BACK TO BARRACKS

I am finally home from my wake vigil in Mati Davao Oriental. The road going to Mati is really not ideal for travel, especially those using cars. There are roads that are being constructed right now. Usually, the travel to Mati City would take around 2 hours only from Tagum City. That's the most already. But our trip from Tagum City to Mati lasted almost 3 hours because of the poor road condition.

The interment will be on Saturday, September 5. I will be on leave to attend the burial of my grandmother on that day. When we arrived in Mati City, we immediately went to the town proper and got a room for our stay. It was very necessary because we drove almost 6 hours total and wee need a place to stay and sleep to recover from the tiring trip to Mati City. We dined at Rambohan, a local barbecue eatery that offers with range of barbecues to all it's customers. Around 7 pm, we proceeded to the house of our aunt where the body of my grandmother lies. We stayed there until 1 am and went straight to Beatrice Hotel to sleep.

Early morning, we had our breakfast at the local dinner at the ground floor of the hotel. Our meal cost 460 pesos only for 7 people. The bill was paid by mommy, as she volunteered herself to pay for the meal. Our stay for one night cost 1,160, includes an additional bed on the floor. Mom stayed there.

There were so many revelations during our stay in the house and that I will share to you all later on. But now, I really need to have a good sleep for my legs are aching due to the long rough drive from Mati City to Davao City

ONWARD TO MATI DAVAO ORIENTAL

At this time, we are already prepared to go to the funeral of my grandmother in Mati Cty. Approximately around 3 and a half hours, estimated time of travel before reaching Davao Oriental. Me and my wife had already bought some foods, drinks and other stuffs necessary for the trip. It' s a long way to Mati City, that is why I checked the car last night and were ready to go.

My other brother would also be bringing their car and we plan to convoy our way to Tagum first to meet with our eldest then straight to Mati City. Expected time of return is around 1 pm in the afternoon on Monday. According to our cousin, the wake would last for about 4 to 5 days before the burial. We are also planning to be on the burial to pay our last respects to our late grandmother.

GRANDMA IS GONE AT 94

Yesterday was a sad day for the Rojas Clan. Our grandmother, Lola Goyang passed away at 94 years old. My brother called me up earlier in the morning informing me that our grandmother was admitted in the hospital and was in the intensive care unit. According to my brother, our grandmother was unconscious and the doctors said that it was a bad condition for our 94 year old grandmother. At exactly around 3-4 pm yesterday, I received a text message from my brother and he informed me that our grandmother passed away already. It is so sad because I remember just last May 14, we were there in her birthday. I introduced to her my wife and her apo or grandchild, Cloi and Nicole.

By Sunday, we will be going there in full force. You know, I never miss her birthday. According to my cousin, lola was calling names and they believed that she was calling the name of my mother. I think it was her last bid to say goodbye to all of us.

I had a dream last night and I was telling my lola not to blow my ears for we will be there by Sunday. It was just a dream and yet it was so real. I have to prepare all the things that we will be bringing by Sunday. My wife will be waiting in Tagum City and we have to leave early morning so that we can achieve many things when we get to Mati City.

AN OCEAN OF RAIN IS RAGING RIGHT NOW

I was driving this evening towards home and notice the rain was getting stronger and stronger. It is like an ocean of water pouring in the streets. When there is rain, expect that there will be flood and that what happened this evening. Many cars lined up just to avoid the deep area of the road. There was a crosswind that did not make it because of the flood. The driver underestimated the water in the entrance of G.S.I.S. building in Matina. I guess he is still there waiting for the flood to go down.

I thought that we will be one of the stranded vehicles in the vicinity due to the flood. I maintained a low gear and slowly break into the water. Many drivers looked at me, amazed of what I am going to do. Some vehicles decided wait for the flood subside before they continue driving. But I am very confident of Honda City 2003 model that I am driving. I have seen worst scenarios of flood and still my car did not let me down.

The rain is still pouring hard right now and I am just very thankful that I am already safe at home.

READY TO GO

Right now, I am preparing my things for my trip this Wednesday. I will be going to North Cotabato again to do some field work. My trip won't be that long and I just allocated 3 days and I have to come back by Saturday and do again another field work in Compostela Valley Province.

I have to leave the house in an early hour to make some field work fast. I have to go some places that I never had been before. Many would ask me if I am scared every time I go to the provinces. I would say yes. I am scared oftentimes when I go to the provinces. But I just pray and always keep myself safe always.

THE PERFECT FAMILY VACATION

I really give importance to family. Giving family quality time and spending time with each other is the most important thing of all. The other week, I personally organized a family outing. Last year, we went to the hills of Eden. I want it this time to be more fun and thrill-filled adventure. I decided to make the beach as our family vacation place.

