Moymoy Palaboy The New Superstar!

Check this out friends!

I was lying in bed last Friday night watching “Bubble Gang” with my wife and 3 yr. old son.  One of the segments was “IyoTube“, if featured two guys lip-synching a popular song of a foreign artist. 

The way these two supposedly grown men lip-synching the song was so hilarious that I was laughing so hard.  My wife and son were no better.  My son was laughing so hard with the antics on T.V. that he spilled his milk all over him.  Then last night as my wife and I are surfing the web we came across “You tube”  and found out that the guys doing the lip-synching has their own You Tube Channel!  We checked it out and Wow!  These guys has made so much videos doing the lip-synching thing.

It turns out that these guys are brothers the one without the wig is James Ronald Obeso and the guy wearing a wig is his brother Rodfil.  Rodfil opted to wear a wig to conceal his identity.

The guys are so huge that GMA and MTV signed them up!  They even have fans abroad.  One example is that during their gig in Bedrock an American approached them and told them that his brother is a “huge fan” it turns out the the American’s name is John Cetera and his brother was the one and only Peter Cetera of the band “Chicago”

These guys will surely be a superstar soon!  They are actually doing some tours and they went to Adamson University Tuesday and they are scheduled to go to Miriam College tomorrow (Aug 1. 2008).  Tonight they will be features in “100% Pinoy” in GMA!

Check out there website here and there YouTube channel here.

So Watch out world!  Momoy Palaboy is here!

What’s The Buzz about Havaianas?

Flip-flops!  They’re are without a doubt the most worn footwear in the Philippines.  They are so comfortable, light and now a days fashionable.  My wife adores them specially the ones made by a certain Brazilian company named Havaianas!

I went to the “Flip-flop Store” with my wife a few weeks ago and I haven’t seen so many thong slippers in one room.  And what’s more shocking is that the store is so full!  Men and women it seems can’t get enough of these flops.  I saw a dear old lady purchased 6 of these and still can’t decide if she bought enough.  I took a look at a few of them and I must admit the style and colors are nice, fashionable to some extent.  But when I look at the price tag I thought to myself “Insane!”  The lowest that I saw was about 700 Pesos and that’s for children.  The most expensive was about 1,250 pesos.  But I wasn’t sure if that was the most expensive.  I was so dizzy with the prices that I to stop and took a seat.  “Wow!”  I thought again, and they say the Philippines is in the verge of poverty.  Clearly the people stampeding into the store has lots of cash to throw away. In fact the Northwestern University National Champion Lacrosse team wore Flip-flops when the met the President George Bush last year.

I just have to get to the bottom of it.  I know it’s fashionable, but so are other flip-flop brands.  Hell I even prefer “Islanders“, but I know it’s “Ewww” to other people.  But still the mystery of these “slippers” left me with the intense desire to investigate. Unfortunately I can’t get enough information to post it here.  I tried their website but I only got the order form.  Either they don’t have info available on the web or they just want profits.  All I want to know is, what kind of rubber are they made of and why oh why are they so expensive?  I checked  the prices on the U.S. website and a pair that I saw cost $22.00.  Insane I told you.

But if it’s the price of fashion who am I to complain.  At least these flip-flops puts a smile on my darling wife’s beautiful face.

Boring, Boring, Boring…………..

Wow!  I can’t believe it.  8 days to go before my job orientataion and another 7 days to go before I start training with my new company.  And I am bored! 

Of course, I’m happy that I get to spend sometime with my son, I can do that everyday.  But with no adult coversation for the rest of the day is totally unbearable.  My son’s nanny, don’t know how to speak tagalog and that is always a problem.  I get to talk to my wife every morning before she goes to work and on the evenings when she got home.  But still…..

Although I’m thankful that I can get some rest after 4 years of working, but one can only rest so much.  Still I’m not totaly complaining.  I just want to release the bored feeling from inside me.

I tried watching all my DVD’s, listen to all my CD’s.  Thank God I know how to blog.  Otherwise I’d be in the insane aquarium. 

 

What do you do when your bored?

Preparing For A New Start!

It’s been awhile!  I was so busy preparing my documents these last few days that I even forgot to check my email!  Yesterday I went to the NBI Clearance center to renew my NBI clearance.  I haven’t renewed it in years so I was forced to get a new one plus the new I.D. renewal card.  Every thing is efficient!  Kudos to the NBI for creating a clerance center.  At least things are much faster than before. 

I’ll have more blogs in the works.  When I’m settled on my new job it’s back to normal for me.

Helloooo 24/7!!!!!

Yes!!!!! I did it! I’m not ashamed to show my face anymore! I just signed with 24/7 Customer Philippines!

