A Burning Desire for Photography

I have been really thinking about photography and planning to take it seriously as a hobby. I want to take pictures, of the mundane, the simple, the common. I want to capture beauty and let the world see it through my eyes (or lens :P )

I know you sense a "but" in there so here it is...

But I don't know where to start. So many questions are running through my mind right now. Will I have the talent,time and money to go to different places to shoot? I don't think I have a keen eye, can that be developed? Where will it take me?

I guess I could start on learning the basics of photography. Maybe take a class or two. Take a trip somewhere and shoot to my heart's content. Yes, my heart is set. Inspite of the questions, my heart beats with excitement - i hope this excitement turns into a burning passion for photography.

This weekend's plan is to go to UP Diliman early in the morning to shoot and shoot and shoot. :) Do you know if it's allowed or not? I don't want to be shooed away by the guards and all.

Of Shopping Carts and Softwares

A friend of mine who is based in Australia is asking my opinion on the new online shop she's going to open soon. Now I am not allowed to disclose yet what type of shop it is but I'll let you know once it's up. She is now looking for a company that could help her with the shop's online shopping cart

I suggested she use AShop Commerce. It's a shopping cart software that is web based. No installations required! Using this will enable her to accept credit card payments online.

This leading ecommerce software has thousands of features and is easy to use. I would know because I went ahead and tried their 10 day free trial! And the best thing I love about it is that I could fully customize the design.

Well, she is trying the 10 day trial now and I am waiting to hear from her. But I am sure she's going to like it. :)

Travel Safely and Securely

When I worked as an online travel representative, one of the challenges that I faced was dealing with customers when there are hurricanes and their travels were cancelled. I often wondered why the company I worked for didn't offer travel insurance to at least give the customers an option to purchase it just in case their travel plans were cancelled for some reason.

Just recently, I came upon a company that offers travel protection. TravelSafe is a family owned and operated company that offers protection for travelers in case travel plans get cancelled for some reason. With over 35 years of experience, it is no wonder that Travel Safe is the company of choice by so many travel agents. This is what sets them apart from their competitors.

They have a wide array of travel insurance plans that caters to every need. From customized insurance programs, protect a group tour insurance, to ticket insurance which covers non-refundable airline tickets.

Everything you need is covered. So next time you plan a trip, think of Travel Safe. Trust me, it will save you the time and frustration of calling your travel agent or airline asking for a refund when they can't give you one.

For more information, you can visit their FAQ site.

Overwhelmed

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your dreams? Like you want to do a lot of different things at once?

Well, that's exactly how I feel right now. I feel like I've so much I want to do that 24 hours in a day isn't enough. First off, I want to learn photography, may be join a class. In connection with that, I'd like to take a trip to different places and just take pictures - lots of pictures. A Digital SLR camera is already in the works and I may be getting that around the end of this year but that's not an essential. I have my S3 and I want to put that to good use first. I guess I've been bitten by the photography bug huh?

Second on my list is HipHop dance classes. I know, I know, it's quite far out but really, I'd like to try joining a class one of these days. Anyone know any classes?

Third on my list is kick boxing. It interests me because I'd realy love to lose these extra weight.

And last but not the least, is learn how to drive. Well, a car is in plan but not in the nearest future. But hey, it's not bad to learn while the car isnt here - isn't it?

tsk tsk, overwhelming wants. I don't even know if I need these lol!

Monday and Ilocos

It's another manic Monday! :) How was your weekend? I've nothing to show for my weekend except me and the husband watching the 6th season of 24. We've just begun watching Heroes too and may I say it's another one in the favorites. Just a few more days until our Ilocos trip and I am excited. Haven't been to Ilocos yet so we'll be visiting a lot of places and sites. Pagudpud, Vigan and lots more! Time to put the S3 IS to the test! :) Apart from visiting a new place, I am ecstatic at the prospect of finally using the S3. I don't use it often because I commute to work and it's quite bulky. Makes me think about the EOS 400D, how am I supposed to lugger it around? :( Hah! I'd find a way somehow.