When it comes to beach, nothing beats the Riviera Maya beaches. The location is known for their white sand beaches and has so many resorts to accommodate us. I personally selected Azul Beach Hotel, one of the Karisma Hotels that can be found in Riviera Maya. The hotel was the venue for the stay. The good thing about Riviera Maya is that the beach is so beautiful that no time will be boring for one's stay.

Our family vacation was for about 7 days and hose seven days were filled with fun memory and my cousins wanted the next family vacation be in Riviera Maya again. They will never forget the place forever.

INFLUENZA ATTACK

It's been quite sometime now since my last flu attack. By the way, sorry for not updating my blog post it is because I got influenza for the past 3 days already and it's very uncomfortable having this kind of sickness. For the past three days I have been drag on my bed. Not to mention the headache that I am experiencing almost every minute.

I got some medicines, like biogesic, neozep and herbycin for my cough. My day is really not right for the past three days. I went to Tagum City last night hoping that everything will be alright but I was wrong. I chilled and my fever was as hot as the sun. I thought blood will be coming out from my nose because I always experience that whenever I got fever, colds and cough. This is not dengue, malaria or A(H1N1), which many fear most.

I did not seek a medical attention. I am self nurturing myself from this sickness that I am experiencing right now. My wife was very nervous last night because of my fever and I requested her to wipe vinegar solution all-over my body to get rid of the fever.

By tomorrow, I think I will be alright and back to my good condition. I will blog more often to pick up the idle days of not posting. Have a nice day.

SOLDIERS KILLED IN AN AMBUSH IN TIPO-TIPO BASILAN

This week was a sad one for the Philippine Armed Forces. It is because 23 soldiers died in an ambushed in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan. The soldiers were supposed to be a reinforcement for the troops that were engaging battle against the Abu Sayyaf earlier but they were ambushed by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front troops in Basilan.

As I was reading the newspaper, I just can't control my emotions when I read the story about a wife of one of the ambushed soldier. Her husband send a s.m.s. message to her early morning informing her about their operation in Basilan. Her husband bid his goodbye to his wife. That was the last communication that she got from his husband. Later that day, she got a message from his husbands cellphone informing her that they (Abu Sayyaf) will behead her husband and told her that his husband is already dead. The bandit used the soldier's cellphone. It was a painful message that the wife of the slain soldier.

The group that ambushed the soldiers were the Moro Islamic Liberation Front or MILF. The Philippine government has a cease fire agreement with the group due to the upcoming peace talks that will held in Malaysia. This ambushed that was orchestrated by the MILF group is a clear indication of a violation of the cease fire agreement.

It has been confirmed that the Abu Sayyaf and the MILF are jointly participating together. By this event, the Philippine government should think of dumping the peace talks that do the all out war against these groups once and for all. This was has been around for about 2 decades already and this should end now. How many wives would lose their husbands?, How many children would lose their fathers? How many families would lose its balance due the loss of their head of the family.

The war in Basilan and some other parts of ARMM regions will never end. Peace talks is not a good option right now. These stupid people that are hiding behind the cloth of Islam should be dealt accordingly. To end a war, a war should be started so that it will end. The Armed Forces of the Philippines should act immediately and justice must be served and be given to the families of those soldiers that risked their lives for the sake of the country.

COPING UP WITH THE HARD TIMES

I was in Kidapawan City this morning and I got so many things that I would like to share to all. Just to give you guys a little background about Kidapawan City. It 2 and a half hour trip from Davao City. The City is known for it's fruits and other products. It is said the food basket of North Cotabato. The major transport in the city is the tricycle or pedicab for more understanding. Kidapwan City is regularly peaceful but there are events in the past that continue to haunt the city's image. The Bombing incident in the market area and the public terminal are just some of the bad things that happened before. Kidapawan City is a cold place to hangout. The City is clean and air is fresh. Jogging in the morning is advisable to do in the morning in Kidapawan City.

As I was walking in the public market, I was listening to some conversations by the locals. One was willing to be recruited as hoodlum just to generate money for his family. Living in this time is very hard and being a criminal is a good option just to generate money and to provide food for the table. No wonder, north Cotabato is considered a very dangerous place to stay. Crime is just a news in the newspaper. Money is the root of all problems in the place. i hope those people reconsider what they were thinking. Doing wrong is nor good. As they say, the end doesn't justify the means.

