I am delighted that a friend from way back, whom I haven’t seen in a very long time, will be visiting me within the week. She’s bringing her three kids with her. I knew her since we were little kids, being neighbors and all. It’s been a decade since I last saw her. Their whole family migrated abroad. This is the first time they are coming home and you can just imagine how touched I am that I am included in the persons they want to visit. I will buy some toys for her kids. I can’t wait to see them!

My little cousin’s pre-school teacher is asking for something from each kid in her class. It’s actually little things that they can contribute to the free class she teaches for special kids. When I heard about this, I immediately went to the teacher and asked her what would be the best to donate. She said that a custom rubber stamp that she can use for marking good work would be a great addition to the contributions she already received. And I will give that myself.

I admire people who go out of their way to help special kids. And this one is for free. What little I can give will be a big help to them.

Having experienced crashing my harddrive and not being able to save anything, I now have become a bit obsessed with saving and backing up. I can never have enough compact flash with me. I have one in my bag that I always carry with me. I have one in my office drawer, locked safely. I have one in my small pouch where I also put my cellphone. See how obsessed I’ve become to backing up?

I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news lately but there are people who are getting desperate during this financial crisis. There are so many people out of jobs and are turning to desperate measures just to feed their families. That’s why a family friend suggested that we get a home alarm, just to be sure. And she’s right. You never know when even a neighbor would turn against you out of hunger and fear. Times are really hard.

I am so happy for a former staff of mine. She is now a budding commercial model, earning so much from it actually, that she’s been going on and off on Vegas vacations with her family. Her mom used to work in a Vegas casino as a staff there and because she’s earning so much now, she asked her mom to stop working already and just enjoy the fruits of their hard work. Such a sweet kid!