Free $5 Worth of Calls - Check it Out

We have a lot of relatives in the US. My favorite aunt is there. She works as a nurse in New Jersey and truth be told, I miss her. It's good that once in a while she calls us. There are times though that she couldn't call because a long distance call from the US is quite expensive.

Just recently she called us about twice in a week and I asked her if she won the lottery or something. She laughed at me and said she just discovered Pingo and they save her about 90% on International calls. Wow! That was a great deal and she agreed! She said the Pingo has no hidden charges unlike other companies.

She also said she was earning while using Pingo by using Pingo's calling card affiliate program. She has referred a lot of her friends and she didn't have a hard time at all as Pingo has clear, reliable lines. They can also watch out for their calls by using Pingo's rate watcher. Why you even get $5 in free calls when you sign up. Pretty great deal, huh?

Well, we were able to talk to her for quite some time due to the savings she was getting from them so I guess, Pingo's the way to go. Don't worry, it's very easy as my aunt taught me how.

I wish we had Pingo here though. The last call card bought by my mom only allowed her about 5 minutes on the line when the ad promised more. Talk about false advertising. So if Pingo executives are reading this, I hope you put up a Pingo here. :) I'll be the first to sign up ;)

About Opportunities and Walking

Sigh! I am getting sad about the opportunities available. It seems that there are a few opps available for low ranking PRs these days. Grrr, I just hate Google for the PR update. I mean I was at a PR 2 for crying out loud, but what can I do. sigh.

Well, there are a couple of opps but then if it's not about the Police concert (which i am getting tired of seeing by the way), it's about a new movie. If it's not about the movie, it's about the Score opportunities which are again, not for me since they are looking for parents. And what's more sad about it is that these opportunities are only for US or Canada posties. i know they must have good reason but somehow, this is making me sad. :(

There are quite a few advertisers who follow suit already to the US Bloggers only or UK bloggers only and while I respect their decision, I just think that the advertisers are making a huge mistake on geographically categorizing opportunities. Blogs have a wider reach, that is why they are on the internet. I just think they should at least give us a chance.

But like I said, what can I do but wait. Wait for more opps.

On another note, I recently made an effort to lose weight. lol! I hope I can continue and achieve my goal. So this morning, I wore my jogging pants and my running shoes and walked. I don't know how many miles I walked but I did. And I feel great, walking felt great. So I am planning to do this weekly.

9 Months Pregnant and Missing

ETA: Jessie Davis' body was found. :,( Please pray for her and her unborn child. Also pray for her family who are grieving right now.

I don't know this lady but I would really love to help her through prayers.

I read through Yahoo! that Jessie Davis, a woman who is 9 months pregnant is missing and it's not clear what actually happened to her. She has a 2 year old son who was found alone and wandering about their house when Jessie's mother checked on her.

It's really sad. Being 9 months pregnant and all, I wonder how she is, if she and her unborn child are safe. Police also found out about a newborn baby girl found on a porch about 45 miles away and they're investigating if that is Jessie Davis's child.

Read the full story.

Room Make Over

Our room needs a make over. Maybe this should be my prioirty, savings wise. lol.

Our wall needs repainting and furnitures replaced. I want a whole warm elegant feel to our bedroom. After all, that is where I spend most of my weekends to rest. Hmm.. I also want my own workspace. And our bed covers need replacement too! They're all worn out and faded eek! I want some duvet covers too and I'm wanting to get these:

It's from Terri's fabrics and don't you just love the mocha color?

Since we also have a sofa inside the room, I would also love to get some really nice throw pillows. Basically, I just want our bedroom to feel like you would never want to get out of it ever. lol! So, that's another project on the works.

Tomb Raider

I am no gamer but there are a few games that i am fond of playing. There's the SIMS, Metal Gear and my ulitmate favorite is Tomb Raider.

My brother was the one who introduced me to this game, and I immediately got hooked. When Tomb Raider was made into a movie, I made sure I watched. For some time, though, the novelty wore off and I didn't play. But last Sunday, I saw a store that sold Tomb Raider: Anniversary and I grabbed a copy.

