ST & LT Goal

Goal setting should be an eternal exercise. When I was in college, I dreamed of owning a Daihatsu Feroza by age 20. I didn't meet the Feroza goal and got my own ride which we bought out of our own blood sweat and tears around age 26. I'm turning 36 this year and since our first car, we've had 4 car replacements, two of which are brand new. That's an average of a new ride (not necessary brand new) every 2.5 years. While I didn't actually meet my Feroza goal, critical to the experience was the goal setting and planning factor.

ST
ST may mean a dozen things, for generations 90s movie buff ST means Sex Trip, for presidential aspirant Manny Villar, ST means Sipag at Tiyaga but for this blog entry, it actually means Short Term goal. My short term goal is to Learn Chinese (Mandarin). Why? Aside from actually being 1/4 Chinese and having strong Chinese features, learning the language is a critical tool for business. I actually got a 50% discount from my full blooded Chinese surgeon just for saying that "I'm Chinese, don't speak the language, but plan to do so." I reckon he would have given me a 75% discount if I spoke the language or even operated on me for free.

LT
Hearing the acronym LT, only one thing comes to mind - Lorna Tolentino. She's the Filipina actress married to DaBoy, Filipino action star Rudy Fernandez. For this entry, LT means Long Term and for me my LT goal is to retire comfortably in Tarlac City at age 55. To quantify it further, we should be earning in the neighborhood of p200th per month in passive income from various sources. That covers the financial aspect. For the mental aspect, I should be teaching any management course at least 2 times a week at the local university. For the social aspect, I should have my own foundation which focuses on granting college scholarships to qualified students interested in an entrepreneurial course. Lastly for the spiritual aspect, I should be a lay minister.

How's that for goal setting? I'm nowhere near my LT goals but what's important is I start laying the groundwork for my 20 year timeline. As to my ST goal, enrollment is within the next 2 months. Zai - Jian!

Ayala Land @ Fifteen!

“You keep dreaming, Ayala Land keeps building. Fifteen years later, our vision remains clear: We want to build only good things for Filipinos. Thus, we keep innovating by building not just houses but communities and homes for every life stage. Not just malls but entire lifestyles. Not just offices but real estate solutions for corporations. As long as people continue dreaming, we’ll continue building.”

Six months after purchasing on installment a condo unit in Avida Makati West, three months after the Glorietta 2 'bomb blast' incident and one month after some passengers got stuck at The Columns Ayala Avenue (TCAA) elevator, the BIG QUESTION is if Ayala Land Incorporated (ALI) has learned from their recent experiences. In an earlier blog entry, I mentioned that ALI is in a lose - lose situation regardless of the G2 investigation result; if it’s a terrorist attack, then how come they were able pass through G2s “tough” security? If it’s a faulty sewage system, then that’s reflective of their property management (or mismanagement). And the most recent TCAA resident ordeal which I think is NOT an act of terrorism, have our fingers pointing to property (mis) management once again.

A financial magazine says that the property boom is in play and will continue until Y2010. Furthermore, it said that some of the players include Ayala Land Inc., Megaworld Properties and Robinson’s Land Inc. with ALI leading the pack. The Avida Makati West project’s expected turnover is fourth quarter of Y2010. There’s ample time to react and get your act together. Small time investors like us don’t want to deal with problems with security, elevators conking out and a stinky sewage system. That’s the prime reason why we choose to invest in Ayala Land Inc.

GMAs Burj Al Arab adventure

Hear ye! Hear ye! Our President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is staying in Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai. She's in Dubai to say HI to our OFWs.

GMA TRIP
GMA is in Dubai for a business trip. Officially, she's looking for investors and unofficially she just wants to know how our bagong bayani (OFWs) are doing. She's also there to grace the launching of LandBank's remit business in which SMT is a critical partner.

BURJ AL ARAB
Burj Al Arab hotel is in Jumeirah beach, Dubai. It stands on an artificial island in the eastern part of the city. It is a world famed 7 star hotel which is ranked 10th most expensive in the world. It is considered the world’s tallest hotel at 1,053 feet. Their flagship royal suite cost $28,000 a night. I hope that already includes breakfast else that would be a rip off!

