A Source of Online Entertainment

Lately, I have been trying out some online game I got as a promotional CD installer and giveaway from our last visit at Eastwood City.  Computer games can really be very engaging and, entertaining when properly scheduled and controlled.

There is a web site that offers iPhone games and other cool stuff like Zuma for mac, Mac PacMan, Solitaire for mac and some other free stuff. The web site is MacGamesAndMore.com.  Check out this site for your share of online entertainment.

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Frustrated Over My Absentmindedness

I feel so frustrated about myself today.  As I woke up to meet the metal worker who will be working on our gate, agreed on a price for all his labor and the materials needed, and as I was about to get the money so he could buy the materials, I couldn't find my wallet.  And as I try to retrace my steps I couldn't think of an instance when I could have left it somewhere.  :( That is really frustrating.  Aside from feeling sorry for the money inside, what I feel bad about is this pattern of not having a presence of mind with trivial but very important stuff.

I just am thankful that my wife, even in her sudden burst of frustration over my absentmindedness, was able to keep herself from being too hard on me.  And it makes me feel worse about myself knowing that I let her down again.

I just hope that my wallet would turn up sudenly or if someone found it somewhere that they would contact me and be honest enought to return it to me - or that I would suddenly be flooded with a recollection of what happened to it.

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Finding Financial Peace for 2009

Year 2008 is about to come to an end and another year will begin. A serious matter that needs to be done is an end-of-the-year evaluation of everything in our lives. From matters like mental and personal development and growth, physical and health issues, spiritual, relational and financial concerns. For some, an area that is least given attention is the spiritual aspect, giving priority to their personal finances especially when they need to find debt help.

This is something that is natural but I encourage everyone to also focus on the spiritual. Not to say that finances and spiritual matters need to be separated because, in fact, the Bible, more specifically the New Testament, talks a lot about finances and giving more than the topics of love and prayer. I guess because God understands how important money is to us.

So if you are in need of credit help, be sure to not forget to call on God because it is He who can give you what other financial companies can't – that's a peace that passes all understanding. As Suze Orman, one of the most influential people of 2008 according to Time Magazine, quotes, “A big part of financial freedom is having your heart and mind free from worry about the what-ifs of life.” God alone can give that.

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My Niece and My Son

Last week, my family and I paid a visit to my mother's where my sister and her daughter are. It was a great time to catch up on each other's busy lives and a time to take pictures.  Christmas vacations allow these moments and we're glad to have spent some time with them.  

Me and my neice

My son about to give her a kiss

Smiling for the camera

Tomorow, Saturday, she will be celebrating her first birthday and we will be seeing each other again.  Happy birthday Baby Shane!

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A Piece of Land With a Garden

I have always dreamed of having a property with a lawn or a backyard. Perhaps in the future, my wife and I would be able to invest on a property of this kind. We have thought about areas like Tagaytay or Baguio City where there are cool temperatures – locations, perfect for vacation houses. If ever this dream gets fulfilled we would want to have its lawn or yard landscaped and have a nice garden like having our own estate.

Stonebank Ironcraft is a web site that specializes in making high quality garden and estate ironwork. They have been in that business since 1976 and they boast of a personal and reliable service to their clients. In addition to that, their work is so good that they have been featured in many award winning gardens. Their products are all made in England by skilled craftsmen.

Some of their specializations are installations of estate fencing, railings that are decorative and pergolas, all with fine finish. Quotations can be sourced through their web site and a catalogue of their work is also available upon request.

I am looking forward to the time when my wife and I would be able to enjoy the beauty of a land of our own and we are willing to wait for the right time for this – willing enough to wait until our old age.

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I'm Getting Addicted to Hot Rocks' Porterhouse

I think I have become addicted to HotRocks' Porterhouse Steak. Last night, we went back to this gillery located in Libis, Quezon City and that was two days in a row of eating the said steak. Hot Rocks, which is frequently visited by performing artists (you can see their signatures on the plates that hang on this restaurant's walls), has another branch along Ortigas Avenue in front of the gate two of MERALCO.

