One of the reasons I love it here in the Philippines is the way I get to choose how much time I want to spend on a project, how long it will take me to get somewhere, how will I budget my time. That's just it, I don't want to have to think about it, I want to do what I want to do in the time I want to do it! I don't want to meet deadlines, have time restrictions or feel any stress or pressure like that. I want to live on Filipino time! Well that's my story and one of the reasons I will no longer be writing here on this web magazine, oh no I'm not going anywhere, I mean I will still be a avid reader and Bob and Feyma are still good friends … [Read more...]
Shipping and Packing
February 22, 2010 By 27 Comments
First of all I would like to apologize to the readers of this web magazine for my absence, but a lot of business is going on lately in our household here in Tagum City. We are applying for a visa for my wife and in doing so have to rely on a lot of forwarding documents by various couriers, both domestic and international. So with that being said the two ways of conveying documents here and abroad are either national postal corporations or private courier. I have researched both not only for the recent urgency of documents that are needed but for items in general as I have a side business on both ebay and ebay.ph and was interested what it … [Read more...]
Split Decisions
January 18, 2010 By 40 Comments
Well part of coming to live in a different place, one of the considerations is how it affects everyone in your family. I read Bob's article about future concerns and those decisions he is faced with with his children, well, all of us have the same concerns as well as the dreams and wishes of our families. I am dealing with that very same subject as we speak, you see when I met my wife she was working and going to school to become a nurse and someday be able to help her family to lift their standard of living. One of her goals besides finishing her schooling was to go to the US, as is the desire of a lot of Filipino's. Maybe it is the glamor … [Read more...]
In With A Bang!
January 4, 2010 By 15 Comments
Well I truly hope each and everyone of you had a joyous and fruitful holiday season as we did here on my first Christmas here in the Philippines. The first thing that made it known that it just isn't the same holiday season traditions as I experience in the US was the relentless caroling at our front gate, and I don't mean in the 12 days preceding Christmas but two months before Christmas increasing in the days leading up to Christmas to where we had maybe 6 - 8 groups at our gate per night. I think they conspire and map out the housing knowing a Kano lives here so ... lol... but after the Christmas holiday they were still there wishing … [Read more...]
Healthy Living
December 14, 2009 By 35 Comments
Once again I want to touch on some issues that have just evolved as I have integrated myself into living here in the Philippines, health related issues. Yes I commented on it before but you know, what is important to most of us here is a combination of a few things like happiness but always in the mix is going to be health, and how to improve your health, what makes you feel better, how can you make your overall health more healthy? Well, just this morning I was reading an article posted on Yahoo titled : "The 7 foods experts won't eat," it goes into detail about how the foods most of us consume without really thinking about it are not only … [Read more...]
Whats In a Name
December 7, 2009 By 18 Comments
On first impressions when visiting the Philippines I casually noticed most names on the people that were employed by the hotels and resorts and the establishments I visited and just stuck it in my mind, that although I am in Asia, there was an absence of my perception of standard names, I mean they were mostly American type names with few exceptions. OK, well that was first glance, on further inspection after living here for seven or so months, I have learned that the names here that are given are in fact not Asian at all, and certainly not American either, they are Filipino! And, often as I learn have a meaning that dates back to ancestry. A … [Read more...]
Keeping Up With The De La Cruz's
November 23, 2009 By 16 Comments
In the west there's a saying "keeping up with the Jones' " well to make a little adjustment to fit the area some names have been changed to protect the innocent. The fact is, it really is another world here, here I look around in my barangy and at the adjacent barangy's I notice the vast difference obvious family wealth but there seems not to be any competition here to best the neighbor down the street. See in my old neighborhood it was always one neighbor outdoing the other, for example I bought a new Dodge Challenger, my neighbor bought a new Corvette, I bought a boat he financed a mortgage on a yacht. It is the point of not making sense … [Read more...]
Another Customer Experience
November 9, 2009 By 29 Comments
I have heard and read here on LIP many stories of poor customer service experiences and negative about store personnel so when I had a recent experience with store personnel and customer service from a major store chain here I just had to share my story. As most of you are aware, I have a mobility impairment that precludes me from ascending stairs and steep ramps for that matter, but doesn't deter me from traveling and improvising when and where needed. On a trip out and about I needed something from the drug store and I was downtown in Tagum City so I thought I would stop on the way home at one of the three branches of Mercury Drug here and … [Read more...]
Trick or Treat
November 2, 2009 By 9 Comments
Common phrase that you will hear this time of year in the US, but I was surprised to learn that Halloween is celebrated in another way here in the Philippines. There is no getting dressed up in store bought costumes and planning a route for taking the kids going door to door saying "trick or treat" here. I found myself going to the local mall to do a little shopping for foods, ummm a mistake. There must have been twenty thousand people there! For one it was the deadline to register to vote here in the Philippines and two Halloween here is celebrated in grand fashion at the mall! That's right the tradition as I learned was to create, not buy, … [Read more...]
That's What Friends are For
October 26, 2009 By 8 Comments
That's the words recently sent to me from someone on this web magazine, you see first I have to apologize to the readers of my column here on LIP but last week was a busy one for me and having computer and Internet issues didn't help. That's what brings me to this article this week though, I thought I sent word to the editor of this fine medium, that I had company his week, my mother in law and some family members came from Leyte to stay with us and sell thier farm there in Maragusan. But the message never went out, I don't know why. So a week later our Editor sends me a e-mail asking if I am OK, not saying "hey wheres last weeks article" … [Read more...]
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