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Getting Tagged + the Kreativ Blogger Award

This Kreative Blogger Award was given to me by my dear friend from my Philadelphia past, Kathleen. Thanks so much, Kathleen!

kreativ_blogger_award

I am thrilled to have been chosen one of Kathleen’s 7 best-loved blogs and as it is with awards like this, it is now my turn to pay it forward and choose 7 of my own best-loved blogs. Of course, I love more than 7 blogs, most specially the blogs of my mommy blogger friends. But for now, I will list the blogs that first come to my mind.

1. Insightful Personhood – My sister in Christ/kumare (both ways)/great friend Aly maintains this blog. Aly is one of the most creative people I have known. She loves scrapbooking and her Christmas gifts are always a delight to receive because she thinks up different ways to wrap the package and decorate it with twirly colored ribbons or a touch of something like a cut-out Christmas tree or hanging ornaments. In this blog, Aly bares her heart. She writes about her family life as well as her insights in her journey as a daughter of God. If there is one blog I can go to to draw inspiration from, it is hers.

2. Heart of Rachel – Rachel is one of my mommy blogger friends. Her blog is aptly titled because it is ALL HEART. She writes about anything and everything close to her heart. She writes about her family experiences, puts up great household tips and anything that catches her heart. When you visit her blog, you immediately notice how bright, colorful and tasteful it is. It gives you a sense that its owner is a happy optimist. Which Rachel is.

3. Memories in the Eyes of the Digiscrapmom – This title fits Liezl to a T! She is my ultimate digital scrapbooking idol — only because I have tried, truly tried, to keep up with the 4 kids’ scrapbooks and am still an utter failure in this department. I have (by last count), 3 plastic stackables filled with long, brown envelopes of the kids’ pictures, schoolwork and other souvenirs. Maybe I do need to go digital instead of tackling the cut & paste style of scrapbooking in the days of my mom and lola.

4. Flipflopping my way around town – Fran’s a neighbor. A really close neighbor. As in — the street right behind ours. And to top it, she blogs mostly about her food experiences. Her blog is eye candy. Colorful, lots of pics, and very light reading. I love visiting and finding out what new restaurants she tried and reviewed. Food blogs are better than visiting restaurant websites because I get the real deal from people who actually tried the food and service. Fran’s blog is one such site. Of course, she is now busy with preparations to move on to another state of life (woohoo!) but she still finds time to do her foodie posts. Keep ’em comin’, Fran!

5. Wifely Steps – Toni is in the last stages of her pregnancy and is awaiting Timmy’s birth. Her blog is all about her journey as a wife. Just reading her posts makes me smile because it is so easy to empathize with Toni’s experiences.

6. The Journey of a Yogini – Meet Chona, my BYFF (Best Yogini Friend Forever). Chronological age separates us but not our free spirits. When we’re together, we talk, laugh and get into just about any topic. I love being with her. Our souls commune. We are both free spirits (or at least trying to be as free as possible within social norms, haha). This yoga blog of Chona’s shows how far into her yoga journey she has come. She started her yoga practice later than me but now, she is a regular in her ashtanga class. When you read this blog, you see the depth of my BYFF’s thoughts (but hey, she is funny when she wants to be too!).

7. TeacherJulie.com – Julie is a special education teacher. Her blog is unique in that she shares her own experiences and knowledge on special education and parenting. But that is not all her blog is about. Julie is a warm, wonderful person whose sunshine personality shines through in her posts. I love browsing her blog and finding posts that make me think deeply or laugh out loud or lead me to resolve to do something.

Part of receiving the Kreative Blogger award is making up a list of 7 things that I love so here goes:

1. Christmas – Who does not love Christmas? It’s my favorite season of the year. This is the wonderful thing about the Philippines — when September comes around, it already begins to feel like Christmas. We are probably the only country that celebrates Christmas THIS long! And I love it. I love the sights, smells, and the activities. And I love going to the Masses, hear the carols, greet familiar faces coming out of church, spending time to greet one another…

2. Hugs – I am a touchy-feely person. I easily hug and embrace people (probably sending some people who are not used to this familiarity into uncomfortable fits).  And I do love receiving hugs as well. It’s my first instinct when I am around people I love. My teen boys sometimes squirm when I hug them while they are focused intently on World of Warcraft or some other online video game but I am sure this reassures them that I love them to bits. One of the best ways to start a day is to be hugged. They say everyone needs a hug at least once a day. I agree 100% and the more frequently it is done, the better for one’s self!

3. My family – My support system. My life. My reason for being. My loves.

4. Connecting with friends online or in person – This is one of my real loves — being able to connect with friends in whatever way. Lately, I have been trying to find old friends via Facebook and am happy to report that I have been quite successful. Chatting online or meeting up at some mall for a quiet (no, scrap that.  I meant — laughter-filled) reunion really takes years off one’s face.

5. Reading books – Bookworm, bookaholic, bibliophile, bookista. That says it all. I just love books! And it’s contagious. My whole family reads. That’s why we all have bad eyes….

