Archive for March, 2008

Webster Wednesday

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Today’s word is: 

GOLF, n. A game with ball and bat,in which he who drives the ball

into a hole with the fewest strokes is the winner.

 

I find it fascinating how a simple game like golf can close multi-million dollar deals. I often wonder what conversations go on while business execs concentrate on trying to hit that tiny white ball into a hole that’s beyond their line of sight and still manage to snag a deal or more. Maybe it’s the long quiet walk across the green, the absence of eavesdroppers who might spoil the negotiations or just being in a relaxing environment that contribute to all that.

My father-in-law played golf in his heyday. In fact, when my husband and I got married, I found a set of irons that belonged to him gathering dust in our bodega. I didn’t know if they were Callaway irons but my dad who lived with us while he was alive, found a very good use for one of them. Our neighborhood back then wasn’t exactly safe and there where incidents of  robberies that would happen often even during the daytime.

One day, I found one of these old golf clubs right next to my dad’s bed ready to whack any intruder or thief that would attempt to break in and steal from us. Now, that’s a thought… Some influential people who play golf in our country and enter into anomalous deals for the sake of greed need a whack or two in the head with a good old golf club to stop them from stealing. That being said, I think I might take up the game for that purpose and really practice on my swing. What do you think? 

My first tEysTful Tuesday

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

I’ve decided to make my Tuesday – tEysT-ful which simply means my take on anything that suits my taste or fancy just as it says up there in my header. So you may agree or disagree with my opinion and that’s fine because we all have different perspectives about how we see things. That’s what makes life more interesting. In the end, I hope you will have a good read.

I remember years ago when we lived in Arizona for a while, every weekend, my husband and I would go on long drives across the States. Looking back at what we did, I realized that we did some pretty foolish things. Once, while still pregnant with my first baby, we drove all the way to L.A armed with just a tiny map at the back of a slim diary, no cellphone, no specific destination or contact to go to, no emergency stuff.  I didn’t even remember my mom’s phone number in case something happened to us. We were married for less than a year so everything was like an adventure. Every rest area we found was like finding an oasis and a chance to get those hotel/motel coupon booklets that gave you discounted lodging rates. Now that I think about all that, what we did was pretty scary and actually really st__id.  But we were hooked on these long drives. The views were just exhilarating  and you can’t relish all that when you’re on  a plane.

So next time we had the chance to go on another long drive, we hit LAS VEGAS! This time, my mom, my brother and his wife went together with us and my son. We had to be a little bit more prepared this time. We rented this big van to fit all of us. We checked out the best rates that all these Vegas hotels were offering to find out which had deals and perks and low season rates that we could take advantage of. No coupon books, budget hotel discount cards this time, at least.Finally, we agreed to stay at the Excalibur Hotel. It wasn’t that spectacular for me but it was okay. It fit our budget. I wanted to go to the Venezia but it was way tooo expensive. Not worth the $$$. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to at least stop by for pictures with the gondolier. 

Of course, if you are in Vegas you would normally want to experience what the celebs do even if it was just once in your lifetime. So for dinner, we wanted to do something a bit more fancy than Denny’s. We wanted to try either Emeril Lagasse’s Delmonico restaurant or Wolfgang Puck’s but they were all fully booked and the only place that was available was at a steak restaurant over at the MGM hotel. So we trooped over there, dressed to the nines, feeling like celebs for a night and had dinner. It was okay but I’ve had better steak for a lot less because it was a bit dry. The ambience was great, the service was fine. It was a pleasant experience.

Overall, the experience was memorable and I’d love to go back and do it all over again. Not really the fancy stuff but the long drive, the rest areas, the coupon books, the rustic diners that don’t have that fastfood burger taste… this time with my kids and of course more prepared than ever…with a cellphone.

Webster Wednesday

Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

Here’s another word that’s been in the headlines as well.  

TRUTH, n. 

1. Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be. The truth of history constitutes its whole value. We rely on the truth of the scriptural prophecies. 
 
My mouth shall speak truth. Prov.8.Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth. John. 17.
 
