Good news and bad news.

Life is really full of surprises. You win some, you lose some. You can never have it all. This is the thought that struck me after a series of events on a rather humdrum day at the office today.

I was on my workstation minding my own business, trying to keep my sanity while my face is glued to my computer monitor, when one of my colleagues called my attention and told me that yesterday she heard a DJ (disc jockey) of a local FM radio station (94.7 MHz) talking about a “cool blog” that she visited recently. Of course, she instantly caught my attention. Trying very hard to hide my excitement, I fished for more information. I wanted to know if it was indeed my blog that was mentioned by the DJ. If true, then this was a very much welcome news. My head spinning, I asked myself, will this be the start of my fame? lol. My co-worker said that the DJ referred to the blog as “Leomar’s Den”. Unconvinced, I googled “Leomar’s Den” and this is the only blog that popped out.

It would have been better if she at least, left a note here if she indeed visited this site. I am not sure. But if indeed, this humble blog was mentioned in passing, it is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!

Okay, that was the good one. So I went back to face my monitor smiling and with renewed zest to work. Then, after a couple of minutes, I received an instant message from my girlfriend who was at home. I was eager to tell her the good news but she beat me to it with her own news, which turns out to be a bad one. She said she lost her wallet with her Nokia N95 cellphone while inside a bank (and the bank is even in a mall) in Ever Gotesco Commonwealth. I asked her to deposit money to the bank. She was able to deposit the money but when she checked her bag, her wallet and the cellphone are no longer there. What made it worse was, my ATM card for my payroll account was also in her wallet. I was even expecting my salary today or tomorrow! But without an ATM card, it will need to wait until I have the time to visit the bank.

Well, my girlfriend felt bad about it. She just lost her cellphone, money and whatever was inside her wallet. But there’s no use fixing the blame. I consoled her that, what was done is done and I doubt if we can still take back what she lost even if she has requested from the bank to review the CCTV video inside the bank’s premises. Those were just money that we can still earn and things that we can still buy. No big deal!

So there you go. I wished I was given enough time to relish the good news that I received first before I was slapped with a bad one. But that’s life; there are temporary setbacks that we must face. We win some, we lose some. It is up to us to decide which will have a greater impact on our everyday lives. Should we focus on winning or should we take our temporary defeat seriously and retreat without dignity. I would rather take the bright side of things and prepare for the challenges ahead. Anyway, I have too many blessings to count and to thank God for. Those are good news!
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MYX Daily Top 10 (April 27, 2009)

Miley Cirus is back at the number one spot in today’s MYX Daily Top 10 with “The Climb”. Erstwhile number 1 Taylor Swift is at number 2 with “Love Story.” Britney Spears is at number 3 and at number 4 is The Pussycat Dolls with “Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny) completing the all-international artists top 4.

Rico Blanco’s “Antukin” is the top OPM song while Kamikazee enters the top 10 with their new hit song “Wala”.

Top Ten

01. Miley Cyrus - The Climb
02. Taylor Swift - Love Story
03. Britney Spears - If U Seek Amy
04. The Pussycat Dolls - Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)
05. Rico Blanco - Antukin
06. Paramore - I Caught Myself
07. Hale - Sandali Na Lang
08. Secondhand Serenade - Your Call
09. Hilera - Radical
10. Kamikazee - Wala



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Fun Friday - Five Things About Me

As the old cliché goes, it is better late than never. As you can see, this post is intended for a Friday but due to geographical and time differences with my Blogging For Fun group mates, I was not able to post this on a Friday as their Friday is already Saturday here in the Philippines. Anyway, here is the group’s first activity, a weekly theme called Fun Friday.

Here are the 5 things about me:

1. I am still single but I currently have a girlfriend. We’ve been together for almost 2 years now. Her name is Donna but you can call her sexy too, lol.

2. I fear public speaking. When I was still a student, I always had butterflies in the stomach when I was called to speak in front of the class especially if I didn't do my assignments or I wasn't paying attention to the discussion.

3. I’m working in a call center in the Philippines and I’ve been with this company for 2 ½ years. Do I love my work? Hmm, let's move on to number 4.

4. When I was in college, I joined a youth activist group. I participated in rallies and protests against the government’s policies and actions. I still criticize the government from time to time but I already found a different medium.

