That "C" Word Again..

I snuck out from work today, not that anybody will notice as the cube farm is quiet, and visited a friend.  It all started with abdominal pain, she had to stay in the hospital for testing. Then I heard that she underwent surgery.. The prognosis, she has cancer -- of what? that is the question.  The determination will come from the Oncology Department who can't seem to come up with an answer.

The rumor at the hospital she will be discharged tomorrow, she will have to undergo a series of chemo treatment. But no one can tell her anything else.

In the meantime, her only son is agonizing at the thought but can't comprehend any of this..

Such cruelty, she can't even say a direct prayer to God, hah, what will she say, Oh God, I have cancer but I don't know of what.. :) I don't understand, just a little attention-compassion will not really cost anything but will allow her and her family and friends to know better.

eeeeeeek...

Swine flu and other uncertainties..

So I had lunch with the hole makers and others for efforts unrewarded and we got to asking everyone, "who is gainfully employed today".  There were 2 responses on a table for 10, one was slammed as his project is going on construction.  The other is on a missed deadline on a website she is rebuilding, because the original programmer forgot to insert a single line script that will automatically back up the database.

The rest of us were saying, oh we don't mind waiting, nothing is waiting for us.  Somebody mentioned about Mexico the swine flu and the earthquake, that it is double whammy - if the patients are quarantined but have to be evacuated because of the earthquake.  Then somebody said, hmmm if there is an earthquake here in NorCal, the SoCal folks will have a lot of projects and vice versa. See how idle minds work.

Then another group will probably be sold, because they are getting expensive and therefore uncompetitive a lot of things will have to be satisfied if a project is solicited from a consultancy firm. A lot of things going on, too much pressure for the soft hearted. The boss lady is moving to Chicago to follow her love who is on TDY there. The group is shrinking what's going to happen to what's left of it.

Change is indeed imminent.

Pinoy facts..

Filipino Facts You Probably Didn't Know

this has been circulating in the pinoy world on email, I though I'd share to the blogging world.

- Founded in 1595 by Spaniard, the University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu City, Philippines is older than Harvard and is the oldest university in Asia.
- University of Santo Tomas in Manila, established in 1611, is Asia's second oldest.

- In the Philippines, Filipinos were introduced to the English language in 1762 by British invaders, not Americans.

- What is the world's 3rd largest English-speaking nation, next to the U.S.A. and the UK? The Philippines.

- The USA bought the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam from Spain in 1898. The Filipino-American Independence War from 1898 to 1902 ensued, killing 4,234 Americans and how many Filipinos? 16,000 were killed in action and 200,000 died from famine and pestilence. (The Philippines lost and was colonized until 1946.)

- Los Angeles, California was co-founded in 1781 by a Filipino namedAntonio Miranda Rodriguez, along with 43 Latinos from Mexico sent by the Spanish government.

- What antibiotic did Filipino doctor Abelardo Aguilar co-discover? Hint: Brand is Ilosone, named after Iloilo. Erythromycin.

- The one-chip video camera was first made by Marc Loinaz, a Filipino inventor from New Jersey.

- The first ever international Grandmaster from Asia was Eugenio Torre, a Filipino, who won at the Chess Olympiad in Nice, France in 1974.

- This son of two Filipino physicians scored over 700 on the verbalportion of the Standardized Achievement Test (SAT) before age 13 is Kiwi Danao Camara of Punahou School, Hawaii.

- Edward Sanchez, a Mensa member, bagged the grand prize in the first Philippines Search for Product Excellence in Information Technology.

- Who was the Filipino-American dancer who scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT? Joyce Monteverde of California.

- Who invented the fluorescent lamp? Thomas Edison discovered the electric light and the fluorescent lighting was thought up by Nikola Tesla. But the fluorescent lamp we use today was invented by Agapito Flores (a Cebu man named Benigno Flores of Bantayan Island, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer), a Filipino scientist.

- Americans helped, then, President leader Ramon Magsaysay to develop for worldwide commerce. (Yes! Many foreigners have noted that the Filipino population has Asia's highest rates of inventors and international beauty queens.)

- Two Filipina beauties, Gloria Diaz and Margie Morgan, chosen as Miss Universe in 1969 and 1973.

