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Krispy Kreme Searches the World Over for its Fave Fans

Krispy Kreme celebrated its 72 years today by treating its customers who visited its stores in selected countries to free doughnuts and coffee today. I was at their Boni High Street store earlier this afternoon with some of my blogger friends. We were treated to free doughnuts and beverages as we sat around and just enjoyed each other’s company despite the rains outside. I think the rains actually made us enjoy their coffee even more!

As part of a continuing celebration of their anniversary, Krispy Kreme has also launched an international search for Krispy Kreme’s fave fans all over the world. If you are 18 years old and above and live in any of these countries (Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines and the United Kingdom) you may join in.

Win a year’s supply of doughnuts and more than that, get a trip for two to the home of Krispy Kreme in Winston, Salem, North Carolina, USA.

Read all the FAQs HERE. Just to give you an idea of how the contest goes, this is all you need to do, based on one of the questions in the FAQ page:

To celebrate 6 dozen years of making our customers’ lives special, Krispy Kreme is searching for their fave fans around the world. The contest requires applicants to submit a photo with a 72 word (or less) caption that answers the question: “How has Krispy Kreme made your life special?” Entries will be accepted through July 13 to September 15, 2009. A Local Krispy Kreme judging committee will then select a group of 12 finalists for each participating markets and then the ultimate winner for each market will be selected through on-line voting.

Join now. Their fave fan could just be YOU!

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Your Time Management Tips Could Win a Watch from Kids Watch Central!

UPDATE:

The winners are:

1. Eunice

2. Suzanne

3. Aly

Congratulations! Please check your email from me and bring a printed copy when claiming your prize.

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What’s it with today’s generation? I find so many of my kids’ friends into the cramming mode. And I must confess, my own brood get into this mode every so often as well! I must admit, there are just too many distractions these days.

A whole lot more is out there than during my time when we just had to be taken away from the TV. Now, there’s the internet, the PSP, the Wii, the PS3, mobile phones, and all other techie gadgets that can really eat up time, if you are not careful.

When I was growing up, my super duper organized Dad always ingrained in me the value of managing my time. I guess it paid off that I was nerdy then. I was the type who would start on a paper weeks in advance, researching, writing and re-writing it till I was satisfied. That discipline was honed even more when I spent over 16 years with the leading accounting firm in the Philippines. Tight deadlines, plenty of overtime, pressure and stress combined squeezed out whatever time management skills you had already acquired and if you were still lacking in it, forced you to develop some real quick.

When computers were not staples yet of the home, it was easier to drill time management into my kids — at least the older girls. At that time, I had a house rule: No TV from Monday to Thursday. They could only watch TV beginning Friday after class till early Sunday evening.

Now, with computers and with homework necessitating research on the internet, it is harder to clamp down and impose rules like “no computers, no internet”. The “no TV” rule does not apply since they’d rather go on the internet than watch a TV show (should I be thankful?). But how to control their time on the internet?

With great difficulty, based on my experience. Let me give you a few examples:

“No computers from Monday to Thursday” – Mom! Most of our assignments require us to do research. How can I access Wikipedia if you don’t let us on?

“Ok, you can go online but NO CHATTING!” – But Mom, my classmates and I are online and we are discussing our assignments!

So I am left with the only thing I can impose on my boys (the girls, in college, are pretty much on their own already) — “I don’t want to see any gaming windows open!”. Let’s see them come up with a retort to THAT!

More important than just imposing rules is giving them a sense of OWNERSHIP and RESPONSIBILITY. Ownership means that they acknowledge that their assignments are theirs alone to prepare and accomplish. RESPONSIBILITY is accepting the consequences of NOT doing it properly or worse, not doing it at all. I have always emphasized to my kids that I will never go to their teachers to play down or cover up for homework that they failed to do. They had to face these consequences themselves.

CONTEST MECHANICS

Anyway, here’s something FUN, FUN, FUN! And it’s so easy because it comes from your personal experience!

I’d love to hear the best time management techniques that you ever gave out to your kids. Share any anecdotes that you may have experienced in using these techniques and what the results were on your kids.

Just post a comment below (with a valid email address) and that serves as your entry. You can submit only 1 entry until July 20, 2009 (midnight).

The three (3) most unique and interesting answers each get one (1) Kids Watch Central watch for your little one.  Kids Watch Central wants to give your kids a head start with time management. What better way than with a watch they can use to monitor time!!!

Kids Watch Central-IMG_0059

(Note: The actual watches to be given away may not necessarily match what are shown in the pictures.)

