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  • To Kumon Or Not To Kumon

    Kumon is effective if you enrol your child for the right reasons. I used to think that Kumon is teaching Math the wrong way because its worksheets, as if, require the child to memorize the answer instead of doing the right calculation. But when someone told me that Kumon has helped her child, I gave it a second thought. So as soon as summer vacation started last year, I went to a Kumon center to enrol my boys. Unfortunately, I have to wait for an orientation before I can enrol them. Besides, they told me that Kumon is not a short term activity and would at least need a year for you to realize its benefits.

    Before 2010 ended, I reconsidered enrolling my boys to Kumon for a different reason this time. Both of them are glued on tv or computer games that they need to have something worth while to do everyday. I chose math not because they need help on that subject, (actually both of them are good at it thanks to their parent’s genes hehe) but because I want them to be confident with it and hopefully do advanced Math in no time. It would definitely help them minimize time doing calculations during exam and have more time analyzing. Also, when time comes that they have to take entrance exams, math would be a piece of cake.

    So for those who are still wondering if they should enrol their child or not, here are some things one should consider:

    1. Kumon is not a quick fix, if your child badly needs help and is failing already, he needs a tutor not Kumon.

    2. It is not a short term activity. You cannot just enrol your child for a few months (like summer vacation) and expect to see improvement.

    3. It is a commitment to both child and parent. Kumon requires the child to attend twice a week sessions and answer worksheets everyday for them to master the subject matter in terms of speed and accuracy. (It makes sense because Math is perfect Science and that practice makes perfect). So if you don’t have time to ensure that kids attend their sessions and do their daily worksheet, it defeats the purpose.

    4. Once enrolled, your child usually starts two or more levels below his actual school level and as a parent you should not be alarmed. Like for instance he’s already doing fractions in school, he may start with addition first because in terms of speed and accuracy he has not mastered it yet. (Level is identified through a diagnostic test).

    5. It is not a substitute to regular school.

    Lastly, I suggest you attend the orientation so that all your questions will be answered. But for the mean time, I hope this article somehow helped you realize if you have the right reason/s to enrol your child.

  • Venue for team building

    Working as an employee for 7 years, I have participated several strategic planning and team building activities. J&J, Phils brought me to Subic Yacht Club resort, Litton mills brought me to Punta Fuego, PNOC-EDC made me experience Fort Ilocandia and Pagudpod the first time, I played paintball at Antipolo c/o ICTSI… among others. I am thankful to the facilitators for ensuring that we learned as much as we had fun.

    Relatively, I know that these facilitators (mostly from the HR department) are running out of unique ideas for a venue, not to mention dealing with a tighter budget. That is why I thought of recommending this place I’ve been to just recently. Yats Clear Water resort in Clark Pampanga is just approximately 3 hours away from Manila. It offers a man-made beach with white sand, beside it is a pool and lake good for boating and fishing. Their rooms are spacious and offer a country side ambiance. It has tv, bathtub, aircon and ref. To be honest, I think that the management could have done a better job in maintaining the resort but still it is worth a try. The 13 hectares of picnic grounds is so big that it is believable when you tell your boss that you lost your track when if fact you just don’t want to join the physically challenging games. (Just kidding :D ). See for yourself.

  • Starting the year right

    My bulging tummy was my last straw to finally enrol myself (tagging along Gary) to the gym. Not that I used to have a flat belly to flaunt but neither it was this big. I did not mind the membership and admin fee, monthly fee, personal trainer’s fee and all the other expenses associated with it because I just thought of it as an investment. Gary and I don’t have any form of exercise and day by day it’s making us fatter, weaker and more stressed. We decided to get personal trainer because I know we both need someone to motivate us to go to the gym regularly and push harder during workout (obviously, we can’t rely on each other). During the first day, I learned that my body consists of almost 30% fat and that I am dehydrated. It was an eye opener… at the same time alarming. My goal is to lose 8 kilos of fat at the minimum for 3 months. I don’t really aspire for a fabulous, perfectly toned sexy body in time for summer (though I wouldn’t mind if I get that :D ), I just want to lose the excess fat, be healthy, look younger and be strong.

    Each day at the gym gets more interesting while the workout becomes harder. Believe me, exercise is no joke. I am usually dead tired at the end of the day. The irony of it is that my body aches most of the time but the feeling is awesome. So far so good… I hope this lasts for good as well.

  • The Fraud Triangle

    I have been trained in Risk-based Audit and one of those things that really struck me was what they call the ‘Fraud Triangle.’ Simply put, it explains the three things that makes any person commit fraud. I want to share this because for sure anyone of you doesn’t want to be intentionally deceived.