5. Lastly, one of my childhood dreams was to become the president of the Philippines. I also dreamt of becoming a movie star, a rock star and a carpenter among others.

By the way, you can still join the fun and be part of the group. Join us at Blogging For Fun!


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Join Blogging For Fun.

This is just a quick post to invite everybody to join a Yahoo group that I recently joined. The group is called Blogging For Fun which was spearheaded by Melissa of Melissa’s Homeschool Blog.

I have never been connected with a group like this where I can interact with real bloggers from different parts of the world. We share ideas and we support each other. Joining this group gave me the privilege of meeting great bloggers. We visit member blogs at least three times a week. We leave comments; drop Entrecards and some other activities that will help increase traffic for every member’s blog. We are now thinking of other activities that can help each other with our online activities.

We are still looking for a couple more members, so if you would like to join the group, just click here. I hope to see you there!

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MYX Daily Top 10 (April 24, 2009)

The MYX Daily Top Ten this week is dominated by foreign songs 7 of which are in the countdown’s top ten and the top three songs belong to international artists. Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” is the number song followed by erstwhile number 1 “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus.

The top OPM song is Rico Blanco’s “Antukin” who is on the number 4. Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You” dropped out of the countdown from yesterday’s number 7.

Top Ten

01. Taylor Swift - Love Story
02. Miley Cyrus - The Climb
03. Britney Spears - If U Seek Amy
04. Rico Blanco – Antukin
07. Hale - Sandali Na Lang
05. Hilera - Radical
06. Paramore - I Caught Myself
08. The Pussycat Dolls - Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)
09. Secondhand Serenade - Your Call
10. Katy Perry - Thinking Of You



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Leomar's Den is now 1 year old!

Time flies so fast. I almost didn’t notice that this blog is now one year old. I wrote my very first post on this blog April of last year. I was still using the blogspot domain then. Now, I have my own domain name and I have already written about 345 posts in this blog. I have seen this blog achieved a Google Pagerank 3 that later on dropped to zero, and now it has a Pagerank 1. I’ve also earned a couple of dollars writing posts. Not enough to quit my day job but just enough motivation to continue with my online activities.

But what is more important is I have learned so many things and I’ve met so many wonderful people from different parts of the world with this blog. I still have a lot to learn and I intend to make more friends in the blogosphere in the coming years.

But this blog will not last a year without my regular visitors, fellow bloggers, Entrecarders and friends who keep on visiting this blog.

My heartfelt gratitude to all of you!

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MYX Daily Top 10 (April 20, 2009)

Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” reclaims the number one spot today from Taylor Swift’s “Love Story”. “The Climb” which is the first main single of Miley Cyrus from the soundtrack of Hannah Montana: The Movie landed in the top spot last week.

Paramore’s “I Caught Myself” and Britney Spears’ “If U Seek Amy” completes the all foreign song top 4. Rico Blanco’s “Antukin” is on number 5 and it is the top OPM song in the countdown.

Top Ten

01.Miley Cyrus - The Climb
02.Taylor Swift - Love Story
03.Paramore - I Caught Myself
04.Britney Spears - If U Seek Amy
05.Rico Blanco - Antukin
06.Hilera - Radical
07.Hale - Sandali Na Lang
08.Secondhand Serenade - Your Call
09.Katy Perry - Thinking Of You
10.Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You



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When the news anchor's name is on the news headline.

Last Wednesday morning, the Philippines was shocked with a tragedy involving the wife of a popular TV news anchorman. Trinidad Etong, wife of Ted Failon, a multi-awarded broadcast journalist and the anchorman of the country’s longest running TV newscast “TV Patrol World” was said to have shot herself at the head inside her daughter’s bathroom.

Police investigators are quick to dish out premature scenarios, like a possible foul play. There were insinuations that the newscaster himself is involved in the shooting. Ted Failon, along with his wife’s relatives and other members of the household are under investigation for a possible foul play. It appears that the investigators found inconsistencies in the statements of Failon and his housekeepers. Add to this the fact that the scene where the alleged suicide transpired was compromised after it was cleaned by the housekeepers.

