A long list of things to do

I had my second exam in Inorganic Chemistry today, it was really long!

Today’s a very busy day. I called up so many people and went to so many places. I am so tired…

Also today, I just got this news from my thesis adviser that she’s going to Australia on April and she’ll go back next year. Oh no! I need to finish my research before the term ends! If not, I’ll be left hanging on the air, and I don’t want that. There’s another thing that I’m worried about… I signed up for the Chemistry Congress on April, because my adviser wants me to. I registered today, but I wasn’t able to pass the required extended abstract, because I don’t have the results yet:( I just hope the technical team of the Chem Congress will give me an extension.

I want to sleep already, it’s 12:24 a.m., but just by looking at my long list of things to do, I know sleeping is not a good idea.

Excellent pics of the year 2006


I haven’t posted my daily entries last week, for I have been real busy. I’ve been working on my research on biodiesel. I want to finish it before the term ends.

Anyway, I want to relax right now, before starting on my report. I’ve cheked my mail, and I saw this greatly captured picture.
Really fascinating, huh?

Zoe’s Date of Birth

I’m 23 years old and I have a two year-old baby already! Zoe just turned two last Tuesday, Feb. 13. JE and I didn’t go to work that day to be with Zoe the whole day. We went to Mall of Asia, because we haven’t been there since the opening day. It’s so big! Gigantic mall! We ate pizza together, and later on, we bought petite ice creams for Zoe (Thumbs up). To see more of the unforgettable moments, just visit this link: jelontok.vox.com

Zoe’s Birthday Party

Zoe will turn 2 years old tomorrow, Feb. 13, but we decided to have the party on the eleventh (yesterday). Last year, we celebrated the party at McDonald’s, but the second birthday party was held at our place (it’s much cheaper).

It went okay. Most of her cousins in the neighborhood are present. Zoe was obviously happy, for she kept on jumping and smiling. Last year, she was so grumpy, because she didn’t take her morning nap. She didn’t even have a picture wherein she’s smiling. But this year, she didn’t take a nap, yet she’s still active and ready to party. She’s really growing, and that’s happening really fast. I feel happy, for I am seeing all her development and growth. There’s nothing greater than being a mom to a super cute and sweet baby.

Zoe rocks!

I feel guilty for I haven’t posted an entry for almost 2 weeks. One of my resolutions is to have an entry on a daily basis. This blog would be my journal. But due to a stack of pile of things to do, I can’t wok on that resolution. I wanted to blog on POPs, music, books, but I wasn’t able to do all that for the past days. I will just make up today.

My memory of the past contains the following:

1) My husband has bought a pink guitar for our baby Zoe.

His niece doesn’t want to lend her guitar to Zoe, so my poor baby cried and cried. JE and I told Zoe that we’ll just buy her a guitar when JE got his salary. So, when pay day came, he rushed into the nearest department store to keep his promise. The guitar that Zoe liked is the one with different shapes in it and a colorful one, but JE has bought a guitar with strings! I was a bit doubtful if Zoe will like the pink guitar. But eventually, she liked it, too. We took really cute pics of Zoe holding her new guitar. One of the pics is shown above. My baby really rocks!

2) JE has bought a guitar.

We’ve been planning to buy a new guitar for so many months, and last week, this plan has been implemented. I’m happy for this purchase, because JE liked the idea of having a new guitar, and now that he has it already, he’s much happier than I thought he would be.

3) I’ve finished reading John Grisham’s “The Rainmaker

It’s kind of funny to know that I’ve read this book just now. I’ve watched the movie before, but I haven’t read the book. While searching for a novel to read at our library, I came across this one. Since the story is more complete in a book, I gave it a shot. What happened after reading it? Well, I’ve had a more complete picture of the story, for I got more details. Plus, I got inspired by Rudy Baylor’s character. If you will recall, he’s the most unlucky man at the beginning of the novel, but then he didn’t lose hope. He continued to do what needs to be done, and by doing so, he found a job, then put up his own firm, and got a 50 million dollars verdict! But at the end, he realized that he doesn’t want to be a lawyer anymore, he just want to go away from Memphis and live a simple but quiet life with her new-found girl, Kelly.