    1. Opportunity
    Remember this: Where there is unrestricted access to assets, there is opportunity. Assets can be characterized as cash, goods, inventory, personal records and so on. So you need to have an adequate set of internal controls to prevent fraud from happening.

    2. Pressure
    Pressure can be as petty as peer pressure or wanting to be on top of everyone in terms of material things to serious matters such as extensive debt, drug addiction and gambling.

    3. Rationalization
    Some rationalization examples are as follows;
    “I don’t know how to face my family when they learn that we’ll lose our home, car, everything”
    “I really need this money now and I know I can pay before anyone notices”
    “I deserve more than what’s in my paycheck”

    So you see, the perpetrator doesn’t have to have a ‘bad reputation’ because with these 3 factors present, even the best person you know can be one of them.

  • The great travel 2011

    My husband and I are planning to go back to Europe, this time bringing along not only Marcus but also Zach and Lia. We are planning to do it on May next year so that kids are on summer vacation. It was supposed to be April in time for our anniversary and my birthday but I thought it would be better to go after Easter. I am tasked by my husband to make the itinerary and to estimate our travel budget. Though I am now checking out some travel deals, I still find it too early to book flights and accommodation (not to mention the visa application). So I just noted down the planned date and corresponding location. I also have a rough estimate on the budget but I’d rather not post.

    Initially, we were planning for a London-Paris-Germany-Switzerland-Italy trip. Then looking at the map, we realized that we could go to Greece by boat from Italy, so it became London-Paris-Italy-Greece. But then as I was checking out Italy, I realized that it’s better for us to explore that country first rather than tightening our budget and schedule to fit in Greece.

    So the final plan, so far, of what I call the great travel 2011 is as follows:

    May 2 – Flight to London
    May 3-4 London
    May 5 – Train to Paris
    May 6-10 Paris
    May 11 Train to Italy
    May 12-18 Italy (Milan-Venice-Rome)

    I still don’t have any idea if we’ll go back to Manila via Italy or we’ll go back to London so that we can just get a roundtrip Mla-London-Mla.

    More so, I don’t know if I can handle 3 kids that long and that far. I don’t want to spoil the fun though of planning by worrying about that.

    So, that’s it. I’ll make updates as soon as changes/improvements have been made.

    To God be the Glory!

  • One career to another

    I have to admit I’ve never been loyal to my chosen degree, i.e. Industrial Engineering. Well, I guess I just lived up to what IEs are known for (or what other engineering majors would teasingly call us), that we are ‘Jack-of-all-trade, Expert of nothing.’ I don’t agree though on the ‘expert of nothing’ part because IEs have proven over the years how they can implement significant changes in the company, not to mention lead it and be part of the top management.

    In my case, in a span of 9 years I’ve been into Warehouse Management, Systems Analysis and Implementation, Risk Management and Internal Audit. I must say that each requires totally different set of skills and knowledge. But among all these, Financial Audit has been my waterloo. Whenever I hear the words chart of accounts, journal entry, general ledger and so on, my mind would literally shut down. Surprisingly though, it didn’t stop me from getting a Financial Audit engagement and an Internal Audit Certification.

    This time, after 3 years of much thinking, I finally accepted the fact that I have to say goodbye to all those previously acquired knowledge, skills and experience and start learning about internet marketing. Although I’ve always been into Information Technology, I realized that internet marketing is really something else. It’s nosebleed for me every time I hear or read about Search Engine Optimization and all those stuff. I practically do SEO without understanding it. BUT… just like financial audit, I am hopeful that I’ll be able to turn this liability into an asset. (See, I am even using accounting words this time) And I hope I can be confident with SEO and Pay Per Click (PPC) in no time.

  • How I want 2010 to be remembered

    I know there’s still 3 months left before the year ends but I feel so much has happened already that I have to write them down before I forget them altogether. The year has been crazy, positively crazy if I may call it that.

    The hightlights of the year started when Gary found a way to go to Europe. I must admit at first I didn’t took it seriously because I thought that the organizer of the SES London Conference wouldn’t take Gary’s interest seriously as well. But I was completely wrong. SES and PAGCOR’s (Gary’s employer then) approval gave us a couple of weeks to get British visa and get approved. Unfortunately, no time to process Shengen visa so we just maximized our UK trip by including in our itenirary Edinburgh, Scotland and Belfast, Northern Ireland.

    Almost the same time, we said goodbye to our very first car (a second-hand Honda civic we bought from my father) and bought an SUV. We got the Montero as soon as we arrived from London, March 1, Marcus’ 11th birthday.