Report says she flew there from Switzerland with a battalion of cabinet members, lawmakers and local government officials in tow. My estimate is that if she has a party of 20 people, easily she'll be spending P10 million at the hotel. At P10 million, I guess that qualifies as the most expensive HI.

Watch NBA or Bust!

When I was in the US in '06, one of the goals that I set was to watch an NBA game. The trip was in May so it was actually post-season.

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STAPLES CENTER, LA

That time, the LA Lakers were in the playoff lording it over the Phoenix Suns until they ran out of gas and missed the conference finals. My schedule in SOCAL was just too tight as I only had 5 days to check out the dozen of touristy places I set out to see and meet families and friends. The consolation was I saw the Staples Center and took pictures while on mobile.

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MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NY

New York Knicks had a bum team that year (and they still do) reason why they didn't make it to the playoffs. While in their homecourt, I found time to check out the historic Madison Square Garden. Actually, everytime I see the Garden, it reminds me of the Matthew Broderick movie Godzilla because he used the arena as a nesting place. That's one BIG nest.

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TD WATERHOUSE CENTER, ORL

On my list of places to see was the homecourt of the Orlando Magic. While in Florida, Miami Heat was battling it out with Dallas Mavs for the 2006 NBA World Champ trophy with the heat emerging as winner. If the Magic opted NOT to trade Shaq in 96, maybe, just maybe they might be slugging it out with the Mavs instead.

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Unfortunately, I was not able to watch an NBA game for 2 valid reasons: 1- Orlando to Miami is about 300 miles or a 4 hour drive and 2- an NBA finals ticket cost $800. Heck, that's almost 1/2 the cost of my airfare from Manila to LA! Cable TV was free so that did the job and I watched Miami Heat win their first NBA crown. Maybe watching the NBA during my first visit to the US wasn't meant to be. At any rate, I have a 5 year multiple entry tourist visa so I hope to watch an NBA game within that timeframe.

The Beauty and the Book

What's the advantage of the internet over a book? Convenience and Cost.

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I read a magazine article once that if you're the type of person who buys second hand items, a book is first on the list of OK TO BUY AS SECOND HAND. The last on the list is clothes and needless to say, undergarments. I bought a book called Lonely Planet - Los Angeles yesterday at Buy-the-Book in our fave mall Waltermart. It cost merely P149 compared to the P1000 price tag if bought in Powerbooks. That's a power price indeed. It's practically the same stuff except that the book is no longer a virgin and it's 1/6th of the price. The REAL downside of it is that the cook is copyrighted Y2001. Though half a decade has passed, I reckon the data would not have changed significantly except probably the admission fees.

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CONVENIENCE

The power of the internet is: information at your fingertips. It goes without saying that there is no information about Florida in the LA book. Nor the location of the branches of Ripley's Believe it or Not across the US. That's where the net comes in handy. Throw in the ease and quickness of updating the website data, assuming the organization is as responsible as they should be, then you have a potent information tool. While on mobile, internet browsing is easy as 1-2-3 on selected internet capable handsets. The internet is really God's gift to our generation and future generations. The problem now is the plan b or a dozen "what ifs" which the infallible book like the Lonely Planet can fill in. It has things to see & do, places to stay, places to eat, entertainment and shopping guides and Dora's favorite, the map! And you it doesn't need a signal or a battery to give you the information you need.

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COST

The book that I bought cost P149. I opted to buy it over merienda - a roll of beef shawarma, a can of coke light and my fave toblerone flavor ice cream. Yum yum! In less than 24 hours, I've practically completed reading it but I'm pretty sure it will be used a hundred times more by me and even my children. The 360 page book contains unquantifiable information at the fraction of the cost to access the internet. I'm paying P500 per month on our unlimited braodband connection on our desktop PC however can't bring the information in our car. While mobile, I can access the net using my phone for P20 per hour. After under 8 hours, I would have attained Return on Investment on my old new book compared to mobile internet.

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Back in college, I used to be a book worm devouring books like fiction, inspirational and sports. As a professional, I've progressed to management, health and autobiographies. I still have the urge to buy books that delight my palate. I guess once a bookworm, you'll forever be one.

Infamous Wowowilly and his 430

The Wowowee superstar Willie Revillame is in the limelight again, this time due to his passion. No, I'm talking about women, that was 2 controversies ago when he split up with his model wife. I'm also not referring to his TV show entitled Wowowee which is most definitely not co-hosted by Joey de Leon. I'm talking about our common passion - cars.

