pics here. It was worth it. I feel obliged to treat them into some stress-free night, not to celebrate or something. Just a night to chill and relax - with all these nega stuffs that's happening in the office. Sometimes, I don't know how to appease their angsts and anger. I hope they would also realize, that I am just an average middle manager. Usually we, the middle managers get in between the higher management and the people we manage.

Haay, life. These troubles are really getting into my nerves. I want to leave, but I just can't. Maybe someday, sooner.Gaah..Enough of this topic. I want to think more of the happy things- I'm planning to have my birthday celebration on a beach. I'm a bit tired of these local bars here - I want to go the beach for more fun! Do you guys have any suggestion on where to party?

I’m Back And Will Go Shopping!

2007-10-11T17:58:00.001+08:00

I haven’t updated my blog for quite a few weeks. Sorry, I have been busy with so many stuffs. But at least I’m back with good news! Our new house that took away all of my earning since last year is now finally done! Yes! This is indeed another milestone for me. I have build a new house for my family in one year! Ok, I know it’s been too long coz it took a year, but at least. I am so proud that I made it through my OWN efforts. I’ll post some pictures of later. And I have to make a separate post for this one.

Anyhow, Its October already! Oh how time flies..this “ber” months gave me the 'butterflies inside my stomach'. No, it’s not the Halloween. It’s Christmas! I am only counting days before this holiday season. And because the house has just been done - and I have spent all my earnings for it - and I have lots of relatives and friends - and lots of god children that will surely knock on my door on the 25th of December.

Argh..I can’t breathe. I need coupons now! Wow, that’s a nice idea – shop online with discount coupon codes. I should buy my gifts one by one starting today. But first, I have to think about the most precious ones, my husband and my kids.

Here are my idea on what to give them that will surely be precious for them wherein and at the same time, I can use my coupon codes:

• Hubby – a pair of new running shoes, I’ll buy them using my Stacy Adams coupon codes.
• Eldest Daughter – a collection of Barney CDs
• Son – a gigantic Transformers robot.
• Youngest – I think I’m buying her new and bigger clothes since she’s turning 2 in January.

All of these kiddies stuffs I will buy using my One Step Ahead coupon codes. Now I have to think of some other stuffs that I have to give to my relatives, friends and god children, and to colleagues, and the list go on.

Yuwie!

2007-09-10T20:17:00.000+08:00

Hi guys, I know I've been under the ground for a few weeks and abandoned this blog..again. I was so busy creating my network of friends (no, not in Friendster, sawa na ako dun eh!) in Yuwie.

Anyhoo, I'm back! With good thing to share with you. I want to let you know I registered in Yuwie.com - Yuwie is 100% FREE. Yuwie is like any other "connect with friends" or social networking site. But we have one major difference...Use Yuwie - Get Paid! Yuwie pays you to blog, upload pictures, refer friends, chat, hang out, etc. So I say, instead of wasting your time in other social networking sites that give u nothing, use Yuwie now!

Oh di ba? I think it's wise to create a network and enjoy it just like what you are doing in Friendster? But there's a big difference, you are earning while you are enjoying. It's free, and it won't cost you nothing. And if you are asking on how you will get paid, they will send you a check anywhere you are. Cool di ba?

Say no to friendster! Say yes to Yuwie! Lolz! Registering is so easy, click here now!

Ohtique! is PR 10

2007-08-26T19:54:00.000+08:00

You will not believe this, my blog - Ohtique - is now PR 10! This is once in a lifetime ~~mistake~~ thing so I took a screen shot of it. Here's the proof:

Click to enlarge

Did you notice the Google Page rank? Hahaha! Google must be crazy to give me a PR like this. Wish ko lang! Now it's back to PR 2. I'm sharing this just for fun! Nyt guys!

Saturday Hula

2007-08-25T13:50:00.001+08:00

It's Saturday! Oh for all you know, I submit reports every Tueday. SO Saturday is a bit of task-free day except for some accounting/salary reports stuffs that I already finished. Since I was doing a boring blog hop today, and I bumped into JibJab!It is a very interesting site. you can create a funny video using pictures (of some of your friends). Here's a sample of what I created over there at JibJab. Have fun watching it!

Here's another one, it's Charlie Chiquita!

See, Charlie can really make it like Carmen Miranda and shake it `til you break it. HOT!

Thanks to the coolest guys in WMD: Jeremy, Jhong and Charlie. I can't find a picture of Leonel though. Maybe next time. :)

Office Bloopers

2007-08-23T15:07:00.000+08:00

I interviewed some applicants today, to fill up the 2 vacant link building position. Here are some natural jokes that made me laugh so hard.

Me: So, do you have friends here?
(I was asking if she has friends working here in SBM)

Applicant 1: Yes, I have a pen po mam!

Ahahaha!

Here's another one:

Me: In searching, what search engine do you commonly use?

App. 2: Uhhm..minsan po yahoo, misan po gugul.

What the hell is Gugul? Read: Google.

ahaha.

Office bloopers, they can brighten your day.

I Miss Daddy!

2007-08-17T10:26:00.000+08:00

My eldest is so hard to wake up in the morning especially on schooldays. This morning, she woke up so early..it’s so odd. Considering the weather and the time, it’s the perfect time to sleep.

My son (Jiro) goes to school at 7:30 and my daughter (Jan) goes at 9:30. While I am preparing Jiro to school, Jan started talking to Jiro. Here’s the conversation goes:

Jan: Jiro, nami-miss ko na si daddy, ikaw nami-miss mo na din ba sya?
(Jiro, I already miss daddy, how about you, do you miss him too?)

Jiro: Opo, uuwi din si daddy mamaya.
(yes, he’ll just go home later.)

She repeats the same question to everyone in the house. Then she asked me.

Jan: Ikaw mommy nami-miss mo na din ba si daddy?
(How about you mommy, do you miss daddy too?)

Me: Oo nman, syempre.
(Of course, yes.)

Jan: Ano ginagawa mo pag nami-miss mo sya?
(What do you do when you miss him?)

Me: Nagpa-pray ako kay Papa God na sana laging safe si daddy doon sa loob.
(I pray to God that your daddy may be safe there all the time.)

Jan: Alam ko na, tawagan na lang natin sa cellphone.
(Why don’t we just call him in his cellphone?)

Me: Di pwede, bawal kse sila gumamit ng cellphone habang nasa loob pa sila. Di nya dala Cellphone nya sa loob.
(They are not allowed to bring/use their cellphones while on training.)

Jan: e di sa telephone na lang, may office naman sila doon dib a? eh di may phone sila doon.
(then call him on the landline, I’m sure they have an office that has a phone.)

Jan: Sasabihin ko miss ko na sya kaya umuwi na sya dito.
(I'm gonna tell him that I miss him so he would come home.)

My 5 yr old girl - JanJan.

It’s been 2 weeks since my hubby entered the training. I was surprised to see that the kids longed for their daddy even though they are so pre-occupied with playing and messing with the entire house. At the end of the day they would still ask where their daddy is and when is he going home. This is not the first time that their daddy's away. His previous work includes going to Manila and spent weeks doing business there. But that's ok because he would call me anytime and talk to the kids.

I guess 2 weeks is long enough to make them realize that they are already missing their daddy. Oh, kids can really melt your heart.

Music Trip

2007-08-11T14:22:00.000+08:00

Oh I forgot to share this video. I find this guy so amazing, very talented that is. I don't know where this contest is, but I'm sure it has to do with talent searching, I just don't know where. Here it is:

See? You enjoyed it don't you?

Hello World

2007-08-11T13:56:00.000+08:00

I know, my title looks like the default first post in Wordpress. Heh! It was almost a month, for pete's sake, I almost forgot I have a blog! Just like the other time that I went on a Hiatus, I have been busy. As in super busy! For all you know the past weeks were an end-of-the-month and first-week-of-the-month, and that only means one thing. No it's not just pay time, it means one hell of work load to finish. Yay! So am I done now? No, not yet..I have 3 more pending reports to go. I am just taking a break for now, since I am still waiting for a report from one of the TLs.

My hubby already started his training for the PNP. He'll stay inside the camp for 3 months and they're not allowed to go home. Oh my....NO, the problem doesn't begin on not seeing him in those months - BUT it's the financial stuffs. He went for the training without leaving me an a monthly allowance. Oh heck, all bills are due. And I have a very irregular cash flow, mind you. Now you can imagine me frowning all the time. I have been cramming to settle these bills and start to budget this little mickey money. It's been one week since he started training but I already sold my Nokia 6600. Wheew! I think I grew 20 years older in just a week. God help me.

Oh well, this is life. My colleague, a mother too..told me this is just a small problem. I say, huwaaat?small at that..what if bigger problems starts..I might go crazy..and old..and so losyang and all.

Ok so much for these rants, I have to go back working. Or else, my problems might get worse if I lose this job. Bye for now!

Ciao!

Ladies, Listen..

2007-07-18T10:35:00.000+08:00

I got this while blog hopping today (it's lunch break) and while I'd like to think I know about stuffs, I had never heard of this at all.

I'm talking about IBC here. It stands for Inflammatory Breast Cancer. I don't have any idea on what to blog about today, until I bumped into this site.

Click here. Read the article written and watch the video on the gray box on the sidebar.

I am getting the word out, since it's been said that IBC is a 'Silent Killer'. It is the most aggressive form of breast cancer. It is one silent breast cancer killer that women know virtually nothing about so I am encouraging you all to read and tell/inform your other girl friends too. So that ignorance won't cause us death.

According to The National Cancer Institute, at least 5 percent of all breast cancer is IBC. No one knows how to prevent or cure it, and most women never heard of it until they got it.

This should not alarm women but to educate them and give them knowledge about this so-called "silent killer".

I Dreamt of Snakes

2007-07-17T08:59:00.000+08:00

For two consecutive nights, I dreamt of snakes. The first dream was like, I saw a mommy snake with 2 eggs that has just been hatched and so it became 3 snakes in one dream. There was 1 mommy snake and 2 freshly hatched baby snakes. The mommy snake saw me and was like threatening to bite me in case I come near them.

The second dream was a scene where I was fighting with a snake, and it bit me on my wrist not just once but thrice. But I still managed to fight back and eventually throw the snake away from me.

That was weird, dreams sometimes affects me and it make me so curious. Since it was known that dreams give us hints or warnings. There was no one to give me answers as to what my dream means, so I checked on some dream interpretations in Google. And here's what it says:

A snake ready to strike means treachery from one you least expected; killing it means victory over enemies.

Treachery? So that means, there's someone around me whose planning of something against me. Is that it? I can't think of someone with a good reason to that. Oh, it's supposed to be from the one you least expected.

Still, the interpretation was a bit short so I look for a more detailed one. And here's what I found:

The snake is a difficult dream symbol because it is so widely interpreted among various cultures. Interpretations run the gamut from blood-curdling fear to wisdom and peace. These options are determined by literary history and folklore from different cultures, as well as personal experience.

.In waking life, it is not uncommon to be afraid of snakes. For some people, this fear is disruptive and pathological, even to the point that a photo of a snake represents an oppressive threat. For these people, snake dreams are almost universally bad. If the dream includes someone who handles snakes, whoever tames the object of the fear is likely a source of wisdom and control in the dreamer's world, and may be a representation of some aspect of themselves or someone else they know.

.Among Asian and Native American cultures, the snake is a wisdom symbol. The idea of wisdom comes from the snake's ability to shed its skin and renew itself. If one dreams of snakes from this perspective, it is a dream of renewal, problem-solving, and good tidings in general.

In Judeo-Christian cultures, the snake is a symbol of temptation or spiritual opposition against reaching one's goals. This concept is derived from Bible when Satan tempts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in the form of a snake. Sometimes, a snake dreamt in this context will remind you of a particular person in your waking life with whom you have a competitive relationship.