- Pure or part-Filipino celebrities in American show biz include VonFlores, Tia Carere, Paolo Montalban, Lea Salonga, Ernie Reyes Jr., Nia Peeples, Julio Iglesias Jr., Lou Diamond Phillips, Phoebe Cates and Rob Schneider.

The first Filipino act to land a top hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in the 1960 was a group Rocky Fellers of Manila. Sugar Pie deSanto (father was from the Philippines), The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (according to the October, 1984 article "Prince in Exile" by Scott Isler in magazine Musician), Foxy Brown and Enrique Iglesias followed.

- Pure Filipinos who made success in minor charts were Jocelyn Enriquez, aka: Oriental Madonna, Buffry, Pinay and (Ella May) Saison.

- Latina-American pop star Christina Aguilar lost to Filipina Josephine Roberto aka Banig during the International Star Search years ago. In a mid-1999 MTV chat, she said that competing against someone of Banig's age was "not fair".

- Besides gracing fashion magazine covers, this international super model from Manila had walked the runways since the 1970s for all the major designers, like Calvin Klein, Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Donna Karan, Gianni Versace and Yves Saint Larent - Anne Bayle.

- Who is the personal physician of United States President William Clinton? Eleanor "Connie" Conception Mariano, a Filipina doctor who was the youngest Captain in the US Navy.

- The first Filipino-American in US Congress was Virginia Rep. Robert Cortez-Scott, a Harvard alumnus.

- Distinguished British traveler-writer A. Henry Savage Landor, thrilled upon seeing a Bicol landmark in 1903 wrote: "Mayon is the most beautiful mountain I have ever seen, the world-renowned Fujiyama (Mt. Fuji) of Japan sinking into perfect insignificance by comparison. "Mayon has the world's most perfect cone."

- Filipinos had their first taste of Mexican chili and corn during the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade (1564-1815). In return, Mexico's people had their initial taste of tamarind, Manila mango and a Filipino banana called racatan or lakatan.

- The first female president of the Philippines sworn into office in 1986 was Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. Her maiden name is chinese.

- On March 31, 1997 article, The New York Times reported that the CIA manipulated elections: "(CIA operative Col. Edward Lansdale essentially ran the successful presidential campaign of Defense Minister Ramon Magsaysay in the Philippines in 1953."

- Who was the first Asian and/or Filipino to snatch America's Pulitzer Prize? Philippines Herald war journalist Carlos P. Romulo in 1941. (He was also the first Asian to become UN President.) The first two Filipino-Americans to garner the same award 56 years later were Seattle Times' Alex Tizon and Byron Acohido, who was part-Korean.

- Filipino writer Jose Rizal could read and write at age 2, and grew up to speak more than 20 languages, including Latin, Greek, German, French and Chinese. What were his last words? "Consummatum est!" ("It is done!").

- "What's still impressive to me about the Philippines is the friendliness of the people, their sense of humor..." wrote Honolulu journalist John Griffin in a 1998 visit to Manila. Although, I lived in America longeryears than my birth place Bohol, I still have plenty of bagoong left in my body that can energize and catapulted me all the way to Maribojoc, Bohol, Philippines.

Pinoy recipes from my bro..

Whenever I talk to my family, conversation will always end up with food, who cooked, who discovered new recipes, of course mom will always have the final say as to "what is the best".  Kudos to mom, though, she got married with no clue as to cooking, she discovered the kitchen out of need -- to feed the hungry kids he he..

I remember my brother was telling me how frustrated he was, when he made country soup and the family just took for an entree and put rice over it.  Filipino cooking though relies on fresh ingredients so there is I feel nothing one can do to improve, unless another dish is created a fusion with another cuisine. But the traditionalists will not go with that, if it is shrimp then it is with this or that.

So, I will get this emails from another brother with cool pictures of food, I suspected he was a new blogger with a different name.. ha ha, he was just testing those Filipino recipes online and that was his way of giving a thumbs up. So, I thought I had something to share here.. but nada.. oh well

A fundraising event..

Every year the local employees at work, hold a fundraising event, a mini golf tournament  with themed holes. Last year the theme was green, so the creative folks, had St. Patrick, Green - environ, the dollar, and other green ideas.

This year it was the "Spring Fling" I would have wanted to create a whole with a miniature BART train,etc. time snuck up on me and I didn't even had the chance to conceptualize. It was fun, people paid $10.00 to play and used mulligans to remove a previous bad move (more like confession huh!). 

