Shell Fuel Save on Guiness | Largest Ever Fuel Saving Lesson

We Were There!!!

On 15th October 2011, Shell Oil organized the largest Fuel Saving Lesson to be recorded to Guiness Book of World Records.  Gab and I attended the event, here are some pictures just before and during the main event.

My son, took advantage of the free food, he likes ice cream.

Gab also enjoyed taking pictures with the clown.

Now here's work.  Making sure he answers all the question correctly!!!

I would like to give credit to our colleagues in Malaysia for having the highest number of participants.  The Malaysian event was held in Kuala Lumpur and brought together a total of1,225 participants for the training session, making it the highest number globally across 10 cities from 9 countries.  My source also qouted "Organised to mark Global Shell FuelSave Day, the worldwide celebration of fuel saving saw 10 cities across Europe and Asia stage simultaneous training sessions for motorists to learn how to be more fuel efficient, learn how to save fuel and cut their driving costs. The lessons were staged in Allerød, Denmark; Bangkok, Thailand; Hamburg, Germany; Hong Kong, China; Istanbul, Turkey; London, UK; Manila and IloiIo City, Philippines; and Valkenburg, Netherlands. "

Rey's 32nd Birthday

On our way to SM Masinag, I was teasing Rey, "wala ka na sa kalendaryo mahal" (you're age is no longer counted on the calendar days).  He paused a little and said, "dati si kuya ang ginaganyan ko e..."( it used to be Kuya whom I was telling the same thing.)  I suddenly felt guilty, he was really mindful of his age.  To cheer him up, I told him nothing to worry about you, already have a Gab.

And here are some photos for the event...I was never wrong, its again another place for the kids...we found ourselves playing at Quantum X in SM Masinag.

Until the kids got tired........

And we emptied our stomach.......

And we headed home...it was a long drive for us from Masinag to Imus, Cavite.   Gab was still hyper along the way and he never got asleep...

Inay's Visit to her Doctor

This was taken while we were waiting for Dr Tanbuliong, at Chinese General Hospital he is Inay's surgeon. The doctor requested series of Femur and Pelvis x-rays to see how intact the inplant in  her left thigh.  We were all happy when Dr. Tanbuliong said everything is good as it was expected.  Inay can walk straight even without her steel walker, all we need to work on is to support her morally to have the courage to let go of her walker.

I took half day vacation from the office so Tito Roger and me can accompany Inay to the doctor.  We picked up Tita Rose along the way to the hospital. My Lola really strong at 86.  Tito Roger felt uneasy taking this picture though the shot looked perfect.

Sun Cellular's New Promo Broadband Lite P350 only

I don't want to get into the hassle of applying for anything with an applicaton form or any contract.  So I got a Sun Cellular Broadband Lite for only Php350 monthly.  I am not a heavy user of internet so the 45 hours free internet time to too much for me.  The 350 monthly fee is very affordable and best of all, no contract to worry about.

If you wish to have this service, just visit any suncellular office and bring an valid government ID with your address and you can take home your Broadband Lite.

My Other Blog

I would like to formally introduce the sister of Anything Under the Sun blog,  Beauty Health and Wellness blog.

Please view my 20th post about Rey's Seminar and his 32nd birthday celebration.

I am Dreaming of a Business

Since I was in high school, I have been exposed to businesses--even if its just a small one, its still a business.  I have helped my Auntie's in their homebased sari-sari store business when I was in high school.  This is actually one reason why I was not able to spend much time with friends in school after class but in return it exposed me to become more responsible at home and to myself.

Now that I have my own family, I also dreamed of having my own business.  I dream of being able to stay at home and earn money to help my husband.  This way I can also supervise my little boy when he goes to school and that should be in a few years from now since he is already two years old.

House cleaning and doing the laundry are the best things I can do.  I do not know how to cook, so having a small restaurant is off my list.  Considering laundry, it would lead me to putting up a laundry shop. But laundry shop nowadays are like mushrooms so it will be a tight competition I would think.  House cleaning is a bit strange and I wonder how I can turn it into a business.  My husband is an engineer and I wonder if he can help me with my idea.  The will be no problem with tools such as vacuums, abrasives, mops, etc, it will be easy to shop for the items. But if I cannot think of any way to market the service to people I might end up with the laundry shop.

I now feel I am really frustrated to think of a business to put up and time is running out.  Hope I can talk this out with Rey and we can come up with a better idea.

Savings or Expensenses

Who does not dream of a car?  I would lie if I would say I didn't.  Having a car is actually on my list of things to have since I can't remember well.  All I can remember is I wanted to follow the path of one of my Uncle who had his house and lot and vehicle before he got married. 

