Sleep It Off

RealAge Tip of the Day
Monday, December 27

Skimping on sleep may add inches to your waistline.
Your blood levels of leptin, a hormone that acts as an appetite
suppressant, appear to decrease when you experience sleep deprivation,
according to new research. Keep leptin levels high and curb overeating and
weight gain by getting at least 6 to 8 hours of sleep per night.
RealAge Benefit: Getting 6 to 8 hours of sleep per night can make your
RealAge as much as 3 years younger.

From: Health@RealAge.com

Don't try to make sense of the beloved Christmas story - believe!

MANILA, December 24, 2004 (STAR) BY THE WAY By Max V. Soliven - Don't
analyze or try to make sense of the beloved Christmas story - believe!

Last Wednesday we observed two sad funerals - that of Ronnie Allan Poe,
FPJ, a true national idol, and the other of KC, the teenage daughter of
Joe and Gina de Venecia, so tragically snatched away by a terrible fire
which gutted their home.

More than a million, perhaps even two, turned out to bid FPJ a tearful
farewell. Thanks to his family, from Conrad Poe to Yvette, and the
others, and most of all to his widow Susan who made certain - despite the
efforts of many to take advantage of the situation - that the funeral was
kept free of agitator-inspired anger and violence. The serious "trouble"
and even "People Power" rioting so hysterically predicted by some media
didn't materialize.

Of course, many of the mourners were chanting anti-GMA slogans, etc. But
the entire procession, from start to finish, was peaceful - a man whose
life and movies inspired two generations, fittingly and honorably laid to
rest. Ronnie was a gentleman in every way - not even fomenting violence
when he earnestly believed he had been cheated.

KC's funeral services in the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park was
jampacked with prayerful mourners, too. Not on a grand scale, since her
ashes were, in the end, borne by her grieving father and mother to a
nearby crypt. It wasn't some "social event", so I don't feel a who's-who
recitation of the names of those who attended is necessary. But there was
a universal outpouring of affection, particularly towards KC's bereaved
parents, who bravely have endured the pain. In the crowded church, I was
sandwiched between Ilocos Norte's Roquito "Alikabok" Ablan and Makati
Rep. and TODAY publisher-owner, Teddy Locsin, just to demonstrate that
sinners like myself can get along very well with . . . I won't exaggerate
by sayings, saints.

* * *

I notice that TIME Magazine, in its December 27, 2004-January 3, 2005
issue, hot off the press, has declared United States President George W.
Bush Person of the Year. His cover page portrait in that international
newsmagazine was slugged: American Revolutionary.

Of course, Dubya is Man of the Year. Even those who dislike him, even
hate him, and vehemently disagree with his decisions and the Iraq War,
must concede that, right or wrong, he had the courage to make unpopular
decisions. A decisive leader is what every country needs - including our
own.

It sounds like outrageous self-congratulation - okay, it is - but PEOPLE
ASIA Magazine, our monthly magazine (STARGATE is a subsidiary partner of
The STAR) named Bush one of our People of the Year much ahead of TIME.
This was done in our December issue, which was printed in November - and
we held our Awards Night and Anniversary Party honoring Bush, among our
"People of the Year," which included President GMA, last December 13.

Definitely one of our honored People of the Year is Fernando Poe, Jr.,
whom we also chose in November for singular tribute. Our article on him
in the December issue, written by Editor-in-Chief Joanne Rae Ramirez was
entitled: Still DA KING! Yes, Ronnie will always be da King in our hearts
- and the hearts of our people.

And so, once again, a fond farewell.

* * *

The President was right to take over, after months of hesitation, the
NAIA-3 Terminal - and damn the torpedoes. Of course Fraport is
protesting, and PIATCO propaganda machine has gone into high gear to
condemn the move. "It's illegal!" thousands of lawyers are already
shouting. Mrs. President, just do it!

Fraport, as everybody in Germany knows, is already under investigation by
its own government - its records were seized in government raids weeks
ago.

Only by resolutely moving on this matter can the Chief Executive and her
Government get things going - and, in time, earn the money to complete
the stalled project and REPAY all concerned, including the Japanese
contractor. What we've had, all these past months, has been gridlock,
humiliation, and a lot of jerks twisting the law to defy the Government.

Alexander the Great, when faced with the age-old riddle of the simply
drew his sword and cut the knot. (I didn't even see the movie yet, but
sanamagan everybody knows who reads a bit of history that's exactly what
Alexander did. What he did with his love life, and whether he was
poisoned, are other matters which remain in the realm of conjecture.)

