Jarred & Jagged

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I wanna do is turn on my PC and check on my emails. It is my morning ritual. I go online for several hours each day and at different times of the day. I definitely attend to my emails each morning and generally do the rest of my online chores & other fun stuff after lunch and after dinner, and often times even beyond midnight. But with a buggy connection like I have, that online ritual goes out the window, no pun intended.

Friendsterinos, which ISP do you subscribe to? Are you happy with your service? I definitely am not!! Our ISP is Bayantel (DSL service). I am just tired of calling them to complain. Their call center agents use their usual script that gets tired the minute I hear it since it doesn’t address my problem. I’ve worked for a call center business so I’m quite familiar with their script. It doesn’t work for me. Yeah they empathize with my plight but what the hell are they doing with my buggy connection meantime? I get disconnected at different times, the most irritating times were when I tried to send a long email and it just went nowhere. Clicking the browser’s Back button didn’t help either. So I end up having to re-create the same email which took a long time and a lot of effort for me to write. Fan-fucking-tastic! And to think I’m paying P1200 for that service!

I also have not received any rebates for all the times we didn’t get our internet connection. To further abuse us, they require us to call them back when our connection resumes. Why is the onus being put on the consumer? Don’t they keep records of when service was disrupted and when it was resumed? Couldn’t they just base the rebates on those records? How inefficient can Bayantel be? Apparently, VERY!

Here is another kicker: when you call Bayantel during downtimes, their lines are often busy for hours. How lovely, isn’t it? LOL! When their phone problem finally clears is usually when your internet connection problem gets fixed. Coincidence? So when you finally get a hold of Bayantel, they make you look like a total idiot for calling them for no justifiable reason. This is a comedy of errors. You want to cry but you end up laughing instead. What Bayantel do not hear is the gnashing of teeth, the clinching of our collective fists, the sighs, the rolling upwards of our eyes and our blood pressure rising. For Bayantel, it is just another day. For some of us, our days are shot.

I would be happy if I can switch to another ISP. Case closed. The sad part is I cannot becoz we signed a contract to be with Bayantel for a year. But they are not meeting their obligations as stipulated in the contract - to give me continuous service. My duty is to pay my bills and that I do. However, they are not doing their part of the bargain having not fixed my buggy connection for several months now. That should make the contract null or void or "broken" for one party not meeting its obligation, right? I’m not a legal expert so if you are, please advise me on this one. Bayantel keeps telling me that they are monitoring my connection (imagine if they have to say that to thousands of clients, how many monitors do they pay for that?) but the disruptions continue, with or without that "monitoring" that they supposedly do. What’s wrong with this picture? I think they just say that so I would think that they’re doing something instead of nothing which I believe is really what is happening here. I think they should let me get out of the contract so I can find a much better ISP than Bayantel. I already have one in mind, which is faster and P200-cheaper too!!!

There is a bigger problem here. And that is…here in the Philippines there is no clearinghouse for all consumer complaints related to utility services (electrical, water, cable, internet, gas, and phone services) and billing. Congress and the Senate should work on that, instead of trying to impeach or censure the president. Get to work, whiners! Which government agency can people complain to to get a speedy resolution of consumer problems? Don’t tell me I have to go to court for that? There should also be a monthly townhall meeting related to these utilities where people’s problems are addressed or aired. The utility companies should be made accountable for their inadequacies and transgressions. I would very much want to attend such meetings if such events exist, so I can bitch all I want and call attention to my complaints and the general abuse of Filipino consumers which happens a lot in this country, and also to put these utility companies in the spotlight and call them to task. We, consumers, are paying for their salaries. We have the right to demand better service and legitimately complain about certain issues that affect us all as consumers. If we want our country to be first world, we should demand FIRST-WORLD services.

For those of you who plan on getting a broadband connection, be sure to ask your would-be internet provider to assure you first before you sign on the dotted line that there is a way for you to back out of the 1-year contract should their service becomes unsatisfactory to you. Otherwise, you are signing a lopsided contract only favorable to your internet provider. Move on to the next ISP.

We are currently paying about P1200 for our DSL connection. Globe Broadband at one time provided us with a similar service (also DSL). I was satisfied with their service although at times I experienced some connection lags or slowdowns but at least I was still connected. The problem I have with them is they charge too much (P3000 a month). I never considered getting the satellite internet service (using an antenna), like Smart Bro, becoz their connection is generally slow at certain hours of the day, makes using multiple computers almost impossible to do (if you are using a LAN or if in a SOHO (small office home office) setting), susceptible to disconnection when it’s raining, or when cloudy or when there is an ongoing storm, and susceptible to hardware damage (usually the modem) caused by lightning and/or electrical line surges. A word to the wise: don’t turn on your PC using this service during inclement weather, otherwise your modem might get fried. Better still, unplug your PC connection to the antenna and to your powerline. As for PLDelayT DSL service, I just refuse to do business with them. In my past dealings with them, they made promises that they never kept, they didn’t know the word "follow-up,"  and they have some of the most annoying call center agents in the business. They are simply too irritating for me to deal with over the phone. They need to be trained better specially on product knowledge. If I own PLDT, I will fire the guy who handles that department.  I heard ZPDee is awful too.

Well, stop the presses! Have you heard of MyDestiny? They provide CABLE internet, which is faster than DSL, at only a monthly charge of P998 or thereabout. If you have an internet cafe, Destiny also provides a much faster service @ 2.5Mbps, also via CABLE, than say, DSL, satellite internet, T1 or E1 at P8K a month fee. Your online gamers would really love you for giving them such a speedy connection. Even in the US, cable internet is faster than DSL. BTW, MyDestiny and Destiny are two different companies although they are related in terms of their backbone connectivity. I think Digitel is another broadband ISP but I know nothing about them to tell you anything that you can use, except put them in your radar screen when considering a better ISP or just picking one up for your area. Wait when WiMax comes to town. That service might just blow them all away at a much cheaper price! I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

MyDestiny, although it is faster than DSL, costs as much as Globe DSL (P999) and SmartBro wireless (P999) and cheaper than BayanTel’s DSL subscription (P1200). How do you like them apples?

