Mark Bautista and Nikki Bacolod at Malaybalay

It was my second time to watch Mark’s concert and first time at the Pine City of Mindanao, Malaybalay, Bukidnon. November 26, 2005, after our whole day Company activity at Roan Beach Resort we headed immediately for an hour travel to Malaybalay at 7:00 in the evening to watch Mark’s Concert there, which will start at 9 PM. I really love to see the views of Bukidnon while traveling towards our destination but too bad we traveled at night I can’t see the serene of Bukidnon, all I can see are nothing but the winding road reflected by the van’s head light.

Anyway, that’s only the side tours but our main reason is to watch Mark’s concert. Wow… it was great to watch the pride of Cagay-anons’ talent. Mark is really a talented person, a down to earth and has a nice voice. No wonder he made it to the top. To Mark, thanks for being so accommodating at the hotel room it was indeed an exclusive for us and also thanks to Mark’s families and friends. Keep it up Mark. The Torres family, Mr. & Mrs. Elmer and Avelina Torres, thanks for inviting me to watch your friend and favorite Mark Bautista’s concert. That’s the second time to experience an exclusive event.

I also met the talented, down to earth and beautiful Nikki Bacolod at Mark’s concert, we talked too at the Hotel and took some pictures with her. Nikki was the First runner up of the first Search for a Star in a Million. She was the pride of Iligan City. Go! Bisaya!!! Go Mindanaoan!

We were invited to have dinner with them but Maam Ave refused to, we need to head back to Cagayan de Oro immediately. Thanks!!!

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A Google approach to email.

Gmail is an experiment in a new kind of webmail, built on the idea that you should never have to delete mail and you should always be able to find the message you want. The key features are:

Search, don't sort.
Use Google search to find the exact message you want, no matter when it was sent or received.

Don't throw anything away.
Over 2665.671595 megabytes (and counting) of free storage so you'll never need to delete another message.

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Each message is grouped with all its replies and displayed as a conversation.

No pop-up ads. No untargeted banners.
You see only relevant text ads and links to related web pages of interest.

KeywordSpy vs. KeyCompete

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If Love is Blind

If "Love is Blind" and "God is Love" Does it mean God is Blind?

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THE BETTER SIDE OF THE PHILIPPINES

"I received this through friends emails"                 

(OTHER THAN THE "HELLO, GARCI" TAPES)

The following was written by INTEL General Manager Robin Martin about the Philippines:

Filipinos (including the press, business people and myself) tend to well too much on the negative side, and this affects the perception of foreigners, even the ones who have lived here for a while. The negative perception of the Philippines is way disproportionate to reality when compared to countries like Colombia, Egypt, the Middle East, Africa, etc.

Let us all help our country by balancing the negative with the positive, especially when we talk to foreigners based here or abroad. Looking back and comparing the Philippines today and 1995 (the year I came back), I was struck by how much our country has progressed physically.

Consider the following:

1. The great telecom infrastructure that we have now did not exist in 1995. 1995 was the year the telecom industry was deregulated. Since then, billions of dollars have been invested in both fixed line and cellular networks producing a system with over 5,000 kms of fiber optic backbone at a world competitive cost. From a fixed line capacity of about 900,000 in 1995, we now have over 7 million. Cellular phones practically did not exist in 1995; now we have over 11 million line capacity.

2. The MRT, many of the EDSA flyovers (including the Ayala Avenue flyover), the SKYWAY, Rockwell and Glorietta 4, the Fort, NAIA terminal 2 and most of the new skyscrapers were not yet built in 1995.

3. If you drive to the provinces, you will notice that national roads are now of good quality (international quality asphalt roads). I just went to Iba, Zambales last week and was impressed that even a not-so-frequently traveled road was of very good quality.

4. Philippine exports have increased by 600% over the past eight years. There are many, many more examples of progress over the last eight years. Philippine mangoes are now exported to the USA and Europe.

***ADDITIONAL TIDBITS TO MAKE US PROUD:

1. INTEL has been in the Philippines for 28 years. The Philippine plant is where Intel's most advanced products are launched, including the Pentium IV. By the end of 2002, Philippine operations are expected to be Intel's biggest assembly and testing operations worldwide.

2. TEXAS INSTRUMENTS has been operating in Baguio for over 20 years. The Baguio plant is the largest producer of DSP chips in the world. DSP chips are the brains behind cellphones. TI's Baguio plant produces the chip that powers 100% of all NOKIA cellphones and 80% of Erickson cellphones in the world.

