Textile Art

I made a cow costume for Migi for their Christmas presentation. Then, I gave the left-over materials to Meg, and then Mati. :)

Meg's New Medium for Wall Art

A+ for her effort of climbing to reach those part of the walls, and stick those cut-out spongebobs. I think those are from Isla's birthday giveaways.

Whatever floats in her little head that girl. :)

Polished

Those are Meg's fatty finger and toe nails painted by her. :)

Lying in bed with the trio, waiting for Mark from their office swimming lessons, and thinking how an absentee mother I am. I got me thinking about it when T asked me over skype what are my kids' curriculum, and sadly I could not pull out any concrete answer from my brains. I could not even understand what is curriculum. Duh me.

Oh parenting - a frustrating thing for me to understand. The only achievement I probably have is making up rule #1 - you can say 'what the fuck, man' when you're 20.

"Why the fuck am I doing this to myself?" -- familiar

Somewhere along this stretch, the confluence of assorted feelings and emotions - pain, exhaustion, heat, sleep deprivation, hunger, frustration, thirst - got the best of me. And before I knew it, tears were streaming down my face. I could not recall the last time something like that happened to me, let alone during a run. I never saw it coming. And for the first time ever, after close to 15 hours of continuous running and walking, I asked myself this question: "Why the fuck am I doing this to myself?" Mind game. I slowed down and composed myself. Instead of trying to find the answer to the question, I told myself to just stay in the game, and to remember the short prayer that I whispered somewhere in Lubao. A son never forgets. And I was again on my way.

via lifeisahighway91.blogspot.com

Free 'play maze'

Getting rough & dirty.
Meg was the loudest, but had done nothing to get down & slide. Ow girls? :)

migi's 7th birthday

aug 10, 2011 at dominican school, and at home

falling in love

I'm in love with (distance slow) running. The only thing that made me gave up weekends with my family.

A few finds I collected on the way.

We have a grapes farm here in Cebu, Philippines, Mabuhay!
Sibonga

Boljoon, cebu

Santander, Cebu
Meeting more 'lantays' on the way.

Just like love, I really do not know how to explain why I love distance running. =) It's probably the mix of pain, unsureness and peacefulness that comes with it. (Emphasis on distance because I get bored with running around the subdivision -- too monotonous.)

will end here before I go on preaching that running will solve all our problems. Thanks to markjohn for agreeing to babysitting alone on weekends.

Phone pics by Migi

Pics he got from our badian visit. A few pics of terra mana - were there to drop the carebears then watch their 'dance show.' =)

Simba (badian day 3)

07/24/2011
weren't able to join mark doing 'support' crew for the marathoners on the 3rd. to much hassle to tag 3 kids around. sayang, would love to see the runners.

beach / banig festival (badian day 2)

07/23/2011
went to la playa for a quick beach
then also a quick look at banig festival. only bought inflatable toys at the festival achtually.

on the way to badian with zz new carpool

07/22/2011

we are all alone

I guess it looks like it came to the point where the last call has to be made by ME. where mark can no longer speak up for me. 

and if every thing remains the same afterwards, then it means i chickened out from doing that call. =)

Capitalism is a process of creative destruction.

APITALISM is a process of creative destruction. The new destroys the old. Both the creation and the destruction are essential to driving the economy forward. Entrepreneurs are central to the process of creative destruction; they bring the new technologies and the new concepts into active commercial use. They are the change agents of capitalism.
The old patterns of powerful vested interests must be broken if the new is to exist, but those vested interests fight back. They are not willing to fade quietly into the pages of history. Entrepreneurs built the national companies that destroyed local companies at the end of the nineteenth century, and they are building the global companies that are destroying national companies at the end of the twentieth century.
History teaches us that it is only too easy to stamp out entrepreneurship. It is a fundamental human characteristic but, despite its creative and destructive powers, an extremely fragile one. Among most peoples in most times and most places entrepreneurs do not exist. The economic possibilities exist, but they are not seen, the energy to realize them is lacking, or the risks they involve seem too great.
When societies aren't organized so that the old vested interests can be brushed aside, entrepreneurs cannot emerge. Social systems have to be built in which entrepreneurs have the freedom to destroy the old. Yet destroying the old can too easily be seen as a step into chaos. Societies that aren't ready to break with the past aren't willing to let entrepreneurs come into existence.

via theatlantic.com

Tomato pepperoni pasta

Fresh tomato 'gigisa' w/ a little olive oil, onion & garlic until it feels saucy and 'lata' enough. Cook pepperoni sausage separately w/ a little olive oil. Then, done.

