Enjoying new computer applications

I didn't know what post to write for this blog because I've been focusing on encoding data in the sales application of Tiens since the cut-off is every 24th day of the month. After that I also encode a summary of the same data in a CRM application for a different objective.

Perhaps it was not just obligation that forced me to focus on completing these encoding tasks which are coupled by checking and monitoring, I simply enjoyed doing them because both applications are user friendly. I never liked encoding, it is such a boring task for me. But I easily appreciate computer applications, and I like discovering all their features if I found out they are easy to use. If they're not easy to use, I don't waste my time.

I am relieved that I don't have to think hard what post to write. It feels good to say that I'm enjoying so though those simple feelings will create just a short post, I'm contented to just write about them.

Skyway

I won't be talking about the Skyway in Manila which is a well known highway going to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. To some extent, I will talk about the "Skyway" that I've known when I was still a child decades ago, when I wasn't even studying yet. We lived in a restaurant called "Skyway" which was in front of the Cotabato City airport at that time (no longer the airport now). I had a very good childhood because my first cousins were also there and when our parents were busy attending to the customers at the restaurant at lunch time, they would leave us playing to our hearts' content in the living room. I think it was in the afternoon when they would allow us to play at the runway field for the airplanes. It was such a big playground so I could say I was one of the luckiest children at that time, together with my eldest brother and first cousins.

A decade passed when I again lived in a restaurant called "Skyway II" by my mother since it was near the airport in Paranaque. It was again a very happy place because my youngest brother was only one year old and customers were always entertained by his antics especially his "dancing" while seated on the counter of the restaurant with the jukebox playing. A photo of my brother dancing was taken during one of those moments but I wonder who holds a copy of that photo. My sketch of my brother shown here is what I could remember of that photo.

Life has ups and downs and I think it was after a year when I had experienced the first "downs" in my life as a child. My youngest brother was two years old and he knew nothing about our situation. He remained happy as usual playing in his big playground which was the wide frontage of the line of apartments where we lived in one of the doors. We were in "K" door so you can imagine how long my brother's playground could be. He played and played with his t-shirt full of holes and his face dirty. I was not even a teenager at that time, I thought that was normal for all children his age. I was his caretaker at that time while our mother was earning a living. I would feed him bread and canned pork and beans at lunch and he was always happy and contented with his food.

Although my brothers and I were happiest as children while in a place called "Skyway", I can say we had a very good childhood in general because we saw the differences between hard and easy, happy and sad or more and less at an early age and perhaps realized early also that there was not much difference between them because they would always lead to the other. Our place called "Skyway" always had a lot of people inside, perhaps that was also one reason why we were happy in those places. As far as I can remember, the reason why we left "Skyway II" was because of its risk to our lives since there was always "gun shooting" in the vicinity and during those times our mother would tell us to lie flat on our tummies.

I wonder if we still have the right to use the name "Skyway" since it originated from us. Just in case we will use it, it should be "Skyway III". My youngest brother is no longer young, I think "Skyway" can have a deeper meaning as far as he is concerned because he has helped and prayed for a lot of people as a pastor, and God Has called him to accomplish more.

My Most Read Blog Posts as of Year Ending 2013

Instead of the usual year-end thoughts that can be mixed with fears, I've decided to see which among my posts in my three blogs had the most number of readers.

The top five posts came from only one blog, "Amusing Tips". It is the newest blog among my three blogs so I don't know if I should be happy to see that, but looking at the top five posts, 3 of them are about health and wellness while 2 about beauty tips so I'm glad to see that. Here are those five posts, just click on the title of the post that you want to read:

1. 3089 pageviews - The Five Elements

2. 2081 pageviews - More Glycemic Index Tips

3. 1793 pageviews - Red lips without lipstick

4. 1472 pageviews - A life saving chart

5. 1041 pageviews - Spirulina Mask

For my "Dreams List" blog, I just would like to mention some notable statistics, like it is awesome to see that until this week, there were still people who have landed to a song I have posted with two versions, and the comments were also awesome. The title of the post and the song is "Dreams are my Reality". I wish that those in the younger generations will also learn this beautiful song.

Lastly, for this blog "I Don't Want To Retire", I was glad to see that until this week, my post "Fighting a fever without medicines" had readers. I think I posted this in the wrong blog since it can be considered an amusing tip too.

