Flooding in NC

Have you seen the flood that hit North Carolina? I was watching the news and i saw houses and cars underwater. I even saw a hotel roof gave way because of a flash flood. The drainage pipe that runs through the roof burst flooding the hotel with water. This was a big inconvenience to people who are staying at the hotel and on vacation. As i was watching all these on TV, I called my friend who lives in North Carolina to check how her family is doing. At first, she did not pick up the phone but after few minutes she called me back. She was teary eyed in telling me about what happened in NC. They are not in the flood area but she knows people that got effected. I forgot to ask her if she was able to get a storm damage insurance for her house. I know she mentioned to me the last time we spoke that she was at http://www.thesteamteam.com/ getting information about water damage austin.

How far is North Carolina from Florida? I want to stop by my friend's house on our way back to NJ. I have not seen her in a while. This will be the best time to have a mini reunion if we get the chance.

Miracle at the Hudson

I have posted on my other blog about the US Airways flight 1549 that landed at the Hudson river last week. As a tribute to the heroic acts of the pilot, crews and rescuers, Kenneth Cole, a famous designer put this billboard along West 57th street, New York. The pilot of the aircraft was Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger. All 155 people on board the aircraft are safe.
credit: wcbs880.com

No Smoking for Obama at the White House

I was surprised to know that President elect Obama smokes. At a talk show, Meet the Press, he was asked by Tom Brokaw if he has stopped smoking. This is what he replied:

“ I have,” Obama replied, smiling broadly, “What I said was that there are
times where I have fallen off the wagon.”

Smoking is not allowed at the White House but Obama said he will not do any violations once he starts living at the WH. Hope he will set a good example to the American people and the world.
credit: yahoo news

Pinay Disappears in Oregon Coast

First time I heard this news was at The Filipino Channel then yesterday at the radio on my way to work.

Leafil Alforque, a Filipina from the Philippines, arrived here in the U.S. few days ago to be with Scott Napper. They have a relationship which started in 2005 when they met through the internet. Scott wants to propose marriage to her girlfriend and he wants to pop the question in a very appropriate and romantic place. So off they went to Proposal Rock in Oregon. Hope you get the idea now why it is called Proposal Rock. While they were already at the rock and before he could pop the question, Leafil was swept away by a three foot high wave. It has been five days since she disappeared. The police are not suspecting any foul play as reported.

Walmart Worker Dies on Black Friday Stampede

I was watching the evening news and the headline was about a walmart worker got killed during a black Friday sale. It happened this morning at Walmart Valley Stream branch in Long Island, New York. At 5:00 am when the workers got delayed in opening the doors for the 5:00 a.m. sale, shoppers start pounding the steel door until it got broken and pushed the poor worker to the ground. Shoppers did not care, even stepped over the man then started complaining when they were asked to leave. The store was closed for six hours but reopened around 1 p.m. The walmart worker was identified as Jdimytai Damour from Queens, NY. He was taken to the hospital but was pronounced dead about 6 a.m.

Pregnant Man is Expecting Again

Remember the pregnant man who was a guest at Oprah? And got very famous? Well, he is pregnant again. Thomas Beatie, 34, who lives in Oregon, used to be a woman had a sex change 10 years ago but kept her female reproductive organs. Physically, he looked like a man or should I say, a woman in a man’s body. He got himself a wife for five years now and they were blessed with a baby girl born June last year. Nancy, the wife, cannot conceive so they decided Beatie to go through artificial insemination using a sperm from a donor and Beatie’s egg. Now they did it again and the second baby is due on June 12.

Beatie has an interview with Barbara Walters on “20/20” which will be aired on Nov. 14. They are also on British documentary that will be shown on Discovery Health Channel next week.

credits: msnbc.com/news.aol.com

Obama's Aunt is in the U.S. Ilegally

Days before the u.s. presidential election, a surprise came to Obama’s camp reporting that Obama’s aunt is living in the United States illegally. Her name is Zeituni Onyango, a half sister of Obama’s late father Barack Obama, Sr. She is known as Auntie Zeutini to Barack. In 2002 she applied for political asylum in the U.S. but was denied in 2004 when she got her deportation order. She has been living in a public housing in Boston for five years.

After hearing this news, Obama said that he has no knowledge that one of his relatives is living illegally in the U.S. He said that appropriate laws applicable to her shall be followed.

