One Web Day: How the Internet Changed My World

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OneWebDayIn celebration of [tag]One Web Day[/tag] on September 22, , I am going to list down “about the ways the web has changed your world.” Having been online since 1995, a lot of changes has happened in my life. Janet Toral started with her entry, How the Internet changed my world

Here is my list:

1. The [tag]internet[/tag] brought me business opportunties , such as e-commerce and problogging.

2. With my affordable webhosting packages for the Philippine market, I am able to help small and medium businesses promote their products or services 24/7 . This gives me such a rewarding feeling.

3. Because of reason no. 1, my online business brings flexible working hours. In fact I don’t need a physical office since a virtual office will do. I can bring my work through my macbook in any part of the world as long as there is internet connection.

4. Initiated a grief support group , The Compassionate Friends Philippines to help bereaved families cope with the death of their child or sibling. When grief support was unavailable in the Philippines in the yar 2000, I found grief resources which provided me with great comfort.

gtalk.jpg5. Instant messaging keeps me in touch with loved ones. Even if my kids are in their dorm, I can still chat with them through Google Talk or Yahoo Instant messenger. I can also give advice in homework or relationship problem. “MOOOOOOOOOMMMMM” is the most frequent word in my chat box, followed by “You there, mom?” Sometimes, I also “poke” my husband when I see him online, checking if he’s stressed or not from work or just exchanging love notes.

6. Paying bills online via BPI Express Online is very convenient. It beats going to the bank and filling up a deposit slip then falling in line which can reach up to one hour if the bank is full of depositors. When the kids need money, I just transfer funds online. No waiting time.

7. I can still see and chat with my siblings in the states using the webcam or skype. Of course, email and instant messaging forms part of our daily chitchat. My siblings often get jealous when I show myself on the cam eating ube ice cream or some other Filipino food not available in their grocery. My bad!

8. Through the magical powers of google, the internet reconnected me with old friends who I haven’t seen in years. Hi Betty. Hi Bing.

9. It paved the way for new hobbies: amateur photography and web development . These hobbies kept my sanity intact during my grief journey.

10. Lastly, a memorial site for my son, angel-luijoe.net was one way to unleash my grief into something creative. Through this memorial site, it brought some comfort to other griveing parents with similar situation as mine. The only help a parent can find when they are grieving the loss of a child, is in the company of another who fully understands that loss.

What about you? How has the internet changed your world? How do you intend to celebrate One Web Day?

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Christmas Bazaars

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UPDATE Read Christmas Bazaars Schedules in the Philippines – 2007

flea marketWhile strolling Market! Market! this afternoon, Christmas songs blasted away from the mall’s pipe-in music. Ah, as always, September signals Christmas shopping season. I feel a gnawing pressure but my mindset is not to make shopping a stressful activity. My favorite shopping hangout are the bazaars because one can find interesting finds or bargains not normally found in flea markets or department stores. Flea markets are similar to bazaars though. I used to enjoy the Greenhills Flea Market since it first started in the early 80’s. Lately, I noticed that their goods are similar to the 168 Mall items . Before I was into bazaars, I thought that these places sold expensive goods. A few years ago, my husband gave me tickets to the Manila Polo bazaar. Not expecting to find anything, I surprised myself by lugging a bunch of gift items and Christmas decors to the car.

Looking at the list of Philippine Christmas Bazaars, there are bazaars almost every weekend. I’m sure my girls will want to go and investigate the stalls.They are usually adept at finding something unique. For them, the fun part in bazaar shopping is looking for the bargain items. For some reason, the girls will not buy anything that is “expensive”. I enjoy these mother-daughter shopping adventures.

Diabetes and My Eyesight

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eyes.jpgFor the past 3 days, I have been taking it easy by minimizing my online time. I even took a one day leave. See , last Monday after working for two hours on the internet, a hairlike strand just appeared in my field of vision. It felt like I had hair in my eyes which refused to go away. Oh no, I panicked. Am I getting blind? I am aware that diabetics like me are prone to diabetic retinopathy. Everyone with diabetes will develop diabetic retinopathy. Regular eye exams when first diagnosed with diabetes, and then at least every two years, will reduce the risk of vision loss and blindness. I couldn’t believe this was it. The start of my blindness. But I protested silently. I just had an eye angiogram 8 months ago and it was normal.

