5 useful tools to add to our email

This is supposed to make us more productive and efficient. Let's see.

Having trouble linking through my tab.. will edit this post later.

Financial Advice

Financial wealth is what you saved.
It’s never about what you spent.
It’s about the value of your cash in bank, investments and properties.
It’s never measured by what you squandered by partying and lavish spending.
Rich people maintain their statuses by spending far lesser than what they earn.
As a result, their savings multiply and they get richer and richer.
The value that they grow therefore becomes their increasing net worth. 

 I'd like to elaborate on this a bit more in the next posts for it will become my guide. I often fall for the trap of spending and after some thinking, I get to realize that I would have been much better if I planned my expenditures well.


RELATED ARTICLE: Ways of the Super rich

My first "CNN article"

I woke up a bit early for a Saturday and switched on the television.

That's when I found out that CNN will be featuring the Philippines for the entire of next week and they even have a special page in their website for it.

I promptly searched Google and was led to a page where I promptly typed my first short CNN contribution about Philippine Tourism.

It's quite flattering when I looked into my CNN profile and my article is described as having been done "ON ASSIGNMENT".

Moi', a CNN reporter? Whoa!

North Face Movie: Remembering a special long time ago vacation

This is one rare lazy Saturday morning though later, I will be a bit busy. On cable TV is "North Face", a mountaineering story about an attempt to conquer one of the hardest summits in the world. 

I didn't really pay attention to the movie but when it showed wonderful views of the Swiss Alps, I was suddenly jolted awake and filled with a desire to go back and bring together my love ones so they too can experience the enjoyment that I had. As a student, I was Switzerland for a while and was fortunate enough to be taken to a holiday in the Jungfrau region. 

The movie "North Face" showed exactly the places where I spent that holiday. Of course, I didn't climb up to the peak or anywhere near it. I just spent my time hanging around that tourist area and goofed around a bit.

Here are photos:

Scene in the movie

Scene in the Movie

 

That's me kicking a snowman at the back of that bigger building in the top photo

Here's a photo of the nice centuries olf train going up to the mountain retreat. The ride by itself is a very breathtaking experience. It's funny though because I can't remember the train being red. I have to look for the rest of my photos of that trip.

Here's a scene in the movie

Walang Patawad

Corrupt airport personnel should meet my Granny!

An exec of a giant real estate company in the Philippines recently intimated that they are not very keen in luring tourists to their hotels and vacation resorts. To survive and prosper, they have to become the favorite of the local market. Tourists, while they bring in money, cannot be relied upon because our country is not ready for sustained tourist arrivals.

Our country do not have good airports, our transportation system is behind by at least 10 years, etc, etc..

While we are in this topic, I'd like to to talk about our problematic airports. Our greatest handicap is the honesty of our airport personnel. While I believe that most of them are good people, we seriously need to revamp the areas that matter most since the bad few greatly tarnishes the image of our country. If even returning Filipinos are not happy with our airport employees, how can the country become appealing to the rest of the world?

Please take note that in the survey of the world's worst airports, the Philippines ranked on top mostly because of corrupt airport employees. in an article to be found in this link, even an old balikbayan in a wheelchair wasn't spared by extortionists both during her arrival and departure.

People who check the baggage of incoming and outgoing passengers are perceived to be the most corrupt and this is closely followed by our immigration personnel who are seen as very strict and even rude and yet, the bad guys seem to be getting away all the time.

How To Verify Facts Aganist Urban Legends

Whenever you hear anything that's too good to be true or outrageous, check it out at:

http://www.snopes.com/

It would help keep you from looking stupid.

There's this guy who posted in his facebook, a supposed home cancer cure that John Hopkins supposedly published and he got a lot of good comments. Little did he and his friends know that his posting is nothing but a sick joke.

There's also this lady dentist friend who told me about creating small incisions to bleed people suffering from elevated blood pressures and other emergencies.

Oh geesh! I should have asked her to kiss me instead of saying those nonsense! My dialogie should have gone...

So don't talk just kiss...

...let your tongue fool around!

because,

I'm to sexy for your lov.. ..err!

A Letter From A Former Slave To His Former Master

I just can't help but post this link. I don't much time to write about it today but click on this link and enjoy the contents.

LINK--> A Letter From A Former Slave To His Former Master

What you do to the least of your brethren..

As a young top honcho of a medium sized firm, I had the chance of becoming friends with a very powerful officer of a huge conglomerate. He had the authority to grant huge contracts to a lot of companies so people naturally drifted towards him all the time.