Finally, Freud and classical psychotherapy have also thrown interpretations into this "pit." The contention is that the snake is a type of phallus. The snake often embodies fear about intercourse and an aversion to it.

Coming up with an insightful interpretation for your dream snake could be tricky. What emotions are prevalent regarding the snake: fear, respect, or opposition?

What is your attitude about snakes in waking life: neutral, fearful, or friendly?

Did the snake appear when you were alone or were others with you when the snake entered the dream scene? What are your feelings about those others?

Answering these questions should lead towards a productive interpretation of the snake dream.

I was like, whoa! Dream interpretation needs a lot of effort. Nevertheless, this still gives me some reason to stay safe all the time. Especially in telling stories and sharing my thoughts to what other's called the official "turncoat" ng bayan.

I therefore conclude, I must zipper my mouth to avoid problems later on. :)

And I will be her, never afraid of snakes. But a friend to them. Hahaha ----->

Note: This is not a book report. Nevermind the Nevertheless and the I therefore conclude usage. Hahaha!

Friday The 13th

2007-07-13T13:04:00.000+08:00

Ok, just a week ago I said i'm back from hiatus. Now, another week has passed and I haven't updated my blog. The reason this time is not work, but because I was sick. And until today, as I am zombie-typing this, I am still suffering from fever. Thank God it was not Dengue, it was influenza. Oh well, I still go to work today because I know that in the end of my sick leave, I might get sick again because of loads of work that needs to be done. Geesh!

So, it's Friday the 13th - there's a widespread superstition that 13ths that fell on a Friday portends more misfortune. I haven't realized that it was a Friday the 13th until I punch my timecard this morning. I went to work today after being absent for 2 days and so far, the day is still the same. Tasks to do, finish them, started on some. I honestly don't believe in this irrational fear of Friday the 13th. Because I think there's no scientific explanation and I don't know it's origin.

But there are some instances today that I guess is notable and I'll just blame it on Friday the 13th:

intermittent Internet connection (ok, let's blame it to Friday the 13th...for a change.)
I'm still not feeling well ( I had fever since Monday)
the printer's paper jammed..
I was the last one to be served lunch in Tiya Fely's canteen.

Nothing significant really, but I am not asking for one. I thank God, I'm a little well at least. And I pray for all of my family and friends to be safe throughout the day and everyday.

On the other side of the day, there's some good stuffs that made me happy today:

I got $7 Adsense earnings from my Angelica Panganiban's blog alone today.
My paid post was approved.
I was not late.
I don't see the usually unusual face in the office today. :)

Four out of four (4:4) ratio, not bad. I say Friday the 13th, is just like any ordinary Fridays that came first before Saturday. That's it!

End note: Paraskevidekatriaphobia - is the term used to describe fear of Friday the 13th. Can you easily pronounce that right? Well, I can't. Hehe.

Update: Another bonus for this day, Watched this funny video from LoLz. Check it out here: Does Size Matter? It will surely make up your day.Haha!

Blog Addict

2007-07-06T11:13:00.000+08:00

Ok, it's our lunch break. But of course, before I proceed with my lunch, I went to blogland and start hopping. I bumped into Filipanayzd's site through MyBloglog and my attention was caught by this certain blog post: "Gaano ka ka-blog addict?" So there I go and checked out this said test.Now, here's the result:

81%

I won't go to rehab like LiLo did really, (lol) but I certainly say this particular addiction has brought me good things. It's not just a senseless emo outlet, also this blog became my friends' source of checking up on me from time to time. And of course, the most important thing, I've earned from it. Hah!

Ok, your turn. Go check the test and see for yourself if you're one of the blog addicts in the web. It's time to take my lunch. Oh, here's the link to the test.

Back from Hiatus

2007-07-04T08:10:00.000+08:00

After 7-days of hiatus from blogging, I am now back. How I miss sharing my thoughts in barok english. I've been swamped with loads of work this past week because it was end of the month. Reports were all due at the same time, plus the 6-months evaluation that took a lot of my time!

Honestly, I am not allowed to write on my own blog since I'm at work. As this very moment, pending tasks are waiting to be started. Ok lang yan, I know I can do them all today. But just to give you an update of what's happening to Raziella, I should rather update now. So I'll do this very quick.

Two of the members from the Web Marketing Department resigned last June 30. There will be another one resigning by the 22nd of July. I am disappointed with this turnover, it seems to me that all my efforts to build a solid team was a failure. And I myself is feeling that I have failed in obtaining this goal. This employee turnover in my team has been happening for quite sometime now. I am so affected by it, especailly if you have read the article "People Leave Managers, Not Companies" and so I researched. I talk to each of them. But I guess they won't tell it to my face if ever there is a real problem. So I took the courage. I put it in papers. I let these people evaluate me via the HR. Why I say "I took the courage"? Let me tell you, not all managers want to hear their people's complaints about them. Nor they do not want to know that there is something wrong with them, especially if the company's HR is involved. You know, they do not want their credibility as a leader to be questioned.

So there, I took the courage. And I was happy with the result. I won't elaborate, but I can say the little guilt in my mind was gone.

Next, we have free ice cream treats in the department. Plus donuts just yesterday!

Our pet dog, Eva gave birth to her 3 little cutie puppies last week. So nice, I'll post pics later.

Lulu's birthday last June 30. Our scheduled trip to Manila to celebrate with the rest of the Magda-Lou was postponed because all of us didn't have duches, mwarta, datung! *sad* Still, happy birthday Lourdes Tagum!

Speaking of Birthday, Atomic Girl's birthday is near, it's on July 10 already. I wonder where she's going to throw the party at. Haha! Advance Happy Birthday Peachy aka Atomic Girl!

Some more team mates that will celebrate their birthdays this July are Jeremy, July 14 and Juliet on July 20. I smell free food in the office already. Oh my mom's birthday is also near. Have to save again so I can make her day a bit special.

I signed up for PPP!

2007-06-26T16:09:00.000+08:00

Well, I just wanted to share to you guys this good news. I am happy about it and therefore, I think I have to share it with you too.

I registered and became a member of PayPerPost for almost 2 months and it’s really got me hooked. I always thought blogging is just a way to release and share my views about stuffs, but then again, I was wrong, all wrong. I have been blogging for 2 years now and I didn’t know what I was missing out until I joined Payperpost's Get paid to blog program! (thanks Gio) Now, I get to do the thing I love – which is writing about certain sites and products that I come across – and earn from it.

As simple as that!

So far, I started to earn just a decent income from PPP and I’m definitely looking forward to earning more using Payperpost’s excellent system. I still have a long way to go before I can be considered as a top postie but I’m really determined to be one.

I think Payperpost is the coolest way to earn a living – I get to do what I am passionate about and I earn from it. How cool is that? That’s the best thing about Payperpost, I can do the stuff that I want and still get an income. So I now say, blogging is not just an outlet for senseless emos or a waste of time, but one great way to earn extra money.

How nice, huh?

Sunday is Dad's Day

2007-06-18T00:02:00.000+08:00

Father's day is a Sunday. Sunday is our official family day. We usually spend it outside letting the kids play and have fun. But today was different, it was an idle Sunday. Instead of going out, we just stayed home and enjoyed DVD marathon. We watched Jet Li's movies and the kids enjoyed the karate scenes especially "Danny the Dog". It was worth it. Still we had time to be with our kids the whole day. We just prepare some nice lunch, then pigged out on a special pansit and some toasted bread after we order it in Boklan in the afternoon. (if you're a Legazpeño, you'll probably know why it's special) .

We just went out later today to attend mass at the Fatima Church at 6:00 pm. Since I was still ranting about this, and how my effin' salary just slipped through my hands, my hubby was the one who treat us for a dinner. We proceeded to Pacific Mall after the mass but the kids didn't play because the mall was closing in 30 minutes. So we simply ate dinner and went home afterwards.

I got a bit bored. Occasions like this is usually celebrated with a few drinks with few of our close friends. We should be out there and have some fun tonight to release all the stress from work and all. But not tonight, coz here I am blogging about this now. Daddy's not allowed to drink anymore, especially tonight. Tomorrow is his Physical Agility Test, and he's been preparing for this since last month.

You might wonder what this agility test is. It's one of the screening procedures that you have to undergo if you want to join the PNP(Philippine National Police). Check its procedure here. Yes my husband wants to be a police man. Income is not the issue here, he said he just wanted to try it. We already have serious discussions and even fought about this matter. I really don't want him to be one of them. Not that I am against the PNP, I just worry because we all know it's dangerous. And I don't want him to try danger. He passed the entrance exam in 2004, and after 3 years of persuasion, I guess my convincing power has failed me at all.

Being a "good wife" I still supported whatever decision he makes. If this is his decision, so be it. Since I can't do anything about it now, I just put it in God 's hands. If it's really for him then I'll support him. I'm his wife, I'm supposed to do so. And since it's his day, it is my father's day wish that God may help him and guard him through his endeavors.

I just hope he can finish the exam safely. I don't want him to get frustrated. Though he told me we'll still study Nursing next semester whether he pass it or not.

Oh well, enough story telling. Happy father's day again to all the fathers in the world! Hope you had a wonderful day with your families.

Btw, remember the father's day gift that I worried about in this post? I gave him this:

Ask MP3 Player with 1G memory. It'll be very useful for him since he goes to the gym. He can listen to music during exercise. I got it from a colleague, she said its from HK. I ordered it 3 weeks ago, very timely huh? Pretty affordable, yet payment will be on a per-payday-installment basis. :) He's happy! Not bad eh?!

If you're interested, just send me a message via this blog or my email. :)

PS: I've been using the word "today" coz I haven't noticed the time. It's actually 12:50am. So it's June 18 already. Hah! Time to sleep...Goodnite everyone.

Happy Father's Day!

2007-06-17T23:04:00.000+08:00

A Father is a friend who understands..
Our deepest emotions..
He is a guide who shows us..
The best roads to tread..
He is a tutor who teaches us
All the chapters of life..
He is a protector
Who saves us from all odds..
And I found all these in you dad..
Happy Father's day!

Happy Father's day to all the padre de pamilyas out there!
I wish you all more strength, wisdom and courage in order to provide your families the protection and all the love they need.

For my papa Vir Frio and my hubby Jessyl John Siaton....

Thanks for everything! We love you!

Delayed Salary , What's New?

2007-06-16T14:48:00.001+08:00

After the kid's enrollment and Jiro's birthday, There's no money left in my pocket. Even my bank's savings account was closed, you know why. I am officially broke! (What's new?! haha!)

So I was looking forward to the 15th of June. Pay day. It was yesterday. (So yeah, this is a late post, I had a terrible headache when I went home so I wasn’t able to blog about this). I am not saying that my salary is BIG enough to save me from being broke forever, just enough for 15 days. But it sometimes helps.

It will be Father’s Day on Sunday, I’d planned to buy my husband a simple gift (because that’s all my cheap salary can afford), and perhaps treat him to a dinner on Sunday night. Plus, I also promised my husband’s cousin that I’ll buy him a cake as a wedding day present (which is today, btw). And lastly, I was eyeing a cute shoes last week and planned to buy it on payday. Forget about the bills for now, ok? I have separate budget for them. **wink wink** (ehem, Mr. Topzone, hello!) So there I go, so excited to go to the nearest bancnet ATM Machine after work and finally withdraw my hard-earned money.

But things are just not happening the way I was hoping it would be.

Guess what, the next few hours were very frustrating. I will probably go mad and might not go to work today after checking my ATM card's account balance. There was only PhP 86.00, probably the only savings left from my previous pay. Gawd, I was waiting for my salary to be moved in our account the whole day. Damn! I was really, really disappointed and couldn't believe that my salary was delayed ~~again~~! I mean how come? My colleague asked our company accountant earlier and she confirmed that our salaries have been deposited already.