What I'd really want to see in my main blog "I Don't Want To Retire" are more readers for my post "God's Message" which was the main reason why I started blogging. Definitely one's religion won't matter in this post because it was a simple message of God for mankind, it was a true simple story and not a made up one. As I've said in the post "My Conversation with God on June 12, 2001", which is part of the introduction of this blog, God proved His love for me by giving me what I wanted: a child that will help me forget about disappointments.

God gave me a very special child because she was born blind and had cerebral palsy. Through this child, God shook off my tendency to expect too much from people. That tendency was the real cause of my disappointments. For eleven years now, this special child taught me to be happy with the smallest things people would show me.

For the coming year, 2014, I wish to continue to be happy with the smallest things people would show me, and with the smallest blessings God will give me. That is also my wish for everyone.

Happy New Year!

So Excited!

Yes, I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it! I've just posted the main reason in my Dreams List blog, titled "A Free Brand New Family Car!". Just by the title alone, you'd guess why I'm so excited, though it would take a lot of guts talking to people for me to achieve it. Not only guts of course, but a lot of positive thinking, so help us God!

I changed that last statement which was originally "so help me God", because it is not only me involved here but a lot of my relatives and friends who can also get the free brand new car after or even before I get mine. It is the network marketing plan of Tiens that would make that possible, and thank God it is a very good plan that doesn't have to be "binary" to make it work.

Thank you Lord for these small blessings of excitement and happiness that makes people forget about any problems at hand.

A Better Pomodoro

This post should be a sequel of my post three months ago, titled "A Better Life", which mentioned about my goal to get rid of cancer cells present in my body, and present in everyone's body my age, by the way. I seem to be successful in my goal so far, because the results of my pre-diagnostic tests on the presence of cancer cells showed they are gradually decreasing, though still within the positive range meaning if I don't do something about it and make it negative, then it can be a case of diagnostic cancer later.

The past year, I've been cooking Pomodoro but using a canned marinara sauce, canned mushrooms and canned spicy tuna. I can no longer do that because canned goods are forbidden for a person who'd like to eliminate cancer cells. Until I found bottled alternatives, though seemed more expensive at first. Like the Cadia Marinara Sauce which costs 279 pesos at Healthy Options but may be used for 5 recipes of Pomodoro. Instead of spicy tuna, I used bottled Spanish sardines. For salt, it should be sea salt, not iodized salt which can be synthetic. The oil must be extra virgin olive oil in bottle and the heat should be the lowest heat of the stove. Anyway, here's the recipe of what I call "A Better Pomodoro":

For every 100 grams of uncooked spaghetti pasta:

2 tbsps. chopped white onion (1/4 of a big bulb)
2 tbsps. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (includes 2 tsps. for sauteing)
1/2 cup marinara sauce (bottled or may be prepared beforehand using another recipe)
1 tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tbsp. coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves (around 10 leaves)
2 pcs Spanish sardines if bigger than usual, broken into 5 or 6 parts with fork (Milk Fish Spanish Style sardines may be used), or 4 pcs. small sardines, each piece broken into 3 parts (the Young's Town brand has bigger sardines than other brands).

In a pan using low heat, saute the chopped white onion in 2 tsps. of Extra Virgin Olive Oil until soft. Add the 1/2 cup of marinara sauce, 1 tbsp. water, 1 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1/2 tsp. sea salt, then mix and simmer for about one minute. Add the chopped fresh basil leaves and simmer for half minute. Set aside (this Basic Pomodoro sauce may be used some other day by freezing).

Boil water just enough for the spaghetti to be cooked "al dente". Drain.

Add the prepared sardines to the Basic Pomodoro sauce in the pan and add 1 tsp. of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Simmer for half minute and remove from heat.

Pour the drained cooked spaghetti on a platter and pour the Pomodoro sauce with sardines on top. Toss with forks until thoroughly mixed. Best served with green salad which helps digest starches more easily.

The Chemical Intake Timeline

The timeline came from the book "Don't Eat Cancer" by Sean David Cohen. The book is about Modern Day Cancer Prevention and stresses the importance of learning to be a defensive consumer to prevent cancer. This timeline is one of the most important facts from the book I strongly felt I should share:

Age 0 – 10: CHEMICAL INTAKE BEGINS, USUALLY RIGHT FROM BIRTH. More than a third of the foods and drinks the average person consumes contains a chemical agent. Many solutions applied to the skin have chemicals also. The sun damages skin more than ever now due to ozone depletion. Kids unknowingly eat m.s.g. or monosodium glutonate, aspartame, sorbitol, fast food and microwave dinners like they‟re going out of style. And remember, chemical intake is not measured for children regularly.

