EC Top Droppers for March

Yeehah! It's the end of month again and here comes a brand new month. But before I finally let go of the month that has been, let me take this opportunity to show my big, big thanks for my top 10 droppers last March by giving them some linky love.

Life's A Pizza Pie (31)

Scandinavian Ways - Winesworlds blog (31)

Blogger Templates (31)

Big Boys Have Toys Too (31)

DJ Tammy Squels (30)

All blogspot templates (30)

Tips and News on Healthy Lifestyle (30)

All contests (29)

Random Ramblings (29)

Windmill on the Hill (28)

You're all awesome guys!!! Thanks once again and happy blogging!!! ^_^

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MM- Love Story - Taylor Swift

We girls have always been dreaming of finding our very own Romeo in this life, and I'm just so glad I found mine already. For those who haven't yet, there's no need to rush. It will come in your life in God's perfect time. Meanwhile, let's enjoy this "Love Story" by the formidably pretty Taylor Swift with an equally beautiful voice. Will my own love story have the same ending? That remains to be seen. You'll surely be the first ones to know if it finally will.

Lyrics | Taylor Swift lyrics - Love Story lyrics

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

ISP Rantings

I barely update my blog these days. Blame it to my zero internet connection. I have yet to find time to look for a new internet provider since I had my previous ISP (Globe Broadband) disconnected. I have been dilly-dallying mainly because I am having a hard time choosing. I had quite an awful experience with my previous provider and I don’t want to deal with the same problems again. So, I am carefully considering my options.

It’s really hard not having internet at home. Although, I’m lucky enough to have internet connection at work it’s never the same as sitting in front of my laptop with the homey atmosphere surrounding me. Plus the fact that, I have to use proxies to access non-work related sites to get away from I.T. who are being paid to make sure we don’t enjoy the hours we stay at work.

For now I have to make do with the few hours I can get away from my work load to update my blog and do my dropping chores at the cafés where there is a better chance of a much faster connection. And since I don’t really like staying at cafés - if only I have a choice- I have not been consistent doing my EC rounds too. So, I am really thankful to those who unlike me were constantly swinging by my blog everyday. I really appreciate all your efforts and I hope I can return the favor real soon. I’d like to make a special mention of Windy who has been eager to help me with something I’d like to do with my blog yet; I wasn’t able to reply to his messages immediately. I really feel bad about that and I’m really sorry If I disappointed you but as I have said in my EC message, my weekends which happens to be my day offs too, are always busy. I take these days as an opportunity to unwind and so, I rarely spend them online. I hope you will not take that against me *wink*.

As of now, I am thinking if I will choose PLDT over Sky Broadband. I have spoken to some of my office mates and they said PLDT is working fine for them. On the other hand, Sky Broadband, the newest ISP to hit the market which offers a faster connection although I’m not so sure if this is just all market-driven hype to attract possible subscribers. I have read many internet forums too to make sure I will not make the wrong choice again.

At any rate, I just hope I will have my new ISP soon. It will surely make everything easier for me. I just realized its importance in my life now that I have to go to the café to pay my bills and do some bank transactions online *sigh*. I think these are just some perks of the internet I find hard to live without and the fact that I can’t attend to my blogging chores religiously.

Do wish me good luck on my search for the perfect ISP. I really hope I’ll get connected soon. ^_^

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MM - The Heart Of The Matter - India Arie

A friend shared this very special song with me. Special in a way, because this is her song nowadays. It is such a sad song I know, but then the words just depict exactly how she feels at the moment. Her heart has just been broken and I know it will take time before it will completely heal. Yet, I'm sure she gets stronger by the fact the her friends will always be with her ready to help in anyway they can as she journey through forgetting and forgiving the person who just broke her heart.

I like the original version of Don Henley of The Eagles but the first time I heard India Arie's version I just fell in love with it.

The Heart Of The Matter Lyrics

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

Have a wonderful Music Monday everyone!

