Best to be prepared

A single woman like me has so many things to think about concerning the future. One of these things is the funeral benefits. Do you think it’s morbid to prepare as early as now? I don’t think so. You see, my grandmother made sure that my mom had her own funeral arrangements ready as early as when she’s in her 30s. My grandma already has hers ready as well. When my mom passed away in 2005, there was no need for us to be concerned with the funeral arrangements because it was already taken cared of beforehand. Everything is ironed out already and all we had to do was choose a casket for mom. My dad’s already prepared as well. So I am thinking of getting mine ready as well.

But before any of that, I should get an affordable health insurance for me, my dad and my brother. Getting sick is so common these days. In fact, even without the A(H1N1) spreading around, flu will still spread because of the storms coming in and out of the country. It is best to be prepared for these things than start thinking about it when it’s there already.

Breakout

Lack of sleep can give you a lot of worries. Headaches, dark circles under your eyes, weak immune system. Not to mention skin problems. Thank goodness I don’t need acne products yet. I’ve a friend whose skin breaks out when she doesn’t get enough sleep. She would have to go to her dermatologist to stop the breakout. It has always been like that for her. I am thankful that doesn’t happen to me. Hopefully, ever.

I know it has something to do with my mom’s genes. She never had skin breakouts and I have never seen her with even a pimple when she was still alive. Luckily, I got her genes. My dad’s another story.

Entrecard has new management

Anna of A Commuter’s Life voiced the question that entered my mind when I read Graham Langdon’s email: What lies ahead for Entrecard and its users?

For those of you who don’t know it yet, Entrecard has been acquired by another company, Los Angeles based ZipRunner Inc. You can read the email in its entirety after the jump.

Entrecard has been good to my blog’s Alexa rating. I was also able to lure some members into becoming regular readers and even subscribers to most of my blogs. I have met great bloggers and have found great blogs through the system. In short, I have benefited from the system a lot. It is only natural that when I read the email, questions popped in my mind. I began to worry that the change in management will surely affect the current system. Of course, funds changed hands and I wonder how the new owner would get back their money through the program. Perhaps, we can expect to be asked for membership fees. Or get bombarded by advertisements we wouldn’t want to put in our widgets. And there are many possibilities if you think about it. Sure, the system might improve now that the new owner has more resources than Graham. But will we really benefit from the improvements? Do we really want those possible changes?

Everything remains to be seen. I am just hoping that this change will make the program better and will truly benefit the members in the long run.

Read the email from Graham below… Read more

Holiday business invitations from my mentor

I was very fortunate to have met and been mentored by a kindhearted and brilliant individual. She was the one responsible for almost everything I know about my profession. It was a mutually beneficial business relationship that we have nurtured through the years. Every year, I get at least half a dozen holiday business invitations from former co-workers and bosses. I try to attend all as much as I can but my priority is the one from my mentor.

I notice with the Business Holiday Party Invitations from my mentor is that she get different designs year after year. A relative is looking for an exclusive design for her open house business Christmas invitations and I asked my mentor where she’ll be getting this year’s invitations holiday business cards. And she mentioned http://www.invitations-shoppe.com, a web site where one can order invitation cards for all seasons. They offer one of a kind invitation card designs for everyone.

Beware of copycats!

Plagiarism is fast becoming a big issue in the blogosphere at the moment. A lot of bloggers are complaining about being flagged by programs for having an exact same copy of their posts. I remember there was a post by Reyna Elena about this. He found out that his posts that he submitted to 3P were copied. Antedated, if I am not mistaken. Then, there’s Juliana’s plagiarized post. With the same program. And then there’s another blogger complaining of being flagged by 3P. For the same issue. Copied post.

Those bloggers copying from another is really shameful, enriching themselves at the expense of another. I pity those who were copied from, flagged by the program and their work going to waste. I know how hard it is to come up with an entry that you have to write immediately. It’s even harder when the topic is something you are not familiar with. And then only to find out that your work is being rejected because someone else already claimed it…

To those copycats: I hope you can still sleep soundly at night knowing that you just robbed someone of their hard work!

In support of my friend…

I know this is not only confined to Filipinos. But let me rant this one in relation to my fellow citizens. Ang Pinoy ang hilig manapaw ng kapwa niya! Grabe talaga! Filipinos would love to do anything and everything just to overshadow his/her fellowman. I’ve seen this happening time and again. Instead of supporting someone who’s doing something good (or is becoming successful in what he/she does), he/she will do something just to overshadow that person. Even to the point of copying something that was originally thought of by that person! Nakakahiya sobra!

This is one of the reasons why I am amazed by how some races would support each other. Mariuca and her fellow Malaysians come to mind. They may not represent a big percentage of Malaysian bloggers, but I see them commenting on each others’ blogs, supporting the projects of each other (memes and all), and even making sure that others support them as well. I am really happy seeing that. Hats off to them!

I know we are entitled to start projects of our own. Just make sure that it is not taken from somebody else’s original idea. We should stop this crab mentality and instead should start supporting our fellowmen (as long as it’s nothing illegal). Imitation is not always the sincerest form of flattery. It can be as annoying as hell most of the time. And hurtful when you realize that you were copied!