Living in the City

I noticed that our kalamansi, and chili plants have insects that resemble waxy and fiber-like appearance on top of the leaves. I found out that these insects are called mealy bugs and that they suck the juices of house-plants and subtropical trees. In our case, they are actively gnawing at the juices of our kalamansi and chili plants to the point of drying out and dropping many of the plant leaves. Arrgghh. "Mealyb ug females feed on plant sap, normally in roots or other crevices. They attach themselves to the plant and secrete a powdery wax layer (th erefore the name mealy bug) used for protection while they suck the plant juices. The males on the other hand, are short-lived as they do not feed at all as adults and only live to fertilize the females. Male citrus mealy bugs fly to the females and resemble fluffy gnats". Mealy bugs are considered "serious" plant pests in the presence of their allies - the ants. "Ants protect them from predators and parasites. ...

I got this from my email and for the sake of a few laughs, a smile perhaps or maybe a snicker, I am repeating it here. Cheers! Marriage (Part I ) Typical macho man married typical good-looking lady, and after the wedding, he laid down the following rules: 'I'll be home when I want, if I want and at what time I want -- and I don't expect any hassle from you. I expect a great dinner to be on the table unless I tell you that I won't be home for dinner. I'll go hunting, fishing, boozing, and card-playing when I want with my old buddies, and don't you give me a hard time about it. Those are my rules. Any comments?' His new bride said: 'No, that's fine with me. Just understand that there will be sex here at seven o'clock every night...whether you're here or not.' (DARN SHE'S GOOD!) ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* Marriage (Part II) Husband and wife had a bitter quarrel on the day of their 40th wedding anniversary! The h...

Concern for the environment had always been instilled in our children since they were old enough to talk. This is one reason why our eldest daughter took up B.S. Biology. Somewhere along the way, her focus shifted to children, taking courses that would later qualify her to teach kindergarten and take her all the way to Jakarta to handle kids of ex-patriates in an international school. Thirty one years old, single, and idealistic as ever, she told us that she didn’t shift her focus; but redirected her efforts to teach younger kids, since they are more receptive to learning – more so about environmental protection. Yesterday being Earth Day, she called us from Singapore where she is staying currently to remind us of certain actions and activities to promote Earth Day. I was concerned about the cost of the call to her budget, but she told me the prepaid phone card she obtained has a very generous offer that would really allow for meaningful conversations with family – at a very afford...

A wee bit of an avocado plant to a now grown one:-) right in the middle of our backyard. My humble contribution to earth day is attested by these photos of fruit trees as we ll as plants I was able to grow in our backyard, s tar ting almo st six years ago. There's the jackfruit tree, photo of which is at the left above this l ine. Then the next is my favorite forget-me not flower plant. Makes me feel like a real mother plant Mom whenever I prune her unwieldy leaves. Then there's our squash plant, where we are now able to harvest its flowers playing its nutritious role everytime we prepare our green salad recipe. Then at the corner of the yard, two other avocado plants, now also fully grown but taller than what we have in the middle of the yard. It feels lovely to see them plants grow each day, pruning and watering them just like you 'do' for a child. Happy Earth Day! Better Late than never. Cheers!

"It is estimated that there are over 70,000,000 blogs in the blogosphere. There is a current experiment to see how fast can a million blogs register at a certain site. The name of the experiment is Million Blog List - A blogosphere experiment. Get your blogs listed. Take a poll and guess how long it will take for the million blogs to get listed". I'm # 816 on the list Go!

My friend and I planned on putting up "The Buteyko Knowledge Channel". This was what I initially provided as research for the project: The Planned Mission To be the authority portal for buteyko knowledge and information To provide an environment for global advocates and collaborators in the promotion of quality buteyko products and services The Keys to Success - the following will play a significant role in determining the success of the Buteyko Knowledge Channel 1. Effectively segment the online market of the buteyko practice through branding 2. Successfully position ourselves as the authority portal on buteyko through superior content 3. Communicate the differentiation and quality of offering through proven methods of web marketing 4. Develop a repeat business base of loyal clients through superior online experience both for the customers and partners What The Buteyko Channel would Be: 1. a B2C Business to Consumer Portal partners are Buteyko websi...

My cousin who’s a nurse, working on a foreign and European traveling luxury liner for over five years now is excited about the idea of buying her first real estate property here in the Metro. Initially, three years ago, she’s had the chance to buy her 2 hectare farm land in the province. The land is now fully paid and her cash crops are earning her well, thank you. Her plan is to buy a condominium property as soon as possible. She was able to inspect and evaluate the unit the last time she was here while on her annual vacation. She loved the property’s location and “looks like” she “could afford it”. It’s a good investment to prepare for her “daughter’s schooling accommodations when the time comes”. According to her, her current financial picture is: she has enough money in savings and time deposits. She also has a life insurance which is on its fifth year of payments. Her available cash is more than enough to buy the property in cash, plus the rest of the processing and incidental f...