Last time I heard, he was driving a Range Rover and a Porsche 911. I'm pretty sure he changes cars as often as he changes partner or even faster. Talks from the grapevine says he co-owns an imported car dealership along Wilson St. in Greenhills. He was news material once again this week for driving a Jaguar and Ferrari F430.

The Jag is plateless so it might have been purchased from his namesake Willy Soong's dealership. Willie knows his cars so he definitely won't get an X-type. The news didn't specify the model but I surmise that would be at least an S-type and I won't be surprised if it's an XK.

The red hot Italian sports car a Ferrari F430 is as controversial as the driver. The F430 is said to have mis-declared custom taxes. Imagine paying only P1 million tax on a P20 million peso car. And what's dubious is the fact that the car was registered in Cebu. In case you see it on the streets of Metro Manila, you won't miss it because the plate number is 430.

Tsk! Tsk! Some guys have all the luck, bad luck that is.

Love ko Busko

December 30, 2007 is just an ordinary day for every Juan de la Cruz but for the graduates of Don Bosco Technical Institute of Tarlac Batch 1989, it was a special day because it was our annual mini reunion. It started in Y2004 when the only Salesian priest in our batch Father Joel Camaya had this idea of celebrating New Year’s day mass at his hometown in Don Bosco Tarlac. At first, there were only a handful of attendees, not more than 7 if I recall right and through the years the number has grown. This year, the figure jumped to 33 boys and 5 girls from our counterpart school College of the Holy Spirit.

Intermarriage
My third year high school prom date Ada Maida C. is now married to my batchmate Rico B., who used to be the boyfriend of my good friend Rachel F. Another batchmate Edgar S. is married to Pinky P. (CHS batch 1989) who used to be my wife’s officemate in PLDT. There’s another one in the pipeline, I have to further mask their identities, as I’m not privy to the status of their relationship. Another batch mate and friend ex-Brother Malutu is seeing Doktora O.B. Gyne. Doctora attended to my wife when she had her executive check up in a hospital in Ortigas. This is the law of connection at work for you.

Professionals
These naughty boys are now grown ups! During the reunion, the spotlight was tuned to the professionals who were raking big bucks such as OFWs, migrants, doctors, politicians and stars (or at least married to stars). I reckon half of our batch mates are based abroad or at least 40%. Like most Filipino migrants, they are either in North America (Canada or USA), Middle East countries (Bahrian, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, et al.) and progressive Asian countries like Japan and Singapore. As of last count, we have 6 doctor batchmates. Their specialization escapes my mind right now. Rounding up the batch of big shots is a City Councilor and the better half of GMA 7 star Ruby Rodriguez - Aquino.

Prexy Says
The current Don Bosco Tarlac batch president is Tikyo. On my timepiece (which I rarely wear), we’ve had 3 batch presidents but Tikyo’s the only visionary among the crop. His grand plan includes: preparation for 20th batch reunion in Y2009, funding for batch activities (in Y2009 and Y2014), batch communication and harmony. These may sound like BIG PLANS but like any plan, it should start from somewhere.

In the last four years that the mini reunion has been conducted, what’s noticeable is the compounding number of attendees. What started with 7 attendees has grown to 33 which accounts for 28% of the whole graduating batch of 1989. The expectation is we will hit 40% this Y2008. This will be a good preamble for the Y2009 planned batch reunion where the target is 60% attendance. Social status aside, it is good to see you guys again.

PBB season 18 : Pusoy Bonding ng mga Boys

The Celebrity PBB season 2 big four has been identified in its show last night. In the list are Racer Gaby, Wide bodied Will, Red hot Riza and Rural boy Ruben. The big night is this coming Saturday. My forecast is the leader of the bugoy squad Ruben will emerge as no. 1, followed by Riza, then Will and last will be Gaby.

A different PBB unfolded last December 30 and it's been an annual affair for the last 18 years. The Pusoy Bonding with the Boys with main characters mountain biker Dylac, globe trotter Tikyo, family man John and I.T. EL. These quadro bunch shares a common passion and that is playing poker. Thank God they're not playing strip poker as that would have been gross. Just poker with a few bets on the side to keep it interesting.

