Sandbox Wisdom

I really enjoy receiving newsletters from Simple Truths. Besides their site updates, they regularly include in their correspondences beautiful excerpts from books they are currently promoting, so even if you could not secure (just yet) a copy, you could at least get a hindsight of what you can learn from the book currently offered.

Here are some excerpts from the latest book they are promoting, a lot of beautiful insights can be grasped here:

Sandbox Wisdom by Tom Asacker

Sandbox Wisdom revisits our childhood to see what we should strive to rekindle as adults.

Fun, Laughter, and Enthusiasm...We should strive to keep that childlike spirit in our work and our play. When we grow up we take ourselves way too seriously, and sometimes we become a heart attack waiting to happen.

No Limit Thinking...As children we believe that we might become president, a great artist or a great explorer. But as adults we begin to put fences around those dreams.

No Inhibitions...Children speak from the heart, and as adults we should strive to do more of that.

Read People and Situations...Children can see past the trappings of material success and see into the core of people. As we grow older we begin to label people, and as the saying goes, "labeling is disabling."

Creativity and Imagination...A great philosopher once observed, "Genius is childhood recaptured at will." The imagination and creativity we had at five too often begins to fade at fifteen.

Hope you learned something from all these, I sure did today.

Do You Care?

There are just too many things going on inside and outside of our lives, that at times it's difficult to filter which ones we need to care about most and and which ones we should just plainly ignore. Check out this dNneero survey and find out mine and other people's answers to some important (and some absurd) issues raised here...

Watching TV on the Net

Hubby and I purposely have never subscribed to cable TV ever, since we are not really much into "heavy" TV watching anyways. Besides, with the amazing internet technology nowadays, watching your favorite TV program can also be done now through the Net.

Just google "watch TV online" and you'll find many available options already for online TV watching - with a vast array of worldwide channels, I must add. When I'm in the mood for TV, I just normally tune in to the live news telecasts to keep abreast on the local news in the Philippines, the only thing is I just have to adjust to the time difference or watch the recorded ones if I cannot see the live broadcast.

If you are Filipino abroad like myself and would like to watch local Philippine channels on the net or perhaps you'd like to see other channels abroad (BBC, CNN, Discovery Channel, American TV Channels, etc), here are my favorite live TV sites which you can check out (please note that a broadband connection is a pre-requisite)...

ABS-CBN Live! Streaming

GMA Live! Streaming

Studio 23 Live! Streaming

QTV Live! Streaming

International Channels

Enjoy and have a great day!

Dry Spell

Hi, guys! I'm sure a lot of you are wondering -- "What's up with this blog?", "Why aren't there any new posts?"... well, your friendly blogger has been busy (*cough* lazy *cough*) lately.

I guess it's just one of those days commonly called as "blogging dry spell", a critical condition (should I say -- "virus") that attacks a blogger resulting to a slump in writing... LOL! I'm sure all bloggers experience this at one time or another, it's normal especially for those who have been writing for quite some time (am I justifying it too hard?), and a remedial break is all that's needed to do the fix and jump start afresh.

So here I am... back from my blogging slumber, and now ready to get the groove back. Now, where shall I start?

Rare Parrot Flower

The uniqueness and beauty of this rare flower grown in Thailand will literally leave you speechless...



Scientific Name: Impatiens Psittacina
Thai Name: Dork Nok Khaew
Size: Plant grows to app. 6 feet (1.8) meters
Leaf : Broad, sharply pointed, to 2 1/2 inches (6 cm)
Flower size: App. 2 inches (5cm)
Stem thickness: To 1/2 inch (1.5cm)
Bloom season: October/November in Thailand
Growing conditions: Tropical, humid, moist
* This is a protected plant specie which is illegal to export.

See other Wordless Wednesday entries HERE.

Useful Softwares

I have recently joined the multimedia ministry in our church, and it has been a fun and fulfilling experience so far. I have always had a knack for techie stuff and I find pleasure in learning new things especially along the lines of new technology and internet/computer know-hows.

While browsing the Net to look for multimedia resources (I'll save this for another post and share with you very helpful multimedia related links next time), I came across two very useful softwares which you might be interested in downloading (free trial versions, clicking on name will take you to the download page link):

Camtasia Studio
Do you have powerpoint presentations which you would like to convert into a video file without losing the animations? Camstasia does this with its screen capture feature. Anything you play or do on your PC screen - a movie file, photo slideshow, even your internet browsing activity, can be recorded by Camtasia. Cool, huh!

