allow me to share to you my recent achievements in the corporate arena. charot! last night i was awarded with the best kudos for the month of July, besting other colleague stakeholder's kudos. i'm blessed to have stakeholders who compose kudos for me from the heart. other than that, i also bagged the top performer for our team. i am writing about this not to flaunt but to set an example that we should always be a good soldier, to always put our best foot forward all the time, and loving our jobs.

a colleague told me that the theme last night should not have been general assembly.  Instead, it should have been "AC's award's night!" - so funny! i didn't expect that i'd get an award. it was unexpected but i'm very happy. the collage pic above was made by Balor, a teammate of mine. Thanks, Balor! hehe :)

sorry guys, been very busy lately with corporate stuff. chos! :) so, one time, burnz and i went to ayala cebu to dine. we chanced upon Sumo Sam, of which i'm familiar because marvin agustin tweeted about this a long time ago. i didn't know that they already have a branch here in cebu. so, we decided to try and check it out. Sumo Sam is a Japanese resto serving an array of  japanese dish. let's admit it, japanese dish commands a pricey tag anywhere you go. Sumo Sam's dishes i must say is a bit pricey compared to other japanese resto here in cebu. especially when compared to Japengo, Nonki and Rai-Rai-Ken. what sets Sumo Sam apart from the others is that they have a wide variety of Japanese dish to offer. the service is also fast. plus, the waiters have fashionable hairstyles. so cute! lol :)

here's our ganap at Sumo Sam, Ayala Cebu branch. click on the pics to have a larger view. :)

the interiors of Sumo Sam is also nice. very japanese ang peg. in resto's, im very particular with the comfort room and wash area. in fairness to Cebu Sumo Sam's management, the have very clean loo and wash area. i just don't understand why a huge plant is placed beside the toilet bowl, and its leaves overlaps a portion of the toilet bowl's seat. kindly have it removed please, or better yet, put a smaller plant that doesn't occupy too much space. here's a pic of such areas. click on the pic to have a larger view

here's their menu. i took pictures of all their menu with its price so you'll all have an idea as to how much you'll spend when dining there. click on the pics again to have a larger view. :)

i recommend that you try Sumo Sam because they offer really good japanese dish and experience their super fast and friendly service. :)

tight hugs,
AC

from a long hibernation, now i'm back! so sorry, been very busy lately with business and work. chos! anyways, to start off my month of August blog, here's a video shared to me by my colleague (Aki) at work. i just cant help but laugh every time i see this. though the song doesn't have an english subtitle, no worries, its not the song but how it was sung that matters for this video. i hope this will brighten your day or lighten your mood perhaps. enjoy! :)

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the first drug shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection, a milestone in the 30-year battle against the virus that causes AIDS.

The agency approved Gilead Sciences' pill Truvada as a preventive measure for people who are at high risk of acquiring HIV through sexual activity, such as those who have HIV-infected partners.

Public health advocates say the approval could help slow the spread of HIV, which has held steady at about 50,000 new infections per year for the last 15 years. An estimated 1.2 million Americans have HIV, which develops into AIDS unless treated with antiviral drugs. With an estimated 240,000 HIV carriers unaware of their status, doctors and patients say new methods are needed to fight the spread of the virus.

Gilead Sciences Inc. has marketed Truvada since 2004 as a treatment for people who are already infected with the virus.

But starting in 2010, studies showed that the drug could actually prevent people from contracting HIV when used as a precautionary measure. A three-year study found that daily doses cut the risk of infection in healthy gay and bisexual men by 42 percent, when accompanied by condoms and counseling.

Last year another study found that Truvada reduced infection by 75 percent in heterosexual couples in which one partner was infected with HIV and the other was not.

Because Truvada is on the market to manage HIV, some doctors already prescribe it as a preventive measure. FDA approval will allow Gilead Sciences to formally market the drug for that use, which could dramatically increase prescribing.

