Monday, March 28, 2011

How to Find the Best Webhosting

When you decide to start and / or create your website for personal or commercial reason, it is your basic goal to reach out to your target readers and to be visibly online for  24 / 7. Thus, it is quite important that you have a reliable and efficient  web hosting provider to make sure that you don't get robbed off just in  case your readers can't access your website.

Depending on the nature of your websites, personal or commercial, you just have to find the right web hosting service that suits your budget and needs. But, as you do this, you can consider these criteria:

  • reliability
  • storage
  • technical support
  • customer reviews
  • price
  • add - on features
  • bandwidth

There are efficient but  cheap efficient web hosting providers that can be quite suitable if you are just starting  a business or simply creating personal blogs. You may wish to look for free webhostings but normally, there can be forced ads on your websites to pay off for free web hosting.


So, with a little search on net for the right web hosting providers, you will sure find one that can totally nail your needs and your website(s) shall sure be felt anytime at anywhere.

Thank God for Coffee Dream!

My morning starts with a steamy creamed coffee as I do my usual surfs on the net, read my emails,  update my blogs, and prepare for schools and when I simply need a break from a long day, the aroma of hot coffee is enough to stir my drained and dragged afternoon. So, I quite welcome the presence of local coffee houses but I was quite disappointed when I had to see the old Coffee Dream in KCC closed down for months. The old place was my haven for my usual coffee share, a slice of special cake, net surfing as I wait for friends and family to bond with.

The new Coffee Dream, KCC Mall of Gensan

It was indeed a delight  to know that Coffee Dream would re-open and when the SOCCSKSARGEN Bloggers were invited, I could only happily accept the invitation.  And, the new interior of Coffee Dream is a total surprise from the dim and authoritarian aura the old Coffee House had.  And the  new interior is the response of the Coffee Dream founders to renovate their 33+ branches nationwide to cater to younger generation.



And, with the old taste but new look and more coffee and side dish menu, the new Coffee Dream shall once again swept off the Generals and other coffee drinkers especially that they are blended to suit Filipino taste. And, what can be more interesting is the fact that they acquire their coffee from local coffee breeders, thus, helping too our economy and fellowmen.

Coffee Dream's side dish selection 

I love coffee selections from Starbucks and Krispy Kremes but when location and price are the restraints, I simply thank God, Coffee Dream is just within my reach.


over sized delightful corned - beef burger to pair your Coffee Dream drink 

So, my order of Iced Strawberry Chill with  a taste of their sumptuous corned beef burger, blueberry muffin and carrot cake, I can only think of one word to describe my Coffee Dream experience, ORGASMIC!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Why We Should Lose Weights

There is really no fast rule when losing weights is the issue; in fact, if losing weight is easy, then, diet alternatives and gyms won't go abound. But, losing unwanted weight is not just about having a swimsuit - model body but staying healthy as unwanted fats can constrict our veins and nerves that may actually harm our heart.

Experts say that overweight may lead to the following health risks:

  • diabetes
  • stroke and heart disease
  • cancer
  • osteoarthritis
  • pregnancy problems
  • chronic venous insufficiency
  • sleep problems
  • deep vein thrombosis
  • gall bladder disease
  • metabolic syndrome

With all the health risks of being overweight and/or obese, they only highlight the basic but critical complication of obesity: premature death.

Thus, to keep our weights within normal range, it is smarter if we employ active lifestyle like having indoor or outdoor sports for us to shed off extra fats, eat healthy diet with minimal volume,   go through weight loss surgery if medically advised specifically, Bariatric surgery which may require special bariatrics  supplements,    and / or take weight loss safe but effective diet pills.

Whatever alternative(s) we pursue to lose weight, it is extremely important that we seek medical advice and approval before we go through any weight loss program.  Losing weight requires that we have our intrinsic motivation to be healthy and stay healthy. And, being informed about why we should lose weights can motivate us more to be health - conscious buff.

Great Wedding, Great Time with Old Students

My teaching career spans over 13 years and through these long years, I have endless number of students from my five (5) school employers. And, the overwhelming number is simply affirmed when I get to meet my old students but fail to recognize their names.







with my old students, the newlyweds


So, this is quite the case when the bride, one of my old students five years ago, asked me to join them in their wedding. I was just around the neighborhood that I happily conceded. Surprisingly, though, that when the bride and groom met me to hand in their invitation, the groom happened to be my student too 10 years ago.  The two simply met in Qatar in one religious activity and just after a year, they decided to tie the knots.