Recently, I have read that Obama’s aunt wants to fight her deportation order. She got herself an immigration lawyer to help her. She is now staying with relatives in Cleveland after leaving her housing in Boston. Onyango believes that her case was leaked to hurt Obama in his Presidential campaign.
Credit: news.yahoo.com/gmanews.tv

Gas Prices

I am so happy seeing gas prices going down. The lowest I saw was $2.46 other than costco who was selling it at $2.45 a gallon. Costco for me is an exception because you have to be a costco member to get gas from them. I saw the line, Whew! One thing I have observed, there are more cars on the road these days; so with the big trucks and SUV’s. It is going down as fast as it went up for the past months. Please stay that way. I will be very glad to see the 2 will be changed to 1.

Meet Joe The Plummer

For the past week, I have heard a lot about Joe the Plummer. I do not follow the election campaign but yesterday while we were reading the Sunday paper at Panera bread during a bagel breakfast, papa showed to me two articles about Joe the Plummer. So here is the little that I know of Joe the plumber.

He is Joe Wurzelbacher of Ohio, a plumber, who wants to buy the plumbing business that currently employs him. He got the chance to speak with Sen. Barack Obama during one of his campaign appearance in Toledo, Ohio. Joe the Plummer asked told Obama of his plan of buying a plumbing business but with his tax plan it seems that he would be paying much higher taxes. Instantly, this became a battle cry against Obama by the opponent (McCain’s) especially during the third presidential debate.

Joe the Plummer became an instant star and even all the joe the plumbers who are really not Joe Wurzelbacher. One Joe (Joe Francis of Amarillo, Texas) who is also a plumber owns joetheplummer.com website is being bombarded by phone calls, calls for interviews, requests to be in a talk show and even an offer from New York to buy his domain for $900,000. Another Joe (Joe Griesbach) is from Cape May, New Jersey. He drives a van with his name “Plumber Joe” on it. He has been signing autographs and television interviews since Wednesday night’s debate where they all became a household name and famous. He said motorists saluted at him or honked their horns when they see him driving on the road.

To all the Joe the Plumbers out there enjoy the stardom, and good luck. Hope I meet one of you someday.

Sources: npr.orr/msnbc.msn.com/the record

Olympics Controversies

Almost everybody have seen the supershow of China at the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening opening ceremonies. Now after a few days I have been reading some controversies regarding the show. First, that some of the fireworks display are fake, it was done digitally meaning through computers. According to the Beijing Olympics committee, it was because of the smog in China that it would be impossible to see the fireworks and also impossible to capture the 29 spots so it is necessary to replace the live video and also they are after the safety of the helicopter pilot who will be shooting be shooting the fireworks overhead. It was a mission for them to insert that video unnoticed (that it is not live). Even the people inside the bird cage were shown the animated fireworks thinking that it was really happening all over China.

Another controversy I have read today is about the cute, nine year old Chinese Girl in red dress and a pigtail who sang “Ode to the Motherland”. The name of that girl is Lin Miaoke but the real voice belongs to 7 year old Yang Peiyi. In short it was a lyp synch. Reason for this was because Lin’s face is not suitable for Olympic Opening Ceremony so at the last minute they have to get a replacement. In an interview at the Beijing radio station, Chen, the ceremony’s chief music directed is quoted as saying:

"The national interest requires that the girl should have good looks and good grasp of the song and look good on the screen. Lin Miaoke as the best in this. And Yang
Peiyi’s voice was the most outstansding".

Yang Peiyi and Lin Miaoke

credits: sports.yahoo.com/msnbc.com/aol.com/nbcolympics.com

Lucky but unlucky Filipina

Cristina Franquia, a 52 year old Filipina, who lives in Bartlett Illinois, won the $50,000 jackpot in local casino there. When she tried to collect her winnings, the officials asked for her identifications, she presented her green card and social security card, which both cards turned out to be fake. The officials also said that even if she presented authentic identification cards, she still cannot collect her winnings because her name is on the “banned” list of the casino. Now she is charged with felony for possessing fraudulent identification cards and if found guilty she could be deported to the Philippines. She is out on bail right now.

