Here are a few more Factoids to impress your friends. Factoids Part I can be found here. Thanks for my friend Princess Calero for sharing both sets of factoids with me.

1. Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July
   4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on
   August 2, but the last signature wasn’t added until 5 years
   later. Perhaps he was a member of the Procrastinators Party?
2. “I am” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
3. Hershey’s Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it’s kissing the conveyor belt.
4. Q. What occurs more often in December than any other month?
   A. Conception.
5. Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?
   A. Their birthplace
6. Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested?
   A. Obsession
7. Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter “A”?
   A. One thousand
8. Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?
   A. All invented by women.
9. Q. What is an activity performed by 40% of all people at a party?
   A. Snoop in your medicine cabinet.

Chikka is one heck of a great service but only Windows users were able to use it until recently…

1. The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400
2. The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000
3. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.  (See if you go off in a metal detector)
4. It is impossible to lick your elbow.
5. The youngest pope was 11 years old.
6. The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
7. Those San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
8. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a king from
   history: Spades – King David, Hearts – Charlemagne, Clubs -Alexander
   the Great, Diamonds – Julius Caesar

9. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321 (OK Take out
   our calculators)  (Mike's personal note: Also works for 11 x 11
   upto 1,111,111,111 x 1,111,111,111)

10. If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front
    legs in The air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front
    leg in The air the person died as a result of wounds received in
    battle. If the Horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died
    of natural causes.

11. AND FINALLY At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!

Now, for the general public to know – I, Mike Lopez – is among the 75%
as I tried to lick my elbow.  Now, that's not the funny
part.  The funny part is that I already know that it's impossible
to lick my elbow ever since I was 6 years old and I even challenge
other people to do it.  But then, I did it again -
instinct???  or… LOL.

On the other hand, my friend Benj Arriola told me about one long
tongue.  We wondered if German Schoolgirl Annika Irmler's 7cm
tongue (world's longest according to Guinness) could lick her
tongue.  Click here to read her story from BBC.

But then as Benj scoured the web for more (as he always does), he found the latest from the Guinness Website itself – 9.4cm long!!!

The past few weeks had been very hectic and
troublesome for me.  Problems, responsibilities, deadlines, etc.
and such a very hectic schedule did knock me off the track. 
Gladly, I'm now quickly recovering and getting back online.

So what happened for the past weeks.  To name a few – my mom had a
major operation.  She had her uterus and ovaries taken out due to
"mayoma" and please don't tell me what mayoma is in English as I really
don't know.  But generally, it's some kind of tumor that grows in
the uterus at it got big and caused my mother severe pain.  That
event alone took me out for more than a week.

I also have to admit that lots of my work for DWC were delayed -
especially due to my mom's operation.  By the way, my mom – Carmen
Olivia Gonzalez Pagulayan – is already on her healing process in her
home at Taguig, Philippines.  And for those who will ask me the
question, "How come you're Lopez and your mom is Pagulayan?"  The
answer is simple – Pagulayan is that surname (or lastname as you may
call it) of my stepfather.  Also thanks to my two brothers -
Simple (a.k.a. Paul) Pagulayan and Oliver (a.k.a. Louie) Pagulayan for
being so helpful.  Simple even went down all the way from Baguio
and was the one who paid for the hospital dues – I owe you bro and I
will pay you.  Hehehehe.  As for Oliver, he has been so
helpful in taking care of mom.  Then also special thanks our aunt
- Tita Olga Gonzalez – who celebrated her birthday on the exact day
that my mom's belly was being "split open."  She also spent lots
of time taking care of my mom in the hospital.  Then of course to
my two other aunties – Tita Marilou and Tita Vic.

Then I also had to attend meetings, meetings, and more meetings. 
Meetings that never ended.  Talking, talking, planning, planning, then
so far – nothing much has happened yet.  But then, I call that
investment.

What else?????  I also had to make sure that I had enough money to pay for my two daughters' tuition fees.