    Summer has been busy as well. We started it by trying out the sands of Poro Point, La Union. Summer though was not vacation for Marcus because I enroled him to tutorial (to help him acquire good study habits) and Neurotherapy for his ADHD. I also took the time to transfer Zach from Montessori to a bigger school. Gary on the other hand has his hands full with business work and special projects that he even gave up his employment in PAGCOR.

    May 6 was our only daughter’s first birthday so imagine the pressure I went through thinking about the party as a whole. (budget, location, give-aways, invitation, party host and so on)

    July 17 was Zach’s 5th birthday and he’s been bugging us for a Jollibee birthday party for months. Giving-in to his request, we celebrated his birthday at Jollibee, Dagupan together with family, relatives and friends from Gary’s side. Next Day, July 18, was the vehicular accident at SCTEX.

    After the accident, we had to face so many things. Both positive and well, challenging things. Insurance claims, filing a case, physical and emotional recovery, getting over what was lost… just to name a few. Blessing in disguise, Gary’s sister had to give up her Innova so we decided to get it and just continue paying for the monthly amortization. Two months after the accident, the car insurance claim still being processed, the Innova has been a great help to us not to mention the driver we hired.

    August 20, my sister finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy and few days after, our grandfather (father’s side) died.

    This October, we rented the unit beside ours so that we can renovate our kitchen and flooring. Also, I finally embraced the fact that I really have to have Internet Marketing expertise and I’m now about to start learning about PPC.

    Big things came and bigger things are on the way. God willing, the rest of 2010 and 2011 will be more exciting as it is now. So help us God. :D

  • Starting-up a business

    If you are expecting to read a blog that talks about the 4 W’s of starting up a business, sorry to mislead you. I am just like you wondering where I could invest my money. I know that most of us dreams of that day when we no longer work as an employee. We save as much as we can so that one day we can be our own boss. Unfortunately, our impression of having a business is almost always beyond reality. We equate business to success, which is not the case. A successful business does not only mean earning a couple of bucks. Earning, for instance, 30k a month is good but can it make you sustain the cost of living for you to finally say goodbye to your employer? I think not.

    Our online business now Search Opt Media Inc is something else, it’s 99% knowledge and expertise and 1% admin and support (I do the 1%, haha!). I want to invest on another business. Something I’m really good at or have passion for.

    So where am I leading you? Well, since I haven’t found yet the business that I am looking for, I just want to share what we’ve learned over the years about coming up with a business. We lost time and money, but well, we gained experience. But then again, what will you do with experience if you’re struggling to provide your family with a decent meal thrice a day?

    Let me start;
    1. Business requires transparency. You should not be too trusting even if you work with family, close friends and relatives. Small to medium sized businesses are not excused from good governance.

    2. Know your business. You don’t just invest your money on businesses that you don’t have knowledge about. Why start a restaurant business if you can’t even cook? Or at least learn the craft.

    3. Understand how business works. At least learn that business has it’s market, technical and financial aspects.

    4. Don’t jump on the bandwagon. Don’t invest on something because it’s popular, because most of the people you know invested on it or because some people you know became successful. Again, go back to #3.

    5. Don’t depend your future with only one business. Invest. Pull-out your earnings. Invest again.

  • Glass Half Full

    OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt was a rainy Sunday afternoon. Aboard our SUV, we were heading home from Pangasinan. It was a comfortable and peaceful ride as we hear the strong downpour on the roof while running at around 60-70 kph. Suddenly, a white sports car swiveled uncontrollably at the passenger side of our vehicle. I immediately tapped Gary’s hand to alert him but by then we were already hit by the car. The next thing I knew our SUV tipped and skidded to the right side and as the vehicle turned turtle several times, I embraced Lia very tight as she was sleeping in my arms. All I was thinking at that time was that I hope this is not happening and at the same time thought it could be the end. During the final turn, Lia was suddenly gone. I have no idea how she fell or thrown away because all along I was holding her very tight. When our vehicle finally stopped and I saw Gary moving, I immediately unlocked my seat belt and found my way out of the vehicle to find Lia. Scared and half hopeful that she was still alive, I was shouting “Anak ko!” I went to the other side of the vehicle and looked at my right and all I saw were tall grasses. I looked at my left and there she was lying on the mud crying because of the strong rain pouring on her. Thinking back, ‘Jesus on a manger’ is the best description of how she was safely placed. Knee hurting, I ran to her as fast as I could, embraced her tight, checked her for any wound and thanked God she was alive.