Truvada's groundbreaking preventive ability has exposed disagreements about managing the disease among those in the HIV community. Groups including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation asked the FDA to reject the new indication, saying it could give patients a false sense of security and reduce the use of condoms, the most reliable preventive measure against HIV.

But FDA scientists said Monday said there was no indication from clinical trials that Truvada users were more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior.

"What we found was that condom use increased over time and sexually transmitted infections either remained at baseline levels or decreased," said Dr. Debra Birnkrant, FDA's director of antiviral products. "So in essence, we don't have any strong evidence that condoms were not used or there was a decrease in condom use."

Gays may enroll at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) but risk a reprimand from a military school proud of its “macho” tradition if they display effeminate behavior.

PMA officials insist they do not discriminate against gays but they expect them to behave the way cadets should. In any case, they say, gay cadets eventually leave the PMA anyway before completing the four-year course because they cannot stand the rigors of training.

The PMA position appears to be in contrast to the stance taken by US President Barack Obama and the American Congress, which in September last year formally repealed a 17-year-old discriminatory law known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

The abolished American law banned openly gay men, lesbians and bisexuals from military service. Obama said the law’s repeal meant that members of the US Armed Forces “will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love.”

No ban

According to the PMA superintendent, Major General Nonato Peralta Jr., the country’s premier military training school does not turn away applicants because they are gay. He said that would be a violation of human rights.

But he admitted that having gays was not yet quite accepted in the PMA.

“We do not prohibit them. As it is in Filipino culture, (gays are) not yet very acceptable outright. So Philippine society is under transition. That is also how it is in the PMA. We cannot say (gays are) prohibited. No, they’re not prohibited,” Peralta stressed to reporters Tuesday during a visit to the Armed Forces of the Philippines headquarters in Camp Emilio Aguinaldo.

Captain Agnes Flores, PMA spokesperson, said gays were not discriminated against but “once they are admitted to the PMA they are required to behave the way the cadets are supposed to behave.”

“So anyone who displays gay behavior would be reprimanded because that’s not what is expected of them. They enter our institution and they are to follow the rules and regulations of our organization,” she stressed.

Flores claimed that school officials had observed that gay cadets apparently could not cope with the demands of training.

“They last as long as they can stand the training (until) they themselves say they cannot take it anymore and they leave the Academy,” she said.

High survival rate

On the other hand, women cadets have a “high survival rate” and make it through graduation,  Flores said.

“They (the gays) left because they cannot cope with the training. It’s not because they are discriminated against but because of the requirements in training,” she said.

Flores admitted there were some gays among PMA graduates but she said these military officers did not show gay behavior while in the Academy.

“From experience, there are (gay PMA graduates). Maybe he was able to graduate because during the training in the Academy there was no opportunity for his (gay) tendencies (to show). When he left the academy that’s when it came out,” Flores said.

She pointed out that PMA gay graduates were not known to have abused their position as military officers.

Annual exams

The PMA will hold its annual entrance exams this year on August 26 in 37 testing centers nationwide. The incoming batch will compose the PMA Class 2017.

For the first time, the PMA has lowered the height requirement for both male and female applicants to 5 feet. Previously, the height requirement was 5’4” for male applicants and 5’2” for female applicants.

The other requirements are: one should be a natural-born Filipino citizen, physically fit and of good moral character, single and has never been married, at least a graduate of high school, without administrative or criminal cases and should have been born between April 1, 1991 and  April 1, 1996.

The PMA has lifted the required minimum average grade of 85 for high school graduates who wish to enter the PMA.

Submission of applications is until August 15.

Applicants may also apply online at www.pma.ph until the week before the August 26 exams.

Starting this month, members of Pag-IBIG or Home Development Mutual Fund can borrow as much as P6 million, double the previous loanable amount.

Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Darlene Marie B. Berberabe said last Friday the new loan policy was approved just last week, although Vice President and concurrent Pag-IBIG Chairman Jejomar C. Binay had revealed such development as early as March.

Pag-IBIG raised the maximum amount to P3 million from P2 million in 2009 amid rising demand for loans both from middle-income earners and real estate developers.

The Vice President said the new policies were drafted in the hope that more members would get a chance to realize their dream of owning a house.

Pag-IBIG has over 10.2 million members who are mostly middle-income workers. Of that total, 1.5 million are Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

Last year, Pag-IBIG posted a gross income of P24.8 billion in 2011, its biggest in 31 years according to Berberabe.

Aside from the usual housing loans, Pag-IBIG members can also avail of short-term multipurpose loan for education, livelihood, home improvement and health and wellness.

Berberabe calls the multipurpose financing an “anti-depression loan” because a member can use it to go on vacation, join a gym, or shop as a way of relieving stress from work.

Inquiries about the “anti-depression loan” have flooded the agency’s Facebook page from members who are curious on how they could avail of the service.

Berberabe said this is part of efforts to make Pag-IBIG loans more specific to encourage more members to avail of the fund’s services.

“Perhaps by taking a vacation, our members could improve their outlook in life and become more productive workers,” she said.

Members who have contributed with Pag-IBIG for more than 10 years can avail of a loan which is 80 percent of their total contribution; 70 percent for members from five to 10 years; and 60 percent for those who have contributed in less than five years. This comes with an interest rate of 10.75 percent a year.

Avail of the loan, now na! :)

tight hugs,
AC

i was able to blog about this green smoothie before, month of may 2012 to be exact - click here. i started with a not so complex recipe from my previous post but now, i have the simplest recipe. thanks to burnz for the advice, as always. my recipe now became cheaper and healthier. apart from that, i have colleagues who are now hooked to green smoothie. it was like, i discussed it with them, let them taste it, then next week, they're already drinking it! lol ..by the way, i make my green smoothie at work everyday, for the entire work week. thus, i get to share this to those who are curious. so, here's our latest ganap in the office.

gera is a teammate of mine who started being curious with what i was blending in the pantry while making my smoothie. then, i get to let her taste it, and she loved it. the next week, as soon as i arrived, she greeted me with her green smoothie. she used apple in making her smoothie. if im not mistaken, she also added honey. :)

same day that gera greeted me with her green smoothie, nina and carmen also greeted me with their own concoction of green smoothie! :) .. nina used chinese pechay for her green smoothie while carmen used kangkong. both used banana as a fruit combo for their smoothie.

notice the blender! hahaha... i chill the blender with the smoothie in it. when chilled, i bring the blender in my workstation and share it with this guy! lol :) ... i make sure that i make more than a liter of smoothie everyday and consume at least 2 tall glasses of it daily. :)

according to burnz, i should use different type of green leafy vegetable everyday when making a smoothie. and from the research i've done, the reason behind it is that, when you use the same leafy green everyday, it forms an alkaloid in your system, causing unwanted symptoms of poisoning. leafy greens contains minute amount of alkaloid, and if you continue to consume same leafy greens for a week, the length of time allows alkaloids to form in our system. its best that you rotate the leafy greens you use everyday. for me, i rotate only three type of leafy greens, and that is, pechay, kangkong and lettuce. the fruit that i use is banana. as an added info, fruits dont contain alkaloid. so, its ok to use the same fruit everyday in making your green smoothie. :)

my recipe is simple : fruit (banana), water, and leafy green (pechay, kangkong, lettuce)

may you get to try this and experience its health benefits. live healthy, guys! chos! :)

tight hugs,
AC

sorry for the week long silence. it was a busy "business" week for me. lol... i'll tell you in my upcoming posts what i've been busy about. so, last friday, June 22, was yoga day for me. this time, we did partner yoga after doing normal individual yoga exercise. our yogi taught us new partner yoga poses. doing partner yoga exercise stretches your muscles to its optimum level. i haven't felt that so much stretch in my lifetime! hahaha... the next time you go to your yoga class, request your yogi to do partner yoga poses, i highly recommend it! here's the ganap during my yoga class. :)

the pose above shows me doing downward dog with a partner on top. in fairness, im strong! hahaha :)
when it was my time to be on top, ethel wasn't able to carry me, kaloka! my yogi said that ethel's legs aren't that strong and that she needs to work it out and do more downward dog poses, and other poses that strengthen the legs.