GMA cut the PIATCO knot. Now comes the hard part: getting that airport
open and operating. I talked with Executive Secretary Ed Ermita and he
said their estimate is that it would be fully operative within six
months. Just do it.

It's time we got a real airport terminal, not the junk one which is
NAIA-1. Sus, it's a wonder Ninoy Aquino didn't rise from his grave to
demand that his name be stricken off that terminal building. At least,
though, I must report, the toilets in the arrival area at NAIA-1, after
years of delay, have been remodeled and now, state-of-the-art toilets -
from pissoirs to automatic flush, and automatic faucets, and dryers, and
salamabit, even toilet paper! (Will miracles never cease) have been
installed.

This transformation reputedly cost P4.8 million - money well-sent, if you
ask me, to finally prevent every other country from heaping scorn on us,
and foreign tourists and disappointed would-be investors being turned off
by their first encounter with our Fourth World country where one couldn't
even take a decent pee upon arrival from a long flight. (If I remarked
that we're beginning to look like an African country, the Africans I'm
sure would be insulted).

Believe me, you can tell a great deal about a nation by its airport
toilets.

For instance, China spent billions of dollars fixing up the airport
toilets in its main cities, from Beijing to Shanghai to Xian, before it
became an international tourist power. I used to fly around China in the
old days - the mid-1960s. The airplanes were junk Ilyushins and Tupolevs
without seat-belts, and the airports had stinking toilets. You could even
see through holes in walls of the woman's toilets without even trying to
peek, to great mutual embarrassment. Now look at them in the People's
Republic, at least in the "tourist belt". Spanking clean, sweet-smelling
- and completely streamlined. Our NAIA? The Terminal toilets were hardly
beyond the primitive Antipolo system - at least until a couple of weeks
ago. Now, by golly, at very long last: a decent toilet!

I learned this not from press release but from first-person inspection. I
went to NAIA-1 last Wednesday night to meet my wife, who was arriving
from a speaking engagement in Hanoi (Vietnam), via Lufthansa on
connection from Bangkok. To my amazement, before the aircraft landed, the
chief inspector on duty led me to the toilet - cheerfully remarking that
it's only for visitors and tourist, "we airport personnel aren't allowed
to use it!"

Lo and behold - a gleaming, modern toilet - but a small one. We're light
years away from Hongkong, Singapore, Pudong-Shanghai, even Kuala Lumpur!
However, hopefully, it's a start.

* * *

I won't try to be profound. Nobody, with today's last-minute, desperate
Christmas rush in full frenzy today, probably has time or interest in
reading a column. But this I've got to say. I find, once more, that every
year, newsmagazines and journals like TIME and NEWSWEEK, even STERN
(Star) and Der Spiegel (The Mirror) of Germany, feel obliged to put a
Madonna Nativity scene on the cover (see the December 20 issues) and
dissect, criticize, analyze, even attempt to debunk the Evangelists,
traditional lure, and in toto, the Christmas story.

This year, TIME's cover talked about "Secrets of the Nativity" and "Why
the story of Jesus' birth inspires so much scholarly interest - and
faith."

In the case of NEWSWEEK, it was even in an even more debunking mood. The
cover story was entitled, "The Birth of JESUS," subtitled, "Faith and
History: How the Story of Christmas came to be."

Okay, both made fascinating reading - and we can only applaud the
scholarship applied to ancient issue.

Yet, why not just believe? The old Christmas story is good enough for you
and me. Jesus born in a manger, the Herald Angels singing, Joseph and
Mary all aglow in a stable - the Magi coming with the gifts of love and
devotion. The Christmas star, up in the sky.

God bless you this Christmas! God bless our discouraged and grieving
nation and uplift our hearts to treasure the things that count. God be
with our families as they gather in prayer. Jesus redeem this Christian
land - He came to save us. That's all we know, and that's all we need to
know.

Merry Christmas! Maligayang Pasko! Feliz Navidad! and as we say in the
heartfelt language of my childhood: Naimbag na Pascuayo!

Look upwards, this dark night - and you'll see that star!