6. Yoga – This is one of my passions now and I must say it has helped my mindset towards many things. Despite being a Type A personality, I am better equipped to deal with stressful situations as long as I have my yoga. I also feel healthier at this stage of my life compared to when I was in my 20s and 30s.

7. Blogging – I have never been able to keep a daily diary like my Mom who has literally filled more than one filing cabinet drawer with her diaries which she started in the 1950s and has faithfully maintained till now. If I want to know what happened, say, on Christmas Day of 1980, she would have the answer. But now I have been caught by the blogging bug and while it is very far from a daily diary, it gives me a chance to put down in writing things and events that I want to preserve for life.

Now, for the owners of the 7 blogs I tagged, it is your turn to pass this award on to 7 other blogs you love and list down as well 7 things that you love.

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Apple’s App Store Turns 1

Today, July 14, Apple’s App Store celebrates its 1st anniversary.

I am the happy owner of an iPod Touch and before I had this gadget, life was pretty fragmented. I kept some contacts on my phone, calendars & music on a PDA, notes stuck here and there on post-it notes and paper notebooks as well.

But my life has become that much easier with this one gadget. I easily sync calendars and contacts on my phone. I have notes, my music and videos in one place.  I surf the  web on a Safari browser. But what is truly a winner is the App Store!

According to the Gadget Lab, the first billion downloads took 9 months. But half that number has already been downloaded in the last 3 months (a sign that downloads are spiking pretty fast).

The App Store (short for Application or even Apple — pretty ingenious titling, if I may say so) now has over 65,000 applications with more being released every day covering anything you can ever think of that can be shrunk into manageable file sizes. Some apps are free; others are offered at fairly reasonable prices.

When you open up the App Store, you find it covers several categories ranging from Games to Productivity Tools and Utilities to Education, Finance, Medical, Travel, etc. I have spent hours checking out new apps or apps recommended by friends and downloaded so many already (including games my kids love to play). I now have 9 pages worth of apps.

Here are some of my favorites and why (and, they’re mostly FREE!!!!):

1. Flashlight – this is a toe-saver, if you get up in the middle of the night to pee or drink water. With my ipod beside me, all I need to do is activate this app and it beams a small light (you can even choose the color) good enough for you not to stumble in the dark. This is what I also bring to the movies to help us find our way around.

2. Facebook, Plurk, Skype, Twitter, Y! Messenger – yes, my social networking sites are on this gadget as well as variations of Twitter (Twitterfon, TweetDeck).

3. Dictionary – at a blogger party once, when the young ones got into an exciting game of Scrabble, I ended up being the moderator using this app to check if certain words indeed existed. This app comes with a Thesaurus feature as well as the Word of the Day.

4. Holy Bible – This is truly a weight saver as far as I am concerned, especially when I attend Christian gatherings where the Bible is needed. I can quickly get to the chapter or verse I want, and even choose the bible version among those available. If you plan to download this, also consider the Catholic Calendar. It contains the liturgical calendar from 1970 to 2300 and beyond, saint feasts celebrated in different countries, and you can now download the Liturgy of the Hours and Mass readings for yesterday, today and tomorrow from the Universalis website (needs internet connection).

5. ER Lite, Sleepmaker, Sleepstream, WhiteNoise and Om – these are some of my sleep-inducing apps for nights when sleep escapes me. My favorite sound is the steady raindrops falling. Second would be the waves crashing on a shore. These apps also have jungle sounds and other interesting ones as well. As for the Om, well being a yogini I have recently discovered its use for my yoga meditation sequence.

6. 9-Toolbox (free version but eventually will cost $4.99) – It has currency conversion, calculator, days until (an event), holidays, unit converters, an inclinometer (measures an object’s incline), loan amortization tool, menstrual cycle calendar, and others. 9 useful tools in all! I installed another converter called MultiConvert.

7. TVUPlayer – free TV, YES!!! When in a free wifi zone, I can put my headsets on and tune in to any of the available TV stations. Right now, some popular ones are Channel NewsAsia, Disney Channel, Classic Movies, CBS, Comedy Central, The Science Channel and Fox News.

8. USA Today, NY Times – oh yes, even online newspapers are apps now.

9. Wikiamo – the Safari-like Wikipedia viewer

10. Ustream – the same app for livestreaming events. I actually got to watch part of the Obama inauguration on my ipod using this app.

11. Remote – ooohhhh this is a cool app. It turns your ipod into a remote control for iTunes. I can activate my playlists or choose the music to play from my music collection just with a tap on the screen.

I’ve got many more apps in this tiny iPod Touch of mine like yoga apps, quotations of all sorts, apps for sending files across to it from my desktop or laptop, first-aid and medical apps for those possible emergencies, and so on.

Given its dramatic success in just its first year, who knows where the next year and the next will find the App Store? It’s truly on a roll!

What are your favorite downloaded apps? Do share with me. I just may have missed a really good one….

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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.

——————————————————————————————————

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.