It's 6:00 am. My phone sound off as I set the alarm to wake me up early. I woke up energized. Ready to take another day at work.

It took me 45 minutes to prepare and be ready for work. My wife and the kids are also ready for work and school. We are at the dining table preparing to eat breakfast before going outside.

Xhiarylle, my daughter, asked me if she could bring her classmates at the house after school to play. I said yes, of course, so I also asked her yaya to prepare some snacks when Xhiarylle arrives from school.

Xhiandrei, as always, keeps on eating his meal and is also excited to go to school because he promised his friend to show one of his toy car collection. He's quite fond of different automobiles, designed and built through the years. He's eager to save up for that one missing car that he is looking for which, at last, he saw in a mall last weekend.

It's 7:30 am and everyone is done. I got my keys to our new car. It was our first car and everyone is excited as we drive on a slightly wet road. It was a foggy morning.

First stop is the school. We stopped by the gate as one of their teacher is standing by the gate ready to get inside as well. Xhiarylle and Xhiandrei gave us their kisses as they went down the car and went inside the school.

Next stop - Gie's office. It's her last week at work as she'll be taking a maternity leave. She only have 2 months more so she needs to endorse her work. There's a lot of things she needed to do. Besides she just became the finance manager of a call center.

I dropped her off on the building's entrance. She gave me a kiss and got off from the car. I wave back at her and went to work.

As I approach our company's main gate, I stopped by near the security personnel as part of the security procedures. "Sir, kayo pala, good morning po!", the guard said. "O, mang-Jerry kamusta? Good morning din", I replied. I remembered his name even though I just met him last night in one of the standard inspections. "Kamusta si misis at mga bata?", I added as I recalled our chat about him and his family. "Okay lang naman po", he replied with a smile and signaled me that I can proceed.

I parked the car and proceeded to my office. It's about 5-minute walk from the lobby to where my office resides. As I walk through the spine, I see some familiar faces along the way. They greeted me and I greeted back. Some jokes around and we were all laughing.

I continued to walk towards my office with a smile in my face. People greets sincerely giving good mornings and hi fives. Of course, I responded back with their first names and with a smile.

Work equates play at the office. I don't feel stressed. I love to work and I am happy with my job. It was a great feeling. I sat down to my chair, brought out my laptop, placed it down near the sign where it says "Manager" and started working with a smile in my face.

Every now and then, when I meet new people they usually think that I am single. Probably because I look young to be married? Or probably I don't wear any wedding ring? Well...yeah...but I guess that would be for another story.

Anyway, when they learn that I am already married and with 2 kids (and soon to be 3), they sometimes do get surprised. One classmate from highschool told me when we met one day: "Talaga? Ayos! Mukhang maaga kang nadale ka ah. Mag-iingat na ako. Natuto ako sa iyo eh haha!"

Well, he's kind of right about one thing. Yes, I got married early. I am 24 at the time. Then months after, my eldest was born. It was a big change for me. I would be lying if I say that it was smooth sailing after that.

It was hard but it was my defining moment. "Tatay na ako!", sabi ko. I already have kids of my own. And they will be a priority.

It's a very wet Sunday afternoon and I have to go to work just for me to be able to open my laptop.

It's too late when I found out that our work laptop uses different domain connection and I changed it. Our's uses a different domain and my home network is using the default domain.

Yeah, it's a pain thing but I need to have my laptop opened. I got a presentation to complete.

Iiishhh!

After visiting Mozilla's website, it looks they have released the beta version of their 4th version of Firefox. I quickly downloaded it and viola!

The new version of the well know browser, for its high quality both in security and customization, looks cool and even more snappier from previous versions. Below are some of my first impression on the new version.

It is my birthday today and nothing special is happening. Though, I think, my wife is going to cook, I kinda feel that today is just a normal day. Aside from my colleagues broadcasting to everyone that today is my birthday, nothing is new. Everything is the same. And all I feel is dull and bored. I need something exciting. Something out of the ordinary activity. Something different from what I used to do every birthday I had - ang manlibre o kaya magpakain sa labas.

Since I was little, every birthday namin, my Father sees to it na may handa kami. Kahit konti basta may handa. Konting pansit, tinapay, isang litrong coke, cake, at ice cream. Tama na iyan para sa akin. But as years passed by, sometimes it gets you. You will feel the "is-there-anything-different" feeling because you used to experience this in a long time. So, I guess something different would not hurt.

The famous app (for jailbroken iPhones) where you can get free apps, Installous, had a major update. The new interface will make you feel like you're in the Apple's App Store. The UI now looks good as well as the ease of use.

