Last September 27, Philippines, mostly Luzon, was hit by tropical storm Ondoy, international name Ketsana, left Manila and 25 provinces submerged in water, Ondoy dropped a one-month worth of rain in just 6 hours. Our shop was submerged in waist deep flood in Manila, my parents were trapped overnight because of that, an officemate of mine lost everything because of the massive flood in their area. You can see it on Boston.com how much damage it did to my country, Cambodia and Vietnam.

When Ketsana (Category 2 typhoon) hit Manila, it’s not as strong as Parma (Category 4 super typhoon), who hit the Philippines a week after, but the damage is almost the same.

What caused it?

Some argued that the reason for the massive flood it’s because the dams around Manila gone critical and they released water to relieve that, others stated it’s because of poor urban planning that lead to this event, the rest blame it on how we treat Mother Nature which would result to climate change.

I, too believe that today, the effect of climate change is upon us, just spend a day reading articles on the web and you can read a lot about how our planet is changing in a span of months to one year. Here in our area, there was a day when it will rain and the sun will shine, in 10-15 minutes intervals; Weird and scary.
I attended an event at Taguig where Bella Gaia is featured, and you can see how beautiful the earth is, and there was a portion on the backdrop video where it shows how we, as people, affected the earth with our everyday lives, it was not elaborated on the program but if you do get the chance to see it, a simple 3-4 minute part of that can make you realize how our individual lifestyle can make a difference to our planet.

So what can we do?

I am not a scientist, but it took us a long time to end up where we are, and I think it will also take us a longer time to change it. And it should start with you.

Change your lifestyle, even at home you can help out. Change regular light bulbs to energy saving ones, shutting off electrical appliances if not needed, use public transport or walk instead of driving your car if your point of destination is very near. Recycle and buy recyclable materials. Plant a tree, it can help lessen the carbon dioxide emitted in our atmosphere.

Last Note

My post will not matter if we can’t even accept the fact that our earth is suffering, we tend to drop the topic since we can live our everyday lives the way we always do, not knowing that in the big picture, we are to blame for all of this. So we must act on it.

I can blog about this all day, but what can we do for our lifetime to save Mother Nature? That’s the challenge we need to face.

QUICK UPDATE!

It’s official! My website is one of the finalists for the Best Blog Design!

I don’t know if I can win it, since I am a minimalist and the other websites are mode decorative. I don’t mind, being in the finals is more than enough for me, and winning the award is a super plus! Thank you again for the recognition!

Yes it’s that time of the year again, when bloggers like me get the chance to win and gain recognition for the work we did for our websites. Haha!

Yet again I entered my website to this event, hopefully I’ll get nominated this year. Cross your fingers!

Philippine Blog Awards website got a facelift!

I think after all this, I really need a break.

Work remains the same, have all the reasons to keep me busy. Almost finish with the drawings needed for the project, hopefully me and my team can finish it by the end of the month. I know we can, it’s just that we have a lot to consider and I too, sometimes get overwhelmed with the stuff that needs to be done. Thank God that I have my team to depend on. I failed more than once in leading this team, I hope that I can do better as weeks pass by.

Life has been good, Yas’ been great supporting me with work. I too am proud about her achievements. In a few months she’ll graduate and hopefully she’ll stay here. Keeping my hopes up!

I already announced on Twitter that I won’t be accepting web design for now, since my work is eating up most of my time I can’t allow myself to be congested with more stuff. I already failed to provide WordPress themes to a client and I am so sorry for that. After that incident, I decided to stop accepting sidelines and concentrate more on my day job.

As for this website, I am trying to create a minimal design layout. Eliminate stuff that is not really needed and concentrate more on a cleaner layout. I’ll post a draft image soon.

It was a recording of an abusive adult to a small girl, where she kicked her when the child entered the frame, then drags her kicks her again, on the head! Are you serious?!!

I got angry when I finished this video, I have a niece, who if I compared height with the little girl on the video, and make it as a benchmark on the age, is younger than the girl being abused. If that ever happened to my niece, I’ll be mad as hell and beat the crap out of the person who will do that to her.

I don’t know if that’s a maid or the mother, but then you are dealing with a child, who might still not understand what’s happening, and with an adult being abusive, is something I can never forgive.

I have a couple of web projects as well, going to work on new WordPress themes for a client.

Internet in the house is down for almost a month now, so the only way for me to go online is when I’m at the office. Sucks but it’s okay.