And if you will realize, having a car means you are exposed to more expenses.  Believe it or not, its the truth!  Back then, all I can think of the reason why I want a vehicle is to avoid commuting everyday.  I thought I can save this way.

What I did not know and realize early on are the following:

• that you need to pay for a car wash
• that I need to pay toll
• that there is this so called car insurance  and its renewed annually
• that there are things need to be settled with LTO
• that i need to pay  PARKING FEE
• it will not run if you will not buy fuel

Here are the things you might want more if you have a car:

• replace the mags
• install a curt trailer hitch
• change your head light to a better one
• car accessories
• customize the car

The first part are expenses inevitable while the second part are things you can opt out if the concern is budget.  Bottomline is, HAVING A CAR DOES NOT FOLLOW SAVINGS, it will actually expose you to more expenses.  Believe you me!!!

The Addicted Gab

I wonder why kids are so good in techy stuff and gadgets and games, I can't do anything but to envy.

 You can guess who's playing the tablet just by looking at the hands right?  I can tell you, Gab knows how to find Angry Birds and turn it on. 

Now look at what he is doing on the laptop.  He is so into his game and laughing like he will never laugh again.

Almost everyday, when Rey comes home from work, Gab will inspect his bag to find the PSP or the tablet.  If he can't find it their, he will drag the medical step stool in front of the drawers and check it all one by one, just to find what he is looking for and be able to play his games.

There was one night when I woke up at 3am and caught him playing the tablet while we're asleep.  I did not think that he will find the tablet under my pillow and wake up just to play with it.  Good thing, he was just starting to play and I did have a hard time convincing him to go back to sleep.

Sales had been my calling but NOT

Do you think I am now rich had I've been doing sales job?  Ever since I ended school and starts to work, sales job had been hunting me. My work with Wendy's before as a marketing officer is close with what a sales person does.  I have also worked for Straighway Pennswell (i am not sure if the company still exist) as a sales person for chemicals.  Experiencing sales in a call center is not new to me, I've work for DODO, it is phone company in Australia and you can just imagine how it is selling services over the phone. Just recently, I have been hooked with Nu Skin which offers best health and skin product from the USA. 

Not only that, I sell everything in my office.  I have a sort-of-convenience store in my office.  I bring any kind of food I can offer to my colleagues in exchange of a small amout with interest.  Lucky for me  because our management is happy with it also, as long as I do not compromise my job and my colleagues job of course.  I have offered Avon products,  Natasha, Sophie,  Sundance, Goldilocks and Max's goodies.  Name it.  Cigarettes,  I have it available in the office as well. 

I almost forgot, I trained also as sales agent for an alarm system, its way way back I cannot remember the company anymore.   If Family First is familiar to you, I worked for them as well,  I was one of those who used to chase people at the mall and offer scratch tickets for free. I find my sales job really funny before, its only nipple tassels I did not come accross selling.

I know lots of people my age who became rich thru sales job and really respect their courage and perseverance to become successful.    I think that's what I lack, I did not want to push myself to the limit., at least not that much then.  Its different now if you have a family.   Sales is the most frustrating yet satisfying job in all kinds of job.

Though sales job already stopped hunting me, I still want to pursue it as a business.  I do not want to end up as an employee for the rest of my life.  If that is what will make me rich, then I thank Thee.  If not, at least i will manage my own time and be able to set how much I want to earn.

Car Insurance

Its been almost a year since we started paying for Rey's car and we did not realize that its about time we need to renew our car insurance.  We loaned the vehicle back in October and it will be October again by next week.  Time flies unnoticed. 

I would say we were able to maximize the vehicle much more that we expected.  Rey had been using the car since day 1 going to work.  I have brought it to Bicol twice already.  My grandmother found a real comfort using the vehicle from visiting her doctor to visiting our hometown.  This vehicle had serviced us well more than we were expecting. 

Now is the time of the year we have to think of her and for her well being if I may say.  We will need to renew our car insurance in a weeks time and we want to find the best insurance that will give the vehicle all that is needed to maintain her and the same time it should be light on our pocket. 

I've had experiences with flood and I know how terrible it is.  I wonder if there is any car insurance that can provide automotive lift when needed especially in areas being hit by flood.  This will really be appreciated.  If there is any chance I can get this kind of insurance, I am willing to give up our contract with our current insurance provider. I really hope there is any..............

