new horizons

Thankfully my travel blog is now back after being absent from the web for 3 agonizing days (from February 13-15) and it came back with an October 2008 backdated version on February 16. Did the unreliable and unsatisfactory webhosting company do anything to regain my 51 missing posts? Never! Thanks to techie bro for helping me out. Thanks also to BK for the encouraging comment. So how was it restored? I will explain more about it later. You bet I am definitely transferring to another webhosting service soon.

Tags: poor service, unreliable webhosting

I woke up early today and opened my laptop to see some unread messages alert on Yahoo! Messenger. They were from my web hosting’s tech support. So finally they replied after I submitted a support ticket last Saturday about my travel blog which cannot be accessed. After more than a day, I got a reply from them. That’s the speediest response you can get from a webhosting service with technical support that is not 24/7 available.

I immediately could feel my heart sank as I read the four emails telling me that their servers are running fine and my site being down is a solitary case. The first message from them read: “We apologize but we can’t seem to see the source of the problem. The server is running just fine and only this domain does not load.” The next messages told me that “… the domain is pointing to a different or conflicting nameservers.” Tsk. I was also advised to change the DNS nameservers in my domain registry account which I did but will still take effect after about 24 hours.

And guess what’s up with my site now? It’s up and running but dated back to October 2008!

It seems to have a world of its own with the recent post still at October 28, 2008. I submitted another support ticket about this strange behavior and was replied by the tech support that they’re checking on it. Even my dashboard is backdated, including my widgets, links, sidebar and plugins still dated to October 2008.

These are just those times when I want to cry. Really. My travel blog is currently my main online venture and it’s so sad to see my Adsense report showing minimal clicks and my site visitors disappointed to visit a backdated site. Add to that are my Entrecard advertisers which I had to cancel to be fair with them. Ugh. I am in a waiting mode now. Waiting for the tech support to finally shed some light on the problem and hopefully fix it and waiting for my site to finally go back to its senses.

Have you encountered the same backdated problem with your site?

Tags: technical support, web hosting

Whew, I haven’t been able to do some Photohunting for more than three months now, and I do miss Photohunting! Well, finally here goes my entry for this week’s theme “nautical”.

These are miniature polyresin objects from Rayher Hobby Kunst (www.rayher-hobby.de) which I bought from a hobby shop in Pori, Finland. I also bought a small wood frame where I can glue these nautical-themed objects. I love arts and crafts and haven’t done any creative piece for ages already. These items are still waiting for me to be worked on as a handcrafted souvenir from a Nordic country.

To view more Photohunt nautical entries, click here.

Here’s to a fun and love-filled Valentine’s Day to you all!

Tags: arts and crafts, finland, nautical, souvenirs

Are you feeling the current economic crisis and has it significantly affected your financial life? I had this conversation with somebody about feeling the financial crunch, and she told me she’s not affected about it since it’s always happening anyway. Well, maybe for her, it’s just a negligible dent in their family budget but for me, it’s very much evident every time I go to the grocery. The prices of basic commodities just continue to go up, our previous budget might need to be upgraded to keep up with the cost increase of most consumer items. This would also mean reduced spending on the extras.
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Tags: debts, economic crisis, spending

It was drizzling as our van stopped at a fruit stand by the road. I went down to buy unripe papaya (with the green skin) which we plan to use for the achara or papaya salad. I haggled with the vendor since I felt he was overpricing. I was not happy with the price of two big papayas for Php50 but I bought them anyway since he won’t change his price.

We’re used to buying in the market so we’re familiar with the prevailing prices. When we got home, we asked Mom and Juv what they think about our buy. We let them guess first about the price. “20?” Mom asked. When we told them we bought it at 30 pesos more, they just laughed. Sigh.

My theory is that these vendors charge you at a higher price when they see you riding your own car. Their mindset is like this: customers with car = rich = sell at a higher price. If you want to buy at the usual market price, better park your vehicle away from where you intend to buy your fruits or veggies and just walk over to their stall. That way, these roadside vendors will not overprice.

Tags: overpricing, roadside vendors

The blogosphere is not just a venue for sharing ideas, rants and raves, it has also become a place where bloggers get to be entrepreneurs and put forth their small businesses online. The idea of an e-commerce solution to expand the business market globally used to be intimidating to SME’s. Thankfully there are now e-commerce ready web hosting companies that help build websites not just for the big corporations but for the small business owners as well.
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Tags: e-commerce, marketing, SME, web hosting

It’s so inspiring to see somebody change, from being wayward and disobedient to being respectful and remorseful. I have seen such personal change just recently with somebody I know and it warms the heart and encourages me to look at my own personal struggles to become a better person myself.