The game was like the best of Tomb Raider with a more refined featured Lara and new moves. I am just finding it hard to control the direction of her movements as the camera doesn't follow suit. But all in all, I give it a thumbs up. :)

Giddy with Excitement

I need to save every single penny I have. And I mean really reeaaally save! lol! I am planning to buy an 80Gb iPod video before the year ends and the only way I can do that is if I become a wise spender and save every chance I get. Of course it's really great that there are really great promo codes from different stores you can get. I found an Apple coupon a while ago while surfing and it's going to give me a really great discount on my future toy. Thank heavens for coupons!

I am giddy with excitement! Once I get my new toy, I'd be able to listen to music without the husband competing. I can watch movies I want! Whee!

What's With You Wordpress?!

This is my opinion and mine alone.

I just read somewhere that Wordpress has been closing blogs that have paid posts on them. I just wanted to say Boo! you WordPress! I just visited a co-postie blog at wordpress and was welcomed with a sign that the blog has been suspended for a violation of their terms of service. According to their terms of service, this is what was violated;

the Content is not spam, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing);

I don't think our posts are spams. Let's say there are those that are, but I wish Wordpress would first check out the site and read through the posts before tagging it as misleading people or branding it as spam. When visitors visit our site and click on a link, the decision to avail or buy a certain product is theirs alone. We merely give out opinions. If all of the posts on a certain blog are pure paid posts then that's spam.

I just hope Blogger would not do something like this. I love blogger because of it's easy to use interface. All my blogs are here.

If you want to read more, click here.

And to Wordpress, this is definitely not a paid post and I am not linking you up.

Want to Get the Hottest and Latest Celebrity News?

One of my stress relieving hobbies here in the office is catching up on celebrity gossips. Hehehe. I'd just like to keep up to date. I just read from Yahoo! before but now I've got a new favorite for celeb gossip.

This site has all the hot gossips and town and links to so much more! If I'm not careful, this might be the only thing I'd get done in the office! lol! Oops I hope by boss is not reading my blog :P

Celebrity Gossip is way cool. You can sign up for free to receive the latest in celeb gossip and you also get to vote on your favorite. Plus you also get to see information on your favorite celebrity, sort of like a bio-data thing.

So if you want hot news in the celebrity world, hop on over here. Enjoy!

Of Work and Moving

A colleague will leave the company in a week's time. If you know the contact center industry here in our country, then you would know that it's a tight competition - retention wise. There are a lot of call centers who offer more than the others and the employees move. And when a new one springs up, the employees transfer again. I'm not saying it's bad, to each his own. I'm just sort of reflecting on my reasons before. :P Besides, I've got my fair share of hopping in the past.

I suddenly reminisced about those days when I would leave a company to work for another. It's not easy and as time passed, I got tired of moving a lot. (Besides, i don't think that's good for my career so I am staying put here.) The applications, the interviews and the requirements. It's just not worth all the hype. Besides, the financial issues don't matter much when you're really not happy with the work environment.

Thinking about it made me realize I am actually happy where I am. I don't drag myself to work. The pay isn't bad plus the benefits are great.

Hahaha! Sorry, I don't think this post is going anywhere though. I guess I just want to remember how I felt. :)

Got a Food Biz? Then maybe this is What You Need.

For months, the husband and I are thinking of really good business ventures. I read N!Ce's blog about her and her husband going into the food business and I thought, that's an idea. The food business here is getting really good and we are seriously considering it.

The challenge we have right now are funds. While we could earn that money, I think it would be more practical for us to consider getting some business loans. One of the companies we are looking into (and liking so far) is Advanced Restaurant Finance or ARF.

ARF is a licensed lender and has easy to use, simple application process. Plus they fund quickly. Unlike other companies, ARF will never increase your loan payments when your sales increase, or make you change your credit card processor. They have competitive rates to boot!

We are leaning on getting them if and when we truly decide to go with the business plan. I will let you all know about it.

The Heart of Marriage

You'd think being together for almost 10 years (with 2 years being married) we would never need to attend seminars, but no. Marriage is a totally different thing.

Last Saturday, the husband and me, with 2 of our best buds attended "The Heart of Marriage" seminar at Victory Christian Fellowship at the Every Nation Building in Fort Bonifacio. It was a seminar we will value and cherish for the rest of our lives.