What School Subject You Like or Hate Best

Highschool life they say is the most memorable part of our school life. Personally, I did not enjoy much my highschool days because I did have so much time spent with my friends after school hours.  I have to rush home and help my uncle and aunt on their convenience store. Even if that is the case, I made sure I study well.  Though my high school years were so precious because its where I met my prince charming.  But that's another side of the story.  I like to enlist today the most liked and hated subject I had in school

What I liked best:
Filipino - I love my teacher who tells us funny story the whole time
Science - love the topic about reverse osmosis
Home Economics - the short I did as my project because my most favorite shorts at home, fits me well.
Practical Arts - i love steno, typing and computer subjects

So-so:
Math - I can put up with high school Math but not college.
English - I do not understand english movies back then.

What I hate the most:
Values Education - one of our teacher lets us write a diary and read it
PE - You will know why if your PE time is before lunch time.

Sharing some Safety Tips: Typhoon Pedring

If having typhoon in the greater Manila area means going home early from work. Not in my case and not in most call center employees.  It may be hard to think about and much harder if you are the one in the situation. Today a strong typhoon is hitting Manila area and to help us employees, my company releases these kind of advise to all employees.

HSSE Advisory: Typhoon Pedring

Dear All,


1. This information has been sourced from the PAGASA Website.”


2. Location of the Storm: 100 KM EAST OF BAGUIO CITY


3. Metro Manila is still under Typhoon Signal No. 2


4. You already know that there are heavy rains, and more rains are expected, so be mindful to be safe. Please make your respective necessary arrangements relevant to such severe weather.


5. “Heavy rains are expected to continue. Thus, travel conditions going to and from the office may be affected. Everyone is encouraged to factor in the weather when planning trips and logistics (e.g. prepare for rain, floods & traffic jams, and bring extra food & clothes).


Again, to reiterate, Storm Signal advisories do not automatically signify the invoking of BCP(business contigency plan) or any changes to the norms of work schedule. Any changes to the norms of work schedule, feel free to take it up with your respective Line Managers.

I guess its worth sharing this one, hope its useful to my readers.

To add more, shuttle services are arranged to pick up and send employees to and from work  when needed.  Since shifts at  work covers the working hours in the UK which is between  3pm to 1am PH time, this is a necessity in times like this.  If by any chance shuttle services are not available, I think my company would still send horses and riders in equestrian apparel to pick up and send employees to and from work.  But of course this is too exagerated, what I am just trying to say is they will try their best to encourage us to go to work becuase the business my go on.  

How I Keep our Photos

Did you know what that steel drum is?  Its not exactly a steel drum but just an ordinary tin can with funny painting on it. That is how I keep print out of our photos nowadays. I used to have nice photo albums but when Gab started to love flipping pages of anything like books, notebooks and magazines, including our photo albums, he can't help but tear apart the pages of the photo albums.  It seemed like months when our photo albums looked terrible until I came up with this idea of keeping the photos in a tin can.  It looks nice for  me, Gab still look at the photos but this time he cannot tear up the cans.  He can scatter photos all over the living room if he feels like it but he is very careful not to tear or fold any of it.

Happy to Work

Remember how I was venting out regarding the request I got from one of our partners in UK over three weeks ago, here.  Well, I am happy now because I have gotten over it. I just pray that soon this partner of ours will have paperless office software to use so they will not send us another request like that eventually. I know it is not impossible in digital age.  

Things are really fast changing I would say.  Last night, I was doing my part time job at home and I was using our old desktop.  I was wondering why the photos from my mobile phone cannot be uploaded on the desktop when I have tried all the USB ports all over the CPU and nothing works. Not that I noticed at once is the pop up message that says the USB port of the desktop is not compatible to my phone.  I never knew something like that is possible, then I realized how old my desktop was.  We bought it on the first year of my marriage.  I clearly remember, this is very the first thing/gadget Rey and I bought as a married couple.  So if can still remember how long I have been married,here, then you will realize how obsolete our desktop is.

I am inspired to work because there are a lots of thing we want to buy or we need to pay for.   List of our wants is no shorter than the list of our needs.  I guess thats how humans are, the challenge is how to get the things you need and want in a fair game.  That's what inspires me to work.  I hope all of us gets an inspiration in what ever we do. Its one way we can be happy no matter what hardship we have to go through.

Thanks God for Another Healthy Year

They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away.  I've heard of this saying since time immemorial but I do not really know any scientific explanation for this.  Well,  I don't really care about its scientific explanation because I do not contest that. 

I am happy that I have already finished my annual physical exam with Maxicare and I have a fair result so to speak. My cholesterol is lower compared to what I had last year.  Urinalysis, fecalysis, blood chemistry, ecg, pap smear etc have good results according to our company doctor.  Luckily, I get so save few hundreds for not having medicines for high cholesterol.  The only note the doctor pointed out is I am a little overweight.  My body mass index does not compliment my built. 

Being positive in mind, I am thinking of strategies on how I can improve my weight.  Hope I can get a really good diet plan and that is what I am determined to do.

