I am a lousy card player. The only game I know is Lucky 9! So, I would like to know more about card games. Poker seems to be one of the most famous card game of all.

Here are some insights I learned about poker:

Wikipedia defines poker as:

Poker is a type of card game in which players bet on the value of the card combination (”hand”) in their possession, by placing a bet into a central pot. The winner is the one who holds the hand with the highest value according to an established hand rankings hierarchy, or otherwise the player who remains in the hand after all others have folded (the player who makes an un-called bet.).

There are different variations when playing poker. There’s straight, stud, draw and community. Just reading wikipedia alone makes my head already dizzy.

So I thought I should be asking help from the experts. Im lucky because my hubby is an expert poker player. He knows a lot of card games. Last night, I asked him to teach me how to play poker.

He started with explaining the rules of the game. And believe me I got lost. I feel this is far more complex than my Mathematics subject! He laughed.

I tried to digest all the things he’s telling me. But it doesn’t seem to go down the drain. After a few hours of trying it out. He gave up. I laughed.

I made a compromise. I told him I would try my best to learn the game if he will also try his best to learn more about the internet (he’s not a computer genius!). He stopped for a while and looked at me doubtfully.

After a few minutes, he said “its a deal”.

This is only the first part of my posts about my journey as I venture inside the world of poker. Wish me luck!

Last February, I signed up at Impactful Actions website and used it for goal setting. After I used it I was so eager to start working on my goals. Several months after, I revisited my account there.

I reviewed all the goals that I have set last February and I was thrilled to realize that I was able to achieve 90% of my long term goals. In a span of 4 months I was able to start with my multi Virtual business, set up a small office space (right beside my kitchen) for my te,am and set up out website.

As I reflect and look back, though 4 months seemed to have gone by so quickly, I have gone through difficult times before I was able to achieve them.

I didn’t realize the achievements I made for the past 4 months. Impactful Actions made me appreciate the value of goal setting. By clearly defining my goals I was able to distinguish what I really wanted to achieve in life. I can’t wait to fill out my new set of short and long term goals at impactful actions.

I would highly recommend that you use Impactful Actions as your goal setting tool. They offer a very affordable rate of only $10. Whats best is that they will also plant 70 trees in your behalf if you sign up. It will not only help you define your goals and action plans, it will also help save the earth.

I’m gonna stop writing for now. Im excited to start my goal setting for the next 6 months.

Yummy Ice Cream

This is my favorite picture yet of Mikee. It was actually taken last January 2008 during the Ati-Atihan festival in Kalibo. It was a hot sunny day and it was her first time to actually see the tribes dance with their colorful costumes.

While waiting for the next tribe she spotted an ice cream vendor. This is her look after she took her first lick. And I was so happy I got my camera ready! This is the same photo I submitted to clipapic for background removal.

I was so excited to see the output. I am excited to use the clipped image.

I actually didn’t expect the image to come back so soon. But it actually did. Just a few hours after I made

After Background Removal

yesterday’s post the image came back to me clipped already. I was able to save precious time and effort in removing the background or worse, ruining the best picture of my daughter. Plus the possibilities of where I can use this picture is endless.

Best of all, I got Clipapic’s service for free! Clipapic provides a free trial of their clipping services. All you need to do is to sign up at their website, upload your image and activate your account. And after a few hours you will receive your edited image.

Here are some information about Clipapic’s Clipping Services:

24/7 availability, 365 days a year: Our website is our online office open and available 24 hours a day 7 days a week

· Fees are affordable: As little as $0.50

· Process is convenient: Simply upload your image on www.clipapic.com

· Fast turn around time: Have you clipping path in as little as 2 hours

· Satisfaction is guaranteed: High quality hand-made clipping paths by artists and graphics specialists

· First clipping path is FREE

Now I am off to buy myself an ice cream!

Though I work full time as a virtual assistant I actuall have my own set of “AFI’s” (areas for improvement) My graphic design skills and knowledge with adobe photoshop is very minimal. Techniques like background removal would actually take me hours to complete. With my very busy schedule, I barely have the time to spend for my personal tasks (believe me I would rather sleep).

With 21 days of no electricity, I actually had the time for myself and my family. I rekindled my passion for scrapbooking (inspired by scrapscene)  and also taking pictures of my baby Mikee. I was able to make my first ever mini book of Mikee…

I barely recognize that I actually have spent the entire day just cutting and pasting colorful materials for the book. I also had the time to revisit our pictures.

Electricity came back yesterday. And one of the first things I did (I turned on the airconditioning unit right away!) was to look for a background removal software. I honestly didn’t check my mails (theres gazillions of them). And after a few clicks i found clipapic.

According to ClipAPic: “Clip A Pic specializes in image clipping that generates quality flexible and convenient to use clipping paths of your scans, gifs, jpegs and illustrations. Our background removal service is quick and easy to use. At a price that is very affordable.”

