Future Happy Broadband User

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Stay-at-home-moms (SAHM) are so lucky these days. Online job and income opportunities such as a virtual assistant, researcher , problogger or web content writer now transforms them to work-at-home moms (WAHM). Moms get to balance family time, work and personal satisfaction. Now what is the main resource that online users need? A reliable, fast broadband connection, right? Slow connection means low productivity. High productivity means one is able to balance work load and mommy work. Mom’s work gets done fast. No connection at all might even cost loss of opportunities or risk getting replaced. I know of a web content writer working on rush job but missed a deadline because the internet connection died on her. That cost her to lose an income opportunity and reliability as a web content writer. That’s how bad our internet connection is in the Philippines.

Over six months ago, I wrote about my three new Broadband internet providers (Globelines Broadband, Smart Bro and PLDT Mydsl) for which I pay around 4,000 pesos (or $95.00) a month. Am I happy with my three internet providers? I wrote a brief review about these providers a month ago. The ratings I gave those three providers are as follows:

1. Globe Broadband (best)
2. Smart Bro
3. PLDT MyDSL (Worst)

I’m about to file a complaint at the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for PLDT’s mydsl intermittent connection every 10 minutes or so. Come on, can you do better than that? I pay 1,520 pesos a month and I deserve a seamless connection at least 99% of the time. But what do they give me? Dropped connections every 10 minutes?

Smart Bro has really been so good to me ever since I threatened to report them to NTC for non-existent connection for 2 months. Since then, connection has been excellent for over two months now. (knock on wood)

Even if I rated Globelines Broadband as the best among the three, I am not quite happy with their up to 1 mbps connection speed since half the time, it’s 60% of 1mbps. I feel cheated that these three providers con us into :

1. believing that “up to” is substantial. “Up to” is the maximum possible bandwidth promised.
Why can’t you just say that your connection is 600kbps? You want us to believe that we can attain 1Mbps most of the time when in fact, it’s 20% of the time.

2. Their connection is faster than dial up.
Really now? Are we supposed to believe that we should continue to live in the dark ages of dial up? Stop using the byline line faster than dial-up when you promote your broadband ads . You can’t fool someone like me who has been using cable internet for 8 years now. Yes, you can fool the dialup users but how long can you fool them?

So let’s see, when a new internet provider will dispel all the above marketing gimmicks of our current internet service providers, what will happen now? These unhappy internet users will definitely move to the new reliable internet provider who will make them happy broadband users.

Who is this possible internet provider?

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Teaching Daughters to Invest in Real Estate

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Ever since I could remember, dad often brought me and my siblings to any [tag]real estate investment[/tag] he acquired. Trudging by the tall weeds and mud, I wrinkled my nose and retort “But there is nothing here. No houses. ” Dad would often chuckle and remind me “Think of the future. what will it be like in 30 years?”. Twirling around the grasses and looking up at the sky, I could not think far ahead to the future. After all, I was just 8 years old. God bless my dad. His [tag]investment[/tag] paved the way for my own [tag]real estate[/tag] investments together with the rest of my siblings. I felt my girls should know how to prioritize their paycheck. Lauren even as a fresh graduate seems to be earning quite well. I thought I’d show her to invest her money wisely. So off we went for a brief stop in our country home somewhere in Sta. Rosa before heading off to Ayala Land’s latest development, the Nuvali.
poke_your_eyes.jpgOn the way to Nuvali, we got so engrossed with the landscape that we missed the turn to the entrance. The sign “Poke Your Eyes” alerted us that Hey you are lost. We had a good laugh as we made a u-turn back to Nuvali.

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Photo Hunt: Classic (1940s Photo)

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The [tag]Photo Hunt[/tag] theme for this saturday is anything on Classic. What does “classic” mean?

“of or characteristic of a form or system felt to be of first significance before modern times” As an adjective, classic means ““belonging to the highest rank or class” as well as ““having lasting significance or worth.” As a noun, classic means ““a superior or unusual example of its kind”

momasateenagerthumb.jpgMine is a classic [tag]1940s photo[/tag] of my mom as a teenager. She must have been sixteen here in this photo, roughly taken sometime in 1947. I found this photo as my sister Belen (who happens to look like my mom) and I packed up our things from our ancestral home in Cebu. Though a bit worn, we were able to capture the photo with our digital camera.

I like gazing at [tag]retro photos[/tag]. A glimpse of the past is captured forever. I get to see the fashion trends during the good old days. One thing I notice about this old photo is the way she positioned their upper torso. It’s like mom is leaning to one side and her eyes aren’t focused on the camera as if gazing to someone behind the photographer. It’s great that she beamed a stunning smile though.

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Thank You for the Thank You Day Concert

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Thank You Day
I had no plans to attend the Thank You Day concert not because I feared a repeat of the Glorietta 2 Explosion but because I felt too old for a live “rock” concert. The last time I attended a concert, my heartbeat was racing like crazy but I’ve been supporting the National Thank You Day since day 1 so I just had to be there. I told  my daughters to go ahead to the concert as I was still busy with a grief support meeting. My meeting ended earlier than usual and fortunately, I was still able to catch up with the Toblerone Press Conference with my two daughters at the Highlands Restaurant together with JM Tuazon, Karla, Anton with Rach and Aidan and Juned, Annalyn with her adorable twins.

