These past few days, I always seem to be in a hurry. There's just not enough time to do all that needs to be done in a day. Cooking seems like to take "forever" to do. I have been searching for recipes that are easy to do. Since my son is fond of banana muffin, I searched for that recipe. I found one and it only needs a toaster oven to bake the muffin. It's good that I have the best convection toaster oven this side of town. Now on with the baking.

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For the month of September my theme will be all about weight problems, fitness, ah...fatness, dieting, exercising, etc. I have not thought of a good theme title yet. Any suggestions? Meantime, I'll continue with my current interim post obsession: Twilight. I have posted the summary of 3/4 of the Twilight Saga. I have introduced you to the actor who plays the part of Edward Cullen in the movie version. Now let me give you a sample movie poster.

The movie premiere has been advanced to Nov. 21, 2008 ( Nov. 20 in Manila). The date was actually for Harry Potter 6 - HP and the Half-blood Prince- but producers of HP decided to postpone its premiere for next summer. Huh?! But why? Is Cedric Diggory a threat to Harry Potter? Are vampires more powerful than wizards? Did Edward sucked the blood out of Harry? Come on, J.K. Rowling is a better author than Stephenie Meyer!

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The Sproutwells are back! This time daddy Chip, a banana is home.The Sproutwells is a fruits and veggies family consisting of Romania, the mom, Ruby Red, the daughter, Baby Green, the baby, Rosy the nosy human neighbor and of course Pytho, the dog.The Sproutwells are a typical fruit and veggie family living among humans and trying to fit in the human world. My favorite character is Romania for her sweet and gentle personality. Here's the newest episode.



Have you joined the freshfunds program? Freshfunds.com has auction items open for bid. You can accumulate points from Chiquita and Fresh express products then use the points to earn prizes or bid weekly on items up for grab. I have my eye on the Nintendo Wii. Go check it out and sign up for membership. Free. Weeeee!!!

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Robert Pattison plays the part of Edward Cullen in the film adaptation of Twilight. Robert who? I asked my girls. Gosh mom! he's Cedric Diggory in HP 4 answered daughter #4. Ah... I said but still I can't put a face to the name. Google. OMG! Robert Pattison, you can BITE ME too! Ka -POGI!!

This picture is a "normal" shot - no vampire make-up. Next I'll post some vampirish (?) pictures of Rob. ( yeah, we're close, lol! )

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My brother and his family have been living in New Jersey for the last 15 years. He loves it there for his house is in an ideal location. It's near the school, so his two kids can walk to school. It's about 4 miles away from his office that he actually saves up on gas. The thing is, living in New Jersey is expensive. He is seriously thinking of relocating and has started looking for Atlanta jobs. He has some friends who have moved to Atlanta and feedback is good. Oh well, maybe next time I visit it will be in Atlanta.

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Stephenie Meyer was one busy lady. The first book of her Twilight Saga came out in 2005 and each year a sequel came out. The latest and most probably the last book of the Twilight Saga is Breaking Dawn. Now this is one freaking-can't believe-didn't see that coming - book. It's divided into three books all told from Bella's perspective except for book 2 which was told in Jacob Black's point of view. Jacob is Bella's werewolf or shape shifter that turns into a wolf friend. Breaking Dawn sold 1.3 million copies on its first day and many are saying that Meyer is the next J.K. Rowling. Nope! Don't think so. Though there are millions of Twilighters out there, the series is still no match for the Harry Potter series. J.K. Rowling is the better writer.

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Acne! Who wants it? Not I nor the millions of teens and adults who have it. Acne vulgaris is common during adolescence. Believe when I say it affects more than 85% of teenagers, and more often continues into adulthood. For most people, acne decreases over time and tends to disappear after one reaches his early twenties. There is, however, no way to predict how long it will take to disappear entirely, and some individuals will continue to suffer well into their thirties, forties and beyond. It's a good thing there is an available acne cure. If you're one unhappy acne-laden-person, check out www.getacnetreatments.com for the cure.

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I got tagged by Sheng




* What does true love mean to you?
--> True love means a love that has no boundaries


* How do you know you’re really in love?
--> You just know.

* How many times in your life have you fallen in love?
--> Hmmmm.... next question please!


* Have you ever fallen out of true love because you were mad at the moment?
--> Nope! It would take a lot more than just getting mad for me to fall out of love

* Do you feel love and physical attraction are the same thing?
--> Nope! I could be physically attracted to someone I do not even know.


* If your true love became ill or disfigured would you continue to love them the same way?
--> Yup!, maybe more.


* Should anyone else be able to tell you who to love or not love?
--> No! I cannot even tell myself that.


* Do you believe people that ended up divorced were ever truly in love?
-->Yup. They would not have married if they were not inlove unless there's something behind the marriage in the first place.


* Would you do anything for love?
--> It has to be qualified, I think.

* If you truly love someone, do you feel it should be unconditional?
--> Precisely.

I am tagging Huling, Eds, Shimumsy, and Cielo.

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These past few months, my son has been weight training as part of his varsity program. A weight-lifting coach did his program. He lifts weights three times a week and improvement on his physique is now evident. He takes his usual multi-vitamin supplements plus B1-6-12, calcium and C but he thinks he needs more bodybuilding supplements. I said he might totally bulk-up like the Hulk and my son just laughed. He said that he's not into that kind of heavy-weight-training for his program is more on body conditioning strength. "Mom,it'll take a million years for me to bulk-up like the Hulk", said my son. Oh well, just asking.

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The third book in the Twilight Saga is Eclipse. I like this book better than book 2, New Moon. The literary work is not that great - for most part, some critics say it's mediocre. Who cares?! I don't! I read the book to escape from reality even for just a moment- and escape I did. I quote unquote Edward Cullen : “Do you ever think that your life might be easier if you weren’t in love with me?”

Woohoo!! Bite Me!!!

Plot Summary:

The story begins with the revelation that Seattle is being plagued by a string of unsolved murders, which Edward suspects to be the cause of a newborn vampire that is unable to control its thirst. Edward and Bella fill out college applications, while Bella explains to Edward her desire to see Jacob, her werewolf friend, again. Meanwhile, Alice Cullen has a vision that Victoria, a vampire that is hunting Bella, is back in town. Although Edward fears for her safety, Bella insists that Jacob and the rest of the werewolf pack would never harm her, but Edward is still not convinced. Bella escapes to La Push to see Jacob while Edward is away, and arrives afterwards at the her house unharmed. This convinces Edward that the La Push werewolves are harmless to her and he allows Bella to visit Jacob once in a while, as long as she keeps a phone with her at all times.

A few days later Bella tries to get Edward to make love to her before turning her into a vampire. Edward initially refuses, explaining to Bella that he could very easily kill her. Eventually, upon realizing how much it means to Bella, he says that he is willing to try in the future as long as they are married first. Despite having an aversion to marriage, Bella realizes that spending eternity with Edward is more important to her than anything else and accepts his proposal.

Bella and the Cullens realize that the murders in Seattle are being committed by Victoria and an "army" of newborn vampires. The Cullen family joins forces with the werewolf pack in order to combat this threat. As everyone else prepares for battle, Edward and Bella camp up in the mountains, where they are later joined by Jacob and Seth Clearwater, a young member of the werewolf pack, to wait out the fight.

In the morning, Jacob overhears Edward and Bella discussing their engagement and becomes very upset. He threatens to join the fight and get himself killed because Bella doesn't love him. When Bella begs him not to, Jacob insists that he will unless she asks him to kiss her. Furious, she does so, and while kissing him she realizes that she is in love with him as well. However, she explains that her love for Edward is much greater and that she cannot live without him.

Their family and friends successfully destroy Victoria and her "army", though Jacob is injured when saving Leah Clearwater. He heals swiftly under the supervision of Carlisle. Bella visits Jacob in his home to tell him of her choice, and Jacob, angry at Bella's decision to become a vampire, runs away in his wolf form to escape the pain he feels.


from: source

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I receive from 5 to 10 mobile ads everyday. These ads come from leading credit card companies, mobile phone providers, and sometimes from restaurants. The numbers reflected on my phone are not the usual bunch of regular mobile phone numbers rather a series of 4-5 numbers only. Television and cable provider stations and even radio stations also have these 4-5 short codes for their mobile phone line too. These 5-digit phone numbers are useful for text promotions, text-to-win and text marketing.

Cellit Mobile Marketing is one such company offering this 5-digit phone number. Through its sister websites, Cellit Studio and House4Cell, customers are given easy access to their marketing and a way to monitor their results. I think receiving this kind of marketing is better than receiving spam text messages offering you products and services. The advancement in technology is just amazing. Almost everything can be done online or through mobile phone using shortcodes.

Cellit Studio offers powerful mobile marketing and interactive tools at affordable price no matter what scale your advertising need is. Cellit allows business owners to extend their reach to the text community. Here are the list of services that Cellit Studio offers.
• Text-For-Info - Provide instant info on your products and services, times and specials. Make an immediate impact on a user’s buying decision.
• Text-For-Content – Send rich mobile content directly to your customer’s phone. Ringtones, pictures, video and interactive quizzes all are powered by Cellit Studio.
• Contests and Games – Drive meaningful brand interaction through Cellit Studio’s custom contests and promotions. Create buzz around a promotional event and gather valuable consumer information, too.
• Text-To-Win - Run contests and promotions where you chose the odds and winners are selected automatically.
• Text-To-Vote - Collect the opinions of your customers in real-time through interactive polling. Then display those opinions instantly as part of a live event or promotion.
• CRM Programs – Improve your understanding of existing customers though simplified data collection and information management.
• Customized Appointment Reminders - Automatically send reminders to clients about upcoming appointments and events

If you are in need of a powerful and effective 5-digit phone number, check the site out.

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I finished the novel Twilight in a day. The next day, Monday, I started on the second book of the Twilight Saga, New Moon. I was definitely hooked on Edward Cullen. I felt giddy and excited with all the trashy-romantic-vamparish-supernatural thingy. I felt like 17 for goodness sakes! I just can't put the book down not because the writing style and plot of the author was excellent (far from it) but because the author was able to project a larger than life vampire-human love story. If Edward Cullen was a real vampire in the real world, reading the book would make you want to be Edward's girlfriend, or for that matter- his destiny.

Plot Summary:
Isabella "Bella" Swan is thrown an eighteenth birthday party by Alice and Edward Cullen, the vampire she loves, and the rest of their vampire family. While unwrapping a gift, she receives a paper cut. Jasper, the newest member of the family to attempt a non-human diet, tries to attack Bella, overwhelmed by the scent of blood. In an attempt to keep Bella safe from the world of vampires, Edward and his family leave the small town of Forks. Bella enters a deep depression and seeks comfort with Jacob Black, an old family friend who clears the haze of Bella's pain.

Bella and Jacob spend more and more time together, and Bella soon discovers that the rush of adrenaline present when she places herself in dangerous situations stimulates a hallucination of Edward's voice. Bella begins seeking out dangerous behaviour, such as motorcycle riding, to keep Edward's voice with her. Meanwhile, Jacob finds out that he is a werewolf. Initially, he tries to keep this secret from Bella, but he eventually reveals as much as he can without betraying his pack. After Bella attempts cliff-jumping, she gets caught in a riptide and is rescued by Jacob.

At the same time, Alice Cullen, Edward's vampire "sister" who has visions of the future, has a vision of Bella jumping. However, werewolves are one flaw in her ability, and she does not see Jacob rescuing Bella. Presuming Bella is dead, Alice rushes to Forks to check on Charlie, Bella's father, while Edward calls Bella's home. Jacob picks up and informs Edward that Charlie is "at the funeral", referring to that of a man in town who had a heart attack, but Edward draws the conclusion that it is Bella's funeral. Desperate after Bella's supposed death, Edward flees to Italy to see the Volturi, peace-keeping vampires who would be able to kill Edward, granting him leave of a world without Bella.

