Favorite iPad App, solar powered water bottles, sleeping bag coats, green bags from unwanted plants, and crave foods' healthy options

What happened to my kids?

How do you turn a treasure of games and entertainment tools into something beneficial? Allow use after a chose has been finished. That has been my rule in letting my kids use the iPad.

They love the gadget so much, even more than the old version because of the built-in cameras. They go crazy taking funny pictures of themselves through Photo Booth and recording video narrations.

However, to limit their use, mommy has to give the go before they can use it. I may get it back from too if the time is up, or if what they're doing isn't nice anymore. Most usual conditions I give my 5-year old is to write her complete name in a whole sheet of bond paper. I interchange this with having her read a book, and she chooses the small picture books with just less than 30 words on them.

Living my dream
I have always carried this desire in my heart to be an entrepreneur. I am living the dream now, being a freelance web/graphics designer and an all-around raket-eer. Yet I am still not satisfied.

It could perhaps be because my business pursuits haven't taken off. My projects are fine, yet I am not literally running a profitable business with regular employees. My closest shot with being an entrepreneur is leaving the corporate world and exiting the rat race.

Perhaps a more compelling reason is the fact that, like Bill Gates, I would like to pursue more humanely projects. Money-generating activities that don't solely exist to collect paychecks but more importantly, to give back to those who have no idea how to make it.

Here are a few inspiring stories:

• Coat or Sleeping Bag

Explaining what the coat is, as quoted from Veronika Scott, the designer:

"self-heated, waterproof, and transforms into a sleeping bag at night.

It is made by a group of homeless women who are paid minimum wage, fed and housed while creating these coats made for those living on the streets. The focus is on the humanitarian system to create jobs for those that desire them and coats for those that need them at no cost. The goal is to empower, employ, educate, and instill pride. The importance is not with the product but with the people.

Find out more about this project: The Empowerment Plan

• Furniture and bags out of unwanted plants

Stools, bags, pillows and more woven from water hyacinth in Cambodia, by people living in that community. This is not just green, it is also community-friendly.

These invasive plants thrive and choke waterways causing floods and loss of agricultural produce. I have seen them floating over lots of Metro Manila's rivers and they are nuisance, to say the least. I laud what these designers have done and wish that more efforts towards this same direction be taken in different countries.

Know more about this designer here: Aissa Logerot

Solar lamps from recycled soda plastic bottles filled with water

I came across this ingenious invention through Tumblr and research how this seemingly simple trick is done:

In 2002, during a long electrical shortage, at Uberaba, São Paulo, Brasil, Mr Alfredo Moser discovered a way to gather sun light in the house through plastic bottles hanging from the roof. First shown at the Globo Reporter in the 25th May 2007.

Now, I am pleased to know that a lot of Filipino families have benefitted from the sun through the Isang Litrong Liwanag, a non-governmental agency which promotes this innovation that help empower poor families.


Sorry, Captain Hook
Avoiding the 'yes-no' response, we've been rephrasing our remarks with the kids. One day, daddy was asking little boy what would the crocodile say to Captain Hook when it gets near him.

Carlos: He'd say sorry.
Daddy: Why sorry?
Carlos: Because he bit his hand.

I didn't think of that.

Want tobacco? Have Silicon
Craving for something? Beat your taste buds with these healthier options.

Want cool drinks? Have manganese. This is abundant in walnuts, almonds, blueberries.

Want salty foods? Have chloride. This is abundant in fish, unrefined sea salt.

Want soda or carbonated drink? Have calcium. This is abundant in broccoli, kale, legumes.

Update on Enopi and wushu classes

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” ~ Albert Einstein

Both my plans of enrolling my two kids to Enopi and wushu were foiled this month. Better and more appropriate ones came along and I had to go with them.

My kids' school offered after-school tutorials with actual preschool teachers giving the lessons. I enrolled my 3-year old to academic tutorial there. Our schedule is thrice a week for 45 minutes per session. The fee is P2600/month.

I let my 5-year old girl do wushu for body exercise and peer interactions. However, she cried on our way to her trial session. I had to really beg her to just try. She obliged me but told me and the coordinator after the one-hour workout that she doesn't want to come back.

It will just be swimming lessons for her - again.