In her first appearance on American television, 15 year-old Charice Pempengco from the Philippines performs an incredible version of, “And I Am Telling You.”
Watch her video here : Ellen Show
My deepest sympathy goes to the family of Dan Fogelberg. We have lost a great man. He will live on in our hearts and through his music. The pop-rock singer best known for his songs "Longer," "Same Old Lang Syne," "Hard to Say," and "Leader of the Band" from the 80's, has passed away at his home in Maine at the age of 56 due to prostate cancer.
Dan Fogelberg created powerful songs in simplest form which mostly dealt with emotional issues in personal relationships. "Same Old Lang Syne," which details the events surrounding a surprise reunion with an old lover, is a good example of Fogelberg's gentle approach to potentially heart-wrenching personal events.
I remember the first song I learned to play in guitar with plucking technique was "Leader of the Band." That was over 20 years ago. I chose it because of the beautiful melody and I found the piece easy to play. I didn't pay too much attention to the lyrics or to what it meant. Only now that I watched him in youtube perform it, just him and his guitar, did I realize how personal it was for him. He sang it with so much passion and true emotion that you feel each word comes out of his heart and soul. This song brings back memories of time with my father, who has passed on. Most of us often don't realize how precious time is with the people in our life until we lose them. However, memories never fade away, and songs like this bring them right to the surface.
Just a few months ago I got hold of another piece by Dan. It's the song "Longer". Very beautiful song. I didn't think I could do it but it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
Dan, your beautiful songs are the best gift we have ever received. They offer so much solace and comfort. You will always be remembered.Here are some of his songs:
Leader of the Band
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
I have been waiting for this release for weeks now.
According to afterdawn.com, rumors on the internet seem to indicate an iPhone firmware 1.1.3 release on December 11. The original rumor indicated a release of December 8th, however, so it is hard to say how accurate this could be. CNET France weighs in on the update, saying that they think that the new firmware will include a new disk mode for storing general files, and a voice memo feature to record your own voice reminders. The disk mode will work in the a similar fashion as the iPod, and will prevent drag and drop of playable music files to the iPhone.
Of course, this latest update, whenever it does come, will break the Jailbreak software that allows users to install third party software onto their iPhone, and so anyone using this software should probably wait for a patch. An official 3rd Party Developer SDK comes out from Apple in February.
via [AfterDawn]
I have been craving for balut for weeks now but the store I go to seems to always run out. This surprises me because they usually have a bunch of them in the fridge. So one day I asked.
How come you're always out of balut? Because it's winter. The lady replied. Typically, ducks lay more eggs in summer when the days are longer and fewer in the winter when days are shorter.
Ahh... Maybe that explains why they put lights on a poultry.
Anyways, I guess I'll have to wait until spring or summer. Or try to call the store everyday :-)
For someone who has not heard of balut, it is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside. We boil it and eaten in the shell. They are considered delicacies of the Philippines and some other Asian coutries like Cambodia and Vietnam. Popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack, balut are mostly sold by street vendors at night in the regions where they are available. They are often served with beer. The Filipino and Malay word balut (balot) roughly translates to mean "wrapped".
Most people prefer to eat balut with a pinch of salt. Others like to dip it with vinegar with chili. We usually start out by sipping the broth surrounding the embryo from the egg before the shell is peeled and the chick and yolk inside can be eaten. Nothing but the shell is wasted.
Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:
In the Philippines, balut have recently entered higher cuisine by being served as appetizers in restaurants: cooked adobo style, fried in omelettes or even used as filling in baked pastries.
Today, balut production has not been mechanized in favor of the traditional production by hand. Although balut are produced throughout the Philippines, balut-makers in Pateros are renowned for their careful selection and incubation of the eggs.
Fertilized duck eggs are kept warm in the sun and stored in baskets to retain warmth. After nine days, the eggs are held to a light to reveal the embryo inside. Approximately eight days later the balut are ready to be cooked, sold, and eaten. Vendors sell cooked balut out of buckets of sand, used to retain warmth, and are accompanied by small packets of salt. Uncooked balut are rarely sold in Southeast Asia.In the United States, many Asian markets occasionally carry uncooked balut eggs, though their demand in North America is not very great. The cooking process is identical to that of hard-boiled chicken eggs, and baluts are enjoyed while still warm.
