Sharing happiness

Bert's sister Nona shares happiness with children in a nearby orphanage in the Philippines.  Bert loved the idea and celebrated Pat's birthday at the orphanage too!  Bert was in the Philippines for a high school reunion.  Although Pat wasn't there she was happy to learn that the children enjoyed the meal and gift bags. The kids responded with song and dance.  Everyone was happy and Pat, who could not attend her birthday party, felt the happiness from the people in the pictures.  

Doing housework leads to a happier marriage

An article in The Wall Street Journal caught Bert's eye and now he's putting the hypothesis to the test.  Check out this article, "Does More Housework Mean More Sex?"

Take the train!

Why is Bert smiling?  It is his first ride on a train in North America.  Not only does he not have to drive but he can also relax, read and snooze.  After visiting son Robert in the community of Hintonburg in Ottawa and helping him evaluate and prioritize major house repairs/maintenance and doing basement and yard cleaning, Bert is looking forward to some social time with his sister TingTing and longtime friends Archie and Louie in the big TO.  Unfortunately the wireless network on the train was down and he was forced to enjoy the scenery rolling by.

Fraud and Scams presentation

The Council of Senior Citizens Organizations (COSCO) of BC : The Voice for Seniors Since 1950 offer a variety of health promotion workshops and we attended one co-hosted by Member of Parliament Peter Julian (pictured here) yesterday at the National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre. Types of frauds and scams presented were: telemarketing, mail scams, pyramid schemes, repair and purchase scams, internet scams, cheque fraud, identification theft, ATM skimming, canvassing scams and real estate fraud. Do you know what to look for to identify counterfeit money? Ask Bert.

The importance and pleasure of research

Bert's smile was ear to ear today. One of his favourite activies is riding "hop-on / hop-off" bus tours. Today, he took a two-hour tour starting from Canada Place in Vancouver - to experience the tour that he will be recommending to visiting PICPA (Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants) delegates who will be attending the PICPA International Convention in Vancouver this May. He was particularly delighted to see Yue Minjun's patinated bronze figures that his cousin Raymond told him about months ago.

The early "Bert" catcheth the worm

Did you know that Bert loves birds? He also likes to be well-prepared and is willing to put the effort to getting a job done properly, thus the early "Bert" catches the worm.

Here is Bert with a new piece of public art at the Olympic Plaza. This is one of Myfanwy MacLeod’s 5.5 metre (18-foot) tall sparrows - can you tell whether it is the male or the female?

A for Adobo by Nelson Agustin

Bert loves both the attractive and mouth-watering photographs and Nelson Agustine's philosophy of bringing the culture of the Philippines to children and youth through Filipino food. He congratulates Nelson for creating this book and hopes that there will be more books from Nelson about other aspects of Filipino culture. It looks like a children's ABC book but it is more. Pat is also impressed that it is a dual language book - Tagalog and English. She has invited Nelson to come speak to ESL students and students in the senior photography class at the school where she works.

Review in Asian Journal the Filipino-American Community Newspaper.