on the pose above, i felt that i trampled ethel! i felt her wobbling! hahaha...hello, im a 180 pounder kaya! lol :)

this crescent moon pose is hard. i cant find my balance yet doing this pose. i just cant sustain doing this pose for a long time. luckily, my yogi was able to capture this pose where i was still able to hold my balance. i think im just able to do this pose for only 2 to 3 breaths only. :(

rachel (yogi) is really strong! imagine, she can carry me (180 lbs) on her back! im impressed, super! this is what yoga do to you, friends! :)

tight hugs,
AC

last june 16, cody, joepet and myself agreed to watch Kimmy Dora and the Temple of Kiyeme at Ayala Cebu. the day before, cody suggested that we book through sureseats.com. so i did, since i was the only one who has a sureseats account. on the day i claimed our movie tickets, i learned that, had i used my Ayala card or VIPinoy card when purchasing the movie ticket, i'd get a 5% discount. but since i booked our movie tickets through sureseats.com, there's no 5% discount anymore. lesson learned? - purchase movie tickets next time using the Ayala card or VIPinoy card! anyways, here's our ganap at Ayala cinema 1. :)

i like the black and white horizontal stripes of cody's shirt! cute diba? i prefer lang the vertical para nakakapayat. chos! hehe ... we also had other colleagues from work who joined us to watch the movie. i'll show the pics later. here's the waiting line of people who wants to watch the movie. :)

my review on this movie is that it was just ok. there were parts of the movie that was dragging and was not funny anymore. actually, i just smiled and giggled but didn't laugh really hard. to be honest, i cant barely remember significant scenes that i like. sad to say though but im just being honest. the 1st kimmy dora movie, that was really funny! i laughed so hard watching it. and i could still remember significant scenes i like from the original movie while writing this blog. like the scene in the rice field, where Eugene "Uge" was doing ballet in the rice paddies. that particular scene was so hilarious! also the scene where Dora had to portray both as Kimmy and Dora, in the absence of Kimmy since she was kidnapped, and had to change outfits every now and then while his father,  having breakfast in their garden, keeps on calling Kimmy and Dora alternately. my stomach ached from laughing so hard on that scene! :)

so, after the movie, we all grouped together and noticed that it was kind of a reunion for all of us who all hail from the same previous company. hahaha! plus, we were all bursting with colors on this day. strangely, orange was the color of the day! seemingly as if we were Cebu Pacific employees! hahaha :)

we then decided to have dinner. next stop, Pizza Hut in Ayala Cebu. here's our group pic at Pizza Hut.

we were all pissed off to some waiters at Pizza Hut Ayala Cebu. most of the time, we were ignored! we have requests that we had to request again and again before its given to us. but if the foreigners are the ones calling their attention, its given right away! kakaloka diba? in fairness, may mga hitsura waiters ng Pizza Hut, but HELLO, ang customer service, VERY POOR! namimili sila ng customer na aasikasuhin! they prioritize the foreigners over the local consumers. yun ang napansin naming lahat, as in! going back sa mga may hitsurang waiters, akala mo kung sino makaasta, eh mga waiter lang naman! pweh! ako, hindi ako nangmamaliit ng tao pero pag ako ang minamaliit, i'll surely get back at you. but i was not on a fighting mode that day. pinalampas na lang naming lahat. but one thing is for sure, im not going back to that branch of pizza hut again, ever! just recalling the incident makes me go to war, as in! ggrrr!

