Breaking Dawn Pre-Launch Party in the Philippines!

Start:	Aug 2, '08 4:00p
Location:	Greenbelt 4

POWERBOOKS and TWILIGHT COVEN PHILIPPINES invite you to the Breaking Dawn Pre-Launch Party! See you at Powerbooks Live! Greenbelt 4 on August 2, Saturday, 4 PM. Exciting activities and prizes await attendees!

More details to follow. Keep checking the TwilightCovenPH blog, forum and Multiply site for more information.

http://twilightcovenph.blogspot.com/

Hale at 19 East (The AOB Special)

Start:	Jul 5, '08
Location:	Km 19 East Service Road, Sucat

The fun continues...
Hale is #1!

Anniversary Dinner June 18, 2008

Dinner at Shakey's to celebrate the 42nd wedding anniversary of Papa and Mama. Ang kukulit ng mga baby boys. Look at Caehl prompting his grandparents to kiss, shouting 'yehey' afterwards. Piya had to leave early for her 10pm-6am shift at Convergys.

Hale at SM Sta. Rosa

Start:	Jun 29, '08
Location:	SM Sta. Rosa

AOB invades Sta. Rosa Laguna.
See you Halers!

Elmer's Birthday Blow-out

Redbox Trinoma
June 14, 2008

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee

sharing time...

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.  

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.  

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.  

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes."  

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.  

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.  

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.  

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled and said, "I'm glad you asked."  

The coffee just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."  

Please share this with someone you care about... I JUST DID

My Blazing Race Experience

Insular Life celebrated the Compliance Awareness Week (June 2-6, 2008) by holding, among other activities, “The Blazing Race (TBR)”.

 

TBR is our own version of the reality game The Amazing Race. For four days (June 2-5), it involved various physical and mental challenges and a working knowledge of the basic governance and compliance principles and rules (for example, relevant laws, government regulations, Company policies).

 

The race was conducted in our very own building and its surrounding areas. Five teams competed with each team composed of 8 players and 2 alternates. I was among our Operations Group’s 8 players, called the SOG Femmes (since we were an all-female team). Two players had to compete per day. The rules said, “All participants must be physically fit.” Whoa. I felt I was not qualified at all. First and foremost, I am not athletic and I am older than most of the participants. Most of them are among our sports fest players. But then I would like to think I was chosen not for my physical fitness, but more on the mental aspect. Ahem-ahem. Twelve years in Insular Life should make me, well, almost an expert in Company policies and industry regulations (wait, am I?).

 

Anyway, the worst part was I was chosen to be one of the two players who would compete on the last day. the Finale, when all the scores would be back to zero. It couldn’t be any worse when my original partner backed out due to health problems. By Wednesday too, we ranked 4^th. That meant we would be the 4^th team to depart on the final day’s race, which again meant the first 3 teams would have time advantage over us.

 

Backtrack to my pre-TBR preparation. Aside from feeding my mind every day with the Insurance Code of the Philippines, the Anti-Money Laundering Act, our Employee Code of Ethics, IT policies, and other pertinent materials given to us (the AMLA could be a cure for insomnia, believe me), I joined my officemates for a jog/walk around Filinvest. Alex also pushed me to jog/do some brisk walking with him around our village one Saturday evening.

 

Fast Forward to Today. But as they say, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Our opponents may be young and physically able, but in the end, I’d like to believe again, that our strength was in our intellect. They might have outrun us (or me, especially), but if their answer was incorrect, they would have to do it again or return to the task area and try again.

 

Our last task was called “Face It”. The instructions said we were to match names with faces among a stack of materials. We were to arrange the names alphabetically. Initially, I thought the photos were of our Company officers (I know all 46 of them by heart). No sweat. When I pulled out the contents of the envelope, I saw the faces of our nine-man Board of Trustees. Man, I knew our Board (even their middle initials) like the back of my hand. Just one attempt and we got the nod from the checker. We were racing to the final pit stop like hell. We won first place. Wow. I think we were ahead of the 2^nd team by more than five minutes.

 

My partner Abi and I won for the Sales Operations Group P7,000 in cash and a glass trophy. For ourselves, we won a Figaro gift check, an eco-bag, and of course, the prestige that came with it. After all, we were the first Insular Life The Blazing Race champions.

 

Lessons Learned. Never underestimate:

• women power
• brains over brawn

Age does not matter.

And it pays to know the people you should know.

New Twilight Photos

COMING SOON: TWILIGHT THE MOVIE starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson

A Novel by Stephenie Meyer