josie's files

Sorry for not updating this week, I’m really very very busy. Almost everyday there’s a computer that needs some trouble-shooting or maintenance. I have ten computers to take care of, and there are times when they almost broke down at the same time and this is one those times. I was the one in charge of the reformatting and program installation while hubby is for the hardware maintenance, that is if there are parts that need cleaning or replacement.

Last Sunday we went to the  SM mall to unwind for just a while and also to get the hard disk that we returned for replacement,  good thing it was still under the two-year warranty period when it broke-down. We didn’t know they have a 3-day sale. We only went to Cyberzone – the third floor of the mall where all the computer and cell phone stores are and there we window-shopped and canvassed for the prices and compared them to the price lists we had for the last months prices (we make it a point to get one every month to monitor the price and the latest specs of computers). You can see the people lining up, this is on the cell phone booth.

PC Domain is our favorite computer parts store coz it has the lowest price in all the stores there and good service too, the only down-side is they don’t accept credit cards (not a problem we rarely use credit card ). We went back last Tuesday to avail of the last day sale. We got all we need from PC Domain and I went back to one store (PC Hub) to buy a PC casing that I asked for the price last Sunday, I got pissed off with the sales lady there, she was very rude as if she owns the place, her employer should sent her to a customer service training program.   I told her I will buy the PC casing that was on display and told me bluntly it was not for sale and will only sell them in bundle with other computer parts. I told her why didn’t tell me in the first place when I inquired about it and they even told me the price. It’s fine if not for sale, it’s just the attitude of this sales lady that irritated me, and the way she treated the customers, for sure I’m not the only one. Anyways, I got one from another store with lesser amount and good customer accommodation, that made up for my day.

I would like to thank Shydub of  Simply Happy Life for sharing this “Life Is Good” award to me. Thanks  Shy, so formal ba. lol..

Rules:

• 1. Answer the 10 questions.
• 2. Give this award to six other bloggers
• 3. Link back to the person who gave this award.
• 4. Let them know about the award.

Here you go;

• 1. If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing it that way; if you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now? Nope, I always wanted to be known to my readers, that’s why I even posted my pic.

• 2. Describe one incident that shows your inner stubborn side. So many of them to elaborate but this stubbornness is what made me strong to deal with all the challenges I have experienced in life.
• 3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror? Hmm, I still like what I see, I guess I achieved my goal of growing old beautifully.
• 4. What is your favorite summer cold drink? Soda, iced tea, fruit juice.
• 5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do? Go to a beauty salon and pamper myself.
• 6. Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it? to travel around the country and abroad.
• 7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the class shy person, or always ditching school? None of the above, I’m the average regular student, with the boys trying to catch my attention
• 8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what do you see? Christmas eve with the whole family attending midnight mass and eating Noche Buena (Christmas Feast) together.
  
• 9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events? I share my views but not divulging too much of my personal life, part of my characteristic of being  a reserve person.
• 10. If you had the choice to sit and read or talk on the phone, which would you do and why? Reading, it was one of my hobbies when computer was not yet part of  my everyday life. Sometimes it’s nice to get away from the techie things once in a while.
  

So now I’m passing it to:

Grace of Amazing Grace

Elai of Elai’s Precious Angels

Sarah of His Unfailing Love

Cristina of VivaPinay

Vernz of Woman elan-vital

Carmen of  The Living Grace

Kat of Mom’s Place

Lulu of Daily Snippets

Anne of Mary Anne’s Musings

Dhemz 0f My Life’s Perception & Inspiration

One morning when we were having our breakfast, just me and hubby (my older son went to work while the youngest was on his provincial hospital duty) hubby brought up this thought, he said this could be what we will gonna be when the time comes the children have their own family and leave the house, just the two of us. But I don’t think so as long as we are in the Philippines.

Filipinos are well-known to be a close-knit family. It is normal to see grown-up children over 20′s  to still living with their parents, unlike in other countries, when the son or daughter reached 18, they are expected to leave the house and live independently.

Here the parents support the children until they finished their study and earn a degree. In return the children are expected to help with the family finances or lend a hand in supporting the schooling of the younger siblings. Even if the children got married and started to raise their own family, they usually lived close by or visited the parents regularly. Grandparents are very well taken care of and were not sent to nursing homes. They will live in their homes with their children and grandchildren in their twilight years until the time they will depart from this world.

If nursing homes or home for the aged is for people from rich countries who have money and can afford to send their old family members in this lonely place, here only those that are abandoned, neglected, left alone by their relatives that need shelter and food were taken to these places to make sure they will still have a normal life even if separated from their families.

This is also one of the reasons why some Filipinos who had stayed abroad and worked there during their productive years choose to come home, retire and spend their golden years here. There is nothing like being with your own family. Life is much easier when you have your loved ones beside you.