Today, we might go back there with the whole family and in-laws. Their Porterhouse steak, which is their bestseller, is something that you would come back for - with its tender and juicy, grilled meat. You should check this steak house and grillery and get swept off your feet with their steaks.

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Requesting Prayer for Our Church

By the middle of February 2009 our deposit at our church's current rented space will be through and we will either have to move to another place or renegotiate for a new contract. Our church's present location is at the third floor of a building which has a wet market below and outside of the building.  This setting has become not coducive for our church (sbcmakati.org) as we also have plans of starting a pre-school so we are looking for a space on the ground floor, and tiles or wood flooring are not necessary.

Our current budget for rent is P20,000 a month and at that rate, the available spaces are too small for our church to congregate every Sunday and hold children's Sunday school.  The place preferrably has to be within the vicinity of Kalayaan Avenue near Barangays Guadalupe Nuevo, Pitogo, Pinagkaisahan and South Cembo area because of our existing feeding ministry to families in that area.  Our church, in partnership with Manna Worldwide, feeds about 60 children from Tuesday to Friday every week, lunch and supper.

We ask prayers as we continue to search for direction, whether we need to stay and renegotiate or find a place big enough for our church activities but fits our budget - something that is hard to find in the Makati area.  But we claim the promise that nothing is impossible with God, so we are hopeful and are anticipating how God will make a way for this to be settled.  We thank you in advance for your prayers.

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Caged Animals at the Residence Inn, Tagaytay

I like looking at animals but I don't totally enjoy seeing them caged, especially wild animals.  When I visit zoos I sometimes feel a sense of guilt, like being an accomplice with zoo owners, for being part of the market they cater to.  So I guess I am not worthy to be even speaking about this until I live a life consistent to not supporting caging of wild animals.

Below are some pictures of animals at the Residence Inn, Tagaytay.  I share the sadness of these animals in their imprisonment.

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No Stones Left Unturned

As the year ends, maybe you are thinking about things you haven’t done yet. And maybe one of them is you and your family’s visit to the dentist. If you are in Washington DC area, there is a dental service that provides safe, gentle and pain-free treatments aside from the other dental services they provide. That is Washington DC cosmetic dentistry at its finest. 

So don't let the year end without making sure that there are no stones left unturned. Write out things you need to do, and if there is still a great chance to do them, proceed. There are still thirteen days left of 2008.

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A New Blessing!

Finally, after months of researching the internet and the local market for a laptop I finally bought one that I really like.  When I was still researching a few months back on which notebook or netbook to buy I had my eye on the MSI Wind.  I considered the weight, first and foremost.  And then, I started reading about other Intel Atom carriers like the Lenovo S10, Asus Eee PC 1000H and the Asus N10J.  I was already set on getting an Eee PC (even though I really wanted the N10J) until Black Friday came.  

Since my in-laws were in the U.S.  I was given an opportunity to ask a favor which is buying a laptop on sale and I immediately fell in love with an HP Pavillion that was on sale, one that had Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, 3GB of memory and the rest of the specs were not that important for me.  But, after underestimating Black Friday, we were not able to get that notebook.

Since that day I have had second thoughts about the Intel Atom, realizing that the price difference with notebooks that had Intel Core 2 Duo were not that big here but the performance and power factors were.  So I began my search for the best buy locally.  I was faced with three options - MSI S1313, Blue M63 (both had Core 2 Duo T5750) and the MSI EX 400 but the one that carried Dual Core T3200 which is available locally. Each were available at P30,999.

I fell in love with the specs especially the dedicated 256MB video card. I was really at peace to settle for the EX 400 Dual Core T3200, 160 GB HD, 2 GB memory but with the ATI HD3450 video memory.  But in the back of my mind I still wanted the EX 400 with the T5750.  But price was the big issue. As we went to the store last Saturday afternoon, right on display was the EX 400 with the T5750 specfications which can be seen in the picture below.  

I was blown away by the price - until the sales personnel (the same one who sold us my wife's laptop) mentioned that they are bringing down the price of the display unit because of the scratch on its body but with the warranty still in.