This brings to mind the wisdom of influencing others, not by persuasion or aggressive behavior but by being a living example of what you believe in. Yes, one person can make a big difference. One person can inspire others even with just a simple action, word or deed.

When you change, you also encourage the people around you to change. When you are positive and optimistic, you also influence others to be the same. This is why the best way for parents to positively influence their children is by setting a good example to them.

Tags: personal change, personal development

Most people I know are concerned about having slimmer waistlines and healthier figures. Losing weight is usually part of somebody’s New Year’s resolutions or personal goals for 2009. When you have a really important reason for achieving this goal, it would be much easier to start, such as medical reasons, an upcoming wedding or just wanting to look better.

A diet expert, whose article I read from Reader’s Digest, does not encourage the use of the term “weight loss” since it implies negativity and makes one feel deprived of happily consuming their favorite dishes or snacks. Instead it is advised to use the term “healthy eating” which connotes being responsible for your body’s nutrition with proper dieting. Thus it’s better to plan and be passionate about “healthy eating goals” than having “weight loss goals”.
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Tags: healthy eating, weight loss

No aggressive marketing strategy beats that of a satisfied customer. They market your products and services faster than the speed of light. That may be an exaggeration but word-of-mouth marketing reaches others in a more convincing way. Why so? The rants and raves of a family member or friend tend to be more believable than what you see on TV or on that huge attractive billboard by the road.

For instance, you see on TV a much-hyped commercial of Smart Bro prepaid broadband service, telling you they’ve lowered their price for the kit and how you can have broadband access anywhere. Then you hear a friend complaining about how painfully slow is his Internet connection using Smart Bro and he regrets having bought the expensive kit it in the first place. So which would you believe?

Isn’t it that as a customer, there are times when you felt not satisfied with what you’re getting and you walk out of the business premises a bit disappointed? If only that shop or store made a little more effort with their services or the quality of their workmanship, then they could have made you a satisfied customer.

As a customer, learn about the service/product’s specifications so you’ll know where you stand and what you’ll be getting. Always insist on good service and quality product and respectfully point out the error, mistake or defect but don’t act like a spoiled brat.

As business owners, it pays to listen and be sensitive to your customer’s needs without spoiling them. Your set of rules and policies should be made clear to them beforehand so as not to raise their expectations and disappoint them. Don’t promise them the universe if you can’t. Integrity in advertising is a must.

Whenever one buys quality product, or experiences great service or dining, there’s that happy mood. This positive experience is then shared to others over a cup of coffee with office mates or during family conversations at home, oftentimes in detail and with passion. Unknowingly one advertises the product or service without even compensated for it. Nothing equals the satisfaction felt when you know you’re getting every cent of your money’s worth.

Tags: advertising, customer service, marketing, word-of-mouth marketing

He’s one of the preachers in our community, married to the choir leader and they have a cute one year old son. Last Monday during our prayer meeting, I was touched by his sharing about what happened to his mother who recently had a stroke and how this trial had affected their family not just emotionally but financially as well. Seeing such great faith in Bro J’s eyes as he was sharing the tragic incident, I realized my own problems could not even compare to what he’s going through.

He was sharing to us how, despite the doctor’s insistence that buying the prescribed medicine would not bring any positive results, his mom’s blood pressure became normal. Doctors can be so cruel sometimes, instead of giving hope, they crush it with negative statements like that. Did they also learn that in medical school? To be unfeeling and unsympathetic to the family of patients who are seriously ill or dying? Bro J was full of hope that his mother would recover from the stroke. It was his prayer that she would live longer contrary to what the doctors told him. The community prayed for her recovery as well and contributed whatever we can with the soaring medical expenses.

Last night my sis and I were at the photo shop to have some family pictures printed. It’s been Mom’s wish to have a photo album of the family and her recent travels. She’s not contented with just looking at the computer to view the pictures, thus we bought two big hardbound photo albums, the scrapbook type with onionskin fillers in between. Anyway, while sis was instructing the staff which photos to print, somebody greeted us. It was Bro J.

With sadness, he explained that he needed to have a larger print size for his mother’s photo to be put on her coffin. We found out that his mother died that day. I know it has been painful for him and we didn’t know what to say more to him to comfort his loss aside from the usual condolences. I just asked him for the full name of his mother so we can include her soul in our family prayer.

Isn’t life such an irony? Sis and I were there to print happy pictures of our recent family reunion while Bro J was there for a sad purpose, bringing with him a small photo of a loved one he just lost that day. Life is really unpredictable and things just happen. I still remember meeting his mom during his baby’s first birthday party in their house. Who would have thought something tragic would happen more than a month later.

