Life savings spent

I have a friend who refuses to accept the fact that she’s now broke. Imagine, she spent her savings on free-loading people she met somewhere. She paid for a vacation at a pricey resort here in the country. I don’t know why she did that. The only thing that comes to mind at the moment is that she once told me that she desperately wants to fit in the office. And spending her life savings was probably the only solution that came to mind. If she just spent it to buy silver or something that will be beneficial to her in the long run, she wouldn’t be broke right now. And I don’t even think her co-workers really appreciated her efforts in winning them over. Tsk…

Peso-Dollar Exchange Rate

Here’s the Peso-Dollar Exchange Rate for February 13, 2009:

The Peso-Dollar Exchange Rate for February 13, 2009 is P47.120 = USD1.00 (Official Government Rate).

Paypal’s Peso Exchange Rate for February 13, 2009 is 1 USD = 45.8888 PHP. Notice the almost 2-peso difference? Grr.

Free WordPress Themes

Are you looking for beautiful and functional wordpress themes for your blog? I found a web site for you! WP Themes Plugin is a site that offers free wordpress themes for those of you who are looking for one.

I know you have noticed in the past that I change themes quite frequently. Until I had one customized, that is. But for my other blogs, whenever I feel the need to change themes, I change it. And because of this, I am always on the lookout for sites that offer quality wordpress themes for free.

You know, the first thing visitors see is your blog design. A lovely, clean and navigational theme will be a big come on to visitors to come back again and again. So go and check out what wordpress theme will fit your blog at WPThemesPlugin.com now. While you are there, check out their blog tips and tricks as well.

Dolphin phenomenon

Photo credit: Philstar.com

Have you seen in the news last night those more than 300 melon-headed dolphins which swam in to shallow waters off Pilar town in Bataan yesterday? Phenomenal! Who would’ve thought something like this will happen? However the rescuers drove them away, the dolphins kept coming back until finally they were driven to the deeper part of the waters.

I have heard different reactions to this phenomenon. But the one that got my attention was from my sister who is superstitious… this may be a sign that a big catastrophe will happen. Like an earthquake or a tsunami. Could be. Remember the tsunami that killed a lot of people in Asia a few years back?

And consider this comment from Dr. Mundita Lim, director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“Here in our country, there were times when dolphins beach or get stranded, but only one or two dolphins – not like this, more than a hundred. So, this is unusual and we really have to know what caused them to go near the shore.”

Let’s pray that nothing bad will happen or that there is a reason why the dolphins got stranded in Bataan.

Still under maintenance

UPDATE:

I don’t know what happened to my theme. The rightbar just won’t get fixed! It keeps sliding down under the leftbar and however I tweak the stylesheet, it just won’t cooperate. It frustrated the hell out of me that I slept early instead of focusing on fixing it last night.

So now I am back to fixing this sidebars… If I don’t wreck this theme first, that is.

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Please bear with me as I fix a bug in this blog. Thanks to Aldon for giving me a heads up regarding it…

Decent conversations

One of the things I love about this friend of mine is that you can talk to him about anything and everything under the sun and you will get a decent conversation from him. From life in general to politics to the state of our finances to architecture and steel buildings to corporate planning… you can exhaust so many topics in one meeting alone. I love these conversations and I hope to be able to have coffee with him again soon.

Structured settlement

If you are looking to sell structured settlement, I found a great company who can really help you out with your liquidity problems. Settlement Capital or Setcap is a financing company who can provide liquidity to those owners of periodic payments like annuities and the like.

I know of a family friend, my dad’s friend, who was recently hospitalized. He suffered a heart attack and his medical insurance did not cover all the expenses. He was forced to shell out a big amount of money in the process. And now that he’s still under medication, he badly needs cash. His savings was spent on the amount not covered by the insurance and for the medicine for the first few weeks out of the hospital. Now that he got laid off from work, he is more worried on where he can get the money he needs to support his medication. His wife is also under medication so it’s really a toss on who will receive better care between the two of them.

Sell Structured Settlement is what their advisor told them. At Settlement Capital, they can be assisted by the experts. He will use his annuity to get the cash he needs.

Remember, SELL STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT if you really need to. Go to setcap.com now for more information.

Structured settlements and annuities

I thought when I first heard about the recession, employees are the only ones that will suffer the most from it. Or the small businesses. But I was wrong, obviously. That was an ignorant assumption on my part, I am honest to admit. Now I know that each and every one of us will be/is affected by the global financial crisis. That’s why when I hear about a buyer of structured settlements, I immediately took note of it. It may come in handy when the time comes I would need something in emergencies.