    Seconds after, my husband, 2 sons and our yaya came running at our side. My eldest son, Marcus, embraced me tight crying and yelling, “Mama, ayoko na! Ayoko na!” Zach, on the other hand, was also crying maybe from shock because he was sleeping before the incident happened. Gary and I looked at each other without saying a word but thinking the same thing, “we are all safe now.” A van stopped and a woman calling to help us. She allowed the children to go inside her van because it was raining really hard and the kids are cold. Marcus doesn’t want to leave me alone, but I assured him that everything is ok now, that he has to look after his two younger siblings because I’m wounded and that I love him very much. I was left sitting where I found Lia because Gary doesn’t want me to move any further because he saw the deep wound on my knee. While the kids were inside the van and Gary calling for help, I tried to get up and go farther but my right knee is not helping. So I just decided to sit down and wait for the rescue to come. It was the time I got the chance to see everything that’s left of us. Our 4-month old SUV was a total wreck, my phone gone and our other belongings wet and scattered. I can’t help but wonder, “Why did God allowed this to happen?” But it was not anger or hatred that was in my heart at the time, it was gratitude and relief. Looking at the glass half full, I thanked the Lord and praised Him because all that were gone can be replaced.

    Looking back, I don’t remember anything that could have stopped us from encountering the incident. One thing’s for sure though, God has prepared everything to ensure that we’ll be safe and taken cared of. It was indeed a miracle. When I saw the pictures of our wrecked vehicle, it made me cry because I cannot possibly think how all of us survived.

    I remember the words I said after we prayed the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be and Angel of God while on the road and before the incident… “Lord, please keep us safe.” He did.

    We are a living testimony of His Greatness.

  • The Baby is now a Lady

    Exactly a year ago, I gave birth to our only daughter, Lia Anika. Months went so fast that now I no longer see an infant nor a baby, but a little lady trying her best to act like an adult. She’s so adorable that I cannot blame her father for being head over heels in love with her. :D

    I just want to share with you what I went through as she was brought into the world.

    ————-

    It was just a painful dream, or so I thought. The long and painful contractions woke me up at about past 6 in the morning. By then I realized my labor could already be starting, but I wanted to be sure. I stood up, went to the bathroom and then decided to sit on our sofa to wait for more contractions to come. They did come but they were still tolerable so I decided to go back to bed and try to get some sleep. But sleep never came because the pain was becoming more and more frequent and yes unbearable. Not wanting to wake my husband yet because he slept very late the night before, I did some last minute preparations by putting more things on my previously prepared maternity/baby bag. I also made a list of numbers that my yayas could refer to and set aside money for emergency purposes. All ready, I went back to our bedroom to tell my husband, but to my surprise he’s already up and doing something on the computer. So, I just told him I already need to be brought to the hospital.

    Past 8 in the morning, the trip to the hospital was easy and comfortable except for moderate contractions every now and then. My husband dropped me to the emergency room and then parked the car, while a hospital attendant brought me immediately to pre-labor room.

    At the pre-labor room, a belt was placed around my tummy which was connected to a machine that measured my contractions. While being interviewed by a resident doctor, another doctor measured me and guess what? I was already 5-6 centimeters dilated. I then heard the resident doctor talking to my ob-gyn and then my anesthesiologist on the phone to inform them of my condition.

    During my last prenatal check-up, I already informed my ob-gyn that I wanted to be on Epidural anesthesia during labor. And according to her, epidural anesthesia will be administered when I am already 4cm dilated. And since I was already beyond that, on wheel chair I was brought to the labor room.

    Everything happened so fast that in a couple of minutes I was already 7cm dilated and I was looking for my anesthesiologist who’s still on his way to the hospital. A nurse was beside me asking me questions which I think is her way of distracting me because the pain was getting more and more unbearable.

    Finally I saw my anesthesiologist walking hurriedly and made instructions to prepare me for the epidural shot. But before the anesthesia was given, I felt an excruciating pain as my water bag finally broke. I could not think of a word to describe the pain and all I was able to do at that time was to moan and whimper. I was already 8cm dilated! 10-15 minutes after the epidural procedure, they were preparing me to be brought to the delivery room.

    At the delivery room I finally saw my ob-gyn. Soft-spoken and pleasant as always, she started a conversation that I really did appreciate because it made me relax and feel comfortable again. The pain was no longer there, the shot finally reached my brain. Ready to deliver baby Lia, they instructed me to inhale and then push hard. After 4 times repeating the said procedure, 10:17 in the morning to be exact, Lia Anika was finally brought into the world. I praise God for a beautiful and healthy baby girl and for our safety during labor and delivery!