I paid a visit to my Philamacare-HMO opthalmologist who in turn referred me to a retina specialist for a retinal pathology. The opthalmologist saw some fluid in the retina but wasn’t so sure about it as my pupils were not dilated when he examined me. Yesterday, I waited for Dr. Chan at the Medical Center Manila for two hours. While waiting, I befriended some of the patients whose eye problem stories made me even more nervous. A diabetic woman who is a few years older than me is almost blind. She underwent a laser operation to save her eyesight. Before the operation, she could only see headless people . Though she still has blurry vision, at least the people she sees have heads on their shoulders. Eek, I thought. So that’s how it is to be partially blind? I comforted myself with the thought that perhaps my defective eyesight is still in its early stages. The nurse checked my long distance vision and I still had a 20-20 vision. Hm, that’s good news. Then she placed a few eyedrops to fully dilate my pupils. Good thing my husband dropped me off so I didn’t have to drive home with dilated pupils.

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A Unique Shop in Makati: “I love You Store”

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I love you
My daughter who is turning nineteen on Tuesday already made plans for a birthday gift. A funky new look from this cool and unique underground basement shop, the “I Love You Store”, new wardrobe, a hair dye and new contact lenses. Friday night is horror night in the streets of Makati Avenue. “I Love You Store” is located in 7849 Underground Pilar Place, Makati Avenue and the hairdresser is only available at night. We travelled all the way from UP Diliman for one hour and a half only to be informed by the charming owner that Maribel, the hair stylist would arrive from a styling gig at 9:30 PM. It was 7:30 PM. Knowing that it would take me another hour to drive to our house in Makati because of the horrendous traffic, I opted to wait . Fortunately, the shop had internet wi-fi and while my daughter shopped for clothes, I worked on my online business.

In the one hour and a half wait, I found out so many interesting facts about this shop :

1. The owners are Fine Arts Graduates. No wonder the place reeks of creativity.
2. Each piece of clothing is one of kind. That’s why each item of clothing is a labor of love. Hence the label “I love you Store”
3. The haircut is not really their main source of business. The professional fee of the hair stylist is by donation-basis. Pay what you can afford.
4. The owners are obviously having fun while doing their business. You can see it in the glow of their faces.
5. Every piece of item, the walls and every nook in that store is an art piece. check out the “I Love You Store photos I took of almost every corner of the shop.

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Philippine Idol Top 12 Male Performers Live

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tickets.jpg
What an exciting night. Tonight was the first semi-finals of the [tag]Philippine Idol[/tag] Top 12 male performers which was held at SM Megacinema 3. Watching it in a live studio setting is definitely a change over watching it live on the TV set. It’s a different form of entertainment. It’s not the same as watching a concert or a movie. This is reality TV entertainment. So my husband and I kept an open mind to this new adventure.

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I noticed a number of ABC 5 staff swarming all over the place. Fans are holding banners of their favorite Idol contestant. Heavy muscled bouncers were stationed at the start of the queue. When the door opened at 7:30 PM, the guard disallowed me from entering because I had a digital camera. Ugh, I wanted to sneak in photos so I wasn’t about to give up my camera. I let the crowd pass before I made another attempt at another guard. Hehe

philippine idol

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Slander in Blog Comments

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After reading ShoeMoney.com Involved In A Landmark Blog Case – Slander In Comments, I got reminded of the subpoena sent to my sister in San Francisco to provide information on my daughter’s comment poster (Take note: it was not even her post but that of a co-blogger. It’s the comment that was questioned). This incident happened more than a year ago. Obviously, the Philippines is not within the California jurisdiction. They ended up harassing my poor sister who had to hire a lawyer, And you know legal fees in the US are not cheap. My sister didn’t want to be involved in the case because first , she doesn’t own the blog. Second, they will require her to appear Los Angeles for hearings. It is such a waste of time

