BOOKS FOR SALE - For the Kids/Young Adults & Mystery & Action Readers

 Bored at home due to the quarantine? Why not read a book? We are selling our kids books read by my Geof and Julia and novels read by Apple and me. Send a message via messenger at https://www.facebook.com/andy.oreta if interested.

For Grade School Readers

Mystery/Romance

Mystery/Romance

For Grade School Readers - SOLD!

For Young Girls - SOLD!

For Young Girls - SOLD!

Action/Mystery/Suspense

For Boys Young Adults

For Young Adults

Mystery/Action

Mystery/Action/Suspense

Adventure for Young Boys

Romance/Love Stories

My T-SHIRT Memories - Part 10 (Kids Moments)

 Part 10 of My T-SHIRT Memories is related to my two beautiful kids - my son, Jan Geoffrey or Geof and my pretty daughter, Julia Corazon. There are many moments with the kids that you can read in this blog.

Ateneo Flying High 150. This shirt is a souvenir during the 150 years of Ateneo de Manila. It was kite flying day for the grade school students. Geof made his own kite and learned to fly a kite at the ADMU grounds. I remember my first experience of flying a kite when I was also in grade school at Don Bosco Academy, Pampanga. I was a boarder at the house of my Nacpil cousins at Bacolor, Pampanga. There was kite flying and I flew a kite. There was even a kite fighting where you try to destroy a kite on air. I remember my kite has the caption "USA." I enjoyed the experience that's why I encouraged Geof to join the kite flying at Ateneo. We did more kite flying at UP campus later. There was a Father and Son Camping when Geof was on Grade 4 in 2010. The lesson in this bonding between dads and sons is "ENJOY ONE'S COMPANY EVERYDAY."

My Little Girl Rocks.  This shirt has a pair, "My Daddy Rocks." The event was a Father and Daughter Day at Miriam College. No mommies were invited. There was a performance by the kids in honor of their dads and an exchange of letters expressing each others feelings and dreams. A very touching and memorable event. My little girl, "Juwa"now a very pretty lady really rocks!

Inside Japan's Bullet Train

My T-SHIRT Memories - Part 9 (Travels - First Visits)

Local and foreign travels bring back memories of people, places and events. My T-Shirt Memories - Part 9 features my first trips travel memories.

Cebu Island. My first trip to Cebu took place after  I returned from Japan in 1994. My first trip to Cebu was via Super Ferry with Renan Tanhueco and his student when we conducted a  survey of the possible site for an undergraduate research on flooding. The site was where the Ayala Mall now stands. There were no large malls like SM and Ayala then. Traffic was not a problem unlike today. Cebu was then using an Australian system of traffic light control system called SCATS. "The Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System, abbreviated SCATS, is an intelligent transportation system that manages the dynamic (on-line, real-time) timing of signal phases at traffic signals, meaning that it tries to find the best phasing (i.e. cycle times, phase splits and offsets) for a traffic situation (for individual intersections as well as for the whole networK" - Wikipedia. With the tremendous traffic brought about by uncontrolled development, SCATS is not anymore applicable. Now vehicles move very SLOW or at STOP mode.

My Cebu Island Shirt (1994)

 My next visits to Cebu are more related to conducting CPD lectures on Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics at the University of San Carlos (USC), Talamban Campus. Our contact person then was MSCE DLSU alumnus and USC Faculty, Nestor Sy. There more visits to Cebu related to conferences hosted by ASEP and PICE including the Asia Conference on Earthquake Engineering in 2016. The Cebu shirt may have been bought during my USC visits, early 2000.

Bencab (Baguio City)

Baguio City. Baguio City is the place to be when you want to cool down from the hot weather in Metro Manila. In 2016-2017, DLSU conducted an off-site MSCE program at St. Louis University. The graduate students are faculty members from schools located in Baguio City, Tarlac, Pangasinan and I travel from Manila to Baguio City via Joy Bus every two weeks to conduct a lecture. In one trip, my cousins Ate Dina and Liza Maglalang (It was her first time to go to Baguio City) joined me and during my free time, I joined them in  going around Baguio City.-  food tripping and site-seeing - including the visit at BenCab Museum. My family had earlier trips to Baguio City in 2009 and you can read our Baguio City adventures here.

Boracay Life Guard

Boracay. You're beach outing will not be complete if you have not yet visited the white sands of Boracay. I remember my first trip to Boracay was an invitation by Dr. Judy Sese (DPWH Directore and DLSU Part-Time Faculty) in the late 1990's. Joining me in the trip were Joseph Manalo and his family and Alexis Fillone. Dr. Sese invited us first to her place at Kalibo, Aklan before we proceeded to Boracay. Boracay then was still clean and pristine, there were no big resort hotels then unlike today where restaurants and hotels occupy the front space of the white sand beach. We stayed in a small cottage near the sea shore. 