Winners within Metro Manila and surrounding areas may claim their prizes at GeiserMaclang c/o Arbee Panga, Unit 7D Tuscan Building, 114 V.A. Rufino St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Provincial winners will get their prizes via courier. Open to residents in the Philippines only.

On July 21, I will update this post with the names of the three (3) winners.

Many thanks to GeiserMaclang and Kids Watch Central for this TIME-ly contest.

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Krispy Kreme Celebrates Six Dozen Years with over 10,000 Doughnuts

KK 72 Years

Block off July 13!

Krispy Kreme will be celebrating its 72nd anniversary and all of us Krispy Kreme lovers and fans are invited to any of their stores in the Philippines or in any of these countries:  USA, Australia, Canada, UK, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and Indonesia.    

It’s as simple as this.

Just visit a Krispy Kreme store nearest you and get one FREE Original Glazed Doughnut for any purchase. That translates to over 10,000 free doughnuts for us on this day!

My kids all love Krispy Kreme.  And so do I. My all-time favorite has always been the Original Glazed doughnut.

The Leaning Tower of Chocolate
Here we are at the launch of KK's Chocolate Karnival doughnut line

So on July 13, let’s come together, Krispy Kreme fans, and enjoy whatever favorite doughnut or beverage we love and get that free doughnut besides!

See you there!

For updates on Krispy Kreme’s 72nd Birthday Celebration, join the Philippines “Friends of Krispy Kreme” by visiting www.krispykreme.com.ph

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Xavier School Turns Virtual

Just five days after I blogged about how technology could be used by schools in the wake of the A(H1N1) virus, Xavier School suspended classes for 10 days after one student tested positive for the virus.

Was this a setback for the school? If you’re thinking in traditional mode, yes. Teachers & students could not come together in class for interactive learning. But did that stop Xavier? Absolutely not. The school turned the forced vacation into an opportunity to launch what we now call “virtual Xavier”.

From the time Fr. Johnny Go, S.J. became its School Director several years back, Xavier School slowly began transforming the school, the faculty, the curriculum, and the students into technology enablers. This move served the school well this week.

The day classes were suspended, the school’s official website crashed (probably due to the unexpected traffic on the server as parents and students alike went online to check the next steps.)

It was not long before an alternate site went up, Virtual Xavier (www.virtualxavier.ning.com)

Ning alternate site
Virtual Xavier as it looked the first time it was put up

Next thing we knew, Multiply sites PER LEVEL were created. By this coming Monday, June 29, parents and students alike can go to the Multiply site of their son’s level and download online lessons uploaded by their teachers. In fact, some of these sites already have some content in them like this:

Gr1 Multiply homepage

I believe we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg as far as what Xavier School (or any other technology-enabled institution) can do. What is important at this stage is the fact they are proving that learning does not stop just because teachers & students cannot come to school. Education can continue for as long as technology enables them to. There are many other things I can see evolving in terms of virtual schooling (podcasting, livestreaming, videoconferencing, online chatrooms, online collaborative projects, Skype-ing, and so on) and I predict Xavier School can be at the forefront of this.  At the moment, it already has some of the infrastructure: computer literate faculty & staff, excellent IT labs, students who are almost all techie savvy, and parents who are getting there (some probably forced to learn out of necessity).

Here is a screencap from an article posted just yesterday in their school website. It shows the forward-looking state of the school.

Effective online education

I am hoping that other schools in the Philippines seriously consider putting more money into technology-based learning. Not just because of the spread of A(H1N1). This, to me, was just the catalyst for Xavier School. But I believe that if we can equip the current and future generations of citizens for a tech world, we can bring this country that much closer to elevating the state of education.

There is another side to consider too. The Department of Education and Culture (DECS) has to modify its guidelines to include learning outside of the classroom.  Right now, for example, we count actual school days (read that as IN SCHOOL). On occasions like this when a school is actually allowing students to accomplish schoolwork during the quarantine period, doesn’t this count (to some extent) as school days? There is a need for paradigm shifts in mindset as to what constitutes learning.  Learning is no longer just classroom-bound. If field trips are considered learning time, online work (for as long as there are guidelines established in terms of hours spent) should count as well. I have other thoughts about virtual education that can address the sore lack of brick-and-mortar classrooms but I will leave that for another day and possibly another blog post.

For now, I am just happy to see Xavier School evolving, innovating and creating. If we can think out of the box and use all the tools available to us, school can be just about anywhere we can imagine it to be — even when we are in pajamas, propped up in bed, with our laptops.

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Michael Jackson (1958-2009): Never Can Say Goodbye to the Man in the Mirror

An icon from my generation is gone. Michael Jackson died of apparent cardiac arrest at 2:26pm today (Los Angeles time). He was only 50.