I just can’t understand this. There is a 6-day-allowance after cut-off and yet, our salary’s still delayed? And we have this CPI, a so-called accounting firm that is supposed to fix it and finish it on time. Plus, our accountant’s in Manila so they have the chance to easily work hand in hand with CPI. Duh, our salary was still delayed. Great! Oh well, I know I should be accustomed to this kind of thing. For this is not the first time.

Tsk!

Oh well. Is this life? WTF... I don't know what else to say...

End note: I can certainly buy a gift for my husband’s cousin, just not a cake though. But I will not have a chance to secretly buy my husband a father’s day gift. And lastly, I won’t be able to buy those cute shoes I've been keeping an eye on because it wasn’t there anymore. Hmmpf!

My Other Man.

2007-06-10T22:24:00.000+08:00

My husband once asked me, if there can be a man that I can love more than I have loved him. Actually there is, I replied. Yes, there is another man right now that I believe is better than you. He's more handsome, sweeter than you, and most of all, he's undoubtedly more faithful to me compared to you. He''s Jiro, I love him more than any man in this world, even you!

Okay, let me explain for those who do not know... Jiro is my son. :) and this entry is my birthday post for him.

Tomorrow is my adorable son's 4th birthday. We call him Kuya to make him remember that he has to act as an older brother to her younger sister, Jezka. His real name is John Ruzell, a combination of my name and my husband's (John and Raziel). But he's nickname is Jiro (pronounced as Gi-roh) a shortcut of his name: J from John and Ru from Ruzell. It was just recently that I found out that Jiro is a Japanese name, and it means "second son". That's just perfect coz he is my 2nd child, he's definitely not a second son because my eldest is a girl, but still he came next, therefore he's still a second ~~son~~ child. Thus deserving the name Jiro.

That's my boy!

Jiro's birth is so memorable for me and my husband. Let me share with you the story why. 4 years ago, my hubby and I were still working in Manila, I got pregnant ~~accidentally~~ unexpectedly. And so I went for a check up after being delayed for 3 days. My OB-gyne told me that I will give birth by the end of July (2003). I was doubting this first OB (she’s lucky I cant remember her name) and so I consulted another OB for a second opinion. The second one (I can’t remember her name too) told me that I am due on the last week of June!

Hey, my son prove them all wrong! My son was born on the 11th, which is the 2nd week of June. And guess what, I gave birth through emergency caesarian operation because he was in a breech position. Since I was expecting that I still have 1 more month to go, I was not yet preparing the things that I will need in the hospital. And so everything is in the “state of emergency” too. I know, I’ve got my lessons learned from it.

If I have given birth to him the normal way, he must have come out during Philippines’ Independence Day, hence naming him Andres or Bonifacio. (correction from a reader: the hero in Phils independence is Emilio Aguinaldo, sorry my bad, I failed in my History subject,haha. Bottom line is, I don't want to name him after any heroes.) Luckily, he didn’t..and I won't name him those because I don’t really like these names either. Especially for my first boy!

Though I feel he’s lucky, and he is (a matter of fact) my lucky charm, there are times that he’s just not so lucky at all. This time, he will NOT spend his birthday the way he likes it (he wants to have a party in Jollibee) because Mommy’s broke.

Oh well, that’s life! At least I managed to enroll him in a private school, a good one I suppose. Happy birthday Kuya! Mommy loves you! You’re my favorite kid and you’re the best and I lurrrvee your funny superkid questions.

end note: Dad's reading while I'm typing . :)

The birthday boy!

Jiro's party was celebrated in Graceland, a local food chain here in Legazpi City.

A quick review of Graceland: The place is good and so is the food. It's not so 'commercialized' compared to Jollibee and McDo. And the best part, they have good quality customer service. The place is just perfect for Jiro's party since it has a play area that kids totally enjoyed. Oh did I mention their foods were affordable yet the tastes good too?

Thanks for those who came and shared the fun with us!

Telling the Truth

2007-06-07T09:22:00.000+08:00

Telling someone the truth, can actually hurt them. And because of that, people tend not to say it, and keep the truth to themselves.

That's what I am doing right now. It's so hard to tell people, especially those you care about, that there is something that he/she should know.

Yesterday, while me and my hubby were eating lunch in one of our favorite fast food chains here in Legazpi. I saw this girl, which we both know personally. She is the girlfriend of a particular person, a friend, not so close but we jammed together for sevaral times. The girl was having lunch with another man. Whoa! We both agreed that what we saw is not the usual friendly lunch. My hubby and I sensed that there was something going on between the two. My goodness, everyone can have a clue just by judging movements, if a boy and a girl are just friends, or if there is something between them. This became very obvious when the girl, after seeing us looked in a different direction and pretended she didn't see us. As if we were aliens, duh!

After lunch I thought, I will inform my friend about this. And my husband agreed. But in our way back to the office, I hesitated. My hubby said that I should let the guy know, at least to give him a warning (that there's something going on) and he should be aware of it. My mind tells me, this will surely hurt him. And will surely hit the guy's ego and might start a fight between them. And worst, this might be the cause of their break-up. I can't do this, I said. Let's just wait for him to find it out all by himself. So we both agreed.

Today I feel guilty. Have I made the right decision? What if he'd find out that I already knew about it and didn't do anything to warn him. Or, if I told him and he took it negatively - I might have put myself in trouble. I don't want to be called a busybody and be told to take care of my own business.

Oh well, I will just keep it to myself. I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do. But I think it's safe for me. Now I'm selfish. Ok I'm afraid of the consequences. I am brave, but not with things like this. I will only tell such things if we were super close. Since we are not, I'll zipper my mouth, at least for now.

I know I am not being me. I am known to be honest, even loud and sometimes tactless. I say what I think, and sometimes it hurts people around me. And so to make everything safe, I will not tell him. I haven't mastered the art of being discreet yet. I guess I have to practice starting today. Maybe I'll just wait till he ask me. That's the time I'm gonna say the whole story.

Update: My new favorite song is (just a part of it though):
"Meron akong nakita, pero di ko sasabihin, pero pag ako ay pinilit, sasabihin ko rin."
Is it just a part of it? Or it's the entire song, I'm not sure. Hehe.

Lies, Promises, Assumptions...

2007-06-02T08:02:00.000+08:00

It's so hard to work with so many boss(es).

I remember those days that I am working with only one boss.

Remembering those times...

Thus creating the title:

"Lies, Promises, and Assumptions"

I won't elaborate this time.

But I will be back later.

Maybe if I feel like writing what I feel.

If you know me personally, you will know why.

Mood:

Depeche Mood :)

Instant karma

2007-05-26T16:52:00.001+08:00

I found this email from a friend this afternoon. It's a picture of a newspaper from somewhere (I'm not sure where it came from) written by certain Rebecca Dudley. The story according to Dudley, is too hilarious not to share. Therefore, I am posting it here so I could share it too:

Actually, the story is not too funny. Sorry to disagree Ms. Dudley. I didn't laugh after reading it, I was pissed with the man who burnt his ass. he's too stupid, and so is her wife. Why the hell did she allow her husband to bring a motorcycle inside the house?heck!

But I liked the last line, Talk about instant karma. And by the way, I was amazed how this picture's page had a perfect 10 PageRank. Or maybe firefox's malfunctioning at this time. Check that said photo here.

The Machine Is Us..

2007-05-23T21:14:00.000+08:00

Found this video in YouTube. I based the title from what I realized after watching it. This video was created by Professor Michael Wesch, PhD. It was about Web 2.0, and I can say it's a very clear presentation of it.

This is really cool! Actually, it has different series in Youtube. Go check it out. Search for the words: "The Machine is Us/ing Us". It was said to be the first result of Digital Ethnography working group from Kansas State University. The said video was featured in YouTube last January this year but it became the most searchable video in the web.

Since I was endorsing you to watch this video, let me give you a brief background on why it was created. It was created as a wise response to the video "Web 2.0" which was posted last March 08, 2006. Watch Web 2.0 here.

I've learned so many Web 2.0 stuffs today. I mean tonight. I guess I should've used the title "Web 2.0 information overload" instead. :)

Oh by the way, I'm not a YouTube addict! :) Not that much...

Today is a Funny, Happy and Joyful Day!

2007-05-23T14:29:00.000+08:00

Today was such a brilliant day!

It was funny in the morning. My friend and colleague - Dex who spent a grand vacation in Baguio just got home and gave me this:

Whatta very pleasant pasalubong eh? A carved wood of a small size "potoy, totoy, bototoy, boto, lamosto", whatever you may want to call this thingy...Haha! One funny morning indeed!

This afternoon I was fishing for information on how to create an effective flowchart, a problem solving flowchart that is. I have found a lot of them, but I couldn't figure out which of them could be the most applicable for our team. I got dizzy following some patterns, until I found this one:

No Problem! Haha! This is so far, the most useful and easy to follow problem solving flowchart you can found. I just hope it'll work to us though.. :) Wanna try that out too?

During the whole day, while busy ~~lurking~~ concentrating on whatever I was doing..I fell twice from my throne. See this:

That's my office space. My day starts and ends in this small cubicle. I feel like I was working in a sort of a lotto station, or a ticket booth or whatever that place resemble. It was originally occupied by our company's Operations Manager. but I'm not saying I got promoted, we (the entire Web Marketing Department) we're transferred here because I kept on complaining that our original location was so hot. And so since I was the head, I now occupy this. I used to laugh at this place, and now I'm doomed! :( And so we're here, with the rest of the team - in a room once we called - The aquarium.

Ok, I'm not whining (again)! I was just sharing. Hehe! And so before the day ends, I have heard the most happiest announcement from my boss.
We're supposed to be relocated to Manila, and it's not gonna happen anymore! I have been praying to God that the cpmpany's plan to relocate us would not materialize. This thing really bothered me a lot. It made me think about giving up my job, and certainly a lot of so many other concerns that puts me in distress lately.

Thank God my prayers were answered. Things happened as I wanted them to be. I hope there will be no more changes on the part of the higher CEOs in the US. I was so happy I captured our YM conversation with a screen shot here.

I Totally Hate These Brownouts!

2007-05-19T10:12:00.000+08:00

I was totally pissed with these Legazpi City power outages. You see, we've been suffering from these severely annoying "on and off" electricity for almost a month now. I can't figure out the problem with ALECO (Albay Electric Cooperative). Everyone knows there was a serious problem that caused these power outages here. But since Senator Joker Arroyo have heard about it and made actions to solve this problem, we were promised that there will be no more brownouts, and that was before the election day. Which is true! And i'm so thankful to Sen. Joker for that.

But now, I was wondering what went wrong with Aleco... again? Yesterday, I was so pissed off by these brownouts. Imagine when you're in a serious working mode and suddenly the power went off. Sheeet! And imagine if you're using the old version of Windows office and it doesn't save anything of your work. yeah I know you're thinking I should master clicking the 'save' button or ' 'Ctrl S'. But you know, it's so nakakatamad tiring to save your work after typing every word, there will b a point that you'll just type your ideas fast and then there you go- power off! Totally living you hot headed in a hot hot room!

So I was shouting at the back of my mind, gimme me a damn working UPS now!!! Please!!!

Dang, these brownouts occurred for at least 4-5 times I think the entire day. I feel like not working anymore and just go home or go to the mall to relax and cool down. These power outages really pissed me off to the max!

mood: pissed off!

Legazpi City Election Day

2007-05-14T14:32:00.000+08:00

Today, I exercise my right to vote.

Looking for the precinct.

There you are! After searching for so long..:-)

There in a dark and steamy room I "cry my heart out"!

Here's what's in front of that tiny desk.

The ~~incredible~~ indelible ink.

tsk. such a dirt.

It was not fun voting in the morning, since its too hot to go to schools. It was just too nakakatamad for me to go out. But still, I was urged to vote. I don't want some stupid losers to win just because I stubborn.

How about you, did you exercise your freedom to vote already?