--------First Commenter--------

Earth Hour

On Saturday, March 28, 2009, the whole world will join hands in a fight against Global Warming.

What is Earth Hour?

Earth Hour is an annual international event created by the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund), held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. It was pioneered by WWF Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald in 2007,[1] and achieved worldwide participation in 2008.

This lights-out initiative, which began in Sydney in 2007 as a one-city environmental campaign, has evolved into a grassroots action that has attracted worldwide attention. In 2008, 371 cities across 35 countries turned their lights out in a united call for action on climate change and energy conservation. Global landmarks – such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco , Rome 's Colosseum, and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square – all stood in darkness, symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

Earth Hour 2009 aims to reach one billion people in 1,000 cities all over the world. To help reach this goal, a global sign-up campaign and competition is again being launched worldwide. Last year, the Philippines ranked 9th in terms of total sign-ups. All Filipinos are urged to sign up at Earth Hour's global website: http://www.earthhour.org. Earth Hour Philippines 2009 hopes to involve 10 million Filipinos and 500 businesses in key cities across the country.

Let's us do our bit for a greener world. The first step is just turning off a light. It's as simple as a flick of the switch.

Join Earth Hour 2009! Turn off your lights at 8:30pm to 9:30 pm local time on Saturday, 28 March 2009.



Sources:

http://www.blogger.com/www.wikipedia.com
http://www.earthhour.org./

--------First Commenter--------

7 Don'ts After a Meal

We all love to eat! Yet, most of us are not aware that there are things we should try to avoid doing every after meal. I myself, learned a thing or two after reading this article from my inbox.

• Don't smoke- Experiment from experts proves that smoking a cigarette after meal is comparable to smoking 10 cigarettes (chances of cancer is higher).



• Don't eat fruits immediately - Immediately eating fruits after meals will cause stomach to be bloated with air. Therefore take fruit 1-2 hr after meal or 1hr before meal.



• Don't drink tea - Because tea leaves contain a high content of acid. This substance will cause the Protein content in the food we consume to be hardened thus difficult to digest.



• Don't loosen your belt - Loosening the belt after a meal will easily cause the intestine to be twisted & blocked.



• Don't bathe - Bathing will cause the increase of blood flow to the hands, legs & body thus the amount of blood around the stomach will therefore decrease. This will weaken the digestive system in our stomach.



• Don't walk about - People always say that after a meal walk a hundred steps and you will live till 99. In actual fact this is not true. Walking will cause the digestive system to be unable to absorb the nutrition from the food we intake.



• Don't sleep immediately - The food we intake will not be able to digest properly. Thus will lead to gastric & infection in our intestine.
  

These are simple things we often neglect that might count essential in our total wellness. It's up to us if we believe these or not but I just shared it as well so you'll be aware. As Seneca said, and I quote, “To wish to be well is a part of becoming well.”

Thank You Graphic Comments

Picture, Picture Thing!

I got tagged yet again by Gagay. Whew! leave it to Gagay to give me something to do and she'll be full of ideas. The girl who never gets tired, that's her. Well, it looks like fun so I'll give it some run here.

The Rules:

"Use Google image to search the answers to the questions below. You must choose a picture from the first page of the results, and post it as your answer. After that, tag 7 people."

1) The age of my next birthday

2) Place I'd like to travel to

3) Favourite food

4) Favourite place

5) One of my nicknames

6) Favourite color

7) College major

8) Name of my love

9) Hobby

10) Bad habits

11) My wishlist

Now, I'd like to tag the following people:

Spicy, jonRez, Riel, Twerlyn, LittlePeopleWealth, Willa & Mize

Have fun guys! ^_^

Master Rapper Francis M. Passed Away

I was watching the local TV noon time show “Eat Bulaga” when the program was suddenly interrupted to give way for a very important announcement. Even before the announcement was made I knew then that it was something bad. All the hosts were on stage except for Joey De Leon which we knew later on was still on his way to the station at that time. The ominous atmosphere was quite apparent and they all exuded the aura of someone who just heard a bad news. Vic Sotto, one of the main hosts, made the first public announcement that Master Rapper Francis Magalona, who happens to be his dear friend and also a co-host of the said variety show died reportedly at 12 NN of March 06, 2009 due to acute myelogenous leukemia “secondary to severe sepsis and secondary to pneumonia,”. He was 44.