The wedding was beach - inspired and was held in one of the nicest white beaches in Glan, Sarangani Province. The newlyweds invited me to be one of their godparents and I could only complain because I don't see that my 30+ age falls for the godparents' age range.









the beach wedding 

The entire wedding ceremony was all touchy when the newlyweds gave their personal vows and messages to their respective parents. And, while the rain was lurking around the venue, the entire program went smoothly and successfully  until I gave my own message to the newlyweds.


We stayed over the night in an open cottage and went home after the rain subsided.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

How to Lose Weights Fast

I am way over 30 years old and unlike my younger years, I find it harder to lose weights. Diet is not enough to sustain a lean structure. In fact, if there are unwanted events, I resort to eating and more eating. So, I manage to complement my diet with morning jogs.

But, losing weight is not about staying sexy and looking good but also protecting ourselves from any weight - related illness like diabetes or  heart attack. Further, it may affect self - esteem and social acceptance. In fact, most overweight job applicants find it harder to land a job.


So, how can we exactly lose weights? Most experts suggest the following:

Drink plenty of water  at least 8 glasses a day. Don't use juices to replace water because you only gain unwanted calories and preservatives. Further, if you drink water before and between meals, this will help you feel full restricting your food intake. Take colder water too because your body will warm up more to burn the calories. When you drink a lot, you make your metabolisms work faster making you burn more fats.

Don't skip meals but take regular - sized meals instead. Never eat very full and skip the rest of the meals because not all fats can be burned, making the extra fats all stored particularly around the belly. Thus, eat only sizable meals and snacks including  Luna Bars   and stuff these with lots of fruits and vegetables.


Exercise regularly. There is no fast ways to losing weights except of course going through surgical procedures. Nevertheless, whatever weight loss medium we use, we have to sustain all our weight loss efforts with regular exercise like jogging, walking or aerobics. Do this with friends or loved ones to make you more inspired.

Soccsksargen EXperience (SEX) Tour Rocks

Last February 25, the SOCCSKSARGEN EXperience once again took flight but this year was grander and merrier. And, since we had long weekend with strings of works to do, we just have to join few events including a concert along Al Fresco of Robinsons, zipline on Fifth Mountain of B'lakayo and Foam Party at Royal East Hotel.

We still have to wait for pictures since we missed to bring our own camera and by then, I shall be writing more detailed posts for each stop we had. In fact, my own kid was all delighted with his first zipline experience.

I am only too sorry because we miss a great number of events. But, next year shall be another string of eco - adventures.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Wanting New Jewelry

I have been keeping few cultured pearls to match the necklace and earrings given to me on my wedding day. I wish to have a bangle and a new pendant to complement the old pairs but the value of gold had accelerated again that I have to save more to have the jewelry crafting again.

Keeping and selling gold is always a good venture because the price of gold continues to rise over time. This is quite evident in the some gold guides showing gold prices that indeed affirm the worth of this pricey mineral. But,  having gold jewelry or gold bars or coins is an assured investment because their  gold price barely depreciates because gold keeps its original attributes in spite of time and use.


If resources are only allowed, we wish to find a gold spot for legitimate purchase and assured worth.  So, if you are anxious about the authenticity of your gold, you can spot gold through checking its density where real gold must be around 19.3 grams/mL. Further, fake gold reacts to magnet while real gold does not. You can also use nitric acid to test because real gold is insoluble to this acid. But, if these tests are not personally handy, you can simply bring your gold to a a legitimate jeweler for assessment.


I personally love gold with 18 karats or higher for greater commercial value and that is guaranteed to last over time. So, as soon as possible, I shall have my new bangle and pendant crowned with my cultured pearls.

Hating and Loving my Forced Eyeglasses

I have been experiencing headaches and blurry vision and my work as a teacher and programmer  makes it less easier.

So, after years of procastination,  I finally decided to go through eye examination again and although my nearsightedness can't be fully addressed, somehow, my vision improves with my new progressive eyeglasses. My right eye has 75+ vision while my left eye ha 50+  grade. So, the optometrist advised the eyeglasses for straight three months to stabilize my vision and address the headaches and wearing eyeglasses during reading and programming thereafter.

Somehow, I feel so burdened with something on my nose but I am enduring it because it makes me look on things better  and longer. I am only worried of how I look because it is a contrast to my fashionable statement. It is just a consolation that my eyeglass frame  is sturdy but may complement any outfit.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Why You Should Reduce Stress

There are various causes of stress; when we  experience something unusual or unexpected and it demands too much from us, we either face the experience or run from it. Various individuals have different ways to handle stress levels. Others can simply overcome their stressful events while others simply cannot that they experience chronic or persisting stress.


