Posts made in December, 2008

Christian PF Giveaway

Posted by Alma on 26 Dec 2008 in Blogging, Uncategorized | 0 comments

Ofcourse I have no extra moolah to get myself an iPod. So its a good thing Christian PF is giving away some nice and nifty goodies and I hope to snag one of them.

Wish me luck!

Christmas Duh Moment

Posted by Alma on 25 Dec 2008 in Being Alive | 0 comments

This is probably the most boring Christmas ever. However, I am taking boring over last years’ ugliest Christmas experience…

Amywhooo, its 10pm here in rural Mindanao, and its quiet around my neighborhood. There were some fire crackers poppin here and there, but its not much ruckus unlike Manila or some urban area. The children are fitfully asleep and I am here reading my RSS feeds and I had a few Duh moments.

First Honor– A man from Bedford Mass., almost burned his house down after he tired to use a blowtorch to melt the ice on his porch. Duh! Damage? $30,000.

Second Honor– Another man jumped into polar bear’s cage in Berlin. The zoo officials managed to keep the animal from the man by distructing him wuth a leg of beef. Duh! According to Yahoo, the man was– lonely. Duh!

Anyway, so much for Christmas…

Christmas and Consumerism

Posted by Alma on 24 Dec 2008 in Culture, Life Speak, Uncategorized | 0 comments

It is so obvious that businesses thrives on consumerism. Consumerism is the attitude that values the acquisition of material goods. I did our last minute shopping today. As expected, the traffic was horrible and hair-raising. Consumerism is so alive today. Makro was full of people with overflowing carts. Recession seem to be out of the window right now. Makes me rethink my post about deflation… or perhaps we are not feeling the effects yet. And us Filipinos has to rethink our idea of huge noche buenas especially when times are harder.

I felt sorry for our neighbor but at the same time thankful for her. She is currently busy planning a “huge” noche buena for the neighborhood. Yes, you heard me, the party is for the entire neighborhood. She said it is her way of saying thanks to her neighbors for patronizing her sari-sari store– the biggest in our small village.

But while I am thankful, I felt sorry for her, since the pressure of giving a huge party is getting to her physically and emotionally. Since groceries and food is far more expensive now than last year, the expectation of the neighborhood is high and she did not want to disappoint everybody since she felt sorry for most of our neighbors are on the class D and E– just too many unemployed people and people living below poverty line. I surmised perhaps all of us owe her something in one time or another.

Anyway, that’s her way of celebrating and my way is another way. Salve at Money Smarts is offering a challenge for a budget handaan. Is there really a budget handaan? Is this possible? Actually my children and I are not going to have a noche buena but I intend to celebrate Christmas tomorrow by giving an extra-special lunch. The menu is simple and straight forward. Like I said, Christmas is about the celebration of family and not about how much gifts we gave nor received. Let us just get back to the real root and meaning of Christmas. Only the big businesses are profiting over the idea of Christmas. I think it is time for us to rethink our values and what we deem as important.

My Christmas Wishlist

Posted by Alma on 23 Dec 2008 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

Thanks to Pinoy Contests and I read about Manila Freelancer’s Christmas Wishlist Online Contest and hey, what the heck, being frugal has its limits so I might as well seek other means to get some tech goodies.

Here goes:

1. A relaxing trip to Seychelles with my children.
2. Sony Ericsson Experia (hayyyy!)
3. iPhone (another sigh….)
4. An iMac.
5. A trip to Disneyland in Paris with my children.
6. More freelance jobs for me.

Heard !!!

Posted by Alma on 23 Dec 2008 in Internet | 0 comments

Thanks to Salve for citing my article, Bad Customer Service and How it Pays to Blog About It in Money Smarts.