2. True state of facts or things. The duty of a court of justice is to discover the truth. Witnesses are sworn to declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
 
3. Conformity of words to thoughts, which is called moral truth.
 
Shall truth fail to keep her word?
 
4. Veracity; purity from falsehood; practice of speaking truth; habitual disposition to speak truth; as when we say, a man is a man of truth.
 
5. Correct opinion.
 
6. Fidelity; constancy.
 
The thoughts of past pleasure and truth.
 
7. Honesty; virtue.
 
It must appearThat malice bears down truth.
 
8. Exactness; conformity to rule.
 
Plows, to go true, depend much on the truth of the iron work. [Not in use.]
 
9. Real fact of just principle; real state of things. There are innumerable truths with which we are not acquainted.
 
10. Sincerity.
 
God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4.
 
11. The truth of God, is his veracity and faithfulness. Ps.71.
 
Or his revealed will.I have walked in thy truth. Ps.26.
 
12. Jesus Christ is called the truth. John 14.
 
13. It is sometimes used by way of concession.
 
She said, truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crums– Matt 15.That is, it is a truth; what you have said, I admit to be true.In truth, in reality; in fact.Of a truth, in reality; certainly.To do truth, is to practice what God commands. John 3.

Paypal Philippines for dummies…

Monday, March 10th, 2008

… like me. I’ve been scarce online because I’ve been trying to get my documents in order like renewing my passport, id’s, clearances and stuff in aid of, (not legislation, which is the buzzword in politics right now) opening up a paypal account and boy, it’s been such an ordeal. It’s a bit frustrating how much bureaucratic red tape I have to wade through just to open a simple account. Well, anyway I’m posting this for anyone who might find the info useful for whatever reason. I’m not an expert on this, I’ll just share from what I experienced and what I have done in the simplest way I understand it so you may find it useful or not. 

Since this post is about  paypal and opening up a verified Paypal account in the Philippines, the objective is not just to sign up at Paypal but to have a verified paypal account. I’ve been signed up for years but haven’t done anything with it because of many restrictions for Philippine-based users. Now Paypal has become more Pinoy-friendly and allows us not only to pay(send) money for  online purchases/transactions but also to receive(withdraw) money as well. It still has a long way to go but I’m just glad that this option is made available to us Pinoys already. 

(Note: Generally a paypal account becomes verified only when you have added a credit/debit card to your profile and completed the expanded use process. Read more about the benefits of being verified here.)
Here are some tips on what to do or not do based on my experience. 

  1.  Read. Read as much as you can on the topic. There are a lot of helpful discussions online at the pinoymoneytalk forum or read Chikai’s blogsilog for more details to help you. Don’t forget to read all the way through so you don’t miss out on the steps. I didn’t so unfortunately I wasted time and transpo money going back and forth to complete requirements I forgot.
  2. Write. You need  to write down or print out the information you gathered. It’s not a cool thing to be waiting in line for hours or traveling 20 kilometers to your destination only to find out you forgot your cedula number or your barangay clearance or so and so’s contact number etc. Major bummer!
  3. Gather all the required documents and place them in one container or folder and keep them there for the whole duration of the process until the task is completely done. Imagine how frustrating it would be to be finally in front of the person you are submitting your documents to only to find out that your documents are in the folder you left at home because you switched bags today.
  4. Plan your itinerary and try to locate the addresses of the offices or agencies you need to go to. Most of these offices have websites already so just click on their contact us tab to get their office address or phone numbers. Call them up and inquire before you go. Verify if what you have gathered is what they require because sometimes the requirements listed online are not what is followed in practice. Try to do all you can in the location you are in. I live far from these offices so I made sure that I didn’t have to go back there once I left.
  5. Submit and Smile. You’ve finally accomplished #1 to #4 and it’s almost your turn to be attended to by the not so amiable clerk in front of you. Try to be as polite and as cool tempered as possible so that your papers don’t end up at the bottom of the pile even if you feel like screaming at the poor service you are getting (unless you intend to never ever go back to that establishment or you wait till that person gets promoted or fired).
  6. Wait. Your papers are finally in and all you can really do is wait so just wait…. and wait… hmmm wait…. still waiting….
  7. Follow-up. So you’ve done the waiting game and it’s been weeks since you’ve submitted your papers just pick up the phone and call them because the likelihood of them calling you is zilch. Don’t forget, be nice. You don’t want to keep waiting for another six weeks. 
  8. Tip#8 is not done yet because I haven’t gone past #7 but most probably what I’ll be doing is Celebrate and blog like crazy. 

