Advanced Christmas Treats

December is yet to come, but I’m already receiving advanced Christmas treats recently, hehe! To name a few, I got this 512 MB USB Flash Drive from my college friend in New York, a complete episode of Love Season drama series (eight CDs all in all) courtesy of a fellow tech-savvy friend from Korea, a headset with microphone my colleague has handed on to me before she left for New Zealand (thanks Wyetski!), a brand new Samsung SGH-X680 handyphone from my service provider Globe Telecom, an all-original Jansport bag from a holy friend out there in Hawaii, and last but not the least -- a hundred dollar check from Google, Inc. for my continued patronage on their Adsense services. Whew! God’s blessings truly abound, and it’s been manifested through the people around I interact with. Thank you Lord for all these gifts!

Thanks God I Blog!

The idea of blogging had just pounced on my mind two years ago when I accidentally browsed the Xanga website, and that was the time I came up with my first blog Bounjour Mademoiselle. Then came my second blog Welcome To My World which I thought of as my online journal. A lot of other blogs then followed, including this one I’ve created in Blogspot. It's been interesting during my not-so-long stint at blogging to consider my friends' responses at this idea. "Blog? Unsa na?!" – with the question mark emphasized – was sometimes the wary response. Well, those were the remarks I got a few years back when the word “blog” has not yet swept the internet-savvy folks’ mind by storm, hehe! Nowadays, the comments I would hear (from those folks who are not into blogging) vary: “Blog? What for? Why the heck would I waste my time for it?” or the other version: “You really do have time for that stuff, nagsige ka nalang ug blog, ako wala koy panahon para ana”. Well, if you’re not into blogging and have just browsed this blog by chance (maybe from a different source link), then it’s sort of a perfect timing you are reading this post!

Why blog? What do we get from it? Based from what I’ve been through at blogging, I wanna share some thoughts about the benefits I got from it. Needless to say, these are the 10 reasons why I blog.

1. It's fun. Self explanatory. FUN! As in lingaw! Think of any hobby you have and you’ll definitely describe it as fun - something you love doing, something you enjoy indulging yourself with. That’s what blogging to me, a hobby… a source of fun!

2. It's a tremendous opportunity to share a message. My casual, having-fun-self has delved into the deeper me, rooted around in my heart, and stipulated that such opportunity to share faith must not be ignored. My own experience is one manifestation of God’s great love. I want to share the good life I've been blessed with… and I wanna do this in an appealing, non-preachy, uplifting manner. It is my hope that one or two persons, somewhere on this globe, may say, "That's a rather neat way to live. Think I'll check it out." From this idea, I came up with my christian blogs Echoes From The Heart and Soulful Journey.

3. It’s a unique way to communicate with family & friends across the seas. Blogging gives you an opportune way to keep in touch with your friends and loved ones whom you haven’t seen for a long time. They can always get some fresh updates from you no matter how far they are. In turn, you can also be kept posted with their life’s updates by exchanging stories. Hence, it surmounts distance barriers.

4. It's an outlet for creative writing. I’ve always been considering myself a “closet writer”. I have so many ideas in mind which I wanted to document, that is, put stuff into writing and make a journal. But with my so busy life (corporate world + life in the academe + church community + sports & leisure activities + family time + friends escapades + miscellaneous activities), I wonder if I could ever have spent sometime for making a journal. Through blogging, which eventually turned out to be a cool hobby, not only have I spent a great deal of time writing, but I’ve also been able to share my thoughts and ideas to people. Now, that’s creative writing!

5. It serves as therapy for some who need a place to vent. Blogging is a way of expressing oneself. Whether you are lonely, happy, inspired, excited, annoyed, thrilled, disgusted… you can express everything on your blog. Simply saying, your blog speaks your mind and conveys your heart. And when somebody writes a comment on your blog posting, you’re also letting that person express himself/herself. Ain’t that cool?

6. It's a way of forming friendships around the world. When you blog, you’re making yourself visible to the world wide web. A lot of people will be able to read your posts from all over the world. I’ve been noticing that a number of comments on my blog postings came from people outside my country, whew! And they’re giving good reviews to my articles! See? It’s one way of expanding your acquaintances around the globe.