They used real flowers here and called this a "mountain of torture", this is Hole 1 and a little tricky. 

The bridge, I think this was crafted by the Transportation Group, another tricky hole.

So the proceeds will go to the Childrens Hospital in Oakland, those who did not play, purchased raffle tickets, the prizes of which were solicited from friends in the neighborhood. Hotels, restaurants, etc. It was a fun and a rewarding experience at that. Anybody wants to buy raffle tickets? ::)

Who..

At a recent RCIA session, the ethicist lecturer narrated this story and instructed us to rank the characters according to the degree of gravest error, here goes:

Paul, a production manager at a manufacturing plant, called his production supervisor, Juan to his office. He told Juan that needs to set up a factory in a town across the river from the present location. They need the factory to drum up business and Juan is the only person who can do the job.  Juan is hesitant because he is planning to marry his fiance, March as soon as he is able to gather enough funds and he wouldn't want to leave her behind. Paul gave him an ultimatum that if he not set up the factory he will be fired. That being the case, Juan relented and agreed to set up the factory, he was so sad and promised to call Martha every night.  During one of his phone calls to Martha, she sensed the anguish in his heart because of utter  loneliness and she made a decision to visit him.  She however didn't have enough money, a total of $300.oo to take the bus, ferry, and bus to his location. She approached Paul flat out said no despite her pleadings.. On her way home, she mentioned her problem to the ferry owner/driver Aldo, who refused initally. Afer she asked him the second time, he agreed on one condition that she will be his sex slave for a day.  In her moment of desperation, she agreed. So she was able to see her fiancee Juan.

Juan so eagerly met her at the bus station, after showing her around town and his living quarters, they settled down. He prepared a dinner of fish stew and white wine.  As the conversation progressed, Juan asked Martha where she got the money for transportation, she was hesitant at first but with much prodding she told him everything. At that moment Juan had a mental blackout, the woman that she respected, the virtue that they were preserving until marriage was violated. He pounced her on the face and hit her so hard that she collapsed on the floor. 

He didn't even bother to see how she was, he immediately dashed out of the room and went to the local salon.  Not being a drinker, he was drank after 2  orders of cheap brandy. While drinking he was talking to a woman of the night, Magda - telling her of his tales of woe and on his last sip of his drink, he decided to buy what she is offering. He woke up in her bedroom and realized that everything has crumbled that the life that they have planned for is gone.

There is no right or wrong answer. [polldaddy poll=1575120]

Online dating..

I don't really date seriously, that's why I am approaching my golden years singly. But a girl still desires to be with someone, despite the contentment and the peace that we have.


So I ventured online, Avemariesingles.com, I sent messages, got responses, and received some messages too, nothing really clicked, then I got a message recently from this guy who is younger than me, ha ha.. I liked the way he practices his faith, I am going to learn a lot from him. We will see.

Now we are in the telephoning stage and I will see him next weekend.

Diaspora story..

This story never cease to make me laugh. It's not really that funny of sophisticated humor but somehow we can relate to it. http://simplyb0r3d.wordpress.com/2008/11/23/nakakaaliw-na-kwento-ng-isang-ofw/

Enjoy!

The day I was invited by AARP

I still have a few months to my 50th birthday and I was already invited by AARP. I had mixed feelings, of course, after all I am still a gurl and part of this society where aging is not the coolest of cools.

But that was only momentary, I realized that to be 50 is really something to be desired about. I don't have to worry about what people will think. Everything is just me and me alone, oops, does that sound selfish. I hope not. What I mean is, there is confidence about me that I didn't have before.

Do you know what I mean? I am not singly these days, but it does not bother me at all. I just feel good about it. Now, I hope it goes on and on.

So, what I think I will do is document here, how it is to be 50, to share my thoughts and my feelings.

Let me know what you think.

Buttermilk donuts

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="450" caption="yum, a new morning favorite"][/caption]

These days the weather has been cooperating allowing me to take the bus or even walk to work, that saves me money.. but not the calories. The bus stop that I get off going to work is a few step to a donut shop, and i discovered this buttermilk beauties. I hesitate to check the caloric value of these wonders-that will certainly put my doctor to sleep.

