renjie's posterous

Hanging out at the Cranbrook Pro #Rodeo with the folks #photo

If I stay out west long enough, it won't be long now before I'm sporting a cowboy hat along with a pair of cowboy boots.

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Merry Christmas & Seasons Greetings

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Merry Christmas from my family to yours! I wish everyone the best this holiday season, looking forward to the year ahead, 2010 is going to be amazing!

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Christmas Out West

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Ongoing blog post of photos taken on my iPhone while I am out west visiting family for the Christmas holidays, December 23, 2009 - January 3, 2010

Updated with the PicPosterous iPhone app

Location: Calgary, AB and Cranbrook, BC

Updated December 28, 2009

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Ive been in Cranbrook for almost a week now, and judging from my tweet on Christmas day, it seems that country music is really getting to me. This song by Blake Shelton has been stuck in my head the whole day.

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R4Fashion and OUCH 2009

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Following the 3rd Conference on Social Enterprise in Toronto last Friday, I had the sincere pleasure of attending a number of student organized events over the weekend including R4Fashion, a fashion show dedicated to celebrating top and upcoming Canadian fashion designers who view fashion with an added green dimension; Out in the Cold at the University of Toronto, an event designed to raise funds and awareness of homelessness issues in the local community; as well as the Ontario Universities Competition for Hip Hop (OUCH) 2009, an annual hip hop competition showcasing the best of hip hop talent from universities and colleges across Ontario.

The main reason I attended OUCH 2009 this year was because my younger sister, Loubelle, who is in her second year of nursing at the University of Western Ontario, made it to the Western hip hop team to represent her school in the competition. Of course, I played the role of proud big brother and fully supported her at the event!

Congrats to all the winners this year at OUCH 2009, shout outs to the University of Waterloo peeps who placed third in the competition! (McMaster - First place, University of Toronto - Second place)

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Photos of family road trip from Cranbrook, BC to Banff, AB

Referring to my Canada Day post on calling British Columbia 'beautiful' an understatement, here are the photos that we took on our road trip from Cranbrook, British Columbia to Banff, Alberta.

I've enjoyed taking this past week off from work. It's going to take a while to adjust to not seeing mountains everywhere I turn when I'm back in Waterloo next week.

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Meeting former Philippine President Fidel Ramos

My family and I were at a closed fundraiser for Gawad Kalinga in Calgary, Alberta last night, where former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos was the guest of honor. It was organized by Couples for Christ Calgary in association with ANCOP International Canada.

Former President Ramos is currently in Calgary for the next couple of days to raise money and showcase his support for Gawad Kalinga, representing his foundation, the Ramos Peace and Development Foundation. From their website:

The Ramos Peace and Development Foundation, Inc. (RPDEV) serves as a catalyst of constructive change, a medium for fostering unity, stability and progress and a force for mutual understanding.

Our aim is to contribute in bringing about the “good life” for democratic societies through a culture of excellence and global competitiveness.

I am so glad to see that President Ramos has been active in his post-presidency years, and for a person who is currently 81 years old, he still retains, a great spirit of youth and energy, even mentioning at one point in the evening that it is not about how old you are, but how young you feel.

In any case, the political junkie in me was really excited to meet him. Ramos was president of the Philippines as I was growing up (I was too young to remember the people power revolution that overthrew the Marcos regime, and saw President Cory Aquino as the first woman president of the Philippines). For those of you who don't know, the current president of the Philippines is also a woman, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Ramos' keynote speech at dinner was one that focused on Pinoy pride. Speaking mainly in Tagalog, he talked a lot about being proud of who you are, whether you are Filipino, Canadian or even Filipino-Canadian. I never knew this, but Ramos also highlighted the meaning of the Filipino word "Mabuhay", with its significance stemming from "may buhay" or in English, "there is life".

Ramos also acknowledged and extended warm wishes to Canadians on the occasion of Canada Day. Speaking on this topic, Ramos talked about Philippine Independence Day as well, asking the audience when Philippine Independence Day was - with the answer being June 12, 1898 (though not without relevance to Philippine history as noted in this Wikipedia article). Unlike Canada or the United States where independence day celebrations always take place on July 1 and July 4 respectively, Ramos mentioned that lately, Malacañang Palace has misplaced priorities (and has taken them to task) where instead of keeping to tradition and declaring June 12 as a national holiday every year, they declare a national holiday for independence day the Friday on, or around June 12. In other words, independence day in the Philippines is technically on June 12, but if it happens to fall on a Thursday, then the following Friday is declared a national holiday in order to make way for the long weekend.

Ramos' point is that you can play with dates with regards to other Philippine national holidays, but when it comes to Philippine Independence Day, it should always be on June 12 to uphold respect for the country, the flag and for those who died in its name.

I am so proud to be Filipino AND Canadian.