The Anthem Philatelist

March 2023 marks the second year anniversary of the first postage stamp about the pandemic ever to be released.  Twenty one countries and the UN have between them released 68 postage stamps to mark the sacrifice of healthcare workers and patients during the covid-19 pandemic . Three of our esteemed colleagues and beloved mentors, Dr. Dennis Ramon Tudtud and wife Dr. Helen and my IM-pulmonologist mentor Dr. Ruben Escarda sacrificed their lives in the frontlines of the war against the vicious viral adversary. We honor you our beloved fallen heroes- your sacrifices were not in vain.   In the research led by Bertrand Lefrère of the Public Assistance Hospital of Paris, it was found that Iran was first country to post a design on March 2020 (pictured), but the rest of the world followed with stamps depicting healthcare workers, patients, and covid safe behaviours such as social distancing in French Polynesia. In the Philippines, PHLPost has printed 80,000 pieces of stamps i...

I've been road running for the past 3 years. A few days ago however, I ventured into a different running adventure-  trail running.  Earlier on, I always wanted to run in varied off-road terrain, but friends warned me that injuries are higher in these types of run .    A colleague of mine, dislocated his knee and another had bruises in his shins and foot courtesy of the rocky terrain. My witty, humorous, fitness loving travelmate  Dr. Clifford "Ipyok" Aranas almost collapsed due to anaphylaxis after being bitten by a bee. Some even got lost (due to absence of signs) and became severely dehydrated (due to lack of water stations).  So, I told myself: "I'll have to prepare for this event"- the first ROX (Recreational Outdoor Xchange) Trail run in Liloan , Cebu sponsored by Salomon .    After much reading from various books and frequent site visits to Runner's World , I came up with these strategies, which I call the ABCDE strategy, for a successf...