WAGE INCREASE IN CEBU CITY

I am a waged corporate warrior but a talk of a WAGE INCREASE gives me mixed emotions. Already, Metro Manila and in the CALABARZON region have been given Php.20.00 WAGE INCREASE and Region 10 have been granted a Php.12.00 increase on COLA (Cost of Living Allowance).

Let me explain my concerns when an impending wage increase is in the horizon. I see the move as an ignition to all other increases in goods and services. It also further pushes some companies to hire contract workers where tenure of an employee is forever contract-based and not be able to fully avail of the benefits of a regular employees. It further extends the gap of assuring job stability.

But then again, this is a problem of on a chicken-and-egg scenario. Whoever raises the bar higher will have to assume that the other will simply just have to catch up. My wish for the Philippines is that we harness the benefits of natural gas.

Moving from the World to Cebu

I have all been a Cebuano all my life. All things being equal, there would be nothing like the Queen City of the South, I know the place like the palm of my hands. But I have never been a Cebu-based Cebuano all the time. I have spent around 5 years in Lilo-an, Southern Leyte but still with the summer vacations spent in Cebu.

I was born in Cebu City. All the way from conception up to the pre-natal months, I lived outside of Cebu City. But as my mother's compulsion, being a 100% Cebuana herself and to deliver her first born son in a place she had known all her life, went back to Cebu City. Thinking about it, it was like my mom being in a basketball finals game 7 and she just wanted to play in her hometown. And it was hometown indeed. Her gynecologist was her close friend, who by the way was the reason for my unique second first name, and is my godmother. There was no place she could think of where she can be comfortable with the delivery but only in Cebu City Map. It was only then that I was two months old that we went back to Leyte and after 5 five years finally decided to head back home, to Cebu City home.

Moving from one place to another takes a lot of one's time, energy and resources. There comes the decision of looking for a permanent mls real estate or homes for rent. Buying the permanent relocation real estate property will be a lifelong decision and thus be decided with so much care. On the other hand, renting a place while could be an option which also has to be done with a lot of consideration.

I have never been back to Leyte since we left for good. I could even recall wonderful and joyful experiences there. Perhaps one of these days, I shall find a way to visit the place. Leyte has been a part of me and a help that I realize the value of being at home. Being with people you share your joys, sorrow and dreams with. Dreams for a better Cebu City for my family.

Page Ranking to a Cebuano Blogger

I have not heard nor have given attention to blogging until only mid-2007. A lot of things were cooking up then that I simply did not have time to look at other beautiful and exciting things free stuffs can offer. I started my Cebuano Blogging roughly 7 months ago and it was all a trial and error approach. I did not know what to blog about, as I only knew that it was tweaking some html codes in the process. This I have mentioned in my previous posts.

But with that short span of time that I got to have a peek of the blogging world, one by-word could easily be identified and that was Page Ranking. Well, what is that anyways? I did not know then and I don't know more now. For all I care is that this so-called page ranking somehow gives a site higher authority than others. Higher authority means that the Google search engine have archived enough pages from your website that when a phrase related to your site is searched, your URL address is given higher preference or authority. But I can be wrong, I am not an expert on this. I just interpret it by the way I have experienced SEO experimentation so far.

The benefit that I got from this Page Ranking thing was the opportunity to earn paid postings were widened. I got to qualify to post on higher paying opportunities than before. But I know as like in anything, this has to be done in a lot of moderation so as not to lose that long-awaited page ranking.

Connecting to the Blogging Community

In today's age, the world have been closer by the day. Though not physically as it still takes the same "x" kilometers to travel from home to destination but reaching it have all been easier. Technology have given each one of us a wider range of means to reaching-out to people yet at the comfort and time we wish. With emails, online social networking, Voice Over IP, instant messaging, mobile communications, there are varied ways to choose and only one's resourcesfullness is the limit to how one can take advantage of these tools. Online diaries, which we all know as Blog, have developed into quite an interesting tool over the years. It has evolved from being a personal expression tool to now a varied ways of connecting to people especially to friends.