My wife and I immediately considered especially that they were willing to drop the price P4,500 cheaper for the scratch.  We ended up buying this baby (or should I say monster, at least locally) and I am so happy we did end up getting this - my new laptop.

The MSI EX 400's monster specs

Fresh out of the box

My new 14" everyday companion

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Got To Stay Fit

The way I played during our last football game gave me a greater desire to keep myself fit, or better yet become match fit. I don’t want to have to take a diet pill on January to keep my weight down especially because it’s Christmas season and their will be more parties to go to which means more food. I want to regularly jog and run up and down the bleachers of Marikina Sports Park and I intend to do that at least twice a week. I hope I can commit to that because right now I am starting to feel my trousers tightening on me.

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A Great December Weekend

This weekend started out early with me and my wife travelling to Marikina Sports Park to meet my other teammates from our football club.  We were scheduled for a match against San Jose Del Monte at 10:00 am that day.  We proceeded then to the match venue which was at Xavier School in Greeenhills.

The game against the other football club was great except that we lost 2-0, with both goals made during the first half.  I played the whole 90 minutes, to my surprise, because I didn't expect that I would be fielded in that long during my second match of the season.

After, the game, my wife and I took our lunch at the Magnolia house along Aurora Boulevard, Quezon City, which is just a block away from Gilmore which was our next destination.

After having lunch, we looled for a parking space around Gilmore area to finally purchase a laptop for me.  

Initially, my plans were to purchase a netbook and I even wrote posts about the three that I was choosing from (Lenovo S10, MSI Wind and Asus Eee PC 1000H) but since the Black Friday sale, I started considering the powerful notebooks because of the price difference.

I ended up choosing from three notebooks that are not of the high end brand but with great specifications.  I'll be posting about the new laptop we bought later.

Sunday was a great day as well, more specifically because one of the youth we have been praying for finally came to church again after a few weeks of being away.

Overall, this was a very great weekend for me and I am glad to be able to share this with you guys.

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Touring Our Son at the Residence Inn, Tagaytay

During our trip to Tagaytay, we first went to Residence Inn and visited their zoo there. It was the second time we have brought our son there but during the first time, he wasn't able to appreciate the animals yet because he was still a baby.


Although I really am not fond of seeing wild animals caged, we went there for our son's richer experience as we tried to introduce other animals he hasn't encountered in books we read.


We enjoyed our time together and was happy to see the smile on our son's face as we went around the zoo. He so enjoyed it that after spending the night at Tagaytay, he was asking us to go back to the zoo.

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Protecting Your Credit

Protecting your credit is very important especially now that getting a totally free credit report is easy online. Anyone can easily assess their finances and credit through the internet. But avoiding low credit scores can be avoided if using your credit is regulated. Credit card companies invest on their call centers to call up credit card holders to max up their credit limits. But this is not advisable if you want to maintain a good credit score. You should set aside the remaining available credit for emergencies and other important things. By doing this you can be assured that the next time you get your free credit score, they are not very low.

When you check what your running credit score is, there are other important documents which you should be readily available. These documents are other credit reports from different bureaus, receipts and payments for debts that have already been cleared and other documents like these. A lot of times, getting a poor credit score comes as a result of minor errors and negligence. This could be on the part of the lender who do not update the bureau about the latest payments made. And you can easily avoid this by keeping good records.

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Getting Back to My Blogging Pace

After a long break from blogging it is quite difficult to get back to my former pace. I don't even know what to write about despite the fact that there were many exciting things that have happened this past few days as my family and I went to Tagaytay for the 7th wedding anniversary celebration. I even took pictures of the places we went to. I guess it has become automatic for me and my wife to do that because we like to document everything and look back at them, aside from the fact that we use them a lot in our blogs. We really appreciate the technology of digital cameras because photos and snapshots can easily be taken and unwanted shots can easily be erased. In my coming entries I will be sharing some snapshots of our Tagaytay trip. Right now, let me jus tfeel my way back into the blogging pace.

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7th Anniversary

Tomorrow, my wife and I will be celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary. After more than seven years (because of a long engagement)of being together I'm glad that we're still sweet to each other, sticking to each other like magnets. Though we have experienced many tests and difficulties during the past seven years, we stuck to with God's help. We pray that our marriage continues to be strengthened in the years to come.