Doctors connect health risks to stress since our body react to combat unusual experience, we experience the manifestation of stress through regular headaches and colds. Stress imposes great pressures on our brain, immune systemm,  blood vessels, digestive system, sensory organs and  lungs. But, if stress is not at all addressed, we risk more our health to the following health issues:

  • heart disease 
  • depression 
  • diabetes 
  • hair loss 
  • sexual dysfunction 
  • hyperthyroidism 
  • obesity 
  • obsessive-compulsive or anxiety disorder 
  • tooth and gum disease 
  • ulcers 
  • cancer 
  • alcoholism
  • drug addiction
  • allergies and skin problems
     
To handle stress, it is imperative that we have stress – intervention strategies which include:
  • regular and steady exercise
  • correct healthy diet
  • positive social life
  • fun recreations including poker for mac
  • positive outlook towards life, problems, people, work among others
  • support system with and through friends and family

Stress can be remedied and if properly and promptly addressed, we can use stress to fuel us to do better. Acknowledging the cause of our  stress and finding ways to face this issue, we reduce our health risks. It is quite important that we have the right  mechanisms to handle stress and with the right information how to battle it, we don't allow chronic stress to persist.

Fun Birthday Celebration of SOX Bloggers' Founder


Last January 19, we joined the other friends of Avelmar Manansala, the very man who made Mindanao Bloggers Summit 2 possible and made SOX Bloggers alive and kicking along with other SOX original founders.

The birthday bash was orange - theme, so, we sport our orange - inspired tops and simply painted the town red with the potluck celebration along friends and loved ones of our good friend, Avel.   Best wishes big man!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

How to Lose Weights Effectively

Studies reveal that overweight and obesity lead to possible grave health conditions to include heart attack, hypertension, and diabetes among others. Thus, it is quite important that weights according to height and age should be within normal range to reduce health risks. Further, overweight and obesity can adversely affect self esteem and degrade personality. In fact, job applicants who are overweight experience difficulty in earning a job.

Thus, if you wish to reduce your risk of health problems and to boost your personality, you may want to lose weights. But, losing weight is not an overnight ordeal, you have to exhibit  strong will to have and realize healthy diet plans, to exercise regularly, or to go through safe weight loss programs to name a few to achieve desired weight – loss results.

Specifically, you can lose  weight  through the following effective tips:

Drink 8 – 10 glasses of water every day. Never substitute water with juices because you only gain extra calories and unwanted preservatives. Keep yourself hydrated because you help your body flush waste and make your metabolism work faster, burning your fats more. To help you contain your eating, drink water before and between meals to help you feel full. Also, take colder water because you burn more calories to warm the water up.

Eat regular but healthy meals of sensible size. Never skip meals especially at nighttime because you only tend to eat more the following day. In a study done on animals with the same bulk of food, the ones that ate all in one meal gain more weight than the ones who have sparsely distributed the meal over time. If extra foods are not well burned, they only become fats that overwhelm your belly. You can also take light – calorie snacks in between meals. Take only lean proteins (i.e. skinless chicken), fruits and vegetables and small amount of carbohydrates.

Exercise regularly. Any weight loss program is vain if you don’t complement it with regular exercise. Bring a friend or your spouse to help you enjoy your exercise. When you have a weight – loss goal, you shall only be more inspired to shed the extra pounds and you do this through burning the extra weight away. Enroll in a weight – loss exercise program with a gym trainer to make sure that you get the most appropriate types of exercise.

Take safe supplementary weight – loss pill or supplement to help you burn fats faster. Also, they can be good stimulant to start an exercise. Consider pill reviews from legitimate websites. But, if you have health conditions, consult with your physician any intake of weight – loss pills to avoid complications.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

How to Find the Right Web Hosting

The onset of Internet technology has brought tremendous changes for most companies. For one, companies are now compelled to have their websites to serve their regular and potential customers without the restraint on boundaries. This has allowed 24/7 customer contact and stakeholder communication improving more the company. Parallel with this strategy, online companies without their brick counterparts equally overwhelm the net.  But, online computing is not simply limited to commercial entities as personal websites are now running for personal content or otherwise.

Thus, when you decide to create and run a website for your company or personal use, remember that it shall serve you more if you have a web hosting like  ipage hosting   that is reliable and offers the whole nine (9) yards of features.

