Looking overseas...

Has your pride ever gotten in the way of getting to your destination a lot faster? How about if you were working on something and you've hit a brick wall but you still refuse to ask for help from the person in the next cubicle even though you know he's gotten past that particular wall? In my neck of the woods, I've been humbled many times when a complex task is easily accomplished by a few simple commands. Especially for something that requires a quick response, one should not hesitate to ask for help.

I've always believed that we have a very solid educational system. I compare some of the things that my cousins are studying in the US with what I learned in college. Sometimes I find that what's basic for us is already advanced for them. That's why I've been thinking of sending TNgal's and I (future) kids to their grandparents in the Philippines at least until they get to the collegiate level. When that time comes they could choose whichever college they want to go to just as long as they get to come home every summer.

Reading this article (may require a free username and password) has really gotten me thinking about what kind of education our kids would get here in the US. If the educational system is being adjusted just to boost grades temporarily, that wouldn't help our kids in the future. It's like setting them up for failure as they learn nothing just to make the school system look good.

Finally we've moved (the rest of the blog)...

Other than the countdown script (which for some unknown reason is also a problem on other W@Wie blogs), we have now completely moved here. I'm currently stuck at work waiting for some things to finish so I thought I might as well finish this. If any of you find a countdown script (that doesn't require a registration to use) that works with blogger, please write the URL down in comments. Thanks!

What is family?

I come from a very large family. I don't know what it was in the 50's or 60's but it seems a lot more people conceive a lot of children during that time. Of course I have no statistics to back it up but probably if I search the net something will come up. Anyway, I am glad to come from such a large group of cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, granduncles and grandaunts, etc. When I was a kid, and up til now, I was amazed, and a little confused, whenever someone would introduce me to a new aunt or fourth cousin. I am very happy to know that TNgal also feels the same way as we hope to have at least four kids in our long and mostly happy marriage (well ok in the near future marriage).

We all come from different backgrounds, and beliefs at times, but we all know we are linked somehow. If not by blood, it's by some sliver of relations of long time friendships. Even if we have not met each other, just by knowing that you are the cousin of an aunt of my father is enough for me to shake your hand and give you a hug.

So in this world today of adopted children and artificial insemination, what is family for them? I found this article (this may require a free account) about how children conceived by an anonymous donor are trying to find and connect with their siblings. One of the kids even introduces his brothers and sisters as "This is my sister from another mother, and this is my brother from another mother, this is my other sister from another mother' " and so on."

Flashback!

I'm trying to move all the posts from our old blog to this one. Bear with us if you've read these posts before. We'll try to intersperse new posts with the old one every once in a while. Also, if you see the title of a post starting with FB, then that means it's a flashback post. Ok?

Let the great migration begin!

We've just moved from a different blog host as they were going to shut down by the end of the month. Now I need to move all our old posts from that blog to this one. I am also wondering how I could move all those nifty java applets and code I've "lifted". Ahh just like old times!

FB Chatterbox is gone!?!

I am really glad people still come by and read our blog even if it turns out to be a long read. Thanks again and we hope you can come by again.

What's really annoying is that our chatterbox seems to have deserted us. Your thoughts are still there but I don't know for how long. Oh well, now I'm wondering if we should just really move on to a different blog provider. What do you think?

For now I will remove the "Your Thoughts?" section until I can find a different chatterbox. Thanks for sharing!

FB Burn your Underwear! Wait, We Need Those...

Ahh the 70's. Not only is it the decade I was born into, it was also the decade of booming economies (that came crashing down when the oil crisis started) and enviromentalism. I distinctly remember seeing an old newspaper article with a picture of a woman throwing her brassiere into a trash can. I remember that there was this air of change around everything even as we ran to our gates just in time for curfew.
Women were demanding equality with men. They wanted to break through the glass ceiling at work, pay for their own meals during dates and have the husband take care of the kids just as often as they do. I wonder what those women would say to the current generation of women. This article (requires a login ID and password) could shed some light on that.
To be honest, Schatz and I have never dated when I was still courting her. I wonder what would have happened if I had told her that all our dates were going Dutch.

FB Where do you want to go, live, earn a livelihood, etc...

I am pretty sure most of you know about brain drain. When I was in high school I looked forward to the time I would be working in the Philippines and helping "stimulate" the economy and society. Now I am living in the US and I have yet to take part in helping. Hmm, the only help I've given so far is the intermittent remittances I send. I hope one day I could help out in another way. Here is an article (This link may ask you to create a username and password) about how developing countries are affected by migrating college-educated workers.

FB Still squished...

Here I was thinking after a couple of weeks, or at the very least after we part ways temporarily again, that this blog would be back to it's normal unsquished self. Alas, everytime I look at this blog I feel like I'm slowly getting squeezed between an immovable wall and a unstoppable force. Anyway I sent support@myblogsite.com an email on Sept 27, 2005 and then again on Oct 5, 2005 about this problem. I'm still waiting for a response or a change on this blog.

Schatz also just informed me that everytime she tries to open our blog, her browser eventually times out. Dial-up really 5uck5! After using broadband for so long, using dial-up throws me back to the stone age. I do hope she gets a better connection somehow or else any posts she wants to put up will have to go through me.

FB Ever Ready!

Considering that a disaster can befall you or your family at any time, have you thought about what you need to have on hand if you have to leave your home in a hurry? I've always kept any important docs that I have in a couple of places in my room. While I was reading this article (you will be asked for your DNA) I suddenly realized if a tornado hit my area I would probably miss a couple of key documents. Since scanners are cheap nowadays, I should get one and start transforming my paper information into its electronic equivalent. Hey its a lot easier to grab a USB drive wrapped in plastic and tape than it is to grab bags of paper that will most likely get wet or damaged or worse blown away by a sudden gust of wind.