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We Lost Against De La Salle Zobel

Yesterday was the first time I was able to join our football club for this season. It was our team's third match and it was held at De La Salle Zobel. We went up against the home team and it was too bad because we lost 8-1. This was quite disappointing after winning two games. Next Saturday, we will be playing against San Jose del Monte FC at the same venue and time. I hope that next week we would have a complete line up and that we win with lots of goals to increase our goal difference.

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Have You Considered Debt Consolidation?

Getting a loan is not necessarily wrong although a truth that Proverbs 22:7 shares is “the borrower is servant to the lender.” That is why it is so important, when your debts have piled up, to get out of them immediately. But this may take a process and one of the steps to consider is to seek help from a debt consolidator.

There are many reasons to consolidate debt and one of them is it can minimize the time and energy you spend in managing many debts. By having one lender to communicate with it lessens the hassle of talking to many lenders.

Now, one may say that debt consolidation is like getting out of a loan through a bigger loan. It may seem like a vicious cycle. But one has to remember that when you consolidate debts, you remove all other debts and put them into one which can probably provide you with lower interest rates or lower monthly payments which can lead to freedom from debt if they are paid responsibly and with discipline.

You can search sites about this topic to read more about the benefits of debt consolidation. This can really be helpful if taken seriously and with wisdom.

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Is the Price Tag Law (R.A. 71) and (DAO 10) Department Administrative Order No. 10 Effective?

This afternoon my wife and I went to Gilmore, Quezon City with the intention to purchase an ASUS Eee PC 1000H. We went straight to the store and asked about the unit but was almost convinced by the person we talked to, who seemed to be the owner of the store, to purchase the MSI Wind because of its cheaper price. For the same specifications (Intel Atom 1.6 GHz, 2GB RAM, 6-cell battery, 160 GB HDD) the MSI Wind cost only P24,900 and the ASUS Eee PC 1000H, P26,500. But when we said that we will be purchasing using a credit card, they then added P3,000 to both prices, but explained it as the higher price being the regular price (card price) and the lower price as the discounted price (cash price).

If you have heard of Republic Act 71 (R.A 71) or the Price Tag Law and Department Administrative Order No. 10 (DAO 10) which orders the ban on surcharges on retail transactions using credit cards, debit cards and automated teller machine cards, then you might feel the way I felt when I saw the price difference. I felt that the merchants who practice this just found a way around the law. And I am not even sure if they are breaking the law or not.

But this experience has made me think about this, "Is the Price Tag Act (R.A. 71) and the Department Administrative Order No. 10 (DAO 10) effective in protecting consumers?" Because , if in practice, difference in cash prices and card prices are still present no matter how merchants explain it, then I think the law hasn't really accomplished its purpose.

In fairness to merchants, I am aware that they sometimes need to resort to the difference in prices because of the charges made by credit card companies. But, what about the consumers? Should they carry that burden or at least share it with the retailers? Should there be a new law passed to finally end this difference in prices?

For now, I guess we are left to what is available. But one thing is sure, if things continue to be like this, many merchants who practice this may face losing customers. Like today, I ended up not making the purchase because of the large price difference. I may wait to make the purchase 2 to 3 weeks from now, when cash is already available but I'm not intending to go back to the same store.

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I Like Being Sober

I am not part of the wine of the month club. Not that I have anything against people who drink, I just do not enjoy the taste of any alcoholic beverage. Yes, I have tasted some of them when I was in college but I have now made a personal commitment not to drink anymore - for personal reasons. I do not enjoy the feeling of not being able to control my actions which happens to be normal when we're drunk. I have been sober for many years now and have no plans of being not sober anymore.

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Watching Twilight

Last Friday, my wife and I watched the movie Twilight. We enjoyed the movie and enjoyed the time watching a movie on the big screen because we haven't done that in a while. We took the chance when our three-year-old was with my sister-in-law's office.

We really liked the movie but was surprised to hear from those who have read the book that it was not as beautiful compared to the book. This led my wife to her search for e-books of Twilight. She now reads the book on her cellphone (.txt file).

