Webhosting for you

Ever thought of having your own website with your own domain name? This is particularly important for businesses to establish corporate identity and project professionalism. The hassles of site building can be stressful though, if you don’t have the resources yet to hire web designers. It’s good that preconfigured website templates are available from Host208 - Webhosting Services which offers SiteStudio, an online site builder, for FREE when you purchase any of their webhosting plans, be it a Business, Corporate or Enterprise plan.
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Denim buzz

I am a big fan of denim jeans – they not only give you that casual look, but wearing them gives a comfortable feel. I like my jeans a bit unique too but not outrageously designed and I found some really cool styles on Kultic Fashion site, where they feature the latest high-end denim and casual wear from the finest designer labels like Frankie B Jeans, True Religion Denim, Citizens of humanity, 7 for all mankind and lots more. I particularly like the Flat Front Trouser - Pink Glitz design from the Frankie B Jeans gallery. I find this style cute mainly because I love its light pink color and its shape which is a bit flared at the ends.

Kultic Fashion is a company that considers themselves “a group of denim connoisseurs who wear what we sell and sell what we love,” and true enough you can see that by browsing through a wide range of designer jeans and apparel from their online catalog.

A day with the kids: Sandcastles at the playground

The sky was a bit cloudy, but nevertheless, we went to the school playground, my 6 year old niece Anzel, 4 year old nephew R-jed and I, bringing a kiddie pail and some beach toys planning to make a big sandcastle. “Uh-oh, I hope it won’t rain,” I thought anxiously seeing the grey sky. Anzel was a bit hesitant herself, she told me there are summer classes going on and the teachers might scold us for playing there. I assured the little girl that it’s totally OK and I’ll be the one to talk to the teacher if she would approach us. Of course, that didn’t happen. Classes were going on inside the building and we had fun playing in the sand.

We weren’t able to make a big sandcastle though. The kids were just happy and content with forming anything with the plastic turtle, seahorse and tree forms and the small pail which we filled with sand and turned upside down.

A pose before making the sandcastle

Anzel starting to form her sandcastle

R-jed busy with his own sandcastle too

Anzel's sandcastle with turtles, seahorses and trees

Anzel and her masterpiece

R-jed's masterpiece

While busying ourselves in the sand, I saw my bro approaching us. He reminded me that we had to go to IT City to get some papers for my flight later in the evening. Oh well, time to go then. Anzel wanted to stay, but bro and I had to have an early lunch before leaving. So, the kids tagged along with us for our next stop, the cafeteria.

(to be continued)

Related posts:
A surprise call
Kiddie drawings (Part 2)
Kiddie drawings
Little scientist
Kids’ logic

Where’s your next vacation stop?

Flight and hotel bookings, places to go, travel itinerary, filing for a vacation leave…these are the things you have to consider when planning for your next vacation stop, right? I don’t consider my recent trip to Thailand a vacation since it was partly due to work, though I still found the time for visiting some interesting historical ruins and of course meeting my loved ones.
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Pinay Big Brother

First it was Nene Tamayo, followed by Keana Reeves, Kim Chiu and now Beatriz Saw. Didn’t you notice, these ‘Pinoy Big Brother’ big winners are all ladies? So maybe the show title should have been ‘Pinay Big Brother’, but that’s just being silly of me.

Anyway, a lot of my friends rooted for Bea including my cutie sis, even my chatmate’s status in YM was about her being a big winner. I’m not a consistent viewer of this show, and it’s funny hearing the PBB housemates being part of everyday conversation among pinoys.

Hmmm…how about a guy as big winner for the next PBB season?

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photo from Pinoy Big Brother official site 

All about diamonds

If you think that a diamond is just another fascinating tiny piece of precious stone set on an engagement ring a lover romantically hands over to his fiancée when he proposes for marriage, then think again. This gem has more than meets the eye.

Learning about the C’s of Diamond education from Whiteflash.com could be the first step in getting to know more about this valuable stone. Their elegantly designed site offers informative links to give you more idea about the C’s of diamond (carat weight, color, clarity, cut basics, cut analysis, and confirmation) as well as other interesting diamond education articles and news.

Whiteflash.com prides itself not only with its exceptional jewelry collection of hundreds of loose diamonds but more so with the satisfaction they bring to their clients based on their testimonial section.  Here are some of my faves from among their many beautifully designed jewelry pieces.  

7 tidbits about me

So I’m tagged by my cutie sis with a meme to list 7 things about me. At least this one’s relatively easy and takes just few minutes. Here they are:

Now for some link love! I’m tagging these pretty ladies – Raine (Selling the drama), Karmee (Karmee 3.0) and Cai (Pink Urinal). Go girls!