I have joined PayPerPost as this gives me more opportunities to write something which I am passionate about. It gives me the drive to better my niche on online business blogs and ups the ante on weblogs. I have been yearning for about sometime of when I could join the payperpost community and join thousands of bloggers talk about stuff they feel confident about and expresses more the ideas of what their blogs would want to represent. Being a CEBUANO BLOGGER makes me be open to the marketplace of the world and connects me to the world of blogging.

This is the beauty that I see on PayPerPost and have enticed me to join the community of review blogging.

A CEBUANO BLOGGER’S TWO-CENT REFLECTION

I had a good read from Jim Paredes' blog Writing on Air. It touches on a topic about how a lot of us are so focused on the "big" things that in the process we fail to recognize the smaller ones. This may not actually be what the Mr. Paredes would want to send as a message to his readers but that was how I grasped the idea. And I could only nod in agreement to such premise.

This is exactly true for me and I suppose for a lot of young professionals who have just seen their own potential and on how we could easily take on the world with our bare hands. We see life mostly of its "big" events that we feel disappointed when faced with situations where life is simply as being as it is. Simple that only subtle event captures us as of the moment and none of the grand standing that always was a spice of whatever was an issue at hand. That we feel a disappointment when we run at high speeds like crazy yet suddenly feel the stop sign and holds us still.

I could totally relate to the "fast and furious" ride as a corporate warrior in my earlier years in the profession. Having been given the opportunity of racing the league with other players in the nation's capital gave me the thought that I could easily unleash my abilities and win some on the process. These experiences gave me the exposure of like driving a Ferrari and accelerate from 0 to 100mph in under 6 seconds. As what Mr. Paredes rightly opined, being in such a race takes out ones opportunity to appreciate the little things in between. It felt at that time that a non-eventful day was a let down and was somehow a waist of time.

So I had known better to hit the brakes and rode a more subtle yet meaning ride in life. It is not after all only the "big" things that makes life worthwhile but rather the minute details that life offers that makes it worth a journey. It is in acknowledging the simple joys in life that makes it more beautiful and better to share with. Now, I see more of life on a more colorful view that I could better visualize how I have traveled so far by focusing not on the "spectacles" only but equally the little things that defines life in general.

My BUCKET LIST Reflection

Don't ask me again if where and how I saw BUCKET LIST, the only thing relevant is that I've seen it. I'd like to share with you a sort of "my movie review" of the film, but this is definitely not a spoiler. A caution though, this movie’s genre is definitely not for teenagers. You may also have to be ready to feel the weight of sadness after watching the movie. If you want to have to feel relaxed, you’d better not buy tickets for this movie.

The Plot:
Bucket list showcases a simplest story telling outline without useless fancy twists thus gives the viewers more focus on the dept of what the story intends to deliver. It begins with a traditional backgrounder of each character and slowly develops the storyline of how the movie would evolve. The movie's beginning tends to be dragging and a bit boring but equally important to the entire storyline as this lay-out starter is the foundation of what develop as the story goes on.

The Actors:
Morgan Freeman's calm and humble persona and Jack Nicholson's sarcastic and straight-forward character was a great mixture to portray a story as deep as bucket list. The two were perfect for the roles which gave credit and further realism to the crisis the characters fought to overcome. MORGAN FREEMAN and JACK NICHOLSON - enough said, you know the works.

The Message:
Beyond the magnificent settings the movie showcased, it was the depth of the conversation that will move viewers to a lot of realizations. The movie's theme for me was: making up for lost dreams, where we realize that it is not important of how we will become but how we have lived our lives. The message was definitely not new as there have been a lot of movies that showcased such situations, but as it is in life, we will always never be tired of seeing people rise above crisis situations. More so, even if it meant that there would be no escaping destiny yet it is of the fashion that we face it with that will show our strength and character. I was moved by a scene in which the characters were in Egypt. It said that when people die, a question is given to one who wants to enter heaven and these are: 1 - Have you experienced joy in your life? And; 2 - Have you given joy to others?