Age 11-20: AN ACCUMULATION OF TOXINS GETS TOO HIGH IN OUR SYSTEM FOR OUR MAJOR ORGANS TO FILTER OUT ALL OF IT. OVERLOAD!

Age 21-27: OUR OUTER AND INNER SKIN LININGS ARE BECOMING DAMAGED AND VULNERABLE.

Age 27-35: CARCINOGENS BEGIN MUTATING OUR CELLS AS THE NEWLY DAMAGED CELLS DIVIDE AND MULTIPLY IRREGULARLY.

Age 36-50: Mutagens SWIM IN OUR BLOOD STREAMS, and begin their search for damaged tissue to which they can attach themselves. PRE-CANCEROUS SKIN SPOTS AND SMALL TUMORS DEVELOP, noticeably enough for good doctors to treat.

Age 51- 61: Major RESEARCH AND TREATMENT BEGIN HERE!! BILLIONS PER YEAR SPENT ON FINDING A CURE FOR THE AFTER-AFFECT OF CHEMICAL CONSUMPTION, including chemotherapy, freezing off skin, surgery to remove basil cell cancer spots, and sometimes removal of major organs, including colons. These people continue consuming chemicals! Cancer cells are more likely to be traveling in the blood at this point, searching for weakened tissue. Within two to three years you‟re dead. Just like that. No social security for you. No retired living, after all those years of work.

God's birthday gift

I didn't want to have a party to celebrate a milestone birthday, all I've wished for was to appreciate God's creations and this time I've thought maybe that would be best done in Palawan. Since the start of the year, I've prepared myself to fulfill that birthday wish so I patiently looked and waited for the cheapest promo air fare that I would find.

The first place in Palawan that I've wished to see was of course the Underground River but my special child couldn't possibly go there so I forgot the whole idea and just decided to have a city tour, anyway, there could be rains or typhoon in August, I've thought. Learning about that, my daughter gave me a birthday gift in advance to possibly have a day tour in Dos Palmas and I and my companions were so happy we could at least go there.

A week before the flight to Palawan, I saw my Tiens network marketing upline at the office where we get our family's supplements, and she sat beside me, perhaps because I seldom see her these days. I was looking at the Medical Information Form of PAL for my special child so she learned that we will be going to Palawan the following week. She said her Goddaughter is a manager of Inland Tours in Palawan, called her up and let me talk to her.

After that day, I had several conversations on the phone with Jackie, the manager of Inland Tours who persistently encouraged me to see the Underground River until it was just a few days left before our flight. We discussed possible ways to bring my special child but not inside the cave like me on the first shift and my husband on the next shift inside the cave but I told her the tour to the Underground River would still be impossible since it was just a few days from our flight and I and my two adult companions didn't have permits yet. She said August is not a peak season so we could still get permits.

August 23 was already full, according to Jackie, so the day of our tour to the Underground River fell on my birthday, August 24. The weather was great in Palawan. I've wanted to appreciate nature on this day and God allowed me to see one of His most beautiful creations. It was so clear to me that this was His birthday gift to me. There is a cathedral inside the Underground River, and my wish to at least pass by a cathedral was also fulfilled.



The following day was the Dos Palmas Day Tour. It was a Sunday. I wasn't inside the church but I felt closer to God through the sound of the waves and the wind touching my face. The feeling was so calming and all I could say was "Thank You Lord!".

Let Mali Stay in Philippines

Elephant Mali has stayed in the Philippines' Manila Zoo for 36 years after she was brought to this country when she was 3 years old. She is now 39 years old and if she was brought up in the wild or in the forest, she would have just one more year to live. But since she was under domestication in the zoo, she can live longer, and can even possibly live till 75 years old.

The newly elected mayor of Manila, Mayor Erap Estrada, has wonderful plans for Mali and the whole Manila Zoo. A new foot gear for Mali is of course on the list. and the upgrading of her habitat, with the possible inclusion of "friends".

