Voting for the Bloggers’ Choice Award is now open. It is the highlight of the 2008 Philippine Blog Awards.
*Sigh* it is so hard to choose. I have so many friends in the list. It’s a good thing I am automatically disqualified to vote because I am in the committee of the 2008 Philippine Blog Awards. But for all you bloggers, please choose among the list of 47 nominees.
Vote now for your Bloggers’ Choice Award.
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My default birthday present for my husband is always a kitchen appliance. I just realized we have all the kitchen appliance we will ever need. This year, I wanted to give him something romantic! So I asked my awesome plurk buddies for romantic gift ideas. The unanimous suggestion was a romantic getaway outside the city preferably with spa pampering. I was searching for the best spa hideaway nearest Metro Manila because my husband hates driving far and I remembered that Claire invited me to visit Nurture Spa a few weeks ago. I totally forgot the Nurture Spa invite until a day before Butch’s birthday.
Once upon a time, seven mothers, all bloggers eagerly went out with their kids to meet up, just for fun. They all seemed to have a common ground. They all loved to eat. It seemed but natural that they would convene for this very reason so they could feed (literally and figuratively) their same interest to their hearts’ content. Never mind that they risked expanding their waistlines, the company was just too delicious to resist.
(Youtube Video of the Eraserheads Reunion Concert Grand Entrance by Karla Redor)
I don’t know why but I wasn’t surprised that the Erasehead Reunion was Cut short because Ely Buendia was rushed to the Hospital. Not that I wished the concert would turn out badly, but I was thinking of Ely’s physical and emotional state as the concert went along.
At around 8:00 PM, my husband and I passed by Two Serendra to check on the progress of the condo renovations. I wasn’t aware that the concert was right beside Two Serendra until tonight. Listening from the 5th floor of our condo, I could hear the countdown then much later, the Alapaap song being played. From that distance, the sounds didn’t seem too blasting. I felt relief not having to hear the thud-thud of the drums and the blaring amps. Loud music causes my heartbeat to race like crazy. The last concert I went to caused my heartbeat to go thump-thump for more than an hour.
I turned to my husband and thought out loud “How can Ely survive those blaring sounds?” “And how can he sing just days after his mom died?”
Today’s Photo Hunt theme is: Beautiful
There is nothing more beautiful than the smiles of my lovely children. Children are one of life’s most beautiful gift and everyday, I thank God for blessing me with children. So, I often tell my kids this… “Oh, you are God’s gift to me” over and over again as I give them a warm hug and kiss.
One day when Lauren was four years old, I scolded her for not paying attention. She bent her head on her hands and looked up to me, her tears streaming down her beautiful face.
Am I not God’s gift to you?
Whenever I recall that incident, I often kick myself for not being more patient. My beautiful daughter reminds me that God is good and forgiving. Maybe God will forgive me for being an impatient mom.
of course, memories of my beautiful 6 year old son will always be in my heart.
I am truly blessed to be part of the yearlong celebration of the University of the Philippines (UP) Centennial through a book launch, Iskolar ng Bayan Gives Back, the Enterprising Way. The book of which I am one of the writers, features 25 UP alumni who have madeâ€â€and continue to makeâ€â€their mark in business here and in foreign lands, living up to the UP tradition of excellence and nationhood. The project was initiated by the University of the Philippines Small Scale Industries (UP-ISSI) and the Small Enterprise Research and Development Foundation (SERDEF) where I worked for 7 years before I retired in 1987 upon giving birth to my second daughter.
It is Photo Hunt day and a perfect excuse to post a photo. I have such a sweet tooth that I couldn’t resist taking such these colorful desserts, the name of which escapes me now.
When Carlo Ople, the New Media Consultant of Senator Mar Roxas invited me for a bloggers’ meetup, I almost choked:
“Whaaat? I hope you won’t ask me to endorse him or something”.
My imagination started to run wild. The buzz is Senator Mar Roxas is likely to run for the 2010 Presidential Elections. I could see it clearly now. He sees the potential of bloggers and new media to promote his advocacies! I was really hesitant about the whole meeting idea because first of all, I don’t like politics. Second, I felt uncomfortable having to “chikka” with a senator. I sort of nodded “yes” to Carlo, unsure if this was my kind of thing. During the last senatorial election, I only blogged of Alan Cayetano, a family friend the day after the elections. I rarely discuss politics in this blog especially if there is no bearing to my blog’s theme.
So I raised the question in plurk to see if my plurk buddies had the same sentiments as mine, if a senator invites you for a meet-up would you go?