Owning a home is one dream many people aspire for. To many, a home is a dream fulfilled, success if you will, a sanctuary of comfort and peace. But is it really? How does a person or his family know if they are ready to own a home? The most essential and basic question to ask is, can you afford it? Do you have the ability and/or the capacity to buy a house or take a mortgage from a financing institution which will help you finance the acquisition. Because this is what it is really about. And what do the financing institutions look for when evaluating an applicant seeking for a housing loan. Common sense tells me, these are some of them: Is the applicant qualified to take a loan? Does his personal financial condition reflect a positive credit history after verification? Is income steady and consistent, can accommodate payment or amortization for the amount applied for. Does he have the integrity to pay back the loan year after year. After verificatio...

I think Marikina , the place I am very proud to live in has started another inovative and environment friendly waste management strategy. I think this is what they call the household hazardous waste program, somewhere else. This strategy entails collecting used animal and vegetable oils from community dwellers with the end goal of generating bio-diesel from the collected waste. In other words, recycling. In our subdivision, they have began doing this just this afternoon. I said 'I think' at the beginning of this post because I am not actually sure :-) I hope it's not one of those "trying to have another business" group planning another business venture. I am praying it is 'Munisipyo'-initiated. I remember seeing a news report about an unscrupulous group passing off waste cooking oil as newly refined. WTF is the matter with these people's conscience? But I digress. Normally, vegetable or animal oils will have to be “stabilized for disposal. Land...

I saw this movie about car drifting and I just got myself wondering how much energy this sport could consume. Truth is I am not really a car enthusiast much less car race afficionada but sports or hobbies like this can take a toll on global energy consumption not to mention the pollutants it could generate. Not environment friendly at all:-( Here's what I found on You Tube about Car Drifting

My cousin, his wife and two young kids are now based in the U.S. They are both medical health workers there. They came back for a much-needed visit to my sick uncle. Last weekend my Mom, and I, together with the rest of the family set out to see them. Our visit proved happy, boisterous and well, everyone was talking like crazy. Indeed, it was another ‘celebration’. When the noise died down, we were back to getting each other up to speed, great to note that they got a new house around the area where they work, “nothing fancy,” but affordable and comfortable. He got to talking about the fact that he is also in the market for a car. It was deferred because they had to make this trip. He seemed concerned, that his “children needed a good car”, so they can, from time to time, enjoy precious moments of country visit to friends they have made out there. He and the wife mentioned about taking out a car loan . But he wasn’t sure what to get and what type of financing he will use fo...

I promised my young children that I would buy our first car in 1993. Whether it was brand new or used I didn't care. After looking around for sometime, we finally got one in May 1994. She was an old Toyota, seen better days. She was baptized with some name I now, can not recall. Quite serviceable, but needed a little paint and re-upholstery job. The children, ecstatic, suggested to color her red for luck. She looked haggard when we first saw her, with all her white color chipping off. So it came to pass. Pretty in that dark red color, she came home one day, looking like she was ready to give us a lot of rides. My children had a lot of fun riding her. They went to school with her, practically everywhere, and we rode like it was the prettiest car around. It was in this Toyota that I took to taking on driving seriously. Over here, our motor vehicle office is quite lax. I got my license before I can drive perfectly:-( Point is I just got the license but never got to practice...

I planted this avocado plant almost a year ago perhaps. In fact there were three of them. This one is the non-composted and about 6 inches tall. Today it has grown to 1 1/2 feet. And then there's these two others, but composted. They are of the same age but notice that these two are about 6 inches taller than the non-composted. Today, we have a total of 4 fruit bearing trees in our backyard. 1. Composted Avocados which are about 2 1/2 feet tall 2. Non-composted avocado which is about 1 1/2 feet tall 3. Papaya is about 3 feet tall 4. Jackfruit is about, oh she(he)'s tall almost 15 feet. This was our first fruit bearing tree, which we planted shortly after we moved here more than 5 years ago. 5. Then there's the atis which bore about 6 fruits but last year. But only 2 were good. The rest? The birds ate th...

Philippine - born Jose Antonio Vargas, aged, 27 won the Pulitzer Prize for Washington Post's news breaking reportage of the April 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre. Jose Antonio Vargas has been a journalist working for the Washington Post for the last 10 years. The story is about Cho Seung Hui, a South Korean student at Virginia Tech, who killed 32 people before committing suicide. It surprised me to know that Jose Antonio Vargas dug his information from, yup, you may have guessed it right. He used that now popular social networking website, Facebook. I understand that he’s one fellow who uses the internet quite extensively to do his job better. And look where it got him? Winning under the Breaking News Reporting Category, Jose Antonio Vargas was part of the Washington Post Staff who did a “multi-faceted coverage of the deadly shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, telling the developing story in print and online”. The Pulitzer Prize was initiated by Joseph Pulitzer when...

