Billionaire Ty Warner gives woman $20,000 for her cause after asking her for directions

A woman who helped a lost man ended up with a surprise $20,000 gift.

That's what happened last month when Jennifer Vasilakos guided Ty Warner when he stopped and asked for driving directions in Santa Barbara, Calif.

While Warner didn't know exactly how to get to where he was going, Vasilakos didn't realize who she was helping.

Warner is the billionaire founder of Ty Inc., the Beanie Baby company.

Vasilakos was at the intersection trying to raise $20,000 for a stem cell procedure she needs to help save her life because she suffers from kidney failure and does not qualify for a transplant.

She describes their encounter in her blog:

I often get asked by random strangers for directions.  Not one to miss an opportunity, I handed him my flyer and he made a fifty dollar donation.  As he drove off, I thought that was the end of our encounter... He'd returned after an hour or so.  Rolling down his window, he reached out his hand and introduced himself.  I immediately recognized his name.  He was kind and sincere as he looked directly into my eyes...  I listened as he repeated over and over that he was going to help me.  That my fundraising was done.  That I didn't need to worry any longer.  He said he would send a check after he returned to his offices during the week.

He was true to his word. Vasilakos, an herbalist and Reiki teacher, received a package on July 16 with a $20,000 check and with a handwritten note from Warner. The note read in part, "Someone up there loves you because I was guided to meet you Saturday. I never lose my way, but fate had me lost and ask you for directions. The rest of the story I hope will be a wonderful new life for you."

Courtesty of Jennifer Vasilakos

"Of course I started crying, because that's what girls do," Vasilakos said. "I'm incredibly thankful to Ty Warner and to everyone who has supported me with love and prayer."

The check cleared a few weeks later and she booked a surgical procedure at an undisclosed foreign hospital to begin hematopoietic stem cell treatment. Hematopietic treatment takes a cell from the blood or bone marrow that can renew itself and develop into a variety of specialized cells.

"After I serendipitously met Jennifer, I further educated myself on her stem cell needs. I was shocked that this particular type of treatment wasn't available to her in the U.S.," Warner said in a media release. "My hope is that we can bring this lifesaving treatment to the forefront so that it can become more readily available and provide alternatives for people like Jennifer."

So the chance meeting allowed both Warner and Vasilakos to each continue on their journeys.

Lose the love handles for better sperm: study

For years the onus has been on overweight women to lose weight for a healthy pregnancy. But men likewise shoulder a responsibility in the healthy development of their unborn child, says a new Aussie study, which urges gents to lose their love handles for the sake of their swimmers.

Using in vitro fertilization on mice to determine the effects of paternal obesity on embryos, researchers from the University of Melbourne found that the sperm of obese males resulted in delayed fetal development and a decreased rate of successful embryo implantation.
The news comes as Australia suffers from a major "weight problem" researchers pointed out. A whopping 75 percent of men in that country are estimated to be overweight or obese. The global average rate, meanwhile, is 48 percent.
"A lot of men don't understand what contribution they're having, but they need to be healthy before conceiving," said lead researcher David Gardner in a statement. "Sperm needs to be match fit for the games of life and creating life is the biggest thing that we can do."
In addition to smaller fetuses and poor pregnancy success, a father's obesity also reduced placental development in the woman with potential for long-term developmental consequences in the child.
In the study, obese male mice were fed the equivalent of a fast food diet for 10 weeks. Embryos were created from both normal weight and obese male mice.
The findings will be presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Endocrine Society of Australia and the Society for Reproductive Biology 2012 this week.
Meanwhile, another study -- partially funded by the California Walnut Commission -- found that eating a handful of walnuts could boost sperm quality.
Other foods that have been shown to help improve sperm quality include foods rich in omega-3 like salmon, as well as eggs, natural yogurt, nuts, seeds, berries and sweet potatoes.

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Many Pinoys abroad taking advantage of low real estate prices in PHL — report

Many overseas Filipino workers (OFW) are taking advantage of the low prices of real estate property in the Philippines, a report of the news site Gulf News said.

Gulf News said Philippine real property developer Shoe Mart Development Corporation (SMDC) reported a spike in the number of buyers from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

“Our strategy is to meet every buyer’s need for five-star homes at affordable cost,” said Byron Ramos, an SMDC international property specialist in Dubai.

Ramos noted that from January to July this year, SMDC netted over P1 billion in sales from customers in those countries.