I, on the other hand, am curious about the movie's soundtrack. I heard on the radio yesterday that there will be a soundtrack launching at Glorieta 3 this weekend with live bands performing. I don't know if I would get a chance to see that but I am curious and interested.

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Two Are Better Than One

My wife has been asking help from me with some of her job opportunities online. We blog together, if some of you are not aware yet, and we are in this online business together. And during times when there are lots of things to write, like topics about cerebral palsy lawyers or other hard-to-write-about stuff, we help each other by sharing our ideas to each other. And we are both glad that our ideas do help. Two are really better than one.

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You Should Try PayU2Blog

I really appreciate PayU2Blog so much. This past weekend they sent me tons of jobs again, about 15 opportunities all in all. I currently have three blogs approved by PayU2Blog and have submitted the fourth for their approval. I like their method of providing job opportunities because I won't have to wait for bids or wait online for available opportunities. They just send the jobs to my account and they do it at least twice a week per blog.

Compared to other paid to blog services, PayU2Blog only accepts blogs with their own domains. That is one reason why I have started investing on my own domains so I can get more opportunities from them. I hope to maximize my account by getting 5 blogs approved by them. I hope that the fourth blog I submitted will get approved soon.

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Having Foot Problems?

Are you having trouble sleeping because of Plantar Fasciitis or heel pain? Well, you don't have to endure the pain because there are night splints available at FootSmart.com. They also offer heel cushions, foot/arch support, stretching aids and other things relating to the foot. They also have shoes and gift suggestions that are all geared towards improving comfort in your feet. Visit their web site now!

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Go Marikina United FC!

Last Tuesday, I received word form my team mate that our football club, Marikina Unted FC won its match against Xavier FC, 6-0. I was surprised and was so happy to hear the news. The match was held at Xavier school in Greenhills andis part of the NCR FA Terry Razon Copa Filipina Tournament (Third Division).

My team mate shared that at the end of first half the score was 1-0. But our club just dominated the other team on the second half and I can't wait to become available to play with them soon.

Our football club's next match is on Saturday, December 6, 10 AM against La Salle Zobel and will be held at Ayala Alabang Zobel Field. I hope we win against them.

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A Gift Suggestion For Your Spouse

Are you looking for a holiday gift for your spouse? Well, let me suggest Oceanus watches or other brands that you prefer. I am actually considering getting a his and hers for me and my wife as we celebrate our 7th year anniversary this Monday, December 8. Well, that is if she will agree to get a pair for both of us because right now our finances are directed towards expanding our online business, but I guess there is nothing wrong with including the watches in our plans if our budget would allow.

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I've Found A Hosting Account That Fits Me Best

Finally, after searching for the right hosting package I have found what I feel is the best one that fits my blogging needs. I got a hosting account from Host Gator and I have decided to pay on a monthly basis. And to set it up for the first month I only paid $0.01. The package will allow me to set up blogs/sites for the other domain names I purchased that are just parked currently.

Also, finally, I have finished setting up onlinemoneymakingexperience.com which is the blog where I share my online money making experience. In this new wordpress blog, I share tips and my other experiences in my own online business. This blog used to be a blogspot blog but I have decided that I am better off with a wordpress blog for greater potential for growth.

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In Need of an Office Desk at Home

Tomorrow, my wife and I might go out to look for discount furniture as we are in need of a table to work on for our blogging endeavors. We are not really sure if we will be purchasing an office table or just a small desk where we can sit around together as we work on our blogs because right now, we are occupying our living room's couch and center tables. We are more inclined on buying an office desk and two office chairs with arm rests but everything on our available budget considering that we will be buying a laptop first before we make this purchase.

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Waiting for Special Orders

This past weeks I have been working on becoming a part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Reserve Command, not to be in combat duty but to earn eligibility to become a Chaplain. Trainings with other pastors were conducted and today we finally came to the end of the training. Our group is now awaiting special orders and our ID's to be come officially enlisted personnel and junior officers of the AFPRESCOM. Below is a picture of our group who finished the training.

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