A very sad news....

This afternoon at work, my officemate told me that the son of our company lawyer has passed away tragically. I have met him a few times but since he was the leasing executive of one of our tenants, I have spoken to him a lot and we email a lot as well.

I believe he would be in his early thirties. I think he was 32 years old. He was a very nice young man and very professional and always willing to assist.
And a very handsome man!

I am sure he will be greatly missed by his friends and officemates. I'm sure the family is very devastated. With stories like this, I remember my nephew who died tragically as well. It took so long to get over the grief.

Rest in peace, James.

I think this is the song that is meant for something like this story.

The Legacy of an Adopted Child - Update

A month or so ago, I got a call from my ex-husband telling me that our adopted son was in the hospital and in a very serious condition. He tried to bike to the hospital but passed out on the side walk close to the hospital.

Instead of passersby helping him, they stole his bike and backpack. But luckily one guy asked him if he needs help and by this time he cant see as his eyes closed up due to an infection.

So I decided to visit him. As in my old post, we are estranged from each other. I entered his room and his dad told him your mom is here. I got a blank stare from him and I was ignored for about 20 minutes. I then decided to just leave and not visit again.

A few weeks after that, I came face to face with him at a street downtown and he did not seem to recognize me. Then it happened again and same reaction. The  third  time I saw him, I was sure it was him. I turned around and called his name. He said hi and he looked hungry so I gave what was in my phone case and told him to buy lunch. I have seen him a few times since then. As his father mentioned he is good with computers, I asked him to check my laptop and paid him for it.

We have not communicated after that. He had told me stuff about his natural parents but I just found out he has not communicated with his mother lately.

His natural mother wants him to go to the Philippines but he is not sure. Besides, he has some legal issues he needs to sort out before he can apply for his passport. Who knows what will happen?

                     Gary Valenciano - I Will be here/ The warrior is a child.

A Homeless Incident

A few days ago while I'm on my last few blocks of walking, I was asked by a person if I have spare  change. He did not look like a homeless person. He was not carrying anything. I told him I was just out for a walk and not carrying money.

He asked me if I am from the Philippines and I replied yes. Soon he told me he has not eaten in two days. I felt sorry for him and told him I  will buy him a meal at the 7 Eleven across the street. By the way, I always carry a debit card with me when I go for a walk, plus business card and my bus pass.

He then said that he wanted rice with meal and they sell them at an Asian grocery store too far away from where we were. I said that I  am sorry but I can't do that. He refused the free meal even though he has not eaten in two days. I'm just wondering whether he wanted the cash so he could buy something else.

I remember a friend of mine who told me that a homeless person asked her to buy him lunch so she said - I will get you burgers at Harvey's but the guy told her "No, I want to eat steak". OMG, what is happening to the world we live in. A homeless person getting too picky when asking for help. No wonder, people just ignore them and don't  bother to help.

I guess this song is appropriate  for this post.

Being diabetic

I have been diabetic for 30 years and have managed to control it by diet and two pills. All those years my blood sugar has been ok and on the normal level. On my last A1C test it went up ba a point which is really not good.

So now I am on strict diet and exercise regimen. I usually walk a lot - I walk to work and go home at lunch to add more steps on my fit bit. I also volunteered to do our banking which is walking 17 city blocks. Next week is my second month of doing it and I hope it is enough that I won't  be put on insulin.

I will have my next lab tests mid September. I hope by then I would have lost the weight since as diabetic we cant carry extra weight. I do 20,000 steps most days unless it is raining and lately we've  had thunderstorms. My highest has been 27,000 steps, more than 10 miles. Now when winter comes i might have to go down to our fitness room.

Here is my playlist when I'm walking which I have only done last few days. Before I always felt I will be listening and get engrossed by the music so I just did it while I'm walking along the park close to my building. But I only have put it on my one ear.

Fort Edmonton Park

Our company team building was held at this park. This is a recreation of old Edmonton. There are a lot of activities to do here. We took the old trolley to go to the farthest part of the park and go back to the start.

I took quite a lot of pictures so I will let the pictures do the talking. I have had problems uploading pictures and so I googled the problem and looks like i am not the only one. It says to use Chrome which I did and the same. So i will try to try some of the suggestions i had read but will take time.

In the meantime, I will just upload some music I have found on my fave site.

This station is inside a bus which goes around the city and sometimes parks on the street. The artists do song covers and opm-original Philippine music.
I like this cover.

Four guys doing Bruno Mars cover

This young guy is a Canadian and from Calgary. I first saw him on The Voice Kids Phillipines. 

He was the runner-up but is now more famous than the winner.

I hope you enjoy them. It's  nice to see talented people from the Philippines.

Thanks for stopping by.

Farmers Market

I found this on Wish 107.5. I hope you enjoy listening to him.

It has been a while since the farmer's market opened downtown. I have been there a few times. I bought mostly vegetables and fruits. I tried one or two spice rub, one I really like, the other one not too much.

There was a stall for all kinds of nuts flavoured like coconut and cheesecake almonds. Pepper and dill nuts. Twice I bought sweet and salty popcorn. 

I have taken pictures the last time I was there.