This should be a different post, but I'm too lazy to create a new one, so here it is.

Election day. Monday. Money everywhere. Which is good. Uhm, not good.

**See, our jokes about the upcoming election isn't really a joke after all. It's true!**

Vote Buying Act 1

Vote Buying Act 2

Sample Ballot 1

Sample Ballot 2

It's part of the Philippine Elections. Vote buying is as easy as selling fish in the market. No one can change that. Nobody, even Trillanes can't stop that.

Today, is my chance to exercise my freedom to vote. No matter how much you "gave" me, I will still write the names of the candidates that my conscience tells me.

So I say to all those politicians running who try to buy my vote:

Thank you for trying.
Thank you for the new 200 and 500 peso bills you stapled in the sample ballot. At least, you have helped people by providing them a meal that can last for 1 day or 3 days maybe, for once!
And most of all, thank you for returning a portion of my income that was ~~inevitably~~ helplessly deducted from my hardly-earned salary by the form of TAX!

Disclaimer: It is not my intention to ruin some politicians' name by this post, I just wanted to share my experience during this 2007 elections. This is my blog anyways!

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T14:54:00.000+08:00

May 13, is Mothers' day! Me as a mom already received a gift from my husband and my kids. Whatever it is, it's a secret! Haha! I haven't bought my mom any gift as I am thinking of taking the family to the beach, but everyone disagreed. So we'll just treat my Mama to a sumptuous dinner later. Anyways, today is the best day to honor all the mothers in the world. Just a short tip from a mom like me: it's not important whether you have bought them presents or not, what's important is to make them feel special and tell them that you are thankful that you have her as a mom and that you love her. As simple as that, and I am 100% sure that you already made your mom happy. For all mothers out there just like me, here's 1 wonderful poem for you:

Before I Was Myself, You Made Me, Me

Before I was myself you made me, me
With love and patience, discipline and tears,
Then bit by bit stepped back to set me free,

Allowing me to sail upon my sea,
Though well within the headlands of your fears.
Before I was myself you made me, me

With dreams enough of what I was to be
And hopes that would be sculpted by the years,
Then bit by bit stepped back to set me free,

Relinquishing your powers gradually
To let me shape myself among my peers.
Before I was myself you made me, me,

And being good and wise, you gracefully
As dancers when the last sweet cadence nears
Bit by bit stepped back to set me free.

For love inspires learning naturally:
The mind assents to what the heart reveres.
And so it was through love you made me, me
By slowly stepping back to set me free.

A note to all the moms who happen to read my blog:
"Angels can never be mothers, but mothers who care, guide and love their children are indeed angels in disguise."

Happy Mother's Day!!

2 Days Before Election Day

2007-05-12T13:22:00.000+08:00

I am not so mindful of the upcoming May 14, 2007 election, merely because I don't care about this politicians, nor campaigning for any of them. Ok, this might not sound good to you, but it's just me. I am not into politics, I feel like there'll be no difference kahit sino pa man ang manalo sa kanila. Oh well..

During our lunch break, we discussed past elections here in Legazpi City. We all agreed that money is was always involved and it's everywhere during Legazpi City elections. We were all laughing at the idea that Malls will be filled by shoppers with stapled 500 peso bills as if it was just snatched out from the sample ballots distributed by barangay (village) leaders - vote buying. And voter's might earn up to 2,000 pesos until the day of the elections, wow!

Since I only have 2 more days before election day, I might as well prepare my personal voter's list. Here's my list for senators:

1. Chiz Escudero
2. Joker Arroyo
3. Roco, I forgot her first name.
4. Ping Lacson
5. ---
6. ---

That's it for now, see i'm not even prepared. I don't have any idea yet on who I should vote, just to fill up the 12 slot for senators in my ballot.

Sino pa ba dapat kung i-boto?
Yung mga artista ba...
Asawa ng sikat na artista kaya...
yung mga mahilig sa revolution...
OR yung tipong baguhan sa senado tulad ni Vic Magsaysay at Pichay?

Yay! I don't want to risk giving my 1 and only vote to those candidates whose credibility I still doubt.

That will be my list for now. For the list of those I shall vote for the local positions, that will remain a secret until the final election day. :-)

Today is SATURDAY! Yes! Happy weekend everyone! Ciao!

Got Hooked By Online Tests!

2007-05-03T16:23:00.000+08:00

I have nothing to do now, I've finished sending my reports so I went blog hopping. I got hooked with Tickle's tests, yeah I know it's boring and we're not sure if its results are really creadible. It's very rare that I take such extra long tests, but c'mon, let me try this for a difference :) I took the ESP Test, and here's the result:

Raziel, you have an unusually strong psychic talent in the area of Precognition.

This means you have an uncanny ability to look into the future and anticipate what is going to happen. By knowing something's going to occur, you can even change the outcome of events for the better.

Raziel, our in-depth analysis also shows you have other hidden psychic strengths including retrocognition (the ability to know what has happened in the past), telepathy (the ability to sense people's true thoughts) and clairvoyance (the ability to see the unknown).

Oh well, maybe this test gets a bit of my approval because I often have deja vu and my intuitions are always right! Hah, let me tell you a secret. I've been using my intuition to harass my husband and let him tell the truth in different situations. :)

Here's another test I got online:

What Tarot Card are You?

You are The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Now I had a new found hobby during my free time, taking online tests!

Yahoo Messenger Ghost Needs Ghost Buster!

2007-05-03T09:59:00.000+08:00

Warning:

If you ever see me 'always' online at night, please ignore! That's my YM Ghost lurking at night silently...."

My friends noticed that I was always online. Well I am from 8am to 5pm, Tuesday till Saturday - not during late nights! This being online thing has been noticed since last week. And they were all wondering what the hell i'm doing during wee hours..so am I? Why the hell am I online that night, the other night and the previous nights?!? They said I seemed to be so busy coz they buzzed me and send me a message, but I did not reply.

I told them I am not online and cannot be online for some reasons that time coz I can't. And actually, I was sleeping soundly by that time coz my regular bed time starts by 10-11pm. What the hell! Whoever, whatever that YM Ghost is looking for, I do not know! Some of my officemates were also seen online in Yahoo Messenger, and it's been happening more frequently now.

All the while I was thinking that it was just another problem with Yahoo Messenger, especially the YM version 6.0 that I heard is full of bugs. But I think this time it's not a bug anymore.

Last Wednesday, when I came to office in the morning, I found out my PC was on and I was really online with quite a few messages popping. This was the most annoying part! I assure you guys this is really impossible! In my almost 4 years of work here at SBM ket - I always make sure that I signed out in YM and turned off my PC before I leave everyday. And so I checked my archive, whoaaa..there were messages that have been sent and have been read. Amf!

The next day, my PC was not on, yet I was still spotted online. There were no new messages either, so I thought the ghost might be using a different PC.

Whatever the purpose of that YM Ghost for using my Yahoo Messenger, I do not know. Maybe it was looking for information, what kind? I'm not so sure, really...Oh well, I have a suspicion - this is ghost is the same ghost that's been checking others' emails anytime. And this same ghost is the YM Ghost that watch and read other people's conversation in Yahoo Messenger. It can even see my activities in my computer at work anytime.

Duh?!?! Read: PRIVACY, RESPECT?I am sure this Ghost doesn't know these words. So to you Ghost, let me tell you, I am not the type of person who likes to be watched while working. And I don't like my personal life to be intruded. This Yahoo Messenger Ghost really need a Ghost Buster!

"If some bloggers have their own Ghost Writers, I also have a Yahoo Messenger Ghost User and Reader."

Btw, if you wonder how I can be watched while working. Search for RAdmin in Google.

Happy Labor Day!

2007-05-01T15:09:00.000+08:00

Today May 1st, is the Philippines' celebration of Labor Day. I used the adjective 'happy' because we don't have work today just like everyone else. Meaning we'll have a quite long 3-day-vacation and spend it happily with our families.

Labor day in the Philippines is one of the non-working holidays for Filipino working community.

Coverage:

This benefits shall apply to all employees except:

Those of the government and any of the political subdivisions, including government-owned and controlled corporations;
Those of retail and service establishments regularly employing less than ten (10) workers;
Domestic helpers and persons in the personal service of another;
Managerial employees; and
Field personnel and other employees whose time and performance is unsupervised by the employer including those who are engaged on task or contract basis, purely commission basis or those who are paid a fixed amount for performing work irrespective of the time consumed in the performance thereof.

Holiday Pay of Certain Employees

Private school teachers, including faculty members of colleges and universities may not be paid for the regular holidays during semestral vacations. They shall, however, be paid for the regular holidays during Christmas vacation;
Where the covered employee is paid by results or output, such as payment on piece work, his holiday pay shall not be less than his average daily earnings for the last seven (7) actual working days preceding the regular holiday; Provided, however, that in no case shall the holiday pay be less than the applicable statutory minimum wage rate.
Seasonal workers may not be paid the required holiday pay during off-season when they are not at work.
Workers who do not have regular working days, such as stevedores, shall be entitled to this benefits.

Our company and my status as an employee was not mentioned in the "Holiday Pay of Certain Employees "part, therefore I shall be payed today without working! Not bad eh? Another reason to be happy!

In Manila, I wonder if people there will enjoy going out during labor day. I'm sure rallies are everywhere and traffic will surely kill their time if they try to go to malls. I've ~~heard~~ read that 14,000 cops deployed for Labor Day in Manila today.

Now I wonder if other countries do celebrate Labor Day too. Here's what i've found:

Parehas lang pala, halos walang pinagkaiba..maraming rallies at ingay din. Kahit nung unang panahon ata uso na ang rally at kaguluhan tuwing labor day. :)

Small Houses by Jay Shafer

2007-05-01T14:33:00.000+08:00

See this small house that a "quiet, boyish presence and the unclouded brow of a man content with his choices" built. According to the author of the article, it was built in a 96 square feet lot--which she said is smaller than many people's bathrooms.

Mr. Jay Shafer, the "small houses" builder is a genuis. He is badly needed here in the Philippines. Where small and affordable-housing riffraffs are most common. Unlike the country where he lives where small housing is prohibited due to some reasons, in the Philippines, he will surely be loved and even supported by our government.

Take a look at the photos taken from Shafer's dream house:

Jay Shafer stands in front of his "dream" small house.

At the back of Jay Shafer's small house.

The small house' bedroom :)

The small house' living room...

The small house' interiors.

See? Talk about minimalism..I also want a small house like this. Granted that i'll stay there alone. But with my 3 kids? I don't think we'll fit in there. :)

Socrates Meets Jesus

2007-04-27T16:11:00.000+08:00

I was blog hopping this afternoon and found this website. I am not an atheist or what, I am a pure Catholic. Yet, as a human being.. I seldom have questions in my mind that are mentioned in this post.

Read here: "Socrates Meets Jesus" by Prometheus

Note:
I am not promoting anti-Christ or what. We are entitled to our own opinion. So you may share your thoughts about it and leave a comment.

HTML/CSS Training

2007-04-27T12:55:00.000+08:00

This week is a busy week for me. And so to start this busy week, the Web Marketing Department had our first formal HTML/CSS Training . It was a two-day training that was conducted at our office last Monday and Tuesday:

I was happy my Boss approved my HTML and CSS Training that I have requested a few weeks ago. We are all excited, coz it will be helpful. I enjoyed it, it was fun doing things that are new to me. Well, not actually "new", my knowledge in HTML and CSS is limited. At least now, that little knowledge have been enhanced. Part of the training exercises were to create a calculator, similar to the windows calculator.

Oha! I received a tumbler for that! Hehehe. We also designed a sample website, it was a slam book actually. Here's a glimpse my work:

And so to relax a bit from the tiring yet fulfilling training, we went to Chili peppers for a little drink. Some did not join us, but still the night was worth it.

~~*o0o*~~

Happy Bday Jan-Jan!