My second trip to Boracay was with Apple, Bong, Aimee and our wedding ninong Ver Conanan. I am still single then and just getting to know Apple who was the Director od DLSU COSCA then. This was 1998. If I remember correctly, we stayed in a Bahay Kubo style cottage named Fiesta Cottages (This is now transformed to concrete hotels). The next trip to Boracay was with my family - we were only three then - Apple, Geoffrey and I. 

My last visit of Boracay was in 2018, when I joined ASEP as a lecturer in the CPD Seminar/Workshop on the NSCP2015 Updates. Boracay today is crowded with many tourists - more foreign visitors now including the Chinese tourists. It is now difficult to book a room/cottage near the coast unless you want to pay for the expensive resort hotels. Our hotel is about 10 minutes away to the beach. Bohol is a better alternative to Boracay now.  There are a lot of Boracay shirts but very flashy and this I found this "Life Guard" shirt different and reated to our seminar on promoting safe design of structures to protect lives. ASEP members are Life Guards!

Floating Market - Thailand

Thailand. Next to Japan, my favorite country to visit is Thailand. My first trip to Bangkok, was with Alexis Fillone when presented a paper in a Conference at the Asian Institute of Technology. I can still remember we had a dinner with Filipino AIT Alumni and Fidel Ramos was the guest. He was not anymore the PH president then (It was Pres. Erap already).  The floating market shirt is my Thai shirt but I have never visited the floating market site yet. Our favorite places to visit are the shoppind areas at MBK and Chatuchak. I had several trips to Bangkok - usually attending conferences and seminars. 

Korea

Korea. My first trip at Seoul, Korea took place when I presented a paper on "Parametric Studies on Size Effect on Shear Strength of RC Beams without Stirrups using Neural Networks”  at the International Conference on Advances in Structural Engineering & Mechanics (ASEM’04), Sept. 2-4, Seoul, Korea. During that time I just visited small shopping areas where I bough this shirt which is now on its retirement stage :-). 

Had another visit to Seoul during the 18th Congress of IABSE Korea  last September 19-21, 2012 at the Sheraton, Walker Hill, Seoul, Korea where we had a poster presentation on “Deriving Optimum Mix Designs For High Strength Concrete Using Genetic Algorithms” co-authored with Alden Paul Balili and former students Iris Malabatuan, Bertrand Teodosio and Analyn Yee Concepcion. I was able to visit a museum and the Namsan Seoul Tower.I am not a K-Drama viewer then. Now I wish I can go to Korea again and visit the sites featured in the K-Drama like Itaewon, Jeju Island and more.

Auckland, NZ

New Zealand.  My first visit to Auckland, New Zealand coincided with  the 9th Pacific Conference on Earthquake Engineering  (PCEE) on April 14-16, 2011 when I presented a paper on “AIJ-Level 1 Seismic Screening of Some RC Buildings Damaged by the 1990 Luzon Earthquake”  held at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. My trip was funded by CHED. It was an opportunity to visit my sister, Ate Rose & Robb and my brother, Kuya Jun and his family, Jean and Fidez. I remember visits with my siblings in parks and Auckland Tower. It was also my opportunity to meet by high school classmate Edwin Lagman who gave me this shirt when NZ won the championship in Rugby 2011. Edwin toured me and also Jun Ignacio who was with another group from UP & PHIVOLCS. Edwin even hosted a dinner for us. Edwin Lagman passed away and I will never forget his happy face during my visit. 

My T-SHIRT Memories - Part 8 (Social Messages)

Part 8 of My T-Shirt Memories is about designs with social messages. Whenever we join rallies like the anti-pork, no to EJKs and political rallies, either we wear a symbolic shirt or we buy the shirts at the site. 

Popular Bookstore at T-Morato St., QC sells Filipiniana books and interesting progressive items including shirts. I bought these two shirts - Einstein and Popular Bookstore shirts.

Einstein Quote. The message, "The world is a dangerous place because of those who look on and do nothing" is very timely specially in the present times. There are many social and political issues that plague our society now - disasters, climate change, fascist regimes, fake news, continuous and uncontrolled corruption and more - and we as responsible citizens must contribute directly or indirectly in eradiciting these problems. Speaking up against poor governance, corrupt officials and inept leaders is one way of contributing to the betterment of societ.