Duck eggs that are not properly developed after nine to twelve days are sold as penoy, which look, smell and taste similar to a regular hard-boiled egg. In Filipino cuisine, these are occasionally beaten and fried, similar to scrambled eggs, and served with a vinegar dip.
The age of the egg before it can be cooked is a matter of local preference. In the Philippines, the perfect balut is 17 days old, at which point it is said to be balut sa puti ("wrapped in white"). The chick inside is not old enough to show its beak, feathers or claws and the bones are undeveloped. The Vietnamese prefer their balut matured from 19 days up to 21 days, when the chick is old enough to be recognizable as a baby duck and has bones that will be firm but tender when cooked. In Cambodia, most people prefer to eat it while it is still warm in its shell. Served with nothing more than a little garnish, it is widely popular. Usually, it is accompanied by a mixture of lime juice and ground pepper.
A friend of ours just sent us this comedic wonderful online holiday greetings from OfficeMax's elfyourself.com. The site allows visitors to upload a photo. The face is then attached to an animated elf body which dances to the tune of Jingle Bells.
Click on the picture to see my family's version of it.
Here's the captured video on YouTube:
(this post is incomplete! -- will update it later....)
Last summer I tried to sell my wife's car because we needed the money and I didn't wanna spend more on maintenance.
It's a great car but we thought it was right to let it go. Unfortunately, no-one made a good offer at the time.
So, I'm thinking of putting it back on the market next spring.
Here are some pics:
This evening was special because we met some celebrities from PI. Didn't know most of them, but hey, they're popular back home. Or at least some of them are.
The girls are from a group called Viva Hot Babes. The group popularized the songs bulaklak and sayaw kikay. They've also been casted on movies. These girls are sexy hot. So most of the movies they played on were not suited for the young ages.
Let me start with who I think is the cutest of them all. Singer, actress, and hotty Cherry Hazel “Sheree” Bautista. I think she's one of the original member of the Viva Hot Babes. I found some interesting facts about her on the web. She has been in the cover of MAXIM and FHM Philippines. She began her career lounge-singing in her hometown of Cagayan de Oro at 16. Her debut single, which I actually like was "Heaven Knows."
Sheree on MySpace
Sheree on Friendster
Here's the "Heaven Knows" video:
The other girl was Michelle Bayle. Just as hot and just as sexy. Whew! But she's more likeable. She reminded me of Bernadette Sembrano when I met her for an episode in "Nagmamahal Kapamilya." Michelle is as friendly and down-to-earth as ate B. She welcomes any conversation and she can talk for hours. She was one of the last ones to come but the first one to accept to have her photos taken.
Michelle used to be a high school cheerleader in Canada. Cheered for the Toronto Argonauts, who are part of the National Canadian Football in 2000. We almost had the same birth day. She was on movies and tv series like Panday, Beautiful Life, Otso-otso pamela-mela wan, Lastikman, Bestman: 4 Better, Not 4 Worse, Jologs, Basta't kasama kita, Forevermore, I Think I'm in Love, Sanggano't sanggago, and Pangako sa 'yo.
Michelle's Website
Michelle on Friendster
Now here's the fun girl -- Myles Hernandez. She stood up before I could ask her for a photo. She smiled, with her cute dimple, and said "do you even know who I am?" All I could do was smile in shame because I had no idea who she was. hahahaha. But she was cool with it. We talked for while. She was the jokester on the group. She tried to guess how old I was and she was off by 5 years (younger). So that made me happy. We took a lot of pictures together. She kept asking if I'd watch their concert and I just answered with a smile :-)
Miles' Website
But there were times that she herself would joke around and say "puro lang kayo pakuha ng pictures, wala naman kayong mga tickets!" And then she said "mga epal kayo!" What the hell does that mean? First time I heard that word.
There are only two days in a year I anticipate most for big sale shopping. July 4th and Black Friday.
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, where it is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season.
The term "Black Friday" has been traced back only to the 1970s. "Black Friday" was originally so named because of the heavy traffic on that day, although most contemporary uses of the term refer instead to it as the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black (i.e., turning a profit).
In many cities it is not uncommon to see shoppers lined up hours before stores with big sales open. Once inside, the stores shoppers often rush and grab, as many stores have only a few of the big draw items.
Electronics and popular toys are always on the top of my list.