AVS Video Converter
AVS Media has many products but this is the one most helpful for me. This video converter enables you to convert any media file into your desired format, e.g. flv to avi, mpeg to wmv, strip audio from video file and convert to mp3, etc.), and you can even edit the videos before your conversion. I usually download videos I like from YouTube with Firefox's DownloadHelper plug-in and they usually come in flv (flash) video format, with AVS I can easily convert flv to the accepted format required by some media presentation software I use (like Easy Worship for church).

There are many more very handy softwares out there, and in my future posts I'll share and recommend to you my tried and tested ones.

Salads - An Effective Nutrient Booster

Did you know that salads can effectively boost four vital nutrients every person needs?

People across the world are trying to eat healthy, and salads are a big part of that equation.

In a recent issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, a study of more than 9,000 women and 8,000 men found that those who eat salads and raw vegetables have higher intakes and better blood levels of four nutrients: vitamins A and C, folate and the phytochemicals or plant nutrients called carateneoids. These nutrients are tied to reduced risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes.

So, make sure to include salads in your regular food intake.

Sailing Out

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. - Andre Gide

Swine Flu

Swine Flu -- you've seen it on the news' headlines, people everywhere have become panicky about it, and countries all over the world are taking all necessary precautions so as to avoid getting hit by it, but what exactly is this disease and how can one detect it and take careful measures against it? The first step to prevention is arming ourselves with the proper knowledge about Swine Flu and share these information to others as well.

Here's a very concise and helpful article I found on Gulf News recently which everyone needs to be aware about so we can guard ourselves better against this endemic disease:

SWINE FLU AND SAFETY MEASURES

What is it? It is a virus that mutated from pigs and transmitted to some humans

Which places have been affected? Mexico City, California, Texas, Philippines, South Korea, Hong Kong, China, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Egypt, Israel, Kuwait, Spain, France, Thailand, Cuba, Arizona, India, Taiwan.

Is there a cure? The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website states that there is no vaccine to specifically protect humans from swine flu, only to protect pigs. Although GlaxoSmithKline Plc's flu treatment Relenza and Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu appear effective against the strains of the virus the CDC has tested.

What are authorities doing to contain the virus? The World Health Organization went on high alert, dispatching top experts to the United States and Mexico. The CDC has also set up emergency operation centres.

Signs and symptoms
Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
Sudden dizziness
Confusion
Severe or persistent vomiting
Fever with a rash (among children)
Bluish skin color (among children)

Easy ways to protect against infection
Little can be done to prevent an outbreak of flu from spreading, health experts caution, but they say common sense measures can help individuals protect themselves. Practice the following:
- Wash your hands frequently
- Cover your cough or your sneeze
- Use alcohol-based gel or foam hand sanitizers
- If you have flu-like symptoms, stay away from work or public transportation
- Social distancing. Stay away from people who might be infected

MY 1st BLOG ANNIVERSARY

Oh my! What a slip-up! I just realized that my blog has already turned 1-year old just last week (May 20th) and have completely forgotten about it. Well, it's never too late to write a post and celebrate...

Wow, my blog journey this past year has been exciting! I can still clearly remember that day I created this blog where I didn't know exactly where to start and what to write. All I knew that time was that I want my little voice to be heard somehow, broaden my reach and make new friends through this experience.

There were days when I couldn't contain myself in sharing what I have in mind and keep posting away like crazy, and there were also those extremely busy (or lazy) days where keeping the blog updated is a struggle. But overall, my blogging experience has been so fun and enjoyable -- I have learned a lot of things (from HTML to blog promotion), met a lot of people along the way, and have been motivated by the great feedback and very encouraging comments I get from friends and even from complete strangers who drop by.

This blog also opened the way for me to create another blog, one which I share with my hubby and focuses only on photography which is our shared passion. The direction for this blog became much clearer when I decided that Reflections by Mariz will serve mainly and specifically only as a podium for my musings and views, while Mix Pix - my other blog, will be a photo gallery.

This past year wouldn't have been so wonderful if not for everyone who took the effort to visit this blog, and some even leave their mark by commenting/dropping a note at the chat box which I tremendously appreciate, and even more special thanks to those subscribing to this blog -- you guys are the best!

Thank you so soooo much to everyone for making this home warmer with you visit, readership, love and support! Most importantly, thank you LORD for seeing me through this past year and making this experience possible.

More years to come for this blog!!!! Woohooooo!!!!