And I am right!

I was approached by a relative who is asking for help regarding getting cash for annuities. Their family is having problems with cash at the moment and they really need something soon. I believe the head of the family, the eldest son, is now out of job. The company he was working for closed. It’s a big computer company that also closed two more branches in different countries. Now, they are in a tight financial fix. The mother is asking if she can exchange cash for settlement. And I told her about Settlement Capital.

Setcap.com is a company that helps those who are in need of liquidity right away. Go to their web site and know more about them.

Bayantel DSL: Good riddance!

So I am saying goodbye to the pest in my life that is Bayantel DSL. My dad will be going to their office by next week to have our account terminated. Our account cut off will be on the 21st and I will make sure that the termination will coincide with it. They might bill me differently if I do it otherwise. Mahirap na!

Let me just give you an update on what happened after my rant…

A Vincent Dimaculangan from Bayantel emailed me about my rant last Feb 4, 2009 at 2:29 PM. Below is his email in full:

Dear Sasha,

My name, Vincent Dimaculangan, I’m one of the Shift Managers of Bayan Telecommunications Customer Care Division. I read your blog regarding the connectivity issues that you’ve been experiencing with our DSL service. On behalf of Bayan Telecommunications, I wish to apologize for this and assure you that we’ll take action in resolving these connectivity issues. We hope to make your experience better with Bayan. I was wondering if you could provide me an account number and a phone number where I can directly coordinate these issues with you.

Sincerely,

Vincent Dimaculangan
Unit Head - Customer Support for Data and IP Services Dept.
Customer Care Division
Bayan Telecommunications
Roosevelt Operations Center
234 Roosevelt Avenue San Francisco Del Monte Quezon City

And this is my reply to his email…

And then I emailed him again on Feb 5, 2009 at 2:20 AM to give him an evidence on how slow my internet connection was…

I waited for a reply or a call but nothing came. It’s 2 days since his email and I haven’t heard even a whisper from him. He does not even have the courtesy to call. You know what’s worse? The 12-hour DSL interruption was through. Connection back up. But the speed??? You’ve seen the screenshot of the speed test I did using Speedtest.net. It was horrible! A page loading that usually takes me a minute took 15 minutes at best! I called up their customer service hotline again (against my better judgment I must say) because I couldn’t stand the slowness of the connection. You know what happened?

I lost my connection entirely! There’s another “fluctuation” according to the CS I talked to named Darwin. Imagine that! The high-blood pressure inducing issues never end!!!

Thus, the parting of ways. I will say bye-bye before the 21st and for now will reserve judgment with the new connection I have.

Again, if you are thinking of a DSL connection, consider companies OTHER THAN Bayantel!

Saving tips

Did you know that you can save money by buying surplus items? Also, you can use coupons when doing your grocery shopping. You can save 10% of your paycheck and put it in your savings account. You can also stay away from places you will most likely be tempted to spend. These are just some of the things you can do to save. Especially now that we are all in dire need of a fallback with the crisis we are all facing.

Budget web hosting plan

Many bloggers out there are looking for a cheap web hosting plan. Your own web hosting account gives you more control of your blogs and web sites. But I know how most of the bloggers are looking for at least a web hosting plan that will fit their budgets.

Lypha is offering budget web hosting accounts. Aside from affordability, Lypha is guaranteeing a 99.998% network uptime per month. Which you can’t say for other web hosting companies out there. I even had the misfortune of purchasing the very same plan that I was avoiding then. So my advise for those who are thinking of getting their own web hosting account is that make sure you check out what the web hosting company is guaranteeing you.

Go to Lypha.com and check out their cheap web hosting plans as well as the reseller web hosting plan they are offering. Go visit their web site now!

Send a love greeting

Valentine’s Day is just a few days away. This day is not just for lovers out there but also for people who are just bursting with love for their family, friends and love ones. To avoid the hassle of mailing greeting cards, why not give these people you want to greet on Valentine’s Day free love cards? You can get it from Net Fun Cards. You can choose from different styles that have there.

Personally, I send e-cards even without an occasion. When I feel like just saying hi and I don’t have the right words to say, I turn to e-cards. I send these to friends from time to time.

If you would like to send a greeting, a love card, this Valentine’s Day to your special someone, your family and friends, go to NetFunCards.com and choose from among the many designs they have there with an appropriate message for the person you are sending it to. Visit their site now!