Farmville is very popular among Facebook users, young and old alike, even a small child can learn to plant and harvest different plants and trees. And with this knowledge, a brilliant idea was  conceived by the Philippine National Police Los Baños in the province of Laguna. Inviting young students to participate in the tree planting.

So instead of just planting virtual plants and trees in Farmville on their Facebook account, they now experienced of doing it in real life.  The kids enjoyed what they have done. This also taught them the importance of having trees not only for the environment but also for the future of the coming generation like them. Let us hope that this will serve as eye-opener to other schools and organizations  for them to follow this example, and hopefully the illegal loggers will not destroy this beautiful project for their own illegal activities.

image fr. google and Facebook

Last Saturday, I decided to take a breather from my long hours in front of the monitor and have my eyes rest for a while. So I turned on the TV to watch my favorite programs, usually action/detective series or movies.

But then all I got was a bzzzz sounds and no picture. Waa no cable connection!!! So I switched to local channels, unfortunately only one channel had clear reception and the current program airing was a celebrity talk show. It was really a boring show with hosts bobbling senseless celebrity news and gossips like who has a crush on this and that star, who was linked to this and that, as if it was true for all you know this was just publicity stunts/gimmicks for the coming movies or telenovelas.

Nothing was new really, same old  run-of-the-mill question and answer interviews between hosts and celebrities, only the faces that has change. I have seen new unfamiliar faces, said to be the up-coming stars in the making (gosh I’m really getting old). And what do you know, the commercials were longer than the show itself which means companies were spending millions to advertise their products, oh well, maybe I’m the only who is not a fan of this kind of program. Naah, it will only get interesting if there are showbiz scandals to talk about. haha.

Yes, with no cable signal and no local news to watch I would rather stick to my computer and play poker on my Facebook account, at least it gives me some excitement, I can curse with myself when I go all-in and go pfft.  lol…

Sorry for the rant..

The government is planning to  increase the present percentage of excise tax on cigarette manufacturers and the tax money collected will be added to the coffers of Department of Health, especially in Philhealth.  The current price for a stick of cigarette is  Php 1 – 2.00, if the new tax increase will be implemented the price will be up to 5 pesos per stick.

What are the effects:

• For those who can’t afford the new price there are chances of quitting or minimizing their smoking habit that can lead to a healthier, longer natural life.
• With the additional funds from tax, the government can deliver a better quality of health services to the Filipino people.
• Less pollution and free from second-hand smoke diseases.
• Good news for non-smokers and bad news for smokers.

Have you seen this news?

40 Billionaires Pledge to Donate Half of their Wealth to Charity

So many people will benefit if this pledge push through. It will help alleviate the standard of living of many people and who knows this might make an impact on the continuing recession in US and other countries. This only  shows that the rich still care and show concern for the less fortunate. They don’t just stay in the comfort and luxury of their mansions, but go out of their way to lend a hand to the needy. Let’s just hope that more and more wealthy people find it in their heart to take part and support this undertakings, and not only in US but also all over the world. Let us give thanks to Bill Gates and Warren Buffet – America’s two most wealthiest people.

With this move they changed the way how ordinary people perceived the rich, from being uncaring, self-centered and money-worshiping individuals. With all the scandals we have read and watched on the news involving the rich and famous specially the young generations of these families, this is a big respite.

A little over a year after Bill Gates and Warren Buffett began hatching a plan over dinner to persuade America’s wealthiest people to give most of their fortunes to charity, more than three-dozen individuals and families have agreed to take part, campaign organizers announced Wednesday.
In addition to Buffett and Gates — America’s two wealthiest individuals, with a combined net worth of $90 billion, according to Forbes — 38 other billionaires have signed The Giving Pledge. They include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, entertainment executive Barry Diller, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens, media mogul Ted Turner, David Rockefeller, film director George Lucas and investor Ronald Perelman.
“We’re off to a terrific start,” Buffett, co-founder and chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said in a conference call also attended by Bloomberg and San Francisco hedge-fund manager Tom Steyer and his wife Kat Taylor, founder of OneCalifornia Bank.

Buffett said he and Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, and Gates’ wife Melinda made calls to fellow billionaires on the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans — in many cases, people they had never met — to try to persuade them to join the giving pledge.
“We contacted between 70 and 80 people to get the 40. A few were unavailable. We don’t give up on them. Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future. We’ll keep on working,” Buffett said.

Bloomberg, who made the bulk of his estimated $17.5 billion fortune from financial news and information services company Bloomberg L.P., said it didn’t make sense to leave everything to his children and have them go through life as members of “the lucky sperm club.”
“You don’t want to leave them so much money that it ruins their lives,” Bloomberg said. “You want kids who can look back and say, ‘Yeah my family helped me but I did something on my own.’”