Just add the tomato sauce, sausage, to the pasta. You can add olive oil if you want it more oily.

Mark does not like the sauce. Migi likes the sausage, olive oil, and pasta. But I love them all. :)

to tabuelan and back

my and kids first time to go round the northeast (in my 30 years of living in cebu. yay me!)

Who to attract? Investors or customers?

Being 'involved' in the 'tech startup' (quote and quote on tech startup because i know a lot will argue that there's no such thing as that in here), it lets me meet different kind of entrepreneurs in all kind of forms.
There are those who build product / service to attract investors.
While, there are also those people who build product not really keen of attracting investors.
So which is better?
You build to attract investors and the customers later?
Or, you build to attract customers and attract investors later?

How to dispose my kids textbooks?

I was going thru our 'kabans' when i saw that Ate Mona is still keeping my kids' textbooks from the past school years.

I have 2 kids (soon 3 kids) going to school, each school year, they'll probably have 7+ books, not to mention notebooks etc. So we have like 30 textbooks each year to throw away.

So how to dispose them at the end of school year?
* I cannot give them away because they're already used. They put answers on them. Or are there willing to still have these used books?
* Maybe to the junkyard / recycling shops.
* maybe schools can take them back, then give them back to the publishing house so they can recycle it.

????

but please leave yo momma over on Facebook, OK?

See, if you put the average Silicon Valley geek in front of a TV and tell him to sit on the couch and watch TV for four hours they won???t know what to do. They will start building databases of their favorite shows, start figuring out how to optimize their DVRs so they can fast-forward through commercials faster, and stuff like that.
Normal/average users? They just want to watch TV and drink beer.
So, you getting where I???m going with this? Google+ is for the passionate users of tech. If you just want to sit back and have the system do all the work (which means it???s not perfect, but it???s good enough for most people) then Facebook is gonna be where you stay, especially since your friends are gonna lock you in for quite some time. But if you want to really be able to choose who you listen to, then Google+ is much better.

via scobleizer.com

lollers.

at 30

I attended my highschool friends wedding. And, I guess it's the first get-together with HS friends that i attended to. Back then, I would not join any of the reunions because I was always pregnant, and I think I's the first to get married in the batch -- my low-confidence was at lowest. =) I felt I'd be odd-one-out of the 'yuppie' crowd. Everyone was probably enjoying their corporate life or so whatever, while I worked to get rest days from the chaos at home. =)

Funny that one of my classmates introduced me to her fiancee as one of the smartest of the batch, and she did not expect that I'd be the first to get married. Lollers. Smart huh.

Funnier that when I started to go out and join them, there's no longer much of a crowd. I guess 30 is the age when every one is starting their own family, and started to retire from the party scene. Ow what a timing I'm in!

-----------------------------------------

Earlier this year when I was in constant face-to-face with HRs, and met a few of my classmates now HR managers and such. I felt so odd-one-out too, how dignified looking they are with their formal attire and that authoritative look while I'm still in jeans and shirts.

-----------------------------------------

Thirty is when I felt everyone's aged. The aunts and uncles and relatives just seem to look aged. Their faces now show wrinkles. Because I'm now 30 and they're now 40 / 50.

-----------------------------------------

Thirty is when  it seems the people I look up to back then seems to be just the same as who I am.
-----------------------------------------

Thirty is when you resolved your confusions / worries about life but new set of confusions / worries comes in.

Whereas before I was confused as to what school to send my kids too. Now I'm confused if it's the right thing to do.

---------------------------------------------

Thirty is when the things I enjoy is no longer fun.

Grocery for me was something I look forward to but then now every time I get to the counter, and I know that after 6 months the bagger and the cashier will no longer be there for the company to avoid keeping regular employees, it's just does not feel right any more.

That my a-week grocery is probably a big chunk of their income -- the cashier, the bagger, the tricycle driver.

