My Pilipinas

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Happy Independence Day! So how does one celebrate Independence day when we already took a vacation last weekend? It wasn’t much of a vacation to me because like I wrote yesterday, I was burdened with electrical woes over at my home.

How else does one celebrate it? Wave the Philippine flag? My thoughts on Independence day was focused on a very shallow reason: fashion. Yes I know. Shallow, right? But I bet some of you might be sick and tired of reading “Are we really Free?” So just bear me out on this.

collezione c2

So what do you think? Nationalism is hip, wearable and understandable concept for today’s youth.

At the launch of the Collezione C2, My Pilipinas Series, the concept of Nationalism being hip just won me over. Really, my thoughts were like “Is Nationalism outdated or only heroes can show what it’s like to be patriotic?” I liked the idea that art and fashion are ways by which we can make the Nationalist story more real and accessible to the new generation. I had a feeling that my 2 girls would love My Pilipinas designs. But I wasn’t sure if they’d like Collezione. Before I went to the launch, one of my daughters perceived Collezione as a low-end brand.

Oooh, I corrected them. You know, your dad and I wore Collezione in college. That’s how old it is. During my teenage days, imported clothes was a luxury. I remember the Bang-bang pants from Hongkong costing 500 pesos which is an enormous amount in the seventies considering starting salary then was 500 pesos. Ugh did I spend that much in clothes back then? For us, Collezione was quite affordable. That cutesy little key icon on the shirt is unforgettable.

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On Wire theft, Globelines Contractor and MERALCO Woes

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It started at 12:30 Sunday morning when Butch and I woke up to darkness with the airconditioner turned off. Oh no a brownout! Peering down our bay window, I discovered that the rest of our neighborhood had lights in their homes. Maybe our circuit breaker tripped. No worries. I turned the main switch off then on. Nothing. No lights. Time to call MERALCO call center (16211) to rule out a problem with their power supply to our house. They arrived within an hour.

The MERALCO service guy removed our electric meter and showed us the smoking main line leading to our house. I didn’t need to see it. I could smell burnt rubber. They said they could do nothing about it since the problem is inside the house. To prove his point, he showed us the electric current coming from their line which was running fine. Great. Something is short-circuiting our main line. Luckily, we were able to sleep despite having no whirring electric fan to cool us.

Fortunately, our electrician arrived early the next day. He found the source of the short-circuit problem which was the main line leading from the electric meter to the wires just before the circuit breaker. That shouldn’t be a problem. We can replace it easily. Still puzzled, I could not figure out what would cause our main line to burn. Just then, a neighbor passed by “You have an electricity problem too?”

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Launch of Pampanga Governor Eddie T. Panlilio’s (Among Ed) Blog

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We just arrived here at the Pampanga Executive House to witness the launch of Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio’s (Among Ed) blog. So what am I doing here with 20 other political bloggers when I barely write about politics? Oh well, I am here as a fellow blogger to support a new blogger.

I will be live-blogging the program (if possible).

1. Audio-visual Presentation on Pampanga and the Panlilio Administration’s accomplishments to date
2. Pampanga Politics and Good Governance – Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio
3. Responsible Citizenship and Today’s Youth – Ms. Angelica Guevarra, Youth Leader
4. Blogging for Good Governance – Mr. Jhay Rocas, Bloggers’ Kapihan crew and student leader from De La Salle University – Dasmariñas
4. Launching of Among Ed’s Blogsite

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World Environment Day: Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy

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Rina Bernabe of the Renewable Energy Coalition, ( a multi-sectoral alliance of civil society groups and industry players working for the passage of the Renewable Energy Bill in Congress) sent me an email if I could write about Renewal Energy in my blog. If she didn’t email me, I wouldn’t have known that tomorrow (June 5) is World Environment Day with the theme “Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy.”

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Health Is Wealth at The Farm and Nutrilite

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the Farm
It’s 7:00 in the morning and it’s time for a Meditation session at the Amphitheater of The Farm at San Benito, Batangas. The cool breeze and the rustling leaves coupled with the birds chirping here and there added to the peace and tranquility of this lovely health resort. I was deep in reflection about my unhealthy lifestyle particularly in my diet and lessons learned from the Nutrition Camp.

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Win Six SEAIR gift-certificates to Busuanga Coron Palawan

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One lucky person will win six SEAIR gift-certificates to Busuanga!

Edit- September 15Congratulations to Micamyx for winning the six SeAir gift certificates to Busuanga! Read her winning entry, Why I Want To Win Free Tickets to Palawan via SEAIR .


( Photo credit for Busuanga)

We are giving away not one, not two, but six SEAIR gift certificates to Busuanga to one lucky person! This is the biggest give-away of aboutmyrecovery.com and the SEAIR Adventure Club ever! You and five friends can fly to Busuanga with six SEAIR airfare gift certificates up for grabs!

SEAIR has been providing the longest-running uninterrupted service to Busuanga, and now provides the fastest flights with its Dornier 328 aircraft.

So how do you join?

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Review of Globelines, Smart Bro, Smart 3g and PLDT MyDSL Internet Services

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It’s been a year and 2 months since I subscribed to three (3) Philippine Internet Service Provider (ISP) namely, Globelines Broadband Budget Bundles, Smart Bro and PLDT MyDSL. At the time of installation, I believed it was not yet time to make a review. Give it a year, I said to myself. What do you know? I survived to tell you about these 3 ISP’s. As a netrepreneur, my business relies on fast and reliable internet connection. I am sure other parents out there will be interested to know my experiences with these ISPs.

Let me add a fourth ISP, the Smart 3g which I use specifically for my macbook.

Take note, I am a paying subscriber located in Pasig City near the Quezon City area. I added speed test results (using speedtest.net) to show how most of our ISPs never deliver the promised speeds. I start being a “reklamador’ and then call support if speed falls below 50% after all it is my right to get the services I paid for.

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RCBC Cabuyao Bank Robbery Victims and Their Families

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(RCBC Updates / Last Rites on Victims below the Videos)

Butch first told me about the RCBC bank robbery as his company is somehow related to RCBC. In his entry on A Season of Violence and Death, my husband writes:

The killers’ calculus was simple and chilling: No witnesses, lesser chances of getting caught. And so they went about their grisly business, systematically slaughtering ten people, whose grim fate was sealed the moment the butchers stepped into the bank .

The brutality and utter disregard for human life is so unusual and disturbing that it was the topic that my friends and I talked about yesterday just before our support group meeting of the Compassionate Friends. A friend (who is a banker herself) knew the bank manager, the spouse of her officemate. I just find it eerie to hear the last few minutes of their life together. Horrified, we started to discuss the incongruity of it all:

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