It started in 1990 a year after graduating from high school at Don Bosco Tarlac. These four friends had a number of things in common: playing basketball, drinking to death, enchanting women (at least most of them), alaskahan to name a few things but gambling 'with a cause' was what kept them together through these years.

In the almost 2 decades of playing poker usually during christmas season break, beyond normal scenarios occurred such as playing poker until the wee hours in the morning (as in 7AM the ff. day) and getting drunk a number of times. Once, we played poker while attending a friend's relative’s wake. In all occasions, the big winner IS ALWAYS globe trotter Tikyo.

Although there were years when we missed playing poker as a group because one of the members went on AWOL and went on a soul searching mode, we easily got back together and renewed our bonding. In the game of Russian Poker, having a "four of a kind" is considered luck and with this quadro bunch of friends where I belong, I consider myself lucky.

DYK: In Russian Poker, the maximum number of players in this game is 4. There are no wild cards. Deal 13 cards to each player. Each player makes 3 poker hands, a bottom, a middle, and a top. The top hand is made with 3 cards, and the other 2 hands have 5 cards. The bottom hand should be the strongest hand.

My TV

Just like a car that you have to change ideally every 5 years, I decided to upgrade my trusty phone from a Nokia N70 to a Nokia N77. It was actually planned because my N70 will be celebrating its 2nd year on February.

The requirements are crystal clear: data connectivity for internet, group texting and acceptable resolution (2 megapixel) camera. My celfone hunting produced a number of Nokia models but what stood out was the N77. It met ALL my requirements BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE...aside from getting it on installment through our company's employee benefit (12 months to pay at zero interest) the phone was DBV-H ready. In layman's term, it had a myTV service. Still Greek sounding? You can watch TV on it. There, I think I got the message across. So the N77 is a phone cum digital camera cum TV.

And what's next on the technology roadmap? A phone with a digicam, TV, microwave and aircon?

1-1-08 : An alternative way to usher in the New Year!

Time flies especially while you are having extreme fun while living life. The Y2007 was relatively a busy year for me in general and my marker is the 2 notebooks that I fully consumed. In Y2006, I only used one and it was only half filled. This year look like a 3 notebook year for me.

The date 1-1-8 is significant because it is my son B5's 'birthdate' in a sense. He was born January 18 so expressed in numeral, that would read 1-1-8. That's the main reason why we made sure to get 1-1-8 as our car's plate number. He'll be turning 10 years old on his birthday.

While the son is turning a decade old, his old man is turning 36 years. The second reason why Y2008 is significant is because it is the Year of the Rat which is considered my lucky year. How lucky is lucky? Do I set luck targets or standards or just leave it to fate? A former big boss once shared that "Luck comes to the prepared mind."

So how did WE usher in the New Year? We slept at 8p and woke up at 8a. A sign of a sleepy year you say? I view it as greeting the new year well rested so we can survive the grueling 365 days and come up a better person. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

FF TD: The third Fast made me Furious!

What the ?!?! I just finished watching 'Fast and the Furious : Tokyo Drift' a few ticks ago and that was the lousiest movie sequel. I watched the 1st one more than 10 times and even have a VCD. The 2nd installment I watched a couple of times and have a DVD (but don't tell papaya dance man that it's pirated). I enjoyed both films. The case is not the same for this trilogy.

D.K. was the acronym of the day. The supposed star of the movie, I forgot his name and don’t intend to remember it, attempted to be funny and said that it means Donkey Kong. I thought that was funny. It may also mean Donut King but actually means Drift King. Incidentally, the real life Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya played a cameo role in the film. He was the fisherman who kept giving comments on the side.

Another actor who played a cameo role was Vin Diesel. His movie handle was still Dominic Toretto who challenged the new D.K. to a race. Funny but he was driving a silver muscle car, a Plymouth Roadrunner GTX. The real muscle car star in the movie albeit weird was a Ford Mustang Fastback with a Nissan straight 6 engine. Ano ito, parang American car ng lolo ko na Ford Fairlane na sinalpakan ng Toyota 12R? At huwag ka, tinalo niya sa karera ang souped up Nissan 350Z.

Drifting is another car discipline which entails lots of tire skidding. This is quite heavy on the pocket as you have to change tires often. As in, 2 or 3 times a day depending on how tough you practice. I probably would not be engaged in this type of car discipline even if I have the resources. In my earlier blog entry, I mentioned that I'm the rally car type of guy.

