Street Soccer Shelter for Change Program

From this site.

The players of Team Philippines to the Homeless World Cup have proven themselves that they not only have the skills to play, compete, and excel; they also have a testimony to share. The way their lives were changed because of a once in a lifetime opportunity given to them also triggered their passion to help change the lives of others, especially among the youth.

Mark Rosales, part of the team who went to Milan in 2009 has been teaching the love and discipline of soccer to the troubled youth of Boys Town Center. It is also true with the Pasion twins Abdula and Hammid of the 2010 squad who went to Brazil; the dynamic duo has been teaching soccer to their fellow marginalized boys in their hometown in Pagsanjan, Laguna. All of the 2010 players went to a community in Smokey Mountain to teach soccer to the kids being helped by Gawad Kalinga.

While most football clinics require fees, starting this March, the players of Team Philippines to the Homeless World Cup will be teaching soccer to 200 youth every weekend for free!

The “Street Soccer Shelter for Change Program” will pilot in ten communities in Quezon City. With the help and support of Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, we are proud to announce that Quezon City embraced this program and is now the new home of street soccer.

The youth that the players from the Homeless World Cup will be teaching came from disadvantaged families in Quezon City; and this activity promises to be fruitful as they will be in one “home field,” one team united, wherein both the players and the trainers can easily relate to each other as they came from the same background. They will get the chance to learn and enjoy the sport, in a country where it is usually played by the upper class of the society.

  Some snaps;

Complete album set. Taken last 12 March 2011 at Quezon City Memorial Circle.

"New" babies

Errr... Rather, new babies of my Pentax K100D dSLR camera. ;-P

And they're the miniature Pentax K-x keychains only. Bleh! :D

I've long heard (trans: read) of these from the mailing list of PiPen. And they're also one of the reasons why me & my daughter went to SM Megamall's Toy Kingdom as per this blog entry.

Sadly I wasn't able to acquire any during that time, as according to some personnel there, that they were already ran out of items few days right after they've displayed them. I tried going back and forth to where the vending machine of capsule toys are located, thinking that I only missed it. But still to no avail... :(

And last couple of days, I read that they're available again at Toy Kingdom. So yesterday afternoon after my office work, off I went to Megamall. True enough! They're very much available but they were at least less than 20 pieces. But I'm not getting all of them anyway... :D

Along the way I've already had plan to get 3 (for me, my wife & my daughter), so I bought 6 pieces of token (2 tokens per item) worth Php300.00. At first, I got the silver/gray one. Next was the blue. On the supposed to be third attempt, I stopped momentarily and this thought came in my mind, "what if on my third try, I get the same color as the first 2? what will I do with it?".

I went away from that area and went elsewhere nearby. When I came back, I saw two college female students heading to the direction of the same place where the vending machine is located. I heard one of the girls saying how nicely cute the keychains were. And I though I'm the one they were talking to. Hahahahaha.

Still no plans of getting my third item as of that moment, I asked them if they were also getting some and what color they want. They answered me they want the black one. The same color I want to get also. How ironic! Hahahaha. I even offered them that they try their luck first and see what color they'll get & I'll just trade the other color I already had or might get as long as they get the black or even the pink one (for my daughter). But they told me to try my luck instead and they went away. Whammy!!! :D

Just as soon as they turned their back, I then tried for my third item and got the green one. And I said to myself, that's enough! At least I got 3 different colors.

Should I still want the black one or some other color? Hmmm... Let's see! ;-P

By the way, here's some other pics...

  

The first 3 pictures were all taken by my Pentax K100D while the rest were all taken by Pentax Optio H90.

V-Day at TGIF

2011 Hearts Day!

Me & wifey had a simple celebration that day. We just ate dinner at TGIF's Glorietta branch, and that's it! The celebration we had is soo simple that we didn't even have any gifts for each other. Not a single rose or flower for her. Hehehehe...

We both came from reporting from our respective work that day, and thus we're only able to free our schedules after office hour. Until the time that we met (she came all the way from their office in Laguna), I haven't had any idea on where we will have our dinner. We just decided right there and then that we'll just eat at TGIF as it's the nearest resto on where we met.

While inside and waiting for our orders, I took some snaps of her.

Then dinner came... We asked the waitress to take some pics before we feast on our meal.

Burp!!!

And now the dessert...

The mud pie dessert!

Now I'm craving again to eat at TGIF...

Here's the complete album. All pictures were taken by Pentax Optio H90.

The 2nd Philippine International Pyromusical Competition

click the image for a bigger size...

Participating countries and their schedule:

• February 12: South Korea (7PM) / Spain (8PM)
• February 19: Portugal (7PM) /United Kingdom (8PM)
• February 26: China (7PM) / France (8PM)
• March 5: Japan (7PM) / Canada (8PM)
• March 12: Australia (7PM) / Philippines (8PM)

Complete details are here.

I almost forgot this event as I'm too much pre-occupied lately, specially with the sickness of my daughter. We (me & my family) missed last year's event. And given a chance this time, we wouldn't want to miss at least a single Saturday (or a couple) most importantly the last Saturday (March 12) where our host country will perform with Australia.

To co-photographer; fellow camera hobbyists & enthusiasts, fellow club members and others I know, hope we can bump & see each other. See you! (crossing fingers...)

Optio WG-1 and WG-1 GPS rugged cameras, limited edition K-5 DSLR

Who woulda thunk it? Half a year ago, finding a conventional point-and-shoot with integrated GPS was a chore, but these days, it's growing tougher and tougher to find one without it. Pentax is joining the geotagging frenzy this evening with its Optio WG-1 GPS, a rugged 14 megapixel shooter that's waterproof up to 33 feet, shockproof in nature and engineered with a "crushproof" body that can withstand weight force of up to 220 pounds (but not another Black Eyed Peas halftime show). You'll also get integrated face detection technology, the ability to snap in sub-freezing temperatures, a 5x optical zoom lens and a 2.7-inch rear LCD. There's also a 720p movie mode, HDMI output, IR control compatibility and support for Eye-Fi's wireless SD card. It'll ship this April in black or yellow-green for $399.95, and if you're uncomfortable remembering where you took each and every photograph, the GPS-less Optio WG-1 will also be available (in black or purple) for $50 less.

From engadget.

And how nice looking this limited edition K-5 is...

Pair it with either of the Silver FA Limiteds like FA 31/1.8 AL ED Limited;

The FA 43/1.9 Limited;

Or the FA 77/1.8 Limited;

Then what would you got? A sweet combination!!! c",)

Note:

Photos of the FA Limiteds courtesy of Bojidar Dimitrov.