Definitely a good movie for the weekend.

My Mumblings on Cebu City Map

I have been mumbling about politics but I haven't just gotten the courage to post it on a blog. I consider my political inclination as personal and would rather keep it to myself. But I am making this post as an exception. And hopefully, this would be one of the few if not the only post that would include a personal opinion with regards to politics.

So here we go again. It's hard to resist something like things even if I'm just mumbling in my own CUBICLED PLAYGROUND in this humble CEBU CITY MAP. It never ceases to amaze me how we could always associate a month with a particular issue. Are we overly sensationalizing news items or it is because we FILIPINOS SIMPLY LOVE an event. Pardon my hypothesis but is it because it ligthens us up by focusing more on stuffs of a so-called "NATIONAL INTEREST ISSUE" and drags it for months or even years rather than solving the grass roots problem of our society?

So what if we change the SPEAKER of the LOWER HOUSE OF CONGRESS, it isn't the first time anyways. For a lack of a better hobby, why not also change the PRESIDENT as well, we've been quite adjusted to it anyways. It's not like its not a natural occurrence, isn't it? A broadband deal gone bad is just too hard to resist for an issue to call for a PRESIDENT's ouster. For crying out loud, have you just heared such demands for the first time? This have always been a hot issue even for a CEBU CITY MAP. And while we're at it, why not change the constitution?

Oh, when will we ever get tired of all these an focus on something that we all can be proud off. Can the CEBU CITY MAP push for autonomy? Just thinking out loud. For all this is worth, this could be part of my SEO experiment.

Too Little Time, Too Much to Tell

Let me give you a breather from all my Cebu City Map series and talk about something supposedly entertaining, until you watch it. I've seen "The Seeker: The Dark is Rising". No, don't ask me about where I saw the movie, this entry is not about that. This wouldn't be much of a spoiler also since I wouldn't be talking about the plot either. This would probably have to be my 2 cents on the movie in general.

I have not read the novel and neither have I heard of it prior to watching the movie, so my only source of information about its story was the movie itself. The story was fairly simple; nothing shown in the movie that got too complicated. But that was actually one failure they had. It showed nothing about the past of the groups' beginnings. It said that the boy was "the seventh son of a seventh son", so what? Did it mean that his father also had 6 big brothers? And then what? Or did it mean the generation to which the father belonged to? Why the coincidence to the rise of the dark side? How were the "Older Members" of the society chosen, where they the 6th son of a seventh son that they didn't qualify for the job? (Ok, I'm being corny! LOL!) Where the "Old Members" related to the boy's family and indeed they belonged to the same family tree? Or were the "Old Members" also seekers in their youth but their powers have now faded?

Darn, at the end of the story, you'd end up making your own storyline than be convinced of what was presented. And oh, I watched the movie because I don't have time reading the novel. Watching it was like entering the movie house at the middle of the show, you wouldn't know how it came to be other than the fact that the boy had the responsibility to save the world and he had powers, for some reason though, I did not see him using it during times of battle.

There clearly were numerous attempts of mellow-dramatic scenes, but it failed miserably. It was like the scenes were very much in a hurry to have itself done and move on to the next that it ended up being just a show of special effects rather than a story-teller. There have been movies which lasted for 3 hours or more yet it gained a lot of revenues. So budget constraints might have been the factor of cutting a movie that could have been great, but that was one movie very much in a hurry to be done and over with.

I felt terrible after watching the movie. Not that darkness failed to conquer the light, but darkness indeed conquered my imagination. I didn't know what to make up with it. I had lots of questions about the movie that now I'm trying to google the story just to feed my inquiries.

Numbers in Action

I am a geek, in a way I think. No, its not because I was suddenly inspired by Bill Gates' latest $19.9M donation to IRRI, nor was I all of a sudden an adoring fan of Steve Jobs. I just surmised that I may be a geek after all.