These are some of your options, denizens of Friendster. You don’t have to take your ISP’s crap & unsatisfactory service anymore. You have choices out there. Get the best (fastest) & hassle-free internet service that you can afford. You just have to ask or look around. If you know anything better, do post them here. I live in the Metro Manila area so if you live in the Visayas or Mindanao, I’m sure you use other types of internet subscriptions or other smaller & unknown ISPs which give you total customer satisfaction, not just lip service.

About 1,500 inmates (complete with a ladyboy) of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Philippines recently did a re-enactment of Michael Jackson’s Thriller dance (Michael should be right next along with them) in what appeared to be their prison yard. As to why, your guess is as good as mine.

I found two similar videos but I’m not so sure if they are one and the same. I think these ghoulish vids sends a creepy message to all Pinoys: When you commit a crime, you do the time, then you get to get down and end up at youtube. Well, maybe this punishment aint so bad after all.

This is suppose to be just their practice routine:
http://www.bradsucks.net/archives/2007/07/20/thriller-by-prisoners-in-the-philippines/

This is the other vid:
http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=19841

Did anyone dance to the beat? hehe…Does this video really make you proud to be a Filipino? I wonder if the warden forced the prisoners to do this song and dance and were those who wouldn’t join the dance placed in solitary confinement? What about the prisoners who did, when they get released, will they all have real-world skills that will help them re-integrate with society? Well, at least they can dance. :)) The big question is who were they preparing to dance for? Your tax pesos at work, people!

Well, boogie on, everyone! We might as well join ‘em.

UPDATE

I just came across this news blurb about the video. I think it explains why the inmates did this dance and some other ones too:

It’s morning exercise for inmates at a prison in the central Philippines who do a faithful rendition of the 1980s dance routine right down to choreographed zombies and a rolling coffin. Not to mention the pelvic thrusts of the lead dancer in a shiny red suit.

The choreographed dance routine is the brainchild of Byron Garcia, who oversees the prison and has taken a novel approach to reforming offenders.

At first, he wanted to adapt synchronized morning exercise as a way to foster camaraderie and break down gang factions among inmates. He says the intended participants were at first unimpressed with the idea and when the outside choreographer first arrived at the prison a year ago to teach the dance moves, he was pelted with slippers.

He admits that the dance numbers were an experiment.

"This programme is an experiment. After six months, we concluded that the experiment was successful. This has changed, it has aided our administration in rehabilitating our inmates," he said.

Garcia loaded the unorthodox dance videos, which include other favourites like Queen’s "Radio Gaga" and "I will follow you" from "Sister Act" complete with nuns in habits, onto the Internet because he said he wanted other prisons to learn from the experience.

In the meantime, they have become some of the most talked about in cyberspace, with "Thriller" clocking up over three million hits in its first two weeks on video sharing site YouTube.

"It is the duty of the cell leader to brief this inmate. For example, ‘This is your toothbrush, your toothpaste, your slippers, your pillow,’ and the next thing they say is, ‘Here are your dance steps for tomorrow’s exercise,’" said Garcia.

Inmates say the new routines took a bit of time to master.

"It was difficult at first, but eventually we inmates got used to it," said Mario Benito.

Meanwhile, the girls enthusiastically perform "Sister Act".

While the online audience is certainly amused, only time will tell if the dance routines is an effective tool in rehabilitation of the inmates under Garcia’s charge.

Disclaimer: I write this blog as a lay person, and not as someone with deep background in medicine or as a health specialist.

It’s a given that we all get sick for various reasons. One of those reasons is our self-immune system happened to be weak at the time when outside organisms got into our body and wrecked havoc. The little itty-bitty soldier bodies inside our bodies fought valiantly to defend us but in the end they lost and got overwhelmed. Our job is to help strengthen those itty-bitty soldiers to keep us free from illnesses & to help keep our health in top shape.

I cannot stress this enough - we have to take care of our bodies and watch what we put in it. Junk in, junk out, to quote a famous management motto. To say our body is a vessel that we should take care of is a cliche but it is a simple fact of life.

One of my beloved niece has 3 kids who all have some forms of allergies. My advice to her is to give them green or black teas everyday, specially flavored with either a small amount of brown sugar or honey or some fruit juice. To kids, I’m sure teas taste awful on their own but with a bit of imagination and creativity you can make the teas taste a lot more acceptable to kids. Shun the commercial teas, like Lipton or C2. Not only are they expensive & bad for the environment becoz of the plastic containers they are bottled in, but they also contain a lot of sugar. Letting your kids know the benefits of drinking teas will help sink that in to their psyche so later on drinking tea becomes second nature to them. I read a book that says THE HEALTHIEST BEVERAGE, bar none, that we can ever put in our body is tea, whether green or black (there are white teas, BTW, but I haven’t tried any yet) which come in either teabags or loose leaf tea blocks. Teas strengthen our immune system becoz they contain flavonoids and/or polyphenols, a form of antioxidant, and an amino acid called L-theanine, a molecule that help our immune system fight off all sorts of ailments. This molecule occurred in large quantities in tea beverages. But in green teas, the concentration of L-theanine is two to five-fold higher than in black teas. The only real difference between black and green tea is the processing. They both come from the same bush but black tea undergoes more processing..which means green tea lose fewer nutrients due to processing and are therefore healthier.