Growing up in the 70s and 80s with Michael Jackson, I remember him as a tiny boy with a fantastic angelic voice that could hit all those high notes effortlessly. We used to watch him perform as part of the Jackson 5 (remember, this was a time when Janet Jackson was still non-existent in showbiz!). They had their own show and appeared in countless others.

J5era11

My younger years at parties (soirees as we called them then) and discos were filled with Michael Jackson dance songs. Rock With You was a favorite. So were Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough and Billie Jean.

Yes, over the years he changed so much physically and at the end, with his sharp nose and whitened skin, he looked nothing like the Michael of the 70s. People began speculating about his state of mind. But the appeal of his music through the decades did not wane.

His songs went beyond my generation. Our son, M1, who is only 17 years old, saved up his school allowance to be able to buy the Thriller album so he could put the songs on his ipod. Imagine the span of years here!

I have been listening to my collection of his songs on my ipod the whole day, with the TV tuned in to CNN as they covered the breaking news from all angles. I have not yet fully absorbed the impact of this news. Who could imagine this tragedy when he was planning a comeback with 50 shows in London this July?

There are sad stories about his life but I wish to remember Michael Jackson as the one who gave the whole world so many wonderful songs, patended the Moonwalk, and danced his way into all our hearts.

Michael, I wish you peace in God’s arms now. You will be sorely missed but you have left us so much music so that we can never, ever, forget you.

Here are a few YouTube videos to remember Michael by, singing some of my favorite songs.

And this is the best montage of Michael Jackson’s smooth dance moves that I could find. No one can dance like Michael can dance!!!

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I Love You, Dad! I Miss You…

With Dad in Disneyland

 

Disneyland Castle behind us

My dad passed away in 2001.

It was totally unexpected. He had just returned from a 10-day trip to our province, Iloilo, to take care of some family matters. He made a special trip to Bacolod where some of his brothers resided. They noticed he was breathless and seemed tired but he dismissed this as just travel fatigue. But by the time he returned to Manila, he was in such bad shape that he was in a wheelchair when my brother met him at the arrival area. We went to visit him the next day (a Saturday) not knowing that by the following day, he would be gone forever from us.

He was not demonstrative. And I can’t say that I was his favorite. But in many ways, he showed how particularly special I was to him.

Of the 4 children in the family, it was I who followed in his footsteps and took Accountancy. I knew he was very proud when I passed the CPA Board because he himself was unable to take the exam. He was protective to the point of suffocation sometimes. I was a “hatid-sundo” girl when I would work way past midnight as a budding auditor in a prestigious accounting firm. When I had to take my MBA in the States, it was Dad who came along to ensure I was well settled in Philadelphia. And when I took a summer Europe trip, Dad readily sent me some pocket money. It was much, much later that I found out they were renovating our house. That was money that could have been added to defraying their expenses. Yet he sent it to me.

Dad, you were not the type to wrestle with your kids. You were a breadwinner & provider more than a weekend buddy. You were a silent, strong presence.

You were usually quiet around strangers but was always the family joker when around relatives. Those were fun times…

I inherited your OC-ness, attention to detail and system of organizing things.

Dad, you made the best version of Mahu (that Chinese shredded pork cooked with Kikkoman soy sauce (not just any soy sauce would do!). You should see Benjie (my brother). He has taken after you and is now the official mahu maker in the family.

You loved your grandkids. I still have this picture in my mind of Ian falling asleep on your shoulder as you rocked him in your arms. You enjoyed each and every one of them.

Dad, I hope you are looking down on me from up there constantly.  I love you very much and miss you terribly. I wish I had one more day to celebrate Father’s Day with you and just talk with you all day. We will see each other again, for sure. For now, I have wonderful memories of you to carry me through the rest of my life. Thank you for all you’ve done for me. Thank you for loving me so much.

I found this poem on the internet. All I can give you this Father’s Day is in this poem, Dad. Happy Father’s Day!

Missing You

No words I write can ever say

How much I miss you every day.

As time goes by, the loneliness grows;

How I miss you, nobody knows!

I think of you in silence,

I often speak your name,

But all I have are memories

And photos in a frame.

No one knows my sorrow,

No one sees me weep,

But the love I have for you

Is in my heart to keep.

I’ve never stopped loving you

I’m sure I never will;

Deep inside my heart,

You are with me still.

Heartaches in this world are many

But mine is worse than any.

My heart still aches as I whisper low,

“I need you and I miss you so.”

The things we feel so deeply

Are often the hardest to say,

But I just can’t keep quiet any more,

So I’ll tell you anyway.

There is a place in my heart

That no one else can fill,

I love you so, Dad,

And I always will.

~ Author Unknown