The first part was defining marriage as seen in God's eyes. As Pastor Joey and his wife Marie said, marriage is a covenant - a sacred agreement. It is also during this part where roles were discussed and while the husband learned that he needs to be more aggresive in our marriage, I learned that I need to be more supportive. Something that he has opened up to me before but I was too proud to admit.

On the second part of the seminar, we discussed about the power of three. No, not the charmed ones lol! It was the power of the 3 gifts, the sign - committment, the sacrifice - love and the good news - God. With these 3 attributes in your marriage, your bond will be stronger. As God is committed to us, we should be committed to our spouse.

The third part talked about guarding our hearts from wrong focus (focusing on career, relatives, etc.), unrealisitic expectations (now that I am guilty of) and unforgiveness. Too often in most marriages we tend to dig into our chests of hurts and pains and throw it back to our partner. We need to forgive and forget no matter how hard it is. We need to clean up the hard drives of our hearts from the trash of unforgiveness.

The last, but not the least part of this awesome seminar, is about living decisively based on 1. The Word of God 2. Service 3. Faithfulness 4. Priorities and 5. being in agreement.

Needless to say we came out of that seminar with a firm resolve to practice what we learned, incorporate it into our marriage. We could not change overnight, but with God in our marriage, it is possible to live a long and happy marriage.

For those married couples out there, this is something you would want to attend. Not because you are having problems in your marriage (heaven forbid that you would wait that long to even attend it), but because you are both committed in making the most out of your married life. After all, marriage is a journey you should both take hand in hand.

For more inquiries and future schedules, you may visit Victory Christian Fellowship.

I suggest you also check out and read Gary Chapman's "The Five Love Languages". Definitely a must read for couples!

What Would You Do?

Let's say you were stranded in a city with no money or resources? Where would you go? How far can you take it?

How much of a survivor can I be? I wonder. If I am wearing at least decent clothes at first, I'd try to get a job somewhere. Waitressing, whatever to get me through. I'll sleep it out somewhere, in a shelter prehaps, to save up for bigger things. How about you? What would you do?

There's this new show coming up that really catched my attention. USA Network's Burn Notice. The show is about an agent who gets a burn notice (An official statement by one intelligence agency to other agencies, domestic or foreign, that an individual or group is unreliable) and suddenly finds himself using his own special ops training to help those that need help. He faces a challenge when he is unable to use his contacts and needs to stay under the radar. Wanting to know who was responsible for his Burn Notice, Agent Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) goes back to his hometown to find out.

This is really exciting! Hubby and I have another show to look forward to and this is one promising show - really the type of shows we like. The show premieres June 28 so don't miss it!

Weekend Highlights

Hello! Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there. Sorry posted this late. I was deprived of computer time during the weekend. :)

How was your weekend? Mine was quite hectic, but fun, nonetheless.

It started out with me ending my shift at around 7AM od Saturday. I went home and took a shower and off I go with the husband to Victory Christian Fellowship to attend the "Heart of Marriage" seminar. We were with good friends, Oli and Rache. The seminar was really an eye opener. Made me see how I should be more supportive of my husband. We also found out we have different focus when it comes to marriage. While I think our marriage was career-centered, he though we were others centered, meaning we value our own families more. Needless to say, we came out of the seminar with a lot of realizations. We need to fold up our sleeves and start working on our marriage, not that it's on the rocks, but we didn't want to wait THAT long.

After the seminar, I was in bed all day, conked out. What with more than 24 hours of being awake, who wouldn't? But I went to sleep excited for the following day.

Sunday morning, me and the husband and my parents plus siblings went to seaside macapagal to celebrate father's day. We had fun buying sea foods from the nearby market and had more fun eating! I missed my family so much! After lunch, we sort of just walked around the area looking at stuff. After which we went home and hubby and I lounged around our bed watching 24 and Heroes.

Some weekend huh?! I enjoyed it though and felt time moved so fast. Now it's Monday again and back I go to the office. :P

So that's it for now. Let me leave you some pics from our seaside trip.