If I would have been a lot younger, being tagged as a geek would instantly mean social death especially if I were either an elementary or high school student. I remembered watching "Pirates of Silicon Valley" which supposedly was a story about how Bill Gates and his team started what is now known as Microsoft. But then again, that is "Silicon Valley" and I was in Cebu City which meant that geeks were simply that, social outcasts of the majority.

I love accounting and a lot of people could attest that I love the profession I am into. Having said that fact though, I just feel that accounting indeed is a bit geeky. There is simply nothing melodramatic that goes on while doing it. I think that it is actually a reason why there have been no movie or television series even in the United States that depicts a life of a CPA. How could an unbalanced trial balance put the world's fate in peril? LOL! It even gets more geeky when accountants already discuss about accounting laws.

But beyond all that, I simply love the profession. It could be way far-off that CSI stuffs but the adventures of an unbalanced worksheet just appeals fun to me. The sense of satisfaction that I get from delivering a financial statement report is just right for me.

TRAVEL from CEBU to BLOGOSPHERE

I enjoy reading a lot, that was the inspiration of this blog, which I have also manifested on my second post. My day online starts by visiting CEBU’s community dailies to update myself of things that keeps my city busy. I have set-up my web browser’s favorites by grouping the ONLINE NEWS sites together so I would merely have to click on the link one after the other. Simultaneous with opening the news, I open a separate tab for my CUBICLED PLAYGROUND, of course. It for me is also news of how the site has been visited while I was off-line. Those of course are also simultaneously browsed while waiting for the emails that have waited for my local inbox to be opened from yesterday’s closure of the LAPTOP. CEBUANO multi-tasking at its best, LOL!

After those extras done, I then start my feed readings. I feel that I could be more updated, of what other bloggers who I have linked with have written, easier by subscribing feeds on their blogsite. Those who have frequently visited my site as to extend their regards may feel that I may seem snobbish of not visiting their sites in return but believe me when I say that I am well aware of what you guys have written. From time to time even, when I feel that I have some thoughts on the things fellow bloggers have published, I comment on those. I feel that with this activity, I have reached the far corners of the world yet still be in my beloved CEBU CITY, right down from MY CUBICLE.

I don’t often do blog hopping but I love the idea of it. It somehow tells me how small the world is and how easily I could travel the world yet be just right in the middle of CEBU. I believe that more important than such an activity is to update on the news of fellow bloggers by subscribing feeds. I am perhaps an easy loyalist. I am loyal to CEBU and I am fascinated by my linked bloggers.

CEBU’s Photo Perfect

CEBU has a lot to offer to artists which I think is the reason why I have been captivated by art more. If some call themselves frustrated singers, frustrated basketball players, then I could call myself a frustrated artist. What captivates me with artistry is not only the sense of freedom that it gives but beyond it is ability to convey itself a message through a medium other than words.

I have some friends in the Information Technology industry, some in Advertising and some in Marketing. The innate perks I see on their job is that it allows them to be an artist. My friends in the who are into website development clearly is able to exhibit art in the designs they deliver to clients, so do also with those in Advertising and Marketing.

ACCOUNTING is rather more science than art. Perhaps the interpretation of certain transactions gives one a sense of independence as to its treatment, but bottom-line is that accounting laws be foremost considered. More than ever, ACCOUNTING policy making and interpretation have been ever more stringent following corporate collapse of mammoth business organizations in the past few years. It has even anchored more of itself on its conservative nature though have been responsive to the present demands of business, even in the local CEBU arena.

These I believe is what has driven me to blogging. Perhaps, my eccentricities have long been tamed enough that it looks for ways to manifest itself. In as much I love and enjoy the cubicle adventures of a corporate warrior, the artistic adventurer also wants a piece of my identity. I have for so long been at awe of visual art, specifically photography, in its ability to give objects a chance to project itself beyond what it is. These are the sides of my personality coin, I suppose and CEBU’s treat of sceneries and culture is just waiting for me to take the plunge.

