The site is still unavailable. I received an email from support, get this: asking what link was showing the error. Uh hello? Didn’t I send a screenshot? Doesn’t it show the URL? And to think that he was the same person who emailed back when I encountered this issue before. Shouldn’t he already know what to do about it? Ugh.
Rant over.
Project 365 – Day 5
A few days before saying goodbye to 2008, I found a link from Hummie’s World to this cool blog where I found a link to a very very cute desk calendar. I followed the links and downloaded the file.
It took until the morning of the fifth for me to print out a sample. Icut out the printouts as directed, and then set them up like so. Isn’t it just the cutest? I had suggested to my mom that she can give some of these away to her officemates so I printed and cut out four sets of these! She actually requested more but I ran out of gsm 220 paper. I really like how it turned out and if I just had space for it on my office desk, I would totally plant one there.
I printed these out on my Canon Pixma printer. It’s amazing how the colored cartridge has shown the prompt for low ink for months but I am still able to get good quality color prints. The colored ink I purchased just before Christmas still sits here unopened. I am not complaining, of course. It’s amazing.
I have a day 6 photo, but am too lazy to continue posting. I’d also have to delay sharing Esban’s photos. I didn’t get much sleep this morning/afternoon because we were tuned in to the Congressional hearing on the case of the Alabang Boys. I’ve got some thoughts on that issue that I’d like to share too. I’ll try tomorrow. Tonight, I sleep. 🙂
Before leaving work today, I promised myself I would not turn the computer on. But I noticed that I had stray black pixels on my new header and the knowledge of it just nagged at me – I simply had to get it right.
So I cleaned it up.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to credit Caneelia for the moon shot/image used for it.
You know how they keep on repeating the headlines at CNN until you just about memorized them? Well, this morning, another form of China Melamine Scare was up – this time, on eggs!
How on earth could eggs get tainted with Melamine?
It couldn’t be industrial transfer, that’s for sure. And it’s not middlemen adding melamine to up protein content (just how would they do that?). So how does it happen?!
My mom bought the Bathroom Special of this magazine called Condo Living so we can find inspirations for our units that have been waiting for us for months.
Instead of being inspired though, I think it got me depressed! The featured spaces were just so lavishly furnished, and the surroundings so much more beautiful than what we’ve got. The faucet line alone – true steel works of art – made me cringe. They looked so modern and elegant – but most come with a heavy price tag. Oh, I’m sure there’s something there for the budget conscious too. I just can’t wait for the time when I can have the home I would grow old in, with resources enough to not worry about costs. 😉
How does Poverty look like? How does it feel? Does it smell or taste different?
Today’s global Blog Action Day focuses on that – Poverty. Hundreds of thousands of blogs will go up today to bring the world’s attention to an issue that knows no borders. Yet, I wonder, of the hundreds of thousands of us who will blog about efforts to alleviate the situation – how many have really known poverty? How many have faced it? Who has endured and overcome it?
But that’s not what’s important, is it? The significance of this day in the blogging world – to the whole world, is not who shares the sorriest story or who paints the ugliest picture. It’s not about the drama of poverty. It’s about what each person can will do does to address the issue of poverty.
I get it though, we need to show people what poverty looks like. There are many out there who just don’t feel the need to act unless they see something tangible. Unless they see what poverty is aside from a general construct.
In a third world country like ours, one doesn’t need to look too far to see the face of poverty. In some areas, there is even the sense of it. Here’s a news story that almost a year ago had brought to fore the issue of poverty in the country.
I spent many years of my young life working with child-focused NGOs. We were advocates for children’s rights; we fought against the sexual exploitation of children. In that world I had met a lot of interesting people. I had made friends with many children – Children who were as old or were younger as I was, but children of entirely different circumstances than mine. At a young age, I realized that it is the children of the world who suffer most from poverty. And lacking food to eat isn’t always the worst thing about it.
You hear it all the time, poverty has alwasy been one of the many push factors for child exploitation. Thus, many organizations have developed programs that will help alleviate the situation by bringing in alternative and sustainable livelihood.
Wealth isn’t the opposite of poverty – empowerment is. It isn’t just a matter of filling their hunger, or clothing their backs.There is so much to be done.
What am I doing? Not much.
I visit the Hunger site everyday. You can too.
I play a vocabulary game to give Free Rice. It’s fun, and you should try it.
