Nature Rocks

"Contemplation" by me

I became addicted to balancing rocks when I first went white water rafting five years ago.  It's not only fun but you get an overwhelming sense of achievement when the unevenly-shaped blocks of stone actually compliment each other and stay.  And they leave behind a pretty picture, don't you think?

"Mother Nature" by Joey

Created on:  December 29, 2009

Location:  Agusan River, Libona

One of Those Days

Do you ever have those days when you don't feel like doing anything?  You wake up, go about your morning routine, and when you're done, you find yourself at a loss.  Well, this is one of those days for me.

There are a ton of things I have to do, but for the life of me I can't seem to hold on to any specific thought for longer than a few seconds.  Anyway, this is somehow my way of apologizing for not writing my blog.  Tonight, I will really make the effort to write something, particularly about the Our Lady of Lourdes Fiesta yesterday.

Stay tuned!

Del Monte Icon Passes Away

Philippine Golfer Celestino Mancao Tugot passed away last January 18, 2010, at the ripe old age of 99.  He co-authored the design of the Del Monte Golf Course as seen today and was the first Philippine athlete to meet with then President Dwight Eisenhower in 1954.  He is also the owner of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church located just outside Cawayanon Compound, San Miguel, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon.

The story goes like this:

Mr. Tugot was an exceptionally talented golfer and had won many awards and trophies.  In 1949, he won his first Philippine Open Golf Championship, and went on to win it five more times over the next 13 years.  Because of this, he was always sent to the United States to represent the Philippines in the US Golf Circuit.  It was during one of those trips when he "met" a beautiful old woman who promised to make him famous, if he would build Her a church.  Well, he indeed became very famous, catching the attention of no less than Mr. Arnold Palmer and Mr. Jack Nicklaus, who, by the way, also helped design our famous golf course.  So Mr. Tugot came home and ordered the construction of the church.  It began as a small chapel, but over the years, more and more devotees came and were "helped" by the kind Lady.  Hence in gratitude, they made donations that substantially aided in the continuous growth of the chapel into a church.

Today, devotees in the hundreds flock to the Tugot Church every Wednesday for the 9:00am Mass, to ask for help, to thank Her for blessings, or just to pray.  Our Lady is truly miraculous!

God Speed, Mr. Tugot!

Bukid Life is Still Here

Hello!  Sorry for not writing anything for many, many days.  I guess when you're living in the Bukids one must have a lot of patience when it comes to enjoying modern amenities and perks... like internet connection.

We used to be connected with SOTELCO-PLDT DsL.  SOTELCO buys units from PLDT and resells it under their brand.  At first, it was fine!  We could chat and email and download and everything.  Then it became mediocre, creating connection and speed problems.  To the point that whenever it would rain and the wind would blow, we could expect a cut in the connection.  Over the Christmas break, our speed was so slow and the connection so scratchy that I was worried we wouldn't be able to call up family for chats.  (In the end we didn't have to because we were so busy.)  Anyway, since then I must have complained over 50 times, starting with once a week, to three times a week to every day.  Until, the connection was lost altogether.  I was in the middle of uploading a video (The Flying Gecko, previous blog) when all of a sudden everything stopped loading.  I called up the office to be told that the whole barangay's connection was out.  Okay, cool down.  A couple of hours later, internet was back up and wow, it was fast!  Then, promptly at 10pm it disappeared again and did not return even after 3 days.  No matter how much I complained-- I eventually got tired of calling-- the technician whom they were supposed to send never came, even up to the time when I threatened and made true the threat to have my account disconnected.

Last Thursday, I bought a device called PLDT WeRoam, the wireless modem of PLDT DsL.  It operates wherever there is a strong SMART Telecom signal.  That is what I'm using now.  So far so good.  It's a bit slow (must exercise patience) and sometimes chats take forever to send/receive, but it is sure.  I hope and pray that we'll be able to acquire a faster connection in the future, but for now, this is fine.

People, please bear with me.  My blogs will regularize soon.