During the said period, the company sold 425 units, compared to just 386 units in 2011 and 421 units in 2010.

However, not only OFWs are recently showing interest in buying furnished apartments but also foreign investors, Ramos said.

Because of this, SMDC, led by Filipino business tycoon and billionare Henry Sy, plans to set up offices in Dubai soon.

Gulf News cited Edward Caoc, 37 and Joan, 36, a couple in Dubai, who are looking forward to owning a real estate property in the Philippines.

The couple is paying a six-year contract for a 150-square-meter lot in Plaridel, Bulacan and a ‘condotel’ in Quezon City, Manila.

“The next six years will be tough as we pay them off, but it’s better to suffer now and enjoy later — than enjoy now and suffer later,” Caoc told Gulf News.

Overseas Filipinos send around $20 billion (P842.6 billion) annually, making the Philippine peso the best performing currency from Asia amidst disastrous floods in 2012. - Andrei Medina, VVP, GMA News

OFW guide: How to work faster and better

Do you feel that you are often left behind by your co-workers in accomplishing tasks?

You may need to reexamine your daily routine to see how you can work faster and more efficiently.

GMA News Online has culled from various Internet sites a list of ways to improve one's efficiency and productivity:

(1) Give yourself a deadline.

According to the website AdamDuvander.com, the best way to get something done is by giving yourself a deadline. To finish a task faster, one should set an earlier deadline.

“A short deadline encourages you to trim [your work] to the barest essentials,” it said.

(2) List down your daily tasks.

To keep you on track, it is important to write down your daily tasks, the online site LifeHack.org said.

“Don’t rely on your memory as your system. Write down the things you need to do, your schedule, anything you might need to refer to, and every passing thought so you can relax, knowing you won’t forget,” the site said.

The website of the MarieClaire magazine, on the other hand, said one should be more specific when listing down daily tasks.

“When I write my to-do list, I give myself clear orders, not reminders… The actionable order prompts me to actually do it." Ani Collum, partner and retail consultant at Retail Concepts in Boston, was quoted as saying.

(3) Keep distractions to a minimum.

Marie Claire.com said distractions in the work place should be kept to a minimum.

“The person who keeps a candy dish in her office has people popping in all day for sweets. So I never keep treats in my office. I also bought cute but uncomfortable furniture so visitors won't linger,” said Lindsey Waldrep, marketing executive at Crossville, Inc. in Tennessee.

(4) Be open to your colleagues.

MarieClaire.com said keeping distractions to a minimum has a twin brother — that of being open to one's colleagues.

If you have a task that needs to be done immediately, tell your co-workers about it so that they will not distract you.

“It can be awkward, but don't be afraid to tell a coworker that you just don't have time to chat. To that end, I try to IM colleagues instead of popping by their offices. I get answers much faster without the pressure to socialize,” Jessica Anselmi, a senior account executive at Cone Communications in Boston, told Marie Claire.

(5) Eat the frog.

Not to literally eating a frog every time that you wake up but it means doing the most unpleasant task ahead, and writing it on top of your to-do list.

“Based on the saying that if the first thing you do in the morning is eat a frog, the day can only get better from then on,” Life Hack said.

(6) "Batch process."

To work more efficiently, Life Hack advises processing similar tasks at a set time.

“For example, don’t deal with emails sporadically throughout the day; instead, set aside an hour to go through your email inbox and respond to emails. Do the same with voice mail, phone calls, responding to letters, filing, and so on — any routine, repetitive tasks,” it read.

(7) Keep the balance.

Try to keep the balance between work, leisure and family.

“Make time for yourself. Eat slowly. Enjoy a lazy weekend day. Take the time to do things right, and keep a balance between the rush-rush world of work and the rest of your life,” Life Hack noted. - VVP, GMA News

Filipino designer artist wins plaudits in prestigious London Open

The Fiiipino art community is beaming with pride.

