This is Tesa’s work of art. She’s the little one and I’m the other. She say’s I’m playing basketball. The blue scratches, the little one on the left and the bigger one on the right are supposed to be hearts. She likes hearts. She gave this to me and whispered “Happy Father’s Day Daddy. I love you.” And then kissed me on the cheek. I was smiling with glee, thankful to have her love despite her age (four years old).

This is another one from Iani (who helped her little sister make the one above). She likes hearts too. She crept up to me this afternoon and kissed me saying “Happy Father’s Day.”

My five year old will turn 6 tomorrow. How fast time flies. I am sure she will still be heart -crazy.

Priceless!

Am just too happy last Sunday that I just copied this from another blog of mine, MabutingBalita.net.

This is not a sponsored post. This is one thing I’ve have been thankful for and this is a good place to say it.

In this entry, I take my hat off to Manila Water for the much improved water delivery/distribution service they provide.

When we moved to where we are living now in Quezon City, I still remember that the water pressure was not what you’d wish it to be. Maybe three of four years ago, despite the gate valve opened at full, the water barely reaches the last faucet. If all faucets were being used, the last faucet would have no drop.

Now, I have the valve at one-fourth the full range and still, water in all the faucets continue to run abundantly. Why, we can now use the shower to our heart’s desires and still have the washing machine turned on and the faucet in the kitchen sink at full blast.

I think this is due to the massive upgrade and improvements of the pipes and distribution facilities. There seems to be a more systematic approach to the planning and implementation of projects. The laying of big blue pipes and replacing old, rusty and worn tubes with new and better ones are welcome, despite the temporary hassles.

To the people of Manila Water, thank you very much.

Some suggestions/queries:

1. Do you have a Service Level Agreement with your contractors? And do you have an SLA with the community where your projects are? An SLA will keep the workers on their toes while keeping the customers aware of how things will go. This will prevent unnecessary delays and cooperation which would be more cost-effective in the long run. And good PR too. In our area, we still have a lot of diggings and pipe-laying. I would appreciate it if I knew how long the work will take, what phase it is in and what to expect in the coming weeks.
2. Please tell the workers to make sure that they pile the soil where it will do the least inconvenience like a portion of the sidewalk and not in the middle of the road. It would take more effort and work but it will prevent accidents and residents/commuters will appreciate your work more.
3. How about speed things up by getting more workers?  Though this would entail cost,  I’m sure it will yield more return in the long term.
4. Can you coordinate with DPWH/City Hall/Congress so that roadworks will be done in one shot? Sometimes, after a road or street has been improved, somebody will come and start digging again.

Manila Water, I hope all the other utilities follow suit. You have done a good job (at least in our area).

Raise the bar some more by following my suggestions.

Yes I am. I am full of hope. i continue to believe that we can succeed.

It starts with me.

It starts with you.

Together, let’s make a difference.

Photo courtesy of Anton from Our Awesome Planet.

I asked Migz to interview me and here it is. He sent this to me quite a while back and I know I’ve been procrastinating. The questions are simple and straightforward, yet I found myself languishing with answers. It may be because I have “neglected” the blog for a while. Now is any good time to make things better and I thank Migz for being the instrument of that realization. As Yaro Starak suggests, “Blog more than you read.”

The meme has circulated the local blog-sphere already and I am what you may call a laggard. I wonder if anybody would still want to be interviewed? If you want to, I promise I’ll be nice.

So here is the interview: Read more

“Feelings…Nothing more than feelings…”

An old line and patently incorrect.

One of our more prominent attributes as human beings is having emotions. We feel sad, glad or mad. Happy, angry, grouchy or joyful. Many believe that our emotions just are, period. We think that “We were made this way.” We wake up on the right or wrong side of the bed and that dictates our day. We think we have no control on how we feel and just accept being miserable and negative as part of life - which may eventually make us depressed.

But God did not just make us “feeling” creatures only. He made man with willful thought. Though not as glamorous as emotion, this trait that can control the way we feel.

“When we direct our thought properly, we can control our emotions.” - W. Clement Stone

Read more