Surprisingly, majority said they’d take the opportunity depending on the senator. Of course, it hit me. This is new media content. I cover food events, press conferences and even the launch of a Governor’s blog so why not a senator’s request to meet bloggers? This is a perfect opportunity to meet a senator up close and know the person behind the senator. Definitely a first in the Philippine blogosphere.
This afternoon, I finally met Senator Mar Roxas. I sat across him so I could easily snap photos of the event. But due to the mirror behind him, he moved over to sit beside me. Great.
He saw my plurk name, momblogger on my macbook and asked, “Is that your name, momblogger?”
“It’s my plurk name. Do you plurk?”, I asked.
He laughed “Not yet. I use Twitter”. Not bad. The senator is very tech-savvy.
I couldn’t contain my plurk addiction so I wrote this momblogger is seated beside Senator Mar Roxas and he is asking if momblogger is my username since he noticed my plurk. and even showed him the replies to my plurk. He was surprised at the plurk greetings.
Bloggers from FilipinoVoices.com, Susan ““Toots” Ople,Lester Cavestany, Jester, Arbet Bernardo, Marck Rimorin, Juned Sunido, Sonnie Santos, Abe Olandres, Paolo Florenda, Ding Gagelonia, Gail Villanueva, Marc Villanueva, Ellen Tordesillas, Manolo Quezon, Ricky Carandang, Carlo Ople and myself introduced ourselves to the senator. He scribbled the names of each blogger on a sheet of paper and made sure he remembered each one of us. He even drew a seating layout with our names in it. A man of details. Very impressive, indeed!
The serious talks on VAT on oil started. He said that:
The 12% VAT on oil was imposed in 2005 when the world price of oil was only $30 per barrel and public deficit was at an all-time high. Today, the situation has revered itself. The price of oil has exceeded $100 a barrel and is still rising while our budget deficit has been tamed. In 2005, at the time government sought a higher VAT, the intention was clear: to put our fiscal house in order. Today, at a time when people’s incomes remain largely stagnant against soaring prices of food and oil, it is government’s turn to make the supreme sacrifice of leaving money in our people’s pockets. Stop collecting the oil VAT. This will immediately result in savings of P6 per liter of gas and P66 per LPG tank. Such savings will be felt more by the poor than the rich. These savings will also benefit the government since whatever we buy with it would be VAT-able anyway.
Listening to Senator Roxas, I am very impressed with the structure of his talk. He is highly organized and smart. I would not have known this if I didn’t attend this intimate gathering. The senator seemed unfazed even under difficult questions from political bloggers.
The question is: Do I really want to remove the VAT on oil? Where will the government gets its revenue? The move seems to favor the poor more than the rich but his Senate bill 1962 on a proposal for a 6-months suspension of the 12% VAT on oil has not moved at the Lower House.
(Photo from Carlo Ople)
A cute question raised by Marck was “Who would he want to meet among the three characters in The Dark Knight?” The senator’s answer is 2 Face and he wants to ask him “What happened to you?”. Nick wondered out loud in plurk “if he thinks two face is what happened to Neri..”
Since his committee is on Trade and Industry, I asked him about consumer protection when Internet Service Providers (ISP) don’t deliver.
His answer: Write him and he will coordinate with the Telcos. Wow. I will probably do that only if I exerted all means to fix the problem with my ISPs.
He also launched his Mar Roxas Blog which he promises to update once a week.
What do you think of a senator tapping bloggers or new media to promote an advocacy?
More photos of Senator Mar Roxas and Bloggers
Other Bloggers’ entries
Blogger Meet up with Senator Mar Roxas
Up Close with Senator Mar Roxas
Mar Roxas Asks: What Do We Have To Show For P7-Trillion?
Sen. Mar Roxas blogs, for real
Finally, finally….we have a venue and date. Philippine Blog Awards 2008 will be held at Coral B, One Esplanade , Seaside corner Bay Boulevard Pasay City on September 21, a Sunday. Here is how One Esplanade looks like.
My sister, Dr. Belen Lardizabal-Dofitas appeared in Jessica Soho last night as the resource person in behalf of the Philippine Dermatological Society (PDS) for the “Glutathione Supplements for Whitening”. My sister, a dermatologist by profession wrote the PDS position paper on glutathione supplements. There is also the recent controversial withdrawal of the license of 3 glutathione brands in the market which the public should take note. I’ve been meaning to blog about this because I see billboards everywhere on Supplements for Whitening. The most important message my sister wanted to convey is that there is still a lack of good quality scientific evidence on the efficacy and safety of glutathione supplements and injectable glutathione for lightening skin color.
(Above is the Youtube video of the Glutathione segment in the Jessica Soho show)