Bella and Alice rush to Italy to stop Edward, and save him before it is too late. Before they leave Italy, the Volturi tell them that Bella, a human who knows of the existence of vampires, must either be killed or changed into a vampire herself. After they return to Forks, Edward explains to Bella that he only left in order to protect her, and she forgives him. The book ends with the Cullens voting in favor of Bella being changed into a vampire, much to Edward's dismay.

from: source

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Chuck, our 9 weeks old chocolate Labrador has a serious problem! I have diagnosed it to be suffering from ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Seriously, that dog is so full of energy that it turns the whole place a mess with its running and playing. Daughter # 4 gave Chuck a bath the other day and she noticed some fleas on his paws. She asked me how to get rid of fleas for the contamination might spread. I told her to use the anti-flea shampoo making sure she keeps the foam on Chuck for at least 5 minutes to kill the fleas. That did the trick.

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While waiting for the month to be over or until I do have a concrete idea of what next month's theme will be, I will indulge in my latest obsession. ( well, not really, but...hey! yup!)

If you have not heard of the novel Twilight by Stephenie Meyers, where have you been hibernating ? The Twilight Saga is a composed of 4 novels aptly titled Twilight (2005), New Moon (2006), Eclipse (2007) and Breaking Dawn(August 2008). The series is about a young adult vampire novel. The first book introduces seventeen-year-old Isabella "Bella" Swan who moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington, and finds her life in danger when she falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen. I was not into it for I said it's too juvenile for me. All my daughters and my nieces were all talking about the series. Daughter #4 was at the bookstore at the "crack of dawn" to get the then newly released book 4, Breaking Dawn. Ok. Give me book one, Twilight. It was a slow Sunday and I had nothing better to do. By page 75, I was hooked and a little bit awed by Edward Cullen.

Plot Summary:
Isabella "Bella" Swan moves from sunny Phoenix, Arizona to rainy Forks, Washington to live with her father, Charlie. She chooses to do this so that her mother, Renée, can travel with her new husband, Phil Dwyer, who is a minor league baseball player. Even though Bella never had many friends in Phoenix, she attracts much attention at her new school in Forks, and is quickly befriended by several students. Much to her dismay, several boys in the school compete for shy Bella's attention.

When Bella sits next to Edward Cullen in biology class on her first day of school, Edward seems utterly repulsed by her. He even attempts to change his schedule to avoid her, leaving Bella completely puzzled about his attitude towards her. After tricking a family friend, Jacob Black of the Quileute tribe, into telling her the local tribal legends, Bella concludes that Edward and his family are vampires. Although she was inexplicably attracted to him even when she thought Edward drank human blood, she is much relieved to learn that the Cullens choose to abstain from drinking human blood, and drink animal blood instead. Over time, Edward and Bella fall in love. Their foremost problem is that to Edward, Bella's scent is a hundred times more potent than any other human's, making Edward struggle to resist his desire to kill her. However, despite this they manage to stay together safely for a time.

The seemingly perfect state of their relationship is thrown into chaos when another vampire coven sweeps into Forks and James, a tracker vampire, decides that he wants to hunt Bella for sport. The Cullens plan to distract the tracker by splitting up Bella and Edward, and Bella is sent to hide in a hotel in Phoenix. Bella then gets a phone call from James in which he says that he has her mother, and Bella is forced to give herself up to James at her old dance studio, where he attacks her. Edward, along with the rest of the Cullen family, rescue Bella before James can kill her. Once they realize that James had bitten Bella's hand, Edward sucks the venom out of her system before it can spread and change her into a vampire. Upon returning to Forks, Bella and Edward attend their prom and Bella expresses her desire to become a vampire, which Edward refuses to let happen.

from: source

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A potential client called me yesterday. She is a doctor and has just recently acquired a clinic. She wants me to do the interior and the construction of her new clinic and office. She was asking for an estimate which I could not give because I have not seen the space to be done. I also do not know her preferences regarding the type of office furniture, her preferred color scheme, the number of cabinets and shelves to be installed and so on. She said she has no idea too so I suggested that we meet at the site so that we can discuss the matter. We settled on a date and I so look forward on seeing her because daughter#1 said my potential client is a dermatologist. You get my drift?

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It's the end of my Olympics Theme. I have to think of a new theme for the month of September. I am actually considering overweight issues and ways to loose weight and get fit. I am also playing on a new interesting topic like hypermiling. I don't know if there's much to write about hypermiling though. I might ran out of things to write about it. Anyway, I still have a few more days to nail my subject for the month. Any suggestions?

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It is a requisite for NASA and US military personnel tasked to do critical missions to have an almost 20/20 vision. Being mere humans, we cannot help but have disabilities like myopia and hyperopia as we age. For the last five years, LASIK technology has been a popular means to treat such ailments for non civilians. The Department of Defense and NASA are all for the use of an all-laser form of LASIK to improve the visions of their personnel delegated to extreme, physically demanding conditions. The DOD and NASA even validated the safety of LASIK surgery.

A new class of LASIK is now being introduced for use. It is called iLASIK Procedure. Basically the earlier LASIK uses only one laser for the whole procedure. With iLASIK, two lasers are used. The first is a wave-front technology maps the unique characteristics of the individual’s eyes after which an ultrafast laser creates a corneal flap. This is the laser that took the place of the handheld microkeratome blade used in the old procedure. The second laser is then guided by the wave-front mapping data to correct the vision. It is good to note that 95% of those treated achieved a 20/20 vision. There is more LASIK information available at the site.

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It's official. London is now the official host of the 2012 Summer Olympics. The closing program integrated the closing ceremony with the traditional "handing" our of the baton to London's mayor, Boris Johnson. Great Britain did their bit by presenting a program that I was not able to appreciate. The idea or theme of the presentation was alright - present all things UK or made in UK. So, of course UK had the London double-decker and Beckham, Leona Lewis, some dancers and chamber musicians.

Okay. I was totally surprised that Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame did his bit with hos guitar.OMG! Led Zeppelin! Jimmy Page!- rock n'roll, cocaine and heroine user, dabbling with the occult- but still the best ever lead guitarist! Anyway, what's that bit with Beckham? Is Spice Posh so demanding and tiring that Beckham kicked the ball to one of the dancers instead of all the way to the grandstand. Then poof! Beckham vanished! You know what would have been more effective and popular in the turnover ceremony London side wise? Harry Potter and his cohorts! It would have been breathtakingly incredible to Harry, Hermione, Ginnie and Ron zooming in and out of the Bird's Nest.

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The kids and I went to the mall to watch a movie yesterday. We ate dinner then did some window shopping too. We got home last night at around 11:00 P.M. My maids were already asleep and I was quite irritated to find the kitchen a mess. The new puppy messed it up! I looked at the clock again: 11:15 P.M. Do I clean up the mess or not? Will I get sick or die if I don't clean up? Heck! Sick or dying I just have to clean up the mess. I got the cleaning materials and did my stuff. Since I was at it, I decided to clean up the living and dining rooms too.

An article from Reader's Digest titled Are You Normal or Nuts? came back to me. People definitely have quirks or some sort of oddity in their ways, manners and perception. The article told of a 70 year old lady who has the compulsion to constantly re arrange the furniture in her house. Reader's Digest said the old woman was maybe "bored" and not really nuts. Sometimes I get nutty too by my want to horde on goods. If I see a real cool kitchen stuff I'd probably buy it even if I don't need it. A month ago I cleaned up a storage closet and found a box full of never-been-used bath towels circa 1995! Oh well, I guess I just have to buy stuff on sale. However, I'm in control since I refuse to be swayed into buying when money is tight.

Are You Normal or Nuts?. Don't be afraid to find out. Go check out the site. Don't forget to check out Reader's Digest Laughs for a real good laugh.

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My favorite part in the closing ceremony was the number done by the acrobats. They were strewn on the memory tower and did all kinds of acrobatic acts that were not for the faint-hearted. The memory tower turned into the Beijing Olympic Torch and it was indeed a site to behold. The Beijing Olympics, with its ups and downs, was a one great event grandiously planned and executed. Kudos!

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Since the 1980s, detoxification has become become a household word. Why? The word has been associated in a sense with success in dieting, drug and alcohol abuse. I believe that detoxification does the body service. Once in a while I go off from carbohydrates, fatty food, sweets and other synthetically enhanced food to clean my system. I know that this is not highly effective that I need to find a better detox solution. There is a product I found online that cleans the colon. Dual-Action Cleanse is an herbal colon cleanser designed to help the body rid of accumulated mucous and undigested matter that can build up in the colon. I better get one. Eliminating toxins will definitely improve my health and my appearance - clearer skin, no bloating and a trimmer me!

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The USA got the the number one spot in the medal tally in the Beijing Olympics at 110 medals. China came a close second with 100 medals with Russia checking out at 72 medal count. China, however, got the most gold medals at 51 golds compared to USA's 36 count and Russia's 23 gold medals. The Philippines is not bringing home any medal except for the gold medal won at an exhibition game of Wushu. Willie Wang and his team mates did well. The gold does not count in the regular medal standing as it was an exhibition game.

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I have been blessed with clear skin. I did not go through the phase of an acne-laden-teen years. My girls are quite lucky that way too, except for my son. He came home yesterday from school and I was surprised by the number of pimples on his face. I have read that 90% of teenagers, almost 50% of all adult women and 25% of all adults have acne. It is one of the most widespread medical conditions in the world that is incurable, but treatable. There is a site I found that discusses acne prevention and related topics. Acne.com is a minefield of information regarding acne. If you suffer from the condition or you know someone who does, the site is worth checking. I already told my son to check it out.

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The Beijing Summer Olympics ended with a Bang (literally. I was expecting a more subdued and maybe less organized closing ceremony but I was wrong! The fireworks over at the Bird's Nest maybe the last display for a very long time.

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It is everyone's wish to ultimately have their dream house. As an Architect I have helped quite a number of clients build their dream homes. From the schematic phase, going to planning and designing phase up to the actual construction, I always confer with the clients. Building custom homes may be very expensive. However there are a lot of companies who now build custom homes at a very reasonable price range. Schumacher Homes delivers. The company has proven custom homes are not exclusive to the high income brackets anymore. It has built custom homes right across USA leaving behind happy-satisfied clients for over 16 years. . Schumacher Homes has raised the bar in their custom homes. It delivers the best value in custom homebuilding.

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It's gold for the US men cagers! It was a very close fight between US and Spain with the latter leading by 5 points in the second half. The Redeem Team rallied and in the end the rightful owner of the title Dream Team was recovered.

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My kids and I almost gagged on our food one dinner time. My husband was late coming in for dinner that our eyes were all focused on him when he finally walked in the dining room. Our eyes went out of our sockets when we saw that my middle-aged hubby was wearing a hair band. He was trying to keep his hair off his face. I asked, "why are you wearing a hair band?" He said that he is growing his hair long to hide the bald spot somewhere at the back of his head.

I have read somewhere that next to impotence, baldness is a man's greatest fear. It is a puzzle why my husband is loosing hair. It started out as a bald spot the size of a penny. Now, the diameter is slowly increasing. His dermatologist said the baldness may be stress related or a side effect of his heart condition medications. Better search online for a great hair loss product then.

There are hair loss products that work and there are those that do not. Most hair loss products are for women but Provillus is for men. Provillus will regrow hair while controlling hair loss. The product is safe and available as either a topical solution. I have better get one for hubby so he can stop wearing that silly hair band.