2007-04-18T11:05:00.000+08:00

Today is Jan-Jan's 5th birthday, she is my eldest daughter. So far, her birthday is the 8th birthday party for this month. Her complete name by the way is Jan Kathleen Marie. We are not throwing her a super party this time, sorry baby! We have to spend wisely since we have already spent on so many things this april. I really need to study accounting more :).

As I mom, I already have plans on celebrating her birthday. I planned to bring the kinds to the zoo - Wild Life - a Manila Zoo version here in Legazpi. But later I was told it was not yet fully reconstructed since after the storm Reming. And besides, it's super hot so I guess I should opt to fast foods like Jollibee or McDo in malls, para mas tipid. I never asked for a reservation since it'll be a very simple family get-together party. Cousins only are allowed. Hehe. I am really on a tight budget right now. This 20th will be their school graduation too. But we won't be celebrating that, they're just Kinder and nursery students you know.

Paging all of my kumares and kumpares out there. If you happen to read this post, please tag me. She is (anticipating)very eager to receive her gifts now!:)

That's it for now. Byers! I'll take a leave from work today. I have to go home and prepare my kids. I have to buy her a (cheap) cute kiddie present too. They're probably just kids, they won't know the price!Haha!

I'm planning to buy this for Jan-jan:
A Barney CD. I'm sure she will love it!

Meron kaya nyan sa mga bangketa?Haha.
Peace Mr Edu Manzano! Teka, kaw pa ba ang MOB president?

Summer Get-away 2 : Isla Monteverde

2007-04-14T17:31:00.000+08:00

Our team is planning another summer get-away trip :) and this time it's a bit far from Legazpi City. We're going to Monteverde island or commonly called as Isla Monteverde . It'll be my first time to visit the this island, or I may say the first island ever that i'm going to visit. I'm sure it's a beautiful place. It was featured in TV patrol world once, I am not so sure about that since I haven't watched the episode. But my officemate, Glady told me she saw it. To give you a glimpse of the island, i've researched some photos of it. And here's what I found:

ahh, I am imagining the fresh and the irresistible island beach smell.

Photo courtesy of RS Rivero, I found it in flickr.

Here's more about the Monteverde Island:

Monteverde Island originally known as "Paglokaban" island guards the sea-lane on the northern part of the town of Garchitorena. The island's mini forest harbors thousand of large fruit eating bats. All four sides of the island has its own white beach area and is presently being developed as an island resort.

HOW TO GET HERE

Garchitorena is accessible from Manila via the Quirino Highway. Aircon and non-aircon buses ply Manila -Naga route from the Araneta Center Daily.From Naga City northbound Jeepney terminal, take a jeepney going to Tamban, Tinambac and from Tamban, take a motorboat and go directly to Garchitoren. From Naga to Tamban, it takes 21/2 hours and from Tamban to Garchitorena, it takes another 21/2 hours.

Another route from Naga City is to take a jeepney which travels directly to Garchitorena via the Caramoan Peninsula Road. It takes 5 hours to reach the place.

Moving Around

Within the poblacion, padyak and tricycle are available. In going to other barangay , motorboats are available. There are barangay with daily regular trips like Bgy. Burabod, Cagamutan, Ason, Bahi.

I guess you would agree with me, that long trip will be worth it. Di ba? And nabalitaan ko pa, mura lang ang magiging expenses nyo. I think worth PHP1,000.00 andun ka na, and kasama dyan sa budget yung food and accommodation. Oh di ba, bonggang bongga! Do you wanna join? Hahaha?Sige pm me na lang, tentative date is on April 29,we'll leave early. The more the merrier!!

New Blog Template

2007-04-14T17:14:00.000+08:00

Goodbye to my old blogger template, I have uploaded a new template since my blog will be turning 1 this April. Yahoo...pink blog template once again. I got this new blogger template here.

Since i'm not that good in html and coding, I can't restore the old links I had in my old template. So pardon me if I missed your links, I will fix it soon, promise. I also can't fix my cbox, I don't know how to resize it so it would fit properly into the sidebar.

So friends, if you know how to edit it, please let me know. Thanks!

Web Marketing Summer Get-away!

2007-04-14T14:48:00.000+08:00

Finally, the Web Marketing Department had the chance to spend 1 whole night together--at the beach! Yes, our team escaped the city last April 5-6 and stayed overnight at the Rizal Beach, Gubat Sorsogon. It was such an amazing and fun night for all of us. Here are some of the pics taken:

On the way to Rizal Beach..

Who's inside the jeep...

The beach!

Some started swimming...

The muses of wmd..:D

Others started to eat...

while the others started to take some pictures..

And of course, some started this:

We also played some silly card game and did this to ourselves..:)

Singing, eating and drinking...ahh stress-free night!

drinks and some more drinks at night.

Getting sober, the guys praising Ms Generous Queen!

Bonfire around 12 midnight..

Yan ang ginagawa ng stress-free night, a fresh morning!

And of course before leaving the place, we pose for some group photo ops..

The Web marketing team with Dex and Owen I:

The Web marketing team with Dex and Owen II:

Do I need to say more? So many thing had happened in Rizal Beach, but I must keep it to myself, mahirap na.

What happens in Rizal Beach, stays in Rizal Beach! :)

April 2007 Birthday Celebrants/Celebrators..whatever

2007-04-13T14:32:00.000+08:00

To all my friends and relatives who will be celebrating their birthdays this month, happy birthday to you all. here are those that I can remember so far, sa mga nakalimutan ko, pm nyo na lang ako ok? No hurt feelings, tao lang..Hehehe.

April 3 - Art Ryan Biescas

April 6 - My lola,as in grandma kaso wala ako pic nya dito sa pc ko e.

April 7 - Jessyl John "Toinx" Siaton, my jowa :)

April 8 - Jet, maurag na programmer, and maurag talaga maski sain. :) padi...!

April 10 - My nephew's bday, Sioti

April 13 - Mr. SEO Philippines: Marc Macalua

April 15 - Dhong, another padi!

April 16 - Talie aka "Little Ms Web marketing

April 18 - my daughter 5th birthday, Jan Kathleen Marie.

April 19 - Jopet's 2nd bday, another nephew fresh from the US of A.

April 27 - Dex, Content Development Supervisor and my padi
too.

There you go...whew, andami! Sana wala talaga akong nakalimutan! To all of you, I wish you more happiness and success. And of course, mahaba-habang inuman! :D

TO ALL APRIL BABIES, HAPPY BIRTH ANNIVERSARY TO Y'ALL!!

So Nice To Be Back..

2007-03-24T12:18:00.000+08:00

Grabe, it's almost 2 months that I haven't checked my blog. Oh well, as usual, ang palusot - busy! True naman, I am really busy. As in, feeling ko nga malapit na ako magca- carpal tunnel syndrome. Sa dinami-dami ng nagyari..gosh bakit ba di ko magawang i-blog lahat yun.

oh well, wala lang. Just ignore this post, gusto ko lang mag update. Hahaha!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~xxoOoXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rants:It's so hot in the office. Ironic since it's raining cats and dogs outside, we should feel so cold but no! Hell, ang init. Why? The airconditioning is malfunctioning, again (what's new?) I don't know the problem with it, but i'm sure it has warranty. At di ko rin alam the reason why it takes them so long to fix that thing. Ang init, meron ng ina-asthma, me inuubo, may migraine, may nangangamoy, etc, etc. Tell me, how can you work, or how can you ever keep your brain working in a hot environment. It's exaggeration I know, pero c'mon, sino naman makaka-concentrate sa ganitong sitwasyon. Not to mention yung mainit na singaw ng PC sa may paanan mo. I can't move freely kse siksikan pa, very limited space, kahit paa mo di maka-relax. Ambagal pa ng internet connection! San ka pa? So yan, small space + hot environment + slow internet = migraine x colds = S T R E S S!

Happy about: Oh well, we have a brand new digicam! Yahoo! My sister-in-law, Ate Elaine promised to give us as a gift. And my husband and I have been waiting for this for 4 months. At last, I can practice my being an (amateur) photographer! I haven't figured out its setting yet, so I have to read the manual first this weekend so as not to destroy it and easily play around with it. I'm not a stupid geek you know, i'm just plain stupid. Haha!

So this might be the start of me blogging interesting things again, armed with a digicam.. Sorry na lang yung mga mabibiktima ko!

That's it for now, expect more photos in my next posts! ciao!

Valentines Day!

2007-02-17T15:47:00.000+08:00

I know this entry is too late for a valentine's day post. Oh well, i've been busy with work so much that I already forgot I have blog accounts. Hehe. It was actually a very corny day to celebrate. Really, for me lang naman... i feel like i'm so obliged to have flowers and chocolates on my desk in the morning and should leave early because later at night I 'should' have a romantic date. Which I got mad because may dearie is not home, he's spending vday in Manila. Which is not actually an issue for me, but now it is. Haha, kaya pala!

Anyways, to give you chizmax about heart's day here, we, the "singles for you". (kasama ako dun kse wala ung jowa ko.) nag date na lang..friends' night out. We have some good food in an eat-all-you-can restaurant and drink 2 bottles of beer. O ha, nagtaka ka, diet kami sa beer since it was wednesday and that means we have work the following day. Here are the pictures we got, mga loka-lokang nag date ng valentines.

San Mig Light Jumbo

2007-01-27T14:52:00.000+08:00

Wanna try?

* This SanMig Light Jumbo is only available here in Legazpi. :)

Jezcka is turning 1!

2007-01-17T13:26:00.000+08:00

Jezcka's bithday will be tomorrow na..kaya I was so busy these past few days. This is her 1st bithday, so I want it to be simple yet memorable for the kids. Here's her invitation card made by my friend whin.

A year has passed, how time has flown..
We can't believe how she's grown!
She's really sweet and sees much fun,
Our baby girl is turning one!

Come Celebrate! Jezcka is turning 1...

Janah Sofia Franchezka's 1st Birthday!

Happy 1st birthday!

Terrified!

2007-01-12T12:31:00.000+08:00

Terrified! That's what I'm feeling right now. There's been a spreading news or i say, hearsay - i'm not sure, that Legazpi will be flooded once again. This story was also generated through text messages, and everyone's talking about it, even here at the office. Here's the complete story:

After the typhoon reming, i've heard over the radio that somewhere in Albay, an old man approached a bunch of teenage drunkards and asked for a glass of water. Instead of offering water, the said drunkards gave the old man a glass of beer. To the old man's dismay, he said " sa gibo nindong iyan sako, tutubigon kamo digdi..." (Because of what you have done to me, you will be flooded.) The same so-called story also 'happened' in barangay Padang wherein hundreds of victims have been recorded.

And now, once again the said old man (according to hearsays) is spreading words that Legazpi will be flooded once again, and it will be worst than that of reming. That's why i'm so darn terrified! I didn't easily believe these kind of stuffs, I have a strong faith in God. I am afraid for my kids though. Adults can swim, how about the children.

Tomorrow's January 13. My heart throbs everytime it comes to my mind. What should I do? I guess this is one of the trauma effects I gained from the previous calamity. All i'm doing now is to pray for God's mercy and ask for his mighty power to protect us from any calamity. And i'm asking those people to pray also, and not to be affected with panic.

God, I pray this thing would not happen to us.
Please protect us with your blood.
Oh Mary, please shield us with your mantle of protection.
In Jesus name, we pray.
Amen

Jezka's 1st Birthday!

2007-01-11T11:45:00.000+08:00

After celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary last January 8, we will be soon celebrating my youngest daughter's birthday - Jezcka is turning 1 on January 18, 2006. Party invites are net yet done, will send them to you once we have them.