From: lquesada@newsflash.org

De Rerum Natura: Amorsolo

MANILA, December 24, 2004 (STAR) DE RERUM NATURA By Maria Isabel Garcia -
"How would you like to be remembered?" asked an interviewer. He replied:
"That is an impossible question. Remembrance after my death implies it is
not up to me so why should I even worry about it?" That is one of the
deepest and lasting lessons that I learned from the original writer of
this column who wrote 11 columns before he passed away two and a half
years ago. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense since
gratitude is really more for us who are left behind to have a sense of
indebtedness to an unbroken chain of life so we could enrich and make
more meaningful our own portion of it while we are still here. Gratitude
is also what gives us inspiration to extend ourselves to others and to
the world, without seeking recognition for it. There is nothing more
poignant and profound than a good deed not waiting a second more to be
recognized or reciprocated. This got me into thinking about memory and
gratitude and how with the season, they are more pronounced and
collective. My Christmas columns have always departed from their weekly
science/nature theme. Memory and gratitude as a theme for this one will be
a timely and worthy exception. If there is anything I learned from
writing these weekly science/nature columns this year, it is about how
the brain works - how it creates, stores and retrieves memory. Memory is
what makes us who we are. Memory is what holds the people, places, events
and ideas we should be grateful for. And since gratitude depends on
memory, we owe it to ourselves, to others and to life, that we dig deep
in our minds to realize bits and pieces of our private and collective
lives that make the same lives more meaningful now, even if not
necessarily richer or easier as some would hope. It is also important
that the scope of your memory not be wholly defined by what media, print
or broadcast, kidnaps to store into your memory, with their startling
visual images and deliberately loud voices inviting you to have your
fifteen minutes of fame. There are no cameras and microphones in much of
life and the universe, no matter how many reality TV shows they come up
with. We can only approach our own lives and the rest of the universe
with our minds and hearts, through our sense of discovery, exploration
and curiosity. Not having a camera, a microphone or even a column to
write about it does not make any one person's dance less meaningful. The
attempts of public school teachers I have worked with like Doris de Leon
and Sheila del Pilar (I make a rare exception and mention names in this
column) of Antipolo, thrice daily, to impart science to classes
consisting of 90 each put to shame my weekly attempt to make sense of a
science idea in these columns. They are no less real or any less
interesting or heroic than those "challenges" celebrities and other
prize-contenders are made to do on TV. Newspaper and TV headlines should
not totally define the memories of your lifetime. I think we owe it to
our own sense of being alive and to others to deepen our own sense of
gratitude by expanding our memory. Recently, I deliberately went on a
personal quest to do just this. I started with Amorsolo.

I spent a long time looking at a painting of Amorsolo when I recently
visited the new Ayala Museum. I went there hoping to overrun my senses
with painted "memories" of great Filipino artists who deeply loved this
country. I looked at the nameless figures in Amorsolo's paintings and
juxtaposed them with some of the real farmers, plantation and other rural
workers I have had the chance of meeting in my life. I even stretched it
to the ones who work the land to feed the rest of the nation but who
remain nameless and faceless when we give thanks as we only remember
those who become famous and who are lucky enough to get the attention of
the media. I also remembered a video clip that the Ayala theaters showed
during the centennial year before every film they showed. It featured
real footage of wars our forefathers fought. I noticed one man who seemed
old and frail, dressed only in a sack cloth and a hat, holding a bolo,
charging barefoot toward the enemy. He was one of countless unnamed
Filipino souls who did not even know that a camera caught his last
seconds, who did not even ask to be remembered but who died so we could,
as a nation, have a shot at being free. This moved me to renew my
personal gratitude to our land and our people, to those whose most candid
acts involved giving up their own lives so we can have a shot at ours
now. These nameless ones and their unmonitored acts of selflessness and
kindness continue till now. The same goes for the dedicated teachers and
scientists who still choose to remain in this country, despite the most
difficult academic conditions, to save us from the scariest and most
dangerous state of all which is ignorance. It is to them who choose and
create their spaces for life and growth for themselves and others without
getting embroiled in the politics of remembrance that I give my profound
thanks for this Christmas column.

A recent guest also reminded me of this lesson of being grateful for the
moment and learning to let go. A falcon, a European kestler, recently
flew into my living room and "sat" on my sofa and would not leave. It
would not even fly around the house even if it did not have any visible
injuries. After the initial fascination subsided and I could think
clearly, I put it in a laundry basket with holes (since I could not find a
cage big enough for it) and drove it to the Wildlife Rescue Center. It
turned out that this raptor migrated from Europe during the winter there
and chose my couch as a stop in its long journey. I left it there where
it would regain strength and be set free in a couple of days. I am
grateful for its visit for reminding me that wild peace still lives among
us and for a most entertaining episode in my life. Most of all, for being
blessed with a presence that teaches one the kind of love that recognizes
the right season for everything: when to hold on, how to be grateful and
when to let go. I don't know what one calls that kind of love. Amorsolo
is I think a good name for it.