I set my alarm at 3:45 this morning so I could have a big chance of being one of the first persons in line. My plan was to be at best buy and grab one of the 12 available 22 inch Samsung flat screen monitor.
I got there shortly after 4:00am but the line was already all the way at the back of the building. There were probably over 500 of them lined up. Some of them camped out. Of course I backed out. There's no way I could get that monitor with the limited number of items they have. So I drove up to my second choice of shop -- Staples. But not without grabbing a free coffee from Best Buy. At least I got something out there.
I believe this would be my 3rd Black Friday at Staples. They always have great deals on electronics. I bought 3 items.
Here's what I got from them this year:
1) TomTom One 3rd Edition GPS ($104.99 after $20 Gift Card)
I wasn't really planning on buying this one but I mentioned it to my wife when I was browsing the Staples Ad. Of course she wasn't interested. But everyone in front of the line kept talking about the GPS on sale. There were Navicon, Magellan, and TomTom on sale. I was behind an old couple who were browsing the Ad, and I asked if I could take a look. Navicon was on sale for $99 and TomTom for $129.99. I thought to myself that this could really be a good deal. And then the old guy asked me what items I'd buy. I said the items on my list plus the TomTom. He talked me into buying the Navicon because of the better features than TomTom. I told him I've never heard of Navicon but I'd buy it based on what he told me. However there's only 6 available in the store and I was 7th in line. The first 6 on the line were planning to buy it. So it's a matter of who gets to them first.
The door opened and we all raced to the GPS station. But there was no Navicon. Only TomTom and Magellan. So I grabbed one empty TomTom box because there's only 3 left. Then we proceeded to the register only to find that it's packed with people. People that were behind us in the line. People that were lucky. Lucky to have grabbed the limited stock of Navicon.
I ran back to the GPS station and got another TomTom box and gave it to the old couple. We lined up in the register to get the GPS. But they were giving the GPS even to those people who do not have an empty box. Now we're all pissed! The old couple was able to grab one. The last one in stock. And I was next in line. That meant no GPS for me. So, I thought I probably wasn't meant to have a GPS. But the old couple was really nice enough to offer me the GPS. I wasn't gonna accept it but they insisted.
Well, I'm glad I took it. This GPS is really nice. It's very easy to use and startup is really quick. And it's handy and fits in my pocket so I can take it anywhere -- even indoors. I love the night mode color too. I'll write more review later....
2) Maxtor 500GB OneTouch 4 External Drive ($79.98 after $20 rebate)
Now this was on the top of my list. I needed an external drive because my 250Gb is filling up fast. And this drive is the cheapest external drive I could find. Another good feature here is the one touch backup feature. I haven't used it so I can't write a review on this one yet.
3) Altec Lansing PC Speaker VS4121 ($19.98 after $20 rebate)
Ain't that a thing of beauty? Wait 'til you hear its sound. It's amazing! This was on sale for 75% off the regular price.
Each satellite contains 2 x 28 mm full range drivers, as well as a 3” mid-bass driver that points downward. The satellite is rated for 6 watts per channel, but those 6 watts are used very wisely. The subwoofer contains a single 6.5” long throw woofer rated at 19 watts. The total continuous power is rated at a meager 31 watts RMS.
These speakers do not exhibit any hiss at elevated sound levels by themselves.
The bass is very pronounced and crisp and not boomy or indistinct. The music is very clear and neutral without any shrieking highs or boomy lows. This was well worth my twenty bucks.
Now, the only item left on my list was a flat screen LCD monitor. I was pretty sure Best Buy ran out of this so I headed to WalMart because they have a 19 inch Acer Monitor for $150. They still have a few lying around so I grabbed one. As I walked to the Register ready to pay for it, I bumped into a friend. He was just at Best Buy and told me that they still have the Samsung 22 inch monitors. But we both thought that they would run out pretty soon, so I went ahead and paid for my Acer Monitor. Afterwards I drive to Best Buy hoping that I could still get a Samsung. I was really aiming for that one because I've had a Samsung 19 inch for a while now and I just love every bit of it. I got there at around 7:30 AM and voila! They had like 6 more available.
The main reason I wanted to buy a flatscreen is for my daughter. She always use the computer but the PC she's using has this bulky 20 inch CRT monitor which emits too much radiation and I'm really worried about her because her face is like inches away from it.
SAMSUNG SyncMaster 22 inch LCD Monitor ($199.00)