I never asked him for any contract but in the few years that we regularly met, he referred me to a couple of clients and got my firm a few decent projects. But before I met with his referrals, he told me not to allot any "commission" for him and instead, just give the client the best discounts.

Now, he's dead and all that remains are fond memories about a good man. His family is financially not doing very well because all his kids are in college. Now that he's gone, we can see for a fact that he earned nothing beyond his regular salary. Now, it's fully confirmed that he personally got nothing in exchange for the millions and billions worth of contracts that he awarded to people.

I frequently think of his family and try to figure out what I can do for them. If only I have more, I can perhaps pass on more to them.

Only Filipinos Would Understand The Humor in This...

Ok, for my foreign readership base of one or two. ...

SOGO is the name of a motel in the Philippines. In Korea and I think, Japan, a motel is call a "Love Hotel".

Strongest banks in the Philippines

Before I go into my travel posts, I would like to share the list of Philippine’s strongest banks as rated by Theasianbanker, according to an article at yahoo. Metrobank is adjudged as the strongest Philippine bank and BDO is rated to be the largest.

In terms of profitability, Security Bank leads the pack with its strong profit performance in terms of percentage of assets. Other Philippine Banks in the list of Asia’s 500 banks include: BPI Savings, BPI, Land Bank, East West Bank, RCBC, PNB, Unionbank, UCPB, PS Bank. I went to the source of the article at Theasianbanker.com and tried to download the list which has the basis of the ranking but my internet connection is bad. If I have time later, I’ll port the list and write a bit more about this topic.

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/16-phl-banks-asias-500-list-160000912.html

My Travels and the NAIA

After reading about the world’s worst airport brouhaha, I decided to write a few articles related to my use of our airport terminals. This will make this blog look a bit like a travel blog but I intend to write a few things that I hope the readers will find useful.

Please stay tuned.

A Lesson from Solar Impulse: The Solar Powered Plane

In Switzerland, two visionaries are implementing a project so massive that it can almost be elevated in status to the heights attained by the Wright brothers. They have successfully flown a plane running on solar power for 24 hours, night and day. The pilot observed that their solar plane had absorbed so much of the sun’s energy that they could have fed it to the power grid if they had enough battery in the plane. Named the Solar Impulse, the plane has a small cockpit and runs on small power. It has a long wingspan fitted with solar cells that is fitted with a lot of solar cells.

If solar cells can lift people (Solar Impulse), what more can it do for the household? All we have to do is install solar cells, use low consumption light bulbs and appliances and we won't be paying for electric power at all.

Take the solar plane model as an inspiration and improve your lives. Let us realize that one need not work harder to fully enjoy his labor. Start by becoming more efficient and before you know it, you would and up with more disposable income, better quality of life and a lot healthier.

Are you a part of the problem?

When you spot something that you dont like, how do you react to it?

Do you solve the situation or do you worsen it?

As the saying goes; "

"If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem."

I have just seen two young managers create problems and make matters worse for their subordinates and suppliers. They spend a good deal of time looking for loopholes in what their subordinates and suppliers do and make a big deal out of it by shooting down the concerned parties.

Being managers, they are supposed to correct this problems to the benefit of their employers and everybody else. What they do is simply make their projects run more slowly and make life difficult for everybody.

I have seen this happen a few times. I can also see the possible career paths of those two. It's not rosy, I am telling you.

Wow!

It's almost a month since my last post. Gotta do something about it.

My internet connection at work is not so good these days. A lot of people also come to talk to me about work the whole time so I hardly have the moment to think of a topic to blog about.

Anyway, i'll try to write something later.

Prevent Bullying

In Japan as well as other countries, a lot of kids have committed suicide because of bullying. In the Philippines, I know of at least one who died as a result of it. He was a high school student in a very expensive school who one day, dropped out and refused to leave his bedroom. After a few years, he killed himself or died from depression. It’s been a few years since his demise and I can’t exactly remember the cause of his death. I was just informed about it by his high school friends. What I am sure of is the fact that he stopped going to school because of classmates who bullied him.

Bullying as simple as repeated name calling and mocking in laughter to degrade another is very destructive. I know of a very lovable child who went as far as entertaining thoughts about killing herself because classmates would not stop calling her “Weirdo” and similar terms. When her mom found out about it, it was discovered that the kid had in some instances used a box cutter to make shallow slashes in her thighs. She was already practicing.