Cebu Sinulog, Me and this Cubicle

My last post was last Friday prior to the Sinulog 2008 weekend. My Sinulog was different this time though as there were things I was able to do last year that I wasn't able to do now, but that was most probably because of the scattered rains during Saturday and Sunday. Nevertheless, I was able to do the things I thought I should join in, and not only me but the relatives as well. In fact, my nieces were able to have their photos taken together with my uncle who joined the San Diego Dance Group contingent (as he always does and most definitely on Sinulog 2009 and so on).

I purposely didn't post an entry last Monday and Tuesday because I simply got burned-out with all those SEO experimenting that I did last week. I didn’t also want to post an entry when I just felt that I have nothing to talk about, I just felt burned-out and felt a loss of topics to write about. I realized that beyond all the SEO maximization that I do on this blog, I should have written more, and I should write more. My goal for this blog is to post relevant topics and enriching topics not only personally but of my profession, but aiming for that simply burns me out.

Interestingly, there are key words that I think I should focus more on, not only of the wars of Abs-Cbn and Gma as I miserably failed on that experiment. As I believe I am already way out of the Valentine's day gift ideas and Valentine's day surprises SEO maximization that I fell I would rather leave the same to those who's good at the topic. My topic on financial ratio analyses are still getting hits from time to time especially on my "Show Me the Money" posts or "Making Cows turn to Cash". At least these gives me the stamina to continue on this thriving blog and focus on what I have always planned for it since.

Though this is clearly niching but this might just have to be case of Cubicled Playground. I may as well have to focus on being a work related blog or business blog as this is what I feel I could be good at anyways. As boring as it may sound, seem or really is, that that may simply have to be Cubicled Playground - Business Blog niche. Oh, perhaps until such time I realize my project on getting my hands on those DSLR cameras.

Sinulog in Cebu Tag!

Francine tagged me on this. This could be a breather from my post experiments and my UPDATES FROM CEBU about SINULOG. (hehehe, still managed to put in something from my experiment after all).

How long have you been blogging?

I started about June last year with the same title but used the wordpress platform. My Cubicled neighbor Novz showed me some of the cool stuffs he was able to do with his blogger site so I shifted to that sometime November.

What inspired you to write a blog, and who are your mentors?

I find it easier to give out talks rather than write that I think is why I went into blogging to develop more my writing skills. I was more enticed on the programming/HTML aspect of blogging rather than blogging itself that I joined the bandwagon but I know I was way too late than the rest of the blogging world. I started out with blogging from a lot of inputs from my good friends the Magnificent Perez and Novz and by reading about blog develop from everywhere else.

What are the 3 things that you love about being online?

1. the tons of information the helps me both personally and professionally.

2. the interaction with readers who from time to time comment on my posts.

3. the sense of ownership that I feel of whatever appears on my blog.

What are the three things that you struggle with in the online-world?

I honestly don't feel any struggle with blogging or being on-line. I always find myself on the learning end with the new stuffs I learn from other bloggers or from the news, which is simply superb. I guess being in front of a computer at least eight hours a day, blogging becomes a welcome refreshment from the routines of a CUBICLED setting.

All the President's Men

Internet headlines are buzzing about the Iowa caucus as primary elections in the US go into full swing. This is one of the many steps that the United States goes through in the process of selecting its 44th President. Here are the bets from both parties:

Democrats

1. Joe Biden
2. Hillary Rodham Clinton
3. Chris Dodd
4. John Edwards
5. Mike Gravel
6. Dennis Kucinich
7. Barack Obama
8. Bill Richardson

Republicans

1. Rudy Giuliani
2. Mike Huckabee
3. Duncan Hunter
4. Alan Keyes
5. John McCain
6. Ron Paul
7. Mitt Romney
8. Fred Thompson

All eyes are now in Iowa's caucus as both parties' candidates will be voted on. Already, there are candidates pulling out of the race. Updates of which are found here.