Einstein Shirt

Popular Quotes. This Popular Bookstore shirt promotes quotes about books and reading from brilliant thinkers. Among the quotes in this shirt are:

• There is no friend as loyal as a book - Hemingway
• A word after a word after a word is power - Atwood
• You don;t have to burn books to destroy a culture, just get people to stop reading them.- Bradbury

Popular Quotes

Hindi ako pasisindak.  I can not remember now what rally I joined when I bought this shirt. I think it may be related to anti-EJKs and tokhang wherein people are intimidated by fear from law enforcers and sometimes hoodlums. 

Hindi ako Pasisindak

Don't be like them. This shirt, I found interesting and bought it just before joining a rally. I think the rally is against the bandwagon brought about by fake news and propaganda. Many people including some friends and relatives sometimes are swayed to believe government or politicians' propaganda that they forget their values. The shirt is actually general but I found the message very appropriate. Indeed, "Don't be like them" if the majority's choice is against your principles and values! 

Don't be like them.

1MSSH. This shirt is a souvenir of my engagement in 2010 with the UN International Strategy for Disaster Risk (UNISDR) now UNDRR when I and a team of DLSU faculty members did a project in designing the concept for promoting the One Million Safe Schools and Hospitals Campaign c/o Jerrr Velasquez who was UNISDR director then. Renan, Bong and one DLSU Computer Science Programmer plus a student artist designed the contents for the website of the campaign. Guidance notes on advocacy, school and hospital preparedness and disaster risk were developed by the team. The campaign basically promotes awareness in schools and hospitals since students and hospital patients are the most vulnerable during a disaster. 

1MSSHC

Interested with the other My T-Shirt Memories? Read My T-Shirt Messages - Part 3 - 7 at digitalstructures.blogspot.com. 

My T-SHIRT Memories - Part 2 (Apple Moments)

This edition of My T-Shirt Memories will be cheesy since the moments are with my partner and love, Apple. So what shirts are associated with my pretty Apple? Let us start from this shirt.

The Palawan Museum T-Shirt.  Puerto Princesa, Palawan is a memorable place for us. It was where Apple and I had our honeymoon in March 1999. The Palawan trip is indeed unforgettable; in the first place, we missed our check-in time on the day of our trip. Thus we need to rebook for the next day! 

Palawan Museum T-Shirt

Palawan in 1999 was still an unexplored paradise unlike now where there are too many foreign tourists. We enjoyed the original Vietnamese restaurants that serve the original Pho noodles and various vegetable recipes. Today, the Vietnamese restaurants are not as good as then, since they are not anymore managed by Vietnamese who have returned to their prospering country.  Apple and I made trips to the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, Honda Bay Beaches, Iwahig Penal Colony and the Palawan Museum where I bought this shirt. 

The Selfie Shirt. I was a visiting scientist through the  AUN/SEED-Net Short Term Visit Program at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, Jan 28 – Feb 5, 2012 with my host: Prof. L. Panitan. I remember Cheryl Roxas was there before me and she gave me a tour of the guest house. Irene Ubay and students then, Erica Uy, Jamiel Jayme and Daniel Valerio joined the trip for they have an interview in the MSCE program at Chula. Read related blog.

Apple joined the trip for two days and one of our shopping trips led to MBK shopping in Bangkok. MBK is a popular destination for buying Thai souvenirs, durian chips and other Thai goods. They have unique designs of T-shirts like this Selfie shirt. Selfie sticks are not yet available then. So this design of an elephant attracted me. Apple bought a shirt with an  "Out-Of-The-Box" design. Apple and I had a food trip in Bangkok. Thailand is my second favorite place to visit after Japan. The people are nice, their food has a distinct and unique taste and mass transportation via skytrain and subway is convenient.

The Selfie T-Shirt from MBK

Oh yes this academic visit in Bangkok will be unforgettable. It was here where I might have experienced unusual events and sleepless nights in a rumored "haunted" room in the guest house where I was booked. It seems that the room where I stayed was a room where a murder happened. Guests who stayed there including me have difficulty sleeping and encounter unusual events; in my case all electronic gadgets do not work nor charged. So I have to request for a change in room for the rest of my stay. 

The Nepo Mall T-Shirt.  How will I forget this T-Shirt. I bought this shirt in a shop at Nepo Mall, Angeles City after Apple and I went to Porac to climb a mountainous site to interview a subject for her PhD dissertation. So after the hike, I need to buy an extra shirt to freshen-up at the house of Tita Bea and Faye Natividad at Angeles City before returning to QC. 