3. TOSHIBA laptops are produced in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

4. If you drive a BENZ, BMW, or a VOLVO, there is a good chance that the ABS system in your car was made in the Philippines.

5. TREND-MICRO, makers of one of the top anti-virus software PC-Cillin (I may have mispelled this) develops its "cures" for viruses right here in Eastwood Libis, Quezon City. When a virus breaks in any computer system in the world, they try to find a solution within 45 minutes of finding the virus.

6. By the end of this year, it is expected that a majority of the top ten U.S. Call Center firms in the U.S. will have set up operations in the Philippines. This is one area in which I believe we are the best in the world in terms of value for money.

7. America Online (AOL) has 1,000 people in Clark answering 90% of AOL's global e-mail inquiries.

8. PROCTER & GAMBLE has over 400 people right here in Makati (average age: 23 years) doing backup office work for their Asian operations, including finance, accounting, Human Resources and payments processing.

9. Among many other things it does for its regional operations network in the Asia-Pacific region here in Manila, CITIBANK also does its global ATM programming locally.

10. This is the first year ever that the Philippines will be exporting cars in quantity, courtesy of FORD Philippines.

11. The government is shedding off graft and corruption slowly but surely. This is the first time in our history that a former president is in jail and facing charges of plunder. Despite all odds, we are still pursuing the ill-gotten wealth of Marcos now enjoyed by his unrepentant heirs.

So the next time you travel abroad and meet business associates, tell them the GOOD NEWS! A big part of our problem is PERCEPTION. One of the biggest battles can be won simply by believing and by making others believe.

This message is shared by good citizens of the Philippines who persevere to hope and work for our country. PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO OTHER FILIPINOS!!!

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Check this out

Check this out the Chinese Backstreet boys wanna be. It's fun and cool version of I Want It That Way... The Chinese Backstreet Boys.

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Long Hair, Short Hair

“Hey, why did you cut your hair short? Sayang hair nimo… But I like your hair now…” That’s what I always heard the next day I cut my hair. One of the reasons why I cut it, is because about what I read in this verse in the Bible.

1 Corinthians 11:2-16

² _ I am so glad, dear friends, that you always keep me in your thoughts and you are following the Christian teaching I passed on to you. ³ _ But there is one thing I want you to know: A man is responsible to Christ, a woman is responsible to her husband, and Christ is responsible to God. ⁴A man dishonors Christ^£ if he covers his head while praying or prophesying. ⁵But a woman dishonors her husband^£ if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head, for this is the same as shaving her head. ⁶Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, she should cut off all her hair. And since it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or her head shaved, then she should wear a covering.^{£ 7}A man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for man is God’s glory, made in God’s own image, but woman is the glory of man. ⁸For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man. ⁹ _ And man was not made for woman’s benefit, but woman was made for man. ¹⁰ _ So a woman should wear a covering on her head as a sign of authority because the angels are watching.

¹¹But in relationships among the Lord’s people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. ¹²For although the first woman came from man, all men have been born from women ever since, and everything comes from God.

¹³What do you think about this? Is it right for a woman to pray to God in public without covering her head? ¹⁴ _ Isn’t it obvious that it’s disgraceful for a man to have long hair? ¹⁵And isn’t it obvious that long hair is a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering. ¹⁶But if anyone wants to argue about this, all I can say is that we have no other custom than this, and all the churches of God feel the same way about it.

This is Paul’s message to the Corinthians. In many cultures long hair on men are acceptable like in the Philippines today and is considered appropriate and masculine. In Corinth, it was thought to be a sign of male prostitution in the pagan temples. And women with short hair were labeled prostitutes. Paul was saying that in the Corinthian culture, Christian women should keep their hair long. If short hair on women was a sign of prostitution, then a Christian woman with short hair would find it difficult to be a believable witness for Jesus Christ. Paul wasn’t saying we should adopt all the practices of our culture but that we should avoid appearances and behavior that detract from our ultimate goal of being witnesses for Jesus Christ. Though it is acceptable in our culture today to have a long hair for man and I have no problem with that for a man to have long hair.

But the main reason why I cut my hair short is because of the Formal Monday we practice in the office. I didn’t say it’s not appropriate to wear formal attires for man with long hair, it’s only because I feel not suitable for me to wear formal and a pony tail hair.

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