So, how do we make sure that we get the best web hosting services, we can assess these through the following:

  • Customer Reviews -  Customers who have prior experience with their web host providers shall mostly give you honest feedback of how their  web hosting perform. Lucky for us, there are legitimate websites that actually rank web hosting services according to their overall performance. 
  • Price - Normally, a free web host may be quite attractive but note that hosting is expensive, so, free services may require forced ads on your site. So, if this is ok, then, free hosting can be great otherwise go for a web host package that is within your budget with satisfactory services and features;
  • Technical Support - check if a web hosting provider can offer  24/7 support because if your website is down during the weekend or in the evening, are you willing to wait. 
  • Bandwidth - is the quantity of files that we can transfer when our readers load our website. So, a dragging website is simply bound to be closed by potential readers.
  •  Reliability - Can your website run in any browser and is glitch - free 95%? Then, your web hosting is all ok.
  • Other Features - Features like email, http, FTP, CPanel, MySQL among others can be closed assessed. So, depending on your site's requirements, check if your web host providers can meet what you need. 

How to Make Your Travel Fun and Safe

Since we have our boutique, I have been traveling at least once a  month. And, usually I travel with family  but if they are not available, I just travel alone.

So, to make the travel less boring, you can  do the following:

  • bring a good novel to read;
  • charge to the max an entertainment gadget like PSP or gameboy;
  •  listen to classic and cool collection of music from your portable player;
  • work on your stacks of papers if you have some;
  • have a good chat with your co - passenger or travel companions;
  • try new delicacies;
  • visit hot tourist spots;
  • have a good fun.  

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Why Applicants Fail to Get the Right Job

Philippines  is one of the largest sources of overseas workers; while we take pride in the number of dollars sent from their remittances, a number of Filipino families  take a sad flight to have their families work abroad. With very promising compensation and migration opportunities, OFWs take the risk and so are the millions of graduates.

However, earning a diploma  is not at all a guarantee to earning the best  job. In fact, call center agencies only hire 10% from the 100 applicants simply because they lack or don’t have the right skills to get the job.

We can partly blame our education systems because their curricula don’t strictly enforce quality education and that their skills don’t match the industry’s needs.

Government agencies who manage HEI’s must  assess closely how colleges and universities  manage their academic programs and how their graduates fare in employment. The economic recession only aggravates unemployment rates.

It is no question that a good number of students would rather drop from school and work. But, can diploma really earn a job? Indeed, it can, but,  students who don’t have access to good schools make this a challenge. Thus, online colleges become more handy and practical. Programs cover  finance, secondary education, management and others. However, make sure that they these online colleges are legitimate and accredited by regional and/or state accrediting entities and member of non - traditional education communities.

Gone are the days when learning is within four walls of a classroom, and with this boundless possibility for online education, earning the right skills and legitimate degree becomes a hard – core reality and armor to getting the right job.

With academic skills along with other soft skills, applicants can have better edge compared to their counterparts.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy 2011 Everyone!

It is 2nd day after January and while most of us still have hangover from all the parties, reunions and dining, we seem to have enjoyed the long vacation and come January 3, we are all back to work and school.

I shall resume with my teaching this Monday and I just have to finish all my grades and papers since they are required for submission too. However, I just loved the two – week vacation because I happened to travel for few days to different cities, to give gifts to kids, to do missionary works to remote and underprivileged communities, to donate to orphanage, to bond with my core and extended families in spite of the humble celebration. My year – end celebration was a total blast!

I only wish that everyone else had also as equal fun! HAPPY AND BLESSED NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Be Smart with Your Web Hosting

Another year has passed and a new one will soon come in few days and with new year's resolution await everyone, we have to attend to our other needs including website's hosting, traffic and content.

For one, I need to renew web hosting for my five blogs and hope that no conflict and problems shall arise this 2011 since it may mean affecting readability and access of my blogs.

So, when you think of picking the right web hosting service, you can consider the following criteria:

  • price 
  • reliability
  • bandwidth
  • technical support
  • features like email, ftp, shopping carts and etc.
  • disk space
It will indeed help you if you can compare and evaluate from web hosting reviews and be more informed as to what is the best web hosting provider that indeed suits you best.

When Service Goes Beyond Humanity

Sometime in October, the SOX Bloggers community had the chance to visit the B'laan community that contributes largely to the coffee industry through the processing of the most expensive civet coffee. However, we had to traverse several mountains until we reached midway of Mt. Matutum.

Seeing how far and remote the community was and that their needs were simply limited to food, we just need to help. So, we promised to be back Christmas Season to bring forth Christmas gifts. But, angels are among everyone because another fellow SOX Blogger and a Rotarian, Lynette Gallinero, invited her RC group to render a Dental - Medical Mission. So, last December 18, the SOX Bloggers along with the Rotary Club  of Polomolok brought forth bags of school supplies, goodies, clothes and medicines to two rural communities of Polomolok.