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The US Redeem Team will have it's final match for gold against Spain today at 2:00 PM (GMT+8). The US Dream Team lost the title to Argentina in the 2004 Athens Olympic. Today the Redeem Team will try to gain back what the Dream Team lost. Kobe Bryant said and I quote : "I hope we're known as the team that brought gold back home." By the way, the US Women's Basketball team got the gold in this event. No pressure boys. Yey! Go USA!!

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Before the advent of SMS or text messaging, my phone line was almost never free. My girls hugged the phone that I had to have a private phone for my use. Now, my private phone just sits all day waiting for prank callers. I found a way to put my phone into good use. There's a site that offers free chat over the phone. It's nice to have someone to chat to every once in a while but I do think I have to qualify what adult chat means. It says the service is free and you can actually talk live to others on their chat lines. Check it out, www.talk121.com.

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For me, rhythmic gymnastics is one of the most beautiful events in the Olympics. Crowd favorite Russian Olga Kapranova is among the best rhythmic gymnasts in the world. Kapranova took the world title for individual all-round in the 2008 Kiev World Cup and is the leading contender for the gold in the all-around individual events. Finals in on today at 6:00PM (GMT+8).

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Christmas is just around the corner. Before you know it, it's right smack up your face and you have not done your holiday shopping yet. No problem. You can always shop online. Finding the right gift for the right person is hard. You just don't have the time to shop specifically. It's a good thing I stumbled on this wine of the month club. The site offers to deliver red and white wines to a recipient of your choice for as long a minimal fee. Wine! Great gifts for the holidays or for any other occasion.

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The closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics is set on Sunday, August 24. As has been the custom, the men's marathon will be on that day. The event will start at 7:30 am and will probably end 2 hours later. There are 6 more finals tomorrow: volleyball, rhythmic gymnastics,water polo, handball and the last event for the day will be boxing at 5:00 P.M. Closing ceremony will then start. I wonder what the host city has in store for the world on its closing ceremony?

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Life is precious. It can never be bought. It can never be replaced but it can be extended. Continuous research is being done in the field of medical science. Scientist are testing, analyzing, and inventing ways to cure diseases that are, at the moment, incurable. Scientist are focusing about the science of stem cell to help humanity. Stem Cells have been found to help in the quest to cure degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. At the moment, adult stem cells can be used to treat multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and other neurological damages caused by stroke to name some.

There is a new technology to harvest adult stem cells developed by C'elle Their study shows that menstrual fluid stem cells can be easily collected, processed then cryo-preserved for potential cellular therapies that may be viable in the future by using C'elle. I did a little research and read C'elle Client Testimonial. I was amazed on the possibilities. Health wise, our future is not certain. Anything can happen. If something can be done to help us medically in the future, shouldn't we look into it?

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Friends, thanks for dropping by. I am sorry if I can't drop by your blogs. I'll try to over the weekend. I am just finishing a book, well actually four books. I started reading the first book last Sunday and tonight I'll be finishing the fourth book. Now, I guess you want to know what it is I'm reading.

In the Twilight years of my life you came. Just like the New Moon, you fill me with a promise unheard of. Nothing can Eclipse your place in my heart. Much like the Breaking Dawn, here I am, awaiting a new beginning. Edward Cullen, I am your destiny...Bite Me!

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The internet has proven to be a great factor in today's daily living. Everything is done online. Trading in the realm of futures, forwarding and stock exchange are also being done online now. There are a lot of online brokers for trading commodity futures. There is a great involved in online futures trading than in online stock exchange. Word of advise, choose a reliable futures broker for your online trading. You can never be too careful with your investment.

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Sad, sad day for the Filipino athletes in Beijing, and for the Philippines for that matter. Philippine's last pawn for the elusive gold,-or for any medal actually - Maria Antoinette Rivero lost in round 16 preliminaries against Sandra Saric of Crotia. I personally feel that the Philippines will never be able to get that elusive gold for Filipino athletes are not trained at par with other international athletes. It has been customary for athletes to pay for their own training if they want to be world-class. There's just not enough budget for excellent coaches and world class training facilities. The Filipino athletes need support from the government. It's really quite funny and ironic that private sectors have donated a total of 15 million pesos to pool the token for the athlete who will bring home the gold. I have a suggestion for these generous sponsors and private sectors. Donate your money for the athletes' training and living expenses so they can concentrate on their sport!

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It used to be that family vacations were a great deal for us. That was when my kids were all under 15 years of age. As they got older and had more varied interests and groups of friends, family vacations became a thing of the past. I was tidying up yesterday and found old snapshots of our trip to LA. That was one funny trip. My girls and I were in New York prior to our Los Angeles tours. Back in NY, we met with my brother and his family and had a real blast visiting. However, my girls were more excited to visit LA because of the Universal Hollywood Studio tours, Disneyland, and Six flags. My kids and I toured Universal and Disneyland on our first morning at LA. After about 4 hours of walking, riding and enjoying ourselves, I started to feel feverish and dizzy. My girls were feeling the same too. To cut a long story short, we found out that we had chicken pox courtesy of whoever that was in NY who contaminated us. We spent 7 days recuperating!

It is so easy and convenient to plan vacations nowadays. Online travel guides makes it breeze to decide on the where-what-how of your vacation plans. I found that Trusted Tours and Attractions offers discounted tickets to the best sightseeing tours in 23 cities across America. Check out the site for it is offering a $150 Magellan's gift just by signing up for their newsletter. Next, I'm planning to see Cypress Gardens Florida

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Coupled with his six from Athens in 2004, Phelps joined compatriots Carl Lewis and Mark Spitz, Finland's Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina with nine career golds and the likelihood of more to come. Latynina, 73, faxed Phelps and congratulated him. Carl Lewis said and I quote "I did mine last century. Michael is taking off this new century." What about Spitz? Here's what he said in interview and I quote: "Hey, it's OK -- records are made to be broken, including mine. Thirty-six years is a long time."

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Weight loss is a difficult process. The two main ingredients inn loosing weight are determination and sacrifice. There are about half a billion people worldwide who are obese. In America alone, research shows that by year 2012, 60% of Americans will be overweight. The current trend in eating -where,what,when- is a contributing factor in weight gain. To ease the process in loosing weight, there diet pills available for the overweight. I recommend that before you buy any diet pills, it would be much better if you try to find out which one is really effective for your body by doing research and maybe ask your doctor for approval.

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My second daughter, the teacher, was complaining on recording and keeping a grade book for 5 classes. I told her about the online gradebook software I chanced on the net. The site offers a web-based gradebook which allows teachers at any academic level to manage their grades from any computer with internet access. It says the software is east enough to use for it looks like a standard printed grade book. My daughter then checked in out and considered availing of the free 30-day trial. Technology, what will we do without you!

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Who who have thought that the BMX bike that was so in during the 80's will be an Olympic event. I distinctly remember seeing improvised ramps (courtesy of my husband)in front of our house for his BMX biker pals. On and on they go swooshing and swishing up and down the ramp, doing tricks and turns and whatever. I used to get real mad for they do stunts without helmets or pads. Anyway the BMX cycling debuted in Beijing. The event is mostly racing/best time in the moto cross. Quite fun to watch actually.

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Weight has always been a problem for me. I used to be a real fatty as a kid. I started to diet when I was in high school. I dropped a good 30 lbs. in 3 months. My secret? I was not eating as in I was starving myself - diet to die for. That seems eons ago. Now I can better regulate my weight through exercise and good eating habits. I know that there are those who can't control their bad eating routine so regulating food intake may be tricky. There are safe diet pills like, Phentermine that are available to consumers to help curb appetites and hunger. Having said that, it's still a good idea to integrate exercise in your quest to a healthier and leaner you.

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Defending champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States won the gold medal in the Olympic Women's Beach Volleyball. They defeated China's Tian Jia and Wang Jie of China in straight sets, 21-18, 21-18.

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I was at the mall last weekend and I decided to look around on the latest on desktop computers. Four years ago my desktop computer cost me about $1,000. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there are desktop computers available for as low as $200. I was even more surprised that there are laptops available at reasonable and affordable prices too. The specifications for these bargain CPUs are not that impressive with the memory too low. But for those who can’t afford high specs desktop or laptop the option is to settle for the low priced CPU then have a memory upgrade later.

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Usain Bolt is the fastest man on earth. He won the 100m and 2oom dash breaking Michaels Johnson's Atlanta Olympics record of 19:32 seconds when Bolt clocked in at 19:30 seconds. The Jamaican sprinter is the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to win the 100 and 200 golds at a single Olympics. He is the only man ever to do it by breaking world records in both. Well, he sure lives his name - bolt!

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Blogging has evolved. Firstly, there was no such word as blog before. The proper term was web log. Because it is human nature to shorten/contract tongue twisting words ( (just try to roll on out tongue web blog now), the w-e was dropped and the term blog invented. A typical blog served as an online diary or news and commentary on varied subjects. By 2004, blogging has become mainstream.

A newbie blogger tests the water first by setting up a free blog. As a blogger gets the feel, he may eventually want his own domain name and web hosting. Getting a domain name is the least among a blogger's problem. The real difficulty will be in choosing the best (in relation to a blogger's needs) web host. Webhostingrating.com is a site that shows web hosting rating on web host providers. The rating is based on customer satisfaction, affordability, reliability, uptime and technical support. Web Hosting Rating has a wide range of directory that includes information on all web hosting providers, their web hosting plans, promotional and discount coupons, and unedited reviews by real customers. If you are considering on getting a web host, check out the site for more information.

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The cover of Sports Illustrated shows an ecstatic Michael Phelps and his 8-gold medals haul at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He is now, without a doubt, the greatest Olympian to date dethroning Mark Spitz's 36 years reign. I'd say good job Michael and to Mark, let's see how long Michael keeps the title.

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Cable and telephone cables or category 5 cables are forever evolving. The rise in high technology requires newer, more superior, safer and possibly less expensive cables adaptable to new gadgets and other electronic appliances. One such cable is the CAT5e cable. CAT5e e cable is an enhanced version of Cat 5 that adds specifications for far end crosstalk or in layman's term, controls electronic interference. If you are on the look out for a new cable to use in Ethernet,this type of cable is the perfect choice.

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Philippine best bet to finally bring home the elusive gold has just been eliminated in the preliminaries. It is a sad day for the Philippines for Taekwondo jinn Tshomlee Go lost Ryan Carneli of Australia in the preliminaries round of 16. If Go defeated Carneli he would have qualified in the quarterfinals,then semifinals then finals. The final round of the men's 58 kg is between Guillermo Perez of Mexico and Yulis Mercedes of the Dominican Republic. Keeping my fingers crossed for Antoinette Rivero.

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It's the middle of August already. Before you know it, Christmas will be around the corner leaving you stressed and stupefied for you have not even begun with your Christmas list. But wait! Before you start your shopping list, have you prepared your family's Halloween costumes yet? Not yet? Me too!

I am a costume-obsessed-oriented person. I have closets full of costumes - native-international-super heroes-movie personalities and more. I just love costumes. I sometimes hire a seamstress to do my costumes. I design the costume, buy the textile and accessories and have the costume made. Most often that not, I improvise and do the costumes myself. My children have been superman, supergirl, vampires, ghouls, mummy, Minnie Mouse, a dinosaur, a witch, a sultan, a princess, Jasmine, Aladdin.... I can go on and on. This year, to make life easier for me I'll just order online for a ready-made-costume. I have found the perfect website for Halloween costumes.

CostumeCauldron.com is an online store for Halloween costumes and more. It offers a wide range of costume selections for babies up to adults. I browsed the site and found the perfect costume for Ethan. Maybe we'll go as pirates this Halloween. There are plenty of designs to choose from. The Pirate costume to your left will fit Ethan. If he comes as a pirate, then I too should be one. What do you think of my costume?