So it seems

Blogging have trickled my interest back to programming. I have had a background on a little about programming but that was way too long ago. I was even lucky enough to have had that exposure on a time when schools were still on the crossroad of inculcating computer technology to their curriculum. Luckier that it was in our batch in high school that we already had a one-to-one ratio, where one student would be assigned a computer set. Better was that the subject on computer basics and programming wasn't just an icing topic but we did dwelled deeper on the subject and at the end of the course would be a project incorporating all the basics learned for the semester.

People who are younger than my generation would definitely be amazed at this trivia. Amazed not because of the fact that we had programming in high school but amazed that I had to reach high school to better my knowledge on computer systems and applications. Children nowadays are even learning on some basics on computer technology as early as kindergarten. When we already speak about "mouse" to elementary graders, instincts tells them not anymore of rodents but of a peripheral in a computer set. The only storage devices that children could relate are diskettes but little did they know that diskettes should have been called as micro floppy drives as its predecessor was called as the mini floppy drive.

Technology has really changed since I first encountered the Personal Computer. And I don't see any sign of plateauing anytime soon. So, I'm riding the waves of excitement on the World Wide Web. I am an inch close to putting up my own website. The things that I think I'd learn from such experience are just so tempting. Add to that would be the possibility of earning some bucks while doing it makes it all the more interesting.

The only thing that is holding me back is the thought of what I’ll be putting on my site. Any ideas?

Whenever I See Girls and Boys…

I’m trying to beat my own deadline of posting at least one entry during the Christmas Holidays, thus this. Tomorrow, my family’s going out of town to celebrate the annual family gathering of my wife’s and be back to the city on the 26th yet, back to my cubicled playground. It’s around 11PM as of this writing and I intend to finish this entry as quickly as I can. I still could hear a neighbor’s videoke machines enslaved since this morning yet and I see no reprieve of it any moment soon. I couldn’t even recognize what is being sung anymore as it seems that the microphone has already had its share of alcoholic drinks. Oh well, if only it was not Christmas, police sirens would have already replaced those ear-bleeding rendition of “My Way”.

Fireworks are beginning to build up as we near 12 midnight. Having attended an early edition of the supposed midnight mass in our community, I seen quite a lot of teens and even kids lighting up firecrackers using their bare hands on my way to and from the community chapel. I just hope those kids could still count 1 to 10 using their fingers tomorrow. The sky’s already busy with colorful fireworks, though some are identifiably Cebu made, some are definitely the more expensive type.

Simply, I should say that today’s Christmas celebration is turning out to be the “as expected” Filipino way of Christmas. As expected, it is this time of the year that we all forget our little differences and for the time, patch up and be merry with each other. Both old and young wears on happy and jolly faces ready to greet, even people we’ve seen in our neighborhood for the first time, a merry Christmas. But all the most Filipino way of celebrating Christmas is seeing houses brighten up as homes, with family from all over the country and even from different corners of the world gather around the dining table and share not just food but most importantly, good tidings. Every Christmas, families share not only material gifts but symbolically, families through these gifts tell one another that they shall always be with each other no matter what each one will go through. It is because of these promises we renew every year, with the people we hold dear that makes Christmas always a joy to celebrate.

Here’s wishing you and your families a Blessed and Merry Christmas.

Surprise, surprise! I’ve been nominated

Surprisingly, I’ve been nominated in the polls for the Weekly Filipino Blog of the Week. The criteria aren’t that complicated really, anybody and even the blog authors could nominate themselves. There are 10 blogs to be voted on for the Filipino Blog of the Week. Voting, I think, starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday. Voters could cast their votes daily and at the end of the week, whoever gets the highest vote earns 55 points of the 100-point total criterion, 10 points comes from the blog owner, and the remaining 35 points will be determined by a group of Filipino blog judges.

