Oldest Postal Worker Retires

Photo Source: Yahoo News

Chester Arthur Reed at age 95 decided to call it quits after working 37 years in the postal office. Isn't that amazing? He still works at the age of 90's? I just can't imagine how he did it.

Reed accumulated 3,856 hours — nearly two years — of sick leave for not missing a shift in 37 years. Not taking a sick leave in the entire time made me "wow"!

Reed believes in drinking alkaline water, to minimize acids that can damage digestive system, and eating sandwiches made "with a lot of mayonnaise and get a big slice of onion" because the vegetable is closely related to garlic, one of the healthiest foods you can eat, he said.

His age is not a hindrance to some adventures. Every year he and his son visit a continent. He is planning another trip that will include Moscow, Helsinki and Dublin, and a second parasailing adventure in Rio de Janeiro. He last parasailed at age 93.

Reed lived a wonderful and adventurous life and he is trying to reach the age of 100!

The Price of Silence

Not mine! as my silence is not worth anything..

For Elin Nordegren it is worth $750 Million!

Elin Nordegren netted 750 million dollars of settlement from her husband Tiger Woods. In exchange of the huge amount of money is her silence: no interviews, tell-all books, or TV appearances about this for the rest of her life -- even if Tiger dies first --

The amount that Elin got from the settlement is considered to be the biggest payout ever seen in a celebrity divorce.

How much is your silence worth?

Youngest to Top Mount Everest

Jordan Romero, is 13-year-old American boy from California, USA who became the youngest climber to reach the top of Mount Everest, surpassing the previous record set by a 16-year-old Nepalese. The summit of Mount Everest which is the world's highest mountain is 29,035 feet (8,850 meters) above sea level.

Jordan Romero's goal is to be the youngest to conquer the highest peaks on all seven continents. He is now one climb away. He will be climbing the Vinson Massif in Antarctica on December to complete his journey. At present, 17-year-old Johnny Collinson of Utah became the youngest person to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents. Jordan's goal is to break that record.

Hog Manure = Asphalt

Hog manure.... stinks! I don't think of somebody who can stand the smell of a hog manure. From where I grew up, almost all family has its own backyard raised pigs. Over a period of time, some families have a small piggery where they raised 10 or less pigs. Without proper disposal, places where pigs were raised smell very awful. The good thing is bigger scale piggery business have proper waste disposal but still the same the hog manure stinks. Thankfully most of this piggeries are situation in a place where less people lives.

There is news that Innoventor (St. Louis, MO. engineering firm) have perfected the process of converting the animal waste (hog manure) into a bio-oil used in asphalt binder. Hog producers are optimistic that, if the project works, it will create an additional source of revenue while helping the environment.

Now if you smell something in the road.... that's it! It's the hog manure in the asphalt!

Strong Quake HIT Tahiti

A powerful earthquake struck Haiti's capital on Tuesday with withering force, toppling everything from simple shacks to the ornate National Palace and the headquarters of U.N. peacekeepers. The dead and injured lay in the streets even as strong aftershocks rippled through the impoverished Caribbean country.

The Haiti quake is the largest to hit this Caribbean Country in 200 years. The quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, which shares a border with Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, and some panicked residents in the capital of Santo Domingo fled from their shaking homes. But no major damage was reported there. In eastern Cuba, houses shook but there were also no reports of significant damage.

Read Here for more information about the earthquake that hits Tahiti.

Mistreated Teachers from Philippines

This is somewhat a sequel to my post about placement fee.

There are Filipino Teachers that work here in the USA. They work in different states. Actually there are few Filipino teachers that were hired to work in Birmingham, Alabama this year.

Would you believe that these teachers has to pay and amount of $15,000 (more or less) as placement fee to work here in the US? Can you imagine this amount converted to Philippine Pesos... it is more than Php700,000! Where on earth can somebody find this amount if you are just an ordinary person in the Philippines?

I am glad that The American Federation of Teachers filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor calling for an investigation.

These teachers worked here because they want to provide a better future for their families but it seems like these teachers will provide better future for the placement agencies. Their hard earned money should go to their families and not to this placement agencies.

Here's a piece of article that was published in Yahoo News...

Thu Oct 22, 4:17 pm ET

NEW ORLEANS – A teachers' union is claiming that a California-based firm that recruited teachers from the Philippines to work in Louisiana schools made the educators pay fees of $15,000 or more.

The American Federation of Teachers filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor calling for an investigation. The complaint, dated Tuesday, follows similar ones the union's state affiliate filed last month with Louisiana officials.

The union says California-based Universal Placement International and its president, Lourdes "Lulu" Navarro, illegally collected the fees from teachers they recruited in the Philippines.

The union also claims the company holds the teachers' immigration documents to coerce payments.

A spokeswoman for Navarro did not immediately return a call for comment.

Interracial Marriage

Marrying somebody other than your race is a choice and everybody has a freedom to do so. This is not the case in Lousiana. A couple were denied marriage license because they are of different races.... that surely give a big "what????" when I read it... Can you imagine if it was me in that position? All hell will break lose for sure!!!

Justice of Peace Keith Bardwell said he was concerned for kids of biracial marriages. Hmmm I don't think it is fair... Kids of biracial marriages are always good looking (specially FIL - AM...... proof? Andrea...lol)....hahahha

The couple eventually got married by different judge and they hired a lawyer to file a case in order for Justice Bardwell to lose his job....

For more of the story read here....

Literacy Problem in Alabama

Not in my wild imagine will I thought that there is a literacy problem in Alabama. I always thought that USA, whatever state it is, is always ahead. In Bohol, Philippines where I came from, the literacy rate is 93%. That is high considering that Bohol is way far away from the Capital of Philippines.

Anyway, In Tuscaloosa County, 23 percent of the population is illiterate, and the numbers only get higher for surrounding counties, according to the Literacy Council’s Web site.

The Literacy Council of West Alabama is going to address the problem and educate the community to learn more about the literacy problem in the area and ways to combat it.

I still could not believe why there is a literacy problem in Alabama. I hope they can improve it.

Philippine Ferry

While I was working and studying in Manila in the late 1990's to mid 2000's, I have traveled with different ferries from Bohol to Manila and vice versa. During the late 90's airfare was very expensive (like 3x the ferry fare) so the choice is to come home to bohol via ferry. It may take 24-30 hours from Manila to Bohol but it was always worth it because as we always say... there's no place like home.

I have fair share of bad experience with big waves and bad weather during our travel. I remember I have experienced being delayed for 29 hours because of the tropical storm, the ship needs to take cover in between islands. The water run out and the only food left was egg.

Sea accidents are common in the Philippines because of tropical storms, badly maintained boats and weak enforcement of safety regulations and yes overloading.

Lately we now prefer to travel by air because the airfare is just a little more over than the ferry fare. Traveling by air is only 1hour and 45 minutes so it is more convenient and air carriers always offers discounted seat.

Anyway, I just read the news about the Superferry 9 that sank in Southern Philippines where 3 were killed, 880 people were rescued and 80 more are missing. For more of the story please click here.

Picture of the ferry that sank