From L-R My youngest sister, her best friend Jade and another friend Ian Mervin

While waiting for the food

Group Pics taken by the husband

Group Pics taken by my brother

Refusing to Help

I just read the news were a woman died in a hospital all because 911 and the hospital staff refused to help. This is horrifyting.

Edith Isabel Rodriguez who was in an emergency room in a Los Angeles hospital was in excruciating pain, according to the her husband, Jose Prado when he first called 911 but the latter refused to help.

According to the reports, another call was placed to 911 by an unknown woman saying that hospital staff were ignoring a woman who was in terrible pain. I watched the video and it was very clear that the woman said the hospital staff were ignoring the lady stating the she has been discharged already. The frustrating part was, the guy from 911 advised to call the medical staff and sternly reprimanded the lady that 911 is only used for emergency.

Que Horror! If that was not an emergency, why would that lady, who was not even a relative or friend of Edith Rodriguez, call 911 in the first place? And since this is the second call, is it still not an emergency?!

Was the guy from 911 deaf or something? Didn't the caller say the medical staff were ignoring Ms. Rodriguez. Why would you even suggest to call the medical staff? Sheesh!

Sorry but I just feel frustrated that a life was lost because someone refused to simply check and help out. :( I think the hospital staff and 911 are both at fault. It's good they are both under investigation.

You can read the full story here

Internet Ads

In relation to my previous posts, I've been doing some online marketing for the past 2 months now and I must say, they're doing great. Aside from that, I am learning so much about the worldwide web and have discovered a lot of stuff from advertisers. I have also gained many friends from doing internet advertising.

One of the many internet advertising companies I'm involved in is ADVolcano. They are an online text advertising network that offers publishers the flexibility of pricing their own ads and customizing their own design.

Now what makes them stand out from other networks?

1. Fixed-Rate Buying - This is much like classified ads or billboard ads. They went away with the complexity and now it's all about simplicity.

2. Value Added Pricing - their fixed-rate model enables them to negotiate huge discounts in advertising rates in return for fixed committments.

3. Website Targeting - The "on a per-site basis" advertising reduces the risk of not knowing where your ads are displayed. This also enables advertisers to pre-qualify the audience.

For more information, you can visit ADVolcano.

Random Blurbs

div>I just clicked on the Qualified opportunities tab and I saw the $700 post in grey. Waaahhh! That was what I was waiting for :( Oh well, better luck next time. I wonder if any of my bebot friends got the opp? if one of them did, then I'd be happy.

Anyway, I almost forgot about posting pictures from our office last week. My officemate Jossell brought his camera with him one day and we camera whored for a while :) Here are some of the pictures we took:

This is my messy workstation :)

Chzel, Me and Paolo

Our big office windows overlooking Guadalupe bridge. This is our prize spot - where we throw our stress away :)

The gang :)

I'd have to remember to bring my camera and do some cam whoring with these guys some time.

In 28 Days

A friend of mine was into drugs for sometime. His parents blinded by their love never realized it until it was too late. I'm not a parent yet but as early as now, I pray that God will tap me or even bash a plate on my head if and when any of my children gets involved in drugs.

They say in any addiction, the first step is usually the hardest. This is especially true with drug addiction. That is why a drug treatment facility in Michigan developed a revolutionary 28 day treatment program for drug abuse. Kind of reminds me of Sandra Bullock's movie 28 Days. :P

Stop Your Addiction First Step Rehab uses 5 stages to help you achieve sobriety:

1. Detoxification and Withdrawal 2. Self Control and Communication Exercises 3. Sauna Cleansing Process 4. Study Improvement 5. Drug Free Remedies for Discomforts

Visit their site now and learn all you can about drug addiction and how to treat it.

My Dream Workspace

Taking cue from Aggie's post about workspaces, I decided to do a search of my own. I really love how fellow Bebot, Glo, did hers, very warm and stylish at the same time. Tres Chic!

I found this at Pottery Barn, like Aggie. And this is how I want my workspace to look like:

I like the warm colors on this and love how the furnitures are arranged. The window view is perfect inspiration or simply just destressing. I also like the bookcase design. This would be great for my book collection.

If I were to have an office in my own house someday, this would be it.