So I signed up for a free account,  and uploaded Mikee’s Picture.

All I have to do now is wait…

Now that we already have electricity, let me start opening those gazillion emails…

At last, Aklan has caught the attention of the media.

8 days after Typhoon Frank has hit the Western Visayas, people are now slowly picking up the pieces. We all try to live our normal lives. Just this morning, classes for elementary, high school and college students went back to school to help out cleaning their campuses. Gaisano Mall in Kalibo partially operates while banks are now back to business. Water supply has also resumed.

Here are more photos from June 21st, Saturday morning:

The winds blew heavily amongst the trees, the sea level slowly rises…

Taken at Green Hut Resort, New Washington. Sea Level is usually 5 feet below this veranda. But that Satruday morning, the waves are higher than ever.

A view outside our gate, as the waters from the sea flooded our streets (Rizal)

For those who are eager to know what Kalibo looks like now, here are some pictures taken today:

Over the weekend, several helicopters have landed at Aklan State University fields, these are a few photos of what New Washington has received:

Earlier today, I have received news that Congressman Joeben Miraflores suffered a mild stroke. Please include him in your prayers.

Aklan survived typhoon Frank, now, we are all striving to pick up the pieces and rebuild the town that was…

In less than 24 hours after I posted “New Washington Got Hit By Typhoon Frank”, my heart was so touched by the amount of concern, thoughtfulness, care, help and prayers I got from fellow Filipinos, Aklanons and even foreigners.

I have come to realize that God is great.

Early this year, New Washington inaugurated the monument of Cardinal Sin, in our town plaza. It was indeed a center of attraction for everyone.

But after the Typhoon, this is what it looks like:

5 days after the typhoon, still New Washington and the rest of the towns Aklan doesn’t have electricity, and no water supply.

The municipality of New Washington though was fast enough to clear the trees, electrical posts and clean up the town plaza. Relief goods are now being distributed at the municipal hall. Free charging of mobile phones are now being offered at the municipal hall and at the Smart Tower.

During lunchtime, a helicopter landed at the grounds of Aklan State University. People from all walks of life rushed to the area. Some were in awe watching a helicopter land, but mostly people are all expecting to get help.

As the helicopter landed, a team of Filipino soldiers went down. Mayor Peralta and his team welcomed the visitors.

Soon 3 boxes of mineral water and few boxes of relief goods were unloaded from the helicopter.

I was thrilled with joy.Though I know that those boxes wouldn’t be enough for all the people in New Washington, help started to come in.

My husband said he saw another truck filled with rice being unloaded at the municipal hall.

I know that most of you would like to help us so my team and I started to put up a list of what we think we really need:

1. Medicine (for wounds, fever, cough and cold, diarrhea)

2. Mineral Water

3. Rice

4. Used Clothing

5. Canned Goods

6. (Katol) Mosquito Coil / Insect Repellant

7. Candles

8. Sleeping Mat (banig)

9. Noodles

10. Slippers (for those who have lost their slippers during the typhoon)

If you are a doctor or a medical professional, we would also benefit from a Medical Mission. New Washington only has one health center with one doctor, and with hundreds of people affected by the typhoon our medical team wouldn’t be enough to cater to everybody’s needs.

Supplies for building the houses such as bamboo, and nipas are now running out of stock. One piece of bamboo now costs 80-90 pesos. The increasing amount of materials is hurting a lot of families esp those that doesn’t have enough to buy the materials.

Here are some actual photo’s of Geove’s house:

My mom cried informing me that she sold our Mango Tree that fell off for 600 pesos to a realtive whose house was washed out by the typhoon. She used that to buy rice, 3 pieces of medicine for her hypertension and one box of Nido for Mikee. My heart felt like shattering into pieces.My mom is almost 70 years old.

I just sighed and said to myself, this too shall pass…

People from all walks of life, people that I haven’t met at all, have showed enormous love and care thru emails and comments on this article. I can’t help but shed a tear everytime I read all of your emails and messages.But this time, its no longer tears filled with sadness and fear, but tears of happiness and gratitude.

I still continue to pray that help continues to pour in.

My husband and I are planning to go to Roxas City this weekend and purchase groceries for my family and my team and their families. For those who wanted to give a little help or even just a small amount of donation for us, my team and their families, you can deposit some funds into my debit card:

You can load our prepaid debit card online. Visit www.payoneer.com

Instructions for loading the debit card:>

1. At the Payoneer’s homepage, click on: Load Money

2. Choose: Load Card by Payoneer prepaid card number

3. Enter our Prepaid Card Number: 5115260002041839

4.. It will take you to payment method page, you can choose whether payment will come from a Visa Credit Card or Debit Card, MasterCard, Direct Bank Debit or Load Cash. Choose the amount you want to load onto the prepaid card then click on “continue”

5.. Next, you need to enter your credit card holder and billing address details, as well as your cc details. Then Click on “Continue”

If ever you need any help on loading the debit card, Payoneer has a live person chat that you can ask help from or you can chat or email me for questions.

