Philcom's September Blast!

It was indeed a full-packed month end of September as Philcom (Cagayan de Oro) celebrated its 10th year in the telecom industry. With the anniversary tag line “Celebrating A Decade of Giving You The Best”, everybody shared the company’s triumph as Philcom gave away tons of cash prizes and a lot of surprises to the employees and to its valued subscribers.

The two-day anniversary celebration started last Friday, September 29, 2006. The event was kicked off with a motorcade around Metro CDO, after which a festive banquet was held at the business center (tamang-tama para sa mga gutom namo nga tiyan, gikan nag motorcade, hehe!). A thanksgiving mass was then held at around 6:00 p.m. followed by the much awaited dinner for all (ayan pakals napud, naghinam-hinam na ang tanan sa panit sa lechon, yum..yumm!). Our full stomach was then reinforced by the next activity, the Quiz Cash Challenge and Bingo! Didn’t have much luck with the Quiz Cash (kay dli jud ko swetehon anang raffle, hehe!). But whew! The Bingo Challenge made my day ‘coz I won twice out of the eight games that were being played (Pattern I on the 3rd set worth P1,000 and Pattern C on the 5th set worth P1,500). I was as lucky as Judith who also won twice – Pattern P on the 1st set worth P500 and Pattern L on the 4th set worth P1,200. Wahoo! Thank you Lord for such a blessing!

While Friday’s activity was mainly for the employees, Saturday’s event (September 30, 2006) was intended for Philcom’s valued subscribers. A Variety Show was held at SM City from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. showcasing Philcom talents (Charlotte & Ching), music from The First Step Band and Dancers of Kids for Christ. These very young and talented kids performs complete with instruments (taller and bigger than themselves) and costumes that attracts a large number of audiences and a finale by The Men’s Square Band – performing lively music, perking up everyone at SM. Hosted by MOR’s Bernie Bitok-Bitok, fun and laughter filled the atrium as this wacky dude entertained the audience with his awesome wit and humor! Lots of Philcom stuffs were given away (shirts, mugs, caps, umbrellas, callkards, etc.), and so nobody left the place empty-handed. Plus, another bonus treat! Free long distance calls (NDD & IDD) and internet browsing from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on that single day. Whew! There was indeed a long queue on the phone booths! Ikaw kunoy libre international calls beh hehe! And with our fastest DSL connection, the free web browsing just came in so handy! That was the company’s way of saying “Thank You!” to its valued subscribers for staying Philcom-connected for the past 10 years.

See more photos at http://pepperonni.multiply.com/photos/album/34

Kerygma Feast: Enriching One's Soul

It was such a fun-filled, victorious evening last Sunday (September 17, 2006) when we (Teray, Judith with her cousins, Fe with Doc Joan, and moi) attended the Kerygma Feast held at The Atrium of the Limketkai Mall. The feast was started off with that joyous praise & worship headed by the Light of Jesus community. Then came preacher/music artist Alvin Barcelona who imparted a very touching testimony, after which he performed his music composition “Peace Ball”. Nalingaw jud kaayo ang crowd! The applause even went louder when he finally introduced the speaker of the night, Bo Sanchez! I’ve read a handful of Bo’s inspirational books and I'm an avid reader of his writings (Kerygma & Didache), but hearing his preaching live was pretty much different. His charisma was totally powerful and amazing, one would never miss hearing every single word of his talk. I say amazing ‘coz the intensity and clarity of his words are so profound, even a mere bystander who hadn’t much encounter with God can fully relate to what he utters. I say powerful ‘coz modulot jud sa kabukugan iyang gipang storya (yeah, it’s no joke!). Plus, he has this certain wit and humor, the crowd would really enjoy every detail of his preaching. Indeed, the gathering was guaranteed to be 100% drowsy-free!

Bo’s topic on “Increase Love In Your Family” had a significat impact to his audience. The first half of his preaching was somewhat focused on the husbands and wives, and if you’re among those couples who have listened to his talk, you’ll really end up laughing at your own mistakes (as in, kay maigo man jud sa message hehehe!). I could even sense a number of husbands and wives from the four corners of the atrium saying “yeah” in unison when a situational family & marriage related question was asked to them. Then came the second half of Bo’s talk which was intended for us singles! Tsadaaaann! He tackled on “Singles: Take Responsibility For Your Future”. Whether you are a single who’s currently searching for a lifetime partner, or a single in a current relationship (boyfriend/girlfriend) and is discerning for married life, whew! Bo’s message was just so clear and precise… as in tumpak, swak, korek! To have more glimpse on what I’m talking about, get a copy of Bo’s latest book “How To Find Your One True Love” (palit jud mo kay ako nakapalit na, didto jud mismo sa Kergma Feast, and so I had the privilege of having Bo Sanchez signed at my newly purchased book, heheh!), or visit http://onetruelovenetwork.com and see for yourself!