Creepy Crawly

While cleaning the room last Sunday, I found 2 spiders on our ceiling. Now, I don't exaclty know what type of spiders they were but man, were they big! I was sweeping away at developing cobwebs on the corners when I saw something move. Well, if you knew me, then you probably know I screamed my lungs out lol!

The husband ran towards the room when he heard my screams and laughed - yes, he laughed at me! He knows my anxiousness about any insect that crawls - no matter how harmless they are. And to add insult to injury, the husband caught the spider and moved towards me. So, a chase ensued. Ah, the joys of marriage. Poor spiders though, they must have been dizzy.

I don't know why but I really hate insects that crawl. I'm not afraid of them, I just hate the feel of them crawling on my skin. Number one on my hate list are cockroaches, specially those that fly. Blech!

Freedom Day!

Happy Independence Day Philippines!

Wishing on the Same Star

Have you ever wished you could be like one of those superheroes who could see the galaxy up close? I know I do. As a child, my brother and I would sneak up on the roof of our house every night and just lay there looking at the stars. Other kids prefer to look at the clouds, but we'd rather watch those beautiful and dazzling diamonds in the velvet black sky. At times we would race each other on who could see the first twinkling star. Of course we both wanted to be the first to recite that poem "star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might make my wish come true tonight" or something like that. Other times, we would wait patiently for a glimmer of a shooting star in hopes of making our wishes come true. Well, for me that is. For my brother, it's the hope of seeing an alien! lol! But always, our talks would never end without wishing we could see that galaxy up close. With today's technology, I guess our wish has finally come true with meade my sky. It's a handheld device that helps you identify and or locate everything possible in the galaxy. It gives you a multimedia planetarium-like experience! No need for bulky science textbooks, meade my sky is all you need!

It features a full color LCD screen and is an interactive, multi-media device!

Hmm will my brother share the expenses with me to buy this amazing product? What do you think?

The Now and Present

Got this little tag from Aggie and I must say I enjoyed doing this. Thanks Aggie!

Yourself: Deciding if I'd go to work early today.

Your Partner: Is currently watching NBA.

Your Hair: Short.

Your Mother: Wise

Your Father: A man of few words but when he talks, man, he makes so much sense.

Your Favorite Item: my laptop :)

Your Dream Last Night: none

Your Favorite Drink: Coke

Your Dream Car: Honda Civic.

Dream Home: Warm and homey.

The Room You Are In: Freshly cleaned bedroom :P

Your Fear: death

Where You Want to be in Ten Years: working from my own home

Who You Hung Out With Last Night: the husband

You’re Not: stylish (Aggie, same tayo :P )

One of Your Wish List Items: My own car by next year

The Last Thing You Did: Digiscrapped

You Are Wearing: Home clothes - short and sleeveless shirt

Your Favorite Weather: sunny but not humid (puede ba yon?!)

Your Favorite Book: The Bible

Last Thing You Ate: Lucky Me Chilimansi Pancit Canton

Your Life: in chaos :P

Your Mood: lazy

Your Best Friend: a woman after God's heart

What Are You Thinking About Right Now: To go to work early or not

Your Car: no car. What Are You Doing At The Moment: Blog Hopping

Relationship Status: HAPPILY content with the man I married.

Another Weekend Story

Happy Monday! :)

How was your weekend? I hope all of you had a wonderful time.

Part of my weekend was celebrating my friend, Rache's birthday at their wonderful home. It was a simple yet awesome celebration. Good food courtesy of Rache's mom (Thanks Tita! The Caldereta and Kare-kare were scrumptuous), company of friends and never ending kuento. Rache was the ever gracious hostess! I was busy eating and chatting with Jen so there are a few pictures. Besides, I haven't mastered the S3IS during night shots (hate that noise :( ) so I'm a bit apprehensive to take shots. :P

credits here

You can view more pictures taken by Rache here.

Rest of the weekend was spent bonding with the husband. We're planning to buy my phone and my iPod by the end of the month so we canvassed different stores to find out about phone prices and features.

I am planning to get this:

Can you believe I survived without a cellphone for 3months now? :)

So there, that was my weekend. How was yours?