Today there are thousands of teas being made in the world out there that we, Filipinos, are not even aware of. We, Filipinos, haven’t yet scratched the surface of the wonderful world of teas. When I was in Hongkong, I was overwhelmed by the sheer varieties of teas that they sell in the markets there. I saw and tasted so many different teas. I wanted to try all of them but there wasn’t enough time even though I was there for a couple of months. There are teas made from meat, believe it or not (beef & chicken as examples, & they reek like smelly unwashed feet), both land & sea plants, flowers, veggies, roots, tree barks, yeasts, mushrooms, snakes even….ad infinitum. There are other exotic teas and I’m sure if the Chinese, Indonesians, Indians & other Asian people, famous for their tea-making skills, can make teas out of rats & bats, they would have already or perhaps they have. There are teas that gave me a certain "high" when I drank them and I felt almost euphoric. I don’t recall what tea that was, I don’t suppose that was the lotus tea (remember your Greek mythology?). We, in the Philippines, have our own regional teas such as cornsilk tea, pito-pito, bitter mellon tea, banaba tea, etc. Each tea has unique properties that make them more disease-specific. In other words, different teas have different benefits. For example, camomile tea is supposed to help you sleep or relax, while rosemary tea is supposedly a memory booster. I must warn you, your mileage will vary. There are people who may not get the desired results that they want (for example, sleep better or develop better memory) from sipping certain types of teas, but you still get the immune system & other good benefits. For example, people who drink camomile tea (5 cups a day) experience some form of pain relief and increased levels of glycine, which can ease muscle spasms. A few cups of tea a day will keep the doctor away.

Watch out for the caffeine they contain though. Teas contain almost the same amount of caffeine as what you get from coffee. But don’t worry about drinking them before bedtime - teas won’t keep you awake. That’s becoz L-theanine not only fights off ailments, but it also counteracts the effects of caffeine. L-theanine actually makes you very relaxed without being sleepy and drowsy. There are teas that have less caffeine & are more alkaline than others. You want the more alkaline teas. If your body’s pH is more alkaline, bad microorganisms do not thrive as well or simply, it kills them. So you want foods and drinks that are alkaliny, more than acidic, when you are sick. I have heard of the Okinawa corral calcium pills that lowers our body pH and they are touted as curing all sorts of diseases including the big C (cancer). True or not, they probably stop viruses and other harmful bacteria from ever infecting us in a hardcore way. For my part, I take calcium pills bonded with magnesium and zinc. I read somewhere that taking calcium on its own without the other two nutrients is not actually that good for us specially if you have a problem with metabolizing calcium (you might develop kidney stones) or if your body doesn’t really need calcium all that much becoz of your diet. Sorry to digress. But you did get my point.

Another advice I gave to my niece is to give her kids a good all-around multi-vitamin and mineral pills everyday, the ones for kids. Remember, adult dosage is higher than those for kids.

As for us, adults, there are things we can do to keep healthy. One is to walk at least one hour continuously a day or have some form of a regular exercise each day. Hey, you can do that in a mall and do stay away from escalators and elevators. Burn off those fat! Gardening is a great activity that you can do to lose weight. Been there, done that and I can definitely say it is very effective. Get on all fours and dig here and there, and plant something. Not only will you lose calories but gardening will also give you a sense of accomplishment and you can see the payoff after a short period of time only - a beautiful garden. Your family will love you for that too, as an added bonus.

Herbs would be one of those plants you can grow that are healthy. You can eat them raw too. If you want you can grow them on pots if you do live in an apartment which does not have a garden. Using lots of herbs & spices in our diet is also a good healthy practice. Today, I just read about the result of a study which concluded that researchers isolated a compound in turmeric that stimulates a specific response against Alzheimer’s symptoms. Turmeric is a yellow spice that gives Indian curry powder its distinctive color. Americans, Europeans, Indians & other Asians use it a lot. Other research has also shown that curcumin, an antioxidant found in turmeric, can help prevent tumors from forming in the lab & in rats. Some studies have also suggested that people who eat a lot of curry may be less prone to cancer and Alzheimer’s. The point is herbs and spices benefit us all, so don’t forget to include them in your diet. If that is not your cup of tea, for you and your family, I don’t know what is.

This has to be told as a public service to the readers of this blog. It is no secret that I don’t like to shop at SM Supermarket becoz of the inefficiency of their workers and what I perceive to be the uncaring attitude of the management to make the shopping experience of their patrons hassle-free and leisurely. That is not what this is all about. I’m writing this becoz this is a matter of public safety and becoz the issue I’m referring to, which you will read below, has not been addressed yet as far as I know. By writing this, someone, who matter more than me, might be paying attention and do something to resolve this problem.

I had experienced this three times in the past.

The first time was when we bought lamb chops, one of my mom’s favorite meat. We had driven home when we found out that the meat that we bought was stinkin’ up the kitchen when we were about to put it in the freezer. It was an annoyance and a waste of gas having to go back to SM Fairview and complain about the meat then have it replaced. We got wiser the second time. My mom got some chicken wings, and being the wise son that I am, I sniffed the meat to check for its freshness. I told her that it stunk as if it was spoiled. While we were there at the chicken counter another woman was complaining about the smell of the chicken that she got. And she also added that previously she also returned spoiled chicken meat on numerous times. That was enough for us to avoid the chicken altogether. Could you blame us? So we left the chicken counter and head for the beef section. So far, their beef smelled OK. Their fish are always good. Next, we looked for pork. We went for the pre-packaged pork on display. But to be sure, we punched a hole through the seran-wrap and smelled the meat. Well, I’ll be damned. It also stunk and it had a hint of bleach to it. I remember in the US, during TV ratings week, they usually feature undercover investigations in their 6 o’clock news to perk up their ratings. Some of those reports usually involve supermarket and restaurant food violations. One such show had reported that some supermarkets soak their old meat in bleach to take out the smell. I’m not saying SM is doing it for that purpose but the pork did have a slight scent of bleach. And to make our experience worse, I saw a cockroach crawling down from where the meats were.

