Self Reflection #1

by tim on December 14, 2011

What would YOU do if you CANNOT FAIL; If there are absolutely NO LIMITATIONS in Money, Resources, Time or Networks?

I WOULD FREAK OUT. The insane part of my mind would go into hysterics and it would cook out a plan for world domination. The saner, more dominant (sometimes) part of my brain will check all avenues for success just so it will be absolutely sure that failure is no longer a factor.  WHAT WOULD I DO? I’ll free myself from every single thing that stresses me out. I will bungee jump, I will sky dive, I WILL BE AN ASTRONAUT!

I… I… I…

 

It’s insane – how a single question could wreck my usually sane mind. If you are really true to your innermost desires you will also answer with “I… I… I…” and not think of anybody else, it’s the typical human psyche at work. Humans, I now concede to this fact, are basically SELFISH. There’s nothing wrong with it, you don’t have to be ashamed about it.  It’s the enlightened ones who will go on to think of others after they’ve gone through the initial “I…I…I…” phase. As for me, I’m not yet through the “I” phase, it’s just too good to be true and I want to enjoy the things that are currently running in my mind. I might go into the enlightened phase or I might not it all depends on how everything is played through in my mind.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

 

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This makes me want to learn pole dancing

by tim on December 5, 2011

I’ve got nothing to say except W-O-W!!!

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K5 Learning – is it for us?

by tim on October 13, 2011

We have been homeschooling for about 5 months now and we have been through various online curriculum from ABCMouse.com to Time4Learning.com to ClickNKids.com and although they work some times, we are still on the lookout for an online math and reading core curriculum that can be used by both kids. My little boy works with ABCMouse but I find that he’s more and more distracted by the tickets and the room and does not actually spend enough time on his lessons, my girl however uses Time4Learning mostly and just occasionally uses ABCMouse because she finds the lessons too easy and boring and only use it for the tickets so that she can customize her character. Time4Learning works for both kids most of the time, but my boy who has mild ADHD can only use it 10minutes or less at a time and does not really concentrate on it especially on the lessons that require him to read. He does not like the quizzes because according to him it is boring. My girl however thrives on the structured environment.

Our ideal core curriculum would be something that will keep them entertained but not too entertained, something that is not just edutainment because they get that most of the time from Dora, Diego, Backyardigans, Leap Frog etc. It needs to have some form of structure that will adapt to each of my kid’s needs, must allow the kids to have some fun time in between lessons without deviating too much from the lesson at hand. Must allow them to work at their own pace and most of all must allow us to monitor their progress. And of course, price is always a factor.

I was introduced to this new online math and reading program from kindergarten through grade 5, it’s called K5 Learning (www.k5learning.com). It’s a very promising site and seems to fit quite well with the criteria I’ve outlined above. They also have a 14-day free trial – there’s no need to add a credit card which is always a big plus for me. What’s good about it is that it assesses the child first before giving them access to the actual lessons, this allows for customization of each lesson according to the needs of the child.

We just finished the reading and math assessment and both kids love it. Bear in mind though that for the Math assessment, kids will need to have knowledge of US currency. We are from the Philippines and although they are familiar with the currency, they don’t really know it well enough to answer correctly. But all in all, the assessments are really great, kids who are not readers yet (or those who just doesn’t want to read) will benefit from the fact that they can just roll over the speaker icon to hear the questions and choices. We will be starting the actual lessons tomorrow, but I’m very impressed with the Parent’s dashboard and the reporting features of the site, I can also assign Math and reading lessons to each child and also assign spelling words as well! I have high hopes for this program, if both kids decide to stay with it we just might have found a winner here. Will keep you guys updated after we fully test it out. Below are the actual assessment reports of both my kids:

Khleomi Helen – Grade 1

Khleomi's Reading Assessment

Khleomi's Math Assessment

Xanth Reign – Kindergarten

Xanth's Reading Assessment

Xanth's Math Assessment

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My journey so far

by tim on October 3, 2011

Tomorrow I turn 29. I’m trying to think real hard if I have achieved the things I dreamed of when I was just a little girl. And if I am the person I wanted to become back when I was innocent and a little naive. This is a journey down memory lane, random things that I can still remember from my youth…

When I was in kindergarten, I remember being mischievous and I do know that I was never shy. I always got the “Most Friendly” award, maybe because I try to befriend everyone regardless of who or what they are. I remember falling down from the big slide and when my teacher asked me what I want to be when I grow up, I remember saying I want to be an astronaut while all my other female classmates wanted to be nurses or teachers. I never learned how to read until the middle of my 2nd grade, words are meaningless and garbled images to me (I only learned later that there’s a name to what I have, Dyslexia) although, I’m quite adept at Math. I can multiply long before I can read. Thanks to my tutor, I think her name was Ms. Makiling or something… The main motivation for me to learn to read was because my older sister had her name on the honor’s list, she was always 1st honors while I got nothing. Mainly because I can’t read and I don’t pay attention, my GMRC was 76 – but I was really good at Math. :)

Anyways, I learned to read on my 2nd grade and had the 3rd honors at the end of the year. From 3rd grade up, I got the highest honors and graduated Valedictorian on my senior year. It was tiring, all those studying and keeping up so I decided to slack off when I got into college, more so because I wanted to read and write than actually study and get good grades in Electronics and Communications Engineering. I love Math but I found out that I love reading and writing more – go figure. I did graduate, but I never actually used my degree. I wanted to be an astronaut, remember?

I got pregnant with my little princess while reviewing for the board exam, I did not pass. The reason was not because I was pregnant and could not concentrate, I got high grades on the first two subjects but failed miserably on the 3rd. Failed because I do not know the dimensions of the signage if you want to sell cellphones, yeah, I blame the system. But me failing the board exam did not get me down, and no I never tried again because at the back of my mind I know that if I passed it and got the license that so many companies look at as “gold” I would be obliged to find a job that is suitable for the degree that I have and yes I’ll be miserable. My first official work was as a tech support for Dell, I don’t really hate it, I just thought its not really suitable for me. My second one was as a data encoder then after training an SEO analyst, and I then started ghost writing for SEO ebooks online and also writing thesis for foreign students. After research, I found that web designers and developers get higher pay and so I taught myself how to design and develop websites. It took me about a month to get my act together and when I felt really confident that I can do the job and whatever I still don’t know I can learn without any problem I started looking for clients. I’m a pretty quick study and am able to grasp concepts quite easily and I am confident – both my strength and my downfall.

That’s a quick rundown of what I have achieved so far, but the best one that I have is a loving husband and two very special kids. I wouldn’t trade them for anything, not for all the riches in the world nor all the success not even the possibility of me being an astronaut. So am I happy? Can I confidently say that I’m successful and that I have the life that I dreamed of when I was young? I may not have what I’ve dreamed of, but I am positive that I am very happy with what I have and who I have become – its more than I ever expected and I know for a fact that the future holds a lot more for me and my family.

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To My Little Big Guy

by tim on September 27, 2011

Five years ago, a gift arrived – an angel in disguise
Fine curls, a cute button nose, mischievous twinkling eyes
You instantly got everyone under your spell,
You’re just too cute, that I instantly fell…
hopelessly, incredibly in love.
The kisses, the hugs and even the tears
That I got all these five years
They’re all cherished memories that I will surely keep
Till the end of my days, till my eternal sleep
To have tons of years more with you is my deepest wish.
My little big guy, I love you so much
Even if you’re sometimes naughty, my heart you always touch
With that twinkling eyes, that mischievous smile,
I will always love you even if you drive me senile
Happy 5th Birthday my Baby Reign.