For all the ninongs and ninangs, tito and tita - She is now ready to accept gifts, in cash or in kind. :-)

January 8

2007-01-10T16:04:00.000+08:00

This is a late post. Sunod-sunod na celebration..after nung 3rd year anniversary ko sa MBS Tek at birthday ni Olops, 5th year anniversary naman namin ng luvey ko nung January 8. 8 is our favorite number, it's full of happy memories. January 8 nung sinagot ko sya at naging kami, so bale yun ang date na nagce-celebrate kami ng anniversary when we were still mag-jowa. So para maging official anniversary date yung January 8 - january 8 din kami nagpakasal. O di ba ang saya!

We were actually celebrating our 8 years of being together. 4 years as lovers and 4 years of being husband and wife. I think it's still the same, the only difference is that we're celebrating as a family, with three new addition - my 3 little angels: Jan, Jiro and Jezcka.

So para masaya. lumabas lang kami and eat dinner together. Then we drink with some close friends - Peachy, Lala and her hubby. It was fun, we talked about the past, nung bf/gf pa lang, nung nabuntis, etc..It was still a special night for both of us, though wala na yung gift namin for each other. We still wish deep in our hearts that we can still be with each other until we reach our golden wedding anniversary. So I wish humaba pa talaga pasensya ko, at pasensya na rin nya para humaba pa ang pagsasama namin. Hahaha!

Nga pala, lapit na birthday ni Jezcka..celebration na naman!

Olops, bow!

2007-01-05T15:55:00.000+08:00

January 5 - Nag-effort si Olops magluto este magpaluto ng pansit sa tatay ko. Pano ba naman, birthday nya pala. Olops Happy birthday! At ako naman, naki-celebrate kasama ng mga batalyon ng Web Marketing Analysts sa secret. Hahaha. Ano kamo sine-celebrate ko? Wala lang, nagkataon lang na pang-tatlong taon ko na sa kumpanyang pinagtatrabahuhan ko ngayon mismong araw na to. Masaya ba ako? Ewan ko, di ko alam, ang alam ko lang masaya ako at di naubus ang pansit..hehehe, meaning tama estimate ko, ambabaw! So ayun, kumain lang kami dito sa office, mejo nagkagulo ng konti kse may nang-agaw ng yelo at slice bread. Bwahahaha!

Masaya ang araw na'to, ang masisibang taga content development at web marketing ay nagkaisang muli para pagsaluhan ang pansit na alay ni olops sa kanyang kaarawan. Teka, sino ba kse si olops? Well, sya po ay lalake. Ang totoong pangalan nya ay err..ano nga sabi ni Dex - "Olops d other reindeer roderos", hehehe. Seriously, ang totoong name nya is Rudolph Jude Roderos. Eto sya:

photo courtesy of Dex.

Oh well, ang masasabi ko lang di bagay name nya sa kanya. Kumusta naman ang ukrayan?! Pagkatapos akong pakainin..hehe! Si Olops, sweet, mabait, malambing, at higit sa lahat - bata pa! Di nga, totoo bata pa daw yang si Olops. Eto usapan namin, kayo bahala maghusga:

razh: how young is u na bhe?
olops Roderos: 19 po
razh: huwaaat?!?!
olops Roderos: 19
olops Roderos: 19..
olops Roderos: 1984

Oh see, sabi ko sainyo bata pa yan si Olops eh. At eto ang galing nyan mangistorbo pag oras ng trabaho. Mahilig yan mag-send ng mga "inspiring" YM messages sa grupo:

Crime scene: In a condo unit, a dead man was found with a gun in one of his hands and a recorder on the other. A gunshot through his head. No signs of violence. The detective in charge took the recorder and played it. “I’m tired of my life, I wanna die.” *gunshot* The detective asked the dead man’s roommate, “is this his voice?” He replied, “yes.” The detective said, “we must find the murderer.” How did the detective know it was a murder and not a suicide?
Encouraging words for the day: “Kung di ka na masaya sa buhay mo, bakit di mo subukan ang kabilang buhay?” Kaka-inspire ano? Eheh..
Kapatid, dahil sa’yo naging makulay at masaya ang taong ito ng buhay ko. Sana sa darating na bagong taon, makibahagi ka pa rin sa buhay ko. Iba kasi kasi pag anjan ka. Aasahan ulit kita ha. Happy new year po sa’yo!

At marami pang iba, wala na sa archive ko. Ngayon, may hint na kayo kung anong klaseng tao si Olops, korni! Nyahahaha! Happy Birthday ulit pareng Otap! este Olops! Magbagong buhay ka na! Hahaha!

Which Superhero are you?

2007-01-04T13:55:00.000+08:00

I've encountered this superhero test making the rounds and it just hooked me. Maybe I am just too curious to know which superhero I am, and it's quite fun and interesting too. Here it is:

Your results:
You are Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman		100%
Green Lantern		100%
Supergirl		100%
Superman		85%
The Flash		75%
Robin		65%
Spider-Man		65%
Hulk		65%
Iron Man		60%
Catwoman		55%
Batman		55%

You are a beautiful princess
with great strength of character.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Wahaha! Isn't it funny? Try it, who knows Batman or Spiderman is your alter ego. Why not? :)

Reming, Legazpi, Christmas.....

2006-12-22T14:42:00.000+08:00

Hello world!!
The title of this blog post is like that of wordpress' first post - hello world!

It's because I haven't updated this blog for almost a month, and it looks like just-another-abandoned-blog already. We'll after typhoon reming ruined our house, I haven't enough time to update my blog. As in, pano ko pa maiisip yon, sa dami-dami ng mga bagay na iniisip ko. Kumusta naman ang bahay namin ngayon? Ayun ok lang, naibalik yung mga lumang bubong na winasak ni reming. Filipinos are resilient ika nga, kahit anong bagyo, we always tend to get up on our feet. And that's what we're doing. The recovery of course, is gradual...in time the trauma that it has created for me and my kids will soon be forgotten.

*****

Legazpi has electricity!

So much for reming, electricity is now back in Legazpi. Thanks ALECO, and those electric cooperatives who have helped Legazpi regain electricity before Christmas! For the sake of my kids, I bought a few christmas decor to brighten our "recovering house". In a way, my kids will feel christmas - since for all we know Christmas is still christmas. It cannot be postponed, nor delayed. My kids kept on asking, "ilang days na lang mommy bago mag christmas?" and "where is santa claus, is he still coming kahit may bagyo?" Hay, kids will always be kids. Kaya ayun, I bought worth 500php na christmas decor. Thank you sa mga friendly taiwanese sellers dito sa legazpi, I was able to buy this stuffs:

5ft christmass tree - P95
assorted xmas tree decors - P100
Santa Claus with Lights on the wall - P100
"Merry Christmas" logo with light - P100
Christmas light - P85

See, very cheap isn't it. If you're going to buy it in a mall it will cost you at least P1000. Buti na lang may Hong! Hehehe. My kids enjoyed decorating our little xmas tree, at least for a short time we have spent some quality 'bonding' time together. And this time, it's ok if they messed with our Christmas tree, they were the ones who decorate it anyways.

******************

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Kumusta naman ang ating christmas tree?

Ayan, di ba ang saya saya...And before I forget, lahat ng mga friends ko, sa lahat ng Justice League (the final four and sa 2 na others na), sa lahat ng mga web marketing analysts, mga content writers, lahat ng taga-MBS Tek sa manila, at lahat ng mga taga- MBS Tek, pati yung sa head office namin na US AUto Parts sa LA, mga fellow SEO members ko, at lahat ng sinuman na mapadaan dito sa blog ko..

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Our Trip to MBS Tek Manila (Nov. 15-20, '06)

2006-11-21T16:32:00.000+08:00

Walang sawang pagpapa-picture..hehe. Walang magawa e,kami, lalo na ako ay isang camera whore. Bwahahahaha!

ganda...ang ganda talaga!..ng background! :-)

so tired of strolling, and shopping...

Our sked flight have been delayed (again), so picture-picture muna kami ni ga..

Ayan parang first time..

Si ako..

Si ako pa rin..

At si ako pa rin yan..walang sawang nagpo-pose..

Mala Hongkong ba?Dyan lang yan sa tabi-tabi..

Toinx, Me, Owen and Peachy(aka Atomic Girl)..

May katabi akong Mongoloid...haha.joke lang owen..

Ayan, nice pose! The girsl(?) next door with Owen ulit.

Ang mgs kulot bow! Piktyur muna while waiting for our food in Jade Palace. Go yellow team!

Strolling around the Mall..

Nagt-trip sa pinto ng kabilang office..

I'm Back!

2006-11-21T09:23:00.000+08:00

It's been 2 weeks that I haven't updated this blog. Well, just been busy this past few days with my work, and personal matters at the same time. I have been to Manila for a training and heck, life there is really toxic that I can't even write about things that I think is so interesting to share. So maybe next time I would recall it one by one.

Atomic girl, Talie and I went to Manila to train Manila office's newbies. The two has been very busy preparing their presentation and so nervous from the day I announced that they will be coming with me to Manila, up to the day of their presentation. It's good to see some good colleagues there like Shobe, Gabby and Cams. Though we're a bit disappointed that the people we trained seemed not to be interested about the topic, and only a few of them tried to listen. Well, it's not a big deal for us but I hope no one will be asking about the topics now that we're back in Legazpi.

We also meet up with some friends like NB, Owen, Carmelo and the guys from Creative Page Online. It's so sad though that I haven't seen some good old friends like Lou, Patrick and Wenchie.

I'll post some of our pics later.

Ciao!

R U A Sexpert?

2006-11-10T12:44:00.000+08:00

Do you have a healthy love life, or do you take too many risks?

This quiz looks at your attitudes, knowledge and sexual behaviour to tell you wether or not you might be risking your sexual health.

It's time to ask a few personal questions. So tell us, how healthy is your love life?
Think you know all about the art of love? Take this test to see if you're a real Sexpert.

R U A Sexpert?

Raziel's Birthday - Gimik to the Max!

2006-11-07T12:06:00.000+08:00

In 3 days, I have celebrated my 20-something birthday. The first was last Nov. 2 - the pre-birthday party. Few of my cousins who live nearby have some drinks at home while they helped me prepare the food that I have to bring in the office the next day. Funny snap shots were taken but haven't been uploaded yet so i'll post it as soon as it's transferred. Nov. 3 was my date of birth, we had snacks at the office. Later that night, my cousins and some good friends went out for a dinner and a few drinks. We went home past 2 am in the morning so I wasn't able to come for work the following day. I call it Birthday leave. Haha!

Saturday, my colleagues: from the Web Marketing Dep't, to Web Designers and some of the Web Programmers went out and have some fun. We drink and eat at Chili Peppers and later hopped to Golden Boat for some more drinks and videoke. We enjoyed a lot, though my pocket is empty right now...at least I surely had fun. Same as my other birthdays while I'm here in the same office, I will always cherish it and remember it.

Here's some of the pictures taken last Nov. 4:

Dong, Ico, Me, Dags (May Sanib!) and Mr Isulong (kuno) Whin.

Inee, my friend - with the Girls in Pink: Talie and Ces.

Arthur and Inee, with me, Peach, Talie and Ces. Si Talie nakapikit na nman,ikaw din ba peach?

Kris, with me and Ga.

Kris, Me, Peach and Dex. Nagsisimula ng malasing..

Ang mga gwapo ant magaganda ng MBS nagsama-sama, yung di nakapunta,lahat sila pangit. :P

close-up smiles kahit medyo lashing na - Ritz and Niks - kahit saan panalo sa smile,kakainggit!

Dags and the Winston Girl

Si Pareng Ryan..bagay ba sila ni Talie?..just in case may himala..haha!

hala! hala! si Talie oh..joke lang po yan,nag-pose lang for picture..:D

O ayan, may malapit ng malasing dyan..haha!

Yan, may isa ng lasing...

Another lasing na..

Isa pa to..pilit na tawa at pikit na mata-another sign of lashing na- Peach and Ces

ang cu-cute ng smile lalo na pag lasing...