The only thing nice about this movie is the cars used and the setting which was taken mostly in Japan. That accounts for about 20% so that means 80% of the movie was B–A-D. And that’s not an acronym for anything.

What’s a Subaru?

I believe everybody knows that a Subaru is a car brand. That answers the title question. Actually, the bigger question is: What country manufactures the Subaru car brand? Is it: (a) an American car, (b) a European car, (c) a Japanese car or (d) a Philippine car. Process of elimination tells you it is not a letter d. Philippines prides itself of the “King of the Road” the infallible Jeepney and the only similarity between the Subaru and the Pinoy workhorse is the four wheels. It is also not a Euro car as these have distinct sounding names such as Citroen, Peugeot, Mercedes. This leaves us with either a US or a Japanese brand. Truth to tell, in my three and a half decades of existence and a car junkie at that, I thought all along that it was an American car. In the 80s, they had this small truck called Subaru Brat which really caught my attention. You’ll see my Vroom Room Y2007 in an earlier entry and the Brat was in my 1987 to 1989 list. I only learned it was Japanese from a fellow car aficionado who was probably a notch or two higher than me. Heck, this officemate – friend of mine knows by heart the engine models of locally released cars! Ibang klase talaga!

When we were shopping for a replacement for our trusty Toyota psuedo SUV, we were looking at a Subaru Forester 2.0X priced at P1,275M. The beauty of the Subaru nowadays is that it is being distributed and serviced by Motor Image. Before, it was “bahala ka sa buhay mo” type of servicing so it was not practical for us. The Forester has a wow appeal (deserves a second look) and you won’t see much on the road. In fact in our hometown in Tarlac, I only see one silver Forester on the streets. We were eyeing the black Forester but when placed side by side with the CR-V, it didn’t measure up to our expectation. The CR-V was still a more pragmatic choice. Then there was the Subaru Impreza WRX Sti rally car which should be in my Vroom Room list. It would be a nice weekend car especially if you had P2 million to spare. I’m the rally car type of guy and don’t fancy the F1 series (Formula One). My race car driver idol is Sebastien Loeb of the WRC (World Rally Circuit) and not the F1 god Michael Schumacher.

To answer the 65 million dollar question, a Subaru is a Japanese car brand made popular in the United States because they are the only car manufacturer who produces horizontally opposed four cylinder engines. Talk about making a difference!

Imaging by Olen Lim

I love attending seminars. More than the organization that you work for, a seminar increases an individual’s self worth especially if you religiously apply what you learned years after the seminar was conducted. Like change, education is one thing that’s constant in the world that we live in. I’ve attended a number of company sponsored seminars this year and one of the best would be the Professional Image Management Seminar conducted by quintessential Olen Juarez – Lim. Apparently, Ms. O has mastered the art of balancing between driving a point and delivering it on a funny note without sounding too offensive. This blog entry would be insufficient to detail what I learned however I’d like to highlight some points which I will value eternally. This entry will also serve as my constant reminder:

I. Standards:
1. Competitive
2. Helpful
3. Respectful

For easier recall, I used the acronym C.H.R. for Commission on Human Rights or CHR 252, the plate number of my parent’s former ride. In the standards lingo set by Ms. O, C.H.R. for me means Competitive, Helpful and Respectful. She said that consistency is a standard below which you will never fall. I will or actually have started to live my life based on these standards especially Competitive and Respectful. The model region award 3-peat is a testament to my competitive spirit. On being respectful, I live by the golden rule and treat everybody just as how I’d like to be treated. I need to work on being helpful as I’m not foreseen by others as Helpful although this is one of the standards that I’d like to live by eternally. The Helpfulness factor will be an asset eventually when I join the crazy world of politics once I retire from the corporate life.

II. The Art of Conversation
Small talk reminds me of an article I read in a magazine written by Larry King which reads “How to talk to anyone anywhere” in which he gives tips on how to engage in a conversation at a snap of a finger. He says the key is having a common denominator or a connection. In Ms. O’s version, she sets some guidelines like what to discuss and what to avoid. It goes without saying that the topic should be an interesting one to keep the discussion continuous. I thought I was already a master of small talk, being a self assessed amicable person who believes can talk to anybody, if I’m in the mood.