ELECTION KEY TO A COUNTRY'S SUCCESS

The election is upcoming next year. Many young people are very excited to cast their votes. I would say, the presidential elections is very colorful this 2010. It is because many presidential aspirants are very visible in their commercial ads on television. 2010 the people who are seeking for the presidency are the following: Noli De Castro, Mar Roxas, Manny Villar, and others more. There may be more additional to the line up for the election for 2010.

A country that is free exercises the right to suffrage and voting on who will lead them is a clear example of it. The country is at pain right now for the lack of qualified leader that will lead this country to heaven and not to hell. As they say many are called but only one is chosen to lead this country to glory again.

I remember my grandmother before. She was very vocal about the status of the Philippines during her time. The President that time was Ramon Magsaysay. She said that life living those days were easy and convenient. Prices of basic commodities and affordable and Filipinos were in high morale. A simple shoemaker can afford paying the schooling of his 11 children and send them to private schools. But now, that is just a dream that cannot be fulfilled. Unlike now that the Philippines ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world right now. What went wrong?

People commit mistakes, mistakes that cause them their life for it. It is because they elected the wrong person to be the president for the country. The Philippines will regain it's name only if we elect the right person to the position.

BASKETBALL IS GOOD FOR THE HEART

It was the best game ever! I am referring to our basketball game this afternoon. I guess my body has regained the condition that I wanted for the game. I never felt tired in the entire game and I also grabbed a couple of rebounds. My stamina is back again. But I need to practice my shooting skills because I was not able to convert a basket in the entire game. But that's fine for me. As they say, you can't have everything in this world.

Our schedule for the next game would be next week, after my field work in North Cotabato. Playing basketball really is a good for our body. In makes us alert and responsive to all things. It is also a good cardio sport for the heart. My brother always play basketball always. They have their basketball team and they regularly play every Wednesdays. My brother invited me once to join their game but I refused because I have so many things to do that day.

SALA SET IN OUR HOME

I was in Tagum City the this morning and made my stay useful. Our house in Tagum City is not yet complete with all the necessary things that a home should have. But slowly, we were able to get some things and place it in our house. This morning, I took the sala set of my brother. He is not using it and that is why he gave it to me. It is a 5 set sala set, made of wood and cloth. The seats will be very useful as we accept visitors by next month. I am planning to prepare some food for some friends and relatives as they visit our simple home.

A GOOD WEBSITE NEEDS A GOOD WEB HOSTNG SERVICE

When I first started creating a website, I was using the service of the free hosting sites for my blogs and websites. At first, It was just fine and my site visitors can easily access my sites without any problem in the loading. But as my blogs generate more visitors each day, loading of my website was already a problem. According to one friend of mine who left me a comment said that loading of my website was taking for a while before they can access the core thoughts of my blogs and websites. I thought it was just fine to to encounter such glitches in my websites. But after several months, more and more readers were already complaining to me. I read my email and majority of the messages were related to my website loading problem.

I knew that there was something wrong in my hosting services. I consulted a website genius and told me that my freee hosting site cannot accommodate the volume of traffic in my website. Changing a hosting company was not easy for me since I got limited information about website hosting services. Finding the best web hosting for my site was no longer a problem because there is webhostinggeeks.com the best place online to find the perfect web hosting services. I would suggest that people searching web hosting service should use webhostinggeeks.com for their search for the right web hosting service. After I got one, my visitors were satisfied with the change that I made in my website.

HOME SWEET HOME

Last night, we went to Tagum City with my mom. I drove the car and the travel time from Davao City to Tagum City is about 1 hour and half and sometime even more depending on the traffic condition and road condition. We left Davo City around 7 pm and arrived in Tagum City around 9 pm.

Driving at night is very difficult since you cannot go fast as you wanted because there are several road blocks and constructions going on right now in the are. No wonder many people would prefer to take the bus, especially when traveling at night. When we arrived in Tagum City, we immediately went to our boarding house for dinner. I was already very hungry that time. My wife bought a whole roasted chicken at Elena's lecheon Manok. After in the boarding house, we went to the house of my brother. Mom immediately hugged her apos, Nicole and Chloi. After a couple of minutes of talking, we said goodbye to them.

In Tagum City, life is very easy and peaceful. Unlike other cities where time runs so fast and people are moving fast. What I like about Tagum City is that the commodities are very affordable. Fresh fish in the market is lower by 40% in it's price compared in Davao City. I also helped my wife in the laundry activity. I washed the wool bed sheet. it was very heavy to was. There is no washing machine in our boarding house. I have to use my hands in the laundry activity.

Now it is already 1 am and we just arrived from Tagum City. I am just glad to be blogging righ here in our house again.