Asus, pretending walang mga tama, ganda at gwapo pa rin ah!

ayan lumalabas na ang totoo,lasing na nga..nice pose dex!

o seryosong usapan na yan, lam ko na nman kung tungkol saan yan.haha!

censored! hala, ayan lasing na talaga si Art!

ayan away mag-jowa..dags bakit lumalayo ka kay whin?;)

Whin: "Dags, mahal ko,para sayo tong awiting ito..Dags:"susunugin kita ng buhay!!!"

tama bang piktyurin habang bumibirit sa pagkanta, tingnan mo tuloy..!haha!

kita mo si dong? DOng:(pasimple mode)"kris baba mo yan,may naaamoy ako!"

Dong:(galit mode)"Sabi ko sayo kris ibaba mo muna yan kse may naamoy ako,tigas ng ulo mo!"

Ang gwapo ni Dags at Whin!

all smiles peach!

hala! tawa pa peach,ano yan ha?

I miss my old buddies - Patrick and Lou. Though di man lang nila ako naalala batiin that night, ok lang. Malayo na kse narating nila kaya nakakalimot na. Pero wez! paguwi nyo dito tutuktukin ko kayo! Buti pa frend kong si wenchie, after 4 years naalala pa rin birthday ko! Anyways, andun naman yung ibang Magdalou: si Kris, Dex, Whin, at humabol pa si Steve kahit may OT work.

Big thanks for all those who came. And for all those na naka-alalang bumati, tumawag at nag text at dun sa mga nagbigay ng donasyon, este birthday gifts!

Birtday Party sa Office Last Nov. 03

2006-11-07T10:17:00.000+08:00

Picture-picture! Celebrating my birthday sa office spells F-U-N. Here are some of the pictures taken at the office during the snacks.

The entire Web Marketing Department posing for some pictures after the snack.(except for Dags na sumingit lang para sa picture) L-R: Art (megapose),Peachy(super smile), Ces(super smile din),Lorie(the chinita), Talie(megapose), Glady (the famous senadora), Maricon (winning smile), Jinky(isa pang nakatago), Niki and Ritz (the close-up smile models), si Jeremy(pa-cute) at ako.

The entire Web Marketing Department posing for some pictures after the snack.

Art's ice cream lipstick!

Talie and her cup of ice cream..

the girls: busy with their foods..hehe...

Joining the Web Marketings are the Web Programmers: Kuya Ed and Dags.

One of the beautiful SEO Copywriters of WMD.
con: "isa pang round pls!"
jinks: "cge kuha ka pa!"

These is why I love working, my coleagues are my friends! Yahooo! Thanks ulet mga pare't - mare...sa uulitin!

B-day Update

2006-11-07T09:42:00.000+08:00

Sobrang inis ako nung birthday ko. Sino ba nman kse ang matutuwa sa gift ng Web Marketing Team sakin? Iba talaga sanib nitong mga taong 'to..talagang pinagkaisahan ako. After eating ng food na dala ko sa ofc, aba may next gift(which is right!) . Natuwa ako bigla, but no! hindi pala dapat. Bakit kamo? Eto tingnan nyo:

here come's my second gift..

dyaraaaan!!! banana peels...

Maricon's special gift..thanks con!

They never failed to surprise me, they are all laughing while i'm whining. But of course, at the end, they've revealed their true gift. It's a silver necklace from Vecencia which I really appreciate.

Thanks guys for the gift and making fun of me on my birthday! Sa susunod na magb-bday, beware! Haha!

Happy Birthday To ME!

2006-11-03T13:58:00.000+08:00

In my mid-20's, there's never such a time that I think of my accomplishments and if my life have been worthwhile. Now I've reached this age, I say I became a bit conscious of how my life should be and what I should do now in order for my life to be worthy. I should act now in order for my dreams to become a reality!

........................................................................................................

Sya sya sya.. tama ng senti,mamaya na yan. For the sake of fun, the entire Web Marketing Department bought me a very special gift. Take a look at what they have bought me:

"Walang Dayaan, AKIN ang MALAKI" VCD and a Snap Kit Pregnancy Test

Big thanks to them for being such a thoughtful colleagues and friends. I was just thinking, why the heck do they gave me such gift. I was complaining and whining about the gift, coz di ko talaga feel yung gift! Di ko kailangan yan!

Buti pa nung Birthday ni Ces, nakangiti sya sa picture nung binigay yung regalo nya. Pano maganda gift nya, ako pa pumili nun. Tapos ako, biglang ako pinag-trip-an...Hmmmp! Magb-bday din kayo,kala nyo ha!

huhuhu..ayaw ko nyan...

Fiesta Day!

2006-10-25T10:28:00.000+08:00

October 24th is the feast day of St. Raphael the Archangel - Legazpi City's Patron Saint. It was also the celebration of the Muslim's Ramadan or Eid al-Fitr. We didn't celebrated it at home, so my family went to my mother-in-law's house and spent the whole day with them. Aside from the good food, we also get the chance to get together with relatives that we seldom see. So, it's a sort of reunion for the Arevalo clan. My husband's middle name is Arevalo. He and the rest of his siblings were born in Donsol, Sorsogon. They also started their elementary school in one of its local government schools there. In their teenage years, they were brought to Legazpi for a chance to go to better schools and also because of their family business. A Scrap business. Good stories were told, and I got totally interested with their family tales. Again, i've realized, it is really important to have strong faith in God. And suffering goes along with patience, blend it with hardwork, and surely in time, you will achieve successful life.

I just envy those people who were born with a golden spoon in their mouth. Do they have to undergo such path like the rest of us in order to gain success? Maybe, maybe not..such an unfair world.

Personality Check

2006-10-21T14:22:00.000+08:00

I've tried some personality checker online. Here's the result:

Big Five Test Results

Extroversion (62%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.
Accommodation (54%) medium which suggests you are moderately kind natured, trusting, and helpful while still maintaining your own interests.
Orderliness (66%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly organized, neat, structured and restrained at the expense too often of flexibility, variety, spontaneity, and fun.
Emotional Stability (46%) medium which suggests you average somewhere in between being calm and resilient and being anxious and reactive.
Inquisitiveness (50%) medium which suggests you are moderately intellectual, curious, and imaginative.

Take Free Big Five Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

A bit true, learned about it from Dex's post. Try your own personality check here.

My Kids' Dilemma

2006-10-21T12:46:00.000+08:00

Kids. All that energy and wide-eyed curiosity. It's enough to make you scream and shout. The 'what' questions are bad enough. But it's the 'why' questions that really do your head in.

My kids: Jan Kathleen (we call her Jan-Jan) - a 4-yr-old daughter, together with brother Jiro (3-yr-old) would often ask me these never-ending questions. And these were the same set of questions that I have repeatedly answered.

My 4-yr-old daughter Jan Kathleen Marie F. Siaton

Oh well, I answered them according to facts, am not sure though is they undestand it. Here are some nice little innocent questions from my inquisitive-minded little cherubs:

1. Why did Papa God let the Mayon Volcano erupts knowing that there are people who might get hurt?
2. How do you make babies?
3. Why do you work?
4. Why is daddy's hair long?
5. Why can't Jezcka grow up fast like our pigs and cats?
6. Why is Papa's (grandfather) teeth removable?
7. Why am I not included in your wedding day picture?
8. Why is Mama's (grandmother) hair white?
9. Why do people grow old?
10. Why are you smoking if it's bad?
11. Why did Eva (our pet dog) bark?
12. Why is Jesus crucified?
13. Why can't Jesus just kill the devil?

Those were just the "common" questions. But there are times that I'm just so tired and stressed and they will ask me these "cyclic" questions:

'Where does the water go?'
'Down the plug hole.'
'Then where?'
'Down the drain pipe.'
'Then where?'
'In to the sewer.'
'Then where?'
'It is cleaned up.'
'Then where?'
'It is returned to the river.'
'Then where?'
'It flows in to the sea.'
'Then where?'
'The Sun shines and evaporates some of the water.'
'Then where?'
'It forms clouds.'
'Then where?'
'The clouds move to the land.'
'Then where?'
'The clouds then rain on the land.'
'Then where?'
'The water flows in to streams, rivers and lakes.'
'Then where?'
'The water companies collect the water, clean it and feed it in to the water supply network.'
'Then where?'
'We turn on our taps and fill the bath with water.'
'Then where?'
'We have a bath then let the water out afterwards.'
'Then where?'
'I think we have already covered this!'

There, try that one. Jiro, my 3-yr-old boy usually asks me these cyclic questions.

Happy BeerDay Ces!

2006-10-19T14:58:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, Cecille Aguilar celebrated her 20 something birthday - a perfect chance for the team to have a nice bonding, relax and have a good time. And the entire Web Marketing Department enjoyed a yummy dinner and few drinks at the usual local restobar - Chili Peppers. It was fun, indeed. The night was full of laughs and ukrayan moments - thanks Art. :)

Here are some of the pics taken last night:

Cecille thanking for her gift from the team..

L-R: Niks, Me, Ces, Peachy and Talie.

Dex joins the team. From left to right:
Talie, Dex, Art (ang make-up artist), Glady (Si Senadora)
and Niki - tulad ko isang anino :)

Me lighting Niki' smoke with a devilish grin. Susunugin ko buhok mo Niks,bwahahaha..

The entire WMD..cheeers!!
L-R: Art, Glads, Niks, Me, Ces, Peach and Talie. Sorry Maricon and Jinky, di kayo na-invite I mean naka-attend.Hehe.. At sa dalawang taga-Tabaco na ayaw lang talanga pumunta. Kayong dalawa, double K talaga kayo: Kill Joy at K******!

Ang make-up artist, Si Senadora at ang dalawang anino..

Yan si Art Ryan Biescas, ang salarin! Walang habas na inilantad si "Mr. Outstanding Collar"!

Hanapin ang alien at si Mr. Outstanding Collar of the Night!

No comment! Haha!

Happy birthday again Ces, and thanks for the wonderful night!
photos courtesy of Mr. Dex Baldon. Check out Peachy's post for more pictures.

Thanks, Finally we have power at home.

2006-10-18T16:39:00.000+08:00

After 20 days of total darkness, finally power has been restored in our place. Unfortunately, wi-fi is still down. And there's no sign of Smart's line men to fix the antenna since it was brought down by the typhoon Milenyo.

I spent hours cleaning our room, plenty of melted candle spills on the floor.

Oops. Brain freeze. Will continue later.

Few Lessons in LIFE..

2006-10-18T14:40:00.000+08:00

The activities in the office last week were too exhausting for me that I even broke down and got mild fever over the weekend. Though I was not feeling well, I still managed to get out of bed and bring the kids out to have some fun. Spending the weekend with my family is the best part of the week so I make it a point to make it worthwhile somehow. We attended the mass in the morning then had our lunch at our favorite local resto. And off to the local mall we went for a little strolling. We were at the mall when I bumped into someone whom I haven't seen for the long time. I was reluctant to greet her at first; she looked like my classmate back in college. Then she said hi and that was when I got to realize that she really was my classmate back in college. We used to call her Janie (not her real name). I thought it will be the usual beso-beso and hello since we weren’t so close back then. But we did share same set of friends and we saw each other at the same gimmicks and parties.

As I expected, we'll have our short greetings like “Hi! Hello! These are your kids? How are you?” And blah, blah, blah. At the back of my mind I was asking, “What the hell happened to this woman?” I was quite surprised on how her looks changed hastily. I can remember the way she looked in college. I really can see the difference. She’s totally hot and sexy. She’s the fashionista in our batch, and I’m telling you her body always earned that second look from boys. I mean she’s really voluptuous. But now, she is so thin. Her eyes are sallow, and her dressing style is now so different. She still looks decent now but she does not look hot anymore. So those were the usual things that I noticed.