Online marketing and other SEO-related articles

If you’re into search engine optimization (SEO), here are some of the latest news, tips and tricks on the world of SEO. Articles on Google site targeting success, human-powered search engine Mahalo, Google’s privacy flap and many other enlightening topics can be read at the Apogee Search blog. This informative blog focuses on topics ranging from blogging, online marketing, paid search, email marketing, e-commerce and other SEO-related categories.

Apogee Search, established as a company offering search marketing in Austin, is now one of the largest search engine marketing firms in the world. Their services include paid search, natural search, affiliate marketing and pay-per-call.

First things first!

Just look at the mess on the table – a pair of earrings, nail cutter, clip, pencil, watch and other unusual items on my right side. Behind my bro’s Acer Travelmate laptop – a printer manual, stack of some scratch papers and some cables. But that doesn’t stop me from chatting with my cutie sis! Note the Yahoo! Messenger window on the lappy’s screen. 

Yes, you can share file sizes up to 500MB for free!

Ever attempted to share your large video and document files through email and not being able to do so because of the 10-20MB limit? Well, here’s great news for you. You can use the ‘Driveway’ to park your files online for sharing. Driveway.com is a new service that addresses the need to share files online and the best part of it is that it’s FREE.

Now you can share files of up to a whooping 500MB with Driveway.com with unlimited storage and no limits for downloading. Great isn’t it? I just uploaded a big file yesterday at Driveway.com. To start file sharing with others, all I need to do is just to give them the ‘Parkit’ link which would take them to the page where the file is ‘parked’ and ready for their downloading pleasure.

Lost and not found

Losing something valuable can really make me sad and worried. Who wouldn’t anyway?

Last year, I had a bad experience with almost losing a digital camera and my passport.  Now these are really valuable items, right? If you read about my digicam experience here, you’ll know how I recovered it after much unnecessary worrying. What about my passport?  I was dumbfounded to realize few days after arriving in Thailand that my passport was missing. I checked my things for the nth time and was so worried not to find it. I contacted our co-passengers, who became our friends, if my passport was accidentally left with them but I got a negative response. A lot of pessimistic thoughts ran through my mind and I was about to give up. (more…)

Las Vegas entertainment

Dubbed as ‘The Entertainment Capital of the World’, Las Vegas in Nevada, USA is known worldwide as the ultimate destination for shopping, entertainment and gambling.

The city’s economy is mainly supported by its tourism activities and this place is famed for its many hotels and casino resorts such as the MGM Grand, a premium award-winning Las Vegas hotel with a variety of room accommodations (from basic to lavish) which guests can choose from. It also hosts concerts of the biggest names in the music industry, from Madonna to Rolling Stones, and the latest sporting events.

Their website offers online reservation and key links to Las Vegas entertainment, special offers, accommodations, dining, nightlife, amenities, gaming and meetings. MGM Grand also offers a stress-free experience for guests with their spa, pools and salon, aside from offering fun at the casinos. It’s a place that aims to make your stay in Las Vegas an unforgettable experience.

Shhh…kitty’s sleeping

I know somebody who’s crazy about cats! So, this photo is for you Karmee. I hope you like it. Well, I caught this cute kitty taking a nap and I can't help but take its photo. It woke up a bit when it saw me clicking, then peacefully returned to sleep. This male cat belongs to my bro’s neighbor Ag who lives at the ground floor unit of their staff house ST3. Its original owner, who kept a lot of cats for pets, used to live in my bro’s unit but left for abroad leaving kitty with its present owner Ag who asked to take care of it. Kitty would always greet me with its sweet meow when I would come home.

Starting a business

Just early this year, we renewed our city permit for two businesses – customized gift items and computer training. Going through all the hassles at the city hall can really drain your energy and patience. While I was processing the papers, I kept asking myself if it’s worth renewing these businesses considering the first was put off due to a family member going abroad, while the second is a long time business we had in Cebu and needs to be re-established here in our hometown.
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Karaoke craze

Our neighborhood’s usual noise of children playing, cars passing by and dogs barking has been added with music, but not the kind you’d like to listen to. Oh well, ever since our enterprising neighbor installed a karaoke machine in their house and accepted singer wannabes to sing, or rather scream, their hearts and lungs out, we have become unwilling listeners to some annoying though sometimes funny vocal renditions.

Karaoke singing can be addictive I know, I guess that explains the almost endless singing over there. “Damo sila singko bi para ihulog,” (It’s because they have lots of five peso coins to put in) our worker once commented upon hearing somebody struggling on a high note. Surprisingly, the ‘sopranos’ stopped singing now. They probably ran out of five peso coins. Sigh. Silence at last.

