Fashionable comfy shoes

My big sis has been looking for a comfy pair of walking shoes lately, and while at the stores, she would drop by the shoes section to find that perfect pair for her small-sized feet. Anyway, I found some fashionable Blowfish women’s shoes such as skimmers and mary-jane flats at their official website (www.blowfishshoe.com). I bet she would like the Stella gold skimmer design made of leather with flexible rubber sole which makes a great pair for walking.

My personal choice, while browsing over some Blowfish shoes, is the Sweetart mary-jane with rubber sole and made of soft black canvas with a button for closing. Shoes are categorized into casuals, sandals and boots. A page on retailers’ links is available if you want to check out some Blowfish Men’s Shoes.

Online banking

With everybody always busy and always running out of time (like me!), the use of automation and maximizing technology is very much a welcome option. This is how online shopping has become popular for busy moms, freelancers, hard working employees and executives who lack time to go to the malls to shop or just check out the latest in gadgets or fashion.

Another convenience that the internet has brought is online banking which allows you to check your electronic statements especially paying bills online. This is made possible with online banking facilities such as WaMu which offer free online banking and free electronic statements plus other banking services. There’s no monthly service charge for opening an online Savings Account with their free online checking account.

If you have an existing and active WaMu checking account, you can also link a new online savings account to it. Just be sure to maintain the checking relationship. To prevent overdrafts and bounced checks (which is bad for your bank record and credibility), you can sign up for their Overdraft Transfer Service which transfers available funds from your online savings to your checking account. Of course make sure your savings account has the available funds and there are transaction limits to consider as well.

Work at home business solutions

I have been working freelance for years now, and naturally my work area is at home. I also conduct trainings in another country sometimes, but most of the time I am working in front of my laptop at home. I know there are many out there just like me, from freelance journalists to graphic artists, architects, pro-bloggers to web developers and computer geeks. Working at home has been a good option for those who want to be with their families or those who simply want to be their own boss.

For the entrepreneur-minded freelancers, having a home based business with a home office is just fine. There are also companies which help provide home business solutions such as Ispeedway where they have software for creating an online presence for you with your own online shopping store selling thousands of products. They have a sample gallery to have an idea about how your online shopping store would look like.

Even if you don’t how about web development and computers, Ispeedway offers a user-friendly interface with their SiteBuilder. An express set up wizard will help with getting your online store starting and there are many templates and layouts to choose from. This is an option for those who are not techie but want to market their products online with a home based business and enjoy working at home.

Group travel advantages and disadvantages

Traveling in big groups, such as with the family or with your gang or close friends, is more fun than going alone on a trip. Well, this is just my opinion and how I feel about travel. My motto is: “The more the merrier!”

Though more travel companions means more fun, it is also much harder to go on a group trip than with just two or three of you on the road. First, it’s harder to organize and manage a big group for a trip. Another challenge is in accommodating the group for a place to stay and for transportation. Thus, when traveling in groups, more planning and budgeting is needed than when going on a trip with fewer persons. On the other hand, the advantage of group travel would be in getting group discounts on hotels and plane tickets and other rentals.

It is best to check out on special offers for the group months before the trip. As an example for van rentals, GO Airlink Shuttle offers round trip discounts when you book online in their site. Groups who need a JFK Airport shuttle can reserve for a van via their website or through phone. They operate within the New York City area, providing transfer services from three airports – JFK, Newark and LaGuardia – and to destinations such as hotels and residences between Battery Park and 125th Street. 

IT outsourcing for businesses

Not every employee is a techie, and while the IT industry is becoming very much a part of many businesses and industries, most employees are technically-challenged when it comes to IT stuff. Educational institutions already include subjects in basic programming and computer skills even at the elementary level. Nowadays, companies hire those with computer and IT skills aside from their main job as an accountant, lawyer, real estate agent or sales executive. IT is very much integrated into our daily work. Just imagine the hours most employees spend in front of the computer. And most businesses not only rely on their walk-in clients but more so on their online marketing sources.

For those businesses without any in-house IT staff and they need to integrate IT into their system, there’s the option of hiring an IT consulting firm. As an example, an NY IT Consulting company such as iCorps handles IT outsourcing solutions for small to medium-size businesses with services such as network monitoring, support, preventive care and business application development. With IT outsourcing, there’s no need to be an expert in IT to make your business embrace technology to increase profits and productivity. Thus, it’s best to leave the technical part to the experts and focus more on managing your business.

Signs

When one travels to a new place, the first things that he/she would easily notice are the signages and the language that’s written on them. Yup, store signs, street signs… all sorts of signs whether they’re some blinking neon lights, steel sheets fixed on posts, digital signage or billboards.

For instance, upon arriving in Thailand, one would notice Thai characters (sometimes together with their equivalent English pronunciation) on the street signs or mall entrances. In Finland, I immediately noticed the overhead directions at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport which are in Finnish, Swedish and English.