Francis Michael Magalona born on October 4, 1964 is the son of popular 1950s movie tandem Pancho Magalona and Tita Duran. He was a famous Filipino rapper, songwriter, producer, actor, director, and photographer. Also hailed as the “King of Pinoy Rap” and considered as a legend in the Philippine music industry; Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr., an actor, extended his condolences to the Magalona family and paid tribute to the master rapper, saying the country had lost a "modern day artist." "The country has lost a modern-day artist, a nationalist in his own creative way," he said.

According to the news, the acclaimed rapper-musician was rushed to the Medical City on Thursday night. He was “intubated” upon admission and placed in the Intensive Care Unit at 3 a.m. Friday. He was described as “toxic” during the early hours of Friday. Doctors still managed to administer chemotherapy on Magalona however; he expired before a bone marrow transplant could be scheduled.

Francis had been undergoing several chemotherapy sessions since he was diagnosed with leukemia in August last year but was too weak to fight the infection. I was even able to follow his chemo sessions since he blogged about it on his multiply site. He was supposed to perform “Superproxy” with the Eraserheads in the band’s reunion concert, “The Final Set” at the SM Mall of Asia grounds in Pasay City tomorrow, Saturday. He had been in collaboration with Eraserheads and Pupil frontman Ely Buendia for an album to be released this year.

Telecommunications giant PLDT also scheduled in April a golf tournament fund-raiser for Magalona.

Francis M. is survived by his wife Pia, and eight children Maxene, Saab, Unna, Nicolo, Francis Jr., Elmo, Arkin, and Clara.

Filipinos mourn the loss of a great and exceptional artist. Yet, we know that his legacy in music and fashion to promote love of country among Filipino youth will live forever.

As my own simple way of paying tribute to this great Filipino artist, I'll be sharing with you one of his songs "Kaleidoscope World" which happens to be one of my all time favorites.




Lyrics | Francis Magalona Lyrics | Kaleidoscope World Lyrics

May you rest in peace Kiko...



Sources:

www.wikipedia.com
www.inquirer.net

Meet the Top 10 Web Billionaires

Guess who made it to the Top 10 Web Billionaires last year? Well, having the cyber world a part of my daily life I got curious as to who indeed accumulated their billions through the internet. I got this email from a friend which I would like to share to you guys.

The dotcom boom ushered in the new-age entrepreneurship and with it came a new set of billionaires. Billionaires who have brought their start-ups a long way from their ‘garage’ days.
Many of them pioneers in their space, these online companies have today evolved into popular global brands and the key people behind them deck up the global rich list.

Forbes recently released its annual list of 34 innovators who made their billions through the Internet. Incidentally, the 2008 list also includes three Indians: Indiabulls' Sameer Gehlaut, Party Gaming founder Anurag Dikshit and co-owner of Indian job site Naukri.Com, Kavitark Ram Shriram.

Here' a profile of the top 10 billionaires who made their fortune from the Web.

Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Google

Topping the Web billionaires list are the Google duo Sergey Brin and Larry Page with a net worth of $18.7 billion and $18.6 billion respectively.

Brin, the president and head of Google's technology division, started Google along with Page in 1998 out of a friend's garage. Moscow-born Brin received a Bachelor of Science degree with honours in mathematics and computer sciences from the University of Maryland .

He is currently on leave from the PhD programme in computer science at Stanford University , where he received his master's degree. Brin continues to share responsibility for day-to-day operations along with Page and Schmidt.