I often hear change is good. That change makes the world move forward. That in life, change makes you into two different being. Either you become good or the opposite of it. Either you become something or you become nothing at all.

We can never hinder change. And most definitely we cannot prevent it. We live in this world where change is constant. Where change makes change.

Your name is important. It is what defines your existence. It is an evidence that you live or once lived. It is your identity. All people have one. Heck, even animals or things have names.

On a little side note of trivia, did you know that there is what we call the study of names? It is called "Onomastics" from the greek word "Onoma" which means name. According to behindthenames.com, onomastics is a field of study which touches on linguistics, history, anthropology, pyschology, sociology, philology and much more. Astig! May bago akong nalaman.

The next stop for our trip in Zambales are Anawangin Cove, Capones and Camara Islands. Located at San Antonio, Zambales, these three destinations are part of Pundaquit famous spots. One spot that we haven't visited due to time constraints is Nagsasa Cove. They said that it is pretty much the same with Anawangin Cove but less people. Probably because it is twice farther than Anawangin.

We took advantage of the 3-day holiday we had last April 1-3 and packed our bags then headed straight to the land of Sweet Mangoes - Zambales. It was hot but for all we care. T'was the sense of adventure that we felt that even the scorching sun won't prevent us from going. Besides, this is our chance to get out of the pressures our job entails.

First stop, Potipot Island. A small island located in Uacon, Zambales. With its white sands along its shores and the blue sea and green trees, this island will leave you in awe. You can clearly see the life under the water without submerging yourself. Well you can see more of course if you do. Anyway, we spent the night in Potipot and slept in tents.

Most of the time when I meet someone, whether a new acquaintance, or an old friend or a schoolmate, and learned that I am already married with two kids, they'll be shocked and ask me a lot of questions of why(s) or what happened or how did I became what I am now (or sometimes tease me and laugh). Well I guess, as far as I am concerned, I look young to be a family man.

I remember someone I know told me, "Ha?! May anak ka na? Ang bilis ah!". Or, "Ayos ah, mukhang nadale ka agad ah". Or, "Hindi namin ineexpect, ikaw pala mauuna sa batch natin...". Another said, "(I'll be safe) I learned from you...". The last seems there something implied with his statement but I didn't care.

A philosopher once said, "There's no man in an island". However, isn't it that sometimes it is hard to deal with other people? Hindi ba't ang hirap makisama sa madaming tao na may iba't ibang ugali at iba't ibang nararamdaman? I'm sure there's someone that you find easy to be with but there are others that you find irritating or you don't want any connections to be established. May magugustuhan ka pero mayroon din namang hinde.

There are a lot of things that you should consider. Their attitude, their opinion, their perception towards things and of course their "skin".

Yes, skin. Balat. I think there are different kinds of skin and sometimes it does come in different forms. May magaspang o kaya naman may punong puno ng puzzle. Kung minsan may makinis. Na sa sobrang kinis kahit lamok madudulas. Pero meron din namang makapal. 'Yun bang sa ubod ng kapal kahit sandamukal na karayom hindi bumabaon (baka nga kahit pako ayaw pa rin eh). Na kahit na anong sabihin mo walang epekto. Kahit siguro sunugin mo hindi niya mararamdaman.

It's been a boring day today. It was so silent you can hear yourself breathing. Where the only loud things you can hear are the airconditioner's roar and the non-stop clicks of the keyboard's keys.

I've never been this silent before. Except during the days where I feel so sleepy even a gallon of coffee couldn't help keep my eyes open.

I stumbled across one of Rico's article in his blog about the growing concern regarding todays world - having a virtual life that affects the real life. I must admit, when I was young I'm one of those who spent so much time and money just to play and level up my virtual characters. I used to spend numerous time playing Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Legend of Legaia, and so many more.

I still can remember how I am always being scolded by my Dad because, all day, all I do is sit in front of the TV and play games. Lots and lots of games. Where I even miss to eat and do some of my chores. Where I always look forward to go home when I am in school because I wanted to reach level 99 and get my weapons upgraded to be able to give 9999 damage.

There will be a time in your life that you will encounter two paths. Each leads you to something. Each leads you sometimes to nothing. But whatever the end of these paths, you need to choose one. I faced this a few days ago. I have to choose between the two. Which one to take. Which one not to.

To get the big picture to what I will be saying, let's say the first path is AA. The second is BB. The thing is, you cannot get both. You really need to choose one. There will definitely be something that you need to sacrifice if you choose AA over BB and vice versa.

Patience is a virtue. That's what they say. But how long can you be patient really? Yeah, it is good to have a long patience but for humans there's always an end. And this is not an exception.