Mysterious India

Ever dreamed of travelling to India? For me, it’s a place of mystery and spirituality, of allure and fun. My Mom had the chance to travel to India when she attended a business convention few years ago. From her description of India, I could say it would be a different experience for me to travel to this vast country firsthand.
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Thai food trippin’

One of the things I love about Thailand, aside from its numerous tourist attractions of grand temples, historical ruins, side street shopping and modern buildings and malls, is their yummy FOOD. Yuppp! I often crave for spicy authentic Thai cuisine.

My favorite local dishes whenever I visit this exotic spicy-food-famous land are: Tom Yum (a spicy sour soup of either shrimp, seafood, pork or chicken with lemon grass and mushrooms), Phad Thai (noodles with shrimp, monggo sprouts, tofu), Moo Nam Tok (spicy pork salad), Khao Phat (Thai fried rice), and some other dishes with names I can’t even remember (no exotic delicacies for me please!).

Here are some photos taken before devouring my yummy faves!

Tom Yum Kung (Tom Yum with shrimp)

Fried chicken fillet with lemongrass crispies

Moo Yang (Pork with sesame seeds)

Kwitiaow (Thai noodles)

Crispy chicken lollipop with sesame seeds

After having a hearty meal with these yummies, all I can say is, “Aloy maak!”

I’m still on vacation mode

Browsing the net for package holidays, choosing between travel destinations and airlines, drooling over some beautiful landscapes…yup, I am on vacation mode these days. I know there are many sites offering bargain holidays just like holidayhypermarket, where their holiday search engine is helpful in finding great holiday packages with flights to Mexico, Portugal, Turkey, Greece and many other great destinations. Who knows I might find some surprisingly great deals to my dream vacation? Online booking takes few minutes only. A ‘Search for Holidays’ section is provided where site visitors can input their destination, travel date and duration, hotel accommodation and budget and get results immediately. More information on holiday packages such as Costa Rica holiday deals, Maldives package holidays, Greece and Cyprus holidays and other packages can be browsed at holidayhypermarket.

Kiddie drawings (Part 2)

We were at the Vietnamese Restaurant just few meters walk from the AIT Center arcade, waiting for the food that we ordered and making some doodles of Pikachu, that little yellow toy you see in the pic below.

Anzel said Pikachu is a Pokemon, and she informed me that Pokemon means “pocket monster”. HUH! “So Pikachu is a bad guy, monsters are bad guys!” “Noooo…” she said. I tried to sketch Pikachu and that’s what you see in the drawing.

Online auction site

Here’s a great auction site, eBid Online Auctions, where you can join the eBid community for free with no fees for listing items to be auctioned. It is currently offering its Platinum Lifetime subscription, which is normally $99, for free. This coincides with the closure of Yahoo Auctions in the US and Canada, with this offer limited only until the 30th of June when Yahoo Auction closes. Visit their website and browse through the auctions on a lot of categories — books, clothing, electronics, vehicles and other goods and products.

With the imminent closure of the US and Canadian Yahoo auction sites, US and Canadian users of Yahoo Auctions can import their feedback for free to eBid.net. Included in this special offer eBid.net will also allow all US and Canadian citizens to upgrade to a lifetime Platinum account membership worth $99.99 for absolutely nothing giving them zero listing and zero final value fees for life.
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A new lappy!

Finally, my new laptop is here! My techie bro and I went to IT City in Rangsit yesterday afternoon. Thank God, it's a good buy, the dealer gave us a discount with free HP all-in-one printer/scanner/copier. My lappy is an HP Pavilion, but not the model I blogged about previously (dv2315), this one is a dv2518 which still belongs to the HP Pavilion Entertainment PC series.

Here are the specs of the HP Pavilion dv2518:   
    Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology
    Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7100
    (1.8GHz, 2MB L2, FSB 800MHz FSB)
    Microsoft Windows Vista Premium
    120GB Hard Drive 5400rpm (Serial ATA)
    1024MB DDR2 667  (more…)

A great way to manage your company’s assets

Keeping track of facilities and assets is so important especially for companies driven to increased productivity and results. Just imagine if all these stuff are not being tracked or audited, there is great tendency that these will be misplaced, or even lost, and to think that these are valuable investments. This is where an Enterprise Asset Management Software from Netsimplicity comes in handy. It helps you to efficiently manage your assets across the whole organization — ownership, leases, depreciation, maintenance and value. The user interface is customizable and reports can be adjusted to meet your actual requirements.

Here's a screen shot of Netsimplicity's Visual Asset Manager Enterprise software:

You can watch a quick tour from their site or click here to try the software for free.