Transferring Mali will just subject her to stress and might not even reach the destination alive. For 36 years, she has adapted to a life with a lot of people around. She has heard the laughter of children who had fed her with fruits or vegetables. Just like my special child on the photo who is blind and has cerebral palsy, but kept laughing while feeding Mali because she could feel the "sucking air" from the snout of Mali to get the banana from her hand. Mali surely has a happy soul because she had made so many people happy, even those with disabilities.

A Better Life

If you were one of those who enjoyed life to the fullest, this post might be for you. I was also one of those people, so I might be speaking for myself but at any rate what I will share can give you a new insight or simply serve as a reminder.

I’ve enjoyed my life to the fullest because I have danced, sang as much as I could, and best of all, I’ve eaten any food I’ve wanted. What I enjoyed the most was those bonding moments with my children, eating burgers or fried chicken as well as French fries and doughnuts. It is always a good feeling to think about those times.

Indeed some good things never last because my children whom I spent those beautiful moments are adults now and are enjoying their own lives. I am now in this phase where I have to attend to myself and get rid of the bad effects of most of the foods I have enjoyed. Though I am always young at heart, I have to accept that my body is not that young. Toxins from the food I ate and from the modern environment have accumulated in my body. Because of that, cancer cells have grown for sure, everyone my age has a number of those cells, and my killer cells are continuously fighting with them.

Who will win in the battle between the cancer cells and the killer cells depends on me. My whole immune system will need my help, to choose only the food they need, and cut the food supply of cancer cells like sugar, meat and toxins, not only from the food and environment but also from my emotions like anger. I had a good life in the past but trying my best to keep my body as young as my spirit can give me a better life. And because I chose to have a better life, I bought the tools I will need like a juicer and some health gadgets.

I am now enjoying this new phase in my life because I discover new recipes, some I created on my own, and I feel closer to God because I eat the food He created just for people, in its natural form. I eat a lot of raw vegetable salad, drink the juices from raw vegetables even from cassava. I’ve discovered a food for snack by steaming the pulp from the juiced cassava just for 5 minutes and sprinkling the steamed pulp with muscovado.

When I asked God where to get the cure for dreadful diseases during my conversation with Him in June 2001, He said the cures are abundant and I knew at that time He was referring to the plants around us. Later I also realized that sunshine of course is abundant and just 15 to 20 minutes exposure at the right time, from 9:30 to 10 o’clock in the morning is sufficient.

My husband and I were also blessed by a special child a year after my conversation with God, and this child who will be 11 years old next month, gives us now a natural way to exercise and sweat out the toxins in our body. What more can I ask from God?

Mixing Opposites

I thought I won't be able to describe what I've been doing the past days, but i just figured out what exactly I was doing. The activities involved were focused on the house and the garden. How it started has really nothing to do with the house because I just wanted a better internet connection and a new router was waiting to be installed. However, there were also cables and computer hardware that were no longer needed so the connections should be cleared from them also. So it took movement of tables and clearing some spaces before the router was installed.

It took days for the whole activity to be completed because it was not as simple as I thought. It was not easy to satisfy my third eye. Until I noticed it would be satisfied only when there was a mix of opposites, like the router on the antique looking console table, which was moved from the space dividing the living room and the dining room.

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In the living room, the hard wood dominated the area since it had a big wooden center table and there were electronic equipments also so the whole area just looked "hard". It needed to be balanced by objects that would suggest softness, like more throw pillows and a carpet, or stuffed toys. So I moved out the big center table creating more space. I placed a wood slab on the floor to create a natural look balancing the electronic equipments in the area, and introduced a carpet and additional throw pillows. It was hard to get an unbudgeted small sized carpet so I practically had no choice, I just thought that the tan color of the design will neutralize the other colors in the area while the red background symbolizes fire, which will balance the presence of too much wood (based on the Five Elements theory in Feng Shui). It was nice to notice our pet cats in the area once in a while because they balance the presence of the animal stuffed toys and figurines.

The activity forced me to take some time out from my highly technical home based job. Through the activity I was enjoying some of my hobbies.

Mixing the opposites is just about balancing - the hard with soft, modern with antique, natural with electronics or synthetic, or a technical job with an artistic hobby. Life is like that, it has to follow the simple law of Yin and Yang, and all will be well.

Once again, God placed me in this awesome situation. Thank you Lord!