It’s an indication that you’re now stepping on a foreign land. Now that puts a big smile on the face of travel bugs, yeah. 

Still in Finland

What’s up with me as a travel bug here in Finland? Well, so far I have gone to Yyteri Beach, Rauma, Helsinki and Turku. I doubt if I can still visit other places since I will be off to Prague soon. Most of the tourist spots I went to are historical buildings, churches, museums and parks. Here in Pori, the Kirjurinluoto Park is a haven for kids with its big playground and its wide expanse of trees and well-trimmed grass (just like one of those Orlando golf courses, huh). Anyway, next stop for me would be the Satakunta Museum here in Pori. 

Courting the search engines

With millions of websites all over the internet, how can you make yours stand out from the rest? How do you improve your online presence when compared to other sites particularly your competitors? There are many businesses employing a lot of marketing tactics just to have their websites land on top of search engine rankings. Of course, being on top of the list means you get more attention from those who search for related keywords.

For web developers, search engine optimization or SEO is a breeze. For the technically-challenged, it’s a tough task to handle. However, thanks to SEO companies who make the job easier to handle. Thus it’s best to leave the SEO worries to the experts and focus more on providing quality products and services to your clients.

For instance, Brand Identity Guru Inc. is a Boston Search Engine Optimization company which provides businesses with internet marketing by employing keyword optimization, web site submissions, search engine positioning, tracking, analysis and more. Their team of developers work on your website with assessing, analyzing and doing research and other methods to ensure your business would be on top of search engine rankings. Aside from SEO, they also offer branding strategy, graphic and logo design, and other internet marketing services to help boost your online business presence.

Debt collection

How do you collect debt from somebody who owes you especially if it has been a long time already? In my case, a friend owes me money for more than 5 years already and you can say it’s a ‘thank you’ on her part since until now she hasn’t returned what she owed me. I’m also hesitant to tell her since she’s struggling to make ends meet and doesn’t have a regular job. There are those times though that I need the cash and sometimes I think of reminding her again. Collecting money from people who owe you can be tough, yeah? I remember when I used to have a sideline business of leather goods and it really was a chore to remind people of their payments.

For businesses, dealing with debt collection should be managed professionally, thus debt collection agencies such as American Profit Recovery (APR) offer their services to help businesses manage their collections. This increases their productivity and efficiency since they don’t have to worry about debt collection and thus they can focus more on what matters most regarding their business.  Third-party intervention regarding debt collection is a diplomatic way of dealing with valued clients, thus keeping the partnership and their loyalty intact. More information about the basics of the debt collection industry can be read from the APR site.

Upgrading RAMs

What’s up for today? Just one of those ordinary days when you know you have work to do and yet you keep on delaying it… tee hee. Anyway, after cooking for lunch, big sis asked me to upgrade her laptop’s RAM so I had to sort out my baggage for those memory cards I brought with me. Her laptop has only two slots for the RAMs, and it has two 256MBs on them. I just took one and put in the spare 512MB I used to have for my laptop. So now her laptop’s memory is 768MB which is not really high speed but at least much better than the previous 512MB. With only 60 GB for the hard disk space on her laptop, I guess that would be the next thing to upgrade. With IT stuff always being upgraded to something else faster and better, sometimes the option of buying a new unit is more practical than upgrading an old one.

On being slim and fit

Are you one of those who are into diet pills and browsing for the latest buzz from diet pill reviews? While these pills may give you that faster way to slim down, eating right and having a healthy and nutritious diet is still important as well as living an active lifestyle with regular exercise. For instance I saw on TV a celebrity being treated with liposuction. He stressed that after seeing the fats extracted from him, he vowed to eat healthier and be fit. I couldn’t agree more. While liposuction and other cosmetic surgery treatments and diet pills may help you get a slim and sexy body, the challenge is in maintaining your weight and health after the treatment.

Hei hei!

One of the things that challenge travelers or tourists in another country is understanding the language. Here in Finland, for instance, the language spoken is Finnish (which is very nice to listen to) and you seldom hear English. Even the street signs, grocery labels, newspapers, product and furniture catalogs are all in Finnish. For those who will be staying here for more than a year, it’s best to learn the language by taking up lessons. For tourists staying for just few days or weeks, the basics are enough to get them by. Don’t forget to say ‘hei’ or ‘moika’ to greet the locals or ‘kiitos’ to say your thanks.

Missing my exercise routine

The month of June took me by storm… ok not literally at that but it was just a lot of travel, packing up, going places and living in different places in just a month. That also meant having no time for my exercise routine with hip hop abs dance moves. Well, I still am not that desperate enough to try a diet pill though. All it takes is lots of discipline to get me back on track again.

