My New MSI Core2Duo

I was really having a hard time to choose a laptop to buy for my own personal use. I wanted something small and easy to bring but I want something efficient and have high specs unlike the Asus EEE. My friend Rupert helped me out find the laptop I'd been looking for. So I have decided to buy MSI VR340 without hesitations. Aside from it being a low-cost product, it is very useful compared to other leading laptops. It is an Intel Core 2 Duo, 13.3" LCD display, it weighs 2.2 kg, 1Gb of RAM, a DVD DL burner, and a 5-in-in card reader. But you can only choose from a wireless connection or a bluetooth connection. But of course, bluetooth device is much cheaper that it can be bought easily and available in the market, so wireless connection was installed on my laptop. I used this laptop for 16 hours and the tempt doesn't exceed to 60 degrees.

The specification are the following:
Intel® Core™2 Duo T5300
1.73GHz, 2Mb, 533MHz
ATI RC410ME Chipset
ATI Mobility Radeon X200 Graphics 256Mb Shared
MSI Wireless 802.11G
1.0Gb DDR2 Memory (Maxed Out !!!)
80Gb Hard Disk Drive
Super-Multi DVD+/-RW/Ram Dual Layer Drive
Superb Glare 13.3in. Widescreen Display*
Card Reader 4-in-1 MMC/SD/MS/MSPro
Firewire Port /10/100Lan / 56K Modem
3 x USB2.0, Express Card Slot
Weight : 2.1Kgs.; Battery life: 3Hours (6-Cell)

With free MSI bag....

TEACHING A NOBLE PROFESSION

Well, just as what many people quoted about being a teacher, a noble job to be exact. I think it’s more than noble.. if, there is still a word to describe more of what is noble. I can say this because i have a first hand experience of what they’re talking about. People just don’t know how hard the teachers were striving as this point in time (im not saying this because i’m a teacher). I can really see the picture of a typical teacher, from my experience and just by mere listening to my comrades of what they’ve been going thru… and believe me I don’t know where to start… im not talking about all the teachers from the whole wide world but the public school teachers from The Philippines… Many people would say that we are priviledged… maybe in some ways… but the negative ones surpasses the positive… Maybe at this point I will start my list… Our main goal is to give quality education to young children. But sad to say… this goal is often times set aside because of tons and tons of paper works the teacher must prepare… 1. forms; 2. bulletin boards; 3. grades; and other things I dont know the purpose and the importance of its content… The only thing that comes into my mind is that they are just so eager to give us all those meaningless works just to make us busy… and in fact they are so demanding of us giving quality education to little ones… But how? We don’t have time anymore… sometimes I envy those who are working in offices coz they won’t be bringing any works at home… while us… we can’t even make our lesson plans, grades, forms, etc. in school coz they always insist on quality time with the children. What about our personal life… Our family, our self… No wonder most family of teachers are problematic or worse… broken, and the root cause of that is no time for the family…

Not only that… the main reason why i’m writing this blog is about the expenses that we have to bear especially in times like this… at this time of year, we will have an evaluation. They (supervisors and other big bosses of DepED) will check our classrooms… our bulletin boards if its updated (We have to change it every grading period), trash cans, feeding materials(spoons, plates, glassess), mirrors, towels, soap in a soapdish… my list will go on and on… Because of that, we have to shell out some of our cash (if there is) just to comply with the checklist given. I keep on telling my co-teachers why they are so demanding of us when in fact they’re not giving us allowances for that expenses… We are spending our own money for that… and mind you, they’re giving us deadlines. What about our priorities? Oh God! But u know… im also aware about what President ****** ( i forgot) " Don’t ask what the government can do for u, but what u can do for the government" (correct me if Im wrong) hehehe… but what im trying to say is that they must be understanding to us, too. We are giving favors to them right, coz we sweat out for the salary we earned. No wonder most teachers are drowning with all the credits… Just like what they’re always saying.. por-loan nalang ang wala pa. Heheheh… I’ve got so many things pa sana to share about our system but it’s too long already…

I’m so sorry ha… this is just my opinion and that is my right. Im entitled to my own opinion… If anybody wants to comment on it… everybody’s welcome…

THE PARABLE OF THE COFFEE BEANS

There was once an intelligent teacher who experimented the boiling water. She put three pots of water over the fire. In the first pot, she put some carrots. In the second pot, she put some eggs. In the third pot she put some beans that had been grounded into coffee powder. She boiled all three pots for 15 minutes. Afterwards she took out what she had put in the pot of boiling water. The carrots which were hard became soft. The eggs which were soft inside became hard. The coffee powder disappeared. But the water had the colour & the wonderful smell of coffee. Then, she thought of her life as a teacher.
Life of a teacher isn't always easy. Life of a teacher is not always comfortable. Oftentimes, life of a teacher is trying & difficult. Things don't happen as we wish. People don't treat us as we hope. We work very hard but get few results. The boiling water is like the problems in our life as teachers.We can be like the carrots. We go in tough & strong. We came out soft & weak. We get very tired. We lose hope. We give up. There is no more fighting spirit. We can like the eggs. We start with a soft & sensitive heart. We end up very hard & unfeeling inside. We hate our job. We don't like our students. We become hard-hearted. There is no warm feeling only bitterness. We can be like the coffee powder. The water has become different because fo the cofee powder changes the water! You can see it. You can smell it. You can taste it. The hotter the water, the better the taste. We can be like the coffee beans. We can make something good from the difficulties we face at school. We have the potentials for changing the lives of our students for the better. We can make our school a better place for work.
To succeed, we must try ....and try again. We must believe in what we are doing. We must not give up. We must be patient. We must keep pushing. The problems & difficulties at school give us the chance to become stronger....& tougher....& better teachers.
What are we like when things do not go well at school? Are we like the carrots....or the eggs... or the coffee beans?
Be like the coffee beans! Change the people around you at school. Influence them with your good work. Even if in return they will harbor ill feelings against you. Even if they will rock you out of yur wits. After all, in the final judgement, it is between YOU & GOD anyway.
I just compared the parable to the life of a Teacher. Hoping in this way reader's got inspired, touched & understand us as their teachers.