As a backgrounder, the subpoena pertained to a comment placed by an anonymous and random visitor in one of my daughter’s blog site. Since the blog has long been “neglected”, the comment just showed up for google to pick up. (it pays to moderate your comments). The comment poster accused a certain person of financing the alleged pedophile activity of an old guy. Ugh. Can you imagine the slanderous nature of that comment? The comment poster also wrote the same comments in other blogs. Basically, the subpoena asked for information on the comment poster, his/her name and the location of the computer. Haha. Crazy. If they were smart enough, they should have hired IT consultants before sending out the subpoena. Their lawyers should be more intelligent than that. Why harass my sister who is ignorant of blogs?

The lawyer’s sleazy tactic of obtaining my sister’s contact address is also questionable. They pretended to be FEDEX people who called my other sister . They said that my daughter had a package that needed to be picked up. When they learned of the suspicious nature of the calls, they refused to entertain further calls until one day the lawyer went to her house and personally served the summons. How awful to be bothered by lawyers! Not to mention the fact that my sister is innocent. It just so happened my daughter lived with her for two months.

It would have been a landmark case if their lawyers can file a case in the Philippines just to require my daughter to provide the measly information on that comments poster. Even if they filed a case, it is hard to prove it too. I know there are previous cases such as Court Rules in Favor of Anonymous Blogger. This site Blog Law & Blogging for Lawyers: Evan Brown on Defamation says that “We’ve yet to see any cases where a blogger is found liable for comments poster.”

So bloggers, keep those comments moderated and open only to registered comment posters.

The Globe-Innove Sponsored Blogger’s Meet at Temple Bar

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globemeet.jpg
I had so much fun tonight. Actually the most exciting part of the night was finally meeting and chilling with techies and bloggers in real physical time. I am thankful though that Globe-Innove sponsored this meet. For the first time in my life, I felt that I was not alone in my passion for internet work and online activities. I don’t know many people my age that are into the online world of blogging or even e-commerce.

Before the division into 2 groups, early birds like Jayvee, Abe (such an exuberant guy), Kiven, Bimbo and myself ate and talked about well…Google adsense. Psst, we can share Adsene tips some other time.

What can I say? The food, the company was great!

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An Internet Cafe with Free Wi-Fi

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As a media partner for the upcoming VoIP Convention in 2007, I was tasked to write articles for their souvenir program. My deadline was yesterday, rather last week. Oh dear, I have limited VOIP knowledge and time at my hands. The first thought that entered my mind was to interview Silverback ASP, the only Filipino-owned VOIP Provider (for outbound VOIP calls). I didn’t know Globe, Bayantel, and PLDT were using VOIP resellers (like Vonage, Packet 8 etc from the USA). I immediately got the appointment with Steve Davis, the CEO of Silverback ASP. As I stepped into their office, I was surprised to see the ITX Cafe/Silverback signage by the large window panes. Oh an internet cafe! As I looked in, I liked what I saw.

ITX_Cafe_06.jpg

An informal ambience of comfortable chairs, swings, gorilla nest and computers in the corner for internet use . I was 30 minutes early for my appointment. You know, I’d rather be early than keep the other party waiting for me. As I eased myself on the chair, I turned on my macbook and was quite pleased that I got a wi-fi connection.

This is my dream business office setup. The virtual office was a plan but a physical office is so much better. Part business office, coffee shop with my baked goodies, and offering free wi-fi to the customers. It’s important to dream about a goal so it can eventually materialize one day. The most important value is having fun and doing business at the same time. Looking at the photos around the ITX cafe, the partners of Silverback ASP appear to be doing both. No wonder they moved to the Philippines and even devloped imindoro.net and providing internet service in Mindoro Island.