With gratitude, I wish you a Merry Christmas.

* * *

For comments, e-mail dererumnaturastar@hotmail.com

From: lquesada@newsflash.org

Help, My Employees Are In a Rut!

ASK ANNIE
Help, My Employees Are In a Rut!
Here's how you can 'light a fire' under your subordinates and help boost
their careers.

Dec 06 2004
By Anne Fisher
Fortune.com


Dear Annie:
I was promoted in late November of last year to my first supervisory job,
and one of the first things I did was sit down with each of the 22 people
who report to me and talk with them about their plans for the year ahead.
Our company offers a lot of training and development opportunities and, as
a former techie who is moving up, I know how important these are if one
wants to get anywhere. So my subordinates and I had these wonderful
detailed conversations about what they wanted to do next, how they planned
to get there, and what kinds of training they were going to pursue. The
trouble is, here we are a year later, and I notice that only about half of
my people have done what they talked about doing. Now that it's time for
another annual sit-down, can you suggest a way to light a fire under the
other half? Or should I just let it go?
—Low-key Boss

Dear LKB:
First, congratulations on doing what managers are supposed to do, i.e.,
taking an interest in developing others' potential--even if it seems right
now as if you're more interested than they are. It's hard to say why half
of your subordinates haven't followed up on what they said they wanted to
do. It's always possible that at least a few of them were just blowing
smoke in the first place--that is, telling the new boss what they thought
you wanted to hear. But it could also be that lighting a fire under them,
as you put it, depends on your own ability to understand what really
motivates them. "People do not get excited about development unless it is
important to them," notes Susan Gebelein, an executive vice president at
Minneapolis-based HR consulting giant Personnel Decisions International
(http://www.personneldecisions.com). With several co-authors, Gebelein
wrote a terrific book, now in its 7th edition, called Successful Manager's
Handbook: Develop Yourself, Coach Others (ePredix, $59.95). A few tips
from Gebelein and her colleagues:

1. Actions do count. Don't just listen to what people say. Watch what they
do. Take note of which activities your people spend the most time on when
they've got the choice. Notice what seems to energize them. "When people
talk about things they care about, they become animated," Gebelein notes.
Then think about suggesting training opportunities that might build on
that excitement. Got a programmer who really comes alive when it's time to
give a presentation to the marketing people? Maybe he'd like to take a
communications course--or, heck, a sales course.

2. The carrot approach works. Talk about training and development
opportunities that will help people get something that matters to them.
For example, when you're giving someone a "stretch" assignment intended to
teach them new skills, mention that it will also give them a chance to
work with someone they admire, a chance to set their own hours, or some
other enticement you know they want. Naturally, not everyone wants the
same things, and after a year with these folks, you should have a pretty
good idea what strikes a spark with them. Of course, your own goals, and
the company's, are important too--but, says Gebelein, "if you expect
people to change simply to meet an organizational need, you will be
disappointed."

3. Inspiration comes from the top. Get excited about your own development.
Enthusiasm, if it's real, is contagious. "Talk to your people about
development events--a class, a conference--where you learned something
useful or gained an interesting new perspective," Gebelein suggests.
There's an old saying among venture capitalists: "If the light ain't on at
the top, it's dim all the way down." So, act as a beacon.

4. Efforts are never wasted. Ultimately, of course, people's career
aspirations, and the amount of effort they're willing to put in to reach
them, are in their own hands, not yours. Don't blame yourself if, even
after all this well-meant nudging, you've still got a few people who are
content to slog along in the same old rut. But don't, as you say, "just
let it go" until you've really tried. Who knows? Someone you encourage in
the right direction today could be a huge success 10 years from now. Those
are always good people to know, and be known by.

Send questions to askannie@fortunemail.com.

From: annieadm@TIMEINC.NET

=====
ÉÍÞÈ
Shang Yi
DEI GRATIA
Lord Jesus, let me know myself and know You and desire nothing save only You.
Let me deny myself and love You. Let me humble myself and exalt You.
Let me think of nothing except You. Let me die to myself and live in You.
Let me accept whatever happens as from You. Let me banish self and follow You, and ever desire to follow You.
-- St. Augustine