I was able to practice what I learned immediately the evening succeeding the day 2 during our department’s Christmas party at Temple Bar Greenbelt. Our special guest was no less than the company president and our department’s big boss asked me to assist her in entertaining Sir NN. The PLxx – SMT prexy loves his mean machines and I learned that his new baby is a Porsche Carrera S and that he had sold his BMW Z4 via Buy and Sell magazine. Oh so he’s mortal after all and sells via everybody’s fave magazine. I was aching to ask how much he sold the Z4 and how much he got the 996 but I remember what Ms. O taught us.

III. The Business Meal

I’d like to believe that my dining etiquette is not set at zero and I have my parents to thank for that. When we were growing up, they though me basic dining etiquette like: elbows off the table, spoon and fork on four o’ clock after eating, bread should be eaten bit by bit, soup should be scooped away from you and how to how to undress a shrimp. I wish my father taught me how to undress other living things. I had to learn it the hard way. :)

Purely based on recall (as I forgot my notes in Makati), here’s what I learned during the seminar: BMW in dining ethics means Bread on the left, Meal on the center and Water on the right, how to hold wine or champagne glass, European or American style of dining, table napkin discipline, how to eat pasta and where to place your hands. Again my father missed this part. :)

When my children are in their teens and Ms. O is still doing what she does best, we will make sure to enroll them in her class. So Miss O (not Olim or Golen as one of my manager friends christened her), if you are reading this blog entry, words are not enough to express how grateful I am for the lessons that I learned in your class. My pledge of allegiance would be to practice what you taught us and act as a police to my classmates.

My Vroom Room

You’re in St. Luke’s Medical Center watching TV straight for 12 hours so what else can you do as a breather? Doodle with your computer and type away your dreams! So here goes..it is year 2007 and I have unlimited resources, what vehicles will be in my stable? Here is my answer:

1. BMW X5 – My daily ride, a must have vehicle. Paging Aunt LST, wanna sell your ride?
2. BMW 320i – JML’s special occasion car. I hope/dream/yearn to have one before I turn 42 years old.
3. Honda CR-V – JML’s daily ride. Well, what do you know, we have one! At least, that’s one off our list.
4. Mitsubishi Spacegear – a family van, a must have for everybody. This will be our low profile vehicle.
5. Isuzu Pick up 4X4 – Light Haul UV which may serve as a daily ride. Isuzu diesel engine is still the best in the market.
6. Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano – my Sunday car. This increases my pogi points a million fold.
7. Hummer H1 – my four wheel drive car. Yup, I still like the original Humvee platform best. The H2 and H3 are more regular SUV-like compared to the utilitarian H1 military vehicle platform.
8. Toyota Corolla Sprinter (second generation) – vintage Japanese Sports Car, a once in a blue moon ride.
9. Range Rover (1995, last of the first gen) – vintage Euro SUV, another once in a blue moon ride.
10. Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla base model – a daily commute for B5
11. Honda Jazz base model – a daily commute for MC

Using the Chinese rule that transportation accounts for 10% of your total assets, we should have assets amounting to P 400M. So where do we start?

Top Ten Alpha SMS shortcuts

The Philippines is known as the ‘text capital of the world’. Another lingo that was created as a result of the texting generation is making waves. It’s probably a result of katamaran and cutting short every word in a phrase like instead of texting “See you later” the text lingo will read “C U L8R.” Here are the top ten alpha SMS shortcuts according to dylac.

LOL – Laughing Out Loud. Funny, all the while I thought it meant ulol, a tagalog word meaning demented.
ASL – This is the invaluable Age, Sex and Location which every internet generation person knows.
PLAK – Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean a tooth bacteria. It simply means “Please Acknowledge” which is mostly used in the office.
GAM – Good AM or good morning.
GPM – Good PM or good evening.
BFN – Bye For Now
TBAK – No, it does not refer to a thong which men crave about but means “Text Back.”
TKS – If you have not figured it out, it simply means “Thanks.”
AFAIR – Frankly, I had a hard time figuring that out. I means “As Far As I Know” and I got it from an officemate with initials AYT.
AYT – May mean 2 things for me and my officemates as one of our co-manager’s initial is AYT but the common tao understands it as simply “Alright.”

Yes to NUKE!