Now I don't have to worry. I can order online and have the costume delivered right to my doorstep way before Halloween. By the way, there's a secret Haunted House backdoor at the site that will give you big discounts. Access the secret door by going to the homepage halfway down on the right and click on the brown comma in the line that reads “Our Store now has over 10,000 masquerade items for you to choose from!” Go!

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Daughter # 1 told me last night that Tita King is dead. I felt sad and told my daughter to find out where her body lies in state. We just have to be there. Tita King is Philippine's 1989 National Artist Awardee Lucresia Kasilag, dubbed First Lady of Philippine Music. She was my girls' mentor when my girls were with the Manila Children's Choir. She was a very patient and loving with the kids. I remember that she even personally taught daughter #1 to play the kumintang. It's a sad day for the Filipino Music community. You will be missed Tita King.



Tita King was almost always with the Manila Children's Choir's touring group. She was no prima donna and acted just like one of the "guys". This picture was taken in Missassagua, Toronto. That's Tita King sitting beside me.

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My brother-in-law just finished renovating a part of his house to serve as the music room. He is not really a musician per se but he does love to listen to good music. I was at his place last weekend and had a look at his new baby. Yup! It was alright. He chose a Filipino-Hispanic motif for his interior. The walls were of red brick. The window frames were wood with stained glass panels. He chose to display a violin and a guitar on the wall right above the electric organ. I commented that the violin and the guitar should be in their cases and not on the wall. He quipped “for display only”.

On one side is his son’s drum set. At the other side is the video-audio system. The drum set occupied so much space that the music room seemed crammed. The speakers are also occupying a good part of the floor area. The plasma TV was the focal point of the room. I suggested that he use wall mounted home theater speakers to compliment his video-audio system and save space too. I told him to check out www.thespeakercompany.com for great stuff at reasonable prices. He said that was a good idea and will definitely check out the site.

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The Canadian Row Team defeated defending champion USA in the bid for gold in the Men's Eight rowing competition.Great Britain finished second while USA finished third. I am so intrigued by this sport. Why? Because I think this is a highly elitist sport! I am reminded of Ivy-league rowing teams, of WASPs and descendants of the Mayflower.

My favorite TV doctor was a member of the Cambridge (yes, the one in UK) rowing team. If not for a real bad bout of infectious mononucleosis (Dr, House! who have you been kissing?!), Hugh Laurie may have been one of UK's rowers in the 1984 Olympics.He was one of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. Later, he was given a sport award of the highest distinction while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Laurie is a member of the Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world. Wooohooo! Go Dr. House!

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My 3 girlfriends and I usually have a night-out once a month. On this once-a-month indulgence, we go out for dinner then coffee. One of us usually chooses the latest dining facility around the city for we all love to try new cuisine. Coffee and dessert follow after dinner. My friends and I talk about almost anything under the sun. We talk about our husbands’ latest faux pas and we usually end up in tears – due to laughing. We talk about our children and their latest going-ons. We talk about our rants and rages and sometimes our angst.

Our greatest fear is growing old. Fine lines and some white hair are starting to show on us but our fear of growing old has nothing to do with aesthetics. We are afraid that we might grow old and senile and alone. We are anxious that no one will take care of us in old age. One friend just came back from California. She told us about a San Diego assisted living homecare facility that her aunt is in now. She said that her 72 year old aunt has a full social life and loving it! Ummm... assisted living homecare. Great idea!

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China bagged the team gold in Artistic Gymnastics while Nastia Liukin of USA got the top marks in the Women's Individual All-around. Much hope (and stress) was given to US gymnast Shawn Johnson of USA after all she bagged 3 golds in individual events in last year's World Championships. The elusive Olympic gold finally comes for Johnson in the Beam. Expect a lot of gold for Johnson in the coming years which would likely culminate in the 2012 Olympics. She has a natural sassiness that would be her saving grace in the typical difficulties in her chosen sports.

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What's in a name? Does your name mean anything? I am sure your name means something significant too. I had a hard time choosing my children's names for there were so many suggestions - of which most were real gross! I named my first daughter Luanne. Why? That was the name of the heroine in a favorite novel of mine. Now with my second daughter, I made a real mistake. I thought she would be a boy so I prepared a baby boy's name -Merrick. I had no girl name option when my 2nd girl was born that's why I just added an 'a' to feminize the name. My 2nd daughter does not really like the name Merricka. She said it's quite weird. I countered that at least it's unique!

Choosing the right name for your baby is quite a task. The name you choose will invariably affect your child's future in some aspects. I stumbled on this site where you can literally choose hundreds of baby names- meanings and origins included. My name means "light"- which could be translated as an illumination. I sure hope I do shine!

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Synchronized swimming is one of my favorite Olympic events. I am just mesmerized by the beauty, grace, precision and strength of these graceful water dancers. Tops in the duet techinical routine is the Russian duo of Davydova and Ermakova with a score of 49.334%. The duo from Spain is a close second while in 3rd, 4th and 5th places are Japan, China and USA. Tomorrow is the finals for the Duet Free Routine. The score for this event will be added to the technical routine score to determine the highest pointers. The picture is that of the incredible real-life-twins Duo of China. Talk about perfect look-alikes!

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What is the worst pick-up line have you personally encountered? I have experienced several but I cannot remember them all. The incidents were ages ago! Oh wait, here's one that I do remember. I was a freshman in college when this happened. I was just out of the shower rooms after my diving class and on my way to get my stuff in the locker room when a guy approached me. He asked: Is this your swim cap?. Without even bothering to check my bag I said "no, that's not mine" for my swim cap was black and he was holding a blue one. I was about to leave when he said, well then, can you accompany me look for the owner? Excuse Me?! Who would fall for that line? No Victory Hair points on that one.

What about you? Have you had much practice on one-liners? Why not check? Why don't you try your pick-up lines in the Ultimate Flirting Championship. See if you can win a Victory Hair in your game. The Extreme Style by VO5 online game is quite a challenge. Check it out.

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The finals for the Women's Triathlon as held yesterday. The gold was garnered by Australia's Emma Snowsill. It was an impressive race for the top three had only a minute ++ differences on their final time. Triathlon is an endurance endurance sports event consisting of swimming, cycling and running over various distances.The sport debuted on the Olympic program at the Sydney Games in 2000 over the Olympic Distance (1500 m swim - 40 km bike - 10 km run). It is interesting to note that contenders who qualified for the finals for this event had an age range of 17-41. I think this is one sport that age does not and will not matter.

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My niece's mother-in-law will hold a baby shower next weekend for her. We were assigned to bring in as many friends as possible for the shower. My niece is all excited for this is her first. Of course the essence of a baby shower is to bring gifts for the soon-to-be-born baby. Now I get it! We were assigned to bring in friends (at least 5!) for the gifts! Clever.

I have no idea what I'll give her so I asked my niece what she wants. She, being nice and proper, said "anything". I asked her what she had bought so far and she said "nothing, just baby clothes and stuff." So, with fingers crossed I asked her if she needs a pushchair. Her eyes widened and lighted then excitedly said "yes!" Me and my big mouth.

There are so many brands and styles of pram on sale at stores that it's really quite brain-draining to choose one. I browsed the net for baby pushchairs at www.babythings4u.co.uk. I found one that I liked, the three wheelers. It looks so easy to maneuver and the blue color is just about right for my niece's coming-soon-baby boy. I better tell my niece about my find so she can check it out before I decide to buy it.

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Philippine Taekwondo jin Maria Antoinette Rivero will have her Round 16 preliminaries on August 22 at 10:00 A.M. (GMT+8) at the USTB gymnasium. She will go against Sandra Saric of Croatia. Saric has the height advantage at 5'9" against Rivero's 5'7". However, at Athens, Rivero was ranked 5 while Saric 11. The Rivero alternates between the lightweight and welterweight categories while Saric falls either in the welterweight and middleweight categories. For Beijing, they are bidding for the 67kg.(welterweight) female category. Go Antoinette!

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There are just too many online games. My son is having a field day downloading new games to play. The general genre of the online games are related to "men" stuff. Sure there are online games for kids but what I want is an online games related to "girly" stuff. I found one such site at www.lanagames.com.

The site is aptly titled Games for Girls. There are a lot of games to choose from each headings: dressup, makeover, dressup makeover, Barbie, Bratz, cooking, coloring, decorate and more. I clicked on Barbie then makeover. Oh wow! I had fun choosing a new skin color, hair color and eye color for Barbie. I got to choose her make-up too. The Games for Girls is so right not only for little girls but for girls ( and women ) of all ages. You can play at the site, download the file or embed a link on your site too, FREE! Check it out.

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Scoring errors in Gymnastics the Athens Olympics brought about a change in the scoring area. It turns out that the perfect 10 scoring is not so perfect anymore. The rage is all in the 15's, 16's, or even in the 17's! “I hate the new scoring,” said Mary Lou Retton, whose Olympic gold medal came courtesy of a 10 on vault. “The perfect 10, you don’t have to say anything to describe it. The perfect 10, you were perfect.”

How does it work now? It's like this. The first score, the difficulty mark, measures how hard the routine is. Starting from zero, the values of the 10 hardest tricks in a routine are added together. The harder the routine, the higher the difficulty score will be.The second mark is for execution. Starting from 10—the FIG’s way of claiming the 10 still exists—deductions are taken for errors big -wobbles, falls- and small.

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I use my hands a lot, as in a lot. I do manual drafting as an architect. I play the piano and the guitar. I play tennis. I do knitting and cross stitching. I cook and bake. I blog. My mom warned me to take care of my hands for at the rate I'm going, I might develop carpal tunnel syndrome.

The median nerve and several tendons run from your forearm to your hand through a small space in your wrist called the carpal tunnel. The median nerve controls movement and feeling in your thumb and first three fingers.Carpal tunnel syndrome happens when the median nerve running from the forearm to the hand becomes squished at the wrist. The pressure on the median nerve causes the the carpal tunnel syndrome. Repetitive movements - computer work, gardening, drafting - obesity, pregnancy and even smoking can cause the median nerve to swell making the carpal tunnel smaller.

I was truly alarmed for the almost every morning I do wake up with a tingling sensation in my right hand. There are oral medications available to lessen the swelling and pain in CTS. However, I saw a very acceptable option than the oral meds. IMAK offers alternative carpal tunnel relief products. It has varied orthopedic products that can provide relief from wrist pain, arthritis, tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow pain at the knees, neck or back. There are products that can also relieve from migraines and sinus pain. Great! Check it out.

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Mrs. Deborah Phelps had a problem. Her son Michael was hyperactive that his teachers consensus was: Can’t sit still, can’t keep quiet, can’t focus. HIs grades were mostly B's and C's. He was tall and lanky for his age and had ears too big. At age 9 Michael was diagnosed with ADHD ( attention deficit hyper activity disorder) and was put on Ritalin. By this time, Michael was already swimming for the Phelpses were a swimming family. At age 11, Michael refused to take his meds and told his mother that he can manage and control himself.

When Michael was 11 his coach Bob Bowman said and I quote: ‘By 2000, I look for him to be in the Olympic trials,’ ” recalled Ms. Phelps. “ ‘By 2004, he makes the Olympics. By 2008, he’ll set world records. By 2012, the Olympics will be in New York and’.. The coach made two mistakes. Michael moved 4 years earlier that his coach's prediction and the New York lost the bid for the 2012 Olympics.

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One of my daughters is a grade school teacher. One time she complained that most graders do not write well - no composition, wrong grammar, no development. She observed that if these errors are not corrected early on, the students may well go into high school and college still committing the same mistakes. This shortcoming will definitely affect their work in doing research papers.

