Avoid the Christmas Rush by Starting Early

Christmas is one of the most awaited time of the year as it is the season where we can enjoy feasting and the joy of giving.  As the "BER" months approached, we can see Christmas decors being put up and Christmas songs can be heard more often as we near Christmas day.

Since Christmas only happens once a year, we want to make the best out of it.  I take gift-giving quite seriously.  But, I hate the Christmas rush.  So to avoid it, I start as early as I can.  I'm composing my Christmas gift list and shopping list as early as now.  I've thought of giving educational toys for my toddler nephews and niece.  For my cousins  who are in their teenage years, I'll shop for fashionable clothes.  I'll get something useful for our employees and staffs.  It's quite challenging to pick gifts for my close friends and classmates because their interests vary from beauty to tech.  Then, theirs also family members and relatives. 

As the family is growing and my network of friends are expanding, my list getting longer each year.  And, that entails more shopping hours and spending.  The only way I could accomplish such task at hand is to shop at a one-stop-shop where I can find all my needs at an affordable price.  I'm going to Tutuban Center where I can get tons of gift ideas.  I'll beat the Christmas rush by heading there as soon as possible too.

Bensimon Sneakers: My OOTD with Parisian Aesthetics and Taste of Basics

As an ultimate adventurous with a vast array of interests, I'm consider myself as having a fast-paced lifestyle similar to the Parisians.  Thus, I am very pleased that Parisian brand Bensimon Sneakers has arrived in the Philippines to meet my need as a student, traveler and a foodie who is also off to explore.

It has a classic sneaker design which embodies what the true Parisian love of life is - simple, effortless and natural.  I love the rugged feel of the sneakers.  It is very comfortable to wear.   Yet, still with a touch of style.

There are so many colors available which makes it an ideal companion for every day living.  I think there are around 26 colors!  I'm sure you'll find a match for any type of outfit with that right?

What I like most about it is that its very flexible that you can fold it!  You can bring it in any of your travels.  Share you travel photos with your Bensimon Sneakers on Instagram by using #BENSIMONLANDMARKS and #BENSIMONPh.  There are lots of cool and creative shots there. =D

These past few days, I've been hanging out with fashion blogger Justin of Twatome.com and he was teasing me of doing a fashion post. #OOTD  I told him sure why not haha!  Thus ladies and gentlemen, my very first fashion post captured spontaneously on our own backyard. LOL XD

Hmm... what do you think?  If feedback is good, I can probably post more in the future. =)

See how the Bensimon Sneakers stylishly complements my chic, casual and comfortable get up?

Bensimon Sneakers are reasonably priced at around 2,095 to 2,565 for the men's and women's line and 1,295 to 1,795 for kids.  They are available at the following stores:

• Rustan's
• Center of Gravity
• Shoe Salon
• Shoe Thing

5th Annual World Pneumonia Day: Fifth Birthday Dance and More!

Pneumonia is a serious disease that has claimed the lives of 1.1 million children worldwide in 2012 alone.  For children below 5 yeas old, pneumonia tops as the cause of death because it is usually neglected and diagnosed as "mere fever".  It outnumbers AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.

Unfortunately out of the 29% child deaths that pneumonia and diarrhea has caused, 99% occurs in a developing country like the Philippines.  Thus, Millennium Development Goal 4 seeks to prevent and control pneumonia and diarrhea by reducing two-thirds of child mortality between 1990 to 2015 so that more children will be celebrating their 5th birthdays.

Fifth Birthday Dance

The Department of Health (DOH) showed its support by the observance of the 5th Annual World Pneumonia Day where Assistance Secretary Dr. Eric Tayag lead the Fifth Birthday Dance together with the Manuevers.  

Dr. Eric and the Manuevers

The event was organized by Philippine Foundation for Vaccination (PFV) headed by Executive Director, Dr. Lulu Bravo and its President Dr. May Montellano.  

Five infants from Tagaytay City were given pneumococcal conjugate vaccines designed to protect them against pneumonia.

 Now cute little kids like this boy will celebrate their 5th birthdays!

birthday candle blowing ceremony with Dr. Eric Tayag

There was also a symbolic birthday candle blowing ceremony.

The event also coincides with the PVF's 14 Philippine National Immunization Conference.

The night earlier, my friends Hana and Cha also participated in the dance practice.

Hana and Cha getting to the beat

Despite the cool winds of super typhoon Yolanda, we were almost breaking into sweat.

Hana and Cha at the Back Left

Hana in gray jacket and me with the brown jacket

But, Dr. Eric Tayag seemed to be at ease with his grooves. 

How to Tactfully Address a Controversial Topic

You want to add a little more "edge" on your blog, but you're not sure how to go about doing that without upsetting your loyal fan base. First of all, your loyal fans won't ever hate you for being controversial - they're loyal after all. However, you might loose people at the margins who could go either way on you at this point. If you want to keep those readers, your best bet is to handle controversial topics in a tactful way.

Outline The Issue

Most people will be hopelessly lost if you just go full-on like a bull in a china shop. You can come out swinging in your introduction with something controversial, but be prepared to back-peddle a bit so that you can explain the essential nature of the issue at hand.

It's important that your readers know what it is that you take issue with. To do that, it's often helpful to outline the controversial topic at hand and explain the prevailing view (make sure you actually capture the essence of the view rather than your spin on it). In a way, you sort of have to present an argument for the conventional wisdom of the topic at hand before you smash it.