Larry Page is Google's founding CEO and grew the company to be the behemoth it is today. In 2001, he moved into his role as president, products. Son of a computer science professor at Michigan State University , Page's love for computers began at age six. He earned a Bachelor of Science in engineering from the University of Michigan .

Despite getting Eric Schmidt (chief executive of Google) on board, Page is still credited with being intensely involved in company's affairs. He is said to go through CV of every employee before the person is hired at Google even today.

Jeffrey Bezos, Amazon

Jeffrey Preston Bezos, founder, president, CEO and chairman of Amazon.com has a net worth of $8.2 billion.

Inspired by the amazing power of Internet, Bezos created a business model that leveraged Internet's ability to deliver huge amount of information efficiently. In 1994 he founded Amazon.com, an online bookshop. Amazon tried to compete with brick and mortar shops on three counts: lower prices, authoritative selection and a wealth of product information.

In 1997, Amazon went Public, and expanded from selling books to an online retailer with a vast portfolio of goods. Bezos started his career with Fitel, a start-up that was building a network to conduct international trade. The Princeton University graduate later went on to work as a financial analyst for DE Shaw & Co before founding Amazon in 1994.

In 2004, he founded a human spaceflight startup called Blue Origin. Bezos also has a personal investment company called Bezos Expeditions. He was named Person of the Year by Time magazine in 1999.

Though Amazon as a company may not inspire the awe, it did during its heydays, Bezos still has his name intact among the most venerable tech honchos.

Pierre Omidyar, eBay

Father of online auction, Pierre Omidyar founded eBay. Ranked at no. 4 in the Web billionaires list, Omidyar's net worth is $7.7 billion.

French-born computer programmer, Pierre developed fascination for computers in high school and graduated from Tufts University in 1988 with a degree in Computer Science. After graduation he worked for Claris, a subsidiary of Apple Computer, developing software for the Macintosh.

In 1991, he co-founded Ink Development Corp with three friends. The company included an Internet shopping segment and was later renamed eShop Inc. In 1996, eShop was sold to Microsoft.

Intrigued by the technical problem of establishing an online venue for direct person-to-person auction of collectible items, he created a simple prototype on his personal Web page, and launched an online service called Auction Web in 1995. The revenue soon started pouring, with business expanding by word of mouth. In 1997, Omidyar changed the company’s name to eBay.

Eric Schmidt, Google

Chief executive of Google Eric Emerson Schmidt ranks at no. 5 with a net worth of $6.6 billion. Schmidt joined Google from Novell, where he led the company's strategic planning, management and technology development as chairman and CEO.

Prior to his appointment at Novell, Schmidt was chief technology officer and corporate executive officer at Sun Microsystems Inc, where he led the development of Java, Sun's platform-independent programming technology, and defined Sun's Internet software strategy.

Before joining Sun in 1983, he was a member of the research staff at the Computer Science Lab at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and also held positions at Bell Laboratories and Zilog. He is generally acknowledged as the one who catapulted Google from being a promising tech company to a universal ‘God of Internet'. Schmidt has a degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University , and a Master's and PhD in computer science from the University of California , Berkeley .

Jeffrey Skoll, eBay

eBay's first president and second-largest shareholder, Jeffrey Skoll has a net worth of $3.6 billion.

He served as director of eBay from December 1996 to March 1998. An Internet pioneer, Skoll served as eBay's vice president strategic planning and analysis in February 1998, its president from August 1996 to February 1998.

One of the eBay cofounders, Skoll left the company and turned his attention to making movies and philanthropy. He was executive producer of North Country , starring Charlize Theron, and two George Clooney films, including Syriana. Skoll was also the executive producer of An Inconvenient Truth, the global-warming documentary that featured former Vice President Al Gore.

Skoll served as channel marketing manager for Knight-Ridder Information Inc, an online information services company, from July 1995 to July 1996. Prior to this, Skoll served as president of Skoll Engineering, a systems consulting firm, that he founded.
He was also the co-founder of Micros on the Move, a computer rentals company, as an adjunct to Skoll Engineering in 1990. He also serves as director at Community Foundation Silicon Valley and Ingenio Inc.