To keep my heart beating, the Radio Active Iodine therapy (Isotope 131) was a must for my thyroid disorder. It was the first line of defense for my condition. I was scheduled to be in therapy from December 10 to 14 and the competitive spirit in me was targeting to complete the process in under 5 days.

Day 1
I’m back in the 10 square meter room at my favorite hospital, St. Luke’s Medical Center. I don’t actually like the process of undergoing therapy but I’d choose it any day over surgery. To borrow a doctor’s line “surgery will destroy this young man’s life.” Anyway, the procedure is that you’ll pop a NUKE pill (200 mill curie) the size of the regular tablet, then you need to be confined in a room with the objective of flushing out the nuclear content out of your body in the fastest time possible. This is my third radiation treatment in 3 years hence it’s beginning to be an annual affair. My batting average is 4 days in the hospital and this time I’m targeting 3 days to flush out the toxin err medicine out of my system. The nuke man wearing a blue space suit said I’m currently at 50 MRs. I can be discharged at 2 MRs.

Day 2
After one whole day of trying to make the laptop work with 3 possible data connections (1- wifi using my aircard, 2- weroam using another type of aircard and 3- 3G via my Nokia N70 celfone), I’ve come to a realization that connecting to the internet was just not meant for me during the session. Maybe I was meant to rest instead and watch TV. At around 9:00AM, Mr. Rad-Man (the radiologist) measured my radiation level and it was at 12 MR. My life savior a.k.a. my doctor said I can be discharged from the hospital if my rad count is less than 2.5 MR hence that was my target.

Day 3
The first visitor for the day was Mr. Rad-man who was in my room as early as 8:00AM. I just woke up that time and was eating breakfast so I asked him to come back around 9:30AM. Apparently, he didn’t follow my instruction and we was back around 9:00AM so I told him to return after 9:30AM because I wanted to take a shower before he waved his magic wand. E nagtampo ang mister so hindi na bumalik. I asked the nurse around 2:00PM to check my radiation count and they sent Mr. Rad-man around 3:00PM. Lo and behold! My rad count was 2.1 MR!!! The first thing that I said was “Can I go home now?” I was SO BORED that’s why I had to go home. I texted my Doctor and he said he already gave instructions that I be discharged before 5:00PM. So I was on my way home around 6:00PM.

Day 4
I had to go back to St. Luke’s Medical Center for the Whole Body Scan. Technically speaking, this wraps up my therapy with just a little concern, I had to re-take an exam which means I have to return the following day for a 15 minute process. It was perfectly okay, anything for my health and as long as I don’t spend another night in the hospital.

Day 5
I was back for Whole Body Scan partial re-take.

The whole therapy process including test amounting to P 150,000 was bankrolled by the company. Thank God! That would have been a huge sum if taken out of our finances. Seems like I’ll be staying with this company for a longer time.

10 versus 100th : How to invest P100,000.00

If somebody gives you P 100,000.00, what will you do with your new found wealth? Sounds like a third world-ish genie granting a wish but I’m pretty sure we can easily come up with a list of 100,000 things to do. For men, a new set of wheel and tires, an LCD TV, a digital SLR camera, a notebook computer, your own set of tools. For women, a new handbag, a set of make up kit, a sofa set, a baking oven, beauty sessions. The list is endless. And then there’s this boring option called investment. This article will focus on how to invest P100,000.00 and eventually, you can use the interest earned for your caprices!

1. Type: TIME DEPOSIT
Where: All Types of banks – Universal, Commercial, Thrift, Rural banks.
Period: As short as 15 days, 30days to as long as 5 years. Withholding Tax is 20%. Tax becomes free if period is 5 years and 1 day.
Interest Rate: range is 2% to 4% per annum or per year
Minimum Investment: P5,000.00
Risk Involved: Low
Investor Participation: Low
References: www.psbank.com.ph

2. Type: COOPERATIVE
Where: There are over 10000 cooperatives in the Phils. You can check out the list in http://www.cda.gov.ph/.
Period: Usually, dividend is declared first quarter of the year.
Interest Rate: Depends on the performance of the coop. May be as low as 3% or as high as 23%. Sempco declared 23% in the 1Q of Y2007.
Minimum Investment: P10,000.00
Risk Involved: Low
Investor Participation: Low
References: http://www.cda.gov.ph/; www.kskcoop.com