John Grisham is an excellent writer on thrilling stories about lawyers and law (legal thrillers). I enjoyed watching the movie, but reading the book to which it was based is a more fulfilling experience (I guess that’s always the case). To those who have watched the movie, but haven’t read the book, I encourage you to do what I did, read the book! It’s more satisfying and enjoyable.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the 3rd National Workshop of ARRPET. This workshop was organized by the Chemical Engineering Dept. of DLSU-Manila. Since I have an elective course under one of the department’s professors, I was required to attend the said event. I would say that the time I’ve spent there was very worthy. I had the chance to meet several professionals who are doing research works on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). By the way, most of them are chemical engineers and 90% of them have their PhDs. Isn’t that amazing? Plus, I have learned so many things about these POPs, and knowing about their existence and what they can do, can be really frightening. Another thing that’s great about this workshop is the free food and free entrance. I would tell you, the food is really yummy! Plus, the hotel (Angelo King hotel of DLSU-Benilde) is really elegant and cosy! I’m glad I’ve forced myself to go there, because at first, I really didn’t want to attend, but since it’s free and the place is near my school, why not?

Let’s discuss these POPs. According to the Stockholm Convention,

“Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are chemical substances that persist in the environment, bioaccumulate through the food web, and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to human health and the environment. With the evidence of long-range transport of these substances to regions where they have never been used or produced and the consequent threats they pose to the environment of the whole globe, the international community has now, at several occasions called for urgent global actions to reduce and eliminate releases of these chemicals.”

It’s scary, right? Most of these POPs are used in pesticides, and if these pesticides are not yet banned in our country, if they’re still being used, there is a big risk posed in every Filipino’s health. Actually, this is not only for Filipinos, but for the rest of humanity.

In my next entries, I’d be discussing more about these POPs and the Dirty Dozen as labeled by the Stockholm Convention. If you have the time, please make some entries on POPs, too. It’s really scary, especially when I think of my baby, who will grow up to be surrounded by these POPs. Common, help me in disseminating information on POPs, may be in this simple way, we can help our generation and the future generation to live longer lives.

My family day at Enchanted Kingdom


Last Sunday, we had the opportunity to go to Enchanted Kingdom (EK) at Sta. Rosa, Laguna. My brother who went home from Dubai was the financier, so we did not worry about the money. Actually, we had planned to go there for almost two times – July and December of last year. I think it is just fate that those plans did not push through. I have thought of two reasons for that. First, because we can go there when the right opportunity comes, such as last Sunday — we didn’t need to spend that big money for the entrance. Second, we wouldn’t enjoy the experience if we would go there without any relative. Originally, we planned to visit the place, just the three of us. But last Sunday, I realized that it was more fun to have a relative to take care of Zoe while JE and I are checking some of the rides that are definitely not for kids, such as roller coaster and up, up and away. I am so thankful for the opporunity; it’s quite tiring, but lots of fun goes with this experience, especially when I saw the pretty smile on my baby’s face that was brought by this magical day at EK.

The Launching of Wikiseek

I am a great fan of Google. It’s a very helpful search engine who’s been my friend ever since I started my college days. Right now, I’m doing a search on birthday party games for my daughter’s birthday on February 13 using Google. Then, while I’m checking Mybloglog account, I saw Megite’s site. I’ve checked out this site, and I’ve found very informative articles, very up-to-date. The latest info there is about the launch of Wikiseek, a vastly improved search engine for Wikipedia (another favorite reference site). I’ve also found some discussions on this topic such as “Wikiseek as a threat to the Google Empire”. Well, there’s so much to happen in the future. Let’s just wait and see who will reign over.

Fun and Tearful Weekend

I’ve just finished doing my powerpoint presentation for my laboratory class this afternoon. So now, I have time to update my blog. I was not able to do so during the weekend, for I spent most of my time playing with my pretty daughter, Zoe. That was really fun! Also, JE, Zoe and I have watched two movies, namely: Sandlot2 and Click.

Let me tell you something about those movies if you haven’t watched them.

