Make Roads Safe Goodwill Ambassador Michelle Yeoh

Michelle Yeoh (a Malaysian actress who starred alongside Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond movie  Tomorrow Never Dies) and made a speech at the Transport Forum today in my office. We were all curious to see her. Some co-workers caught her after her speech at the forum to have their pictures taken. Because of her tight schedule, they had their pictures taken in one big group.

Michelle Yeoh made visits to the top officials where some tried to get a glimpse of her. We were lucky to have the opportunity to have our pictures taken then. She's sooooo slim and pretty!

Michelle Yeoh appeared in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with Chow Yun Fat and Memoirs of a Geisha in 2005 among other movies she made. She was also Miss Malaysia 1983.

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Losing Weight - Finally!

Last year, when I signed up with Belletoday.com, I weighed 144 lbs. This weight kept on seesawing back and forth as much as every two days - going down to 140 lbs then 137 lbs then up to 142 lbs all in one week. I guess it's water retention. It was frustrating.

Last March when i started running during lunchtime, my weight stabilized at 140 lbs. Then in April, I decided to reduce the amount of rice I ate. I'm not a big rice eater so it was not a problem for me. I eat rice mostly because it's easy to cook, rice and main dish of meat or fish, daily Filipino fare.

Imagine my surprise when I weighed today to find I now weigh 136 lbs. I've lost 8 pounds since March. Here is my weight tracker at Belletoday.

What I've been doing that worked for me:

M-W-F : Running around the basketball court at lunch time 40 times broken up in 10s. 10 runs then 2 walks then 10 runs again until I reach 40 runs.

Weight training: 3 sets of 20 reps with dumbbells three times a week on alternate days

Standing Tricep Extenstion, 2-Arm Tricep Kickback, Lateral raise with external rotation, bench dips, Lunges, Arm curls and Plank. It's not much but I don't want to overload myself.

Hopefully I reach my goal by the end of the year.

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A Day Away from the Office

My division had its annual team building last Friday. Last year we only had it at the office. But this year, we heard other divisions had it outside the office. What are we the budget division for? We had ours at Sofitel in Roxas Boulevard. I wasn't too enthusiastic at first. From previous experience, there are times that it can be boring.

It turned out to be very enjoyable and helpful as well. Our division had a lot of issues since our new head joined last year. The exercise really helped us understand him and each other more.

A group activity where we were asked to modify and enhance an ordinary, everyday appliance. We were assigned the vacuum cleaner.

Our finished product was a vacuum cleaner that was rechargeable and energy efficient which had other functions such as clothes steamer, air ionizer, rechargeable light, a broom, a radio, timer, and many other features that will clean anything and everything. Presenting the Dream Cleaner!

We all had lunch in a private function room. Our division is very small accommodated everyone in two tables.

We had a salmon entreé that I thought was very small. I was wrong. It looked small but it was very filling and I actually couldn't finish my mashed potato, I was so full. I didn't eat the chocolate cake dessert anymore. Just the dark chocolate decoration.

I didn't realize how much butter I consumed. The bread was so good and my seatmates passed me all their butter.

We had an outdoor activity later in the afternoon. It was a race from one point to another. Supposedly crossing the sea to get to an island. In this case, from one tree to another. There were 8 in a group and, using only 5 pieces of mats, we were to cross the grass to get to the tree without touching the grass. Needless to say, it was a very intimate competition and a lotta fun. The facilitator later told us that a company with whom she did this activity took 2 hours to finish it. Apparently, the women did not like their male officemates touching them which was impossible to do here. She said our group completed it the fastest - 7 minutes.

At the end of the day having fun by the bay......

Finishing with a buffet dinner....

I must say the service is Sofitel is world class. After our outdoor activity, one officemate passed out. Their emergency people came immediately with a wheel chair and stretcher! And everyone was very accommodating.

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Philippine Presidential Elections

I went to vote just before 9AM. Last time I voted was in the last presidential elections. I'm lucky my name was not removed from the list. Those who did not vote in the 2007 senatorial elections were supposed to have been removed.

Since we would not be having our lunchtime jog, I decided to jog to the voting precinct. I didn't realize how near it was. It only took me 7 minutes. All in all, I had only 15 minutes cardio yesterday. I need to do more tomorrow.

There was a long line outside the school when I got there but it was fast moving. The guard went down the line to tell senior citizens that they did not have to fall in line. They can go inside directly.

Inside, seats were provided in line but nobody sat down because the line kept on moving.

When I was nearing the stairs to go up the rooms where voting would take place, people were crowded around a board to look up their precinct number. Then somebody said if you knew your precinct number you can go on up. 

If only somebody said it sooner! So I went up and we were shepherded into an airconditioned "holding room" to get instructions on how to vote. This was only to regulate the crowd. If the voting precinct is not full, then you would not need to stay in the holding room.

I sat in the holding room awhile just to cool down as I was sweating hard from my jog and the heat outside.

Anyway, it took me about an hour in total to complete the process. I would say it all went smoothly. It's looking like Noynoy Aquino will be the next Philippine president.

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