‘I am PGH’ and other interesting events

A noble project was launched last week and three noteworthy events are coming up next week.

Last Wednesday, “I am PGH” was launched to raise money for P100 million endowment fund for the PGH Medical Foundation that helps indigent patients of the Philippine General Hospital.

Photos by Bing Basit

On Sunday, Feb. 3, there will be a “Takbo para kay Sta. Teresa”starting at 6 a.m at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Shrine Parish on Broadway, Quezon City.

Edith Burgos, who is helping in the publicity of this event said, “Takbo Para kay Sta. Teresa” is one in a series of events leading to the commemoration of the 500th birth anniversary in March 2015 of the Carmelite Saint Teresa of Avila, master of prayer and first woman doctor of the Church.

Registration forms are available at Mt Carmel Shrine; Royal Sporting House branches in Robinsons Padre Faura, Alimall Cubao, and Glorietta; at the Reebok Store at Festival Mall in Alabang and the Shoe Shop in Alabang Town Center.

For more information, please call (02) 904-8758, Smart 0929-2948888; Globe 0917-8530904; Sun 0933-6088580.

On Wednesday, Feb. 6, tenor Arthur Espiritu, the second Filipino to have sang at La Scala in Italy, will hold a “The Poet Speaks” concert at the Ayala Museum Feb. 6, at 7 p.m., with Najib Ismail on the piano.

Espiritu has a hectic schedule with his commitments in the United States and Europe. This is a rare opportunity to listen to this great talent.

On Thursday, Feb. 7, Chit Roces-Santos will launch her book, “Personal Space and other essays” at Powerbooks, Greenbelt 4.

Chit writes a weekend column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

In the book’s introduction, Lorna Kalaw-Tirol describes Chit’s style of writing as “Rmma Bombeck, Nora Ephron and Helen Gurley Brown. She said: “That’s quite a fascinating mix, but that’s how versatile and multifaceted Chit’s writing is. Like Bombeck, she writes about family life and homemaking with hilarious candor and amusing common sense. Like Ephron, her wit is sharp, at time cutting, always delicious. And like Gurley Brown, her takes on sex are delightfully saucy.”

The book is made more interesting by the illustrations of husband, Vergel. (This is another talent of Vergel not known by many.) Musician Paulo Santos is expected to be at the launching.)

More on “I am PGH.”

PGH as we all know is the Philippine General Hospital, the People’s hospital.

PGH is part of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine. In terms of quality of doctors and nurses, PGH is superior.

What makes them admirable is their unselfish dedication to their profession and service to the people.

Being a government-funded hospital, PGH is always financially challenged. That’s where the PGH Medical Foundation is a non-stock, non-profit organization established to help the PGH achieve excellent health care for its indigent patients. It serves as a conduit of donations coming from various civic-minded individuals, corporations, foundation and other funding agencies.

The head of the PGH Medical Foundation is Dr. Gregorio T. Alvior, who never tires of thinking of ideas to raise funds.

In “I am PGH”, PGH means “people (who) give hope.”

Alvior said in his message in the Foundation’s website, said “ Philanthropy is not a monopoly of the rich, but an act resulting from deep concern for others; for the fortunate; for the underprivileged; and the marginalized who have little hope. It is a manifestation of gratitude from those of us who are privileged, and fortunate enough to be in a position to share. The PGH serves a segment of our population who needs our support.”

That’s the rationale for the P100 donation. One does not have to be rich to be part of “I am PGH”
JB Baylon, vice president for communication of Nickel Asia, who has joined Dr. Alvior in this commendable project said, “We seek to encourage Filipinos everywhere and anywhere to donate P100 to the PGH Medical Foundation to help support the over 600,000 Filipinos, mostly indigent, who walk through the doors of the PGH – what I call the “Peoples’ Hospital” – every year, seeking hope.”

JB said basketball coach Charles Tiu started the ball rolling with his P100. Charles brother, basketball star, Chris, who is out of the country, is expected to match his brod’s P100 donation.

JB thanked Dina Lopez “who has shown what Pinoys abroad can do – donate US$ 3 to the campaign. “

He said “P100 may not seem like a big sum to some of us, but, taken together, it will mean a whole lot to those who have absolutely nothing and yet have to face the challenge of overcoming a major health crisis in their life or in the life of a loved one.”

At the launching, there were already companies and organizations who have come in as partners, among them: Nickel Asia Corporation and its subsidiaries, Media 2Six, to the Public Relations Students Society of the Philippines -UP Manila Chapter , Pilipinas2020-UP Diliman Chapter.

The Southridge High School Class of 1987 and 1988 turned over a cheque for P130,000.

You can also say “I am PGH.” Deposits can be made into the BPI PGHMF current account no. 3281027793.
For inquiries email: iampgh1907@gmail.com.

Paperman – Full Animated Short Film (Video)

A friend shared this YouTube video entitled Paperman from Kotaku.com

Paperman is a CGI short film about a guy who came across a girl in a train station.(deleted text)

Decided not to write about the plot because it might spoil your viewing. Check out this cool animated video from Disney. :)

How to be Happy (When You’re Cynical as Hell)

Happiness is not a thing that comes naturally to me. I’m constantly anxious about one thing and cranky about the other. When something good happens, I tend to approach it with suspicion, in case it turns out to be some sort of joke God or the universe is playing at my expense. I half-expect a sinkhole to open up and swallow me whole before I come anywhere close to achieving my fullest potential, whatever that may be.