And so whatver it is that I am saving on cabfare, I am gaining on cholesterol.. ha ha..

 

 

 

 

Priceless ...

I was walking home one afternoon, contemplating on the inevitables of this economy, brooding at the possibilities-the options available. When Lordy nudged me, saying it is not the end of the world, something good is going to come out of this.. and whoa right in front of me an early view of spring. 

Beautiful isn't it? And it's free..

There is an app for that..

Yeah, there is an app for that..

• When you turn 28, invite your friends to a hike, a dinner, and a visit to the Eucharist


• or 35, to a wine bar;


• or almost 47, that happens to be a one year anniversary, a Vietnamese dinner followed by coffee and a piece of cake;

Well, I was going to be cute here, with that opening salvo, and I have somehow lost my momentum. I really should start writing down those occurences when it hit me:)

So, I am going to put this to rest and consider it as a W-I-P.

There is danger:

When I hate, for they might hate us back.

When you dislike my color, for having only one solid color can be boring and blinding.

When I reject, for I myself might be ejected.

When I complain, for God might take it all back thinking that I never liked what He gave me.

When I allow you to affect my psyche, go into my head, for I might turn into you.

When I don't accept, for I may not be accepted elsewhere too.

When you reject without trying, for you will miss out on new discoveries.

When you lose sight of what is important, for you will grow weary and disatisfied insisting on your own way as the right way.

When you don't smile, for you will get more wrinkles than Clinique's Turnaround Cream can fix.

Recipe: Tuna salad, a new discovery..

There is someone in our Bible Study Group regularly brings a 2-can tuna salad to everyone's delight.  It is so good that I have developed a taste for it.  Being that I eat her concoction every week, I thought I would try a different variety. I thought of hmmm how about kalamata olives and capers. It turned out tasty, so I thought I would share it here.

        1 can of tuna or salmon
        1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
        quarter onion minced
        salt and pepper to taste
        chopped kalamata olives in brine maybe 10 pcs.
        1 tablespoon of capers

         Mix all the ingredients, enjoy.. good with bread, cracker, or chip

Earlier that Saturday

[caption id="attachment_536" align="aligncenter" width="445" caption="A retreat at St. Albert's Priory"][/caption]

Earlier that Saturday, we had an RCIA team meeting, followed by a retreat with the team, the elects, and their sponsors.  It was a wonderful experience, the sharing especially. The first activity was to determine the factors that help and hinder our deep relationship with God. There was also the serenity walk, a discussion on inner peace, and the discovery of each other's gifts.

Trust is one of the big things that hinder, the inability to trust others. What I realized is if we are able to see God's gift in others, we should also be able to realize that we loved by God, hence the gifts.

Does that make sense?

Of Chairs and Friends

This chair is perched on a credenza in my friend's living room.  Not the center piece really, on her eclectic home, as she has a lot of tasteful pieces.  They are artsy people, everytime I visit there is something new to ogle.  Even their restroom is fancy- artsy.  Oh, I can write a lot pages on their home, but that will make them uncomfortable. What results from my visits is what I wanted to blab about. he he

First there was the yearly white elephant gift exchange during the Christmas season, pampered chef cooking show, then they just had to find a reason to entertain, that they found this table on Craigslist.  The table was covered with this lovely Indian tablecloth from, you guessed it right, "white elephant sale" from the Oakland Museum.

They took pains pairing guests so that it would result in a lively event. Even going through lengths of cautioning the guests that they don't generally pray before meals on this occasions but will not listen to their conversations with themselves during this time.  This along with a little profile about the guests.  I wouldn't be surprised the next time they do this that they say, she is on fb as, or she tweets as, or on wp as.  Ha ha, this world that we live in.

From a museum director to a social director, the dinner that I attended was well paired, I get to listen to the art process of the the artists, truly enjoyable. I must credit my Art Appreciation professor in college, she gave me a glimpse of that world, that never left me. Anyway, that conversation of course lead to food that resulted in our hosting a progressive dinner sometime in May.

Last Saturday, we tested this new tapas place on Telegraph, good not too hard on the wallet, but because I am Pinoy and most of our food has the Spanish influence, I didn't get easily wowed with the food. It was tasty but not new to my palate (no air intended).  This is a sign of a brewing friendship, I must say.  Salute..