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Thank You My Very Cool Brethren! I've just seen this now as we had connection issues here over the New Year. This is the Coolest Form of Social Media I am connected to. Now that you have started this thread I thought I'd share with you guys some recent developments in my life. Some of which you might find cool.

 

I am pasting from my Facebook about our newborn son (December 28) Lucio Jaime Salvador and my 4 year old daughter Maria "Seve" Severina Justina.

 

Seve is such an Unselfish Little Trooper. She NEVER COMPLAINED about being in the Hospital and REFUSED TO GO HOME Until EVERYONE was going home. Four years old and already she has a "Leave No Man Behind" Policy. That's My Daughter!

She is always excited and cheerful about her brother Lucio and is always wanting to help out and be nice. Grace says this is probably temporary and she will eventually succumb to Jealousy; But I think she deserves the Benefit Of The Doubt...I know I will give it to her, anyway I will always be around for her.

At the risk of being Overly Sentimental; and despite the fact that I am not religious, I would like to share something I read that moved me years before I was married and long before I had children when I was reading the biography of My Idol General Douglas MacArthur (I'm a HUGE fan of General George S. Patton and Field Marshall Georgy Zhukov too...) that was a prayer he wrote when his son Arthur (named after his father) was born:

Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak; and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be pround and unbending in honest defeat and humble and gentle in victory.

Build me a son whose wishes will not take the place of deeds; a son who will know Thee-And That To Know Himself Is The Foundation Stone Of Knowledge.

Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. 

Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail.

Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high, a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men, one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.

And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. 

Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, and the meekness of true strength.

Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, "I have not lived in vain!"

-General Douglas MacArthur 

Res Ipsa Loquitor

-Selah

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Edited by rastamanila
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Our house sits on a 535 sqm lot that is across from where I grew up. Behind that particular property are 2 golf courses that make up Wack-Wack Golf Country Club in my hometown of Mandaluyong City (it wasn't a city until 1996; I think); one of 17 cities and municipalities that make up Metropolitan Manila. This neighborhood is probably the leafiest in Metro Manila and this house being where it is; means that every afternoon we have Tropical Birdsong which is nice to hear.

 

Expanding on the design and adjustments I had made in our previous home which was a Tropical Townhouse; I mixed in elements I discovered in 2010 when I went to Iran as a journalist for my former newspaper. 

 

I ate at this place in Tehran called "The Shabestan Restaurant"...I wondered what that meant so I looked it up...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabestan

 

So I decided to build ourselves a "Tropical Shabestan House" but without using the water element you see in the link above as the high water table here and profuse annual rainfall would cause flooding in any subterranean house you build.

 

This is a photo of our Air Shaft as the house was being completed; the Prominent Architectural Element of this house.  And a photo of the "Mirador" on the 4 and 1/2 Floor when the house was finished.

 

It rises from the area by my Front Door that acts as a Foyer and ends 4 and 1/2 stories above in our "Mirador" which has 4 sliding glass doors in every direction to allow Hot Air to exit the house; subsequently reducing Energy Cost (Manila has the highest Electricity Rates in Asia due to aging and an inadequate number of Power Plants to meet demand.)

 

Every room has high ceilings and a Westinghouse Ceiling Fan.

 

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Rasta belated HBD. You have a beautiful family and a wonderful attitude in life. I had never heard that prayer from General McArthur either, but thank you for sharing it. I think it is what we all pray for our children and ourselves.

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