How to be a hero

For the last 2 weeks, “Hero” is the buzz word. From Manny Pacquiao winning the 7th world boxing title and just recently, Efren Penaflorida winning the CNN Hero of The Year award for his passion for educating the out of school youth through his unique “school-on-cart”.

Both men possess the values of a modern day hero. Both have given a unique contribution to the world through their extraordinary passion in their respective fields. Both have given the country honor and glory in the midst of sad news on rampant government corruption, election violence and perceived hopelessness of the people. They both gave us someone to look up to.

For the ordinary person that we are, though, can we become heroes ourselves? Do we need to be extraordinary athletes, or super genius academe, or someone who possess a great idea no one else has thought of? Do you need to work abroad just so you can be call the “modern-day hero”?

Do you need to die for your country to be called a hero?

I know you know the answer. I’m going to state the obvious. As simple, ordinary as you are, you can and I can be heroes.

You are the only father who can raise your children well — be the best father you can be for them. You can be the best spouse to your better half — grow your relationship. Your business, small as it is, can make a difference — be honest to your employees and to your clients. Your company hired you because they believe in what you can do for its growth — be the best employee that you can be.

God has given us a special mission unique for each of us. Nobody can do it but you. (Sounds like a dance song to me!) You don’t need to be extraordinary to be a hero. You are a hero if you do your part in this society. Honor Manny and Efren — but most of all, look at the mirror and ask yourself how you can be like them, an everyday life hero for your family, your friends, your loved ones, your company, your country.

Hosting on a cloud

This week, we jumped to cloud hosting, abandoning (well, about to) our VPS server hosting. Cloud hosting is, as I learned, the future of web hosting. For about a month, I’ve investigated Rackspace Cloud and I’m trilled to be migrating our entire business to them. I’m seeing a whole lot of new business opportunities with this move — something that I will try to announce later when it’s ready.

Here are my initial impressions with Rackspace Cloud:

1. Their Fanatical Support is rock solid awesome. Some hosting companies offer email support. They offer 24/7 chat and telephone support. I’ve been chatting with their staff each time I have questions. And they’ve been helpful. There’s nothing like knowing you have real people on stand by if you need help.

2. I’ve been transferring huge sites. Since they don’t allow shell access, I gzip my files, have them download it, and unzip it to my account. Pretty helpful.

3. This I still have to confirm: you can register domains through them for $10/year. I am about to register a bunch of .cc domain to which GoDaddy sells at $19/year and NameCheap at $29/year. Their support staff said, any kind of domain costs $10/year. If this is true, how cool would that be? Still have to confirm again, though. :)

All in all, the experience is pleasant. It’s kinda pricey at $100/mo. if you’re hosting just a domain or two. The solution’s primarily for web application/web development businesses. But, that’s why we’re coming up with a solution so you too can experience the cloud ;-)

Its going to be an exciting ride!

Where I’m from, everyone’s a hero

This artwork shows it all — everything that happened this week. Credits – Mark Gosingtian.

Mar Roxas: “Cynicism has already lifted from our hearts”

Today, Sen. Mar Roxas has officially accepted the challenge of being Noynoy Aquino’s running mate. A very interesting tandem, they are going to be the team to beat. While I still am undecided on who to vote, I have to admit that Sen. Roxas has won my heart for the sacrifices he made for the sake, well, at least the Liberal Party. Bu then, even in a smaller think such as that, you can see character.

Here’s the acceptance speech he delivered.

Maraming maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat. Magandang tanghali po. Happy Holidays to our Muslim brothers.

Salamat, Noynoy, sa tiwalang ipinagkaloob mo sa akin. Salamat sa karangalang maging kasama mo sa paglilingkod sa bayan. Thank you for this opportunity to work with you as we raise the banner of reform. Thank you for the privilege of joining you and all our kababayans in the fight for decency and integrity in public service, and for a government that puts the people’s interest first.

Taos-puso ko pong tinatanggap ang hamon na isulong ang tunay na reporma sa ating bansa.

Taos-puso ko pong tinatanggap ang responsibilidad na maging kabalikat ni Noynoy sa kanyang laban para sa pagbabago.

Taos-puso ko pong tinatanggap ang maging katambal ni Noynoy Aquino.

But this fight is not just about Noynoy and me. It’s bigger than the two of us, it is bigger than the Liberal Party. It is about our collective thirst for change.

It is about our thirst for change finally overcoming those who want to continue the tayu-tayo system, the horse-trading, the greed, the self-interest, the transactional politics that has been the biggest roadblock to progress and prosperity for all.

Tungkol ito sa matuwid laban sa baluktot. Tungkol ito sa tapat laban sa tiwali. Tungkol ito sa tama laban sa mali.

Noy, you have raised the banner. Ito ang bandila ng reporma at pag-asa. Ito ang maglalagay ng pagkain sa mesa, dahil hindi na nanakawin ang pondo ng mga magsasaka. Ito ang magbibigay ng trabaho sa taumbayan, dahil hindi na kokotangan ang mga namumuhunan. Ito ang magpapaabot-kaya sa presyo ng gamot, dahil hindi na makikipagsabwatan sa mga abusadong pharmaceutical companies.

My friends, this is going to be a tough battle. We should not be lulled into complacency. We are up against forces who will fight tooth and nail, fair and unfair, legal and illegal, against us. Sa kanila yata, tuloy ang ligaya; sa atin naman, tuloy ang laban.

Kailangan nating isulong ang bandila ni Noy at ng reporma. Mahirap ang laban na ito, pero nasa kamay natin ang ating kapalaran.

Kung bawat araw, ang bawat isa sa atin ay makahimok ng isa pang kasangga natin, tiyak ang ating tagumpay.

Our opponents will exhaust all avenues in order to win. They have been robbing us for so long, and they want to continue robbing us. Pero hindi tayo papayag na manakaw din nila ang ating pag-asa.

Taglay ni Noynoy ang susi ng pagbabago: matapat na puso, malasakit sa kapwa, at pinakamahalaga, pagmamahal sa bayan. Buong-loob kong isinusulong si Noynoy Aquino. I am honored to join him in this field of battle.

To all of us here in this hall and all across this great nation, who are fighting alongside him, make no mistake about it: We will not back down from this fight, not now, not ever.

The fog of cynicism has already lifted from our hearts. Ngayon, puwede na muling mangarap.

Sama-sama tayo. Hindi namin kayo pababayaan. Lalaban tayo!

Intense Debate

I installed IntenseDebate today on this blog. IntenseDebate is a blog commenting plug in that integrates almost anything that you need for your commenting system. It allows the visitors to log in via Facebook, Twitter or OpenID accounts — and of course, the traditional way is included.

Let’s see if this intensifies the debate. Election time is coming and we expect people to be actively involved in the discussion. And of course, take note of those controversial posts against cults and their leaders. My “Iglesia ni Cristo” post has been the most popular post in the past few weeks. I’ve got to post most on this type for extra visitor juices, eh!

Why don’t you try the plug in by posting a “Hi, this is cool!” post below?