Increase Your Company's Profits

Do you have an online business? Are you getting frustrated at how hard it is for people to find your website on the world wide web?

Then masterseek is the answer to your frustration. Masterseek is a state of the art global search engine that provides easy and fast access to worldwide business profiles and company information. The major difference with other search engines is it's user friendly interface which allows users to search by category.

Companies worldwide can increase their profitability by using Masterseek. It's free to submit your company profile, so what are you wating for? Submit your site now!

The Next Big Thing

Note: This is not a paid post :)

I am no photography expert so this is not really a review but more of an exciting post of a new find.

It has been my long time dream to learn photography. I've been playing around with my camera recently but I am just at the very teeny tip of the photography iceberg. Such is my attraction to it that when I see good photography, (good for me means the colors and subjects are alive and the photos move me - that's just for me though, I know there are many other factors.) I get excited and happy. :)

We have a lot of good photogaphers here in the Philippines. Just visit any Bridal fair and you will have a hard time choosing. {I know I did 2 years ago :P) Today, there emerges a new breed of photographers that will really catch your eye.

The one that stood out to me is Metro Photography by Oly Ruiz. You should see his portfolio. This guy has a really great eye! The common things that we usually take forgranted, common expressions, common places, he turns into a photograph that you will cherish. The colors of his photographs are vibrant, alive and amazing!

I also like how he's good in capturing various aspects of life like people, food, pets etc. Some photographers sometimes have a certain expertise, like one is good in taking food pictures, some with kids and some with weddings and events, but not Oly. His shots transcends the normal and ordinary - all with amazing quality and vibrant colors!

I really think Metro Photography is the next big thing. Oly Ruiz is one hell of a photographer. I feel bad that I wasn't aware of his talent when we were planning for our wedding. Maybe on our 25th.

Visit his portfolio and see what I am talking about. Take note of the portraits he took, see how alive the eyes of his subjects are! Truly amazing!

For more information and bookings here's Metro Photography's Contact Information:

METRO PHOTOGRAPHY

by Oly Ruiz

metro.photos@gmail.com

+639209130299

Spies Attack!

We've had the worst sypware attack in the office last night. All our computers were running slow and eventually prevented us from using them. One even turned off by itself and wemcouldn't turn it on again. When our IT department checked, they found out that a spyware had damaged the computer.

They were eventually able to put the computers back in action but not without fear of having spyware attacks again. The incident also lost us valuable time. If you work in a contact center, especially in workforce management, then you probably know that time is of the essence. I wish our company had invested in a good Spy Sweeper so these incidents wouldn't occur.

What happened also made me afraid of what might happen to my laptop. I am no businesswoman but my laptop is important to me. I need a very good Spy Sweeper so I can protect my laptop. I've searched the internet for good products and I am inclined to purchase this.

Spywares are dangerous and annoying programs can infect your computers while you use the internet to browse, and download stuff. Spy Sweeper is an award winning antispyware software that keeps your computers safe from malicious spyware programs even before they reach your computer. What is does is block these programs and even search and destroy those that are already in your system. You get safe and worry-free internet browsing time!

For those who are into file sharing and downloading MP3's and files over the internet (I'm thinking my digiscrap stuff :P), then you can rest easy as Spy Sweeper can detect even the slightest bit of change in a spyware program and eventually block them.

Couple these with free defense updates and free continous customer support, then it truly deserves to be an award winning software.

Happy Birthday, Rache!

"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24

I guess that's the best description for our friendship. We don't see each other very often but when we do, it's as if we were never apart. I am blessed to have a friend like you!

Wishing you all the blessings in this world dear! Happy Birthday! Mwah!

Layout Credits: Bev O Loughlin's pink motiff, Bev O Loughlin's stripes, Threaded bow by designs by Ann Marie, Ribbon Freebie 2 by Vera Lim, Needle Pins by Linda GB, Sabday Frame 1 by Lauren Reid, Vanilla Cherry by Mgodi

Afraid of Getting Lost?

I remember working for a Directory Assistance firm a few years back, one of the added value service they offered was Driving Directions. I remember being awed at this technology and was always upbeat when giving my callers some driving directions.

