I 8 to educate! You should too!

Can you remember how you felt the last time you took a jeep then this little kid comes creeping in and wipes your shoes with his dirty rag in an attempt to solicit alms? Or when you were leaving church or the office and this small girl gives you her sampaguita presumably to get you to give her something like cash in return? I do. It never feels good. Not when I give them something, especially when I don't. I end up having a small argument with myself about what I should've done. I've always wished there was something better I can do... something that would have a more significant effect in their lives than merely giving something to sustain them for the day.

Last Thursday, I went to Sentro at Serendra for the launch of Virlanie Foundation's "8 to Educate" campaign. It's an awareness campaign in partnership with 8 restaurants situated in both Serendra and Bonifacio High Street that aims to promote and support education for street children. The campaign is quite simple, visit any of these 8 restos any time between now and December 31:

and order their featured dishes:

• Arama – Set Meal
  

I've personally visited this place, and wow was it cozy! They serve organic food and nothing about it taste yucky at all. I really enjoyed the burger.

• Cav – Valhrona Chocolate Souffle Cake
  

If you're a wine connoiseur, you'd definitely love this place. They have wine to go with almost anything, even this lovely dessert!

• Chelsea – Mac & Cheese Kiddie Meal
  

Who doesn't love Mac and Cheese?

• Cupcakes by Sonja -- or cupcakes for that matter? (check out photos here)
  
• Fu – Dimsum Platter

I love dimsum and I love their dimsum! They're steamed just right with topnotch ingredients.

• Healthy Kitchen – Monsignor James Salad

Looks healthy, tastes so good! I bet I'd be a whole lot thinner if I can have this for lunch everyday!

• Sentro 1771 – Fried Chicken Cutlets, Catfish Adobo Flakes
  

What else is there to say? Sentro's offering are always good, and these are no different.

• Xocolat – Organic Cacao drink & can

Cocoa! Need I say more?

and voila! A portion of what you paid for those dishes is donated towards Virlanie Foundation's effort to educate street children. Talk about feeling good after eating huh?

Street Education with the Virlanie Mobile Unit

Of course if you want to help more, you can. Just ask any of the staff for a pledge form and they will gladly assist you. They say all it takes is P800/month to make sure that an elementary students gets uniform, shoes, school supplies, transportation, meals and even enough to cover those special projects. Sponsors may even bond with "their" child and will receive regular updates on their progress.

Never heard of Virlanie before? So have I, yet they've been helping street children in the Philippines for the last 17 years! They tell me that more than 80% of their support come from the international community. Don't you think it's a high time that we Filipinos start helping solve our own problem? Let's start doing our part now. (Click here to learn more or just visit their website here.)

Sorry for the delay, but I'm back now!

Ok, so I realize I haven't put up an entry in weeks. The first couple of weeks, we were just busy straightening up the house due to Ondoy, but I've to be honest, the last couple of weeks, I was stuck watching TV. I've been catching up on series left and right. I couldn't exactly watch TV and be in front of the PC at the same time right? It sure would be cool if I could. At least that's what I said before I discovered PLDT My DSL's Watch Pad! Now I can watch TV while I blog!

You can watch CNN, the History Channel, and even the Cartoon Network while you chat (or rather while I chat and appear cool and all-knowing). Or you can see Brilliante Mendoza's award winning works like Serbis and Kinatay whenever you feel like it without having to leave your PC! I say yay!

And using the Watchpad player, you can stay connected to your favorite sites like Friendster and Facebook! Heck you can even Twit! And you can check out your favorite celebrities from Watchpad's exclusive channels like a sneek peak at Rhian Ramos' home life in "My Life".

Ok, so I wasn't exactly a fan before this, but she sure rocked!

And the best part of all this is, it's free! All free! So sign up now!

No undoing Ondoy

The last couple of days, I've been thinking of things that we could've done differently, things if undone would made things better. Bringing the car to higher ground instead of leaving it in the driveway... moving our ground floor things to the 2nd floor instead of merely raising it 4 feet off the ground.... making a force field that would block the water's aggressive foray into our home. I know that last one sounds ridiculous, but having prophetic visions that would allow me to forsee a catastrophe of this magnitude borders on the ridiculous too. And if by some odd twist of fate I'm granted the chance to walk back to Friday night, I'm not sure I'd want to relive it all again. Make no mistake, I will if I can. I'll try to warn as many people could be managed. I'm just not sure if there's anything I can really do to change the bottomline.

Flood inside our house.... but at least we were safe and warm.

So no, I don't believe we can undo Ondoy. What we can do though is to draw strength from this. The next few nights might be hard. A good many of us would have to start from scratch. Many are still grieving the lost of family and friends. Yet the finest steel is forged through the fiercest furnace and the best diamonds are churned by seemingly insurmountable pressure.

Our door as a depth reference.

We who lived through this have the obligation to move forward and draw strenght from this ordeal. Whether it were nerve wracking moments waiting for word that your family is safe, or traversing highways that suddenly became powerful rivers; whether your house got carried off, or just the feeling of security that should go with having a roof over your head; whether you lost everything or just your piece of mind; we need to stand up and be strong. We need to take control of this situation and be the better for it.

Still, were much better off inside than outside.

There's still a hundred of things that needs doing. There are still thousands of people that needs helping. No, there's no undoing Ondoy, but we can still overcome Ondoy. We have to.

Thank you

...to family, who though they second-guess me sometimes, still stand by my decisions; and who though I disappoint them quite often, still support and love me. I definitely could never have gone on without you.

...to friends, who though I've been a jerk to them before, still remain my friends; and who though I've given wrong directions more times than I could count, still comes to me asking for them. Life certainly couldn't have been any fun without you guys.

...to people who believed in me, doubted me, trusted me, maligned me, supported me, manipulated me, and just touched me one way or the other. What else can I say? This life surely wouldn't be the adventure that is without any of you.

To my family, friends, officemates, classmates, passing acquaintances, my dear readers, and to you... yes you...

Because I don't say it often enough...

Do you say it often enough? Would like an excuse to? Then sign the petition to make October 20...

Don't wait for October 20 though, thank them now!

Be part of a grateful nation. Join the rest of the country as it honors the one person whom a grateful nation will say a resounding thank you to. Visit http://www.thankyoudayphilippines.com/

7-Eleven's Big Bite Challenge Final Match

Yes it's on! There's been some changes, the finals got moved from last month to next Saturday, 25 finalist instead of just 8 (because they're really really good--scared me off in fact), MOA instead of Trinoma, but it's definitely on! Check out the details below.

So who wins the P500,000? Who'll take home the ultimate hotdog eater crown? And even more important, how many hotdogs will the ultimate champion end up eating? Find out for yourselves because you're all invited to watch! I for one won't want to miss this event. See ya next week!