Life, Day by Day

When I went to Manila on May 22 to be a resource speaker for a leadership program, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the hotel where the venue was and where I was going to stay was an art deco mansion, built in the late 30's and converted into a hotel about 10 years ago. It was designed by National Artist for   Architecture Pablo Antonio Sr. whose prominent Art-Deco work includes Far Eastern University and the Manila Polo Club. The Orchid Garden Suites was the old Roces mansion at Pablo Ocampo, Sr. Extension (formerly Vito Cruz Extension) and was later acquired by Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Villareal as his family residence. A 14-storey boutique hotel was built connecting to the anterior part of the house.  The elegant hotel lobby, 3rd floor restaurant and the resto-bar on the 4th floor are all part of the original house. The swimming pool area used to be the garden and grotto.

I rarely if ever win anything. So when I was sent an email last May 17, by Globe Social Media that I was one of the winners of the minor draw for the Greatness Starts @Home Blogging contest, I was so excited!  This was the blogging contest conducted by Globe Tattoo which ran from February 25 to March 17, 2012.

I don't usually write a post about American Idol but after watching yesterday's show and learning about the result today, I could not help but say....whaaaaaat???  Like most Filipinos,  I hope Jessica Sanchez wins but to be really honest, after watching last night's performance, I thought Joshua Ledet was the best among them showing his wide range and versatility.  And to learn that he was eliminated is a great, great disappointment.  Because the brutal fact is, Philip Phillips does not even deserve to be in the top three!

One of my pet peeves when I was working as a division head of a government organization was reading through badly written application and resume letters .  It seems to me that not many people see the importance (or relevance) of a professional but creative cover letter that summarizes their qualification, experience and what they can bring to the company they are applying to. A cover letter should not duplicate what is already written in the resume, instead it should only emphasize significant and job-specific skills or talents that one has to offer.

Summer is almost over and parents are busy preparing for the opening of classes in June. But there are probably just as many kids, if not more who will not be able to go to school this year because of lack of resources.  This is especially true for financially poor high school students who would like to go to college.  Instead, many of them will start working menial jobs or for some, if they get lucky may get a college scholarship.

In my last year of medical school, I was briefly incapacitated for back pain while I was rotating in the Department of Surgery.  I could not bend forward, lift my knees nor sit for long periods.  Initially I thought it was just because I was helping lift patients and going up and down the stairs all the time, but when it did not go away after 2 weeks, I got worried.

When my mom and I were informed that the Diocesan Lay Formation Center (DLFC) will hold a training for its facilitators and some graduates to be conducted by Bukal Ng Tipan , we did not hesitate to sign up. I have been a volunteer of the Diocesan Lay Formation Program from it's very beginning and it has been an exciting journey for me.  Yes, I was a facilitator but I have also gotten a lot of insights from our participants which I never would have learned anywhere else.  Still,  I felt that after 7 years of the DLFC, it was time for us to be re-energized.  I have heard good stories from our staff who took a few of Bukal's courses and so, I was looking forward to the 3-day live-out facilitators' training even though it was going to be on a weekend (which included Mother's Day).

Together with blogger friends, I attended the Google Map Maker Summit last April 12, 2012 held at the Santuario De La Salle here in Bacolod City.  I know of Google Maps and Google Earth since I use these a lot for research and references but this was the first time I became aware that there was a Google Map Maker.  I did not even know that I was already using this application when I was adding tags to my house in Google Maps. That just tells you how much of a newbie I still am when it comes to web development (most of the participants said they were "developers"). Anyway, I learned a lot that day and have registered to be a volunteer in Mapping the Philippines, in particular my city and province.  In fact, I plan to organize a mapUp in my city before classes open in June. A mapUp is basically a gathering of about 10-20 volunteers whose goal is to map their area of the world.  Here are my pictures of the event. Mapping is more fun in the Philippines!

The Woman of Substance My mom was born in Cebu City on May 1, 1934, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker to Norberto Yanson Riego, a ship captain and Estrella Guingona Meñes, a pharmacist. They named her "Erlinda" although she claims that she has another name, Maritza but she never got a record of it because birth records in Cebu before the war were destroyed by fire. From age three, she was raised in Manila where she had her secondary and college education at the Philippine Women’s University (PWU), graduating Cum Laude. She was the student council president, an Intercollegiate Girl of the Philippines, the school's representative to national student organizations. She rubbed shoulders with national leaders, so much so that people around her thought they had her future life all figured out.

As a small child I went to our friendly elderly dentist in our small city. This was in the late 60's when sedative dentistry was not commonly practiced by general dentists.  I don't know what it is but unlike some of my playmates whose baby teeth would just fall off, mine seemed to be indestructible and so when I was seven years old, my mom brought me to our dentist since one of my permanent front tooth was already growing behind the baby tooth. Needless to say, after my tooth extraction, our poor dentist lost some patients waiting for their turn that day. He then informed my totally embarrassed mother that he will be referring me to a modern clinic in the next city for advanced dental work since I also had a decaying molar that needed to be removed as well as major orthodontic work. A few months later, off we went to see this new clinic. They had a beautiful, air-conditioned office with several chairs and I was assigned to a young good-looking male dentist who smiled a lot.