I was just wondering how often the government or city food inspectors visit SM Supermarkets for compliance or violations of the food & sanitation laws. Do the city food inspectors look at SM’s log book of all the food that were returned so they can focus on those problem areas? I have a feeling that inadequate refrigeration is the main problem there. It could be that SM is trying to save money by raising the temperature of their refrigerated counters where the meats are displayed to the detriment of the meat-buying public. I’m calling the attention of city inspectors. Has anyone else experienced this? Or am I just unlucky?

A word to the wise:
If you have to purchase fresh meat products from SM, make sure you give it a sniff test before you have it bagged. It will save you time and money if the meat you like to purchase happens to be borderline spoiled. You deserve to get fresh meat with the full price you are paying SM. And as much as possible, do your shopping NOT during prime time or the weekends specially when you’re in a rush. It always takes a while to get meat at their meat counter. You are better off buying your meat at your local open fresh market.

I was very saddened by the news of my friend Carol’s loss. Her mom died in the hospital after suffering from a heart attack a few days back. Curious phrase, that "heart attack". It is as if the heart is some sort of a deadly instrument or a dangerous weapon that kills, instead of being a symbol of love and a giver of life. But anyway, I can just imagine the pain & shock of losing a loved one in one’s arms. The picture that entered my mind was the forlorn and mournful image of the Virgin Mary cradling Jesus as He lay lifeless in His mother’s arms. That mental image is so powerful and has deep emotional impact that emotes pain, suffering, and utter sadness, sorrow and desolation. I’m sure, Carol felt the exact same feelings of sadness, sorrow and pain as she talked to her unresponsive mom on her death-bed.

No words we say would comfort and console Carol, or anyone who had experienced the loss of a loved one and watched them suffer til their last dying breath for that matter. But we say them anyway in our weak attempt to console or lessen their pain. My heart truly goes out to them who suffered this way. A few of our friends in a Yahoo group wrote words of comfort to Carol and now I would like to share them with you. To the readers who may be suffering due to a death of a loved one now or in the future, I hope these words will console you as well:

From Karsie (Foo)…

When I Must Leave You

When I must leave you for a little while 
Please do not grieve and shed wild tears
And hug your sorrow to you through the years,
But start out bravely with a gallant smile;
And for my sake and in my name
Live on and do all things the same,
Feed not your loneliness on empty days,
But fill each waking hour in useful ways,
Reach out your hand in comfort and in cheer
And I in turn will comfort you and hold you near;
And never, never be afraid to die,
For I am waiting for you in the sky!

From phimail…

The sun is fading in the west, and I am filled with peace
Because I know, on another shore,
It’s rising in the east.
She, like the sun, slipped away and left us to the night.
But I know, beyond our dark,
She smiles into the light.

From Sean…

I gently spread over Mother’s head
the silver as her years passed by,
The pearls I saved
for the love she gave,
That no treasure on earth can buy.

This is Casper’s contribution. This is a very famous poem about a mother’s death.

do not stand at my grave and weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

From Paolo…

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

And last, but not least, and the one that really touched Carol…

From Caden…

Dear Mr. Hallmark,

I am writing to you from heaven,
and though it must appear
A rather strange idea,
I see everything from here.

I just popped in to visit,
your stores to find a card
A card of love for my daughter,
as this day for her is hard.

There must be some mistake I thought,
I saw every card you could imagine
Except I could not find a card,
from a mother who lives in heaven.

She is still my daughter too,
no matter where I reside
I had to leave, she understands,
but oh the tears she’s cried.

I thought that if I wrote you,
that you would come to know
That though I live in heaven now,
I still love my daughter so.

She talks with me, and dreams with me;
we still share laughter too,
Memories are our way of speaking now,
would you see what you could do?

My daughter carries me in her heart,
her tears she hides from sight.
She writes poems to honor me,
sometimes far into the night

She plants flowers in my garden,
there my living memory dwells
She writes to other grieving daughters,
trying to ease their pain as well.

So you see Mr. Hallmark,
though I no longer live on earth
I must find a way to remind her
of her wondrous worth.

She needs to be honored,
and remembered too
Just as the children of earth will do.

Thank you Mr. Hallmark,
I know you’ll do your best
I have done all I can do;
to you I’ll leave the rest.

Find a way to tell her,
how much she means to me
Until I can do it for myself,
when she joins me in eternity.

Here is an excerpt from Carol’s email regarding her reaction to one of the above poem:

"…im still very numb about the whole thing.. pero after reading all your emails ..  i just had to email you guys back.

i loved reading the poem i read about the mom who was already in heaven.. talking to her daughter.. it was like my mom answering me.. coz while she was in her final moments.. in great pain and agony.. i was talking to her.. i talked to her in a way i’ve never done before.. but i couldnt get any response anymore.. she was in a stuperous (spell check na lang po.. hehehe) condition.. so one way communication lang kme.. pero when i read the poem.. i really cried.. in my heart.. (i dont know if you guys have ever felt that.. crying in one’s heart is what i want to call it.. ).. coz everything just all fell into place.. and i got all the answers to the questions i asked…  thank you.. im not sure anymore who sent it… THANK YOU!"

Take care, Carol and know our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. May peace and God be with you always and help you through your pain and mourning.

Rainy season is upon us once again. Global warming where art thou? Just joking!

Almost everyday, it rains. Today, Sunday, is another dreary day - overcast sky, sunless stratosphere, gentle cool breeze & non-stop drizzle. The plants are as pale green to yellow as me becoz of lack of photosynthesis, ergo the sun. I’m kinda like them, missing the sun. There’s something about the sun that makes me feel cheery and have a bright disposition, enough to carry me throughout the day. But on days like this, I feel almost sad, sleepy, bored, & not peppy at all. And let me add the word "dementored" to that string of descriptive words.

In other words, it’s time for COMFORT FOOD! WOOHOOOO!!!! See how I light up on the mere mention of food?

