Slowing Down

For almost two weeks, my piles of paperworks on my desk was finally reduced to three correspondence. Although the folders of projects that were set aside to focus more on the ASEAN Science and Technology Week are still mountain high on my desk, I was able to reply on the most urgent matters at hand. My four day stay at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza is not something you might call relaxing but I was able to meet new people and realign my perspectives.


The four-day stay there is very busy to the point of extremely confusing and frustrating however, the place I may say is relaxing indeed. And I can honestly say that except for the small matters that gets annoying and irritating at times, the Cambodian Ambassador and his consul are very nice people. Although there are many disappointment on my side on the event ( re: I have higher expectations before everything started), I somehow enjoyed my stay at the hotel.

IT Field: A Greener Pasture

I have been contemplating for sometime now how technology affects the life of humanity. For years, I have thought that the engineering field offers a wider range of opportunity to choose from compared to other technical subjects. I thought that whatever knowledge I have acquired from the engineering industry is sufficient enough to sustain my contentment as a professional and earner until I came across my part time job: writing/blogging.

With so many free domains and blogsite available, codes and programming is something that you will tumble upon once in a while. And with my latest blog, it has been more than twice that I wished to be more knowledgeable about those things. Would not it be great if you know what is going on with your computer hardware? Or you understand how those bought programs works against online theft and troublesome viruses?

It has been ten years since my relationship with computers and internet started. A bit late I guess but my interest was sparked when I started programming basics on Turbo C+ while I was still in the University. Back then, my only goal is to pass that computer subject. But nowadays, IT field is not just getting connected to the internet or making that codes right and working. It is more about opportunity and technical knowledge.

With Cisco certification, you can never go wrong. They offer the best when it comes to IT and the good news is they are sensitive about not only your need for gaining knowledge but career advancement as well. One of my friends has been in the IT industry for years, and I heard that she is very much interested with improving her expertise when it comes to IT. Perhaps she has taken her Cisco Certification by now. As for my interest with the IT, I have been considering of taking advantage of this great offer of knowledge and opportunity. With the basics covered, I will probably start rerouting my career to IT field.

Dinner Date

It's from one of those unexpected dining out that hubby and I had this past few weeks. With too many things to do and not much left to squeeze from our brains, we just get inside a restaurant that serves roasted chicken and nice pasta and dine out.

Here's the photo's we took of the food served to us. It is actually overdue. The foods are posers anyway, so they deserve to be uploaded. :)





We had some macaroni and cheese, spaghetti and choco mousse for dessert. I know i'm making no progress with my budgeting with all the dining out that we had for the past few weeks but there is not much option for us to see each other and spend quality time together.

Chocolate Cakes and Blue Balloons

I know I haven't blogged for awhile. I wish I was able to, unfortunately I was too busy to write something feasible for readers. I have been busy the past couple of weeks with the ASEAN science community activities that was held here in our country and the series of seminars and meetings that I have to catch up with after the ASEAN event.

But the best thing that kept me busy is the birthday of the two adorable kids that we love very much.

Here are the birthday foods that still makes my mouth watery:



FIL's famous potato salad




Original filipino dish, pancit palabok



the blackforest cake. It doesn't look good in the picture, blame it on the birthday celebrant who can't help himself from picking up the curled chocolates. :) but it taste real good. ( i think there's a missing cherry too.)

I still have to transfer some of the photos from the two cameras.

The potato salad is a blast. It was gone before the party ended and some of the guest are still looking for more. The cake during the weekend celebration is not posted yet but I assure you, it is superb. It is a chocolate cake too and the celebrant attacked it even before the guest arrived. So one side of the cake was smudged and some of the candy flowers are missing. The pancit palabok was bought from a local restaurant and it is delicious.

I will be posting some of the photos before the weekend so hang on. :)

Socialspark: A Place for Socialization and Earning

Outside the internet life to create a friendship one must feel that certain spark to acknowledge chemistry between two people who will soon become friends. The chemistry lies on the foundation of having the same interest and something in common. For online friendship, one must join a community where one will enjoy conversing with each other about interesting topics and agenda.



But internet is not only about friendship. What is better news than doing something you love and getting paid for it? SocialSpark is providing bloggers and advertisers alike with space to meet up and build relationship. Socialspark provides opportunities to bloggers to talk about their interest and advertisers to have their products reviewed by the bloggers at their own pace. When you say SocialSpark, for me it represents opportunities and resources.