There are more that I can say but I choose to be quiet for now… 
Sorry to keep you thinking…  Anyway, the point is I'm now back
on track.  To my boss at DWC Mark Kevitt, thanks for being
considerable.  And also to Luis Argerich, thanks for giving me
time to spend with my family.  You guys are the best!!!

The past few weeks had been very hectic and
troublesome for me.  Problems, responsibilities, deadlines, etc.
and such a very hectic schedule did knock me off the track. 
Gladly, I'm now quickly recovering and getting back online.

So what happened for the past weeks.  To name a few – my mom had a
major operation.  She had her uterus and ovaries taken out due to
"mayoma" and please don't tell me what mayoma is in English as I really
don't know.  But generally, it's some kind of tumor that grows in
the uterus at it got big and caused my mother severe pain.  That
event alone took me out for more than a week.

I also have to admit that lots of my work for DWC were delayed -
especially due to my mom's operation.  By the way, my mom – Carmen
Olivia Gonzalez Pagulayan – is already on her healing process in her
home at Taguig, Philippines.  And for those who will ask me the
question, "How come you're Lopez and your mom is Pagulayan?"  The
answer is simple – Pagulayan is that surname (or lastname as you may
call it) of my stepfather.  Also thanks to my two brothers -
Simple (a.k.a. Paul) Pagulayan and Oliver (a.k.a. Louie) Pagulayan for
being so helpful.  Simple even went down all the way from Baguio
and was the one who paid for the hospital dues – I owe you bro and I
will pay you.  Hehehehe.  As for Oliver, he has been so
helpful in taking care of mom.  Then also special thanks our aunt
- Tita Olga Gonzalez – who celebrated her birthday on the exact day
that my mom's belly was being "split open."  She also spent lots
of time taking care of my mom in the hospital.  Then of course to
my two other aunties – Tita Marilou and Tita Vic.

Then I also had to attend meetings, meetings, and more meetings. 
Meetings that never ended.  Talking, talking, planning, planning, then
so far – nothing much has happened yet.  But then, I call that
investment.

What else?????  I also had to make sure that I had enough money to pay for my two daughters' tuition fees.

There are more that I can say but I choose to be quiet for now… 
Sorry to keep you thinking…  Anyway, the point is I'm now back
on track.  To my boss at DWC Mark Kevitt, thanks for being
considerable.  And also to Luis Argerich, thanks for giving me
time to spend with my family.  You guys are the best!!!

Last May 30, me and my family celebrated the 4th
birthday of my youngest daughter – Vhi Lopez.  We celebrated it by
going to SM Fairview and spent almost the entire afternoon and night at
Storyland enjoying all the rides that it offered.  We took the
Roller Coaster (no loops), the Octopus, the Bump Car, the Train, the
Ferris Wheel, the Rocket Ship and some more…

Vhi, at her young age of 4 was never afraid at any of the rides and
instead insisted on riding all of them over and over again. 
Luckily, I decided that we all have ride-all-you-can wrist tags and so
we need not worry about overspending.  Also with us was Elaine – my sister-in-law – albeit not joining us in the rides (she needed to buy some stuff for herself).

After getting tired, we decided to eat, this time with Elaine, at Pinoy
Toppings.  After eating, we bought a cake as requested by Vhi
which we ate the following day, then we all went home.

By the way, before we took the rides, we also had some photos taken at
Picture City (I still prefer Great Image).  Here they are below:

Evelyn, Kei, Vhi, and Me

Kei embracing Vhi

Evelyn, Me, Vhi, and Kei

My wife Evelyn and Me

We also had other photos taken while we were
enjoying our rides but almost all of them were blurry.  I'll see
if I can salvage some of them and if so, will post them in another blog
entry.

Last May 30, me and my family celebrated the 4th
birthday of my youngest daughter – Vhi Lopez.  We celebrated it by
going to SM Fairview and spent almost the entire afternoon and night at
Storyland enjoying all the rides that it offered.  We took the
Roller Coaster (no loops), the Octopus, the Bump Car, the Train, the
Ferris Wheel, the Rocket Ship and some more…

Vhi, at her young age of 4 was never afraid at any of the rides and
instead insisted on riding all of them over and over again. 
Luckily, I decided that we all have ride-all-you-can wrist tags and so
we need not worry about overspending.  Also with us was Elaine – my sister-in-law – albeit not joining us in the rides (she needed to buy some stuff for herself).