High technology is under our finger tips. There are online help for writing papers nowadays. Once such website is MasterPapers.com. The site boosts of professional US and UK writers who care highly qualified to help you with just about anything regarding your school writing requirements. It offers help in professional essays, research and term papers, theses and dissertations. The site also offers help in editing and proof reading. Every writer or student have encountered or will encounter a compare and contrast essay. The site offers tips on how to go about this tricky type of essay. Compare and contrast essay discuses points for comparison and differences of two objects belonging to the same category or genre. It entails a study on two subjects because discussing points of comparisons and differences require familiarity with the two objects or subjects. If I were pressed to buy essay, I'll check out this site.

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Fifteen Million Philippine Pesos. What, you may ask, is the relevance of that amount? Well that amount, together with a new Toyota Vios is the pot money for the first Filipino Olympian to bring home an Olympic gold. There were a lot of companies, organizations and private citizens who pledged certain amounts to serve as incentives to the Olympian medalists.Manny Pacquiao pledged a Million pesos (only?) Wow! I wonder if other countries offer monetary incentives to their medalists too?

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Yesterday, I answered about 4 prank calls. Every time I answer the phone, the caller hangs up! Having 4 daughters and a son, I do not know who the call was for. Maybe it was for my hubby?! Anyway, that kind of call irritates me no end especially when I was so occupied watching the Olympics. I have a caller ID but what good will it do? I did call up the reflected number but then, whoever he/she was refused to answer. I called up my phone provider and requested to look up who the phone number was registered. Of course the customer service rep said she cannot do that as the phone was unlisted. The consumer is the victim and yet nothing can be done.

In US and Canada a company called TraceNumber.com does reverse phone look up for landlines and cell phones to trace unknown phone number. Just enter the phone number and hit search. You'll get instant access to the name of the owner, address, phone carrier details and more. I did try the site.I typed in my brother's NJ phone number and his name and address came out. Not to worry, the system will never reveal that I did a search. Any prank caller lately?

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The Philippine's quest for an Olympic gold rests on the shoulders of two jins - Tshomlee Go and Mary Antoinette Rivero. The two trained in Korea for two months. both athletes failed to land a medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics four. This time they are confident they will be able to finally bring home the elusive gold medal for the country. The closest bid for the elusive gold was that of Mansueto "Onyok" velasco when he won the silver medal in boxing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Will the 84 year-old Olympic medal gold quest finally ends this time? Good luck Tshomlee and Antoinette.

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Keeping tabs on Phelps's medals reminded me that I have some cleaning up to do in the basement. Why? The basement is where I store or display or some sort, most of the golfing plaques and awards that my husband has won. His collection of awards is quite impressive as he only started his "golfing" career in 1994. I have no affinity to the game. The concept that I had that golf, as a hobby, is expensive rings true. Golfing equipment costs and the green fees are stiff. I can never understand why he has to buy different brands of golf clubs - Ping, Callaway, Cobra golf and Titleist golf. I wonder if he'll miss one set?

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Archer Antonio Rebolle lighted the 1992 Barcelona Olympic cauldron by shooting his perfect arrow. It was one of the most monumental and awesome torch lighting I have seen. The archer wiht his bow and arrow was a statement of excellence.

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Remember the movie The Net? It starred Sandra Bullock. In a nutshell, the story was about Sandra’s identity being erased. In just a few key strokes, she became a non-entity. Her identity was erased. Her name assumed by another person. That was scary, especially these days when identity theft seems to be a common occurrence. It has now become tedious protecting ones name and other personal information due to the technology that is well within everyone’s reach. We try very hard to protect our personal information but somehow, it just can’t be 100% done. We transact business online. We trade online. We pay our bills online. Banking can be done online too. Somehow, we can’t help but worry that someone might steal our numbers – credit card, social security, bank account, etc. Not to worry now that Lifelock is around. It is America’s #1 identity theft prevention program. Lifelock reviews will tell you how the system works. By enrolling with Lifelock, your information will be safe no matter what. The company is completely legitimate and its clients satisfied with their services. For a minimal monthly fee, you will feel safe and sure that no one can access your personal file. Avail of big discounts by using the lifelock promo code.

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I was glued to the television at 10:00 A.M.(GMT+8). My girls were in daughter #4's bedroom similarly glued to the TV screen. We are waiting to witness history. The 1500m men's freestyle finals was on - an upset! A relatively unknown Tunisian swimmer at lane 1 won the event. The 4x100m women's medley relay came next. The Australian quartet won. Now comes the final event that could make or break Michael's bid for the 8th gold medal.

Peirsol gave the US team as he gave them a good lead when he did his backstroke. Hansen increased their lead with his breaststroke. Michael gave his best shot and lead by half a body after his tumble-turn and superb underwater dolphin kicks. It was almost a sure win but I still kept my fingers crossed. Jason Lezak would still have to swim against Eamon Sullivan, the silver medalist in the 100m freestyle! As Phelps hit the touch pad, Lezak dove, dolphin kicked and never looked back. After 36 years, Mark Spitz's 7-gold medal in a single Olympic was broken.

Congratulations Michael Phelps! You are now the best among the best of Olympians.

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My kids and I love to watch game shows. The sillier the game show, the better. Banzai is a Japanese TV series that dwells on absurd-funny-bizarre-outrageous stunts and gags. A gag or stunt is shown. The viewers would have to guess the outcome of the stunt. Who guesses it right wins. We loved it as we always had a good laugh.

Screen Life Game produced and created a DVD Banzai version with betting pieces so you could actually play it with your friends or family. Players will watch clips taken from the TV show and will bet with the included toy sushi. A sample stunt is 3 Michael Jackson wannabes were challenged to cross an ice rink doing the moonwalk. It’s funny how the narrator does his spiel – in a funny Japanese accent. Players are to guess who the winner will be as they place bets. Players have to use chopsticks to place their bets at the center bowl. The winner gets all the sushi. This DVD game is fun! You get to practice your intuition and your chopstick skills too!

The Banzai DVD game is available for purchase online. You might also want to check out Tako’s, the official octopus mascot, MySpace website – www.myspace.com/takotheocto.

ScreenLife Games is at it again. They launched a new Banzai game. Check it out:

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Today, at 10:58 A.M. (GMT+8)Michael Phelps will try to break Mark Spitz's 7-gold medals in one Olympic. In case you don't know, Michael Phelps bagged his 7th gold yesterday in the 100m butterfly. The catch is, Phelps's last event is the men's 4x100m medley relay. Phelps will do the butterfly,(whatelse) as it's his best event. I'm really not sure who will be his relay teammates for in the past relays, the US team had the tendency to have a different team to qualify for the heat and semifinals. The 8th gold quest is note solely dependent on Michael. The pressure would totally fall on the last swimmer - the freestyler- which would probably be Jason Lezak. Let's just hope that Lezak will swim as well as he did in the 4x100m freestyle.

God Bless! Good Luck!

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I am a sucker for photo slide shows and video clip movies. I must have joined, downloaded and installed so many programs related to photo slides and the likes. I happened upon Roxio online whose website at photoshow.com offers free and easy photo slide shows. I gave in to my weakness and tried the site. it's fast loading and a breeze to do. I can choose the style and music that I prefer, add captions and animations, stickers too. Correcting mistakes is not a problem for you can undo or redo your pictures. Watch my slide show. I know you'll like it.

The USA basketball team delegation to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics team was dubbed the Dream Team. I was glued to the television during the team's games then. What team could have possibly beaten this superb line-up of cagers? This is the Olympic basketball team closest to my heart! Michael Jordan is still the Best!

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The Munich Olympics in 1972 was marred by the death of 11 Israeli athletes. It was also the year the US swimmer Mark Spitz, then 22 years old, won 7 golds. He set a new world record in each of the seven events (the 100 m freestyle, 200 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly, 200 m butterfly, 4 x 100 m freestyle relay, 4 x 200 m freestyle relay and the 4 x 100 m medley relay).

Mark Spitz is synonymous with excellence. Doing a Mark Spitz is winning against all odds.In 2000, Mark was voted Athlete of the Century in water sports and one of the six greatest Olympians ever by Sports Illustrated. Recently, the International Olympic Committee selected Mark as one of its five athletes of the Century.

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There are currently so many online forums. Topics are varied. Members, more varied. One thing that I don't like with some forums are thread moderators that "moderate" just about anything you post and suspend you if (by their standards, you go too far). I say, "what's the point of the forum then if you can't freely express your views and thoughts?" Luckily there is Arguewitheveryone.com, a website that discusses political issues to health care to gun care and to just about any topic under the sun. Check it out as the threads are generally unmoderated and with scant rules to promote open, free debate about whatever topics members are interested in.

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Watch out Michael Phelps! Here's the Philippines' best bet to the 2020 Olympics!

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Most Mothers from all around the world still find it tasking to feed their little ones veggies and fruits. Most kids don't like veggies and fruits. It was an innovative idea to have an animated show that had veggie and fruits as characters - the Sproutwells. The Sproutwells are just your typical fruit and veggie family living among humans. They are just trying to fit in the human world. My favorite character so far is Mom Romania Sproutwell. She's one cool momma veggie. The family has just acquired a new dog which they named Pytho. it was funny how Pytho went to pee on Rosie's foot. Rosie is the nosey human neighbor of the Sproutwells.




The show is sponsored by Freshfunds.com. Join the program, accumulate points and be rewarded. You can also avail of free healthy snacking tips.

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My heart bleeds for Roger Federer.He is out of the Olympics finals in the men's single. He was so keen on bagging the gold for this event. Whatever happened to the world's # 1 seed in men's tennis? No. 8 seed James Blake of USA ousted Federer and created the biggest upset in the Men's Olympic Tournament. Federer made 56 unforced errors to Blake's 38 in the match. This only proves that in tennis, it's anyone's ballgame.

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Online marketing is a rising phenomenon. It is a marvel, a fact and is happening right now. Buying and selling online has become an everyday occurrence and trend. There is no more urgent need to physically go to a store to buy what you need. You do not have to buy ads in Brisbane Classifieds and the likes to market your merchandise and stuff. Online marketing is here and most likely will stay.

The site www.simpletrade.com.au is the fastest growing online space in Australia. Private sellers can place ads for free for as long as 6 months. A business corporation can register and an online store will be created for their own use. The site is a virtual buy and sell space. I browsed through the site and found an ad selling guppies. I also saw an ad for wanted to buy: a glass-eyed cabbage patch doll. There are currently 57 online stores registered at www.simpletrade.com.au selling a whole range of different items. Check it out.

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I was a fan, as in die-hard fan of Bruce Jenner. What? You don't know Bruce Jenner? He was the 1976 Montreal Olympics decathlon gold medalist. I was so infatuated with Bruce that I wasn't able to keep track of the times I asked him to marry me - while I was watching him on TV as he did his decathlon herculean tasks. So there I was, alone in my bedroom screaming my head off: Bruce! marryyyy meeeeeeeee!!! I guess my mom must have heard me. She never did ask why she never met the Bruce that I was so keen in marrying. If you watch the US show Skating with Celebrities, yes he is that Bruce Jenner, the ice skating partner of Tai Babilonia. Compare the then and now pictures of Jenner. Boy! am I glad he never heard and answered my proposal!

Plastic surgery and implants aside, Bruce is one darn fine athlete. He was the 1976 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. Jenner was also the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1976. He was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Bay Area Hall of Fame and Connecticut Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. Go Bruce!