I also remember thinking how neat it would be to get this sevice for free. Well, guess what, there's now a place where you can get directions for free. Public Routes offers free directions and major traffic updates for US and UK residents. What's really neat about this service is you can get directions wether you're traveling by car, bus, train, even if you're just walking! I was used to just giving driving directions to people traveling by car but while walking? W-O-W!

To get directions, you simply put the start and destination address. You get to choose which mode of transportation you want. Then press on "get directions" and voila! You wouldn't have to worry about getting lost anymore. Not only that but you won't worry about traffic as well! With the traffic alerts you can avoid those streets that could take up most of your time.

You can also use the "Map It" feature where you can enter the point of interest you want and the zip code. This feature can also show you nearby bus stops and train stations. Pretty cool huh?

And if you're going to a certain city for the first time, you can get information on the "Local Guide" feature or find flights, hotels and more. Such efficiency!

I just signed up and will tell all my friends too! What about you?

You can sign up here.

Online Learning

I've been working in the contact center industry for almost 5 years now. I started out as an agent taking in calls for customer service accounts and slowly got myself into the workforce management team. I can honestly say that it was no easy task.

Lately though, I've been thinking about what I want for my future. I suddenly realized I wanted to learn more to be able to be more. I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and yet something in me wants to take up another course. I was thinking of enroling myself in a university near our place but with my erratic work schedule, I don't think it's possible.

It's a good thing that I can take up university degrees online these days. This is really neat! I've been looking all over for a university that would be best for what I want and I've found Capella University. They have a wide array of online courses and looking at their demo, the interface of their online courses are quite user friendly.

I'm thinking of taking up the Business Management and Leadership Specialozation but I'd really have to think about this. The price is quite steep for me at $300 per credit, woohoo! But it is going to be a nice investment though.

I guess I just don't want to be in a contact center for the rest of my life. I mean it pays real good but I don't think I could handle the night shift once I age some more. ;P

This blog post is based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

The Weekend

I know this is late but, how was your weekend? I hope it went well and all of you had some rest and quality time with your families.

I had a wonderful weekend. Tiring, but nonetheless wonderful. The flurry of activities started Friday night - or rather Thursday evening. I arrived at the office at 6PM, Thursday evening and went home 12 noon Friday. Talk about back-to-back shifts! lol! I had some shut eye when I arrived home and what seemed like seconds of closing my eyes, hubby was waking me up because I was to accompany him on his doctor's appointment.

Saturday saw me, my father-in-law, his sister and her son and daughter riding the bus to the Mall of Asia. It was actually my idea. (For some time now I felt so cooped up in the house that I just wanted to go some place.) It just so happened that they haven't been there as well and would like to know what the fuss about that mall was. As was usual with any SM Mall, MOA was packed. And well, it was the weekend so there.

Hubby had to attend a friends wedding at the Shrine of Jesus so he met us after the reception. Since it was a wedding he went to, the camera was with him so I was only able to take some pictures when he arrived. Pity though, because the teens tried out Ice Skating for the first time and they were hilarious! LOL! I really wish I could've taken a video of them falling on their hineys! hehehe!

Here are more of the pictures:

Sunday was R and R day with hubby. We holed up in our room, turned on the AC and watched DVDs the whole day. We usually watch the movies much later than everyone else does, but I'd rather watch them at home than in movie theaters. Hahaha, laziness at it's best. ;) But, but,but, I am going to watch the Transformers movie in theaters. Wouldn't miss that.

So there's our weekend. How was yours?

Changes Needed

I can't seem to make a lot of scripts work with the pink template so I decided to change again. I am sorry for the inconvenience. While I really like this template, I am just having a hard time tweaking it to my liking. But hey, I'm not blaming zoot for this. Beggars can't be choosers. :)

Once I am done with the new template, I have quite a post to make about the weekend, so please stay tuned. ;-)

ETA: How do you like this simple template? Can you read the posts well? I would appreciate your feedbacks. I just finished tweaking this template. I will post credits for the header as soon as I get back from work. It's Monday so it's going to be pretty manic at the office. My post about the weekend will be up soon too! Sorry for the delay.