When it was my turn and asked her how she's been, and how her married life is and all. She looked rather uncertain if she will speak and answer my question or continue talking. I could sense that there's something wrong when her reaction changed. I didn't ask, you know. We are not that "close", remember? So I motioned to go since I think she didn’t feel like answering my question. But to my surprise she held my hand and directed me to sit and then she started talking about her present life. With misty eyes she said she had a live-in partner (1. whaat?), and had 2 kids. But they're now separated. She said she didn't love the guy (2. whaat again?!) but it just so happened that she got pregnant that's why she lived with the man (3. tsk). And the worst part is, the guy was married. So I was like, “What? You're a kireda or a concubine?” Well she explained that the man was separated from the first wife, but they're not legally separated yet.

So okay, I just consoled here. Telling her, hey there are plenty of other guys out there...so just let the emotions go by and in time you'll get over it. So I thought it was that simple. But she revealed the man was a rich kid -- a son of a bank-owner. They are now sending people to look for her and the kids. So she is scared to death that she left her two kids in a different place so that in case those people will find her, the kids won't get caught with her. That's where my heart melted. I can't imagine living with a problem like that. Emotionally-troubled, and yet you can't spend the time with your kids.

Sigh. I can't imagine myself in a situation like that. Oh have I mentioned that when we were in college she used to tell us that she will someday be a rich doña? She will marry a rich businessman and she will live in a condo with 5 maids. She will shop everyday, with an unlimited budget. And God was so good to give her what her heart is yearning for. It is just that those things were not too perfect after all.

So what lessons do I learn from this?

1. It justifies my strong stand against the live-in set-up. Because, at the end of the day, if the relationship doesn't work, the female will have much more to loose than the man.

2. There is no such reason to stay with a guy especially if you don't love him.

3. Being pregnant is not a reason to live together or either settle down. In the end, in cases like this, you are not the only person affected. There are other people who will suffer. The kids.

4. And lastly, too much ambition can sometimes ruin your life. See, her ambition is to marry a wealthy man (even if she didn't love the man).

I do hope she'll get over it soon and learn her lessons well.

BlogIntro

2006-10-17T15:19:00.000+08:00

I've submitted my blog to BlogIntro just to test if my blog will qualify to any of its categories.

Quote:
"Hey Raziella,

Congratulations you have submitted your Blog. You will be added to the list of Introductions and Introduced soon.

Speed up your Introduction by linking to us. For our graphics and buttons use the link at the bottom of the page.

While you are waiting check out our blogging tips and tools above."

Blogger Templates

2006-10-13T17:08:00.000+08:00

I think it is a good thing if I will post here some tips on how you can change your blogger templates just like with what I did with my blog template. So here are some tips to help you in changing ypur blogger template so it won't be a a pain in the neck.

1. Login to your Blogger dashboard
2. Go To Template section of your blog
3. In Edit current replace the code given with the code given in the text file of the template.
4. Press Save Template Changes
5. Republish Blog

Just make sure you have a backuo pf the old template before saving the template change. So you won't be doing the linking again.

Here are some of the best sites that I've found that offers blogger templates for free:

I hope this helps, goodluck!

My New Blogger Template

2006-10-13T16:39:00.000+08:00

Just this month I have changed my blogger template and it looked like this one:

I was having problems with the bordings and the images' location were wrecked. Though I like it because it's pink. I preferred to replace it with this simplier yet neat design - purely white.

Hope you like it too..

Day Dreaming

2006-09-26T16:50:00.000+08:00

Today is another boring day, as I was sitting here in my desk, I got to check out some travel sites and bumped into this. I suddenly realized how busy I have been for the past weeks and never really had a time for escapades and relaxation.

Don't you think you need one too? Well I definitely do and I must get it by the end of the year. Pictures like these are luring me to go out of the workplace, leave all the hassles behind and get a good time for myself. But then reality bites, I have so much commitments and work on, so I have to stay.

Sigh.

The Eye Opener

2006-05-26T20:39:00.000+08:00

One of my team mates emailed me this article - Sally has formally tendered her letter of resignation effective the end of June this year. At first I thought the email was intended for my own personal reflection. But after reading it, I got to know her real message. She was just forwarding a perfect article that best explains her reason for leaving. But of course, she also put in plain words that I was not like the manager that is referred to in the article. And I identify it for myself the fact that I must not be guilty at all.

So here it is, let me share an article that is insightful and suggestive of deeper perspectives:

Early this year, Arun, an old friend who is a senior software designer, got an offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India operations developing a specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer. He had heard a lot about the CEO of this company, a charismatic man often quoted in the business press for his visionary attitude.

The salary was great. The company had all the right systems in place - employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a spanking new office, the very best technology, even a canteen that served superb food.

Twice Arun was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after he joined. "It's a real high working with such cutting edge technology."

Last week, less than eight months after he joined, Arun walked out of the job. He has no other offer in hand but he said he couldn't take it anymore. Nor, apparently, could several other people in his department who have also quit recently.

The CEO is distressed about the high employee turnover. He's distressed about the money he's spent in training them. He's distressed because he can't figure out what happened. Why did this talented employee leave despite a top salary?

Arun quit for the same reason that drives many good people away. The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called First Break All The Rules. It came up with this surprising finding:

If you're losing good people, look to their immediate supervisor. More than any other single reason, he is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he's the reason why they quit, taking their knowledge, experience and contacts with them. Often, straight to the competition.

People leave managers not companies, write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. "So much money has been thrown at the challenge of keeping good people - in the form of better pay, better perks and better training - when, in the end, turnover is mostly a manager issue." If you have a turnover problem look first to your managers. Are they driving people away?

Beyond a point, an employee's primary need has less to do with money, and more to do with how he's treated and how valued he feels. Much of this depends directly on the immediate manager. And yet, bad bosses seem to happen to good people everywhere. A Fortune magazine survey some years ago found that nearly 75 percent of employees have suffered at the hands of difficult superiors. You can leave one job to find you guessed it, another wolf in a pin-stripe suit in the next one.

Of all the workplace stressors, a bad boss is possibly the worst, directly impacting the emotional health and productivity of employees.

Here are some all-too common tales from the battlefield:

Dev, an engineer, still shudders as he recalls the almost daily firings his boss subjected him to, usually in front of his subordinates. His boss emasculated him with personal, insulting remarks. In the face of such rage, Dev completely lost the courage to speak up. But when he reached home depressed, he poured himself a few drinks, and magically, became as abusive as the boss himself. Only, it would come out on his wife and children. Not only was his work life in the doldrums, his marriage began cracking up too.

Another employee Rajat recalls the Chinese torture his boss put him through after a minor disagreement. He cut him off completely. He bypassed him in any decision that needed to be taken. "He stopped sending me any papers or files," says Rajat. "It was humiliating sitting at an empty table. I knew nothing and no one told me anything." Unable to bear this corporate Siberia, he finally quit.

HR experts say that of all the abuses, employees find public humiliation the most intolerable. The first time, an employee may not leave, but a thought has been planted. The second time, that thought gets strengthened. The third time, he starts looking for another job.

When people cannot retort openly in anger, they do so by passive aggression. By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what they are told to do and no more. By omitting to give the boss crucial information. Dev says: "If you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him into trouble. You don't have your heart and soul in the job."

Different managers can stress out employees in different ways - by being too controlling, too suspicious, too pushy, too critical, too nit-picky. But they forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over a seemingly trivial issue.

It isn't the 100th blow that knocks a good man down. It's the 99 that went before. And while it's true that people leave jobs for all kinds of reasons - for better opportunities or for circumstantial reasons - many who leave would have stayed - had it not been for one man constantly telling them, as Arun's boss did: "You are dispensable. I can find dozens like you."

While it seems like there are plenty of other fish especially in today's waters, consider for a moment the cost of losing a talented employee. There's the cost of finding a replacement. The cost of training the replacement. The cost of not having someone to do the job in the meantime. The loss of clients and contacts the person had with the industry. The loss of morale in co-workers. The loss of trade secrets this person may now share with others.

Plus, of course, the loss of the company's reputation. Every person who leaves a corporation then becomes its ambassador, for better or for worse. We all know of large IT companies that people would love to join and large television companies few want to go near. In both cases, former employees have left to tell their tales.

"Any company trying to compete must figure out a way to engage the mind of every employee," Jack Welch of GE once said. Much of a company's value lies "between the ears of its employees". If it's bleeding talent, it's bleeding value.

Unfortunately, many senior executives busy traveling the world, signing new deals and developing a vision for the company, have little idea of what may be going on at home. That deep within an organization that otherwise does all the right things, one man could be driving its best people away.

So, what do you think? Agree or disagree, let me know.

Jezcka's Christening pics

2006-05-24T20:50:00.000+08:00

As promised, here's some of the pictures taken during Jezcka's christening day!

Thank you for all those who came and share the fun with us!!

My Travel Wish List

2006-05-16T22:19:00.000+08:00

We all want to travel, not just to see other places and its people, but also to make ourselves a well-traveled person. I made a list of the places that I dreamt of visiting someday:

1. Misibis Resorts, Estates & SPA – a local Island resort which I heard, is exceptionally beautiful and a good place for nature tripping. It was kind of expensive to visit the place though, aside from expensive rooms, foods were also not-so-pocket-friendly. But I still want to visit the place and have a view of this hasty developed island.

2. Bohol – I personally would like to see and visit Bohol because I wanted to see the Chocolate Hills and the Philippine Tarsiers, sure a funny thing for you. But seeing the whole region will be a great experience for me.

3. Catanduanes – the so-called “Eco-Adventure paradise” since this island has not yet been explored. If you are a deep nature lover, you will surely love the place. I am not a deep nature lover, but for sure this place will make me love nature better. Its beaches is also one of its main attractions, pearyl-white sand, blue water, etc.

4. Cebu – This city in the Visayas region is one of the Philippines’ most popular islands. It is called the Queen City of the South. Aside from the beautiful environment and rich culture, beaches are also one of its main attractions. I would also love to witness their most famous yearly festival, the Sinulog.

I have visited the locales of Masbate, but have not explored its beauty since I was there for work several years ago. I also have been to Donsol, Sorsogon but don’t have the chance to see the famous whale shark or the Butanding. I also have swum the beaches of Sorsogon before and its virgin springs. I have been to Baguio too. The place was remarkably amazing because of its grand sceneries. I loved the place but I don’t love the experience. I don’t want to elaborate here anymore, but whatever I have experienced in Baguio, it’s really terrible. And that made me decide not to visit Baguio ever again.

If God permits me to travel into these places, well at least I wouldn't be a stranger in my own land. And If I got luckier (that my salary could afford it) , then I will make another list of places to visit out of the Philippines. I wish the company i'm working for offers benefits like that. We'll ok, there's no harm in wishing, who knows? Well I really have to pray for that.

Happy Mothers' Day!

2006-05-16T21:21:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday was a big day for all the mothers in the world. And I am proud to be one of the moms out there. I was overwhelmed by the different greetings I have received via text messages. Most of them came from my friends, and some from relatives. My friend and college classmate Dareen also greeted me that day.

Though my hubby is not there (he's in Manila) to greet me personally (and to treat me), the whole day was still cool! My mother and I talked a lot the whole day. Well almost the entire day, if the kids were not there to interrupt us. She shared her experiences us a mother, how she took care of us her children, and her struggles in rasing us - her three kids. I gained a lot of insights from her, I am happy at least she has peace of mind now.

The whole family shared the same ordinary lunch and dinner that day, but it was exceptionally lively. My father and other members of the family were uncommonly sweet to spare us from the house chores. There were no flowers though...my father blamed the typhoon Caloy for destroying the flower plantations. According to him, there were no available flowers anymore due to the said storm. Well, ok...let's blame the typhoon for that.

The entire day was an ordinary day, but it was a not-so-ordinary Sunday. Happy Mother's day to the entire mothers out there! Be glad you're a mom!