It has always been my passion to help especially to the forgotten community, so, with all the stuffs we could carry from our boutique, we hurdled them with happiness and hope.


the RC officers and Interact students doing bayanihan to load the gift bags to Palakasam community

with fellow blogger, Ariel and RC Presidents Xavier Bayan and Rey Transporto giving our gift bag to one of the families
the Palakasam mothers prepared hot and steamy arrozcaldo, feeding the families including the SOX Bloggers and RC officials
long and winding travel and difficult roads didn't stop these people to help

serving over 25 families on medical and dental service

The whole day travel and extreme roads and weather to two remote communities of Polomolok had  made the mission all entirely meaningful and when we saw sincere joy from the families especially the kids when they saw the gift bag, medicines and candies, they affirmed us true meaning of service and humanity. 

 the SOX bloggers with Rotary Club 101 of Polomolok on  community mission
photo source: lynette


the Kinilis community on medical and dental consultation and medicines giving with Rtns Doc Grace SalazarCelema Grino and Melani Deypalan
After the successful event, we quite wish that the RC Polomolok 101 and SOX Bloggers community be partners again in their rendering of service to Polomolok and hopefully to the other SOCCSKSARGEN areas.

Monday, December 6, 2010

SOX Blog Fest 2010, One Event You Should Not Miss

The SOCCSKSARGEN BLOGGERS once again is making history as they hold another big and exciting bloggers' convention for every potential, newbie and seasoned blogger in the region. While we seem to know practically everything about the power of blogging, the line - up of speakers include special points on internet security (Do you want to know how your online accounts like Facebook can be all hacked in few minutes?), blog animation and videography, tourism on new media, Google mania, new media on politics and economics, SEO techniques and blog monetization and more.

With an expected number of  100 participants that may come from various area of SOCCSKSARGEN, this event on December 11, 2010 at Royal East Hotel is simply bound to succeed with guaranteed overwhelming fun.

BlogFest SOCCSKSARGEN Countdown

As of December 5, around 80 registrants overwhelm the list and with few more days, the number is simply be filled in a flash. So, if you want to be one of the privileged attendees, get a slot and mark December 11 a big holiday.

So, with my sister Tammy and  partner Arnel,  the BLOG FEST 2010 is sure event I wont miss for anything.

Monday, November 15, 2010

How to Choose the Right Web Hosting

Websites may be created for personal and commercial use and irregardless of how these sites are put to use, it is quite imperative and important that the websites are first and foremost, reliable at anytime.

There are free web hostings that can be openly used, however, since web hosting use resources, the free web hosting may mean forced advertisements into your website or that reliability and speed can be compromised.

If you want full control of your websites, it may be enough  to invest a little to get a full control of your valuable website. So, what can be your criteria to select the  best web hosting   and really maximize any penny that you pay. I cited the following basic considerations:

1. Reliability - Your website should be running 90% - 99% at all times otherwise your web hosting comes short of what is ideal;

2. Bandwidth - We define bandwidth as the quantity of files transferred. So, if your website takes time to load, then, your readers can simply leave your site for faster ones.

3. Technical Support -  Your web hosting provider must provide 24/7 support and with time zone differences, it can be quite cumbersome if the your web hosting provider is unreachable during weekends or evenings.

4. Features like CPanel, MySQL, FTP, Email and others - depending on your need, you can verify all the requirements with the inclusive services of your provider.

5. Disk Space - Depending on your site, you may only need a small space, so, don't pay extra for unwanted disk spaces. Normally, a 120 - page website with associated files only take around 5MB space.

6. Price - with the inclusive services and perks, evaluate if you get the worth of your money. There are also other web hosting providers who provide money - back guarantee just in case you are not satisfied.  You can check on reviews and identify those providers that indeed live up to customer's demands.

When Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao Unites Every Filipino


Last November 14, 2010, the entire Philippines along with boxing fanatics worldwide cheered as Pacman had shown another best fights in the boxing history as Pacman conquered the Mexican tornado, Margarito for Super Welter belt championship.

And as expected, the roads were clear and almost mute while most Filipinos tuned to pay-per-view or local viewing of Las Vegas - hailed fight.

In fact, only Pacman's fight becomes a neutral ground for every Filipino; crime rates decline, political and social bickering stop.

While we wish that Pacman can fight every day, I can only hope that the efforts of Pacman to unite his countrymen can indeed go deep seated otherwise all his efforts simply come and go.

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Femikey