On financial funding

I’ve been checking the currency rates lately and reading some news updates on my bank’s website about it. While there has been assurance from the government about the economy getting better because of the local currency going stronger against the US dollar, the ordinary citizen still doesn’t think so considering the prices of basic commodities have been rising up. I was even a bit shocked and dismayed at the prices of gasoline and diesel shooting up while passing by our local gasoline stations. Ugh. Times are getting tough…really.
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Maximizing condo space

What’s hiding behind those newspapers?

Designing furniture and cabinets for a condo means maximizing space and functionality due to the limited area. Unlike houses built on your own lots where you have more indoor spaces and backyard area for landscaping and outdoor furniture, condo units require more creativity with optimizing the given space and adding some outdoor look inside with plants and stones. 

Missing my health journal

Yes, I miss my health journal already. It has been ages since I made some notes and track down my progress towards having a healthier diet and doing my exercise. Hmmm… maybe some top diet pills would work? Tsk, catching up on the busyness of life is not really a good reason for ignoring my goals towards a healthier me. Ugh, I really need to get back on the right track after being busy with the condo project. 

Back from the beach

Just came back from an overnight stay at the beach somewhere south. I had a great time enjoying the sea, sand and sky. The resort’s big advantage was that it was secluded and we were glad that we had the beach all to ourselves. We kinda dislike commercial beaches that are filled with people. A quiet ambiance away from the madding crowd is what we wanted and we got it.

The only thing that needed more development was the landscaping in other areas of the resort aside from within the hotel grounds. We just think it could have been much better. I am not sure if they hired a landscaping company such as TruGreen to handle the site development and landscaping. I guess the owner is focusing more on hotel improvement and prioritizing other areas of the resort. Anyway, we plan to go back sometime this year (hopefully) and I bet the resort would have more landscaping improvements by then. 

General house cleaning during summer

With most students having their vacation these days, I bet most parents are happy with their kids staying at home. Why, that means additional help in the household chores and doing general house cleaning. One way to keep the home tidy and neat is ensuring a pest-free environment. I found some useful pest and termite tips from the Terminix website such as not leaving food uncovered, providing proper ventilation for the attics, removing debris around, or sealing holes and cracks.
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Catching up on some pending tasks

I’m here at home now but feeling so overwhelmed with a lot of pending tasks. One important thing for me to do is to make an inventory list of all the items in my techie bro’s condo which Mom and I recently furnished. Anyway, I’m almost finished with the task. I just wish things could have been easily done even with the simple things such as doing an inventory but time is really passing by so fast.

For those who don’t like to go through the hassles of doing an inventory of all items in their houses, they can avail of home inspection providers such as American Home Shield. Well, my techie bro’s condo is still not that filled with stuff so at least I won’t be spending much time coming up with the inventory list. By the way, my techie bro’s condo unit is now open for lease. I will be posting more details about it soon. 

More giggles for your summer shopping spree

Summertime is not only the season for beaches, resorts and vacation sprees but for shopping madness as well. Whether you’re into clothing, shoes, accessories, electronics, appliances, hardware tools and other stuff, there are lots of summer sale and discounts being offered in the malls these days. Yup, the shops and stores are competing for the consumers’ attention for their summer sale.

Last week, I saw those tempting big signs with 10% to 50% off on some summer items being displayed which really caught my attention. For those who prefer the convenience of online shopping, check out the video below (featuring a bit of my cute little baby niece) and see why buy.com rocks this summer.

Some pics of techie bro’s condo

Here’s the final look of techie bro’s condo. (Thanks to happysteps.net for the photos.)

A ready-made extendible divider from Our Home at SM Bacoor. 

Done with furnishing the condo

Yey! Finally, my techie bro’s condo is done with the furnishing and sprucing up. I can just remember when Mom and I would scour the malls searching for the right furniture pieces and décors that would fit the design concept – modern, simple and functional. We would find our way amidst the wide display of DIY supplies, from kitchen gadgets to door hardware, just so we could pick the right item for the condo’s look.

We not only put on the necessary furniture, cabinets, carpets, curtains, appliances and finishing touches but also provided additional décors to liven up the unit so that it would look homey and comfortable. 

My idea of a summer adventure

One great way to spend the summer is going on a mountain adventure. I can just imagine myself getting all dressed up in comfortable shirt and shorts and trekking shoes, bringing some camping gear, hiking over rough terrains and rock climbing over steep mountains since I haven’t tried this yet. How nice it would be camping out in the open air at night with friends. How about you, what’s your summer adventure plans this year?

