Why I watch Corona Impeachment Trial–Reason 1

My work hours permit me to watch the on going impeachment trial scheduled every Monday to Thursday, 2 pm onwards. As the trial is coming to its conclusion, I’d like to share with everyone one reason why I watch this trial: It is Educational

Majority of those who watch this trial are non lawyers, which makes this televised proceedings quite interesting to those, such as me, who is quite curious as to what happens inside a court. Regardless of whether this is what happens in reality, or this may just be a special case of courtroom drama, one would still learn some things from this “show”.

Below are a few of the youtube videos that I found, that gives us a few bits and pieces of why there is still something we can get out of this trial.

1. What is the definition of a witness?

- A person who perceives (via 5 senses) and have to be personally be present at the scene of the crime

- Listen until 0:50 to get Senator Santiago’s explanation / definition.

Watch: 0:00–0:50

2. Impeachment is neither politcal and neither judicial in nature.

Impeachment is quasi politcal and quasi judicial. Quasi means – almost, but not exactly

Senator Santiago: “Thus rules of court do not apply totally to this proceedings, but lie to the discretions of this court.”

Watch: 0:20–1:07

3. The presenting lawyer of a witness must be bound by the admissions and statements of the witness presented by him/her.

Senate President Enrile: “That is the rule of trial. If you studied your trial technique very well, that’s the rule.”

Watch: 0:00–3:28

4. Excessive Entanglement

Lesson #1: Define excessive entanglement:

Excessive entanglement is a term of art in constitutional law that is applied in cases involving the separation of church and state

Lesson #2: If you’re not sure of what the meaning of a word or terms are, don’t use it! Keep it simple!

Watch: 01:55–03:14

5. Practice Diligence!!

Watch this video – it’s well summarized by the GMA News.

Negligence is not an excuse!

There are a lot more, if only I could find them amongst the thousands of youtube videos about the the impeachment trial.

You see, although one would say that this impeachment trial is a waste of taxpayer’s money, if we look at it from a different perspective, there’s still a lot we can get out of this trial. Good or bad, I cannot say. Good because we are learning about these judicial proceedings, bad because perhaps, now politicians know now how to be extra careful with their corrupt ways! Might be harded to catch them the next time around. And I guess now we know that it’s hard to be the enemy of no less than the president of the Philippines!

Reason #2 coming soon.

Twins at 2.5 months old

I haven’t really been in the mood or even inspired to write here in my blog for the past weeks or so, thus, I will simply write about two of the N things that are making me happy these days…

Last March, there were two new additions to our family, Gillian and Gail. And how fast time flies by, they’re now almost 2.5 months old, and getting chubbier by the minute. I can only imagine how fun (and probably annoying as well – dahil sa kakulitan nila, just like their big brother Grant) when they grow up.

No favoritism daw but Grant insists he loves Shobe Gail more.

Apps

Finally, after four years, I’ve been given the much awaited tech rollover, which means, I have a new laptop to replace my very reliable (but old) work laptop! And with the new machine comes with a freshly installed operating system, which means, I can start setting up my applications again, and finally organize my files and documents.

In line with this, I’ve decided to list down the must have applications I usually get for my computer and hopefully, the readers will be able to get something good out of the list below. 

1. Launchy is a must have utility for your computers! It’s a key stroke launcher that’ll save you a ton of time finding applications, files, documents, etc. All you have to do is index your file system, and launchy will be able to find it and you can do your search on the fly. If you don’t have this yet, you better get this now! Once I started using this, I got hooked!

2. FreeCommander is a file management application, which for me, is a very good replacement of the windows explorer. The best thing about free commander is that you can have two windows explorer-like windows at the same time. With that capability, you can easily click and drag files from one location to another, without having to change directories all the time. It sounds confusing, but it’ll look something like this:

3. Notepad++ is a great replacement for the ever lovable and simple notepad. This time, it offers you tabbed functionality, highlighting capabilities, etc. It definitely lives up to its name of notepad++.

4. 7Zip. If you want to zip and unzip pretty much anything, then get 7zip. And it’s free!

5. Google Chrome. I used to love firefox but when google chrome came out, and when I tried it out, I didn’t go back. Perhaps it has something to do with the usability and simplicity of the design. The feature I enjoy the most is its ability to do instant search in the url area of the browser. And for some reason, I feel like it performs better than firefox.

By the way, all these are free!

The applications I listed above are my must haves for any of my machines. But when it comes to work, there are a few more applications I would add to the list. Java SDK, Eclipse, Putty, Outlook (dreaded emails!), etc. But these are usually dependent on the type of work we’re doing too. Maybe I’ll have a separate post for my work related applications.

With this list, I hope I was able to share something useful to all. Feel free to share your must have apps as well!