The Nepo Mall T-Shirt 

This trip was excruciating but fruitful. Hiking with your partner to achieve a goal is fulfilling. As they say, the journey is the reward not the destination. 

Happy Bean - Taho!

 

The community quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our food buying practices from in-site to online shopping. Apple has been very active in discovering online sites of food to support our love for food. One discovery is a supplier for "taho", Happy Bean. ""Taho is a Philippine snack food made of fresh soft/silken tofu, arnibal, and sago pearl" - Wikipedia. I am not a big fan of taho, but this taho is really good. 

Another product that Happy Bean promotes is the Otap Thins. Otap is an "oval-shaped puff pastry cookie which consists of a combination of flour, shortening, coconut, and sugar" (Wikipedia). The kids love the Otap Thins - easy to eat because it is thin and crispy. We compared this otap with other otap from another bakery, but Otap Thins are outstanding! 

My T-SHIRT Memories - Part 1 (UP Shirts)

I remember in my Psychology 101 class at UP Diliman many years ago, when I was taking BSCE -  one of the questions in our exam was about remembering and memorizing techniques. One of my answers was "I used photos, postcards or mementos to  remember moments not dates." The teacher commented, "that's nice, I will use that."  I wish to share moments, stories and events through my T-Shirts. Whenever I travel, my favorite souvenir is a T-Shirt, to remind me of an event, a memory or a person. Some of my T-Shirts are gifts and there is also a memory or a person associated to them. Memories are timeless treasures of the heart - they are hard to let go.  Apple, my partner and wife often nags me: "Hoy, gutay gutay na yang T-shirt mo, donate mo na yan!" But who would want to forget moments, people and treasures that became part of you? 

So let me start my T-Shirt Memories Series with my UP T-shirts. This is the Engineering LOGSCRIPT T-Shirt.

The Engineering Logscript T-Shirt. This shirt was designed by Royce Villanueva and I when we were members of the editorial board of the Engineering Logscript in 1981-1983. The Engineering Logscript was the official paper of the UP College of Engineering during our under-graduate years. Our editor-in-chiefs then were Jesus Espina for 1982-83 (BSIE major) and Gerry Agustin for 1981-82 (BSCE). I was the managing editor then and Royce was our art and lay-out editor. During those times, printing  college papers was very strict and censored by the government since Marcos was still the president then. I remember that we have to find a printing press willing to print our articles (some of them are critical to the government). Our printer then was the printing office of Jose Burgos of WE-Forum and Malaya. We had ts spend long hours at their office at QC. It was through this engagement that I experienced editing and lay-outing a newspaper. 

Engineering Logscript Staff 1982-83

Geof  wears my Logscript shirt. The shirt is now preserved in my cabinet.

The Oblation T-Shirt. I  remember buying this shirt at the UP COOP. I gave s similar shirt (blue color) to my high school batch mate, Arch. Jose Boy Nava on his birthday then. The oblation, the UP statue in front of the University Avenue is a symbol of freedom. I hope the scholars of the country, the UP alumni  will continue to promote honor and excellence in whatever profession they pursue. But sometimes our Iskos are asleep like the oblation in the shirt design. Time to wake up, "mga iskolar ng bayan"! As the Abraham Sarmiento (UP Collegian, 1975) urged students during the Martial Law years: "Kung hindi tayo kikilos sino ang kikilos? Kung di tayo kikibo, sino ang kikibo? Kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa?"

The Oblation T-Shirt. 

The UPD Fishballs T-Shirt. Fishballs or "tusok-tusok" are the favorite street food of UP students. For student scholars like me then who live on a very tight budget, fish balls are the favorite snack. So whenever my family goes to UP especially after the Holy Mass at the UP Chapel, we always eat fishballs plus squid balls at the UP COOP. Now that the UP COOP is gone due to a fire, it is now very difficult to find the fish ball vendors at UP. The T-Shirt design of the the UPD Fish balls is a collector's item. It is a work of art designed by an artist (Luis Esteves). I remember buying this shirt when Art Libongco, a friend and batch mate (UP CE'83) came home from the US. We visited the UP Coop and I accompanied him to buy some UPD souvenirs. 

