KuyaKevin.com

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
-Herm Albright

Last Sunday (August 30) I had the opportunity to speak for the youth service at Village Baptist Church, Sucat (here in the Metro Manila area).  Great group of young people!  Hope some of you will listen to this week's podcast--I'll greet you.

You can see more pictures over at VBC's Multiply Account

I thought I'd create a separate post for this.  As I mentioned, someone took over my gmail account while I was at SM City Manila.  The hacker erased all of my emails and sent vulgar chat messages to one of my friends. 

I use a Mac, so knew this was not caused by some kind of virus.

I discovered this was a Sidejack attack.  Here's a helpful video: 




So here a few precautions I'd recommend for using WiFi at public places:

1.  Use a secure page option when checking your mail.  Secure pages begin with https://  (note the "s" at the end of the http).

2.  You can change the settings in your gmail to always use a secure connection.  Just go to your settings and find this:

I was minding my own business this morning at Starbucks when I  got a text message from a friend of mine.  She asked me where I was and if I was on Gmail or FaceBook.  I thought she just wanted to chat, so I pulled up gmail.  To my shock, there was a bastos (vulgar) status message on my gmail chat.  Whoever did this was apparently saying really vulgar things to my female friend.

I later realized all my email messages had been erased.

I'm guessing the problem is with SM Manila's wifi, but I don't know.

I don't think my computer has been compromised (I use a Mac).  I also checked my gmail account and there are only two IP addresses listed (the one here for my place and the IP address at SM).

It seems like my gmail account is just fine.  I've had no trouble logging in, and I've changed my passwords just to be sure. 

Really sad that some losers don't have anything better to do with their time.   Anyway, please let me know if any of you have anything strange happen related to email/chats. 

If any of you tech geeks out there can explain what happened, please let me know.

Update:  It seems what happened to me is know as a Sidejacking attack.  Here's a link which describes it: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFNFa-48lpI

OK, guys--I've decided to set October 17th as my deadline for submitting your testimony for my second book.  I'm hoping I can finish the manuscript during the semester break.  

If you have suffered from bad relationship choices, here's your chance to help others learn from your mistakes.  Remember--your submissions will be anonymous and I'll give you a free copy of the book (and a free copy of Basta LoveLife) if I choose your story.  You can read some of the other Learning the Hard Way stories here to get an idea of what I'm looking for.

Let me mention something about the length of your submission.  Two to three pages is good--over four makes editing more difficult. 

My new order (100 copies) of Basta LoveLife came today.  That last 100 went really fast.  We'll see what happens this time.

Speaking of going fast:  there are about 400 copies left from this second printing (of 1,000).

I sell this book for 150 pesos if any of you are interested.  

This morning I preached at United Church Manila, located here in the u-belt.  The last time I attended a Sunday worship there was the church's 84th anniversary.  I had a great time and we even had adobo for lunch after the service (one of my favorites). 

Thanks for a wonderful day in God's service!

Here's a pretty cool site for learning Tagalog:
http://tagaloglang.com

I also follow this website's twitter account (http://twitter.com/TagalogWords),  which updates with a new word each day.  

The Biggest Loser is coming to Asia.  Here's one of the video auditions:



You can see more video auditions here: Biggest Loser Asia (Video Auditions)

Just visit the podcast page http://kuyakevin.libsyn.com or look up Basta LoveLife in iTunes to download.

Here's the DIRECT DOWNLOAD.

Life Pursuits: An inter-church young adult conference

Speaker: Mr. BJ Sebastian, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of JG Summit Holdings

September 12, 6:00 PM

Greenhills Christian Fellowship, Ortigas Center
Registration starts at 5 PM
Admission is FREE
Contact Rainier for details (rainer.ucm [at] gmail)

Last year's conference was great--I'm looking forward to this one.

I often talk about the emotional consequences of premarital sex (regret, emotional baggage, etc).  Here's one that I don't think I've ever mentioned:  a false sense of intimacy.

Here's what I mean:  as I've mentioned before, sex creates a mysterious, "one flesh" bond between two people.  This powerful emotional attachment was designed by God for married people. 

But sexual intimacy outside of marriage clouds one's perception of his/her relationship.  A couple can get caught up in the emotional attachments of sex and think they are deeply in love.  But once the excitement wears off, they may realize they had very little in common other than physical passion.