This case has been muddled by so many conflicting reports and so many people are quick to jump into their own conclusions. Some people didn’t even honor the family’s right to mourn for their loss. Well, Ted Failon’s paraffin test resulted negative and their children, housekeepers and other friends and relatives of Trina believe that this was a suicide. They said that even before this event, Trina already confided that she has a problem and she doesn’t know how she will tell this to her husband. Failon will later on hint that this is about the family’s finances. People close to Trina even attest that Failon is not capable of hurting his wife. However, we really don’t know what happened, this blogger hopes that the truth will soon come out.

What irritates me is on how the police have been handling the investigation. They are quick to sow seeds of doubts in the people’s minds that there’s a foul play even without completing the investigation. Granting that there were circumstantial evidences proving that this was not a suicide, this doesn’t suffice to ruin a person’s name and family life too quickly.

The police have also arrested Failon’s in-laws and helpers using excessive force and it was even a “warrantless arrest”. They were arrested at the hospital without consideration to the family’s ordeal at that time. From what I saw in the television, it looks as if the policemen were arresting criminals who just committed heinous crimes when in fact, they were being charged for “obstruction of justice.” I doubt if proper police procedures were followed during the arrest. My heart goes with the kin of Trina especially to the sisters who were begging for the police to let them be on the side of their sister who is fighting for dear life. The heartless policemen continued with the arrest and the commotion possibly contributed to the subsequent death of Failon’s wife.

I won’t be too quick to make conclusions here. I, just like anybody else, can only base my observations from what I saw in TV or in other media. The way I see it, a strong motive should drive a person to kill and I can’t see any motive in this case for Failon to murder his wife. In fact, with all the circumstances, I tend to believe that Failon has nothing to do with it. If this was a planned crime, whoever planned it was full of stupidity. For one, the bathroom was cleaned; if Failon is guilty and this was a planned crime then the body should have been moved as far as possible to their house. He should have let somebody else discover the body. From what I heard, they reasoned out that they cleaned the bathroom to prevent Failon’s 12-year old daughter to see her mother in a pool of blood which to me is acceptable although it may not be sound reasoning. Events like this can dull a person’s rationale. In shock, people may see events in different lights at different perspectives.

The question is: who is benefiting with all the media mileage that this tragedy has created? I bet this news is a breath of fresh air for those people who were on the headlines recently. The kidnapping in Sulu, the charter change, government scandals and other issues took a backseat as media put the limelight on the Failon family’s tragedy.

I felt sorry for Ted Failon. I have a high regard for the man who has helped a lot owing to his public service programs in radio and TV. This is the same man who had a taste of politics and had the courage to admit that politics is not his calling. In 2001, he ran for a seat in Congress and defeated a political dynasty in Leyte. He did not ran for reelection, he simply went back to his first love, broadcasting.

I even think that he is getting this treatment because of his fearless commentaries in his radio programs. He, after all, has been criticizing the police authorities and other public officials for any abuse or wrong doing.

I can only hope that justice will prevail in this case and that due process will be exercise. Let us remember that a person is innocent until proven guilty…

My condolences to the Failon family.



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Judges save Matt Giraud from elimination in American Idol.

I didn’t expect it. But the American Idol judges decided to save Matt from elimination after he received the least number of votes. Not that I don’t like Matt, he is actually one of my early favorites but he was struggling during the last couple of weeks not being able to please the judges. Well, it’s good that we’ll get to see him perform again next week.

Anoop Desai, Lil Rounds and Matt Giraud were at the bottom 3. Anoop was declared safe leaving Matt and Lil in the bottom 2. After 36 million votes, it was announced that Matt got the lowest number of votes but after he performed “for his life”, the judges decided to save him.

However, this means that two contestants will be eliminated next week and it will be a Disco week.



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Filipino Pride: Charice sings US national anthem in a sports event.

Filipino pride Charice was given the privilege to sing the US national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner” during the opening day of a baseball event at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles last April 13.

The 16-year-old singer sang before an almost 60,000 people who watched the event. She was introduced as the "phenomenal young teen" from the Philippines.

Charice, is currently in the US to finish her first international album.

You can watch the video below:


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On Blogging and Politics

It was another day at the office and since we just came back from a four-day vacation, it was a rather busy day. I didn’t even manage to open my blog or check my web mail. It is a good thing that there’s something that I can look forward to after a stressful day at the office: I can visit my favorite blogs and write new posts for my blogs. This has become a daily routine for me: working and then blogging. I don’t know if this is a good thing since some people think this is becoming monotonous. Should I think of some other activities to do? I don’t know, but I’m still enjoying what I am doing.