Well for once this morning, I was Emeril Lagasse (BAMMM!), and put together several food items that most people do not normally cook together. Surprisingly, it came out very good. Anyway, anyone here who doesn’t like omelettes? If you are one of those, I will have you arrested and throw away the keys! But seriously, for those of us who do like omelettes for breakfast, or lunch or dinner or snacks, (hehehe) this is what I cooked. But I must warn you, I’m no Wolfgang Puck. But what the puck, here goes nothin’.

First, cook a small amount of oat meal (enough to fill up a very tiny tea cup perhaps). Make sure it is not watery but it should instead be a bit gooey and that you can pile it into a steady lump on a plate without being runny. Now, chopped up some green onions, a very small amount of red peppers (just for color), onions & garlic. You can add finely chopped celery if you have them for added zip or taste. Crack some eggs and beat them in a bowl. Quickly saute the garlic first then add the onions. It would even be better if you use olive oil, instead of the other unhealthy oils. Add a pinch of salt & pepper & a very small amount of sugar. If you have some left-over corned beef (the ones you buy in cans) bring that out of the fridge too and throw it into the pan where the garlic and onions are stewing. Then put the cooked oat meal into the beaten eggs and fold the mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste and perhaps add a dash of paprika too. Pour the mixture onto the pan, together with the corned beef, onions and garlic. Add the green onions and chopped red pepper. Make sure the oat meal is evenly spread. Cook it on low fire. Then flip the omelette on its uncooked side.

VOILA! You have the breakfast of champions. Just toast some whole wheat or multi-grain sliced bread with the omelette and you are good to go. The omelette is not only very yummy, but it is also very heart-healthy and a good source of fiber. What more can you ask?

And that is the question. You be the judge.

Here’s our experience.

My sis in California sent a few hundred dollars to help my mom pay for her hefty hospital bills she incurred when we rushed her to the emergency room at FEU Hospital (Fairview). We told my sis not to send via Western Union becoz I often hear people complain about their high service fees. So I told my sis to try LBC instead. I think it was a bad suggestion on my part.

I still have to ask my sis when exactly she sent the money but when we were on the phone with her, she said my bro-in-law was going to go to LBC on the same day to have the money sent. 2 to 3 days later, an LBC messenger came knocking on our door AT NIGHT!

Two things I didn’t like about that:

1. It took LBC 2 to 3 days to deliver the money. I still have to verify this from my sister.

2. They came at night with a big bundle of money. HELLO! What’s wrong with this picture??? They could have called us or given us a notification letter informing us that the money was already available for pickup at their offices/branches.

I also told them they can just hand over the money to me and I’d count it right there at the gate, without letting them in. However, they insisted on coming in for their protection, in case some criminal tries to grab the money from them. My response was, "I don’t know who you are and for all I know you could be some holduppers trying to stick us up. Sorry to say that but I’m here to protect my mom and you sure don’t look like some neighbors I know." They were equally apologetic as well but I’m the type of person who gets a little paranoid when it comes to complete strangers. It’s hard to persuade me with sweet words. No sirree, BOB. Unfortunately, they would not release the money unless they come in. My best move was to just check for both their IDs and then try to remember their names, just in case (as if fake IDs are not easily gotten here - silly me). But under the circumstances, it was the best effort I could have done. Boy, no offense LBC, but your two delivery guys did look like they were up to no good.

But going back to my story, to make the story short, I let them into our yard, which made us very vulnerable & made me very nervous, and then they released the money to us.

And to our surprise, the money sent by my sis, in US currency, was now converted to Philippine PESOS. With all the negatives in this experience with LBC, this unexpected development just took the cake. The LBC dudes had the hard time figuring out how much money were sent to us in their original currency becoz the money was already converted to pesos. Needless to say, me and my mom were pi$sed. And to cap this train wreck, the conversion rate was much lower than what we could have gotten if we were allowed to have the money changed to pesos by ourselves. The whole experience was just a confluence of blunders.

So if you have family or relatives abroad and they are thinking of sending you some of their hard-earned ca$h, do them a favor by referring them to these two articles (one of them is a list of options) for different options of sending money to the Philippines. They’ll be glad you did:

Reader Comments on ‘Sending Money to the Philippines’
http://tinyurl.com/2knvwe

How to send money to the Philippines
http://eofw.edongskey.com/how-tos/how-to-send-money-to-the-philippines/

If you’re not satisfied with the two articles above, just remember Google is your friend.

As for LBC, let me assure their management that my displeasure with their service would not encourage me to use them ever again unless some corrections are made. A simple change they should do is allow their clients to pick up the money at their office instead of delivering it. The security risks involved with doing that is enormous. Also, by so doing, they can save some money on manpower and gas, and they can, in turn, pass on the savings to their customers. Another suggestion is to not deliver the money at night. How stupid can that be???!!!! Thirdly, and most important of all, do not have the money changed to our local currency, unless this has something to do with our local laws. Otherwise, that is beyond pale.

If you have been leading a very active cyber-life, you probably have come across or visited a Yahoo Group, such as RX-TALK. You might even be a member already of one of the hundreds of thousand of groups there or you probably own one already. After all, it is a piece of cake to create your own group according to your specifications & the price is right - it’s F-R-E-E!! You can use it to post messages exclusively to your friends or family members and relatives by just sending an email to the group and all members automatically get sent a copy. IOW, you don’t have to send an email to each member of the group one at a time, saving you time & effort. If you haven’t been to or visited a Yahoogroup site yet, maybe it’s time you introduce yourself to it or be accused of living under a rock.

So many of these groups have very large memberships. The bad thing is the majority of the members do not see it necessary to participate in any ongoing discussions or other group activities. They just lurk from the time they register until the time they unsubscribe. I liken that behavior to being alive but not really living or living by proxy. Nothing could be worse than having a Yahoogroup with 1,000 or more members and out of that number, only 10 to 20 members are active participants. That is one of the things I hate most about these groups. I think members should be forced to post something about anything, except to SPAM of course, at least once a month or their membership is cancelled. That is not too much to ask. The whole concept of forming a group is to have some sense of a community and cooperation among its members. But in the absence of any form of communication, how can those goals be met? Don’t you just hate that? I freakin’ DO!

