Can Other Faiths Lead To Eternal Life?

Pew Research Center: Many Americans Say Other Faiths Can Lead to Eternal Life

A majority of all American Christians (52%) think that at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life. Indeed, among Christians who believe many religions can lead to eternal life, 80% name at least one non-Christian faith that can do so. These are among the key findings of a national survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life from July 31-Aug. 10, 2008, among 2,905 adults.

Adrian Turns 18

Eighteen Christmases ago today, we had the most adorable baby boy. He weighed 6 lbs 9 ounces. On our first night home from the hospital we stayed awake to watch over him and protect him.  18 years later, the desire to watch and protect him is still present. However, he has grown into an incredible young man, one we couldn't be more proud of and with great anticipation, we are excited to see what is in store for him in the next chapter of his life.

You Must See This!

Monks under the Vow of Silence performs Handel's Hallelujah

Christmas Traditions

Why even Santa Claus in the first place? Why December 25th? Why Christmas cards? It’s all here, or at least quite a few of those traditions that we embrace over Christmas.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Title: Let It Snow

Artist: Dean Martin

I love Christmas music but especially ones that aren’t particularly about Christmas at all. Maybe it’s the years of being in the choir and singing Silent Night, Joy to the World, O Come All Ye Faithful. Give me something bouncy and fun over solemn and reverent every time.

This song always makes me smile and I love Dean Martin’s voice. What is your favorite holiday music?

First Major Snowfall of the Winter

We had our first major snowfall of the winter yesterday! I woke up at around 7:00am, looked out the window and there it was. The street was all white, covered with about 4 inches of snow. Dina and the kids were already up. The kids were busy preparing to go to school, and Dina was cooking breakfast. I was pretty sure, the kids wished that there was no school. They were checking on EBTV to see if there was an announcement from school. But there was no announcement. They were a little disappointed indeed. I didn’t have to get out of bed until later. I worked from home yesterday. I was also planning to take the car to the shop for an oil change, but I decided to reschedule my appointment. I was pretty sure, the roads would be a mess; and they were.

The Ice Is Melting

A report issued by NASA this week concludes the rate of ice loss in the cryosphere is continuing to accelerate:

Between 1.5 trillion and 2 trillion tons of ice in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska have melted at an accelerating rate since 2003, according to NASA scientists, in the latest signs of what they say is global warming. NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, mission uses two orbiting satellites to measure the “mass balance” of a glacier, or the net annual difference between ice accumulation and ice loss.

When ice melts, the surrounding air or water cools down, basic thermodynamics. It would be ironic if that cooler air and water from excess northern melt were to work their way south a little farther and a little earlier in the season than they otherwise would have, and maybe even help fuel an occasional localized snow or ice storm, which right-wing climate change skeptics, especially those bearing a borderline pathological obsession with Al Gore, would then seize on as evidence that global warming is … well not sure exactly. Somewhere vaguely between massive inexcusable scientific error and fraud, to an infinitely scalable global conspiracy between a tightly woven cabal of nations who can’t agree on something as scientifically basic as what units of measurement to use for a common lug nut. And the wingers will do it, apparently, without a care or thought in the world of the difference between the NASA GISS 125 year global average temperature trend and related volumes of empirical data Vs. cherry picking poor comparisons or the sprinkling of snow they had on their drive way last Tuesday morning.

Caroling

Today, we went caroling at the following nursing homes: Sunrise Assisted Living, Care One and Summerhill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. We have been caroling in these homes for the last 4 years. The residents and staff already anticipate our annual caroling performance, and they were very happy to see us. I noticed that there were less people in Sunrise this year; lesser than last year. I can only guess that some of them may have been transferred to other homes or some of them may have already passed away. There were new faces in the audiences this year too.

Ysaye Sonata No. 3 - Ballade

The Sonata No. 3 - Ballade by Eugene Ysaye is one of my favorite virtuoso violin pieces, and Maxim Vengerov’s interpretation thereof is the best interpretation that I have seen and heard so far (in my opinion). I have yet to see or hear a better interpretation. I watch this video every now and then. Maxim Vengerov was just unbelievable in this video. This was during his performance of the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim. If I am not mistaken, the concert was given in 1996. His performance of this concerto was so amazing that the audience would not stop clapping. They wouldn’t let him go, and so he performed not only one encore piece, but two beautiful ones for them. This was one of the two encore pieces (the other one was a beautiful performance of the Bach Partita No. 3 Sarabande, which I might also post here). I hope you enjoy it.

A discussion on the Definition of Marriage and on Gay Marriage

I was watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night and one of the segments was a poignant discussion on the definition of marriage and on gay marriage. In the last eight weeks since the Nov. 4 Presidential Elections and the passing of California’s Prop 8, this has been the hottest topic in all media. I thought this discussion between Jon Stewart and former republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was a very interesting one.

Caroling Begins

Our Filipino-American Community of Corpus Christi begins its Christmas Caroling today. Our first engagement for this year is at Birchwood Nursing Home in Old Bridge, NJ. Christmas Caroling has been a tradition of the group for many years. Dina and I were invited to join about 4 years ago, and so we have been doing this for 4 years now. The members of the group are mostly from East Brunswick and surrounding towns like Spotswood, Old Bridge and South River. The group is composed mainly of old and middle-aged couples. I think Dina and I are the youngest couple in the group. There are about 15 couples who are committed to the caroling. We start practice usually on the 3rd Tuesday of November and every Tuesday thereafter. We sing the traditional christmas songs that are very familiar to everyone. After all, we are not professional singers. We just love to share whatever small talents we have to the residents of the nursing homes within our area. We enjoy doing it. It is a lot of fun especially when we see happy smiling faces in the audience. We love it when we see the residents clap and sing with us. It surely gives us great pleasure, and I am sure this is why the group keeps doing it year after year. I am sure we bring good tidings of great joy to these people. Next Sunday, we have four engagements - three nursing homes is East Brunswick and one in Old Bridge.

Here is a picture of the group practicing a song at Eddie Sideco’s home (see if you can spot Dina).

Dina, Zoe and me at the lobby of the Birchwood Nursing Home after our caroling performance there.

Welcome To This Blog

I thought you might want to know what is going on with the Tuazons. So, I created this blog.

From time to time, I will post some news about my family, new photos, new videos, new activities and perhaps just about anything that I have on my mind that I wish to share with you like my favorite music, review of the latest movies I have seen, books that I have read, subjects that I am very passionate about, my thoughts, my inner-most feelings, etc. With this blog, you will get to know me and my family better. I will try to post new items on a daily basis if possible. So please do check back as often as you like, and feel free to provide comments and suggestions.