This is one more reason God commands us to abstain from sexual intimacy outside of marriage:  He wants us to make wise decisions and choose a truly compatible spouse.

 

OK, guys, its time for me to put some new energy into the book giveaway for bloggers.  I'm going to change the rules just a little bit.

Here's the big change:  you can win my book with just a link to my blog.  Here are some suggestions for the wording of the link that will make people more likely to click it:

KuyaKevin.com: Real Relationship Advice
Basta LoveLife: Real Relationship Advice
Real Relationship Advice
Relationship Advice for Filipinos

Just link any of the above phrases to this blog (http://kuyakevin.blogspot.com) You can still use a banner--this would make it more likely for people to click onto my blog.  But if you'd rather just put a link, please use one of the above phrases.

You can also post a review of my blog/book or write a post about this contest.
 
All I ask is that you play fair (don't click your own link, etc).  As before, I'll randomly select a blog every month or so and send the winner a free, autographed copy of Basta LoveLife. 

This week I'll be ordering new stock of Basta LoveLife.  I've sold all of the copies I ordered a few weeks ago (thanks to everyone who bought one).

If you are willing to meet me near SM City Manila or the "University Belt" area, I'll be happy to sell a copy to you directly for 150 pesos (that's about 25% less than retail).   

Erwin and I spent most of of yesterday in ministry meetings--networking with ministry partners.  We boarded a G-Liner bus when it was time to head back to my place. 

That's where I had my first "bus preacher" experience.  Some guy was reading his Bible out loud as we were seated.  He got up and started preaching as the bus began moving forward.  Soon after he passed out offering envelopes.  He exited not long after finishing his collection.

Strangely enough, he got back on our bus a few minutes later.  I guess traffic was slow enough for him to find us again (or maybe he rode another bus for a while--I don't remember the exact time line).  He stood up as if to preach again, but he left pretty quickly (maybe he realized he had already seen us and no one had asked for an encore).  

This would not be the last solicitation of the day.  Two young men boarded the bus a little later.  One of them opened a folder with some pictures and started talking about some medical missions they were doing.  Like the preacher, they passed out collection envelopes.

I'm not a fan of this kind of fund raising.  What about you? 


 

I thought I'd pass this along to those who might be interested.  Just click the image to enlarge it and see more details:

Looks like the Passion World Tour may be coming back to Manila next year!  I'll keep you posted as I get more information.

I did two True Love Waits seminars at Technological Institute of the Philippines today (morning and afternoon).  I was there last February, and I'm really glad they invited me back.  Thanks to guidance/counseling for inviting me, and thanks to all the students who came and listened--I'm proud to be your kuya.

Some of you expressed interested in buying my book.  Just text me and I can arrange to meet you in the U-Belt or near SM City Manila.

Topics Include:
"Lessons from Cory Aquino"
"Is it okay to have sex when we're engaged?"
"Is it a sin to have a relationship with a man who has been separated from his wife for ten years?"
"Why do guys act like jerks when they like a girl."

Just go to the podcast page (http://kuyakevin.libsyn.com) or look up Basta LoveLife at iTunes.

I found this movie to be about as charming and compelling as the typical pro wrestling match.  If you caught my sarcasm (or have outgrown action figures), then you might be equally disappointed with this one.

The whole world is morning Corazon "Cory" Aquino's death.

Pictures and video footage are all over the news, and I just wanted to explain something: the "L" sign, which was one of Aquino's trademarks.  The "L" stands for laban, one of the Tagalog words for "fight."

I just thought this may be helpful to my non-Filipino readers.

Note: You can read the comments to see more details on the "L" sign and how it evolved. My readers have shared some historical insights.  

I've just heard the news of former President Cory Aquino's passing.  She's been battling cancer for quite some time and her condition deteriorated over the past few days.

President Aquino is part of my childhood memories.  I didn't know much about the Philippines at the time, but I remember the news coverage of the "people power" revolution.  I was just a kid, but I was impressed by her heroic courage--running for President after her husband was assassinated.

I join this nation in mourning.  As we reflect on her life, let's remember the sacrifice and responsibility that comes with freedom.

"We Americans like to think that we taught Filipinos democracy - well tonight, they're teaching the world."
-Bob Simon (CBS News Anchorman, 1986)