After getting tired, we decided to eat, this time with Elaine, at Pinoy
Toppings.  After eating, we bought a cake as requested by Vhi
which we ate the following day, then we all went home.

By the way, before we took the rides, we also had some photos taken at
Picture City (I still prefer Great Image).  Here they are below:

Evelyn, Kei, Vhi, and Me

Kei embracing Vhi

Evelyn, Me, Vhi, and Kei

My wife Evelyn and Me

We also had other photos taken while we were
enjoying our rides but almost all of them were blurry.  I'll see
if I can salvage some of them and if so, will post them in another blog
entry.

I did leave my job at ESIL Philippines but that doesn’t mean I’m jobless. Aside from my web hosting business, I am currently working full-time at DWC – www.dwebsite.com as PHP programmer and earning good. The company is US-based and
my work is home-based. What else could you ask for? A
home-based job for a US-based company. The pay is good too.Thanks to my friend Reine Sison-Gagno for telling me about it, to Anna Navarro, Mark Kevitt (the boss) and Luis Argerich.

Money – why are we always in need of it? Why
is it that we are always looking for it? Working to earn
it? Wanting it? If only a day can pass by where money has
no value at all. If there would be such a day, I honestly believe
that it will be one of the best days of my life.

Everybody needs money. I’m sure you need
money as much as I do. I’m pretty sure that adding more money to
that pocket will either bring a little more smile on that face of yours
or perhaps give you a better life for at least one day. Here in
the Philippines, classes will start soon and many people are still
looking for money for their kids tuition fees. I know – I’m among
these people.Our we bondaged to money? Are we all slaves of the coin?

C’mon, don’t sound like a hypocrite. Don’t tell me that you don’t
really need money. When you applied for your first job, were you
concerend about the salary? Of course you were. OK, if you
never had a job and never applied for one, I’m still 100% that you are
one way or another doing something to earn money so you can “buy” the
things that you need. And what would you tell me? That
you’re not doing it for yourself? That you are doing it for your
family? If that’s what you’re telling me, then you’re a
fool. What pride will be left in you if you don’t feed your
family? So, it’s really that fear of what will happen to YOU and
your family if you don’t earn right?

So what’s my point? Nothing really, I just want to tell you all
how I feel. Don’t we all get tired trying to earn more of
whatever currency we have in our own countries? Yes, we all
do. And that’s how I feel – much like you.

Money – why are we always in need of it? Why
is it that we are always looking for it? Working to earn
it? Wanting it? If only a day can pass by where money has
no value at all. If there would be such a day, I honestly believe
that it will be one of the best days of my life.

Everybody needs money. I’m sure you need
money as much as I do. I’m pretty sure that adding more money to
that pocket will either bring a little more smile on that face of yours
or perhaps give you a better life for at least one day. Here in
the Philippines, classes will start soon and many people are still
looking for money for their kids tuition fees. I know – I’m among
these people.Our we bondaged to money? Are we all slaves of the coin?

C’mon, don’t sound like a hypocrite. Don’t tell me that you don’t
really need money. When you applied for your first job, were you
concerend about the salary? Of course you were. OK, if you
never had a job and never applied for one, I’m still 100% that you are
one way or another doing something to earn money so you can “buy” the
things that you need. And what would you tell me? That
you’re not doing it for yourself? That you are doing it for your
family? If that’s what you’re telling me, then you’re a
fool. What pride will be left in you if you don’t feed your
family? So, it’s really that fear of what will happen to YOU and
your family if you don’t earn right?

So what’s my point? Nothing really, I just want to tell you all
how I feel. Don’t we all get tired trying to earn more of
whatever currency we have in our own countries? Yes, we all
do. And that’s how I feel – much like you.