I, myself, have been a victim of verbal bullying. One thing different about me is that I am a man of the street and I was DRUNK when a few so called “friends” did it. One push that sent one of them sailing a few meters into the air and landing heavily into the floor plus a menacing growl made them stop. I was intoxicated and my God, I could have broken a few necks that night. Had I not done it, I probably would have sulked to this day.

I heard that the the "Bullies"still talk about that incident to this day and since I am not in their presence, they still laugh at me. But nobody would dare do the same when I am near. They also know that they dare not retell the story to other people.

For those of you who have kids who are being teased in school or by anybody else, do not take it lightly and gauge how your kid is taking it. Better yet, post me a message here and let’s communicate via email before it’s too late.

Linked to this post is a Time post about a similar story

My advice regarding this matter is given for FREE.

Build your own clean power source

I’ve always wanted to put up my own mini wind turbines at home and generate enough power to light my home and power my television sets. Getting it to power the air-conditioning and refrigeration units may be a distant dream but I will not stop until I’ve attained that. I also want to be able to convert my car into a hybrid because buying a Hybrid vehicle is not yet economical. Based on my calculations, the gas savings generated by using a hybrid vehicle (in this country) is nowhere close to offsetting the buying costs. In this country, a Toyota Prius still sells very expensively.

In the news today, Google invested $168 Million for a solar power plant that will produce enough electricity to power 85,000 homes per year. Wow! I hope that its next project will be the development of mini turbines and solar cell roofing and wall claddings that will power individual homes. That will be the best.

Reference: Google's Solar Power Project

NaWillie Na

I am starting to hate the guts of this guy and the people around him. I've read statements fro him telling those who hate him that he is helping people with his program and nobody is getting exploited. Such statements I find overly arrogant for a person who has made his money from such programs. Yes, some poor people are making some money but make no mistake about it, the biggest beneficiaries of his shows are the brains behind the program is Willie Revillame himself.

Because of his "Philanthropic" programs, Willie Revillame had become the proud owner of some of the most expensive cars in the country. Because of such program, a high rise condominium and mall is scheduled to rise in Quezon City and who do you think owns it? Yes, It's Willing Willie! A Google search for "Willie Nepumuceno properties" will show a lot. And I don't think that's the entire thing.

CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO ENLARGE

No wonder people find him such a bogus. I hope he stops, listen to his critics and start doing the right thing. I hope that none of his kids and descendants will have to dance a la macho dancer or stripper on national TV just to be able to earn a few bucks. I hope he realizes that before it actually happens. Willie Revillame, do you hear us?

How To Apologize

Be sincere and keep it short.

That's one lesson that Willie Revillame should learn. Alot of people think that he should have stopped after two sentences.

As the saying that goes;

Never Explain.
Your friends don't need it.
Your enemies won't believe it.

Here's where I am coming from --> Willie's Apology Criticized. They think it's bogus

Beware of Those Who Mention Religion

In my 15 years of professional career, I've developed a few timeless formulas.

One of them is to stay away from people who mentions their religion. People like them are the biggest crooks that you will ever meet.

Decision Points

In life, people gets to a road that fork, from time to time. The question, always is, will it be to the right or the left, this time? Decisions may be easy or difficult, before one can even decide on anything, it is most important to know whether a situation had reached a decision point.

When is the right time to leave? Is it when the escape route had become impassable.

Remember that the problem is not limited to one’s own vicinity. From Pasig to Libya, the reasons remain the same.

During the onslaught of the great typhoon “Ondoy”, the people in the subdivisions in Pasig failed to monitor and forecast the rising floodwaters in their possible escape routes. When the waters have started to threaten their homes, it had become impossible for them to drive out. The escape roads which were on lower grounds, has been deeply submerged.

In Libya, the same thing basically happened. The Philippine government tarried. They didn’t do anything substantial until it had become almost too late to make one. Newscaster and former Philippine Vice President Noli de Castro laments that the Department of Foreign Affairs even lambasted them for painting a gloomy picture of Libya’s unrest.

When the government finally decided to evacuate Filipinos from Libya, the roads had become gauntlets of death. Even if the Philippine government had money, it had become very dangerous to drive out. Even the borders had become very difficult to cross.

The two events draw parallelisms in a lot of things in people’s daily lives. Take a moment to contemplate and you’ll be surprised at how many decision points were ignored as we dealt with the daily rigors that life threw at us.

There’s a lesson in everything that happens in our daily lives. Let’s hope that we will never fail to learn it.