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The doll and the white rose

by tim on September 19, 2011

This story touched my heart and I just want you all to know about it and somehow understand how precious life truly is and how it can be taken away from us in a split second. So hold on to your loved ones, love them like its the last day of your lives. Live, Love, Laugh.

I hurried into the local department store to grab some last minute Christmas gifts. I looked at all the people and grumbled to myself. I would be in here forever and I just had so much to do. Christmas was beginning to become such a drag. I kinda wished that I could just sleep through Christmas. But I hurried the best I could through all the people to the toy department. Once again I kind of mumbled to myself at the prices of all these toys. And wondered if the grandkids would even play with them.

I found myself in the doll aisle. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a little boy about 5 holding a lovely doll. He kept touching her hair and he held her so gently. I could not seem to help myself. I just kept looking over at the little boy and wondered who the doll was for. I watched him turn to a woman and he called his aunt by name and said, “Are you sure I don’t have enough money”
She replied a bit impatiently, “You know that you don’t have enough money for it. The aunt told the little boy not to go anywhere that she had to go get some other things and would be back in a few minutes. And then she left the aisle.

The boy continued to hold the doll. After a bit I ask the boy who the doll was for. He said, “it is the doll my sister wanted so badly for Christmas. She just knew that Santa would bring it.” I told him that maybe Santa was going to bring it. He said “No, Santa can’t go where my sister is” “I have to give the doll to my Momma to take to her”. I ask him where his sister was. He looked at me with the saddest eyes and said “She has gone to be with Jesus. My Daddy says that Momma is going to have to go be with her”. My heart nearly stopped beating. Then the boy looked at me again and said, “I told my Daddy to tell Momma not to go yet. I told him to tell her to wait till I got back from the store”

Then he ask me if I wanted to see his picture. I told him I would love to. He pulled out some pictures he’d had taken at the front of the store. He said “I want my Momma to take this with her so she don’t ever forget me. I love my Momma so very much and I wish she did not have to leave me. But Daddy says she will need to be with my sister.”
I saw that the little boy had lowered his head and had grown so very quiet.
While he was not looking I reached into my purse and pulled out a hand full of bills. I ask the little boy, “Shall we count that money one more time?”
He grew excited and said , “Yes, I just know it has to be enough” So I slipped my money in with his and we began to count it. And of course it was plenty for the doll. He softly said, “Thank you Jesus for giving me enough money.”
Then the boy said I just asked Jesus to give me enough money to buy this doll so Momma can take it with her to give to my sister.” “And he heard my prayer”
“I wanted to ask him for enough to buy my Momma a white rose, but I didn’t ask him, but he gave me enough to buy the doll and a rose for my Momma.”
“She loves white roses so very very much”

In a few minutes the aunt came back and I wheeled my cart away. I could not keep from thinking about the little boy as I finished my shopping in a totally different spirit than when I had started. And I kept remembering a story I had seen in the newspaper several days earlier about a drunk driver hitting a car and killing a little girl and the Mother was in serious condition.
The family was deciding on whether to remove the life support. Now surely this little boy did not belong with that story.

Two days later I read in the paper where the family had disconnected the life support and the young woman had died. I could not forget the little boy and just kept wondering if the two were somehow connected. Later that day, I could not help myself and I went out and bought some white roses and took them to the funeral home where the young woman was. And there she was holding a lovely white rose, the beautiful doll, and the picture of the little boy in the store. I left there in tears, my life changed forever. The love that little boy had for his little sister and his mother was over whelming.
And in a split second a drunk driver had ripped the life of that little boy to pieces.
V.A.Bailey

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Today is Pirate Day!

by tim on September 19, 2011

Allow me this one day for being weird. So yeah, today is Pirate Day! Yeah! And to commemorate this very special day, to me at least, I present you with my favorite pirate of all time:

 

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Khal Drogo and Khal Xanthus

by tim on September 4, 2011

We watched season 1 of Game of thrones and its a great series to watch, can’t wait for season 2. And I’m reading the book too. I guess I also have some time on my hands today, so here’s my masterpiece:

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An open letter to Globe Telecom

by tim on July 28, 2011

Dear Ernest Cu (Globe Telecom, Inc. Director, President and CEO);

Below is a letter that I have sent to your helpdesk, you may not know me but I’d like to think that I am speaking in behalf of every Globe broadband subscriber who has in one way or another gone through what I am currently going through. It would be imperative on your part to address this issue. I know that you’re one of the biggest companies in the Philippines and I am no one, but believe me, I would try to make ripples and ripples will combine with others to make a wave big enough to reach you. A company no matter how big still need people like me to support/buy your products and it’s not good to make people like me think that we’re getting mocked and robbed and who knows what else.

In your website, the phrase “At Globe, We Believe In Doing It Your Way” is prominently displayed – this obviously is a blatant lie. I’ve heard stories of how bad your broadband is and that your support is worse, but did I listen? No! I was desperate, we’ve had no connection for almost a week because the earthquake rendered Bayantel worthless, we’ve had our share of problems with them but I never got the feeling of being cheated, which is why we stayed with them for over three years and never would’ve changed if not for the outage. So against my better judgement, we decided to apply for a globe broadband account, simply because they can get us connected in the next two days.  Come to think of it, when we applied, I was never asked for documents, all that was asked was an ID and that’s it. I came prepared actually, because I know that proof of billing, identity and income are all required. I even asked if they need that to process my application, the agent who attended us told us no and the only thing she needed was my ID. That should have alerted me that something might be wrong… But then again, I did not listen to my intuition. Which brings us exactly to my predicament as outlined below:

I still have no/intermittent internet connection in our globe broadband and this has been a major problem since we started exactly 12 days ago. This connection is almost useless to us which left us no choice but to have our previous ISP (bayandsl) reconnected, we’ve been having problems with this connection since day 1 and this has affected our work. We work at home and my kids are homeschooled and have online classes and having an internet connection is vital to our job and our kids’ education, I almost lost my job because of this problem. In connection to this, I would like to request for an adjustment to our bill. I would not hesitate to pay the full amount if we are able to use this connection and to think that we got the highest plan that you have for residential because we have been informed by your agent in Globe SM City Iloilo that they have no connection problem in our place. You are offering 3Mbps for Php 1995 and I would like to get exactly what I am paying for, I would even settle for half of that. But I’m only getting 0.04Mbps on average and 1.6Mbps on good days (hours).

Your technician also told us that it might be a power fluctuation issue because it mostly occurs during night times, I have to disagree because we’ve never had any problems with Bayandsl and power fluctuations (if there are any) and if they are going to insist that its a power fluctuation problem, then does that mean that your equipment are sub-par when compared to that of bayandsl? As much as I would like to have this connection disconnected, I can’t because of your lock-in period, you should have offered a 1 month guarantee or at least make sure that you can deliver exactly what you have advertised. I don’t want to shell out Php 5000+ to have a virtually useless connection disconnected but neither do I want to keep on paying Php 1995/month to have a sub-par internet connection, so right now, I am at odds whether to have this disconnected or to keep it until the lock-in period. Either way, I’m the losing party.

In order for us to get on with our lives and our work, we are now paying two ISPs for one connection. And believe me, this is more than I bargained for.

JC Mae Palmes

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6.4 earthquake in the Panay region

by tim on July 11, 2011

At exactly 4:47AM an intensity 6.4 earthquake hit the Panay region. The epicenter was in Sipalay and was felt all over the visayas. Iloilo felt intensity 6.0 and it almost toppled me over. I was still working when it happened, it was long about 15-20 seconds or more, am not really timing it because I was shaking really bad. We just carried the sleeping kids downstairs, they were confused and aftershocks were felt a few minutes after. Needless to say, I never want to experience that again, visions of what happened in Japan flashed through my mind… And we’re really close to the sea too… For more details about the earthquake, click here

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