Another bummer for me with these groups is the inability of some of its members to debate without rancor or enmity and end disagreements amicably or civilly. This is way too common within Filipino Yahoo groups, specially RX-TALK, which doesn’t speak well of us. Some people hold grudges when you oppose their views (and never talk to you ever again) and some don’t like to admit they are wrong after you explain to them the errors of their arguments. It is as if they are on a perpetual pissing contest with the members they do not agree with. Some arguments escalate into name-calling and personal insults. Such behaviors are referred to by Americans as knuckleheadedness or childishness, which of course is a good sign that evolution hasn’t really caught on on this part of the globe yet, sad to say. Someone needs to tell these boys and girls that the romper room is no longer accepting applicants. Why do Filipinos get so emotional when they argue? Why is it so difficult for Pinoys to be the bigger men and act grown up? Why is it so hard to accept defeat? When you try to reason with them, they think it is personal. Some even get hysterical. Someone needs to infuse Valium and Lithium in our drinking water. Also, beware not to argue with someone who has many friends in your group or they will turn on you like a pack of wolves. It could get ugly. They just might find your carcass on some remote highway. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.

Which brings me to another complaint I have about Yahoogroups such as RX-TALK: the presence of cliques. They talk to each other, they support each other’s threads. It is almost incestuous. Rarely do they talk to newer or unpopular members to make them feel welcomed, instead of feeling alienated or snobbed. Yep, "cold shoulders" is a standard practice by veteran ("pioneers" they call them) or popular members. If you’re a newbie it almost seemed necessary to kiss their heinie to get accepted. I’m not being a drama queen. You can actually observe this in action quite frequently, specially in RX-TALK. A good mod or host would ask members to mingle among themselves, new and old members, so no one feels left out. You won’t see that in RX-TALK, sad to say. If it is an unconscious effort for mods and old members to seem distant, cold, or unwelcoming to new & not-so-new members left out in the cold without any friends, the moderators and administrators should consciously make an effort to encourage a warmer treatment to those unfortunate others. And if you have to ask how to accomplish that and you are a moderator, I think you should turn over the keys to someone else more capable. "Cliquism" also promotes a mono-culture within the group. Those who belong to the majority clique dictate which members are accepted & who should be ignored, perhaps unknowingly. But whether it is done unknowingly or not, the effect is the same. Those who get no friends, do not feel they belong to the group. Some of them are even afraid to post anything coz it might illicit negative reactions like derision from some of the "cooler" members or worse, be ignored totally. The situation worsens when an active over-zealous moderator is onboard.

Over-zealous mods is another problem that exists in big groups. He is usually a friend or an acquaintance of a senior mod. So he gets to wield power needlessly and follows the group policies to the letter and then some. He is Mr. Delete-Happy. There is one such person in RX-TALK. If you’re that dude, don’t quit your day job please. There are also some moderators who are downright a$$holes or prejudiced against certain members he doesn’t like. If you are one of those victims, find another group where you would be better appreciated.

If you want to giggle a lot, discuss mindless topics, talk about parties & EBs that you and your friends in the group attended, read blank emails (forwarded HTML attachment are not allowed so only a blank email remains. Why don’t the mods just delete them? I don’t get that?), cyber-beg to get free movie or party passes or read contents that have been circulating the internet since AL Gore invented it, well RX-TALK is for you. You can just count the number of people with your fingers worth talking to in that group.

Do you know any unpleasant Yahoogroups like the ones I described to you above? You may list them here so others do not unknowingly join and consequently suffer.

Do you know any informative, entertaining, fun and wholesome Yahoogroups peopled with welcoming mods and very friendly members? List them here, so we too can join them. Let me start:
Tagpuan Forum

:
:
:
:

In the future, I may still add to this list. Stay tuned.

Visiting the Philippines or living there, I get to see what seems not too normal or downright inappropriate. Here are a few of them:

…waiting in line to pay for groceries at SM (ShoeMart) Supermarket for up to an hour on weekends (not so unusual, depending on the time) and up to 5 hours during big holidays like Christmas or New Year’s Eve. You would think that the SM management would do something to improve this festering problem. I had to go to the Customer Service booth to get them to activate more cashiers and baggers. And this is on a Friday about 2 PM. Filipinos just take this abuse. WHY freakin’ WHY? I detest going to SM. If I can help it, I avoid it like the plague. More customers should complain. We should write to their management or the newspapers or voice our opinions about this problem on the radio. It is the only way we can call their attention. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, so to speak. And if you can, go buy somewhere else like Walter Mart Supermarket or Shop-Wise (I’m not in any way connected with any of these stores, mind  you), until this problem is addressed. I’m glad they built Tri-Noma opposite SM North. Consumers usually win when there is competition.

…guys wearing ski caps and jacket in the hottest of seasons. What is even weirder is I do not see them sweat. If I wear them, I will be sweating like a pig and my head would be itching something fierce. Americans are probably laughing their ass off when they see these guys. I know what they are trying to achieve - to look cool, ironically, but those items would only achieve the opposite….Ang porma mo, pare! Ya, man!

…fat or obese girls/women who wear body-hugging apparel. Maybe you think that such an act is "having a backbone" or exercising your right to flaunt your bad shape (which is another story good for another day). Perhaps. But it is also my right to voice what I think of such a display of bodily fat. Girls, you look ridiculous, gross, and the sight of you hurts my eyes. This is nothing against fat women in general. I just think that there are ways to dress up without being scandalous.

…taxi passengers who do not see the need to close the door (even for safety reasons) after they get off the cab. The poor cabbie has to stop the taxi so he can run around his car to close the open door(s). Inconsiderate boobs!!! Should we, perhaps, force passengers to go to a taxi-riding training so people learn the proper cab-riding etiquette? C’mon! It’s not rocket science. I don’t get that!