anyways, i'll just recoil and think of happy thoughts in ending this blog. hahaha... tumataas na bp ko recalling the Pizza Hut incident. Pizza Hut has this value meal where they have starters and main course, costing Php 199.00, good for two people. they give extra garlic bread if you avail of this one. in fairness, masarap na, matipid pa. avail niyo ito at other Pizza Hut branches, wag lang sa Ayala Cebu na branch. hahaha :)

tight hugs,
AC

last june 9, 2012, was my landlady's birthday. she asked me where to order lechon. i told her, let's try Rico's lechon since this was recently endorsed by Kris Aquino in Kris TV, when she featured Cebu. since we're a fan of Kris Aquino, we ordered lechon from Rico's. hahaha! here's the ganap. :)

Rico's have two flavors in their lechon. they have the regular lechon and the hot and spicy lechon. they were the first one to come up with a hot and spicy lechon here in Cebu. this is my first time to try the lechon from Rico's. since i am from cebu, lechon is something that is considered as a staple by the cebuano's. its not that special anymore since most lechon here tastes good. what makes Rico's different from the others is that, they use native pigs for their lechon. native pigs are known to have less fat in their body. indeed, when we started devouring the lechon, it didn't have that much fat, as in! at first, we wanted to order the hot and spicy coz we all know that the spiciness will take out the "umay" factor sa lechon but there will be kids during the party, so, we ordered the regular lechon na lang so that the kids can also eat. :)

more than halfway devouring the lechon, we didn't expect to discover uncooked parts! kakaloka! there were still stains of blood on some parts. eeeww! i told my landlady, whom i fondly call ate leizel, that we should complain about this coz some still want to eat lechon but did not na lang coz of the bloody parts. so, i took pictures so that my landlady can let the owner see the bloody parts of the lechon. here's the pic that i took. :(

i took this photo on a saturday night. since Rico's don't hold office on a sunday, we opted to complain first thing on monday. when monday came, ate leizel went to Rico's and complained to the owner and showed the pics that we took. good thing that ate leizel was really able to talk to the owner of Rico's and there she explained why we were not able to call last saturday when we discovered the uncooked parts. ate leizel said, and i quote, "that we started the dinner party by 8pm, and we were all busy entertaining guests. complaining was the last thing in our mind. we are not here to oblige you to replace the lechon but its all really up to you, and i want to let you know that i am also into a food business, just like you. we ought to let you know that this is not the kind of quality that we're expecting from you since you are highly endorsed by Kris Aquino, of which we are a huge fan." oh diba, very well explained by ate leizel.. all stress of the explanation was accounted to "Kris Aquino"! hahaha... but its the truth, its all because of Kris that we bought Rico's. haha... and you know what Rico's did? they replaced the lechon! oh diba?! hahaha... with all due fairness, what Rico's management did was excellent customer service. that's how you should take care of your name and your customers as well. this time, they let us choose what flavor of lechon we want as replacement. without batting an eyelash, ate leizel said, we want the spicy lechon. hahahha! and here's the spicy lechon from Rico's! :) 

everybody in the household were rejoicing for another set of lechon. same size but this time, a different flavor! :) ... it was a lechon feast for everybody in the household of ate leizel. of course, im part of the devouring act! hahaha... now, i'll just share my personal evaluation on the taste of Rico's lechon. from a scale of 1-5, i would rate Rico's lechon a 3. here's the thing, Cebu is known for the best tasting lechon in the country. if i compare Rico's to other lechon makers here in Cebu, it wouldn't stand out. i still prefer Alejo's lechon, CNT lechon, and Zubuchon, who makes the tastiest lechon here in Cebu. its just that, Rico's is highly endorsed by big stars, and most are from the Kapamilya network. check their website - Rico's. but for me, when it comes to food, my personal taste matters. hahaha :)

tight hugs,
AC