While I feel sadness for Bro J and his family, this made me value life more and I am thankful to God that both my parents are healthy, strong and active compared to their contemporaries. Having problems with health can be disastrous since you are hit not just emotionally but financially as well. I pray that 2009 will be a year of good health for us, that we will be full of passion in doing what we love most and that we will treasure and enjoy each day as if it’s our last.

Tags: death, faith, family pictures, hope, illness, photo printing, recovery, stroke

While some may consider blogging as a venue for online opportunities, there are those who invest on domain names as their way of having an income from the internet. It pays to be the first to claim a catchy or important phrase or keyword and register it as a domain name, then later selling it at a higher rate especially when others already have the need for it. Some unscrupulous individuals even register the names of famous politicians and personalities without their knowledge and later sell the domain to them at such expensive cost.
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Tags: domain names, domain registration, online investments

After the holidays, it’s been such a challenge for me to get back on track with work…and updating this blog is no exception. It’s been a whirlwind of activities since November last year and maybe until next month when I’ll be off to Cebu for family reasons.

Life is really unpredictable and even if we have the best laid out plans in our organizers, something always comes up and we just have to happily accept whatever comes while keeping our hearts focused on our dreams and goals.

Tags: holidays, organizing, work

The training project I’ve blogged about last month didn’t push through. I was not really that disappointed about it since it was scheduled for mid-December when all of my siblings will be here. The family’s been doing a lot of preparation to accommodate many guests, they’re actually my brothers and sisters and their families who will be here for Christmas.

Regarding the proposed training, it might be next year, though I am not that enthusiastic about it. The participants wanted a different module and according to my contact, they really don’t know what they wanted to learn. Well, I can’t also make a custom training module for them if they are not specific with what they want. Maybe they’re thinking of learning in a virtual classroom instead of traveling all the way to Thailand for training?

Online classroom sessions usually include participation tools, online desktop sharing, interactive whiteboard and more. This kind of learning using web conferencing technology has actually worked for some companies who need to train their employees in different locations. Personally, I still go for the real classroom training especially when it involves study visits. Companies who would like to consider virtual classroom technology can weigh the pros and cons first before deciding to provide online training to their staff.

Tags: learning, online classroom, training, virtual classroom, web conferencing

I know the Christmas season can be enjoyed even without the usual gift-giving tradition but how do you explain that to those who usually associate Christmas with lavish gifts, thirteenth-month-pays, sumptuous parties, grand reunions, fun vacations and bonuses? I wonder how those who are less fortunate than I am would welcome the coming holidays.

I remember one Christmas time when I used to work in an institution in Thailand, our community chaplain Fr. Maier made the rule to have not more than ten (or was it twenty?) Thai Baht for the cost of the gifts to be exchanged during the midnight Christmas party. With such a small amount as the limit, we were left thinking of what to come up as gifts.

What happened during the party was fun though, as we saw many handmade items made of simple materials, such as wooden sticks and paper, being handed over within the community as we exchanged our gifts which were mostly a labor of love and creativity from the giver. It was Fr. Maier’s way of telling us that we can still enjoy exchanging gifts without spending a lot. What matters most is the spirit of giving and sharing.

Tomorrow will be the first day of December (how time flies!) and I bet most of you have done some Christmas shopping by now. For me, I haven’t even made my list yet. Anyway, these are some questions that usually come to mind when I think about gift-giving:

• What is your motivation for giving the gift?

• Does the recipient really need the gift or you buy it just to give something and get over with your shopping?

• How much are you willing to spend for a gift?

• On kids, if they beg you for a Barbie Doll, Hannah Montana item or a toy robot, will you give in to their requests or give them educational toys instead?

• What about gift certificates instead of racking your brains thinking about what to give?

• Why not make handmade gifts instead?

• What would be a nice handmade gift?

A lot of questions usually come up about buying gifts especially when you have limited budget. What other creative gifts can you think of that cost less, or even nothing, but would make somebody happy?

This brings to mind a lighthearted moment with my former boss before. It was almost Christmas and usually Filipinos would tease each other about asking for gifts. I jokingly asked him for a Christmas gift and he wittingly replied, “Presence, not presents, hija.” Smart answer indeed! I wish I could tell that to my godchildren too!

Tags: Christmas, gift-giving, gifts

With the recent economic crisis the country is facing these days, most businesses have to resort to contingency measures. I’ve seen in the news lately about one of the country’s biggest businesses losing millions in their many ventures such as telecommunications and real estate. Admiringly, some businesses manage to rise to the top of the list of successful corporations. Why is this so? This is sometimes a curiosity for me. A lot of factors can be considered, and employee morale is one of them. As they say, the employees are the lifeblood of every business and to attend to their needs is essential.
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