A practical gift

I have been friends with Tim for a long time now. Seventeen years, to be exact. Imagine that! Who would have thought back then that our friendship would last this long? Years still counting. We see each other regularly until now. We have managed to overcome the major obstacles hurled at our friendship and here we are! After more than a decade and a half, I am proud to say that we still call each other the best of friends.

It will be her 31st birthday come April 8th. I want to give her something special that she can use. A practical gift, so to speak. And I found one already! Take a look at the photo below… What do you think it is?

It’s a CC Skye bracelet! It’s actually a trendy leather bracelet with gold screws. This is from the celebrity favorite CC Skye.

I am sure my fashion plate friend, Tim, will appreciate this one. She loves adding to her growing collection of different accessories. The CC SKYE Screw Bracelet in Pewter can be found at StyleHive.com, a site where you can bookmark items that you want to add to your wishlist. The screw bracelet is only one of the items that can be found in this web site. Check out StyleHive.com now for more.

Are You Bakunado?

My sister, Vivian, easily gets sick. I remember my mom telling me that when my sister was still a baby, she would get sick again and again. They would bring her to the doctor regularly for check ups and would go home with a number of new medicine for her. My parents were desperate to make her well and they sought the help of another doctor. The new doctor advised them to get my sister a Flu vaccine. It worked like magic! My sister slowly recovered from her bout of sickness and would catch cough and colds but not as frequently as before.

Fast forward 25 years after, my sister is now an accountant, working for a top insurance company here in the country. She just transferred to the company and since she wants to give a good impression, she is giving 200% of herself to her new work. Late nights, 6-day work weeks… my sister is showing signs of fatigue and stress. You can tell that her immune system is low and that she is prone to sickness. It’s like being 3 years old once again.

She consulted the company doctor and she was advised to get a Flu shot. Her medical history was taken into account. The environment she is currently in was checked - most of her co-workers are sick. The doctor knew right away that she will get sick, too, prone as she is. After the flu shot, my sister run a high fever, a common after-effect of a flu vaccine. Better a day or two of fever, than a week of Trangkaso, don’t you think?

Vivian is as healthy as she can be right now. She still has late nights and too much work but the Bakuna is working like magic in her once again. These days, it’s hard to be sick. Aside from being costly, it takes a toll on your body and creates emotional stress in the people around you. That’s why a flu vaccine is important.

For more information on flu vaccine, go to http://www.bakuna.ph now.

Hectic days

I still miss my old company from time to time. I miss some of my old co-workers. I miss my boss whom I consider my mentor. Just last night, I was making searches in two social networking sites, checking what happened to some people I know. I was happy with what I learned about them. Most are married but some are still happily single like me.

I miss those hectic days when not only was I working frantically to finish the company’s financial statements, I was also acting as an admin officer. Permits, truck rentals for office transfers, use of office premises on weekends… these were some odd tasks assigned to me when I was just starting out.

Oh well, I just miss those days…

Bravely fighting

There are so many things in life that we need to be thankful for. That’s one of the things I was reminded of when I saw this documentary about poverty. People out there are suffering, unable to eat enough, sometimes without anything to eat at all. No roof and walls they can find solace in. Most of these people don’t even know what a Hansgrohe faucet is. But you can find them smiling, bravely fighting what life dealt them. It’s made me think of saying thanks for everything, including the tough times.

Updated: Abu Sayyaf’s Red Cross hostages

UPDATE: Please visit this LINK to support and pray for the Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba. Let us all pray for the safety of the three hostages.

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Two current issues caught my attention the whole of yesterday… the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) volunteers’ continued captivity in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the HK writer Chip Tsao’s racial slur against Filipinos.

Red Cross volunteers’ continued captivity in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf

Jakob Kellenberger, a former Swiss diplomat and current head of the ICRC, issued a rare public appeal for the Abu Sayyaf to release the three Red Cross volunteers being hostaged by the group. As a response to the appeal, the government considered the demands of the Abu Sayyaf to pull out the troops in Indanan, Sulu where the the kidnapped victims are reportedly being held. Abu Sayyaf even issued a threat that should their demands are not met, they will behead a hostage.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno announced on national tv that the government troops would withdraw and it would take 36 hours at most to complete it. It began last March 28. Upon hearing this development, a reporter from ABS-CBN was able to interview Abu Sayyaf’s leader Albader Parad and he promised to release a hostage as soon as the withdrawal of troops is complete. He even promised no later than Monday morning, which should have been yesterday.

But lo and behold! After the pullout of government troops comes another demand from the Abu Sayyaf! This time around, the rebels want a total pullout of the troops in the entire island! Why am I not surprised by this development?

The Abu Sayyaf seized Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba, Swiss Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni last January 15. It’s been more than 3 months now and the three are complaining about the hardships they are experiencing from the captivity and are actually begging Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, to do something about their condition.

The government is saying that they are running out of options to get the hostages back. A complete pullout of the troops in Sulu will result to anarchy, according to them. And I believe them. Something needs to be done to this Abu Sayyaf Group and fast!

Chip Tsao’s racial slur in my next post…