7. It's a way to earn money. Absolutely! This is one true thing I can truly attest to! Why not? Google has just paid me $100 a month ago for the ads posted in my blog site. Now that’s good news to all bloggers out there! See? You get paid for something you love to do. You earn revenue from your blog by simply posting Google ads… and that’s it! Your money accumulates and you’ll just wake up one day receiving a dollar check from Google! Wahoo!

8. It’s educational. One thing I’ve learned from blogging is the HTML stuff (you know, like those CSS codes & scripts you do for web design). Well, it’s not that I’ve learned the whole thing from blogging. It’s just that blogging is one of the means to familiarize yourself with HTML. I’ve been doing a portion of web design for our company’s intranet a few years back, yet I’ve never been this meticulous on the codes & scripts, not until I had started working on my own web site hehehe! And when we finally had a formal training on Web Applications a couple of months ago, everything’s not new to me anymore, as I already had a brief exposure on those HTML stuff. Thanks God, I blog! Heheh!

9. It’s a way to promote business. Two of my friends used their blogs as a way of promoting their business (a colleague of mine who endorsed her crocheting business through Blogspot and a classmate wayback in college who made use of her Multiply site to promote her clothing business). I had created a separate blog for my pearl business too. Check it out!

10. It curtails boredom and loneliness. It’s very applicable to me, for a fact that I live on my own (as in alone, no housemate hehe!). There would be times when I just feel bored at my flat, and guess what? I’ll just go to my PC, and start scribbling with the keyboard! It’s a very healthy way to ease up the monotony.

The bottom line here is that “it’s always good to blog”. Though I’m not really urging you all to go make a blog in an instant. It’s still a matter of drive, passion and motivation. As what I’ve said, when something turns out to be a great hobby, then you’ll really have fun doing it! Don’t just force yourself to do blogging just because everybody’s doing it, and that you feel you’re left behind by the trend. Again, I say it has something to do with drive, passion and motivation. And once you have developed these three attributes, everything else follows – you’ll be having fun, you can share your thoughts and ideas, develop your writing skills, create friendship around the globe, earn money, promote your business, and a lot more!

One last cue: When you’re about to start making a blog, it sets your freedom. You can have a repository of anything that’s been cluttering on your mind. Express yourself, ‘ika nga. But this doesn’t mean posting anything offensive and foul words. There’s what we call “responsible blogging”, and it calls for a “responsible blogger”. Be one!

No More Tricks, Just Treats!

Over the years, Philcom has been throwing Halloween Parties for kids before all the employees take their much awaited “All Saints Day” holiday vacation. Time for the so-called Trick or Treat! But this year’s Halloween Party was quite different. No more creepy costumes, no more flying bats and walking skeletons, no more scary ghosts roaming around, no more ugly witches with that bubbling cauldron, no more horrifying sounds on that eerie dark room filled with cobwebs, no more tricks that would make those kids frightened all over before they could grab their treats. It was just purely fun and merriment for the kids, less those tricks. So there goes the Halloween Party dubbed as "Philcom Kids Fair" held last October 27, 2006.

At around 1:30 in the afternoon, hundreds of kids queued up in the Registration Booth bringing with them their pumpkin baskets and trick bags, as they were all set for the office hopping, that is, time for claiming those treats waiting at each room in the office. After they have all routed the two floors of the building, it was time to start the program proper. Clowns and jugglers came along to entertain the kids with their funny and playful acts. There was “Lastikman” too who amazed the crowd with the powerful twisting of his body. The Kids For Christ Band also graced up the show with their fantastic performance of “Hawak Kamay” and “Miss Kita Pag Tuesday”. Then came the Kids At Heart crew to fire up the kids’ adrenaline for that full-packed games & surprises, and the Jollibee team for the sumptuous kiddie meal. And whew! Who can forget the ice cream galore? I even joined the queue, holding my empty ice cream cone ready for filling, hahaha!

One of the main highlights of the Kids Fair was the Talent Contest which showcased the kids’ abilities in singing and dancing. There was also the Q&A For Mom & Kid Contest, and the Art Contest which was done simultaneously with the program, held at the 2nd floor hallway. After a series of more games and intermission numbers, recognitions were given to the Best in Talent, Best in Art, Best Mom & Kid, and Smart Kid awardees. Cheers to all the winners!

Click here to view last year’s Halloween Trick or Treat.
See more Kids Fair photos at http://pepperonni.multiply.com/photos/album/36