Presence, not presents

Cutie sis and hubby and baby C will be home soon! We are so excited about that.

I sensed her hesitation, so I told her I don’t really need the USB drive, it was just something that came to mind when she asked me if I needed anything from there.  Actually it’s not that important. Don’t worry sis, your presence is much more valuable than bringing whatever from Prague, yeah?

Health is wealth!

I don’t know what’s with the weather these days but it seems like people I know are nursing colds or having headaches or having stuffy noses. First, it was cutie sis who got this hoarse voice and going offline for few days due to flu. It was not just her, but her hubby as well. Thank God, their baby C was not affected and still is very much healthy. Then there’s Dad who had his coughing bouts since last week. I do hope they’ll get better soon. All these blahs about coughs and colds could make one think of healthcare, medicines, prescription drugs, medicare insurance or any health-related issues.

I remember when I was still holed up in my techie bro’s condo last month and I also got sick… maybe due to stress and lack of sleep and with the rainy weather looming every now and then. Thank God I am very much fine now. Mom took care of me… hehehe, she never failed to remind me of drinking my cough syrup every 4 hours. We also made it a point to include veggies and fruits in every meal. Oh well… that ever familiar saying, “health is wealth” is very much true! 

Be careful when using public computers

Making my online private information vulnerable to password hackers or forgetting to log off properly from an email account are just some of the main reasons why I am wary of computer rental in an internet café or using somebody else’s computer. My techie bro advised me to bring my laptop and just plug it to the network hub but most internet cafés don’t allow it since their computers are installed with a time-tracking application to manage the logging in and out of customers.

For those who are into going online in public terminals, make sure that you clear out the cache and password information in the browser and clear out the archives from your chat programs and log out properly. Don’t login immediately to websites. Keep your eyes open for those tiny boxes where it’s ticked to let you enter automatically to your account in the next session. Uncheck this option when using a public computer and be careful not to accept those pop-up windows that ask if you want your password to be remembered or not.

Those exaggerated TV ads

Last night while watching TV, I was amused with all sorts of propaganda being fed to the viewers during commercial breaks. Some are blatantly exaggerated with characters throwing themselves at the back of a bus and going through a big splash of water, or an actor zipping open his face downwards to reveal another costume, or a man climbing up a mountain of dirty laundry. While we know these are just funny exaggerations and need not be taken seriously, I wonder how it affects the kids watching them.

With so many products on TV clamoring for the attention of consumers - from shampoos, skin whitening lotions, to beverages, burgers and jeans, producing quality merchandise (including product development and research) and providing excellent service should be a company’s priority instead of investing millions on famous personalities for ads. After all, a satisfied customer is worth more than few seconds of hype on TV. Word of mouth marketing is still very much important and the integrity of a company relies much on the satisfaction their clients get.    

Up in arms

Doing something good while enjoying what you do, this is what Switchfoot members are up to with their UP IN ARMS TOUR 2008 which will be featuring a special performance by Athlete. They’re partnering with TWLOHA (To Write Love On Her Arms) which is a non-profit organization focused and devoted to helping those “struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire, and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.”

TWLOHA’s name is based on the story of a teenage girl who has gone through depression and substance abuse. According to them, “rescue is possible, and (we) are committed to communicating hope to others who know the daily struggle of living in a broken world.” More information about this philanthropic organization can be browsed in their official website. Kudos to Switchfoot members Jon, Tim, Chad, Drew and Jerome for getting involved in a good cause.

Photo credits: www.switchfoot.com 

Cable trouble

Having limited access to the Internet (which means going online at internet cafés for an hour or so) while away from home just made me realize how important it is to my work and communicating with my siblings abroad. Thus, I was so excited to immediately plug in my laptop as soon as I was back to my desk here at home. I didn’t expect that I needed to be more patient with going online since I had trouble connecting to the Internet.

After doing some troubleshooting, checking the network connections and searching for the cause, I found out that the Cat 5 cable from the DSL modem to the hub was defective. We replaced it with another one (thanks Dad!) and finally I was able to connect my laptop to the Internet. Yey!