Graduating in BASC Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto , he later pursued MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Shi Yuzhu, ZTgame

Founder of China 's third-largest online games company, Zhengtu, Shi Yuzhu has a net worth of $2.8 billion.

He recently listed the company on NYSE Euronext. Almost half of his fortune comes from stakes in financial institutions China Minsheng Banking and Huaxia Bank.

Shanghai 's richest resident, Yuzhu was born in Huanyuan of Anhui Province. He graduated in Mathematics from Zhejiang University in 1984 and pursued software master degree from Shengzhen University .

A few years later, he made his first million by selling his own software, and established the company Giant Group in 1991. Later in 1996, due to the over investment in Giant Building project and mismanagement, the Company fell into abyss of finance.

Yuzhu later become an expert in capital operation, and paid back to the public small investors in Giant Building project. In 2004,Yuzhu sold his production technology, assembly line and brand by 1.2 billion Yuan RMB.

Hiroshi Mikitani, Rakuten

Hiroshi Mikitani is the man behind online shopping mall Rakuten, one of the Japan 's most popular Web destination. With a net worth of $2.6 billion, Mikitani is Japan 's leading Internet entrepreneur.

Mikitani last year moved his company's headquarters from chic Roppongi neighborhood into cheaper bayside Tokyo . He reportedly treats employees to free meals with extra money. He also plans to launch e-commerce business in Taiwan . Mikitani is an MBA from Harvard University .

Mark Cuban, Broadcast.com

Next on the list is Mark Cuban, the founder of Broadcast.com, HDNet, and several other companies. With a net worth of $2.6 billion, Cuban has also been an angel investor for several startups including SlideShare, Goowy, RedSwoosh, Box.net, Weblogs Inc and Mahalo.
Having worked as a bartender and a salesperson, Cuban started MicroSolutions in 1986, a systems integrator and software reseller. In 1990, Cuban sold MicroSolutions to CompuServe, then a subsidiary of H&R Block for $6 million.

In 1995, he started Audionet with a fellow friend, which later became Broadcast.com in 1998. During the dotcom boom, Broadcast.com was acquired by Yahoo for $5.9 billion in stock.
A passionate basketball fan, Cuban bought Dallas Mavericks, an NBA basketball team, from Ross Perot in 2000 for $285 million. He also serves as a chairman of HDNet, an HDTV cable network. Cuban also plans to build his media empire.

David Filo, Yahoo

The tenth richest Web billionaire is David Filo with a net worth of $2.5 billion. Co-founder of Yahoo Inc, David Filo met Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang as Stanford grad student.
A native of Moss Bluff, Louisiana , he co-created the Yahoo Internet navigational guide in April 1994 with Jerry Yang. Filo is credited of having bought 40 per cent stake in Alibaba.com for $1 billion in 2005.

Filo serves as a key technologist, directing the technical operations behind the company's global network of Web properties. He is credited with helping build Yahoo into the world's most highly trafficked website and one of the Internet's most recognised brands.
Filo holds a BS degree in computer engineering from Tulane University and an MS degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University .

There you have it! The Top 10 who earned soo much moolah working online. When will my name be included on the list? I can only wish...LOL!

Linky Love for my Top Droppers for February

Time to give some linky love again to my ever supportive co-bloggers who never failed to pay me a visit every single day last month. Thanks for the time and effort in swinging by my humble blog. This linky love is just a small way to show how much I appreciate each and everyone of you.

Dropper	# of drops
Nuclear•Winter	31
Computer Aid	31
The Ad Master	31
Scandinavian Ways - Winesworlds blog	31
All blogspot templates	31
Spicybugz World	31
Dallas Marketing Services	31
Moshi & Kibo's Dog Blog	31
ThemeLib	31
For Your Health	30

A gargantuan thanks again for making me smile and completing my day! Happy blogging folks! ^_^