Added Steyer: “We need to support each other. I look at this as replanting your garden so that future generations will have a full bounty of crops.”
The United States has roughly 400 billionaires — about 40 percent of the world’s total — with a combined net worth of $1.2 trillion, according to Forbes. If they all took the pledge, that would amount to at least $600 billion for charity.

The 40 names that have pledged to date have a combined net worth surpassing $230 billion, according to Forbes. Several of them have said they plan to give away much more than 50 percent of their wealth. Buffett has promised to donate more than 99 percent of his wealth.
The pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract. It does not involve pooling money or supporting one cause or organization. It’s up to each person who signs the pledge how to divvy up their wealth.

In letters on the givingpledge.org website, the 40 billionaires explain what motivated them to follow in the footsteps of Gates and Buffett.
“I’m particularly thankful for my father’s advice to set goals so high that they can’t possibly be achieved during a lifetime and to give help where help is needed most,” CNN founder Ted Turner said. “That inspiration keeps me energized and eager to keep working hard every day on giving back and making the world a better place for generations to come.”

“My pledge is to the process; as long as I have the resources at my disposal, I will seek to raise the bar for future generations of students of all ages,” filmmaker George Lucas said. “I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education.”

Gates and Buffett hatched the idea of a giving campaign in mid-2009 at a secret dinner meeting in New York with a few select billionaires. The campaign went public this June.

Buffett acknowledged that some wealthy people may find it beneficial to donate more so they can avoid or write off more taxes. But he said that’s not the reason billionaires are taking the pledge.

“Of the 20 or so people that I have talked to that have signed, not one of them has talked to me about taxes,” Buffett said.

“It may be a consideration but I think the motivation goes far, far beyond taxes.”
And of the billionaires contacted who didn’t join the pledge?

“There were a few people who gave answers that indicated their various dissatisfaction with government,” Buffett said. “A few had dynastic ideas about wealth … an intergenerational compact with family to keep that going. And there were others who said, ‘I’ve got a plane to catch and I’ll have to hang up.’

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38556042/ns/us_news-giving/

I’ve been thinking of what to post when I saw this topic posted by one woman in Mylot site, I got curious with her title and I continued reading  the article and the responses she got from other readers.

“I want my husband to have an affair with another woman

Yes, you’ve read it right. Crazy, isn’t it? When other wives are complaining about their husbands having an affair with other women, here I am wanting my husband to try to have an affair with another woman. Weird?… yes, I think I am.
No, my husband is not gay. He is just a perfect husband. We have been married for 23 years and never did we have a serious fight over anything. He doesn’t give me any reasons to get angry because he loves me so much and he has been a very good, responsible and loving husband.
However, living with a perfect husband for 23 years is becoming boring. There is nothing to spice up the relationship. I also want to experience how it feels to be jealous… How it feels to be challenged when there is another woman in your husband’s life…How it feels when you kiss and hug after a big fight…how it feels to be angry…how it feels to cry and be hurt…how it feels to hurl at your husband with angry, hateful words…how it feels to kick your husband in the a**… and I need a reason for me to do that.
These thoughts just came into my mind. Maybe I just want to know how I will feel and react once I learn that my husband is having an affair with another woman.”

And here are the answers she got from those  who participated in the discussion:

You will not enjoy the feeling and things will never be the same again between you and your husband. What if he enjoys the other woman’s company and left you for her? What if he’d not hug you anymore, nor kiss you anymore, nor talk to you anymore, but to the other woman? What if he spends the holidays with her instead than with you? What if he forgets all about you and cares so much about the other girl? What if, he doesn’t want an argument with you? No chance for you to get hug and kiss after a fight? What if you’ll cry and feel pained the rest of your life because you realized it is him that you wanted and not the thrill? What if you’ll be angry with yourself and not him because of such “foolish” idea? Jesus! Why do you want to complicate things that you’ll regret later? Is it his fault that he loves you so much and wanted to be the worthy husband for you? Is that what you really want? Then, if so, you tell him and push him to the next woman who’d be lucky to replace you… God bless…

Believe me when I say: be contented with what you have. For the majority, you have the best life ever because you do not have any issues with your husband. There are a lot of people out there that are having a difficult time with their husbands and would rather be in somebody else’s shoes. Remember there are some guys there who never change so think of how their wives sleep at night. So be thankful that you have that kind of life because it is definitely heaven sent. As I have said to a lot of people be grateful with what you have and where you are at right now because not everybody gets to where you are at and gets what you have/had.