Kiddie drawings

I was watching a replay of SpiderMan 3 at my big sis' house when she handed over a white sheet of paper. I was curious as I took it, she told me it was a drawing by my little niece Anzel who wanted to send it to us via mail. How sweet. I asked Anzel about the drawing, she pointed to the dog saying, "that's Scrappy."  "And who's this?" I asked her, pointing at one of the figures. "I don't know," was her reply, but I suspect that was her Grandpa she was sketching.

Here's how her drawing looks like:

I asked her to draw another one tomorrow. I love looking at kids' drawings. They're a delight for the eyes and the soul.

Publish your own book

As a blogger, I sometimes entertain the thought of having my own book and self publish my ideas in print. I often wonder how it is to see my name printed on the cover of some book. Well, at least my blogs are giving me the fun of getting my ideas published, though online and not in print, they still got to be read and acknowledged by others.

It's great to know though, that there's a self-publishing company like AuthorHouse that has helped others reach their dreams of getting published in print, be it novels, fiction, mystery and other book genres. Through AuthorHouse, the writers can decide with regards to creativity in the layout and design, marketing and distribution, and other important matters. You can request for their free publishing guide, which would definitely be a big help, whether it's your first book or your tenth.

Just dancin’

Woke up quite late today…slept late after having a great night at the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok…there was a live band that got us dancing, from great groovy oldies like 'Ain't no mountain high enough' to Beyonce's latest to Guns N' Roses' classic 'Sweet child o' mine', the audience just got wilder and wilder! If only it wasn't Monday the next day, we could have stayed 'til midnight but we had to go. 

The crowd at the grounds of the Philippine Embassy, Bangkok, Thailand and below, the live band in concert which kept us up on our feet.

This evening, we went dancing again… no, not on a night out though. We practiced for a dance number for a presentation on Sunday. Hmmm… I'm still trying to memorize the steps…let's see if I'd do better next practice on Wednesday. 

The Pianoman

I wish I know how to play the piano, with my fingers gliding effortlessly on the keys, playing music that soothes the listener into a calm and relaxed mood. But I think it’s too late considering my busy schedule, I don’t think I could ever have the time. But wait… here’s a guy saying something about piano lessons for busy adults? Duanne “Pianoman” Shinne says it’s very much possible!

Duanne teaches in a quick and fun easy-to-understand lessons and steps using “piano chord families.” Just choose the piano lessons from his online catalog to get started. He publishes free 101 issues of Chords & Progressions Piano Tips in an email newsletter sent regularly. You can also browse for more info on his DVD and CD on “piano lessons for busy adults” and see some really interesting courses like “How To Play “Chord Piano” In 10 Days!” or “Funny Stuff You Can Do On The Piano” and many more. Interested? Duanne says to beware though, you would realize and see for yourself how easy the lessons are and might get hooked!

A laptopy day

  Today’s been a busy day. We went to IT City to search for THE laptop for me… yup, finally I will have my own lappy! Well, after going through all the shops, it was a choice between Acer and HP…. and finally I decided on the HP Pavilion dv2315TX of its Entertainment Notebook PC series. I love it! I haven’t bought it yet….I have to wait until next week when my fairy godmother finally waves her magic wand.

Here are the specs for the HP Pavilion dv2315TX Entertainment Notebook:
Intel® Centrino® Duo Mobile Technology
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7200
• 2.0 GHz , Level 2 cache 4 MB, 667 MHz FSB
• 802.11 b/g WLAN
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium
1024 MB RAM
120 GB 5400 rpm SATA Hard Disk Drive
Lightscribe Super Multi DVD Writer (+/-R +/-RW) with Double Layer support  (more…)

Sparks light up American Idol

So, finally we now know who the American Idol winner is — Jordin Sparks! I watched AI live via ABC this morning while having breakfast and in between calls to the travel agent and planning my coming trip (things are going great for me these days).

Jordin, I’m not a record producer nor a talent manager but I bet you’ll go a long way girl.

What’s up with our van?

Aside from some maintenance work, our trusty van finally got it's annual registration renewed! Dad happily showed me the car registration sticker for 2007. Well I'm just glad it's registered already since I just learned that some drivers have not yet done so. They told us they lack funds for registration renewal which costs a lot since other expenses such as motor insurance and emission tests are included.
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Birthday noodles

I recently cooked a special noodle dish to celebrate my cutie sis’s birthday. She’s far away in Europe but it’s been a family tradition to celebrate birthdays of family members even when they’re not with us. I was so busy that day but found time to cook this:

Does it look like vegetarian noodles? hehehe… I used efuven noodles (they taste better than canton) and put some cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, chorizo bilbao, pork cubes and baby corn. We topped our lunch with fruits and ice cream for dessert. Yummy!