Sandlot is about a group of kids playing softball. This game is just like baseball to me. I’m not a sporty girl, so I don’t know the difference (need to research on that one).

Here’s the synopsis (courtesy of my favorite site – www.wikipedia.org):

“The movie is set in 1972, 10 years after the events of The Sandlot. New kids have moved into the neighborhood of San Fernando Valley in Southern California, and have started playing baseball in the sandlot from the first movie. The previous kids have all grown and moved away. A young boy named Johnnie Smalls (James Willson), the younger brother of Scotty Smalls, the narrator of the first movie, has heard the legend of “The Beast”/Hercules owned by Mr. Mertle, who lives behind the sandlot. David Durango (Max-Lloyd Jones) is the leader of the five boys. Then, three girls join the team, one of them named Hailey Goodfairer (Samantha Burton),. The girls were league softball players, and Hailey always pitches the ball underhand. She starts to develop feelings for David, and it is revealed that he may have feelings for Hailey. In one scene, they challenge a little league team and the lead player hurts Hailey by hitting her in the belly. David punches him, telling him that no boy should ever hit a girl.

One day, when the kids’ ball goes over the large fence of Mr. Mertle and they try to retrieve it, Johnnie makes them stop by showing them that there’s something descended from the Beast on the other side, called “The Great Fear.” That night, Johnnie tells them the story of the Great Fear, how it used to be a junkyard dog, eating or hurting others who trespassed the junk yard. There was a boy who loved the comic book hero named Rapid Rocket, and would run around fast like him. On his first day of school, he went past Mr. Mertle’s house but forgot to lock the back gate, and The Great Fear got out and chased the boy. It was unknown what happened to him after he was cornered by the killer dog at the junkyard. Soon afterward, a fence made of assorted junk was built on top of Mr. Mertle’s fence, and he was ordered by the officials to keep the dog locked up forever. Ever since, if anything went over the fence, it would not come out.

The main conflict comes when the space rocket for the future of NASA and the United States built by Hailey’s father is blown over the fence, because Johnnie accidentally sets it off. The kids try many things to get it back, including hiring the one called The Retriever (Griffin Reilly Evans), but he fails, and retires from his job (even though he never really had one). Then, just like Benny Rodriguez from the first film, David is chased by the monstrous dog all over town. It is shown that he was the young boy from so long ago who was chased by the dog, revealed by the Rapid Rocket cape that he brings with him. When they get back to the sandlot, David falls onto the ground on the other side of the fence, and into a deep ditch. The dog then digs him up, and saves him from suffocation. David sees his tag, which says that his real name is Goliath (a play on the title of the Biblical story David and Goliath). The boys then meet the blind Mr. Mertle (James Earl Jones), who tells them that the same situation happened in the summer of 1962, how the boys got something over the fence, and how he could have gotten it for them. Johnnie was able to save the rocket, and David and Hailey become boyfriend and girlfriend. The movie ends with the revelation of what happened to all the boys when they left the sandlot.”

This movie is just fine, we picked this one for Zoe would be watching with us, and we wanted a movie that doesn’t have kissing scenes and adult scenes (though this movie has one kissing scene, just before the ending). In a scale of 10, I would give this movie a 6. If you want to know more about this movie, you can visit these sites: Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb (Earth’s Biggest Movie Database).

Another movie that we have watched is a movie of Adam Sandler, “Click”. This movie really made me cry…

I know that most of you had watched this movie, so I won’t include the plot here. For photos, trailer, and if you want to know the plo of the story, you can go to these helpful links: about:humor and counting down.

I really love weekends! I can spend quality time with my family, and I got to watch movies I didn’t see inside a moviehouse. I always look forward to this part of the week.

Nice Photos taken from Misamis Occidental Aquamarine Park in Illigan

How do you spend your holidays? Wouldn’t it be good to just relax, spend time with family and visit extraordinary places? Well, last Christmas vacation, I was not able to do the out-of-town part with my family, but I was able to spend quality time with them.

All the people spend their holidays differently, and here’s one lucky guy who have visited a very beautiful place in Illigan called Misamis Occidental Aquamarine Park. I just love his pictures! Nice work, man!