On my way home from the office, I noticed several streamers and posters displaying the annoying faces of different politicians. It’s funny how these so-called public servants suddenly become visible when the election is fast-approaching. They boast of different projects and activities just to have their names and faces plastered on these streamers. Even occasions as trivial as graduations or Valentine's day were not spared by these politicians. You may think that the campaign period has finally started but not quite, the Philippine election has been set next year. Technically, these people are not violating electoral laws since they have not yet filed for their candidacy so they are not yet official candidates but not in the spirit of fair play. Things like this can lead us to question their motives.

Anyway, these are just my observations. I just hope that the Filipino voters have matured and have learned from their mistakes in the past. This country deserves better leaders… and better electorate.


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MYX Daily Top 10 (April 13, 2009)

There’s not much change in the countdown. Taylor Swift remains at the top spot with “Love Story” and she is the top international artist in the countdown. It is followed by Hale’s “Sandali Na Lang” which is the top OPM artist.

Britney Spear’s “If U Seek Amy” debuts at number 10 while Beyonce dropped out of the countdown.

Top Ten

01.Taylor Swift - Love Story
02.Hale - Sandali Na Lang
03.Miley Cyrus - The Climb
04.Paramore - I Caught Myself
05.Katy Perry - Thinking Of You
06.Hilera - Radical
07.Callalily - Hintay
08.Secondhand Serenade - Your Call
09.Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You
10.Britney Spears - If U Seek Amy



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Wishing you a Happy Easter!

Myspace Easter Comments

I understand that not all people celebrate Easter but if you do, then Happy Easter to you. Let us celebrate and declare that Jesus Christ is our Savior and the Lord of our lives. He suffered on the cross but in his voluntary death and resurrection, he vanquished sin and death.

Is there a better way to celebrate Easter than to accept the new life Jesus Christ offers today? Let us trust him as our Savior and surrender our will to him as the Lord.

Again, happy Easter to all and May God richly bless us all!


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My monitor has retired!

First of all, I would like to apologize for my failure to update this blog for the last couple of days. I’m sorry if I wasn’t able to return the visit or to reciprocate those who have dropped their EC cards on this blog or those who find time to comment on my posts. I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude for your continued support. I promise to make up for it.

I also would like to apologize to fellow members of a new Yahoo group of bloggers that I recently joined. We have agreed to support each other and to regularly visit other member’s blog but I failed miserably to meet my obligation for the last couple of days. I do apologize. (BTW, if you want to join the group, kindly visit this blog post.)

Sadly, I don’t have a choice. My computer monitor gave up on me last Tuesday, it will not turn on. The CPU was working based on the LED lights but there was no light on the monitor. Thinking that it was something that I can resolve on my own, I tried to plug the monitor directly into the power outlet but there was absolutely no sign of life. I just gave up and thought of bringing it to the nearest repairer the next day. The next day came and I was scheduled to go to a repairer but my girlfriend had other plans that I had to prioritize. Thursday and Friday are both holidays so the repair center was not open for business. I was already looking at buying a new monitor but this was an unforeseen expense that was not in my budget. A new monitor would cost me about PHP5, 000.00 which can already cover for 5 months of my internet bills. During these times of crisis, every peso counts.

This monitor has served me for about 8 years now and it has been a reliable companion before this day. Anyway, the monitor was repaired this morning and I only paid Php450. It has retired… but only for a short time.


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Featured Music: "Sandali Na Lang" by Hale

For today’s Monday Music, I am featuring an Original Pilipino Music from popular band Hale. The song is entitled “Sandali Na lang” which is currently at the number 4 in the MYX Daily Top Ten. The song is the fifth track in the band’s recently released album called Above Over and Beyond.

Lyrics | Hale lyrics - Sandali Na Lang lyrics

Hale - Sandali Na Lang Lyrics

Sandali na lang
Konting panahon
Aking paghihintay
Na makasama ka
Sandali na lang
At abot tanaw
Ang pagkakataon
Na makita ka
Naiinip, nasasabik, kasing bilis
Nang isang iglap mahahanap
Sa may ulap
Nagtatanong, nagtataka
Bat wala ka pa
Nakatingala nakatulala
pero sabi mo
Sandali na lang
At nandito na
At ang panahon
Ay wala sa ating kamay
Huwag mag alala
Maraming oras pa
Ang nakalaan
Para sa ating dalawa




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MYX Daily Top 10 (April 6, 2009)

Here are the hottest songs and music videos in the Philippines based on the MYX music channel. Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” is still the number one song followed by three OPM songs, Hilera with “Radical” on the second spot and Callalily’s “Hintay” and Hale’s “Sandali Na Lang” on the third and fourth spot respectively.

Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You” is the biggest gainer in the countdown. It jumped to today’s number 6 from number 9 last week.

Top Ten

01.Taylor Swift - Love Story
02.Hilera - Radical
03.Callalily - Hintay
04.Hale - Sandali Na Lang
05.Paramore - I Caught Myself
06.Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You
07.Katy Perry - Thinking Of You
08.Miley Cyrus - The Climb
09.Secondhand Serenade - Your Call
10.Beyonce - Halo



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Today is Palm Sunday.

Yes, if you are a Catholic like me, we should be celebrating this day. Palm Sunday, commemorates the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem before his Passion. This day is marked by worshipers bringing Palm leaves in churches to re-enact the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. In the Philippines, Palm leaves have been substituted by coconut branches or leaves probably due to the difficulty of procuring palm leaves during these times. These branches, called Palaspas are then blessed by the Priest and are taken home after the Mass so it can be hung beside or above doorways and windowsills. Some people believe that these branches can rid their houses from lightning or evil spirits.

It was said that the palm leaves symbolizes triumph and victory, in Jewish tradition.

May this day be a reminder that like Jesus who offered Himself for our salvation, we, too, can share what we have for our brothers and sisters in need. I just hope that our Lord’s example of total faithfulness and steadfastness of his mission encourage us all to take up the challenge of being true witnesses of God’s love and mercy to us all.


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Entrecard new drop list, join now!

I have been an Entrecard member for a couple of months now and I have been receiving quite a portion of this blog’s traffic from fellow EC droppers. When time permits, I always make sure to drop back to those who dropped their EC on this blog. However, I only average about 100 or so drops every day and there were days that I fail to drop cards.

I take my hat off to people who consistently drop EC cards reaching 300 drops a day! One of these droppers is Big Daddy Richard. When I visited his blog Trader’s Hub this morning, he came out with a brilliant idea. He put up a list of Entrecarders to start a link building network that has the potential of improving backlinks, Technorati Authority and Pagerank. He is hoping that the list will grow to 400 or more participating sites so he can put it in a scrolling widget.

This blog is on number 177. Many thanks to Daddy Richard for adding this blog to the list!

If you want to join, visit Trader’s Hub, comment on the blog post so your blog can be added to the list then copy and paste the code on your blog. It’s as simple as that!



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American Idol bids goodbye to Megan Joy.

It’s the end of the American Idol journey for Megan Joy Corkrey after she received the least number of votes from viewers which resulted in her elimination from the most-watched singing competition. The tattoed mother from Utah who sang “Turn Your Lights Down Low” which was popularized by Bob Marley didn’t even get to anticipate for the judges’ saving power.

"I'm not going to pretend that we're even going to contemplate saving you," said Simon Cowell before her "last-ditch" performance.

Anoop Desai and Allison Iraheta complete the bottom three this week.
Joy didn't bring any joy to the judges on Tuesday's pop music-themed performance show.

The top 8 who remain in the competition are Iraheta, Desai, Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, Kris Allen, Lil Rounds, Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre.

The top eight finalists will perform songs released during the year of their birth on next week’s performance night. Most of the remaining contestants were born in the 80s.



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MYX Daily Top 10 (April 1, 2009)

Taylor Swift remains in the top spot with her hit song “Love Story”. Callalily is the top OPM artist with “Hintay” which is on the second spot followed by Hilera with “Radical” at number 3.

Miley Cirus’ “The Climb” dropped out of the countdown while Secondhand Serenade’s “Your Call” is back at #8.

Top Ten

01.Taylor Swift - Love Story
02.Callalily - Hintay
03.Hale - Sandali Na Lang
04.Hilera - Radical
05.Paramore - I Caught Myself
06.Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You
07.Katy Perry - Thinking Of You
08.Secondhand Serenade - Your Call
09.Jonas Brothers - Tonight
10.Sarah Geronimo - You Changed My Life



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