Piri piri part 2

When I got home earlier, I was surprised to find a huge bag of my favorite piri piri chips in the sofa!

Apparently, my Auntie Rosie from Toronto recently arrived and when she went to visit the family here at home, she brought this along! I was surprised she even got me one. Turns out, my aunt asked them to bring home piri piri chips for me!

But here’s what surprised me more. I went to the other room, and I saw this unidentified box in the middle of the room:

When I opened it, lo and behold, they actually sent me 4 more bags!!!

I don’t know what my aunts from Vancouver and Toronto were thinking. The three of them are currently in Chicago and when I had a skype chat with them just the other day, they told me that they bough a bag of piri piri chips from Canada and brought it all the way to Chicago for my brother to bring home for me. But I had no idea that they actually got me a bunch already and sent them over here via Auntie Rosie! Crazy ladies!

But I’m not complaining! I love these! Now I just need to run longer distances starting tomorrow at the gym! 5km will no longer be enough!

Amah’s Siopao

One of the things I look forward to when my Amah (a.k.a. Lola) is around, is her siopao! She is an amazing cook and cooks pretty much anything you ask and one of her specialties (and she’s known for it around the Ng family and extended relatives) is her siopao! Yummy delicious homemade siopaos. And after a week of waiting, she finally made one batch this morning!

See, I already had one right after.

Truth be told, I only only eat her siopao, and no other siopao. Well, I did get to try a few siopao’s here and there but it just never really lived up to my Amah’s siopao.

Ask anyone from my family and relatives what they look forward to from Amah’s cooking? Siopao!

This very food actually helped them get through a rough patch during their mid years while in Manila. According to the stories of my father, there was once a time when my kong kong’s (a.k.a. lolo) hardware business failed and went bankrupt. During these hard times, my Amah utilized her talent and skills and started some food ordering service. And one of the favorites among her clients were her siopao (and lumpia if I’m not mistaken).

I always asked them why they didn’t pursue a food business of some sorts since she had the talent and skill. But they always said, that at that time, it was a good way to make ends meet, but later on, as they got older, it was just not something they wanted to stress over with. It was something she loved to do, and even loved it more when the grandchildren came and started asking for her cooking! She’s the type that can dissect a food that we ate from a restaurant and will cook it at home afterwards. She’s that good.

It is unfortunate though that at least from my immediate family, no one got her talent and love for cooking. haha! I guess the best I can do for now is just to savor her food!

Piri Piri

As much as I try my best to steer clear of junk foods, it’s just one of my weaknesses. And so when I learned that my grandparents are coming to the Philippines for a two month vacation, I took the opportunity to ask them to get me my favorite junk food – President’s Choice Piri Piri flavor chips!

If you love hot and spicy (very!) junk, then this is a must! I end up drinking a ton of water when feasting on this junk though. But nonetheless, I love it. On another note though, since I’ve been eating a ton of junk (and a lot of food lately), I have surprisingly gone to the gym and exercised a  whole lot more these past weeks. Just proves that we exercise so that we won’t feel guilty eating! haha

The Twins are here!

The twins are here!!!

The first time my sister gave birth, we were all excited. I even remember that she gave birth the day I arrived from Canada (my first trip then back 2008). They say, the second baby, the excitement is still there, but is much more subdued. However, for this case, we were even more excited for my sister to give birth because this time around, she’s having twin girls!!

They’re such blessings! Both healthy - Grant’s shobe #1 is Gillian, who weights slightly lighter compared to shobe #2, Gail, who weighed around 6+ pounds. And they have the exact same height!

We’re thinking that Grant, being the main attraction for a few years, may get jealous a bit, but they say that you have to make sure that he is always part of the activities so that he won’t feel left out. We’ll see, because when my brother in law showed the video and pictures of Grant’s younger sisters to Grant, he said “I don’t love my shobe!”. Hahaha

On another note, when I was in the hospital, the doctor said that it is very important, and highly encouraged that the mother breastfeed her babies. And the doctor said that she should do it the same time! What?? My sister is freaking out. Texting me last night and telling me with a worried tone that she’ll finally see the twins tomorrow (which is today) and she has to do this whole breastfeeding process. She actually did that before with Grant, but I guess it’s always different with having to do it for two at the same time!

Anyway, I told my mom about it and she said that she thinks my sister is actually scared – scared of the big responsibility that she now has of having to take care of two kids at the same time! Hindi biro. One baby is hard enough, but now two at the same time? Good luck to them!

Nonetheless, we are all very thankful that the twins and mother are safe and healthy. Two new additions to the family! I already bought two dresses for the babies, same style, but different colors. According to them, they didn’t want to dress the twins exactly the same! We don’t know yet if they’re identical. It would be fun though if they were! haha