Loss And Hope

Five days after the devastating 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, there are still about 8,000 people missing and more than 4,300 dead. Adding to this is the threat of a nuclear meltdown which may bring a long term devastation. In the midst of chaos and hopelessness, miracles still happen. I can't forget the one that I just read online about a Japanese student studying here in America. A friend informed her that they spotted her family member on a YouTube video. She searched for the video and saw her older sister in there making a shout out to her through the news people to inform her little sister in America that the family survived the devastation. Stories like this helped the survivors as well as the rescue workers to still hope that they can still find survivors amidst the rubble. There was this international rescue worker who still keeping hope alive to find more survivors if they keep on searching.

Check this video: "California student from Japan finds family alive on YouTube"

Since we are not in Japan, all we can do is to pray for them and try to help in anyway we can. There are so many ways to help and donate money for Japan. Just go online and search for your legitimate charitable institutions that set up some fund raising for Japan's relief and recovery efforts. Japan has often donated when other countries have experienced disasters, such as when Hurricane Katrina impacted the United States.

Below are organizations that I found online that are working on relief and recovery in the region.
American Red Cross
Global Giving
Save The Children
Salvation Army
AmeriCares
Convoy of Hope
International Medical Corps
Shelter Box

There are still more institutions and organizations in your communities that set up some programs and activities to send monetary help to the devastated nation.

As one children of God, let us all help our Japanese brothers and sisters.

The Clan

I'm quite excited nowadays because I am starting to make connections with the rest of my clan. Under the family name of Lumen, a group was created in the social network Facebook by one of my cousins. It was amazing because the membership grew exponentially. We started communicating with the other members of the Lumen clan from all over. It opened the chances to possibly trace back our roots. With the help of my father, I was able to trace part of our family tree. In fact a member happened to be our second degree cousin. She mentioned that she came from my dad's original hometown and further mentioned the name of her father and her grand father. It turns out that her grand father was a half-brother of my grand father. It was such a nice feeling to be in touch with a close relative whom I never met.

Hopefully, the other members would also try to trace their respective roots in order to know the origins of the Lumens. I'm so happy that one of the main purpose of this social network became a reality for us, the Lumens. We are hoping to hold a virtual clan reunion for all the members.

American Holiday - President's Day

President's Day is a United States Federal Holiday that falls on every 3rd Monday of February. This was originally called Washington's Birthday in honor of George Washington, the first President of the United States of America.

This day is no special day for me, that is in my case. I started today, a Monday & my second day being off from work, by attending my Zumba class. On my way to the gym, the only thing I have noticed was the deserted roads and then I remembered that it was indeed a holiday with no work and no school. I'm sure my dad would just be wasting his gas when he goes to the bank to pay the house's mortgage without calling the bank first if they are open. Talking about my Zumba class, our teacher is preggy and personally I'm getting worried who will take over her schedule. I just hope that the substitute teacher will be as good or even better as her. Anyway, after Zumba, I went straight to home. Had lunch with my parents and after which I helped my mom sort out the picture files taken during their Golden Wedding anniversary last July 2010. After sorting out the photo files in my computer, we went to Walmart to print those selected pictures for her album. It turned out that we actually selected 242 pictures. This time, my mom will have a grand time arranging and re-arranging these pictures on her photo album. We proceeded to Food4Less to do some groceries. We headed to home around 5:30pm and it was getting dark and chilly. I originally planned to watch a movie today, but I guess it was late already and besides I felt lazy to rush to the shower and a quick change and go out from the house. I was already comfortable on the lounge chair in our living room watching some updates on what's happening in the world. I decided to stay instead and just surf online.

That's how I spent the President's Day. I felt it was just another off day, working on some errands and chores.

The Big V-Day

What's so big and special about this day? Well, aside from being off today, it's "the" Valentine's Day. In the Philippines, or at least from the province where I came from, we have a joke for those singles out there that doesn't have a partner for today. All singles will be subjected to death by firing squad at the town's plaza. That's gross. I don't want to die just because I don't have a "valentina"?

I dont have a "velentina" but I do have special people that I love. My family first and foremost and my very special and close friends. They are always my valentine. On the romantic side, I guess I really have to be killed by firing squad. I can probably kill myself in some other "special" way. I might make a list of things that I will do today..."to kill myself".

Number one (1) - Go to the gym and kill some extra pounds by doing the Zumba.

Number two (2) - Eat lunch with my parents, most likely at the buffet to kill my hunger pangs after exercise.

Number three (3) - Watch movies in the afternoon, to kill my boredom.

Number four (4) - This is an altenate to #3 plan, to chill out in my favorite hangout place. Hint: where burgers and free internet abound

Number five (5) - Another alternate of #3, just stay home and practice how to be a monk.

Based on this list, I really dont have much to do today. I'd better drive to Hoover Dam and jump off from there...hahahahaha....

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY everyone.