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Bingo may well be one of the most popular board game ever invented. It's basically inexpensive, easy to learn, and can be played whenever, wherever, whatever. I have found memories of playing bingo with my playmates decades ago. We used corn grains to mark called numbers. Our Bingo cards were mostly soft and dog-eared due to usage. The Bingo numbers were all put in a plastic funnel to be shaken out one at a time and called out. B-10! calls the game master and in unison almost all the players will chant bitin-bibitin-bitin which sounds like B-10 but roughly means bitin in Filipino which means hanging. Our pot prize was usually... nothing! The honor of winning the game was more than enough.

Bingo games have evolved. Blowers and flashboards and hi-tech markers and cards are now used. The game is played in malls for pot prizes amounting to hundred thousands. Schools and Organizations hold Bingo games for fund raising. Last year my son won a machine washing in a Bingo game. My eldest daughter topped it by winning 15,000 Php in a single game of Bingo. I would like my grandson to experience the thrill of playing Bingo with us. I think I'd hope by Amazon.com and get Ethan a Screenlife Games' Disney Bingo DVD game. Ethan would definitely love this!

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Michael Phelps did it again! He got his 6th gold in the 200m individual medley breaking both the World and Olympic Records at 1:54:23. It was a close swim between teammates Ryan Lochte and Phelps but it was Laszlo Cshe who got the silver with Lochte in 3rd position. I guess Lochte felt fine with his win for earlier this morning he won and broke the World record in the 200m backstroke. Go boys!

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Daughter #4 is in her final year of college. She is taking up a double degree course in BS Economics and BS Management of Financial Institutions. She is the only one in the family whose degree gears towards business and finance. I asked her what futures trading is as I came across that term in one of my readings. Here's her explanation for a dummy like me.

The farmer is the seller while the dealer is the buyer. The farmer agrees to deliver 50 bushels of grain to the dealer at a certain date at a certain price. The two parties agreed on the terms and signed a contract. The dealer might have made a deposit to the farmer for "guarantee" sealing contract. That is futures trading in a nutshell.

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Athletics - the heart of the Olympic Games. One of my favorite events in this category is the Decathlon. As the name implies, an athlete has 10 events to compete in. The events are 100 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400 meters for day 1. For day 2 the events are 110 meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and the final 1500 meters. For me, the marathon and the decathlon are the two most grueling events in the Olympics. The youngest decathlete ever to win the Olympics was 17 year old Bob Mathias of USA in the 1948 London Olympics. The myth that decathlon was a game for the old and the experienced vanished when Mathias won the event in 1948 and 1952 Olympics.

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The Ancient Chinese and Egyptians might have been the ones who started out the custom of sending out greeting cards. The Chinese sent out messages of goodwill at New Year's time and the Egyptians sent out messages and greeting in papyrus. By 1400, handmade greeting cards were the vogue in Europe. These cards were expensive since they were handmade and hand delivered. By the 1850's the advances in printing transformed greeting cards to a relatively affordable commodity. New trends like Birthday cards, Christmas cards appeared. Today, there is a card for every occasion, sentiment or relation.

The card business has come a real long way since then. You no longer have to buy your card from a store for the advent of internet made it possible for you to order online. One such online store is Greetingcardscafe.com. It offers a variety of personalized cards and invitations that you can order online. Name the occasion and they have the right card or invitation for it. Since Christmas is just around the corner you might want to consider ordering personalised Corporate Christmas Cards, Company Christmas Greeting Cards and business Christmas Cards. The company currently has an ongoing promotion of free personalized cards. All you pay for is the postage. All cards are made and sent from Ireland. Check it out now.

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Day 7 of the Olympics is when Athletics come in. As in any Olympics the Athletics take center stage. The arena for the events will be at the National Stadium, or The Bird's Nest. There will be more than 40 events to be contested starting today. First in the list of qualifying heats will be in the hurdles, shot put, and high jump of the women's heptathlon and men's 100m dash. Two finals will commence today that of the Men's shot out and the Women's 10000 meters.

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Girl, have you ever felt so rotten due to PMS as in Premenstrual Syndrome? PMS is actually a bundle of physical, psychological, and emotional symptoms related to a woman's menstrual cycle. Women have been known to hit maximum intolerable persona once in PMS mode. Some even joke that most crimes committed by women coincide with PMS! I used to wonder what the big fuzz is as I have never experienced a severe PMS. The condition is caused by an increase level of estrogen translating to low progesterone level. The drop in progesterone causes the start of early peri-menopause, low libido, heavy periods, weight-gain, headaches and cramps. Progesterone actually aids in increasing vigor and stress reduction. Women, take note that keeping our progesterone and estrogen at ideal levels are important for our general well-being.

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This is from one of my very good friends here in the wonderful world of blogging! Thanks Sheng!


We need friends for many reasons,
all throughout the season.
We need friends to comfort us

when we are sad,
and to have fun with us when we are glad.

We need friends to give us good advice,
We need someone we can count on,
and treat us nice.

We need friends to remember us
one we have passed
sharing memories that will always last.

Spread the poem of friendship.

1. Everyday Life 2. Words of Love 3. Sheng's Simple Thoughts . . . 4. Pinay Mom Blogs

I am passing this to A Fil-Am Journey*Anne Loves Will*A Blessed Life*Csenge Molnar*Daily Happy Thoughts*Honey In Love*Outback Pinay*

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Zara Phillips is the eldest granddaughter of HR Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Duke of Edinburgh. She is the daughter of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips. By right, she is the 12th in the British order of Succession. Having these for background is impressive enough but Zara is much more. She is an accomplished equestrienne and is the reigning Eventing World Champion. She missed the 2004 and 2008 Olympics because her horse Toytown was injured. London Olympics 2012 then?

For the moment, it's Zara Horsing Around with a Land Rover.

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The 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics is the Olympics closest to my heart. Why? It was the first Olympics that I faithfully followed. Back in the 70's there were only 5 television stations in Manila. Cables and Internet were unthinkable then. There were live telecasts of the games then but I mostly depended on delayed telecasts shown at 2:00 P.M. onwards at Channel 9. I remember rushing to go home from school so as not to miss the 14-year-old-Romanian genius of a gymnast. Nadia Comaneci! She was the first ever gymnast to score a perfect 10 which brought havoc to Montreal's scoring board for it was not calibrated for a 10. So, all of Nadia's perfect 10's came out as 1 in the score board. She took the gold in the overall category as well as in the uneven bars and balance beam.

Nadia went on to compete internationally and even participated at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. She only finished 2nd for she had gained height and weight and girth. She finally retired in 1984 then defected to the USA in 1989. She is married to Bart Conner and has a son. Comaneci is a twice recipient of the Olympic Order and is a member of the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

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My brother and his family lives in New Jersey while my family and I stay in Manila. We keep tab of each other through phone calls. It was his duty to call me up once a week. One time, my brother stopped calling for quite a while. I emailed him and asked. He said, his last phone bill amounted to $325.00.He said he had his international direct dialing option disconnected. That started our quest for international calling cards.

Getmecallingcards.com has a large selection of phone cards that you can choose from. Getting one is so easy. You just pick your call destination, choose the phone card that you prefer, pay for the card through very secure online processor, then get the PIN. Call the toll-free-number required, enter the PIN on your phone, punch in the numbers and voila! A user also has the option to register his phone to avail of the no-PIN access. What's great is some cards offer refill for an unlimited expiration.

The calling cards offer great voice quality and have a real good value for you money. The company also offers a 3% cash back on your present and future purchases.Check it out!

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Michael Phelps bagged his fourth gold at the 200mm butterfly and 5th gold medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay. He is now 5/5 of his 8-gold medal Olympic quest. He was not in the relay line-up for yesterday's heats. Looks like USA changed its line-up in the said relay. Good decision, I would say. Tonight at 8:00 P.M. GMT+ he will swim in the 6th heat in the 200m individual medley. He'll be in the seeded lane #4 while his closest rival, James Goddard of UK will be in lane 5. As predicted, Phelps opted out of the 200m backstroke as it's not one of his best events. Tomorrow, 11:00 A.M. GMT+ will see him in the semifinals of the 100m butterfly. I speculate that his 8th and final event for his 8-gold Olympic quest will be in the 4x100m medley relay. God Speed Michael!

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I love t-shirts! They are just the most comfortable, durable, wash and wear article of clothing invented. Its history dates back to Ancient Egypt but the first ever legitimate T-shirt was developed in England around 1880, about the time of the Industrial revolution. From then on, we can safely say that the ever-dependable T-shirt has gone a long way from its original use as an undergarment. I like t shirts that sport witty phrases. I found this one (on your left) and I sure do agree with what it says!

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Our new puppy has arrived. Its name is Chuck. We took Chuck to the vet this afternoon and so far, at two months, the puppy is in top condition. However I know from experience that one problem that I have to tackle later on are fleas. I am very particular with fleas for these pests are so annoying for both pets and pet owners. I had one dog who was so infested it the vet had that dog confined foir treatment. I have various ways of preventing and ridding fleas but sometimes, fleas seem to mutate and they just keep on living and growing and worse, biting.

It's a good thing that I stumbled on fleascontrol.com. The site offers guide on flea treatment on dogs and cats. I browsed through the highly informative site and I did learn a new thing or two in dealing and preventing with fleas infestation. Check it out.

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Michael Phelps is now 3 out of 3 in his quest to beat Mark Spitz's 36 year old record of 7 golds in the Olympic. He won the 200 meter freestyle finishing in 1 minute, 42.96 seconds, breaking the mark 1:43.86 he set at last year's world championships. Phelps' Events are: 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle relay, 4x200m medley. Done events are the 200m freestyle, 400m IM, and 400mX100 freestyle. He was slated to swim the 4x200m freestyle relay but he did not.

Phelps also qualified in the preliminaries in the 100m freestyle but again opted out. He might also back out of Thursday's 200m backstroke. At this point, Phelps is using his brain in choosing his events. I think he opted out of the 4x200m freestyle because the finals for that event and the 200m butterfly will be held one hour apart. There's no way Phelps can recover from his 200m free relay then go all out for his 200m butterfly. So what other event will Phelps swim? The 4x200m medley?

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Thanks Sheng for this Brillante Award!

The above recipients of the Brillante Weblog are welcomed to put the Logo on their personal blogs and have the honor of passing this award to seven other bloggers.Here are the rules for passing on the award:

l. Put the logo on your blog

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3. Nominate at least seven other blogs

4. Add links to those blogs on your blog

Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

I cannot nominate 7 blogs for I know all blogs are somehow brilliant by their own rights and standards. Everyone, please grab the award.

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Ringtones! The measurement of how cool you are not only depends on the kind of mobile phone that you have but is also dependent on the kind of ringtone that you play in your phone, my son lectured. For you hip (or none-hip-but-wanna-be-hip) people out there, a site called rapmusicringtones.net offers a wide range of Rap Ringtones. The site offers ringtones from rappers like JayZ, Eminem, Dr. Dre and Akon to name a few. I checked out the Hip Hop Ringtones and downloaded Soulja Boy! I felt like a real chill dudette! Check it out. Download is free.

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Let’s show our support to the Philippine Team in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China!

1. Pink and Bubbly
2. Everything Kimchi
3. The Cake Chronicles
4 . Buhay sa Korea
5. Apt 1014
6. Manna from Heaven
7. Pinay Mom Blogs


I am tagging all Pinoys who share the sentiments as the ones listed. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

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Decades ago, a cousin of mine put a honey bee farm for his hobby. He segregated a part of his backyard and put up boxes filled with trays on slotted wood for a queen bee to lay her eggs and for the worker bees to fill up the man-made combs with honey. The bees, I perceived then, were quite docile. I was more agitated by the sight of my cousin wearing his "bee" outfit of a large-netted-hat and gloves and boots. I asked him what he'll do with the honey. He answered that it's not all about the honey. He said it's more about the bee pollen.