Thank you for all your prayers, concern, care, love and donations to us. In behalf of my team and my family, our sincerest thanks.

I will continue to update you guys with what’s happening with New Washington as much as I could so please continue to include us in your prayers.

For the first time, after Typhoon Undang hit Aklan, New Washington got hit by a major typhoon last Saturday, June 21, 2008.

My team and I are trying to finish our weekly reminder calls for a client when the electricity went off. The news said that a storm is about to hit Western Visayas but its only at Signal Number 1. I didn’t mind the news. I am actually used to storms with signal number one. I thought this was just one of them.  I went to bed early hoping I could get back to work early that morning. But I was wrong.

I woke up at around 7am, disturbed by that loud whistling sound. It seems like a hurricane to me. I opened the curtains and was alarmed with what I saw. Trees are swaying and the rain was really hard. The wind blew hard tearing off every tree, leaves or object that are on his way. We saw trunks falling off from the trees. Then it became even stronger. Trees are now being torn off from the grounds. People ran off to a nearby shelter hoping to save themselves from a sure accident. Nature unfolded its wrath.

I was trembling with fear when the glasses at our kitchen windows started to break. Our kitchen is only made of wood and nipa and could easily break. Boom! A coconut tree fell right at our kitchen.

5 hours later, our house has been torn apart and hundreds of people are now homeless. A mudslide has happened to Kalibo, killing hundreds of people. New Washington (and Aklan) suddenly became a ghost town.

No electricty. No Water Supply. No Mobile Phones. Until Now.

Earlier today, I went to Kalibo hoping I could buy milk for Mikee. But it was even worse than New Washington. Every house or business establishment is all covered with mud.

No fast food chains. No grocery stores. No ATM machine. No Banks. No hospitals.

I actually rented a generator for tonight to email my clients and keep contact with relatives and friends.

Worst. Our gasoline station ran out of gas. Supplies are running out in New Washington. And with Kalibo in accessible, how will the people here find means?

I was wondering, did we ever get the attention from the news for any help? If we did, will it ever reach New Washington? Where will we seek help?

I am thankful to God because he kept me, my family and my team safe. But my heart cries out with hundreds of people who lost their loved ones, and homes.  Will help ever reach us, I wonder.

For those who will read this blog. I hope you can help us. ( You can reach me at +639103993192 or email me at epvirtualassistant@gmail.com)

Last May 1st, our team of virtual assistants went through 21 days of language and accent reduction training under the supervision of Mr. Marc Alvin Pastrana. From the correct pronunciations of ABC’s and 123’s to stress and pitch, the team definitely had gone through the hole of a needle.

Each of them had to go through a series of interviews and mock calls to test what they have learned. Some were scared to death, others cried, and some even said we drove them nuts! But despite the challenges, everyone agreed that it was all worth it. Aside from the training, we also immersed the team with a series of team buidling activities to boost camaraderie and team work among them.

Team Building activities include trust excercises, spider web maze, group activities and open forum. Truly itwas a fun filled experience that everybody enjoyed.

Last May 21st, OVS celebrated their graduation with a Luau Party. Certificates of Completion were given out to the team and we also gave out certificates of excellence to the outstanding performers namely: Analyn Valentin and Geovelyn Racia. We also awarded Leadership Excellence Award to Windy Joy Relato for her outstanding performance as the leader during the team building activities.

Everyone was in their best Hawaiian outfit! Children, family and friends joined us that night. Food was prepared by my loving husband and menu includes lumpiang shainghai, barbeque and lots of Filipino dishes. The evening was filled with fun and laughter. Karaoke Party all night long!

There has been quite a lot of buzz in the “blogosphere” in regards to alternative health-more specifically-water ionizers -and I have come across a lot of sites with water ionizer reviews showing various levels of satisfaction and PH water tests. From what I can gather the Life 7500 is probably the best water ionizer on the market today. Many years of advanced medical and scientific research have produced these high quality machines that are classified as “medical substance providers” by the government of Korea . LIFE Ionizers first filters the water through one external and two internal filters, then ionizes and alkalizes tap water so that it is the best alkaline or ionized available. The alkaline water ionizers produce highly hydrating water.

LIFE Pure Essentials has been manufacturing and distributing alkaline water ionizers and detox patches to the public for roughly 12 years. Ionized Alkaline water addresses many health issues and is the healthiest water available. The LIFE Ionizer also generates Ionized water with high anti-oxidant qualities of any Alkaline Water Ionizer machine tested and this creates an abundance of negative ions created by this ionization process.

If you are looking for a simple, cheap water filter perhaps you shouldn’t go with an ionization system and just stick with a Britta. The cheapest ionizers are going to put you back about $600, but in the long run ionizing your water has proved to yield some serious health benefits. These guys have great customer service, and if your interested please contact them via their website http://www.lifeionizer.com.