For example, let's say you own a blog about diet and fitness. You want to smash the conventional wisdom that says that saturated fat is bad for you. Before you present your controversial idea, you must make an opening argument for the conventional wisdom. Present the best ideas in favor of that view. It makes it easier to reference those ideas later in the article, and it gives you something to argue against later - not all readers will understand every element of the topic you're discussing.

Some readers will already agree with the prevailing view. If you hope to get them thinking about what you have to say, you have to first show them that you understand where they are coming from. Understanding their view is the best way to do that.

Nail The Conventional View With Your Own

Once you've done a good job outlining the issue, and explaining the conventional thinking on that issue, it's time to smash it. You can really pull out all the stops here. Don't make personal attacks, but really rip into the idea itself. Present your view in total. Make sure there's a stark contrast between the conventional view and your view.

The more different your view, the better. Controversial views aren't just different from some prevailing view, they're radically different and they're extreme. For example, if you hold the view that conventional dieting doesn't work, and that saturated fat isn't the devil, be prepared to say so. Be willing and able to say that not only is saturated fat not bad for you, but that it is good for you.

Say that the entire premise of low-fat dieting or vegetarianism or veganism or any other prevailing view is wrong.

Give Facts To Support Your View

Now that you've made your controversial statement, it's time to back it up. In this example, you would search PubMed or some other online site devoted to medical research. Pull up studies showing that there's no correlation between saturated fat and heart disease, for example. The more studies you can find, the better. The more facts you provide, the better. Your position should be backed by so many facts, well-designed studies, and references that it's virtually impossible for anyone to make a case against you.

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Laura Spicer is a public relations guru. She frequently shares her best tips for better PR skills on small business blogs. For faster internet, visit the InternetProviders.us and get familiar with their service.

Makati After Dark: A Participating Runner's Experience

Last October 31, 2013, I was invited along with many other bloggers to participate in the Makati After Dark Run.  We were told by Ed Uy, the PR (NOT organizer) for the event, that the media wave will start at 8 pm.  I was really quite hesitant to go since its a family tradition to go to cemetery on Nov 1, the next day, early.  But a co-blogger Christian Melanie Lee, promised that it will be a lot of fun since many of the bloggers as well as the media will be there.  I have been to many fun runs before but never with zombie so I decided to give it a go.

I arrived there around 7:30 pm and couldn't contact Ed so I asked the registration for him but they also don't know where he is. 

There was so many scattered zombies on sight but no runners.  I thought maybe it's because they started earlier as the announced stating wave was 6 pm.  The registration tent was really dark and they only made us of cellphone light for the participants to be able to fill up the registration forms. 

Good thing I saw two other bloggers there and they've been passed a message to register as media.  After we registered, we were provided a neon wrist band, a belt with three yellow flags and a choice of drinks: Vitwater or Sunkist.  We were also told to start already.

We didn't know where the starting line is as zombies are scared everywhere.

There were also random people who are not participants who are taking pictures.  There were also media cameramen for various networks such as Solar News who came and left.

The event was quite open and tourists even pass by just to take a photo with the zombies.

I saw some bloggers who volunteered to be zombies there too.  They don't know where to go also so we took some pics first.

My other blogger friends were standing when a zombie suddenly pulled their flag indicating that it was the starting point so they ran ahead of me.  I decided join this group of girls so I have more surviving chance than being on my own.  After all, what I was expecting was a "wave" and we were just a group of five I think.  It's a bit weird that the zombies are moving forward while we were waiting for other runners so we decided to just proceed. 

 

The make-up of the zombies are really good.

There were so many of zombies just before the first corner that I lost two flags already.

These group of runners decided to stay put and wait for reinforcements as the zombies are too many.

It was really difficult to tell runners or participants as anyone can just walk-in.

As I reached Jupiter st., I was holding on my cellphone on one hand and camera on the other, I was frisked. =(  There were cars on the left side so I had nowhere to go.  I told them I had no more flags but they continued.  I had a gift certificate for milk tea nearby and pocket money safely inside a secured pocket.  But the zombie managed to get the gc and I had to get it back all torn and crumpled.  I didn't realize that my pocket money must've been dropped somewhere until later too. 

I saw fellow a father and daughter runner tandem up ahead and decided to join their walk in returning to the starting point as we didn't have any flags left.  The other zombies were really nice and polite.  They told us they are not allowed to touch or lift shirts and were begging for flags.  We told them we were out of flags but we'll take a picture instead and they were ecstatic about it.

They were water stations along the way.

At around 10 pm, we decided to meet up with all the bloggers there and take photos.

We were really disappointed with the event and decided to go home after so we might as well make the best out of it.

My friends who survived with a flag were told to sign up with their address so that a free shirt will be sent to them.

That's me! The girl on the lower left =)

From this picture, you can see that I am wearing a very long over-sized shirt.  Yet when I went home to take a shower, I realized I had scratches on my right elbow and waist!  I guess I didn't notice that when I was frisked to that extent when it happened.  Frisking is an illegal violation of human rights that even police officers are not allowed to do it without a warrant.  

Before going, we checked out if the concert was about to start and found a photo booth.

There was also these guys. 

The boys had a bit of fun.

There were surprisingly a lot of people dining.  But, they are not the runners you see. 

And, there's a stage but no band just random beats for the enjoyment of those who were dining.   Since we were all dead tired and hungry, the boys invited and treated me to Mc Do for dinner.