Yes, I understand that curiosity about things that we don’t fully understand or can only understand when we ourselves are placed into such a situation. I think, for most women, be it in an unstable relationship or one which is still going through their respective adjustments, they would consider your situation to be that perfect picture. Even lines and shades, not over-lapping the margin or going through the frame, tones or colors not over powering another. Then again, that’s why we seldom try to listen to those who have already experienced such situations, wherein they themselves know the details of relationships that went sour. They know how it can begin and how one can prevent it. They would also know the expected outcome and emotions which the participants would have through such an ordeal.Listening to those, if imagination for such things happening isn’t enough to quench our curiosity, should at least be a guide for those who seem to be threading the same journey.”

Yes, I also think this is a crazy idea, why ruin a  perfect relationship, just to fulfill a curiosity. Are human can’t be  satisfied with what they already have and keep on searching for something they may not find? Is this the complexity and oddity of human nature? Or a MID-LIFE CRISIS?

Anyways after reading all the answers to her discussion she was somewhat enlightened of what might be the consequences SHOULD her husband have an affair with another woman and the outcome may not be what she wished for. Interesting isn’t it, why not share your ideas too?

Maritz or Grace the author of  Amazing Grace is celebrating her 43rd Birthday, so she decided to celebrate in with a bang in the blogosphere. The contest is open locally and Internationally. Lucky winners will be selected randomly through random.org . A video will be uploaded to validate it’s authenticity . WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THIS CONTEST IS THE RULE IS SIMPLE NO HUNDREDS OF REVIEWS NEEDED (coz I’m lazy) And the prizes are worth more than the time and effort to join.

PRIZES :
1st Prize :
$50 Cash thru Paypal
5,000 EC Credits
2 Domains with Webhosting

2nd Prize :
$ 30 Cash thru Paypal
2,000 EC Credits
1 Domain with Webhosting

3rd Prize :
$ 20 Cash thru Paypal
2,ooo EC Credits
1 Domain with Webshosting

4th Prize :
2,000 EC Credits
1 Domain with Webhosting

5th Prize :
1,000 EC Credits
1 Domain with Webhosting

Special Prize for US Bloggers only : 5 pcs Lip gloss Collection

Here’s the mechanics :

1. Blog about the contest with the title “Amazing Grace Amazing Birthday Contest ! ” and place the link of my other blogs in your bloglist : A Walk to Remember, GraciaFashionista, kids turf and A Bucket of Wisdom.
2. Go to this post and leave your comment and URL of your post.
3. Shout the Contest on Facebook.
4. Copy the Prizes , Mechanics and the the list of Sponsors below.

For Cash & EC Credits :

Josie’s Files , What’s Inside Johanna’s Heart , My Life & My Journey Online , CDo Extreme, Just the Tip of an Ice Berg, In Pursuit of Happiness , Mom Write for a Cause , From Asia and Beyond , Sassy Chick’s World , Anna’s Alabama , Mix N’ Match , Embracing my Past, Present and Future , , Cups and Lower Case, Foreignpinay.com, Mix and Match Online , The 3 Chies, , Home Decors & Gift , Fe’s Journey of Life, Made to Worship, Moms Wish list, VivaPinay, Table for Five, Grampys World, Topics on Earth, Moms Up and Downs Gagay, Pinoy MD,Cacai M’s Place, Thoughts Ideas Resources, Cacai’s Steps and Journey, Sherryever.com, kissmi.info, loveandthoughts.com Hearts Content, Seasons and Seasoning, Mommy Diary, My Journey to Life., A Journey to Life, Pops Up of my Mind, , Peach and Things ,Yobib’s Tales, A Perfect World, My 3 o’clock Prayer
For 6 Blog Domain and Webshosting :

Caffeinated Muse , Pinay SAHM , Crayons and Pencils , Blogger’s Nook, Life’s Digital Moment, Easy Task Online For Beauty products : Me and My Passion,

Human trafficking is an old age problem not only in one country but almost all-over the world. Victims are mostly women and children from poor countries, who were promised of good life by ruthless people who used them to make money. Women end up as sex slaves or forced to work as prostitutes, while children were kidnapped and sold to syndicates, they were decapitated and sent to streets as beggars. If you saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire, you will have an idea. I have seen these stories in the news many times where the victims were rescued and they were very lucky but still many were not.

Good thing there are organizations that are committed in stopping the illegal trade of children. An organization that deal with these problem needs our help. There is a contest in Facebook right now that will give the winning charity with the highest vote count of $ 100,000.00 and the STOP CHILD TRAFFICKING Now organization is one of them. Please vote for them if you have a Facebook Acct. Their Website is :  http://www.sctnow.com/

SCTnow would appreciate any support but right now they are in a contest that could help them get some funding. If you think this is a worth cause please Go and vote for them :

1. Click here to vote–
http://apps.facebook.com/apxgivesback/

2. Select Pacific Region

3. Scroll down to SCTNOW and vote for them.

Also Feel Free to  follow them on twitter and you could retweet their tweets.

Let us support their cause!!