TV is such a bore. Books are such a bore.

----------------------------------------------

See I'm 30. I'm old. I'm such a bore and bitter! But then I'm 30 so I have the right to be.

Retail therapy

pogs etc shooping at merkado 'lacion =)

Meg Shares to SavetheDoodles.com

I asked Meg to get some of her extra pencils to give away for kids who are pencil-less.

She first picked some of her decent looking pencils but after some time, took them back. And, instead rummaged thru our cabinets and got all these ugly looking broken colored pencils, crayons, hair pins, erasers, & pencil cases. After collecting them all, she gave it to me and said, "Para ni sa mga pobre nga bata."

I don't know where she got the 'pobre' word. I told her that they're not poor, they just happen to be pencil-less. Unfortunately, I don't have a Ms. Charity daughter.

Anyhoo, my friend is collecting pencils to share with the kids Of Mabini. If you wish to share some pencils, pls check http://savethedoodles.com. =)

crazy cebu real estate price???

For Rent To Own Payment Scheme
1. Pay 2 months advance,3 months deposit Php 47,765.49 / month

2. Rental : Php 47,765.49 / month for 20 yrs

-----------------------------------------------
I saw an ad on facebook, a rent-to-own townhouse. I was curious as to how rent-to-own works so I view it. I cannot believe the price -- 50k / month for 20 years of my life!!!! CRAZY!!!! Well, the place is banawa so maybe the price but still. Well, it's business but still.

It makes me wonder how much is an average working-middle-class family income now in Cebu? 200k? For me to afford that, I need to earn at least 200k/month, right? As I still need to buy food, pay for transpo, and send my kids to school, and yes, the many malls waiting for me to enjoy.

The minimum wage is at how much now? 300 / 400/day? If it's 500 -- so a minimum wage earner gets 15k-20k/month. Let's just say an executive gets 10 more times so that townhouse is targetted at executives. But then just how many executives are there compared to the minimum wage earners? Isn't there a big disconnect in Cebu right now?

--------------------------------------------

Anyhoo, my uncle-in-law is a real estate agent and he's handling Sta. Lucia Estates. Sta. Lucia is developing a new 'high-end' subdivision and they're pre-selling it. Lot (240sq m) sells at Php 990 000++. They offer a 3-year-payment scheme at Php 26k+ / month for 3 years - no downpayment. Vista Verde is the name of the subdivision. It's located in the mountain area. =) It's a nice place.

I'm not sure if this is a better offer but at least it's not 20 years of your life. Though, no house yet. But I think it will be a good investment. And, at least the double-minimum wage earners can somehow afford it as long as no babies yet.

---------------------------------------------

Gaahhh, still I think Cebu's economy is kind of weird!

My Title-Holder Kids

Last May, Meg joined the very challenging 'Prince and Princess of May' at San Narciso Parish Church, Consolacion, Cebu. All we had to do is pay P1t for her to have a chance of getting the Princess title. She won 2nd place via raffle, without her knowing. =)

She did not really know what she got.

Proud Mama =)

And, my Migi is a tennis champion, with me not knowing. Sorry, Migi -- beauty pageant interests me more than sports.

A champion's shoes. This is what his shoes looked like after he won.
This is how Migi attends his practices. Unlike the beauty pageant, his needs a little more effort.

As Dora would narrate it, we go through a forest.

Over a bridge...
Finally, we made it to the tennis court.
This mama is happy. Her kids don't much do good in academics so let's make another school like beauty & wellness & sports & entertainment & cutlure where my kids can do well. =) Life's a variety.

La Playa Beach, Badian

06/19/2011. After almost a year of not seeing Badian, cebu.

business of software will still be a long way

It just makes me wonder why in Cebu, Philippines, it’s easy to put up a resto business but not a software business. We’ll just put up a little BBQ stall, & people will never miss it. It might not be a hit but you will never be zeroed.
And, I thought that because:

• we have a population of food consumers, but not much of web / app consumers. It goes both ways. Web / tech consumerism has just started. So it will be probably take more time that we can all internalize it, and then these web consumers will become creators. Just like we eat too much lechon, that creating a business out of it will not be much of a struggle.
• the web / app consumers are the younger gens which do not have much buying power. So we probably have to wait for them until they can afford and sell software to them. The older gens are still ‘hardware’ era – it’s about LCD tv and stereo.