Now, I’m looking forward for next year’s Kerygma Feast. I’m just so glad that K Feast has finally reached CDO for three consecutive years now. How I wish it could be held in a monthly basis too, just like in Cebu and Manila. (P.S. Bo, pwede bang maging monthly na rin ang K Feast dito sa CDO? Hehehe!).

Click here to view details of last year’s Kerygma Feast.
See more K Feast photos at http://pepperonni.multiply.com/photos/album/33

Find The Celebrity In You!

I’ve found this cool stuff from Hazel's blog. It’s a “who’s-your-celebrity-look-alike” web demo that has taken the internet by storm! It’s kinda amusing and exciting, so I gave it a try too! You just upload your photo and… voila! You’ll find who among those celebrities has a striking resemblance of you (though I'm not saying it's a 100% resemblance, not even 50% hahaha!). Just look at what I’ve come up with my uploaded photos:














I cropped my photo samples in three angles - right side view, left side view and front view. After a few minutes of image scanning, photo recognition and facial profile matching, there goes the result:

• R&B singer-actress Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Lopez
• Hollywood celebrities Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz
• Indian actress Aishwariya Rai and Preity Zinta
• Smallville's Lana Lang - Canadian actress Kristin Kreuk
• Venezuelan model-actress Norkys Batista

.....It's cool, eh? Lingaw-lingaw lang gud hehe! If you're curious who's your celebrity look-alike, you may try the web demo at www.myheritage.com. Go find the celebrity in you!

A Weekend At My Little Home

It was one rainy Saturday afternoon… I’ve got nothing else to do at my pad aside from curling up in my bed after having my “lucky me beef noodles” break hehe! Some kind of a lazy afternoon, I should say. I’ve already spent the whole morning doing my weekend routine (general cleaning sa balay ug operation kuskos-piga sa isa ka bukid nga labada), and so I had zero workload the whole afternoon, wahooo! It’s siesta time! Tsada jud kaayo matulog kung gaulan.

After an hour of sound sleep, I found myself munching some food (again!?) at my little dining table hahaha! Seems like I never got tired of filling my already filled stomach! It’s no longer a surprise then (labina adtong nakaila jud nako) ‘coz eating is indeed one of my greatest passion hahaha! So if there’s one thing in my pad that I can’t live without, it’s no other than my buddy ref (with those stocked foods in there.. yumm, yumm!).

While people usually go to the malls on a weekend to watch movie, I had myself indulged on a movie marathon at my room. Home body ang drama ng lola nyo, hehe! Yep, I had rented CDs a few days ahead, and within that whole afternoon, I had watched 3 movies in a row – comedy, drama and suspense! Mas sulit kaysa motan-aw pa ug sine sa malls, ahihihihi! Tukar napud akong pagka kuripot! But I tell you, nothing really beats watching movie at home.

Reading books and playing my favorite music… ah, this is one of my favorite weekend pastimes. Got a number of inspirational books in my shelf, most of them I’ve already read more than once. My friends and colleagues even took turns in borrowing those books ‘coz they really fill and inspire one’s soul. And my music? Well, it even turned my day into a more enlivening one. As the song goes “listen to the rhythm of the falling rain”, nah.. sakto jud kaayo kay non-stop ang ulan gikan udto paingon gabii, hehe! I could have played Cueshe’s hit song then, “lagi nalang umuulan… parang walang katapusan…” Just too bad I didn’t have the drums accompaniment ‘coz I only have the guitar, tsk.. tsk!

A few minutes after my music escapade, I had to put down those instruments and prepare for my dinner. Yeah, “operatation luto”! Hehehe! I’m not a good cook though… but doing the kitchen work was one of the things I grew so fond of when I started living on my own several years ago. My place had become my friends’ favorite food trip venue then ‘coz they always liked home cooked goodies hehehe! I remember what Fe stated in her testimonial for me at friendster – "nga pag ako ang host, dli jud mo magutman!” Well, I can assure you that! Careful lang tong uban friends who were a bit complaining about my “extra large” food serving, as they indulged themselves on a strict diet, hahaha!

Can’t go to sleep right away with my stomach full. Hmmn… good thing my feet brought me to my computer table hehehe! I opened my PC and started scribbling down with the keyboard. Ahh.. I guess it’s blog time! Hahaha! So, right there and then, I came up with this wacky idea of posting the typical weekend scenario at my flat. I could have given a different title for this posting then, hehe! Would “Sa Bahay Ni Ate” be appropriate? Parang female counterpart ng “Bahay Ni Kuya” (Big Brother House), hahaha! It seemed so odd, so I just ended up with a heading “A Weekend At My Little Home”.

Now, you have taken a sneak peek at my place. I call it my sanctuary then, simply because it’s a place where I can be alone with myself and do anything at my own pace without anybody’s restrictions; a place where I just can be me; a place where I can put to rest all my burdens at the end of the day and be relieved at once; a place I can call my second home! Thanks for dropping by, dear readers! ‘Till my next blog post.