My friend who is currently in the United States called me the other day, Tuesday, to ask what I would want as a long overdue 2007 Christmas gift. Sheepishly, I told him, nahh, you’ve got to be kidding. But he remembers me mentioning about a “more sophisticated camera”, I had been wanting to own for the longest time. “Remember”, he said, for your blogging pleasures? “And surprise!,” he said, “I already got you one.” Wow! I could not believe my ears. “How on earth did I deserve that”? That’s what I asked him. “Worry not. I got your gift from cyber monday. “It is a super online site that provide links to a whole line of merchants offering significant discounts for hundreds of items purchased after Thanksgiving here. From consumer electronics, to HDTV’s, sporting goods, shoes, supermarket items, publications, if you want something, they definitely have it online. You can browse and pore over all these items until you make your final decision to buy”. Wow that’s hassle free shopping....

Come April 15, something as sure as death will befall me and countless other business owners. It is that time of the year when we pay income tax for earning a perceived financial term called income. It's been quite an experience running a small business, something which my mother asked me to continue for her. Believe you me it has not been easy. Every y ear I scratch my head hoping to find a nice and glorious statement in my accounting books that say I did earn something. Heck. For the last couple of years, there' s really been nothing:-( Truth be told, our small operations have been in the red for some months now. New equipment, new services, new products, new anything as long as it would help the business, we have tried implementing. The thing is the tax people find it hard to believe that the business didn't earn anything as we declare every year. I have been thinking of what to do next. Shall I sell the business? Shall I change the nature of the business like going to...

Paparazzi's have become a pejorative term for news photographers who take celebrity photos in exchange for large amounts of money. Countless celebrities have been 'victimized' by paparazzi's most prominent of whom are Britney Spears, J Lo, Nicole Ritchie, the Hilton sisters, Lindsay Lohan, George Clooney, Tom Cruise and wife Katy Holmes, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, and so many others. One of the more notorious paparazzis is Ron Galella, "who transposed many of his methods to New York . Galella's success came by scandals of his own making, and he is now best known for his photographs of Jackie Onassis, who filed a lawsuit against him in 1972". During his most notorious days, Galella went to the extent of getting beaten just to get those most precious photographs. Richard Burton's bodyguards beat him up enough to cause him to spend sometime in a hospital bed. Sean Penn spat on him, and his jaw was broken by Marlon Brando. “The word paparazzi was po...

Life is far from perfect. But it goes on. The world is not stopping by to wait for you to get up and do what you are supposed to do. This means that everyday, people need to earn and raise money to support their designated individual or family’s lifestyle. Sometimes, things get awry. Markets come falling. Deals go bad. Suddenly, people find themselves head and ears in debt -- from cash or from bad credit loans . Believe that there is hope. Money is available for those who are wise enough to make it right the second time. One need not suffer from bad credit credit cards any longer. Solvency issues can still be resolve. But it is important to take note, that in using credit to settle an account or pay a bill, responsibility is always the key. And discipline is the fuel behind the key.

A lot of things had been going on in my life lately that got me seriously thinking. Reflecting, I realize that Simone de Beauvoir was right after all. That a woman must be in-charge of her own life because only she knows what is best for her. Sure, one can be influenced by what others think but it should not be the sole basis of how life goes on. But why didn't I realize this earlier? I guess it must be some form of a passage? Everyone goes through a phase -- the hurts and the disappointments resulting in my case, from the dysfunctional and inequitable realities of my own relationships. Was lack of wisdom brought in by my youth? Was I incapable of making intelligent decisions about my personal happiness because I was young? Inexperienced and afraid? Why did I fail to recognize much earlier that I am unique, different from everyone and, that was, in fact good? Did I not know myself too well? Afraid, just went along with the traditional notion that 'good' women ...

I hope Ramiele doesn't get booted out this week. I am sure it is going to be easy for them to do that you know. She, being Asian in origin. Having said that, I would like to think that 'race' has never been and will never be an issue. But, I doubt if she'd even be on the Top 5, much less an American Idol :-( There is no question Ramiele is close to my heart. She is a Filipino by birth, you see. I don't know about the others, but by nature we gravitate towards our own. Where ever we go, especially abroad, we are always happy to see someone familiar, of our own, if you must. And there is nothing more heart warming than to see one of us make it big. Is there anything wrong with that? I thought so. Back to Ramiele. Her voice can definitely compete. But every week her body language states otherwise. I can almost feel her ready to give up during booting out time. No! Ramiele! You have to believe! Belief in yourself will give you enough motivation to stay. ...