The New iPhone

Apple unveiled the new 3G iphone yesterday. Steve Jobs introduced the new iPhone at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Here are the new features of new upgraded iphone:
· It has faster internet connection
· It has satellite navigation capabilities (GPS)
· Priced lower - $199 for 8 gigs, $299 for 16
· Uses 3G technology
· More expensive service - $10 increase for unlimited data
· Thinner – at the edges
· Front view-similar to the old iphone
· Supports Microsoft exchange active sync
· More language support
· Can download applications from app store
· Many more..
Released date: july 11, 2008.

photo credit: maoney.aol.com

Fil-am baby born inside plane

Filipina mom delivered her baby on board a Korean Airline flight from Manila to New York last Wednesday. Three hours before the plane lands at JFK airport she started to go into labor. She delivered the baby on the floor of the plane’s galley with the help of her husband and a Korean surgeon who happened to be on board the plane. So Baby Jadan Brown was born at 37000 feet above northern Canada, weighing less than 3 pounds, three months earlier than her expected due date. The baby was brought to a New York hospital after the plane landed before they got transferred to Lourdes Hospital in Camden, New Jersey. Both the mom and the baby are doing good as per the doctor but Baby Jadan has to stay at the hospital for several weeks. Jadan’s parents are Jaycel (Filipina) and Larry Brown of Sicklerville, NJ who only went to Philippines for a vacation.

Dunkin Donut + Rachel Ray + Scarf

To start this, Dunkin Donut signed up with Rachel Ray as their new commercial model. She will appear on TV, prints, radio and special appearances on behalf of dunkin donut. In one ad she made, she was wearing a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men. Because of the Arabic influence of the scarf the ad created a lot of criticism, even up to the point of boycotting donut chain. Dunkin donut decided to cancel the ad although that scarf was used without any symbolism meant.
You won’t be seeing Rachel Ray’s with DD anymore, maybe a different one in the future.
photo credit: new.yahoo.com

Another baby for sale

Recently i just posted about a baby on ebay, now here’s another, a Canadian couple put their seven day old baby up for sale on craigslit for C$10,000 or $10,100. The police was alerted when people saw the offer on the website. The parents are a 23-year old mother and a 26 year old father who were tracked down by the cell phone number they listed on craigslit. The parents said it was a hoax. The baby is now under the care of social workers.

a baby on ebay

This happened in berlin, germany wherein a 7-month old baby was posted on ebay for one euro. Are they out of their minds? People who saw the ad called the police. There were no bidders for the two and a half hours before ebay deleted the auction. The baby is now in the care of youth services and the mother says that she was only playing a joke. They are being investigated for child trafficking.

are you from minnesota?

You may have a powerball ticket that you haven’t checked yet? If you remember that you bought a powerball ticket, please look for it and check the numbers. Minnesota State Lottery Officials said that the winning ticket was sold somewhere in southern Minnesota for last Saturday night’s draw. They will not disclose the exact address where it was bought not until somebody claim the prize. The winning numbers are: 2-28-36-42-46 and the powerball was 40. It is worth $180 million if you want the annuity payment plan for 30 years or cash option of $88 million or $ 59 million after tax.


If You are the ONE, congratulations!

rice shortage?

It was in the news last night that costco and sams warehouse club are limiting the number of bags of rice customers can purchase. They did not say that we have a shortage, all they are saying it is because of the "recent supply and demand trends" and some customers are stocking up in anticipation of the increase in prices. The limitations are more on the imported rice like jasmine, basmati and long grain rice. There were even notices on their shelves to let the customers know that they cannot purchase so many bags of rice. Hope this is just temporary and we want to see more of our favorite jasmine rice on the shelves.

The Pope's visit to the U.S.

Pope Benedict XVI has just finished his 6 day visit in the u.s. He was in washington, dc for the 3 days and another 3 days in new york. He made history when he visited a jewish synagogue in new york. Pope Benedict XVI also visited st. patrick’s cathedral, st. joseph’s church, held mass at the yankee stadium with close to 60,000 people, a motorcode on 5th avenue and a stopover at ground zero. He is well-loved, people are teary eyed just seeing the pope face to face. Some are very lucky to be able to kiss and shake his hands.

Security was tight for the duration of his visit. He was securely transported in his popemobile, a very unique car by mercedez with a 6 foot bullet proof glass enclosure at the back where the pope could sit comfortably while waiving at the crowd. This popemobile was shipped to the u.s. from rome two weeks before the pope’s arrival.

The pope left last night in his private plane before a crowd of 4000 at the airport’s hangar bidding goodbye to him. Thanks for the visit Pope Benedict XVI.

photo credit: news.aol.com