Time to Redecorate

I'm tired of the old sofa and loveseat. It still looks great and the cushions hasn't lost it's form. But, I'm not happy with it anymore. So, I'm going to donate it to one of the charity organizations that accept good furnitures, either Big Brother, Big Sister or the Salvation Army. I could just post it on Freecycle but I think it's better to go the other way, the money will go to a good cause. For now, I'm planning on doing the room with the fireplace. I want to do the kitchen too, but that will cost more especially if I want to get one of those copper kitchen sinks and granite counters. That will have to wait.

-----Read Full Post-----

An External Drive for Me

The worst thing that could happen to someone with a computer is the hard drive crashing. That's my worst fear because all my photos are in it. I've burned some disks but I'm not up-to-date with it, sad to say. I thought of online storage too. Since I've been thinking of getting an external drive for quite some time now, I leafed through the Sunday ADs and saw one on sale at Best Buy. So I was planning to get that when while at BJ's I saw an external drive offered at a good price. What's better, it has a 1 terabyte capacity. Well, I don't know about you but I know that is one heck of a huge storage. I googled it to be sure and found that a terabyte is 1,024 giga bytes. Holy macaroni! My notebook has a hard drive that's almost 150GB so I can imagine how big 1T is. Well, as you can guess, I bought it since the price is right too.
Now, I can rest easily knowing that all my family's photos and videos are safe and backed-up. Do you have your files backed-up?

-----Read Full Post-----

Facebook = Fun

I didn't expect that I will have this much fun with Facebook! First, it's the best social networking site I've ever been. They make it easy to connect and keep connected with friends and family. Now this next one is a surprise, it's so much fun to use the applications. I'm having fun with apps like Farm Ville, etc. I'm playing with friends online and we're all having fun. I think I'm becoming a Facebook troll. LOL I'm always there. I find myself checking updates from friends and commenting all day.
Now, as a result of this, I still have these shipping boxes lying around that I have to put in the attic. Anyway, I'm glad that I finally relented (after many requests) and joined Facebook. Are you a member?

-----Read Full Post-----

Only in the Philippines?

You certainly wouldn't see this here in the USA. It's an over-loaded jeepney (a form of public transportation in the Philippines and it was designed based on the US Army jeep.) This was on our way back home from a trip to Tagaytay City.

In the provinces, this is a regular sight especially on small towns and barrios. Since public transportation in those areas is spotty, people cram into every inch of the buses, jeepneys and even tricycles. I don't know how the driver manages to hear people who want to get off. Maybe they have some kind of fire alarms that sound off. It certainly is unsafe and I wouldn't want to be on it if it was in an accident.

-----Read Full Post-----

Dyson, You Are It!

I never thought that I would own a Dyson vacuum. I remember seeing ADs for it and I would scoff at the price. I couldn't imagine myself paying that much for just a vacuum cleaner. Two vacuum cleaners later I found myself ordering this high-end vacuum. It's been a couple of months now and I can honestly say that I love it. Not only does it clean the carpet real well, it is also very light, making it easier and faster for me to vacuum the whole house. The motor of this small vacuum is so powerful that it probably works more than the central vacuum motor found in new houses these days. If you plan on getting a vacuum cleaner, you should check out the different Dyson products.

-----Read Full Post-----

Uh, Hello to You Too...

When I went back to the Philippines last month, I got to see relatives that I haven't seen for a couple of decades.

Some of them probably last saw me when I was still in high school, meaning I was 'thin' when they last saw me. 25 years and 2 kids later, I, like other women out there, have gained weight. I don't know why but there are some people that are tactless. How would you feel when someone you barely know tells you that you look big and probably should watch your rice intake. What the hell? This guy, who I barely knew, is my dad's childhood friend. This was probably the third or fourth time he saw me in my lifetime. Grrr... Maybe I should take Solo Slim just to silence him.

This same person also humiliated my niece. We were eating breakfast and he made a comment that goes something like "Here, have some eggs, you're looking thin errr fat." Ugh! I wanted to smack him right there. My poor niece can only sit there and smile. If I was rude like him, I would've called him up on it but since my aunts and some guests were there, I just made a face and sat silently.

My bestfriend's nephew and nieces here in the US doesn't even want to go back to the Philippines for the same reason. They're all plus-size and they received rude and thoughtless comments about their weight from relatives and family friends. Now they tell their mom that they don't want to go to Manila. What is up with these rude people? Is it a 'Filipino' thing'? Filipinos are very friendly and hospitable but sometimes some people don't know where to draw the line. I hope that it's just a generational thing and that other Filipinos don't fall into the same trap.

-----Read Full Post-----

Tons of Memories

What do you do with your vacation photos? Do you have it printed and organized in a photo album? Or does it reside in your hard drive and hope that your computer doesn't crash? I have lots of photos and videos from our vacation last month. Now the hard task of organizing and storing them is staring me in the face. I prefer to upload my photos to either Snapfish or Kodak Gallery. This makes it easier to share the photos with all our relatives plus these websites also gives me the option to make prints or photo books which is my absolute favorite.
Now as for the videos, this is where I have a big problem. We always bring camcorders just like any other family and we take hours of footage. The problem is what happens with the video after we come back. Editing it is not easy and takes a lot of time and patience. I even bought Sony's movie editing software Vegas Movie Studio and DVD Architect to help me with the videos. It's a pretty nifty software but of course, one needs a lot of time to do all these stuff and that is very hard to find these days. Maybe, just maybe, I'll have some extra time when the kids go back to school. One can only hope... So, how do you deal with your photos and videos?

-----Read Full Post-----

I Need a Vacation...

Shocking isn't it? Considering I just got back from a 5-week vacation to the Philippines, why the heck do I need another one? Well, considering my schedule for the last 2 weeks of my summer hiatus, I definitely need one. Dh joined us on July 21st and it was a whirlwind but fun at the same time. We flew to Dapitan City (southern Phiippines) and celebrated my parent's 45th wedding anniversary and that one is also a reunion of sorts with relatives I haven't seen in decades. Then we flew to Cebu via Manila for our 'family vacation' and stayed in Shangri-la Mactan (the best if I may say so). Then flew back to Manila and managed to visit Hidden Valley in Laguna and Tagaytay. Considering the number of photos and videos we've accumulated, we might need a new video card for my laptop. As usual, I wished I could've taken more photos and videos. Dh would probably disagree. ha ha
Well, the hard part is over (writing this post). I should be getting my blogging groove back. Welcome back to moi.

-----Read Full Post-----

Wii Error

'Is the Wii dying?" This is what my kids are asking me. They've been getting this Wii error that the disk couldn't be read. I cleaned the disk and made sure that there are no fingerprints. It'll work for a couple of days and then out of the blue, the error shows up again. It's probably time to have it serviced in which case, I hope the service charge is reasonable and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. We've had the Wii since 2007 and dh said that it probably needs some cleaning inside. I hope he's right. Considering the price of the unit plus the different Wii accessories we bought, it'll be a shame if it turns out to be a major problem.

-----Read Full Post-----