And oh my food has arrived. But basically that’s the thought.

via @tweetitow

Tigba-id (Bladesmith) 60-sec teaser - A Cebuano Film

Tigba-id (Bladesmith) 60-sec teaser

by Janice Y. Perez

2 days ago 2 days ago: Mon, Jun 13, 2011 10:28pm EST (Eastern Standard Time)

http://vimeo.com/25062292

via vimeo.com

1st day of school 2011-12

At dominican school, 'lacion. Same old. Same old. :)

Meg is prep. Migi is grade 1. I haz now a grader!

Migi's Submarine

=)

DOST opposed to creation of DICT (DICT sounds funny)

In a position that has surprised most IT observers, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said in a Senate hearing on Monday that it is opposed to the creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

Dela Pena

Fortunato dela Pena, the long-time undersecretary of

via newsbytes.ph

The title of the article really grabs my attention. Maybe we are a country of that. =)

Chapter 3

'Work should be personal. For all of us. Not just for the artist and the entrepreneur. Work should have meaning for the accountant, the construction worker, the technologist, the manager, abd the clerk.'

- Onward by h. Schultz

I'm reminded by a conversation with a 'businessman.' It was about asking me to work on a site. And, I refused because I really love to do it. As such, it's going to be emotionally draining for me. And with kids and family, I cannot be always emotionally drained. So that person advised me to treat it just a business, leave my emotions at home. The more I cannot do that. I don't like to give a work of mine that I do not have my heart on.

I don't want to waste my time doing things I do not love. And, the more I don't want people to waste time on my work that has no love in it.

And, I wish every one has the privilege of being able to do something that they really love.

Stakili

Because tatay jokol is home.

Alone w/ the Litow Boy

Everyone's out of the house w/ their own business. Migi is at the tennis court. Meg is socializing with Ate Mona at a relative's kumbira. Mark is somewhere out there in the mountains getting 'physical.'

And I let ds babysit Mati.

Meg: Ako lagi si Rose.

Ako man si mama. Ikaw si meg. (meg's blah blah while wearing my eyeglasses)

----
She kinda looks grown up with my eye glasses. But she looks more like my MIL than me. =)

Kissing Domino

Mati kisses migi kisses me.

hello there, self.

I'm happy I feel I'm back to the groove (whatever that means). Last week 'til yesterday, which got worse because wordpress suspended my account for i-dunno reason (but it's back now). You know that feeling that in this world, I'm just really just a speck of a dust (horton). I felt tired like can I just sleep the whole time. Probably that's what you call burn-out. But I don't believe in burn-out. Burn-out is just an excuse by the people who are just too lazy to know life. I's just tired.

I felt I'd rather die already -- there are too many things I want to do but then I'd know there's no way I can do them in this life time and so I'd see no sense in living anymore. My thoughts can really be crazy but I'm no stupid. =)))

So where was I? It's June. It's school time again.

The school dues are paid, new set of uniforms, new set of books. Just a few missing pieces.

Migi will be grade 1. What happen? I already have a grader. And, aside that it's telling me I'm getting old, I'm not really happy thinking about him being in school whole day. You know, grade 1 = whole day in school. I worried how his ADD self can take being in 1 room whole day for 10 months x manymanymany years of that. I worry how he needs to undo all of the strict routinary life when he gets to the real world.

Looking back at it, can you imagine how we survive being confined in a classroom for almost 8 hours a day for 20 years of our life? All for??? See. See. See.

There again my being pilosopo. Mute.

Carbonara with Feelings

Description:
Carbonara or white spaghetti. This one is just based on my instincts. There are a lot of carbonara recipes, and so I just kind of pick a bit of here and there from the many recipes.

Following ingredients are just based on feelings.

Ingredients:
500 g pasta (I use Royal, no special reason there.)
Bacon cut to bits / strips (as many as you feel is fitting to your taste)
1 pack evap milk (alaska)
1 pack all-purpose creamer (alaska. But I probably just use half of the pack)
butter (add to taste or if you feel it's enough then enough)
Cheese

(No special reason on why I chose those brands.)