Pio Abad, Philippine-born, educated in Manila (U.P. Diliman), Glasgow (Glasgow School of Art) and London (Royal Academy of Art) was recently hand-picked by a distinguished panel and featured at the prestigious London Open. He bested 1,800 applicants.
The London Open is Whitechapel Gallery’s triennial exhibition located at the center of emerging trends in contemporary art in Western Europe.
At the same time, the winners of the 20th Annual Deutsche Bank Awards for Creative Enterprises was announced. Pio Abad’s name is once again in the list.
Selected from an open submission, The London Open launched the careers of artists such as Anish Kapoor and Cornelia Parker in the blossoming phases of their youth.
Abad’s work in general is a parody of the aesthetic experience — he engages on loaded political subject matters with such ease; exposes difficult histories as something decorative or trivial; finds absurd historical connections with similar random facts.
For example, the work that ended up getting selected for the London Open was part of a series on silk inspired by the decorative bathroom of Saddam Hussein. Abad printed and drew on a silk scarf and used it as a pictorial vehicle to commemorate historical events.
He shares, “The scarf series came out during the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, when the American soldiers found these ornate bathrooms in Saddam Hussein’s palaces decked out with gold water taps. Suddenly, this benign bathroom fixture is transformed into a symbol of dictatorial excess.
“In the silk piece Loot, Saddam Hussein’s gold plated tap becomes the central motif in an imitation Versace silk scarf. I was interested in banal objects becoming cultural weapons.”
On the other hand, Abad’s winning proposal to the Deutsche Bank Awards for Creative Enterprises was a project entitled “Tele Nobela,” a collaboration with Manila-based artist, Maria Taniguchi.
Tele Nobela is a visual art project that will commission exhibitions and run a parallel program publishing essays to encourage a vibrant and more international arts community in the Philippines.
Abad left Manila in the middle of college. He shares, “My aunt Pacita (Abad) was a big influence in making me leave the Philippines, and she had done it herself, having travelled a great extent all her life. She was actually the one who suggested art schools for me to look at.”
In Glasgow, he found a tight-knit artist community filled with possibility. Students were setting up D-I-Y (Do-it-Yourself) galleries in their bedrooms. These same artists were exhibiting in Venice, at the Frieze art fair and are recipients of the Turner Art Prize.
Abad reflects, “For me, having a sense of possibility at that particular stage was crucial in seeing how I can work as an artist.”
And work he did.
After finishing his BA in Glasgow, he found a lot of opportunities to exhibit his work in Scotland for a few years. As an international student, he couldn’t afford most of the exorbitant fees institutions in Scotland charge for a Master’s degree. The next logical step for him was to apply to a Graduate school that offered scholarships.
Abad was then accepted with a full scholarship at the Royal Academy of Art in London. Being at the “belly” of the art world, Abad’s work changed significantly.
He recalls, “I came to the Royal Academy with a practice very much focused on drawing; but in the last 3 years, my work has expanded to textiles, photography, sound, sculpture and text.”
After years of art studies in Scotland succeeded by a scholarship in London, Abad’s work was in full throttle. To him, his graduate work really pushed him to constantly question and be in a perpetual state of creative crisis.
His works have ranged from designing and printing 80 meters of wallpaper, turning a mannequin into an orange Bo Derek and even hunting for Philippine history on Ebay. His recent accomplishments did not come out of thin air. He states, “If you’re just in cruise control then I think you’re wasting your time.”
Pio Abad, the artist, comes from a place of cultural complexity and draws profound humor in subjects.
Conniving but, at the same time, cathartic.
(Story courtesy of Lian Ladia of Rappler.com)

Tankers shine in Singapore int’l swimming age group competition

Three young Filipino swimmers emerged as the most outstanding swimmers in their age categories, leading the 41-member swimming team from the Philippine Swimming League to a 70-medal haul in the recently concluded eighth Singapore Island Country Club age group swimming championships.
Robin Seranillo emerged overall best swimmer in the boys 7-8, Carl Bormate dominated the boys 11-12, and Kevin Claveria the boys 15-17 in powering the PSL team supported by former Sen. Nikki Coseteng and headed by PSL president Susan Papa to a rich harvest of 22-23-25 gold-silver-bronze medals in the three-day international age group meet.
The PSL also broke seven meet records, with Paula Cayanan setting new norms in the 50m freestyle and backstroke, Bormate in the 200m individual medley, Seranillo in the 100m breaststroke and the relay team of Kevin Claveria, Hans Ramos, Kio Abacahin and Benedict Geneta in the 4×50 freestyle, and the squad of Nathan Cheng, EJ Lorbes, Benedict Geneta and Darwin Tumaneng in the 4×50 medley relay.
The other gold medalists were Emmanuel Joshua Lorbes, Skyler Claveria and Bhay Newberry.