Today marks a special day in the entire world.
Today the calendar marks the date as August 9, 2010 or 8-9-10.
Whoop it up folks…the next time this will happen will be on August 9, 2110 exactly a hundred years from today. Officially, that makes today a special day 
Because I had nothing to do yesterday, I decided to take a look at all the work files that I keep in my Mom’s library aka “the office”. To be completely honest, I am in no means a neat freak. But you can trust me to find anything in a heap of trash.
But things are different now. Ever since I took over my father’s business, I’ve had to figure out a
document management system simply because the docs we keep are important. In the beginning it was one hell of a challenge. Why? Well, my father wasn’t exactly a good file keeper either. I had to do everything all over again, classifying, throwing, marking, and filing.
Now I pretty much have things where I want them. Whenever I need to pull out a file I know where it is. But compared to others, mine is still a bit messy but heck, it works for me and that’s all that matters.
Tags : business matters, work
Last week, everyone was talking about the latest high profile carjacking incident that involved the parents of actor/model Derek Ramsay.
The incident happened right in front of the actor’s house. The thieves took their vehicle forcibly and subsequently used the vehicle to further their carjacking activities.
I’m not the panicky type of driver but this really really scares me. These are not mere carnapping incidents anymore. They involve gun-toting thieves and they happen in broad daylight…right about the time when most of us are all driving. And they don’t choose areas anymore. They don’t strike in dark, empty allies. The incidents happen in front of houses and in parking lots.
Ever since this fresh wave of carjacking incidents I have been on guard. In the past when I would bring my kids to school, I would sit in the car while their yaya would go down with them. I would simply lock the door and wait. This was because the kids didn’t want me to go with them. It was quote, “embarassing”, to have their Mom take them to their classroom.
Now I never stay in the car until I have to. I go down with the kids even if they don’t want to be seen with their Mom. I walk until the gate and see them off and wait until there is a wave of people going to their cars. As much as possible I don’t go alone. I’d rather be caught in a little bit of foot traffic as well as vehicle traffic instead of risking the possibility of being caught off-guard by a roving carjacker because I happened to be alone.
Anyway, since I’m at it, I also started reinforcing the house. Lets face it, folks, when carjackers strike, the “akyat bahay gang” will not be far behind. I made sure that all our door locks are secure and I installed new ones as well. I’m thinking of getting a motion detector…if we can afford it.
You can never be too safe. And too paranoid.
Being the daughter of a business minded father, it was almost fate that dictated that I would tread the same path when my time came. I really don’t know if the reason I eventually took the same road my Dad took was because I was groomed for it or maybe because I had his blood running through my veins. Whatever the reason, starting a business was what I wanted to do more than anything else.
Why am I suddenly going nostalgic? Well, after years of running several businesses and looking out for the best franchise opportunities and having to go through all the hardships of start-up, I saw a glimmer of hope after hearing the president’s State of the Nation address.
Huh?!?
You see, everyone knows that getting a business off the ground, no matter how small, will have to go through the rigors of government red tape before even starting. That alone costs a small fortune in money and time. And if for some lucky individuals who happen to have a thicker wallet and longer credit line, going to a fixer is almost always the way to go.
But PNoy said that he would help alleviate all these problems. He said that he would cut the time of business registration to a mere 15 minutes. He said that he would cut the paper work from several pages to a mere 1 page. He said that he would make doing business easy and that he would make sure that the people running the show do their job properly.
This is a bit of good news for business minded individuals like myself. Sometimes the roadblock otherwise known as the DTI and the Mayor’s Office is enough to make a businessman rethink his strategy.
I hope he follows through with his word. And maybe then we might see a boom in new businesses. Being an Economics graduate, he is supposed to make sure that the principle of laissez faire should be enjoyed by the businessmen of his country.
Tags : business matters, Philippines
This morning my husband alerted to a recent online article from our favorite blog, Chuvaness.
She wrote about the recent spate of carnapping incidents in the metro one of which involved a college classmate of mine. He had just come home from a vacation with his family and they were on their way home from the airport when the carnapping incident happened. To make matters worse, he was shot pointblank and was left bleeding while the carnappers took off with his vehicle and his family (wife and kids) inside. Fortunately, he was found by a good samaritan and was rushed to the nearest medical facility for treatment. He survived. His family was dropped off by the criminals somewhere in the city.
This really scares me shitless. You hear and read about these dastardly acts but when it happens to someone you know, it becomes more apparent that it can happen to anyone, including you. What makes it scarier is that it hits close to home. Aside from the fact that I personally know the person involved, I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with these unscrupulous elements in the past. And I’m shit scared (pardon the profanity) that it might happen again.
I haven’t had the misfortune of having my car stolen. However, I’ve been held up at gunpoint and the memory still scares me to this day.
It happened a few years ago at the little cafe I used to run. We were having a good stroke of luck then. Customers were aplenty as we were winding down for the evening, we had a lone couple finishing up their nightcap.
Sometime before midnight 3 customers approached our store. One of them stayed outside, apparently to finish his smoke then the other 2 came in. One of them took a table and the other approached the counter to order. I took the order. After the waiter served them, he came back to me and whispered that we were being held up. One guy was pointing a gun at the couple and ransacking them of their money and jewelry. The other guy was blocking the door. And the other guy had a gun pointed to my head asking me to empty the cash register.
Luckily for me I had remitted most of the day’s sale to my partner who left a few hours earlier and I only had maybe 3 thousand bucks left in the box. Still I gave it along with my cellphone.
I had just gotten engaged then and I was wearing the diamond ring that my now-husband gave me. I carefully hid it in my backpocket just to be sure and they didn’t see it. The couple, unfortunately, wasn’t so lucky. They were stripped of their jewelry and cash (the woman had just come from an ATM at Eastwood).