Directions:
So after going thru different recipes, I notice that the main star of carbonara is BACON. So I thought that I just have to make sure of the bacon, and the rest will be just add to taste -- feel2x lang.

* Boil pasta
---------------------
* Anyhoo, cut the bacon to strips. Use a scissor (I have to put this because illiterate cook like me does not have that common sense).
* Cook the bacon (no oil needed. Yes, I need to know that)
* If you feel the bacon is cooked, add the evap milk.
* Then, add the creamer -- do not pour all. Just get a feeling if the taste fits you already.
* If the evap and creamer combo is not enough, then add the butter. I think the butter gives the salty taste. Not the whole butter -- mine was just half an inch thick. But if you want the whole butter then why not.

------------------------------------

When served, I just separate the pasta and the sauce and the cheese The eater can do the mixing.

-----------------------------------
The taste is sooo gooddd... if there's nothing other than the carbonara on the table.

But honestly, the taste is so-so. After eating a lot, you will have that 'pool' feeling. But then, for such a no-brainer kind of cooking -- this will do fine on my standards.

Hotcake or Pancake?

Description:
A twist to the instant pancake that is fluffy and soft.

Ingredients:
1 Pillsbury (choose the 'Preferred by 7 out of 10 mother')
2 eggs
1/4 cup of oil
1 cup of water
All of the above are ingredients listed on the Pillsbury box
-------------------------------
My twist
1 to 2 (depends on how much you like to add but you can start with 1 cup) fresh milk

Directions:
Mix all ingredients, then simply follow the instructions written on the Pillsbury box.

The only twist I added here is the 1 to 2 cups of Fresh Milk to make the pancake fluffier and softer, which is close to the Jollibee pancake which my kids like and I like. But the taste is just not the same, mine might be better. =)

Anyhoo, if you are confused of how many cups of milk you will add, try 1 cup then on the next you can try 1 and 1/2 and so on.

What it takes to do a barbecue party?

1 pack of oling (charcoal in english)
1 kilo of pork from the friendly merkado
1 porky papa
3 porky & non-porky kids doing gymnastics
1 hr of fanning and still no fire
30+ degrees of sun warmness.
Minus the beach.

Food photography

Recipe of the moment =) sardinas/pasta.

Stuffed with stuffed toys =)

Behavior Differences: Facebook vs Twitter vs Foursquare

Then there's the Facebook vs. Twitter vs. Foursquare angle. Users of the three social networks exhibit different behavior and different buying frequency. Foursquare users visit Tasti D-Lite more often than Twitter users, who visit more often than Facebook users, Emerson says.
"They're more mobile, they're more active," he says of the stores' Foursquare users. "We've got a year of results. For whatever reasons, it's pretty clear these location-based mobile customers are out and about more and visiting more often."
Emerson has also found that Foursquare users are younger and more thrifty than Twitter and Facebook users - meaning they spend less per visit. "The Foursquare people are looking to get a deal. Facebook is going to skew older, and Faceook users spend more than Foursquare users. Twitter is in the middle."

via billboard.biz

This might not be entirely true, but interesting observation.

My Day so Far

Thanks CS for the 'surprise'! Lia for the http//spagdelivery.com =), orange flowers, recycled balloons. And for the rest for playing along. =)

Product Parenting

Product Parenting
http://www.ericsink.com/articles/Product_Parenting.html

Shipping release 1.0 is a lot like the birth of a new baby:  Lots and lots of pain, followed by a brief period of pure happiness, and then no sleep for quite a while.

(via Instapaper)

happy mother's day ever day

No whining on this post. I was about to whine with migi leaving the house again today to stay with at the MIL's place. He's probably bored to death with this pseudo suburban life where all the kids in the neighborhood have some kind of a strict schedule of socializing and not, of having too polite neighjborhood kids. Nyay, I just whine.

I guess every mother feels lucky with their kids. And, I'm no exception. I feel too blessed to have the most wonderful kids, far from perfect but I won't have them in any other way.

