Googling the Earth

Thank you to Rey for tuning me into Google Earth (where have I been?)..... I'm having entirely too much fun, and wasting too much time with it..... I suppose it is because I have not been able to travel at all this year, well not anywhere farther than 100 km from home that is..... Here are some places I'd like to go back to..... can you guess where they are?

One of my favourite cities:Duh, it's labelled

1) Hint: easy one..... somewhere in New York City...... Answer

2)Hint: another easy one..... from my all time favourite city..... Answer

3) Hint: Somewhere in Tokyo.......Answer: 1, 2

4) An obvious one from Tokyo.... Duh?

5)Hint: Ghee this one's for you.... again in Tokyo..... you blogged about this place a while back..... Answer

6) Hint: somewhere in the Philippines...... Answer

7)Hint: Somewhere in Manila..... Answer

8)Hint: Another one in Manila.....Can you tell I miss Manila?.... Answer

This is where I used to live in Manila......
9) And I miss this mall......haven't seen the Mall of Asia yet....

10) A beach in Aruba.... dude, I am totally there.....

Man I need to get out and see more of the world in real life.....

Another ADDENDUM to my previous post regarding those Ominous Signs that popped up in the corn fields..... here is the bird's eye view from Google Earth..... As you can see, my house is on the outskirts of the city of Mississauga.....you can see the green slowly being consumed by urban sprawl..... not complaining too much though, they just built a Real Canadian Superstore nearby (that white rectangle north of my house).... I love that store.... sorry Walmart (the rectangle just west of Superstore)..... and the highways are just 1 min. away..... and that whole area around the highway is being turned into a mega shopping center..... convienience yeah.... concrete booo.... I'm torn..... anyway, label 1 is where that ominous sign sits in the former corn field..... and label 2 is where the ominous sign first popped up, now paved over by a massive business park.....

As long as they don't touch the badlands.....

TECHNORATI TAGS: google earth, travels

Ominous Signs

Speaking of nostalgia...... ever since I moved back to Mississauga, I've been feeling nostalgic for the days when my friends would make fun of me because I lived in the "boonies"...... boonies, short for boondocks, from the Tagalog (Filipino dialect) bundok = mountain... an area far from civilization.....I've been feeling this way because urban sprawl has slowly been paving over the fields of corn, canola, and even just wildflowers that used to surround my area..... This sign has been standing in the middle of what used to be a corn field for some time now..... I don't know what they grow in that field now, but I did see scatterings of corn that seems to have re-seeded themselves..... the last time this sign popped up in a field, this is what grew behind it..... It was perfect autumn weather over this long weekend, that I decided to take a drive through the boonies and appreciate it and take pictures while it lasts..... before they pave over any more of this paradise.... I ended up in the Badlands.... it was crowded with people on the weekend.... but today, I had an unexpected day off, as a member of my study group felt ill..... so I decided to take another trip to the badlands sans the crowd, before I hit the books on my own....on a clear day, you can see downtown Toronto from here..... can you see the CN Tower? The fall colours have already peaked in this area...... beautiful..... I've mixed up the pics from the weekend and today, but as you can see, both were beautiful autumn days.....Corn!.....Cows!.....Horses!......This one's got a jacket on already......This used to be a field of grazing cattle, now it's a subdivision in the making..... The Credit River...... Llamas!.....
sorry, I didn't get a good shot of the llamas, I'll try again next time......Well, thanks for joining me on my drive through the country, y'all come back now ya hear......

Addendum: As I was finishing off this blog earlier this afternoon, I caught this in my backyard.....Yes, that's SNOW!!!!..... we have a saying in these here parts, "if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 mins".....

TECHNORATI TAGS: autumn, the boonies, cheltenham badlands

Happy Thanksgiving

This year, as with every year, I have much to be thankful for...... but this thanksgiving, I would like to give particular thanks for the Amish, and their extraordinary example to the rest of us about what the face of Christ looks like.... their faithfulness to the command to love and to forgive is unbelievable.... As you are all probably aware, last week an Amish community in Pennsylvania was attacked..... they were not just insulted, or criticized, or accused of being backward or what have you..... no, 10 of their innocent school girls were shot..... 5 died.... by an idiot with a gun who then killed himself..... did the Amish respond by calling for revenge?..... did they call for the execution of anybody in retribution?...... did they burn "the English", as they call us, in effigy because one of us attacked them?..... no..... they forgave..... I'm sure they felt anger and rage inside themselves, they are only human..... but in the end they rose above their humanity to become more Christ-like, responding to evil with goodness..... on the night of the shootings, some even visited the home of the gunman to comfort the murderer's wife and children..... she was invited to the funerals...... and as an Amish grandfather buried his grand-daughter, he stopped to instruct the younger members on the importance of forgiveness, and not harbouring evil towards the murderer..... they may not believe in higher education, but we have a lot to learn from them.....

³Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
⁵Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.

⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
⁷Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

from Jesus' sermon on the mount
Matthew 5:3-10

TECHNORATI TAGS: amish, thanksgiving

What's a tag?

I've just been tagged by Ghee..... I didn't get it at first, but now I understand...... my task is simply to list 7 songs that I am "into" right now...... sounds simple enough, but I'm not really into any songs in particular right now...... I don't even really pay attention to the radio, which I listen to only while I'm driving, which is hardly ever, now that I've started taking the train ..... but that's another blog..... anyways, here goes, 7 songs I'm "into" right now, Ghee said, that it doesn't necessarily have to be a song, but any piece of music:

1. The whistling song on the Pepsi commercial where Jimmy Fallon is dancing on the taxi..... I heard it's called Streamline by Newton..... it's stuck in my head and I can't get it out, somebody help me......
2. Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven..... been listening to a lot of classical music lately, to dissipate the stress and tension around me as of late.... I usually play Moonlight Sonata on the piano to clear my mind.... it works.....
   
3. Starry Night by Dan Maclean..... I sing it in the shower for some reason...
4. You and Me by Lifehouse.... been practicing on guitar for Tu Anh......
5. Hate Me by Blue October..... they've been playing it a lot
   
6. Hey Mama by the Black Eyed Peas.... for some reason, I intermittently interject "hey mama, shake your booty mama" into coversations throughout my day....
7. Bullet with Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins...... for when I'm frustrated....

ok Ghee, I'm not it anymore :) Happy Thanksgiving weekend all!

P.S. Here's the Pepsi commercial.....

Sorry if it gets stuck in your head....

TECHNORATI TAGS: tagging