…gay boys/guys who assume that one (the older dude) of the two guys eating or walking together, specially if one of the guys is young or good-looking, is gay. They assume the worse. These gayboys want company in their misery I guess. You see them (the gayboys) whispering to each other (then giggling) when a couple of guys are walking by together and seeming to have a lot of fun. It must be penis-envy. Coz they sure ain’t got one. Aren’t there any decent gay Pinoy boys out there? It’s a crying shame! Pinay lizzies behave so much better in public - they usually just show affection to each other without a care about what other people around them are up to. That’s the way to behave. Take a page from your female counterparts, girly men!

…gay guys who make a spectacle of themselves by being loud, obnoxious and wearing loud & outrageous or very feminine clothes.

…gay guys who patronize or hire callboys or pick up boys who are too young to be their nephews.

…Pinoys who try hard to speak English and think they sound "cool". I don’t know what they’re trying to prove - that they are superior???!! No one hurts my ears worse than them. If you need to speak the American way, learn it from me..hehe…or anyone who has lived in the US for years and is completely integrated into the American mainstream, not some OFWs or temporary workers who have lived in the US for only 5 years or less. I may commit grammatical atrocities when I write or speak, but rarely do I sound like someone who is alien to the English language with a heavy accent. I can switch from Tagalog, Tag-lish and American English with ease. Get to know me better, perhaps, and you will get to talk like a Yank. Atenistas, Bedans, UP studes, LaSallites & other studes from other schools sound just as awful when they speak in English, even when they appear on TV. Bad English professors? They try to imitate what they see on the screen (movies, computer) and do a pretty bad job at it. And you expect to work at a call center or be a CEO? UGHHHH!!!!

…Pinoys who do not respond back when you greet them with:
"Have a nice day!"
"Thanks for coming."
"How are you today?"
They do not even look at or acknowledge you. To me that is the height of rudeness. If I am your boss-to-be and I say any of the above to you, you better respond back with some semblance of intelligence or I will not hire your ass. Darn, that boils me.

…Pinoys who complain a lot about how bad the economy is, as if they know anything about the economy. I call them "clueless armchair quarterback" or experts in their own mind. Never mind the fact that when they were growing up (I’m referring to adult Pinoys) they did not totally apply themselves towards getting a good education. Were you at the pool hall or the moviehouse or at the mall or the park or a boyfriend’s/girlfriends house when you should be in school? Did you study hard and did not take going to school for granted? If you did, you would have a job by now. The president created 1 MILLION jobs due to her economic and fiscal policies. No other presidents before GMA have achieved that. So before you whine, get your facts straight. Or better still, look at yourself in the mirror. There is such a thing as "personal responsibility or personal accountability". When you want to blame someone, take a look in the mirror.

…bossy Pinoy bosses who think their underlings are their personal maids. It takes breeding to be magnanimous, respectful, considerate & classy. Pinoys under this category are usually social-climbing bitches and have low-class breeding. If you are one of them, show some class! One day what you do to others will come back to bite your ass. BTW, do you expect your employee (at a car delearship) to buy a prospective client coffee out of his own pocket? Talk about being cheap! And the poor chap had to do this to every client they have had in the past perhaps until they met me. The dealership now has their own coffee maker. I just hope I had something to do with it.

…no refund policy when you buy anything from any stores in the Philippines. I often ask myself why this is the standing policy. In the US, you can return any store- or online-bought merchandise as long as you have the receipt, no questions asked. This is abuse of the Filipino consumers and whining politicians should take care of business by creating legislations protecting consumers, instead of trying to impeach the president. In the past I had bought sub-standard products and I wanted to return them for a full refund but I was forced to exchange the item only for equal value or higher.

…there are no gift certificates being sold at any department stores in the Philippines. Why is that? Is that such a new concept totally alien to Filipinos?

…gift receipts are not issued when you buy a gift for someone, so the recipient has the option to return the merchandise for a different size or get another merchandise that he/she wants instead.

…male and female prostitution in malls and coffee houses. Is this becoz these are the places where gayboys and "pokpoks" hang out? Which gives me an idea for a t-shirt design (and they should sell these at malls & coffee houses). Emblazoned on the tshirt: Not for hire…or Not for pick up. Or…This bitch is not a pokpok. I also noticed when you are waiting for someone at a mall (Gateway, Ali Mall, Farmer’s Market, Harrison Plaze & others), some gay dude will try to start a conversation with you and eventually would try to pick you up. Or some pokpok would come up to you and offer you her menu of services. EWWWW! Those of you who hang out at coffee houses, like Starbucks, becoz you think they are the places to be seen, beware. People might typecast you as either a gay dude ISO a one-night stand, a low-class "pokpok" or a callboy looking for a client. If you’re just there for the coffee, I just like to let you know their coffee is over-priced and try to get it at Dunkin Donuts or 7-11 or some cheap convenience store.

…mall/store security guards inspecting bags of regular shoppers or frisking them for hidden weapons but not Americans or rich matronly ladies. When you see that happen, refuse to be inspected unless they inspect the rich matronly lady or the Yank in front of you. I did that and the security guards complied. Know your rights, people. The Philippines is your country and you should not be treated like second-class citizens, poor or not. The laws/store policies should apply evenly regardless of social status.

…Pinoys who think they know the meaning of the word "upscale". I know someone in one of the Yahoogroups who got mad at me for voicing my opinion about radio ratings, particularly those gotten by RX, the Monster Radio. She kept pointing out to me that RX is the number one upscale POP radio station in the country, according to ratings. What a spin! I guess another radio station can tout that they are the number one pop radio station in the country catering to 12 year-olds, or the number one most eclectic radio station for parapelegics. It is hard to put some sense into her head or to even ask her to accept reason since she obviously knows the word "upscale". Keep telling yourself that, girl. ;-))

…how so many Pinoys just about copy everything from other cultures (specially from America) instead of creating our own.