How I got to join the contest, if you ask me? I don’t know. I’ve been hopping around the blogging community to read and in the process, learn from it. It has not yet been long that I’ve started doing blogs and I suppose I’m still way, way far from mastering the craft. In fact, I even haven’t reached 3 months and 20 posts, so that instantly disqualifies me to pro-blogging, hehehe. I’ve done some tweaking here and there and I’ve been trying to build on the theme of my blog, which is of the finance and corporate setting. Equally important are the topics that I post, which has to be thought-off much, as this speaks not only of my opinion but of the science and art of accounting. Being in the CPA profession for quite sometime now have grown in me the necessity for an unrelenting conservatism both in financial opinion or application, which I may air out in this blog.

On the other hand, choosing a weekly Filipino Blog is quite an interesting activity. The nominees are not chosen based on the PR rank, not by the volume of visitors and moreso, not because of popularity but simply because it exists. This, I think is the most touching part of this activity. As what we may always would have wanted life to be, one does not have to be somebody but simply because one is there. Because one is part of existence that it is given time and opportunity to part of something and that is what matters. I wouldn’t be happy of having the golden ribbon, which will be awarded at the end of this week. I am already happy now, because though my blog is still a new-born and definitely still has a long way to go in terms of development, but then being part of the Weekly Filipino Blog Nominees confirms that indeed, I have been born to world of blogging. I am now a certified citizen of blogospher. I am existent!

Now, while were at it, why don’t you give your voting powers a try at The Composed Gentleman’s site.

So Far, Quite Interesting

At 3PM today, my wife and I shall have been exactly 2 years married.

So what can I say, you may ask? Quite interesting, I should say. You see, prior to getting married, my wife and I have been in the relationship for 8 years. I guess we fall to what people would call as a long courtship.

Married life is indeed never easy. Well, who ever said it is a bed of roses must have gotten it all mixed up. One has more responsibility that you ever had. One has a lot of things to give up. One doesn’t get to make decisions all on his or her own, there will always be the husband or wife to ask for opinion. One suddenly becomes predictable rather than spontaneous. One simply doesn’t have life to his or her own anymore.

Oh boy, I was in for so much surprise! But I got into surprises that added salt to the adventures we do as a couple, these are bonds that brought us closer together. We were given the opportunity to care for the best gift that God could ever lend and that is the opportunity to be a steward to a child we love so dearly and that makes life’s journey all the more meaningful. I didn’t have to make an alone decision because whenever I made decisions, someone is there to stand by me. I simply didn’t just get to have life on my own anymore, I share it now with people that make life worth living.

So far, it has been quite an interesting journey and I shall be looking forward to making that journey forever.

n days Until Christmas

As of this writing, its only 19 days to go until Christmas. Naturally, Filipinos simply love Christmas. That’s like the biggest event of the year. Parties, oh wait, it not just party, its fiesta everywhere. This time of the year is simply puts each and every Filipino in light mood the whole holidays season.

My family just set-up our Christmas decorations lately which is actually earlier than the usual as we normally start decorating the house on the 1st Sunday of Advent. Ours has always been a most modest decorations. For almost a decade now, we have the nativity scene ornamented with Christmas lights as the centerpiece of the decoration.

I actually started this, if you may, family decorating tradition. Since, I have always thought that the nativity scene was more meaningful for me than the pine tree. It feels more native, I think. Looking at the scene helps me to always remember that we celebrate the Christmas season as a time for thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for the year that is about to end and a fitting reminder of where to get the much needed strength for the year that is to come.

But before I get dramatic and all, I would like to wish everyone a meaningful Christmas Season ahead!

Tweaking and twinkling

I just love the idea of having full control of what has and should not appear on my site. I've done some updating today, well it's actually almost everyday that, on my blog settings and on my blogroll.

I've noticed that there have been some who visited my message board and asked to tag their sites to mine which I've done in almost instantly but I've noticed too that they haven't done their part also. And with reciprocity in mind, I thought that I would keep only those that have blogrolled me too on their site or otherwise I really liked the site that it would not matter if I was on their site.

So there, the names you see on my blogroll are those who have kept their part of the bargain or those blogs that I really liked. For some who didn't keep the part of the bargain, I had to stash them on the sides for the moment.

How about you? What's your criteria for blogrolling sites?