Being Artistic... Genetic or Honed Skill?

My two oldest sons have been showing interest in arts. Painting, drawing and coloring to be specific. I have compiled maybe at least a thousand pages that are keepers. I am not sure how to archive them yet. For now I am placing them inside a clear plastic and inserting them into a ring binder.

My wife and I are always having fun whenever the issue of where our kids got their artistic skills. I would always refute her when she says "they got it from me!". I always say that it must be from me as I have an art collection too. I have it stashed somewhere (If I can only remember where). If it was performing arts, then maybe it was from he. Hahaha!

They recently submitted one of their work at my wife's company that held a drawing contest with a theme "Safety". They selected 13 entries that they used in their 2011 calendar. Aloysius and Achilles submitted their drawings and they were fortunate to have their work included in the calendar. They also got $50 each as prize. Great job boys!

Dental Problems

When I was growing up. I ate a lot of candies and chocolates as well as chips. All kinds of junk food, you name it, I am sure I have eaten. And our parents would always tell us to brush our teeth so that we would not have tooth decay. Every night they would ask us to brush our teeth thoroughly before going to bed. But do we listen. Maybe some of us did. Unfortunately I did not so now that I am an adult and have small kids of my own, I understand why our parents wanted us to do it.

I am now using the style of my parents. Telling my kids to brush properly so that when they grow up they would not end up like me. I believe that the number of teeth an adult has is 32. However, on my last count I only have 22. If I only heeded my parents, maybe I would have more Hahaha!

The latest problem that I have was an infection on my front tooth. Fortunately the dentist was able to save it by performing a root canal and placing a permanent crown on the tooth. I have some before and after pictures that I want to share.

New Gadget - Amazon Kindle 3

For some reason I really find it hard to read novels or anything long that has no picture in it. If there is something that interests me and there are some illustrations, I might read it. Part of the reason is that I get dizzy or sleepy after I have read 10 pages or more. I also do not like holding thick and heavy books when I travel. The only book I read from cover to cover and really enjoyed was Tarzan. maybe because I can imagine the things that I am reading.

Now that there are ebook readers, it has somewhat motivated me to start reading. I purchased an Amazon Kindle 3 with Wi-fi capability. I got it for 120 bucks via Kijiji. A good deal considering it is sold currently for 140+tax on Amazon. It can store a lot of e-books and is very convenient to use. The battery life is also great as it can last for weeks.

I have started to read Star Wars e-books and I find it very helpful when I am commuting and when I have time to spare.

Video Games, Only for Kids???

Last Christmas, my brother and sister gave my kids a gaming console. My Sons got the Wii that they have been dreaming of and asking for about some time. The bundle that they got included the Wii Sports game. The games were very simple compared to the PS3 and the X-Box games that have very complicated instructions and detailed graphics. But even then I am certain that the kids are enjoying the video game every time they get a chance to play it.

A week after they got it they convinced me to buy accessories and more games. I got them some games, these were: Nerf, Wii Resort, Sis Flags and Super Mario. I also got them the gun the gaming accessory that included the gun, fishing pole and the cue stick for billiards. It has been years since I played a video game like that. The last one I played was the first generation of Nintendo which also have the Mario game. I decided to try it when I was on vacation leave. My kids were in school and my wife is in a salon getting a facial rejuvenation. I loaded the Mario game and actually enjoyed playing it too. I played for about an hour before stopping to do some household chore. It was a nice experience to be able to play the same game after a while and feel like a kid again. I only wish these things will be for adults as well. The only problem is getting the chance to play if the kids are awake.

Extra Income

In times like these where people are getting laid off and companies are filing bankruptcy it is wise to have a second job or have an extra income. We can’t rely anymore on the interest of savings account and pension plans. There are a other ways to make good money too such as stocks and other investments but it is very risky and would require some capital.

I was introduced to pay per click sites where you get paid by clicking on advertisements and viewing it for about 30 to 60 seconds. There are some sites where you get paid by watching video clips. You need to earn a minimum, say 10 dollars before you get paid. I found out they were hoaxes when I was not paid and the site no longer exist.

There are sites where you paid by participating in discussions by starting a topic and answering topics that are posted to the site. Mylot is one of these sites and I can attest that they do pay. I have been a member for almost 2 years and I still get paid. The only drawback is that you have to do five hundred to seven hundred fifty posts to earn 10 dollars.

My wife introduced me to paid to blog last year. I said no at first because I do not feel I can do it. However when I saw that she is getting paid and as easy as just creating good posts, I said I want to try it. Early this week I joined BlogAdvertisingStore. The site has a lot of blogging opportunities and you are paid a good amount of money for a hard earned blog. I registered my blog and got approved the following day. I do not want to lose time and opportunity so I started and submitted my first entry yesterday.

Kid Friendly Directories/Links and Searches

I have three small kids that are all boys. They are ages one, four and eight. One of them is currently attending secondary school and another will be in primary school this coming September. I was very surprised to find out that my eldest already have a computer subject. They are taught to research using the internet for their assignments and projects. I am a BS computer science graduate and have been using computers in almost 70 of my time at work. However, I actually was able to learn about and use a computer when I was in college.



I like the idea of having them start at an early age to use these advances in technology so they will grow up knowing a lot. Integrating computer literacy in the curriculum for kids I believe is a good idea and would benefit the students. The only worry I have is that there are a lot of stuff in the internet that are not for them to gain access to. Let’s face it, kids that are starting to learn how to use the internet will click away on any link they could see especially if it looks colourful and attractive.



I came across the website Kidsclick.org. It is a web search and directory for kids made by librarians. It is like the Yahoo directory which is a widely used business web directory. Another site is Business.com site which offer a variety of business resource. The difference between these two sites to the Kidsclick.org would be the orientation as the latter is for children. And since the site is owned and maintained by a department at a state university, a parent can be rest assured that the content or links on the web site is for general patronage.



I used to have Google as the home page on my kids computer so they can readily search anything one they launch the web browser. I recently have changed the default home page to Kidsclick. I firmly believe that it will definitely limit if not totally eliminate the chances of my kids stumbling upon adult web pages. This web site has links to directories that I feel is safe for browsing. The site also has small icons that are designed to make the kids enjoy the browsing experience. Aside from the readily available links, the site also have picture, sound and website searches and lesson searches that helps kids find and filter information that is not available.



To say the least, I am very happy to have found such a site and I would recommend this to my friends who have small kids of their own. For further information about web directories, you may visit the following link from Wikipedia -> Web Directory

H1N1 Shot

H1N1 seems to be old news. There are no more reports or news for quite some time. Although this is the case, the government of Canada is still campaigning that everyone should get the shot just to be safe. These ads can be seen on television, newspapers and even on subway trains. We had a chance to meet our family physician yesterday. This is the very first time I saw a doctor here in Canada. If it weren’t for the kids I probably would not see one. When the doctor asked about the vaccines our kids had, we told her that they are up to date before they migrated here. We then asked if it was necessary to have the H1N1 shot since it does not seem dangerous. We were told it is up to us but it is recommended. So we finally decided to get it since we are already there. My wife and I got the full dose and the kids had the half doses. It is better to be safe than sorry, that is what I thought.

Friday Photo Flashback

This is my one of the very few photo I had when I was in High school. I am shown below accepting my secondary degree diploma. This was taken probably in the year 1986 and the location is Las Pinas College, Las Pinas City, Philippines