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My Ebay Seller/Buyer Phobia

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ebay.jpegOnline shopping is quite tempting especially if one finds bargains. My sister in San Francisco tells me that she doesn’t go to the mall anymore to buy her clothes, gifts and even appliances. Unfortunately our credit card’s exchange rate is quite high. The only online shopping experience that is financially rewarding is buying at Amazon. All of my grief recovery books were purchased from Amazon. I often browse at myayala.com’s online shop but their prices there are not bargain deals. You know how we moms love bargain shopping. Three years ago, my sister-in-law in the States urged me to try selling at Ebay. Her vintage jewelry and children’s books raked in modest income. At that time, my online business was still at its infant stage. I thought maybe I should try selling some of my services at ebay.

Being an Ebay newbie, I didn’t actuallly read the fine print. Maybe I did but I could not comprehend the listing rules. Ebay requires sellers to input your credit card and dollar account details which I readily supplied. A few days after a failed Ebay sale, my Wells Fargo statement said that $7.00 was deducted from my balance. Confused, I emailed Wells Fargo that I don’t remember the sale and to investigate the matter. A few days later, Ebay emailed a strongly worded legal letter that I should pay $7.00 listing fee. OOh so that’s where the money went , I thought. But Wells Fargo was a bit too hasty. They credited the $7.00 back to me just because I complained. I didn’t tell the bank to do that. Now Ebay was breathing down my neck. In the next few days, I received frequent “nasty” notices until they wrote back that my credit card will be billed $30 something for collection fees plus listing fee. Ridiculous! Now I owe them $30.00. I quickly called Citibank to stop the transaction. They said they can’t do that until the bill arrives and suggested that I talk to them. Thinking it was hopeless, I wrote a letter to Ebay apologizing that since I was an Ebay seller newbie to give me a chance. Happily, they did. I still had to pay the $7.00 though. My gosh, these Ebay guys can really hound you just for $7.00. Imagine the millions of sellers worldwide giving that income.

That Ebay seller experience prompted me to give up on Ebay selling. I know a lot of stay-at-home moms earn quite a living from it. I know I shouldn’t judge Ebay for that first bad experience but it dampened my Ebay seller enthusiasm. Now being a bargain shopper, I thought I’d test out The Ebay stores. Last year , my daughter spent two months in the states so it was perfect to deliver any purchases to her. I found a second hand book that was out of print and cheaper than Amazon. Oh dear. I found out too late that once you click “purchase to buy”, it’s good as sold. But I didn’t know that. I didn’t push through with the sale because the delivery time was too long. It was scheduled to arrive around the time my daughter’s return trip to Manila. To cut the story short and a few “nasty” emails later, I apologized once again to the buyer and Ebay for being such a clueless Ebay buyer.

Never again will I go to that darned Ebay site. Or so I thought.

 

To my horror, Lauren got herself a belly piercing. I comforted myself with the thought that the piercing will get covered by her clothes. However the belly piercing failed. My husband and I were happy but not for long. To my utter disbelief, she got an eyebrow piercing. My husband and I wailed! “How could you disfigure your pretty eyebrows?” My husband said he will get a metal ring on his nose. I nodded and added that I will get a diamond studded nose ring too. “You look too feminine for an eyebrow ring!” , I continued with my rant. My daughter was steadfast in her decision and said that she will order pretty eyebrow rings so she won’t end up looking like a punk.

I don’t know why she chose an ebay store but she found PiercingPal
, which is based in Thailand. She wanted these rings that cost $20.19 including shipping.

eyebrow.JPGeyebrow11.JPG

Not only was I stressed out with her eyebrow piercing, I suddenly felt heavy pit in my stomach . I recalled the past Ebay horrors as I waded my way around the Ebay site navigation. (Actually she could have done this herself but Paypal is weird. It doesn’t like different Philippine IP addresses in a Paypal account)

Finally, I found the “PAY ME NOW” link glaring at me. Purchase was succesful.

My daughter awaits eagerly for her purchase. Let’s see in the coming days if that Ebay experience is positive.