UPD Fishballs T-Shirt

The UP Engineering T-Shirt.  I remember designing UP Engineering T-shirts during Engineering Week. Royce was my collaborator. My first design was a closed fist with symbols of engineering technology like a crane in 1982. My second design in 1983 is the Engineering sundial. After this design, the UP COOP T-shirt designers included UP Engineering shirts in their collections. And the T-shirt above is one of them. I remember buying five pieces of this design to distribute to my UPCE'83 AISC friends, Art Fabia, Sammy Hernando, Victor Macam and Matt Lutao in one of our reunions at the place of the Hernando's in 2006. I also gave one shirt to Art Libongco during his visit in the Philippines in 2008. Reminiscing college days - the study groups, the pretty girls we just admired (torpe nga e!, kaya AISC :-), the terror teachers who loved us (take two for some of us), the lunch breaks at Yakal Hall, the movies at Cubao, the sumptuous food at Chopsticks Chinese resto (Cubao), 3M pizza at Cubao, the overnight trips at the San Mateo Hills, the Los Banos outing with the partners and more funny stories - strengthened the bond among friends - the AISC Gang and family!

UP ENGG T-SHIRT

The UPAE 100 Years T-Shirt. The UP College of Engineering celebrated its 100 years in 2010. It was indeed a great day to celebrate its foundation having produced engineering graduates in various engineering professions - civil, industrial, mechanical, electrical, geodetic, chemical, environmental, energy, electronics and related fields. So when I attended the alumni reunion,, I made it a point to buy a souvernir of the event. Mabuhay ang mga Inhinyero ng Bayan!

UPAE 100 Years

ERIC AND ANDY'S STUPIDITY QUIZ WEEK NOS. 4 TO 6

 The Eric & Andy (E&A)“Stupidity Quiz” aims to increase the awareness of the readers on current events in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic. This comics presents people mostly from the government whose words and actions have a great impact on the lives of the people. The featured public personalities – their statements and the issues are first presented with screen shots from news papers and social media.

The “Stupidity Quiz” which is related to the issue is presented via a humorous or funny question to lighten up the issue. E&A argues that “if you can not recognize ‘stupidity” then you are not smart.” Hence, the “Stupidity Quiz” challenges the critical thinking of the readers, hoping that the readers, through reflection of the issue become smarter citizens of the country.

Stupidity Quiz Week#4 from andyoreta

Stupidity Quiz Week#5 from andyoreta

Stupidity Quiz Week#6 from andyoreta

Eric & Andy's STUPIDITY QUIZ WEEK NOS. 1 TO 3

The Eric & Andy (E&A)“Stupidity Quiz” aims to increase the awareness of the readers on current events in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic. This comics presents people mostly from the government whose words and actions have a great impact on the lives of the people. The featured public personalities – their statements and the issues are first presented with screen shots from news papers and social media.

The “Stupidity Quiz” which is related to the issue is presented via a humorous or funny question to lighten up the issue. E&A argues that “if you can not recognize ‘stupidity” then you are not smart.” Hence, the “Stupidity Quiz” challenges the critical thinking of the readers, hoping that the readers, through reflection of the issue become smarter citizens of the country.

Stupidity Quiz Week#1 from andyoreta

Stupidity Quiz Week#2 from andyoreta

Stupidity Quiz Week#3 from andyoreta

Fresh Food Delivery during ECQ

Vegetables, fruits and eggs delivered from Theo's Holistic Farming

The Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) during this COVID-19 pandemic has limited our shopping of food essentials in supermarkets. Because of the risk of getting infected by the virus considering that you get exposed to people while falling in line during entry to the supermarket, while shopping and while online before paying for the goods, Apple opted to explore delivery options of fresh food.

And yes there are food delivery sites that we discovered and we became "suki" of most of them. Theo's Holistic Farming is Apple's favorite for ordering vegetables, fruits and eggs. Wow, our menu now consists of many healthy dishes like pumpkin cooked in gata, 'ginisang' veggie, sweet banana as dessert and more.

Another food discovery recommended by a friend is the "taho". We now have taho for snacks and spicy mapotofu for our main dish.

Taho! Taho!

What about fresh meat and fish. I used to buy fresh meat at FRESH OPTIONS and at supermarkets. Fresh fish and seafood are very rare in supermarkets. But recently, Apple, the "explorer", found a site that delivers fresh meat and seafood. Wow, because of this, we finally were able to cook and eat tahong and clam (alahan) soup. Of course, the simple boiled shrimp dish with tomatoes and red egg is my favorite.

Oh yes, not only fresh food but also cooked food, we have them delivered. My favorite is the "dinakdakan" of Vlyn's Homemade, managed by Evelyn & Ramil Sanidad.  They have other food choices including bagoong and pastries prepared by their daughter, Jamila. Order now! Warning, baka addicting ang dinakdakan! :-)

The addictive "Dinakdakan" from Vlyn's Homemade

Vlyn's Homemade pasties and fresh lumpia

Vlyn's special bagoong is a must order!