I also play a vocabulary game and it’s fun. You should try it:
My Mom works with our Church and helps the dioceses with their community-based programs. My Dad works with Catholic Relief Services. Their work directly affect people’s lives. Someday soon, I will do something significant again. I am just glad that today, I had the opportunity to reflect on this again. I hope you do too.
Good thing there are thousands of people who are able to contribute something. At least I know that no matter how big this issue is, there is hope that it can be overcome. It may be true then that we can end poverty in this lifetime.
This one’s hot off the press as the senators just finished their long discussions and the voting for this very controversial piece of legislation. JPEPA or the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement has been ratified by the Philippine Senate just this evening. It has been drafted, discussed, disputed, and defended by all sides for a very long time. One of the biggest concerns of those against this agreement is how prone it is to being abused, with the Philippines being on the losing end.
Since I don’t have comprehensive information on this issue, I will reserve my comments for a later time.
A third product has been added to the list of milk that has been found tainted with melamine. Apparently, it is not at all unusual for traces of melamine to seep into food products but there is an allowable limit. JollyCow Slender High Calcium Low Fat Milk has been found to have about 7 times more than the allowable amount of 0.5 parts per million (ppm).
According to Health Secretary Francisco Duque, a 50-kg person can take only as much as 25mL of melamine a day. Babies in China have become ill because they are small and all they have is milk all day, their bodies are no longer able to fend off the toxicity of melamine.
3 – BBC producers defiant over racist slur –
Filipino expats in the UK were outraged by a recent episode of the comedy series “Harry and Paul” for depicting Filipina maids in a bad light. Though the Philippine Government has yet to issue a formal complaint against the BBC and the producers of the show, our ambassador to the UK has already released a statement regarding the issue.
Although the production house that makes the show maintains that the scene was in no way intended to demean or upset any viewer – it has offended many Filipinos.
During the sketch, Enfield’s character urges his neighbor to have sex with another neighbor’s Filipina maid, saying he is trying to see if “we could mate their Filipina maid with our Northerner, but he’s not having any of it”.
He then says, “Come on Clyde, mount her” and addressing the maid, says: “You, you, present your rear.”
Claudio Teehankee Jr’s father and namesake was a former Supreme Court Chief Justice. His brother is currently the Philippine Representative to the World Trade Organization, and a known ally of the President.
In 1992, he was sentenced to life imprisonment (and two more lesser sentences) for the brutal killing (shooting) of 16-year-old Maureen Hultman and her friend. Another person was also seriously injured.
Last Friday, just before midnight, he was released from the New Bilibid Prisons – having been granted an executive clemency. He is now back under public scrutiny.
Seems that due process was not followed for his pardon. The family, and the prosecutor who put him in jail were unaware that he had even applied for amnesty.
They say there may be up to ten corporations interested in buying. I hope it goes not just to the highest bidder, but also to the company that will be most able to take care of our interests. Hmp.
The Yuchengco Group of Companies has also expressed interest. But many may not feel safe with their term life insurance in the hands of the company that still has pending complaints after the fall of their previous pre-need plans venture. Already, former policy owners from a Yuchengco subsidiary are making noise against any move for this company to take over PhilamLife.
8 – Philamlife’s suitors – In a way, knowing that many corporations are interested in acquiring PhilAm makes it easier to be confident that our savings are safe.
13 – ‘Lean, mean’ budget pushed in House – Hmm. I’m not sure they’re going about it the right way. Scrutinized the budget, there may be more double entries there.
What’s happening in your city/country?
**Checkout my previous TT’s here and here. Also don’t forget to sign Mr Linky, and leave a comment so I can go visit you too.
Until today, I hadn’t really felt any direct impact of the fall of financial institutions in the US. I heard on the news today that PhilAm Life, possibly the biggest insurance company in the country, is being sold to new owners. Read the story here.
I knew that AIG had business in the Philippines, but somehow it had escaped my mind that that business included PhilAm Life. I have an insurance policy with PhilAm, so does my brother. My dad has two. Our relatives also have policies with them. Our agent is a family friend.
PhilAm Life is currently assuring policy holders of the company’s stability. No one less than their President and CEO Jose Cuisia, Jr. has come out for media interviews. He is up there confidently telling anyone and everyone that the company has a strong and stable portfolio, and that even if there is a change in ownership, they’re procedures and practices won’t change.