Once you signed up, you gain friendship with people like me loves to writing. You are also assured of their code of ethics: 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure, 100% Transparency, 100% Real Opinions and 100% Search Engine Friendly.

Bloggers alike can communicate and interact with each other sharing advises and tips about online life. The opportunities are easy to do as long as you have the skills for writing, and more importantly the topics for the opportunities are interesting and good point of discussion.

With SocialSpark, friendship with fellow bloggers begins and so does the traffic that can be generated by networking within the community. With the increase of traffic, you get to learn and express your thoughts to wider audience. Maximize your time spent in the internet through Socialspark: have more friends and monetize your brainchild.

Adventures in Bento Making

As a child my Grandmother always prepare me lunch box for school. Whenever I wake up late and charge out of the house hurriedly, my Grandma would come after me and show up in school with my packed lunch and we would share the lunch together. My lunch would be composed of fish or chicken, rice, vegetables and mango slices. I would asked her to buy me a soda to down all the good foods she cook for me.

Those were the happier days that made my childhood a memorable one. For years to come, I have exchanged the lunch box with fast food. And when my Grandma died, the joy of bringing a lunch box to school was forgotten until I came across kaoko's blog : Kitchen Cow. Although Kaoko's is not the first blog on bento that I have browsed and read, her nationality and location gave me the idea to reinvent my lunchbox and unleash the creativity within.

I have to admit though that my accessories and staple is limited due to the lack of time to find bento tools and the lack of culinary skills. But internet make things possible. Bloggers that focuses in bento provided all the things you need to know about simple cooking and even tricks on food safety so I might as well say that I am doing well with the bento making.

And I might as well cite here that Kaoko is helping me out to get the things for my bento making. And this entry is one way of showing my gratitude for helping me and accommodating my request.

Thank you, Kaoko. First for the inspiration and now the help to buy the things for my bento. :)

Chocolate for Good Health

Yes. Chocolate is good for your health.


photo source: acupojava on flickr


The past few weeks has been a very busy one for me and I have been always on the run waiting for instructions from my employer on what to do next. And even if the job looks easy on the outset, a busy schedule can be stressing. And I would crave at the end of the day for something to eat, my guilty pleasure: chocolate.

And if you are worried about the bad effects of this yummy food then think again. Study shows that dark chocolate can lower blood pressure therefore combats heart related diseases. But there is a catch: you should take dark chocolate alone. It should not be milk chocolate or eaten with milk. Yes, to reap the good benefit of chocolate you should not drink milk right after you have enjoyed the dark chocolate.

So, take a bite and enjoy the health benefits of dark chocolate.

Information Technology (IT) Career Advancement

I was discussing with a close friend how IT professionals are receiving more job opportunities than engineers. She told me how greater the compensation and benefits IT professionals are being offered compared to other technical people from other fields. She is working in the Information Technology industry too and she told me how much interested she is in career advancement.

For someone who has been hooked in the internet and the wonders of networking since time being, my interest to consider the possibility of starting a career on IT was sparked by her stories. According to her, to land a job in a good company one must always be on their toes. The Information Technology field offers no boundary with new applications for networking and web popping every now and then. To cope with the fast moving technology industry, one must keep on reading and improving their skills and should have the motivation to be part of the cream of the crop. To do so, one must always be on the look out for technical resources and certificating bodies that can add feather to your hat.

When it comes to certification, Cisco certification offers IT certification programs that will bring in value-added skills not only to the IT professional but to the company or organization who will hire them. One can choose different levels of certification: entry, associate, professional, expert, and specialist. They also offer general certifications that cover the following: routing & switching, design, security, service provider, storage networking, voice, and wireless. For those who are considering IT career path like me, they also offer sample job role paths that can guide you to decide what certification that is suitable to your skills and interest. The career assessment is an important step for those who are considering changing or re-routing their careers to the IT field.

For career advancement in the IT field, my friend and I agreed that Cisco is the stepping stone for great career path. To know more about what Cisco offers and meet professionals with the same interest, visit Cisco Learning Network. One can join the community of individuals with the same interest on their conversation about careers, technologies, opportunities and even enjoy games as well. For IT professional who want to shine on their field, Cisco opens the door for great opportunities in the chosen field.