Bee Pollen is one of the richest and purest natural foods ever discovered. The nutritional and medicinal value of pollen has been known for centuries. It is known that ancient China has been keen on bee pollen. Pollen grains contain the male germ cells (elements) that are produced by all plants, flowers or blossoms. This is essential in order to ensure that plant life throughout the world continues by a process involving fertilization and plant embryo formation. Bee pollen contains trace amounts of minerals and vitamins and is very high in protein and carbohydrates.

Bee pollen is not found in the everyday diet. It is found in nutritional supplements and Chinese herbal medicine products. An enterprising average-not-so-young man discovered the fountain of youth! Read Joe's story and you'll be amazed from his personal testimony of how bee pollen helped him recuperate from a devastating accident that made him lose his energy and zest in life. In Joe's quest to share to the world his magical fountain of youth, he found ways and means to collect the purest of bee pollen and turn them into 100% pure and 100% all-natural supplements.

Joe's bee pollen actually contains the following.

* 15-25% Amino Acids, Up to 40% Carbohydrates, 5% Fatty Oils, Up to 35% protein
* Contains Vitamins like: A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 B12, C, D, E, Folic Acid & Ruitn
* Also Minerals like: Calcium, Copper, Iron, Phosphorous, Potassium +11 enzymes and co-enzymes
* 28 Micro-nutrients - 14 beneficial fatty acids - 18 protein/amino acids - and is rich in carotenes
* ENERGY* - STAMINA* - BOOSTED IMMUNE SYSYEM* - 100% NATURAL

Why don't you try bee pollen to revitalize your self and energize your body? Avail of Joe's special trial offer now.

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Michael Phelps's 400 meter individual medley record of 4:00:84 broke the Olympics, World and US record to date. Phelps incredible swim was 2:32 seconds faster than Cshe of Hungary and 4:25 seconds faster than fellow team mate Ryan Lochte. In the 1972 Berlin Olympics, swimmer Mark Spitz of USA shone with 4 golds. Not contented with his 4 golds, Spitz vowed to get 7 golds in the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Michael Phelps got 6 golds in the 2004 Athens Olympics. He was just one medal short to break Mark Spitz's 7 gold record. No other Olympic swimmer has gotten this close to Spitz's gold record. Australia's Ian Thorpe only got 3 gold medals in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Phelps target this Olympics is to finally beat Spitz's 7 gold record. Phelps has one under his belt now. Today at 11:30 A.M (GMT+) Phelps will be in the 4 x 100m men's freestyle relay. Let's see if Phelps will bag his second gold.

I just watched the hair-splitting finals of the 4x100m freestyle relay. Somewhere between the 3rd and 4th relay swimmer, France moved ahead. It was all up to Lezak to catch up with France. In the last 25 meter Lezak swam as if his life depended on it and won the gold for the USA team. It's Phelps's second gold medal. Five more to go!

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I was sorting my closet yesterday trying to rid it out of unwanted and unneeded articles of clothing. I am such a sentimental fool that I still have some clothes hanging in my rack dating back to when John Travolta was still strutting to the BeeGees. Ethan was watching me sort through my wardrobe yesterday when out-of-the-blue he asked me what his Halloween costume will be for this year. I said it's too early to think about it but he replied that his best buds in kindergarten, Lucas and Rafa, already have costumes. Ethan's face was showing all the classic signs of frustration and irritation - for me - for I have not gotten his costume yet.




I am what you may call, a costume-oriented person. My children have closets full of costumes - native-international-super heroes-movie personalities and more. I just love costumes. I even have a seamstress to do my costumes. I design the costume, buy the textile and accessories and have the costume made. I know! It's such a tedious job. Last year, Ethan was Obi Wan Kenobi whereas daughter # 4 trick or treated as a vamp witch.
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Call me obsessed but I do want the proper attire for every occasion, Halloween costumes included. I asked Ethan what he would like to be this year. He thought long and hard and replied "I want to be Ironman!". My seamstress is good but how can she possibly make that costume? Buy a sheet of iron and have it welded? Paint his body as to make it seem like it's made of iron? No, I found a better way, or shall I say a website that specializes in Halloween costumes.

CostumeCauldron.com is an online store for halloween costumes. It has a wide range of costume selections for babies up to adults. I browsed the site and found the perfect costume for Ethan. Now I don't have to worry. I can order online and have the costume delivered right to my doorstep way before Halloween.

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There are times when no words can describe how one feels. Watching the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony was one of the few occasions that I was at a lost for words. The work and planning that went with the presentation must have been a real Herculean effort. Who conceptualized it? Who were the choreographers? Who made the costumes and props? How did they do the scroll bit? Never mind. I don't need to know. Suffice it to say that the Opening Ceremony left me in awe.

The Opening Ceremony told of China's wonderful past and it's contribution to the world. It was presented in terms of art performances such as opera, choreographed movements, music, acrobatic and flying acts and martial arts. There were thousands of cast members all beautifully synchronized. One of my favorites as the movable type printing number. I thought the blocks were computerized for the perfection was (I thought) not humanly possible. Was I wrong.

Artists under the blocks

There were explosions of highly-coordinated fireworks display at every interval that must have left the Beijing air more populated. But hey! What the heck! The air will clear but the impression left by the display will forever be etched in the viewers' minds. The LED dancers when pianist Lang-Lang was playing, was one of my favorites too.

Acrobats create Bird's Nest using their bodies

The 2,008 was a magical number for the opening ceremony as there were 2,008 drummers, 2,008 taiji performers, 2008 smiling faces (umbrellas), in short, sequences calling for a large cast were set at 2,008 participants. The taiji performance was my favorite too.

Taiji Performers in perfection

As the partipating countries were called I started to get sleepy. I was still waiting for the lighting of the Olympic torch. I just had to see how the Chinese will do it. The 1992 Olympics in Barcelona torch lighting was still tops for me. Great Chinese athletes did about 5 torch exchanges before the final torch went to a 1984 Olympics gold gymnastics medalist, Li Ning. How will Li Ning light the torch as he was on stage and the Olympic torch was way above the roof of the gymnasium.

Li Ning was lifted up...



He then ran effortlessly along the 500-meter-long brim of the Bird's Nest....



and reached the gigantic torch, which he then ignited using the flame from his torch

Wow! Move over 1992 Barcelona-Olympics-Archer-who-lighted-the torch... Li Ning is tops!

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Beijing denizens have been sprucing up for the Olympics. The Chinese government is not that confident that their citizens will be best-behaved during the Games so the Ruling Communist Party has set up billboards and issued handbooks of instructions for the Chinese. Believe it or not, Chinese spectators were issued out instuctions on how to cheer for their countrymen at the Olympics. "Jiayou, Zhongguo, Jiayou." - means Let's Go China, Let's Go! I can just hear the chant! In the spirit of unity (or dictatorship?) a list of do's and dont's were also issued.

About 4 million booklets of etiquette were issued out to residents of the city. More than a half a million policemen were stationed in Beijing to ensure safety and security. Most foreign news correspondents are saying that China's greatest fear is no those related to terrorist attacks. China is more obsessed in making sure that they do not lose face in form during the 2-week Olympics. However, since there will be more than 75 heads of states and other dignitaries to attend the Opening Ceremony, China also provided a missile here and there "just in case".

If you have thick legs, wear black stockings or better yet, wear pants. Do not go out of your homes unshaven and not properly groomed/dressed. Girls, wear your hair appropriate for your age and please, no red polish. Do not ask a tourist anything regarding his work, salary, love life, dreams and hopes! If you must shake hands, do so but not more than 3 seconds and make sure your feet are apart in a V-position. If you are a taxi driver, lay low on the garlic so as not to smoother tourists with your garlicky breath. Girls, make sure than you use not more than three colors in your dress ensemble and make sure the colors are coordinated.

Men are not allowed to roll up their trousers. No chest hair displayed in public please- although there's no specific instructions on this vogue: rolling up one’s vest so that it rests just below the nipples and exposes the belly to the summer breezes. The booklet on etiquette stretch to thirty-six areas of behavior and run to nine pages on an official website. Some advice like no spitting and forming queue ( a two-year old campaign) is great, however some of the advice may be such a cultural contradiction as to be impossible to implement. Don’t press others to drink at a banquet, and don’t fight over paying the bill. These are Chinese culture to the core.

The campaign has about a million volunteers to give etiquette tips at schools,universities, government offices and in villages. I'm not sure if there is an etiquette on how much teeth is allowed to show when one smiles.

Photo Courtesy

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On August 8,2008 at precisely 8:08 P.M.(GMT+) the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games will formally open with, literally, a BANG! Fireworks explode over the National Stadium at the second dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony. The first dress rehearsal was done in July 11. All those who were able to watch were sworn to secrecy. The second dress rehearsal was on August 2 and the last was on August 6.



The opening ceremony was directed by the famous Chinese film director Zhang Yimou. The Plans are being kept under tight secrecy. An intense security force was deployed outside the stadium during the first rehearsal, which lasted three and half hours.All I know is that there were 70,000 people involved in the production and about 15,000 participants. Quincy Jones and Ang Lee are consultants. The Chinese claim that this would be the most spectacular opening ceremony ever. I have no doubt because every Olympic host city does it best to outshine the last host site. I cannot wait to watch. However, there is a spoiler. It seems like a Korean news leaked a video of the rehearsal. Here I quote unquote.

The Korean news report claims that the ceremony has been prepared for over 3 years and China has spent over $300,000,000 on, what according to the Korean station, is the most "magnificent, brilliant and mysterious" ceremony in Olympic history. The report claims the video features over 10,000 performers -- kung-fu fighters, trapeze artists and traditional Chinese dancers -- using the "most modern of laser technology" to execute the 10-second Olympic countdown. The only mystery still left for the opening is how the Olympic torch will arrive to the Bird's Nest and who will be the final torch bearer.

Spolier!! Just can't keep things to themselves. Anyway, I was really expecting acrobats, trapeze artists, kung fu/shaolin/ and other martial arts masters and dancers plus uber fireworks to graze the Beijing Olymics Opening. I'm betting there'll be dragons too!

See You! (in front of our TVs- not even plasma!!)

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The Beijing Oympics has 32 venues to hold the different sport events. Out of these 32 venues, Beijing constructed 12 new infrastructures for the occasion. The most note worthy of them are the National Stadium and the National Aquatics Center.



The Bird's Nest as it's fondly called was designed by a team of architects and engineers who won over various international competitors. After six-months of fierce competition, the consortium formed by Herzog & de Meuron (Switzerland), Ove Arup (UK) and China Architecture Design & Research Group managed to beat out the competitors with a design for a stadium that would resemble a bird's nest, which is now the nickname of the stadium. Genius! Bravo! This is the venue for the opening ceremony.



The interior of the Aquatics Center is surreal! Are those bubble wraps on the ceiling? The "Water Cube" was built in accordance with a water-saving design concept and energy efficient-cost cutting green architectural wonder.

The venue's membrane structure is covered by ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene) air cushions. It is the first of its kind in China and the world's largest and most complex ETFE project. This material is also an economical and water-saving creation. It is also very expensive at 400-500 euros per panel.

The blue-colored "hubble-bubble" material is lighter than conventional glazing structures with the same lighting effect. So the cost of its supporting steel structure was reduced considerably, said Zheng Fang, the top designer of the Chinese-side design company. All I can say is, wow!

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I have been remiss in posting awards and tags given to me. Sorry, my blogger friends. Just bear with me. Wena of Uncomplicated gave me this award.



1. Only 5 people are allowed to receive this award.
2. 4 of them followers of your blog.
3. One has to be new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to whoever gave you the award.