…how we, as a people, know very little about the lives of our forefathers to no fault of our own. Thanks to our Spanish conquerors, carriers of our spoken historical records, our rich oral traditions, were killed or persecuted one by one. The showing of our culture during that time were considered voodoo or work of the devil by them. Up to this time, we haven’t fully recovered our lost historical "libraries." According to Kampanya para sa Kamalayan sa Kasaysayan in its website, they claim that our ancestors were favorite trading partners of our fellow Asians, including Arabs, becoz of our well-known honesty & zeal as a people. Our forefathers’ honesty was so well known far and wide that the barter system operated upon the "honor system" where our trading partners would demand neither receipts nor detailed accounting of the transactions becoz they trusted the Filipinos. Present-day Pinoys may find it difficult to reconcile this honorable image of our ancestors with what we see of our people today. We still have to study a lot about our real past, specially about the thousands upon thousands of years that our ancestors lived in peace & harmony among themselves & with their neighbors. We need that knowledge to keep us from amplifying the insults heaped upon us and negative traits our people have developed throughout the years.

Nowadays, you will meet Pinoys who will cheat or scam you, pick your pocket, rob you blind, from all walks of life. From the balut vendors, or the fish vendors you patronize everytime you go to the open market, to the job recruiters charging you for services not yet rendered & then running away with your money, to the bribe-taking government employee sitting behind the desk, to the rich enterpreneurs selling you inferior products or services. I mean what happened to us? When I do an honest deed in the US, I make sure that the Americans know that I am Pinoy so they know that there are still some honest Pinoys out there that they don’t hear about. Let’s bring back the "honor system," people!

…how so many of our people are so hung up on status symbols. You see that syndrome when they buy electronic gadgets and high-ticket items like cars and clothes. Some people really don’t need to buy a P28-grand cellphone but they do to keep up with the Joneses. I used to go to an upscale cyber cafe where people would just go there to show off their laptops. They look at each other to see who can outdo who. That game is so tired, superficial and so 10 years ago. Or maybe I’m just jealous. Whatever happened to the concept of "living within your means." The best things in life, after all, are free.

…the national media’s pre-occupation on politics and it’s single-sided view against PGMA. I have yet to read ANYTHING that is highly critical of the opposition. And what’s worse, when the Opposition says anything irresponsible, erroneous, inaccurate, or unsupported, and outright lies, the media doesn’t take them to task and instead cuddles them. That reminds me, I need the services of a TV tech to remove ABS-CBN from our TV set. By the way, in a recent media conference attended to by media people from Asia and around the world, Singapore criticized our news media for its narrow-mindedness. SURPRISE! In Singapore, news about killings, and other violent crimes, and other negative news items are not allowed to be published. The result, Singapore has a very disciplined (thanks to their caning & other laws) population with one of the lowest crime rates in the world, has no unemployment, no homelessness, has a vibrant and thriving economy (considered First World), and considered one of the cleanest countries in the world. Also, none of the political squabblings or wranglings as we know them here persist as their politicians are more concerned with how to keep the country’s economy moving forward. If I may say so, it also has some form of benevolent dictatorship system. Perhaps that’s what we need. The Philippines, under PGMA, is studying their system. The first step should be is to make it mandatory for Senators and Congressmen to wear a gag and blinders while they are in that august House. Using a whip would be a nice touch really but perhaps not necessary. But still….

…the unabashed use of
sugar and oil. Ever get sick of going to any food courts? Besides
seeing the same recipes in almost every food stalls, or eating
semi-spoiled food, or food repeatedly reheated again and again, I
cannot, for the life of me, like foods swimming in oil or fat and/or in
which sugar is used extensively or unnecessarily. An example of such a
gastronomical
abomination is spaghetti, Filipino style (in sweet tomato sauce). Sweet
pasta sauce? YUCK! Sometimes I get confused whether to
treat the pasta dish as dessert or as a meal entree. The real Italian
sauce is not sweet. Not even the commercial brands like Prego. Here,
the store-bought brands are almost all sweetened. It should be tangy,
sour, and tomato-ey, if nothing
else. Is it any wonder why so many Filipinos are diabetic or have high
blood pressure even though they are skinny?
 

I will add more to this list later.

I hope you don’t mind the pink fonts. I thought it is the appropriate color for a posting as virginal as this. Kinda like the color of cherry. And before I get tempted to get into a bit of gutter talk, allow me to proceed without further ado.

I must admit that I do not know where this is going. I just decided to start a blog for myself mostly and for my Friendster friends who are dying to know who I am. But I’d rather keep ‘em guessing. There is no fun in knowing a person’s name but not the real person behind the name. It might comfort everyone to know that I am human just like the rest of you, with two eyes, two ears, two legs but lookie, no arms!! Just joshing!

There can never be anyone more human than me I think - flawed, raw, and relentless with everyday living. Isn’t that what life is all about? How else would I know I am alive unless I bleed, not literally of course. I make mistakes just like everybody else and I continue to make them like there is no tomorrow. HEHE…I have no qualms about discussing them with a few close online friends. And hopefully, they would respond with the same openness and honesty that I dish out here. If not, I just hope for the best. Of course, being at Friendster or just being online affords me some limited anonymity. So talking about the nasty things that happen to me in my life brings some kind of relief or release from accumulated complications & problems that life brings without fear of being exposed or of being subjected to public ridicule by unsympathetic acquaintances.. What I don’t like and don’t need here are shallowness and cutesy-ness that most Friendster site owners and visitors are so fond of doing. YEECHHH!! Spare me that. You are just sucking up wasted pixel space if you do so. Gimme some gritty stuff, earth-shattering pronouncements if you can or some punch-in-the-gut kind of revelations if you are bold enough. If not, just send me some of your nudies..hehe..not really.

Bear with me, folks. It’s gonna be a rough and bumpy ride.