Some travel discomforts

Travelling to another place not only means fun and excitement but also some discomforts along the way. For instance, I had some bad skin rashes last month which really made me worried about how I am going to enjoy my vacation. Those rashes made me so worried that I thought about the travel and medical insurance booklet I had in my bag (nope it wasn’t some cheap term life insurance) and read some of the details of the policy inside. hehe… anyway, thank God they’re all gone with the help of some ‘magic ointment’ we bought at the pharmacy, and of course with lots of prayers.

Girly clothes for your little princess

My 7-year old niece is growing up fast, though her height is a bit short for her age. Anyway, it’s nice to see her developing as a smart kid. I can still remember when she was still a toddler and how she would look cute in her pink dresses and other clothing her mom would mix and match. Girls are fun to dress up as what others say, and it’s easy to find lots of clothing for girls at the stores.
Shopping online for girly clothes is also fun with the many choices at the tip of your mouse at ShopWiki. My niece’s favorite color is pink and she loves Hello Kitty girls clothing so I bet she would be delighted with a cute Hello Kitty tank top pink with studs. Actually, she’s really not that particular about what she’s wearing as long as they’re comfortable. More casual clothing for girls can be browsed over at ShopWiki to get some mix and match fashion ideas for your little princess.

On loans and credit cards

Most families are experiencing hard times these days. The current financial crisis is affecting their daily family budget especially with the rise in oil prices and basic commodities. I even have a friend who’s a teacher with her salary sometimes being delayed. Families who experience having low funds have to resort to loans and using credit cards for their bill payments and shopping otherwise, it will be difficult managing their finances.

If you are facing the same tight spot, you might be thinking of getting a credit card. It’s helpful especially when your cash is low and you really need to purchase something urgently. It’s convenient to have one as long as you pay your credit card bills on time and avoid over-spending. Getting a credit card should be given much thought and having one requires being a wise spender. 

Stylish eyewear

Come to think of it, some eyeglasses can make a person look more attractive especially if it compliments his/her face shape. I know some people who do wear glasses just for a change even if they have a 20/20 vision. If you are one of those who are into making a fashion statement even with your eyewear, there are lots of stylish glasses I found while browsing over at zennioptical.com. They have a wide range of prescription glasses with all sorts of designs for the frames whether they are single vision, photochromic, tinted, bifocal or progressive lens. 

Strawberries!

Yummy sweet strawberries…yup, we bought these bright red delights as we passed by the stalls this morning. It sells for 3 Euros per liter (equivalent to the medium-sized container shown in the photo above), so you can compute how much that costs in Pesos. Tsk…mahal gyud! It tastes yummy when eaten with vanilla ice cream or you can make it into a cool strawberry fruit shake. 

Flight deals for your vacation

Right now I’m on vacation, yey! For one who comes from the tropics, being here near the North Pole, in the land of the midnight sun, specifically Finland, is much of a blessing.

These months belong to the travel season, and you may have already your plans for your vacation. Have you already tried to get the right flight deals for you? I bought my travel ticket months before my travel date so I was able to save a bit. I hope you can still get lower rates as these days there are many websites you can choose from to buy your air tickets. That’s just a travel tip from a travel bug. Happy holidays!

What to do you want to be when you grow up?

This would always be the question grownups ask kids when they’re on an ‘interview’ mode. Well, my 12-year old nephew used to tell me he likes to be a scientist and study at Harvard though lately his love for baking had him entertaining thoughts of becoming a chef. Yup! I’m not kidding on that… just today he baked fish with creamy sauce and sweet buns topped with pearl sugar. He’s not even a teenager yet but he knows his way with baking basics. He learned it at school including other skills such as woodworking. Well, I wonder how other kids would want to be when they grow up. The usual replies would include being a pilot, nurse, doctor, engineer or lawyer. I wonder if they’d consider being a futures broker as an attractive career.

New PS3 games

With the summer break ongoing here in Finland, most kids are just happy to be home playing video games such as PlayStation 3 or commonly known as PS3. While browsing over at buy.com, I found this list of top ten new games coming soon to PS3 lovers:
1. Enemy Territory Quake Wars
2. Lego Indiana Jones
3. Kung Fu Panda
4. Bourne Conspiracy
5. Incredible Hulk
6. Dragonball Z:Burst Lim
7. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
8. Battlefield Bad Company
9. Wall-E
10. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

Packing up dilemma

How do you pack some computer hardware for travel – motherboard, hard drive, RAMs, video card, cables, and such? This was my dilemma as we were busy packing up for our flight coming here in Finland… anyway, I was able to pack everything successfully and now the goods are here safe and sound. My big sis wanted to assemble her own desktop computer, that’s why… so a generous donor gave his thumbs up to bring the pieces here. I just wrapped some of them in paper and in bubble wraps and tucked them away in my laptop carrying case with some clothes folded in between to avoid some bumps during the trip.