Migi is prolly the most unfeeling/emotionless boy. I won't ever receive a mother's day card from him. I'll probably the last person in his priority list. And, when he's big and grown, he'd probably just come home when he's broke, and homeless. But that's what mothers are for, or maybe just for me. :)

Meg is the annoying, attention-seeker Meg. She's the type of person who always has a say on something, and is not shy from talking back that might come out as being impolite. But then that's what make her Meg, it's probably a sin to change her or any person for that matter. And I guess that's what mothers are for, to be the person where a kid can be who / what she is with - the ugly and the beautiful, especially the ugly.

Mati plays with toy cars and guns, and so with barbies / tinkerbells / cooking mama on DS. He probably got all the lacking emotions of Migi. And, as such he gets all the attention Meg is seeking. I guess of the 3, he's the closest to a poster model kid that I can have. But then I don't like that. All kids deserve to be more than just tailored from what are described in the magazines.

So yes, I do have a happy mother's day every day. And, I guess so the rest of the mothers.

It's a mother thing #x

Mark: Dili sa lagi magtan-aw TV.
Meg: Lagi. Gunitan ra man nako remote. Wa man nako tusloka. Blah blah blah blah blah

Meg is such a blahblahblah

Boyfriend #2 comes home

Migi's been away from home for almost 2 weeks. Not really away like very far away. He's staying at MIL's house.

He doesn't miss us. :) I can just imagine 6 years from now, he'll be totally on his own. Time flies so fast.

Philippines Is Part of Top 10 Countries of Twitter Users But Not inLinkedin -- shows our priorities?

Here are Top 10 Countries in Internet Penetration for LinkedIn.com and Twitter.com by Reach (%)

LinkedIn	Reach (%)	Twitter	Reach (%)
1. Netherlands	26.1%	1. Netherlands	26.8%
2. Ireland	21.0%	2. Japan	26.6%
3. United States	17.6%	3. Brazil	23.7%
4. Canada	15.6%	4. Indonesia	22.0%
5. United Kingdom	14.9%	5. Venezuela	21.0%
6. Denmark	14.4%	6. Canada	18.0%
7. Australia	13.1%	7. Argentina	18.0%
8. New Zealand	12.9%	8. Turkey	16.6%
9. Belgium	12.6%	9. Philippines	16.1%
10. Singapore	12.0%	10. Singapore	16.0%

Americans are More Addicted to LinkedIn than Twitter (STUDY) http://lnkd.in/M8-86X
http://socialeyezer.com/2011/04/28/americans-are-more-addicted-to-linkedin-than-twitter-study/

(via Instapaper)

- sent from my iPhone-wannabe

Summer Fashio: The Hoodie & The Trunks

My kids' fashion tastes:
Mati in a jacket & trunks
Meg in a hoodie.
It's summer time, and they're off to a Cathechism class.

Deadmeaty

I like being busy. But I think I have too many things to do, it's no longer funny.

* there's a new work which requires much time coz i'm still learning
* then the ideatoki gets a client like real client to which my part is the online social churva marketing. And all those things are new to me. What do i know about marketing. But i'm not supposed to say that because i'm selling myself that i know about it.
* the testing with globelabs api for @tweetitow. i really do not do the hard labor but entertaining the different 'help, Ate. Paano na ang tweet ko ni aaron villaflor?' is so time consuming.
* and my 101 blogs. Girls can not have too many shoes, and so I with blogs.

I'm going crazy. Where should I insert my kids, my mother? Not the husband - he's at fault with a few of those. And oh self, don't bother.

The Game is Afoot - 4 stages of product life cycle

The Game is Afoot
http://www.ericsink.com/articles/Game_Afoot.html

Marketing teaches us that the life cycle of a product has four stages, each of which corresponds to one group of people in the market:
Early Adopters are risk takers who actually like to try new things.
Pragmatists might be willing to use new technology, if it???s the only way to get their problem solved.
Conservatives dislike new technology and try to avoid it.
Laggards pride themselves on the fact that they are the last to try anything new.
Each stage is very different from the others.  Your ISV might be very successful selling products to Early Adopters, but that doesn???t mean you will have any success at all selling stuff to the Pragmatists.  These are two entirely different groups of customers and reaching them requires entirely different skills.

(via Instapaper)

Me wonders which stage belongs most of the @tweetitow community.
- sent from my iPhone-wannabe