Unlike Annalyn, I wasn’t starstruck. I barely knew the bands, celebrities and even the hosts. Sure I knew who Lucky Manzano, Mo Twister, Francis M and Jay-R but the rest? I had to tap on Juned’s shoulder and ask “Who is he/she?”. haha.

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Recycled Old-look Home Furniture – Blog Action Day

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action_125x125.jpgToday is Blog Action Day. On October 15, bloggers around the web unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind – the environment. Every blogger will post about the [tag]environment[/tag] in their own way and relating to their own topic. I chose to talk about my recycled old home furniture in our environmentally friendly home. Building an [tag]Environmentally-Friendly[/tag] Home meant discussing big ideas behind even the smallest details.

When my husband and I discussed the theme of our furnishings, we decided on eclectic design so we had a reason to utilize our antique furniture which have been passed on to us by our great grandparents. Butch said “wood adds warmth to a home. How would I know? I am not an interior designer. Butch had been researching for the past year on the look of our new home. I wanted contemporary furniture because well, I wanted something new. We compromised by blending old and new furniture in our cozy home.

carabao_cart.jpgAllow me to show 2 furniture pieces crafted by using old discarded wood for new “old-look” furniture. These pieces of wood were taken from the junk yard. So anyway, let’s start with the this lowly carabao cart used by farmers in the rice fields.

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Photo Hunt – Smelly

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shoe cabinetPhoto Hunters theme this week is Smelly. I chose our family’s Shoe Cabinet which is nestled in the far corner of the second floor. Some of the shoes in there are smelly whenever I pass by. It’s one reason I place a deodorizer inside the cabinet. I know when it’s time to replace the deodorizer when I smell the stink again. The solution really is to eliminate the shoe odor from the source. Other than deodorizer, there are other ways of eliminating shoe odors:

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How To Manage Your Online Reputation

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online_reputation.jpgDo you need help monitoring your reputation? Want to know what bloggers think about you? Fear no more…Just have a photo taken with the Master Abe “Yuga” Olandres dressed for the first time ever in business suit and you’re all good. Haha. Kidding aside, you should have been at the recently concluded Search Engine Marketing Conference 2007 (SEMCON) and listened to Abe talk about Tracking Buzz: How to Manage Your Online Reputation– Do you need help monitoring your reputation? Want to know what bloggers think about your business and your products? When you undertake a search for your company name or brand is negative information relating to your company showing up in the search results? Is your company and brand reputation being adversely affected by these negative high ranking results? Protect and enhance your business by controlling how your name and brand appear online and in search results.

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Nintendo Wii Games are Fun

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wii_and_bloggers.jpgIf I didn’t know what the Nintendo Wii Games Console was all about, I’d think Jayvee, AJ, Juned including my daughter are loonies waving their “wands” about in front of my TV set. Jayvee brought along his Nintendo Wii and lots of party games to amuse the bloggers. The gathering was intended to be a podcast event which included the guys behind The Man Blog. The Man bloggers took forever to arrive so the interactive Wii games filled the gap.

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Desperate Housewives Episode on Some Med School in the Philippines

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UPDATE: ‘Desperate Housewives’ apology over Philippines slur

[tag]Desperate Housewives[/tag]’ latest episode (the first episode of the 4th season) had Teri Hatcher’s character saying this: ““Okay, before going further, can I check these diplomas cause I would just like to make sure that they’re not from some med school in the Philippines.”


(This is the complete video of that scene)

I wonder if the writer meant it to be funny or what. Considering there are a large number of US-based doctors and nurses who are graduates of Philippine Medical Schools, then I think not. These Philippine Medical School graduates took up further training in the States. Before they can even practice in the US, our Filipino doctors called Foreign Medical Graduates have to take a USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Exams) which consist of 3 parts to get into residency:

Part 1- Basic Subjects (can be taken in Philippines)
Part 2 CK – Clinical Knowledge (can be taken in Philippines)
Part 2 CS – Clinical Skills (to be taken in the US)

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Fam Pics: Luijoe’s Meadow

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luijoe's MeadowFor the month of October, the Pinoy Moms Network Fam Pics Theme is Green. I’d like to share this green meadow called “Luijoe’s Meadow” located at my husband’s family vacation spot in Benguet. Butch’s parents own a lovely mountain retreat 5 hours away from Baguio City. You can imagine the distance it takes to get there. But whoa, the long travel time is worth it. Once you arrive at their hamlet (the girls call it hamlet), you are greeted with a super cool mountain breeze, lovely pine scent from the dense Benguet pine trees and lots of space to romp around. There’s nothing like clean mountain fresh air. It doesn’t feel like you live in the tropics.

Luijoe’s grandparents named this spot “Luijoe’s meadow” just like they named the town’s spring waters “Lamar Spring” after Lauren and M. Fortunately, Luijoe got to enjoy his meadow before he died. The girls and Luijoe played badminton and kickball without having to worry about heat stroke.

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