Second season of Chuck is over! And NBC hasn’t gave any word whether or not they will renew the TV show or not! Dammit I want more! The story is good! The show is good! So what’s keeping you guys from renewing the show huh?!

Worldbex 2009

PIID Exhibit, the one with the glasses in the middle is my boss.

My baby project. Also shown on our exhibit @ Worldbex. Photo taken from Bluprint website. This building was also featured on the April 2009 Issue of Bluprint Magazine.

It’s that time of the year again for Worldbex, the biggest construction show in the Philippines, was held at the WTC @ Roxas Boulevard, this is the first time since college that I had attended this event. I think this is the second time our office was featured in this event. We had a booth and I had the opportunity to be there and represent the firm, for a couple of hours before I head out and went home.

The exhibit was awesome, not as many companies joined compared to the last time I went there. Also, just a small number of new companies and products that was showcased, but as a whole, the 4-day event was a success. I even bought old copies of magazines that I lost during college days, and that was around 3-4 years ago.

9th Annual Recognition Awards @ FEU-IARFA

It’s my roots, my beginning. Tuesday afternoon, me and the rest of my co-IARFA students and alumni were awarded for our achievements for the school year 2008-2009. For us alumni, being board passers, is an achievement not only as individuals but also the school as well. We were given a certificate of recognition for that. Images will be posted here as soon as I got hold of my copy.

My birthday

What was left @ my plate. Lunch @ Superbowl in MOA

It’s Wednesday, my birthday. I woke up late that day, never went to work. It’s a tradition for me not to do anything at my birthday. Some pamper themselves by going to the spa, or buy something at the mall. For me, just to be with myself on my day is enough.

I met with my sister that day @ MOA, that’s the second time I stepped foot at the mall, since it opened 2006. The first time was during the Worldbex event, where I went there to buy a new DVD-Writer.

Oath Taking @ Manila Hotel

It’s my greatest achievement to date, passing the exam and now, that achievement has a prize! Thursday, I took my oath, becoming a registered and licensed architect. Seeing my peers and old friends who also took the exam is refreshing. Also, it makes me happy seeing my parents supporting me in what I do. They have to close our business for a day just to be with me on this event.

Taking oath @ Manila Hotel.

Me and my friend surprised his girlfriend. I was taking the review with her, and he went all the way from Dubai just to be on this event. Sweet guy! Hehehe!

Post Oath Taking Dinner @ Racks MOA

Friday, back to work. Light mood at the office. After work I head straight to MOA, where me and my family had dinner, to celebrate my birthday and passing the board. The original plan was to eat @ Greenbelt, but my dad insist on going to MOA because of parking. Haha! So I decided we eat at Racks.

Me and my family @ Racks MOA, Oath Taking after party

Fooood!!! @ Racks MOA

Food was great! We ordered for 6 persons (plus my brother’s girlfriend, who took our picture above) but it looked like a serving for 8 persons.

I also bought a burger @ Jollibee, since my girlfriend wasn’t able to attend my oath taking, we decided to have our traditional long distance date, where we eat something at the same time while taking on the phone, this time it’s different: we had our date online, while chatting. Cheezy and mushy, to some, I know. But for us, it’s a date! Haha!

The last week of March, was a blast! And I hope I get the chance to experience something like this or much more in the near future! For now, I’ll hold on to this memorable event. Cheers!

Is Your WordPress Designed Website The One?

It’s March, my birthdays coming up, so is my oath taking. I guess all the good things are happening this month, and with this invitation I got, I hope that my luck with continue with this one.

The guys at WPWebHost are at it again. They recently launched a new contest called Best WordPress Design Award.

So how does the contest work? Pretty simple actually, all you have to do is to make a blogpost about the contest (like the one I’m doing right now). Then you have to submit the URL of the blogpost by commenting on their website, (trackbacks works also, according to WPWebHost.) Then that’s it!

The difference between this contest and their last contest, is that they have categories for every winner, these are:

1. Best Clean & Minimalist (for simple and clutter free websites)
2. Best Retro & Vintage (for old fashioned yet stylish websites)
3. Best Grudge (for dirty cool websites)
4. Best Hand-Drawn (for artistic-looking websites)
5. Best Modern & Elegant (for modern and classy websites)

So let’s get to the point of telling you guys what you’re getting: a whopping $200 cash, and a life-time hosting sponsorship! Way cool!!

So I hope my good luck streak will continue by winning this contest! You guys should join too! The more the merrier!

I’m joining under the Clean and Minimalist Category. How about you?