Space saving tips

Sprucing up a room or any area in a house can be a challenge for those with limited space. This is why choosing the right dimensions for furniture is important. When going out to scout for furniture, be it a wide divider or small table; always keep a steel measuring tape handy in your bag. Yup, I have a small one-meter steel tape which I easily use when at hardware and home depots.

Choosing slimmer cabinets is best for narrow room spaces. For instance, in my brother’s condo, we had to choose a slim study desk which still allowed ample space for movement at the foot of the bed. For those with smaller bedrooms, a TV lift cabinet with reversible drawers is recommended. Space saving is an important factor to consider when smartening up rooms.  

More memory, mas happy!

OK, I adapted this post’s title from a multivitamins’ ad slogan “more energy, mas happy!” which means having more physical stamina gets you in high spirits. My laptop is happy now, having been fed with more RAM. Now it’s got 2.5GB of memory which is a far cry from the previous 1GB causing some of the applications to load slowly. Of course, the owner is much happier with the increased speed. Just look at the CPU meter screenshots before and after – it’s definitely great to work with just about 60% of RAM being used up compared to the previous 89% usage.

Previous meter readings

Present meter readings

Investment dreams

After looking at some furnished and unfurnished condo units lately and talking to some real estate agents, Mom and I learned more about the business of selling properties and how lucrative it is. It reminded me of Robert Kiyosaki’s bestselling book ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ where he got wealthy with buying and selling of properties including foreclosed ones. It also made me want to start investing in one unit too considering that the pre-selling value gives more advantage and value to the owner in few years time. Hmmm… as Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad says, “Don’t say ‘I can’t afford it’, but rather ‘How can I afford it?’”

Tidbits is back in town!

Finally I’m home. Preparing for our trip made me miss my much-needed sleep the night before our flight. Arghhh… yup, I was up and about the whole evening until noon today (nope, I didn’t look like somebody in need of an alcohol rehab).

When it was already 4:00 AM, I was bewildered with the unfinished task. I decided to forgo the inventory and focused more on packing up. First things first! Now we just have to do the inventory later using our memories instead of identifying and describing them while on site. Anyway, it’s good to be back.

Movies and more!

Sometimes I just feel like staying in the house and watch movies especially on cold, rainy days. Ah it’s a good time to check for online movie rentals and sign up.
  
Yep I found a tidbit. I got hooked here coz you can rent unlimited new and old-time favorite blockbuster movies or TV series online and in-stores. This Blockbuster online store has more movies for you to choose from and is faster. You can select from more than 70,000 movies which they will ship to your mailbox for free using first class mail. Then you can also swap or exchange your rented movie at a local Blockbuster store for a new one in-store. You get another movie right there and then. They also offer online game rentals if you’re bored watching movies.
  
Here’s the essential tidbit I saved for last. Your first month rental is waived plus they are giving away 2 weeks free unlimited DVD rentals with free shipping. With a lot of freebies, it’s a limited offer you shouldn’t neglect.

Vacation break in the beach

Some parts of the world are sunny and hot. So for those who can’t really wait to walk along the sandy beach, plunge in the sea and enjoy bathing under the sun, there are winter breaks in the sun if you search online for it. There is an online holiday maker offering cheap holidays with savings of up to 40% from the normal rack price. If you plan to have a holiday with your family, a great alternative is to book for all inclusive holidays. You and your family can just enjoy while they take care of everything.

They have cheap holiday beach destinations to Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Canary Island, Caribbean but the cheapest among the list is a holiday in Turkey. Not bad coz Bodrum, situated on the Aegean coast of Turkey is a popular tourist destination according to WikiTravel. You can enjoy the beaches, castles, ruins and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Go and get the best value for your beach holiday.

What’s up?

It’s been quite some time now that I haven’t blogged about updates here. The weather is good and cabinet’s done. Our stay here in this crowded and busy city is almost over. I can’t wait to go back home next week and I’m doing the countdown now.. Mom and I are busy packing up a bit. Like 30% of our things. hehe. I almost forgot, a kababayan is arriving today from Thailand. Mom and I are planning to pick her up from the airport coz she’s bringing some Laab Namtok mix, Tom yum mix, and who knows what other Thai mixes my techie bro in Thailand requested her to bring.

Why people sell their endowment policy

Thank God it’s Friday. Yes its TGIF day. Another busy week is over. So time to relax a bit, read the news, watch TV, and write my musing for the day. After my relaxing evening I will head off to bed early so I can wake up early and be healthier and wiser.