I was really anxious to find a job after that traumatic and sad experience with West Contact services Inc. I was really hesitant to work for another call center again. But I need a job. So Last Monday, I bravely went to their offices in Valero St. in Makati and applied for a job.

The Initial Interview was a breeze, no worries there.    The Exam was also a breeze. Still no worries. But when the final interview came I was so nervous. I drank about 4 bottles of Coke and smoke a pack of cigarettes just settle down. It’s not that I don’t have any confidence in myself it’s just that I haven’t been to an interview in years. But because of the laid back atmosphere in of the company, which helped me relax as well I was able to pass the Final interview. It was touch and go for a moment there because the interviewer seemed to forget to smile. Well, he was all smiles while calling my name. But as soon as the door was closed the smile turned into a frown which says “OK! Time to get serious.” After that interview I had to wait 10 minutes to wait for the results! When they called my name I almost screamed in fear. Then the told me two beautiful words “You Passed! Yes!!!!!!!!!!

I signed my Job Offer today and everything looks great! As I said earlier I’m no longer ashamed to show my face anymore. I may had experienced a set back. But It looks as if I’m back on track!

Goodbye West…….

Last Sunday was my last day at West Contact Services Inc. I’ve been with them for 3 years and 11 months. Wow! I can’t believe that I stayed with West for almost 4 years. But I’ll never forget the lessons and training the company gave me. I just wish I could have stayed longer. but faith has other plans.

Today, was that last day that I will see the company; I just finished processing my clearance and all. Now time to move on to a more bigger and brighter future.

I’ll keep you posted on where I’ll be popping next.

Moral Compass or Ignorant Institution?

Condoms, the pill, Diaphragms these are what we call instruments for artificial methods in family planning. The use of these methods are being supported by the Philippines Government to help Filipinos plan their families. Of course the government is also endorsing the natural methods of birth control like the Rhythm method or just (shudder) abstaining form sex.

The Roman Catholic Church cried foul! The church finds the use of the artificial methods of birth control to be immoral. Rumor has it that a public servant was threatened by the diocese of their place that he will not be given Holy Communion if he pursues to author the ordinance of a population management and reductive health ordinance in his city. Although the church denies the allegations, it still makes me wonder. . . Are they nuts?

Population control is I believe one of the solutions to fight poverty in the country. Take for example “Juan” a street sweeper in Manila. He has 6 children and he earns about 350 pesos a day, before taxes and other deductions that are required by the government to deduct from an individual’s salary. So Juan gets to take home about 250 ++ a day. Let’s face it my friends 250 to 300 pesos a day is not enough to provide food, clothing, shelter and education to his children. A kilo of rice cost about 19 pesos and that’s the so called “NFA” rice being sold by the government. A kilo of meat is about 160 to 190 pesos. But Juan has 6 children, so 1 kilo is not enough for all of them, for the whole day. 1 kilo of rice will not last a day for these folks. They need more. The money Juan earned only went to food. Now imagine, just imagine that one his children got sick. Where will they get the money for medicine? What if the child needs to be confined in the hospital? Where will they get the money for the hospital bills? See what I’m getting at?

The government is doing it’s best to help solve the problem. Teaching an individual how to plan his family can really help in the future. The way I see it. The government is teaching all the methods whether artificial or natural and let the individual choose. But the church says, it is immoral to teach the artificial methods. The government should only teach natural methods. For the first time in my life I’ll be supporting the government on this one.

Free choice! Let the people decide. The church can say all they want, but in the end only an individual can decide for himself.

What is more immoral? Use a condom, and prevent your wife being pregnant every year so that you can take care of your family better, send children to school and feed them enough. Or have children every year, and since you don’t earn enough you let your children grow up hungry and uneducated.

So I ask again? Is the church still the “moral compass” of our daily lives? The institution that will tell us what’s right or wrong? The institution that taps an individual on his shoulder and tells him the consequences of his actions? Or is the Church an aging, ignorant institution whose old fashion beliefs doesn’t fit the modern world? An Institution that doesn’t care if people are hungry due to lack of money to buy food, as long as they can say to themselves “At least I didn’t use a condom” An Institution that would rather have a family with a dozen hungry children, who will beg on the streets and sometimes commit crimes just so they can eat? Wouldn’t it rather have a family consisting of a father, a mother and two children? Children that the the parents can support, feed better food, send to school and as a result be a productive member of the community?

Let’s be clear about one thing. I’m not against the church. I was baptized in the Roman Catholic church since I was a baby, I grew up in a house where every Sunday is a “Family Day” where we hear mass on that day. I attended catholic school from primary to secondary levels. But I also know that the Roman Catholic’s stand on reproductive health can really be frightening. The children has the right to be fed, educated and sheltered. But if we don’t control population how can an individual who earns minimum wage provide these very basic things to his children if he counted 12 mouths to feed?