I am going via the Unionbank EON Cyber account route although you could also enroll your own regular credit card and now your local bank account code to get verified. Here are some useful links to help you get started on the requirements:

If you don’t like to sift through all that government stuff, you can also get it simplified right here.

Webster Wednesday today

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

Wasn’t able to post yesterday but I do have a word find for today from the 1828 Webster Dictionary.  :) My word find for today is:

AP’ATHY, n. [Gr. passion.]

 

Want of feeling; an utter privation of passion, or insensibility to pain; applied either to the body or the mind. As applied to the mind, it is stoicism, a calmness of mind incapable of being ruffled by pleasure, pain or passion. In the first ages of the church, the christians adopted the term to express a contempt of earthly concerns.

 

Quietism is apathy disguised under the appearance of devotion.
  

 

Money that matters

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

Having worked as an accountant for a number of years has its up sides and down sides. The attention to detail, the deadlines to meet, the scheduled taxes and government remittances that need to be fulfilled have rubbed off some of the creative edge in me. There were many occasions that I have had  a sense of what type of  business would work and not work in certain environments and true enough, a few months or years later, somebody else just went up and did it.

A few years ago, I presented my idea of opening a Starbucks coffee shop in Tagaytay long before there was anything on the ridge except abandoned vacation houses to some friends. I thought it was a feasible idea because of the planned development around the area but a friend of ours was pessimistic about it and said that it wouldn’t work. Well right now, I think it’s doing very well on the ridge. So much for my friend’s opinion. Of course, I knew we couldn’t do that even if  I wanted to because for one, to the best of my knowledge, Starbucks is not open for franchising. It is solely operated by the Rustan’s group of companies. So that gives me the perfect excuse not to get into it even though in truth, I only have a few pesos just enough to buy me not the franchise but the frappuccino…make mine mocha, please.

Another business venture that I thought of years ago was related to something I liked to indulge on –> chocolate covered caramel apples. Mmmm, I absolutely love these! I even tried to make some myself but I couldn’t get the technique right because the caramel would slide off the apples. It just didn’t come out the same as the ones I would buy in Arizona. And since I’m kinda OC or a bit of a perfectionist, I couldn’t get myself to put out a product I wasn’t going to be proud of or happy about. I asked some friends about that venture as well and that same friend who didn’t agree with that Starbucks idea didn’t think I had the market to sustain it. Oh well, guess what, somebody is actually selling them right now in Glorietta? in Makati! Not really the same as those I’ve tasted but hey, it’s the idea that counts.

Of course, I’ve had some ventures that didn’t last long because those involved evolved. Priorities and vision are basic values that need to be synchronized when you get into business and if those values are no longer shared, it’s time to move on.I do have some dreams and other projects cooking up and incubating in my brain. Hopefully, when everything falls into place and I have enough resources to pull it all together, I will turn a deaf ear to pessimism around me and muster up the guts to take that plunge and put my money into investments that really matter to me.

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Change for the better…

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

I’m going to attempt to be a bit more consistent with my blogging routine so I’ve decided to change for the better… (hopefully).  So I’m on beta status right now and will adjust as I go along.  I’ve been thinking of dedicating certain topics to certain days like so: Monday Money Matters; TeysTful Tuesdays (my choice picks and reviews); Webster Wednesdays (from the 1828 Webster Dictionary); Thoughtful Thursdays (opinions); Free for All Fridays (any topic under the sun) ; ScrapTalk Saturdays and Soulful Sundays.  

So stick around you might find a surprise or something useful along the way. 

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