Over The Hill

This expression actually means one is past his youthful vigor. This usually applies to those who reached their forties but I would like to apply it to myself, too. I already celebrated my big "Five-Oh" earlier this week and I could say that I am now in the middle of my life span. I would like to think that age is only a number, not being defensive here but it greatly helped maintaining my youthful perspective. I was quite flattered to read some birthday greetings on my Facebook page and mostly would say that I don't look like 50 years old. Well, that's what I am feeling most of the time. I want to always feel young and with vigor and it is a known fact that to maintain this is to stick to a healthy lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle means a healthy perspective in every aspect of your life. Living and enjoying life to the fullest in a good way. Surrounded by the love of your family and friends and guided by a spiritual love. A best buddy of mine once posted on his Facebook page something like this: If it rains money on one side and happiness on the other, which one you would choose? I would choose happiness as it brings on contentment on everything and money doesn't but everything.

Reaching your 50^th birthday is quite an accomplishment and therefore a milestone. I wanted to celebrate it with a big bang and I did it. I wanted to do it by myself and that's what I did. Although I seek some help from some of my closest friends but the bottom line most came from my pocket. I booked the place way ahead, before the new Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas actually opened their doors for business. As the date was fast approaching, more preparations have to be done to the minute details. It was my first time to hold a party in a hotel suite so I was both excited and nervous. Excited to see who will actually come from the invitations that I sent out through mails and Facebook invites. I was nervous about every detail of the party; the food, the drinks, and the venue itself. My strategy of specifying in my invitations to bring a bottle of wine instead of gifts actually worked. I had more booze than my guest could consume. Food-wise, I was on the safe side. I purposely set the party to start at 7pm, meaning most of the guests have had their dinner already. I hired a DJ to provide party music throughout the evening. The venue was the best part. I got one of the hotel's attractions, the wraparound terrace suite that usually cost a fortune but thankfully got a good deal on it. I thought I need more chairs for the guests to settle down but with the assurance of my close friends, everybody was doing fine. It was actually a party where guests were expected to interact with each other and not just sit around. We had the best view from our suite and that was worth everything for everybody.

I held my birthday party on February 5^th, 2 days earlier than my actual birth date to make sure that most of my guests were free on that day. What made my birthday celebration special was that my family back in the Philippines, spearheaded by my brother also held a birthday party for my honor on the same day. It was my first time to have a synchronized party globally. I am so blessed to have the love of my family. I can't ask for more.

What’s Your Favorite Mobile Apps?

Almost all of us own a smart phone or any latest hi-tech mobile phone like iPhone, BlackBerry, a Windows phone, Android powered phones and some latest Nokia models. These are the latest gadgets where we can connect with our friends, families and business associates with much ease and unbelievable speeds. Gone are the days where cell phones or mobile phones are only for placing phone calls; it evolves into a tool where text messages can be sent and received. It further advanced its capability of accessing the internet and therefore emails and multi-media messages can be easily exchanged.

Lately though, coupled with the existing network war as to who among them is the fastest, more powerful phones are in the market. Aside from making voice calls, text and multi-media messaging as well as emails, more cool features came up. These applications or "Apps" can easily be downloaded right on the mobile device either for free or with a fee.

I'm using a Nokia e71 smart phone and a Nokia C6 both powered with Symbian OS. I can download all the Apps to my heart's content from Nokia's OVI store where you can find a huge collection of Apps, music, games and videos. Other phone brands can also get their own applications from iTunes, Google Android Market or BlackBerry's AppWorld. Aside from my favorite social network Apps (yes, I'm addicted to Facebook and Twitter, I think), I have other useful applications like Wikipedia, Dictionary, Flight Info, Flashlight, Here and Now, Location & GPS among others. I do have some games but I'm not really into video games so I just maintained my favorite Solitaire, LOL!

My favorite application right now is called Shazam! It is an application where you can discover, buy and share any music from any sources. Just run the application, let it "listen" to the music say from radio, TV or a live performance. The program will match the music it heard against the database from their server and provide all the information about that music and the option to buy and share it with your friends. By the way, your device must always be connected online so having an unlimited internet connection is favorable.

I remember the catch phrase from an iPhone advertisement that says something like "there is an App for everything". Apps are here supposedly to make our lives easier…oh well if you want your life becomes easier, there's an App for that.

So how about you? What's your favorite App?

The Preparation

This week is my last chance to complete my preparations for my own big Five Oh birthday bash this coming Saturday.
I requested off for the whole week as I foresee that I may have more things to accomplish. The venue has been booked since early December 2010. I have bought myself a new pair of black pants ang a yellow-checkered shirt to compliment my golden anniversary. The plastic wine glasses as well as the disposable cutleries were all packed in a box. A DJ has been booked to provide the party music and set the mood for the aoccassion. Invitations were also sent out since last month of January so what I need to do is to cross my fingers and hope that majority if not all of my invited friends will attend.
One thing that I will be missing though is my own brother. Initially, he planned to come over to attend my celebration but I guess he is not yet fit to undergo a long travel after his kidney transplant. I will definitely miss him. Since he could not come to attend, we planned that my close relatives back in my hometown will also have their own version of my birthday celebration. They will hold it also this coming Saturday. Although my actual birth date is still on February 7th, a Monday for this year, I planned to hold the party much earlier specifically Febuary 5th, a Saturday, in oder to maximize the attedance. This coming Thursday, I will start ordering food for the party. I probably come up with a list of things to do so that I wont be missing anything.
I pray to God in heaven that my celebration will run smoothly and with no hassles at all.