Thank You, Pizza Hut, Robinson's Imus

 The Sunday Gab and Rey is waiting for happens today.  The slot machines at Tom's World of Fun are happy to see them holding their tokens and peso coins.  Of course the franchise owner is much more happier when kids are happy to go back to them regularly.

And while they are playing I went to the supermarket for a quick grab of what we are missing in the kitchen.  Then I waited for them at Pizza Hut.  The generous crew, whom I failed to note the name allowed me to sit on a table near an electric plug so I can plug my laptop when it runs out of battery.  I patiently waited for the student in nursing uniforms to vacate the table for me.

When Gab and Rey arrived, they attacked the pizza I have on the table and Gab played some computer games.

Again, another weekend enjoyed by the whole family together.

A More Safe and Newly Improved Vehicle

The recent trip to Bicol we had about three weeks ago gave us a chance to discover a lot of things we need to improve on our car. Even on the very first trip to Bicol we had early this year, my Uncle already noticed that we don't have enough light when driving along provincial road because we are only using 55W bulb installed on the car's headlight.  I guess we had had enough difficulty three weeks ago when we were caught on heavy rains along the roads of  Atimonan, Quezon.  We ran at 10kph while we were totally blinded by the heavy rain fall.  Finally, Rey gave in to change bulb to a higher wattage and what's more important is we are using the yellow lamp/light.  This type has the capacity to penetrate lights even on heavy rains.  Having full tinted windshield affects visibility too, from the inside of the vehicle, but  Rey stressed he does not want any changes on the tint and I can put up with that.  I feel safer now knowing we have a nice bulb that will not allow us to have a betterview along the road.  We certainly don't want any accident to happen.

Along the road, my Uncle were giving me lectures left and right about prioritizing safety along the road.  Finally, when I told Rey about bad our experience during the heavy rain, he gave in to upgrade the bulb of the car.  I got a really nice brand of bulb for the headlight from atv power steering website.  They offer different accesorries for heavy duty vehicles which you can hardly find at supermarkets.  The bulb we need was shipped out in no less than 24 hours. 

Welcome home, Baby.  Promise, I wont hurt you again!!!

The car finally got home today after a nice repair from the auto shop.  Comparing the car from its old photos here, it now looks clean and brand new and beautiful.

Our Symbol

If I am to ask what is the most precious material thing me and Rey have, its not going to be our house nor our car, but the symbol of our union.  Remember my previous post about our wedding ring, here.  I composed it when I was at work during my break.

Today, I got a chance to picture the ring on Rey's hand just before he goes to sleep.  So instead of just showing old photos of our ring during our wedding, or photos of my ring along while I am holding it.  I now have our fingers intertwined with the rings on them.  These, are most precious to us than any diamond engagement rings we've seen.  Memories overflow in these symbol of our love, priceless memories we can never be exchanged for any value at all.

Office Awards

The company I am working for is very generous in giving awards.   My stay in this company for more than 3 years now have shown me how much effort were given to recognize employees best efforts.  Though I am not saying I am in a perfect company, but to balance every aspects, I can confidently say I am not is a so-so company and this company can definitely afford trophies and awards to employees who deserve it.



 Mommy Fe, as we fondly call her, receives her commendation plaque from BV.  These commendation directly comes from customers whom Fe have interacted over the phone and helped them.

 Josie receives her GC incentive being the CSP of the month. That's a lot of cash SM Department store is waiting for from Josie. With Josie is Vic Pascual and Giorgio Del Piano, two of our big big superiors.

 Cassie can't hide how much she loves her trophy. Her being the CSP of the year for 2010 gave way for her being our new team leader after Elara got her promotion.

I can't count anymore from my fingers how much incentives and awards have we got from our company.  Its already ber-month and in less than three months, another CSP will bag the trophy for CSP of the year.  Who will that be? I will surely blog on it again.

Good Old Friends

Being out of school for more than a decade really calls for a reunion.  I am batch '96 from Torres High School and batch 2000 in St. Scholastica's College.  But so far, I have only attended the reunion of my highschool barkada so far.  We actually have a song for ourselves, San na nga ba ang KADA ngayon? 

We already had two reunions since and it happens when one of our friend whos out of the country comes home for a visit. Photo on top was when Lhanie came to visit and this one below was when Teth came home from the US. Though these two does not see each other here in the country, they can see each other in the US anytime they  are both available.

I am looking forward for my college friends to have reunion with. I get some idea with my high school friend's reunion how to set it up and ensure everyone have fun. Its best to hook your friend up when they are all available all at the same place and time.  A day will not be enough to chat with all of them, except that all of have families already so we can't stay over at one place for an overnight.