The good thing, though, was that nobody was hurt. All those crooks did was steal. It took them all of 5 minutes to complete their dastardly act.
From then life never has been the same. Sure I can go about my day like everything was all good but I know that this could happen again. And now that I found out that somebody I know met an even worse fate, it makes me worry again…especially now that I have kids. This makes the worrying multiply tenfold. Maybe even more.
Lesson learned…always be wary. Always try to stay low key. And when it does happen, don’t fight it. Give them the car. Give them your valuables. Don’t look them in the eye.
Remember, the value of your vehicle…your jewelry….your valuables…even the contents of your wallet are no match to the value of your life…your kids’ lives.
Twice…..twice I was mistaken for being pregnant on our last trip. Actually, I always am asked that question whenever I travel.
I’d like to believe its the way I dress. I happen to like those “buntis” clothes that are in vogue these days. Did I say comfy? They’re so damn comfy to wear that I would sacrifice looking fashionable to being comfortable. And yes, it was during those times that I was wearing them that I would be asked if I was pregnant.
I have to admit, I’ve used these so called “buntis powers” whenever it serves my purpose.
Once I was asked to move to the “special” line while waiting to buy tickets for a movie because the guard thought I was preggers. During the last elections I was also bumped to the “special” line which cut my voting time to a mere 20 minutes.
During our last trip, a nice man offered me his seat on the train because he thought I was pregnant. This time I graciously declined because I really just wanted to stand. I had just had a really heavy breakfast. Later on when the seat next to the nice fellow was vacant I sat next to him and his wife and we all had a very nice chat for the entire duration of the trip.
It makes me happy to know that pregnant women still get this special treatment after all. Why shouldn’t they….carrying a life inside you is a gift and by doing so, you earn that singular honor of being treated well. Right.
So if pregnant women can get this kind of treatment almost anywhere, please explain why the airline we just took didn’t have any special concessions for women with child?
How do I know? Well, I was asked during check-in if I was pregnant. I was seriously thinking of saying I was because I thought I would be treated specially. I told the truth again but I had to ask if it would make a difference if I was. I was surprised to find out that all they could offer was early boarding. That’s it. The counter girl even joked that if there were pregnant women on board they would tell the captain to be careful in flying the plane and landing it. Yeah, like it makes a difference.
So that brings me to the quesion, do women with baby bumps get any special treatment on flights? Other than pre-boarding privileges, what kind of privileges do they get when they’re on the plane? Better seats? Upgrades? What?
Just asking. I’m travelling again in a month. Just so I know if I should wear my “buntis” look again.
I woke this morning feeling a little different. After almost 2 months of waking up to the scorching heat of the morning sun, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the pitter patter of raindrops falling outside my window. For a change I wasn’t blinded by the sun which happens to rise on my side of the room. I literally wake up to the rising sun.
This is a welcome respite. This heat has put a tremendous dent in our pockets. And I’m not even talking about our huge electricity bills. There’s our water bill that has almost doubled due to my kids’ increased need to take a dip in the pool. Try doing that everyday. Then there is my own “kikay” bill which consists mostly of visits to my friendly neighborhood dermatologist for much needed facial fixes. My skin has been really bearing the brunt of this extreme weather. Aside from breakouts, my skin has suddenly dried up. And since birthday No. 42 is coming up, those wrinkle cream reviews are really coming in handy.
So thank God for the rain….bring it on….just not ondoy-ish.
Believe it or not, this apolitical, tsismis loving, “i’d rather watch E than CNN” citizen actually hauled her ass to Congress to witness the joint house canvassing of COC’s the other day. I can’t believe it myself.
Sure I was there for people watching. And sure I got a huge kick out of seeing those gorgeous South American hunks from Smartmatic. Wink wink. Truth be told, my sister and I trained our camera lenses on those dudes more than we did on the proceedings. Hehehe.
But as the hours passed, I found myself engrossed in what those senators and tong-gressmen where saying. It bothered me that there was more talk than action. The oft said, “We will not sacrifice accuracy for speed.” began to sound like an insult to my sensibilities because those idiots were actually delaying the opening of those ballot boxes. Yep, they were all grandstanding. Several of them seemed to vying for airtime. Hey, all the TV networks had their ace reporters in the media section so putting in more lip service meant some time on the primetime news.
After 4 hours of watching endless volleying of the same issues, I decided that it was time to go. I figured that there would be no opening of any ballot boxes. And I was right. As of press time, they have already opened several from the overseas voting centers.
Am I going back, absolutely. We plan to go on the last day when things get really exciting. I didn’t get to see the first ballot box opened, I want to see the last.
Tags : gripes, Philippines, thoughts
I’m going nuts over all these apps available for my phone. I completely resisted getting any for my previous phone because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stop. But with my new phone, which has a larger memory, I’m downloading apps almost everyday.
I’ve got games, utilities (I even got a flashlight app), and some useless but fun apps. I’m even thinking of getting a barcode scanner app for those shopping trips.
Aaaaaps!!
Tags : tech
Due to the current political unrest in Bangkok, we decided to cancel our trip. We booked this trip way in advance so we were all looking forward to it. Its been years since we visited BKK.
Anyway, after several travel advisories were issued, I felt it wasn’t safe to go there anymore. I immediately called the airline only to find out that they were not giving any waivers for rebooked or rerouted tickets. I carefully explained that given the situation in BKK, it wasn’t a good place to have children visit. The agent feigned innocence and said that there were no memos regarding the matter.
Ok, I understand that making money is of prime importance for these airlines. But shouldn’t safety of its passengers become a priority when things like this happen?!?
Just thinking out loud.