But as I start to become pro-active about my mental well-being, I realize that happiness doesn’t need to come from a grand and earth-shattering event. It doesn’t even have to involve positive thinking, witty aphorisms, or letting Jesus into my heart. Maybe happiness is as simple as allowing myself to enjoy the little things. And maybe I don’t need to wait until I become my own idea of “successful” to take pleasure in everyday delights.

Here is a list of 10 things that make me happy any given day, in no particular order:

Having no plans for the day

I love waking up to a day with no errands to run or social obligations to meet. The world is my oyster and I can do WHATEVER I WANT. I can stay in and marathon Doctor Who or I can play video games or I can finally finish my Double Rainbow cross-stitch project or I can go out and exercise or eat something nice or I can just stay in bed and not do anything at all.

Having plans for the night

Whether it’s dinner somewhere nice or doing nerd stuff at someone’s place, the thought of capping the night with Marco or my friends is enough to make the day more tolerable.

A quiet time and place to read

My favorite thing to do during the work week is to spend an entire lunch hour holed up in a coffee shop with a tea latte on one hand and my Kindle in another. There’s something about reading in a coffee shop that relaxes me in ways reading in my bedroom doesn’t.

When I like what I write

My inner critic makes writing a real pain in the ass, but nothing else makes me feel as accomplished as when I’m finally finished and satisfied with what I’ve written.

A cat. Any cat.

I’m as crazy as cat ladies come, and nothing makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside like when these proud, silly creatures allow me to pet them, or when random stray cats rub themselves all over my leg and declare ownership of me.


Pandas make me happy too, but they’re not really an everyday thing.

Decorating my shoebox, in my head

I can spend hours poring through Pinterest and Houzz, daydreaming about how I want my condo to look like. Every night I create a happy place in my head as I flick through photo after photo of well-designed rooms, colorful accessories, and quirky furniture.

A new pair of shoes

My clothing budget is practically nonexistent these days. But the less I spend on my wardrobe, the more I appreciate and value the few things I buy. So when I’m feeling splurgey enough to get a new pair of shoes, and they’re as comfortable as they are gorgeous, I can pretty much die of the happies.

Cuddling in bed

Cuddling with Marco feels like a warm hug on a bad day, except a hundred times better. I’m at my most comfortable and relaxed we’re in bed together doing wholesome, silly things and talking about nothing in particular.

Working out with ALL THE ENERGY

My gym membership is over a year old, but only recently did I start enjoying exercise for exercise’s sake rather than just weight loss’s sake. I don’t always have the energy to run 3 km or do an hour of kick-boxing, but I feel like a vicious badass when I do.

A warm cup of tea

I’m a coffee person at heart, but it’s quite comforting to have a warm, fragrant cup of tea on a cold and cloudy day.

I realize how cheesy this must all sound, but really. Having small things to look forward to is a huge relief from feeling numb and meh for so long. It gives me perspective and reminds me that shit happening doesn’t necessarily mean that my life is shit. And while it isn’t always easy for me to find joy in the little things, I make a conscious effort to do so anyway. I figure that I at least owe it to myself to try to be happy, even for just a few minutes.

What are the everyday things that make you happy?

BlackBerry 10 phones vs. the world, a brief comparison

All of our waiting has come to an end. The BlackBerry 10 phones are out, namely the Z10 & the Q10. It is without doubt the best of BlackBerry’s crop, but how does it fare against its competitors?

bb10

A lot of specs aren’t given as of now, and that includes the display technology, the processor used and so forth. However, phones like the iPhone are proof that you don’t need extremely beefy specs to run a phone smoothly – all you need is the optimization of the hardware and the software. In fact, it seems like the new BlackBerry phones are all about this.

chart

As you can see above, it does not hold neither the worst nor the best specs. It’s exactly right in between.

The next BlackBerry devices won’t feature 1080p screens and 8-core CPUs, but we’re really impressed with what we have seen. They even feature some stuff that some high-end phones don’t have such as a micro-HDMI port, NFC, expandable storage and all the other small stuff.

BlackBerry 10 doesn’t run on the best specs, but it is more than decent by today’s standards. What is the use of a 1080p phone 8-core phone if it runs on something like the Symbian s60? After all, it’s all about hardware and software working together these days.

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Windows Phone 7.8 update rolls out to Lumia 800

Update to Windows Phone 7.8 has started rolling out for the Nokia Lumia 800. The update introduced a WP8-like UI to the first-gen Nokia Lumia phones.

We first reported the roll-out back in December but it turns out, it was just for the pre-prod model only.

Today, reports are coming in that Philippine users can now download WP 7.8 for the final update. To check for the update, just connect your Lumia 800 to your PC/laptop and fire up Zune Media Player to initiate the download.

Since old Lumia phones will not be able to upgrade to WP8 {see reasons here}, Windows Phone 7.8 is the last biggest software update for them.

{via @cruzarmel}

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