I'm sharing this gold card with Emotera, Exciting Stuff, JeyPriey's Blog, The Long Journey..., Truth Unedited

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It is the theme slogan of the Beijing Olympics. One World One Dream fully expresses the universal values of the Olympic Spirit - Unity, Friendship, Progress, Harmony, Participation and Dream.

The Official Mascots of the Beijing Olympics are five aptly and fondly called FUWA. What is fuwa?. Fuwa was designed as five ( colors of the Olympic rings) playful children who are friends. Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China's most popular animals -- the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow -- and the Olympic Flame.

Beibei Jingjing Huanhuan Yingying Nini

Why the rhyming two-syllable names? In China, and in some Asian countries too, is a traditional way of expressing fondness to children. There must a bigger picture presented hidden in the chosen names of the Fuwa. Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni actually means Welcome to Beijing.

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We now live in a world where having a good credit standing is a must. A bad credit report cost you money. You could be denied credit, insurance or even employment because of your credit report. There are three major credit bureaus that creditors use for reference. You can ask for a free copy of your report from the reporting agency. Find out where the mistake is and fix it. If you cannot fix it and you are in need of a credit report repair, Ovationcredit.com may be the answer. Ovation offers comprehensive, personalized and verified credit repair programs. The company will repair credit according to its client’s needs and specifications. Highly affordable and 100% legal Ovations have helped the American consumers rectify and bring up to date their credit profiles resulting in higher credit scores.

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Every host city, or for not matter, every Olympics has its own seal. Much thought has been placed on the logo design and each and every one of them never cease to maze me. I first encountered the Beijing Olympic seal in one of Jackie Chan's commercial regarding the said event. Out of topic: I just love Jackie Chan Movies!


The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games emblem "Chinese Seal, Dancing Beijing" is filled with Beijing's hospitality and hopes, and carries the city's commitment to the world. It is a symbol of trust and self confidence. The image typifies the eastern way of thinking expressing the cultural quality and elegance of Chinese civilization. Notice that the word Beijing was written reminiscent of the Chinese calligraphic art. Red is the Chinese favorite color. It carries Chinese people's longing for luck and happiness and their explanation of life. The Dancing Beijing is, as the Chinese would like to impart, is a call for heroes - embodied by the athletes, where the running form of human stands for beauty and elegance, where the curves are like that of a wriggling dragon encompassing the past and future of a great civilization.

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Being an architect I am very particular with easy access and overall movement flow within the infrastructure when designing. I follow rules in suggested minimums in width, depth and height of particulars such as floor to ceiling height, width of hallways, and various standards in all aspects of the design. Call me shallow but I usually base an architect's "genius" in designing by the ease in which his stairs can be accessed. Is the stair width too narrow? Is the riser too high? Do I glide or struggle when I climb up the stairs?

For the younger set, climbing a set of stairs is really no problem but for the older generation, especially to those who have mobility problems, climbing stairs may prove to be difficult if not out right impossible. Thanks to stair lifts risk of injuries and even death is lessened. Stair lifts are perfect for multi-level homes having family members who have difficulty in climbing stairs. The stair lift is easy enough to install and will fit in most straight stairways. The lift folds easily when not in use making it completely non obstructive.

My mother-in-law unfortunately suffered a stroke and was confined to her wheelchair. She had to give up her second-floor bedroom for she no longer can access it. I definitely have to consider installing a stair lift for her.

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Choosing the host city for the Olympics is not an easy feat. Any city wishing to stage the Olympics must submit a letter of application to the International Olympics Committee. The candidate cities sort of bid for the right to host the Olympics. The show and tell regarding technical assessment including government support, public opinion, general infrastructure, security, venues, accommodation and transport. This process of application and qualification takes more than a year to take.

The 2008 Olympics was bid upon by the cities of Istanbul, Osaka, Paris, Toronto and Beijing. The IOC decided on their final choice at the 112th IOC conference in Moscow in June 12, 2001. Yes, the host city is declared seven years prior to the actual hosting for ample time to prepare. Beijing, here I come! (I wish!)

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I love to travel and see different places. I actually have a wish list of the different places here and abroad that I would like to visit. The thing is I hate long trips. I certainly can't tolerate cold long flights. There was a time that airlines offer pillows and blankets for their passengers. Now, no more that's why I usually have a pair of socks in my bag, just in case.

There is a 6-in-1 travel blanket in the market now that is proving to be a perfect travel companion. Lightweight and hygienic the Cabin Cuddler may be the ultimate answer to a traveler’s quest for flight comfort. It comes with your very own inflatable pillow and blanket that conveniently folds into a tote bag. The blanket is cut in such as way as to cover all parts of your body. It has a foot pocket and shoulder wrap to keep you comfortable in cold planes or buses. There was a time that my plane was delayed for six hours. With 5 children in tow, keeping them cozy and comfy in a cold impersonal airport was next to impossible. If I had this travel blanket then that experience could not have been so traumatic for me and the kids. The Cabin Cuddler blanket is a must have.

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I thought the Olympics is an organization composed only of the International Olympics Committee and sub committees. I was wrong. There is actually a bigger picture presented as the Olympic Movement. The Olympic Movement's goal is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.It is composed of the International Olympics Committer (IOC), Organizing Committees of the Olympics Games (OCOG), the National Olympic Committees (NOC), the International Federations (IF), the national associations, clubs and of course the athletes.


A breakdown of each component will reveal that there are 205 NOCs, 35 IFs and 3-4 OCOGs. The Beijing Olympics has about 12 major sponsors like Coke and McDonalds. about 25,000 broadcasters are expected to be at Beijing and some 8,000 media. An estimated 13,000 athletes will grace the Beijing Olympics with an expected 4.7 million spectators from a world population of 6.5 million. Awesome!

source: Olympic.org

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With five kids all using the internet to download their kind of music, you can just imagine the time and money spent. There were times that the kids used music-sharing sites to economize. So were we able to save money? No! That brought havoc to our desktop and laptops! Virus and spywares! My kids searched high and low for a music downloading site with the best deal. Some sites offer unlimited music downloads for quite stiff fees. Others are affordable and downright cheap but downloading is limited. Finally, I found the ideal site for music and ringtones download.

Altnet is an "all you can eat" music downloading site. You have 1.5 million music and ringtones tracks high CD quality sound to choose from all for a low one month fee. It is legal and is in fact endorsed by leading major recording companies. There is an ongoing Free 7 Day Trialat Altnet.com. How many songs can you download in seven days? Find out by checking out Altnet.com.

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A water balloon fight was held on July 27 to highlight Josette's 17th birthday. The participants were ages 4 to 54. Two teams were formed by following the game mechanics of 20 years old and below: team A, then 20 years old and above: team B. By right, Yum should not have been included for she's 20 which makes her right smack in the middle of no team. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law must have misunderstood the grouping for they started to aim shots at whoever they fancied. Here is a picture of the participants in their jumping glory.

Many are clamoring for a rematch for in the hullaballoo of the event, no team was declared winner. It has been agreed upon by the board of organizers that a rematch will be held this coming Sunday, August 3. Same time. Same place. To avoid scenes like these..

an old goat running after a kid...

an even older goat smashing a kid....

or biggies like these competing with...

... these kiddies...

The board has decided to form two teams by the scientific method of jack en poy. Here I present the partnering in jack en poy. Please do not complain for it took the board one big packet of spicy Boy Bawang and a 500 ml. Coke light to finish the partnering. Here is the list.

Sonboy and Sheena
Justin and Herschel
Myles and Icka
Kookee and Janina
Yum and Sasha
Josette and Megan
Jerrold and Jamielle
Jiselle and Ysabelle
Jeshua and Jester
Ethan and Erin
Pixie and Minnie
Lena and Nenith
TJ and Twinkle

If you are not in the list and you feel you want to join this madness, please feel free to apply to any one on the list. Make sure that you have your partner for the highly technical method of jack en poy to determine the team you'll be in. To all participants, make sure you all wear white shirts. This time we will color the water to be put in the balloons - red and blue food coloring. The blue team will wear blue ribbons and use the blue-colored-water-filled balloons.The red team will wear red ribbons and use the red-colored-water-filled balloons. The winner would obviously be the dominant color- in terms of wet shirts et all - by the end of the game. I would just like to remind you that the pond water is not to be used. The picture below shows the panic caused by the pond water. Take note of the water splash at the upper right hand corner of the picture.

I'll see you Sunday.

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"These five rings -- blue, yellow, black, green and red -- represent the five parts of the world now encompassed by Olympism and ready to compete against each other. Moreover, the six colours (including the white background) thus combined represent those of all nations, without exception. The blue and yellow of Sweden, the blue and white of Greece, the French, English, American, German, Belgian, Italian and Hungarian tricolours, the yellow and red of Spain are side by side with the new Brazilian and Australian flags, the old Japan and the new China. It is a true international emblem."
Coubertin (Selected Writings II, p. 460, 1913).

Courbetin's concept of the Olympic rings is the union between men. For him the five rings represented the union between the five continents. He designed and commissioned the Olympic flag to mark the 20th anniversary of the IOC's founding, on 23rd June 1914 in Paris. A survey conducted some years ago put the Olympic Rings as the foremost known symbol in the world. The Olympic Rings is also associated to the world's greatest sporting events : the Olympics.

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1896 Summer Olympics in Athens

The original Olympic Games were first recorded in 776 B.C. in Olympia, Greece until 393 A.D. The next game was in 1859 after Evangelos Zappas sponsored the first modern international Olympic games. The International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 under the leadership of a French nobleman, Coubertin. The first IOC president was a Greek by the name of Demetrius Vikelas. Two years later, in 1896, the first Olympic Games of the modern era were held in Athens.

From April 6 to 15, 1896 the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens was held. It was gauged a success despite many obstacles. The Greek Marathoner Spiridon Louis won the gold in the 42 km race. After the games, Coubertin and the IOC were petitioned by prominent figures, Greece's King George included to hold all the following Games in Athens. However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, except for the Intercalated Games of 1906, the Olympics did not return to Greece until the 2004 Summer Olympics.

The Summer and Winter Olympics were held at the same time, every four years, until 1996. The Summer Olympics was hosted by Atlanta in 1996 while the Winter Olympics by Nagano, Japan in 1998. From then on the summer and winter Olympics were held two years apart. By 2010, the Olympic Games will have been hosted by 41 cities in 22 countries. The upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics will be held in Beijing, and the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver.

Host Cities of Past Summer Olympics

1896 Athens 1916 cancelled 1940 cancelled 1964 Tokyo 1988 Seoul
1900 Paris 1920 Antwerp 1944 cancelled 1968 Mexico city 1992 Barcelona
1904 St. Louis 1924 Paris 1948 London 1972 Munich 1996 Atlanta
1906 Athens 1928 Amsterdam 1952 Helsinki 1976 Montreal 2000 Sydney
1908 London 1932 Los Angeles 1956 Melbourne 1980 Moscow 2004 Athens
1912 Stockholm 1936 Berlin 1960 Rome 1984 Los Angeles 2008 Beijing

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I have mentioned in my last post that my blog has become a veritable mishmash of articles. Over a 75 peso meal at Tropical Hut (while waiting for Ethan's class to finish) I had an epiphany - well, that's exaggerating it a bit. I thought of having a theme for the month - you know, a subject matter, a topic. This would definitely make my blog more coherent and not appear like a jumble of posts. Of course I would have to integrate some paid opportunities when they come and important personal matters that can't wait to be blogged about. Merging paid posts and personal posts to the theme would probably prove difficult if not highly improbable. Let's see how I'll go about it. For the month of August my theme will be the Olympics. Fitting, right?!

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