Just thinking out loud!

Up! Up and Away…..

unfortunately it’s not on a beautiful balloon.

Yesterday, the oil companies in the Philippines raised their gas prices for the umpteenth time. Diesel prices was given a 3 peso raised, gasoline 1 peso and LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) had a 1 peso and 50 centavos hike. Outrageous! The price hike was initiated even though the price of crude oil recorded their biggest drop in weeks! According tho the latest issue of the Philippine Star; Some oil companies implemented a “One-time, big-time” increase to end the burden of weekly increases on the transport sector. Wow! They really are a bunch of nice guys, aren’t they? Thinking of the little people are they? Mph!

One of the main effects of this ridiculous prices is the demand of the Jeepney drivers are now asking another fare hike increase as well. They are asking a whopping 10 peso minimum fare. This is only a few weeks after the fare for Jeepneys were increased just a few weeks ago. But! I really can’t blame them. Can you? PUV’s (Public Utility Vehicles) needs fuel to service their customers, and with all the latest increases in gasoline and diesel prices their small earnings has just gotten smaller. According to the jeepney driver that I spoke to this morning. They needed the Php.2.50 increase in the minimum fare so that they can at least earn 300 pesos a day. 300 pesos and they can just get by with it. I’m earning closed to a thousand a day and my wife earns almost 600 to 700 pesos a day working in a bank, and we’re still not able to cope up with our family’s basic needs. And the jeepney drivers’ only wish is to earn 300 pesos. Man! Worst of it the four major groups of Jeepney drivers have threatening a Transport holiday if their demands are not met. The Taxi fare will have a 10 peso increased on the 25th of July. Thank God the Bus transport groups are not asking for an increase. But you can never tell.

But! What about the consumers? People who uses PUVs? Don’t they get a say in all this? In case the government approved the fare hike, food prices will go up next. And there’s an ongoing rice shortage in the Philippines.

The only thing not rising are the salaries of employed individuals. IF all prices goes up, how will the people cope? Another fare hike increase and I swear I won’t ride a jeepney anymore if I’m just going to a place that’s only a few blocks. I’ll walk instead.

But stll I can’t blame the Jeepney drivers for asking for a better price, they have families. The thins is I, we all have families too. This is a classic no win situation. The only winners are the oil companies.

And they can’t burn in hell for all I care.

WordCamp Philippines 2008

I only started blogging last month. No, I actually started blogging in Friendster, then on my Multiply page. I was never consistent on those two sites, until I heard about wordpress. I was impressed with all the blogs that I had read and I said to my self “I can do that.” So the rest is history.

But a few days ago, I discovered that I need to know more about blogging itself. How to write more interesting entries, more spice in other words. Then came WordCamp Philippines 2008! I read it’s objectives and decided to sign up. I guess it’s my simple way of saying “Thank You” to word press. For helping me overcome my fear of writing my thoughts, and help me meet new friends. WordPress is the premiere blogging site in my opinion. To see it develop to an even better website and full-featured content management system will surely bring tears to my eyes.

I know that the upcoming WordCamp to be held on September 6, 2008 at the College of St. Benilde in Taft Avenue, Manila will help me reach my goals as a blogger and as an individual.

The Wordcamp Philippines 2008 is being sponsored by the following:

• i.PH: the Domain for Individuals
• Free Online Flash Games
• Wazzup Manila Philippines
• Real Estate CRM
• Real Estate Website Designers
• Orange County Real Estate
• Auto Insurance Quotes
• Lane Systems Inc.
• RedMedia

See you there!

The Dark Knight

Clearly darker than “Batman Begins”! But certainly more fun!

The Caped Crusader is back and he is back with a bang! The latest installment in the Batman Franchise gave so much thrills to viewers. It also featured and explain why Batman is indeed the “World’s Greatest Detective”.

Bale once again took the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman his own. Giving it more depth and personality.

The only bad thing that happen in the film is the inclusion of Maggie Gyllenhaal as “Rachel Dawes”. Although the producers had no choice to replace Katie Holmes, they should have chosen someone younger or look young. Rachel Dawes looked like Bruce Wayne’s Mama in the film.

But! Heath Ledger’s Joker is very unique, very believable and gave Jack Nicholson a run for his money. If Ledger didn’t won an Oscar for that performance then the academy has gone senile.

Aaron Eckhart’s Two-face make – up is unbelievable! You’d really think that it’s his real face.

Action sequences are top notch, of course the effects was outstanding!

The Dark Knight! The Must see movie this July!