3. Type: DOUBLE YOUR MONEY
Where: Cooperatives and Rural Banks
Period: Usually 5 to 6 years.
Interest Rate: 16.67% per annum
Minimum Investment: P250,000.00
Risk Involved: Moderate. The reality is, universal and commercial banks are “more stable” compared to rural banks however life would be pretty mundane if we don’t take calculated risks sometimes.
Investor Participation: Low
References: www.firstcountryfinancial.com

4. Type: STOCKS
Where: Stock Brokers or on line stocks broker sites
Period: Holding period can be as short as one day but ideally, hold period is one year.
Interest Rate: Depends on a lot of factors like the company invested and the period of investment
Minimum Investment: P10,000.00
Risk Involved: High
Investor Participation: Low if passive, high if active.
References: www.citiseconline.com

5. Type: MUTUAL FUND
Where: Financial Consultants
Period: minimum of 1 month
Interest Rate: 7 to 20%
Minimum Investment: P10,000.00
Risk Involved: Moderate to High
Investor Participation: Low if passive, high if active.
References: http://www.sunlifefunds.com//mutualfunds; www.philamfunds.com

6. Type: UNIT INVESTMENT TRUST FUND
Where: Banks
Period: minimum of 1 month
Interest Rate: 7 to 20%
Minimum Investment: P5,000.00
Risk Involved: Moderate to High
Investor Participation: Low if passive, high if active.
References: www.bdo.com.ph/investment

7. Type: GOVERNMENT SECURITIES (Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds)
Where: Banks
Period: minimum of 1 month
Interest Rate: 3 to 14%
Minimum Investment: P5,000.00
Risk Involved: Moderate to High
Investor Participation: Low if passive, high if active.
References: www.bdo.com.ph/investment

8. Type: BUSINESS – FOOD FRANCHISE
Where: There are a dozen food franchises in the range of P30,000 to P60,000.
Period: ROI is dependent on a lot of factors like sales, location, etc.
Interest Rate: You can actually double your money in under 6 months. In the same manner, you can loose your money in half the time.
Minimum Investment: P30,000.00 to P60,000.00
Risk Involved: High
Investor Participation: Low if capitalist, high if industrialist.
References: www.entreprenuer.com.ph

9. Type: BUSINESS – DIRECT LENDING
Where: Ask your neighbor
Period: Usually 1 month to 6 months.
Interest Rate: As low as 2% per month to as high as 10% per month.
Minimum Investment: P10,000.00
Risk Involved: High
Investor Participation: Low if capitalist, high if industrialist.
References:

10. Type: BUSINESS - TRADING
Where: Depends on a person’s passion.
Period: Depends on the “harvest period”
Interest Rate: Depends on a lot of factors but can easily double your money in less than 6 months.
Minimum Investment: P5,000.00
Risk Involved: High
Investor Participation: Low if capitalist, high if industrialist.
References: www.entreprenuer.com.ph

BONUS: Type: BUSINESS – REAL ESTATE
Where: Depends on your preferred location
Period: Depends on your resources.
Interest Rate: From 10% to 20% depending on monthly rental rate
Minimum Investment: At least P60,000.00 (for the first year)
Risk Involved: High
Investor Participation: High
References: http://www.camella.com.ph/; www.theorientalplace.com

There’s no perfect investment for any individual. It all depends on your need, your want, your resources, time you can spare and how you’ll justify your choice of investment.

A Vote Wasted

Picture Story:

Pix taken outside our condo unit's window facing south east. The subject is ABS-CBN's helicopter hovering about 700 feet on top the Manila Peninsula Hotel and covering the November 29 seige. The hotel is less than a kilometer from our place.

Shot Specs:

Shutter: 1/1250

Aperture: F5.6

Focal Length: 200mm

ISO: 400

If you are a Manila Peninsula patron, you have an axe to grind with honorable Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. It is because of him that a tank found his way inside the lobby of your fave hotel.

It started one rainy morning last November 29. A court hearing was in session in the Makati Regional Trial Court when the rebels just decided to walk out and walk to Manila Pen. With a platoon of about 30+ soldiers, they took over the hotel. The grapevine says the grand plan was to seize the hotel and last until the following day in time for a series of pocket rallies conducted by militant groups across the metropolis scheduled on November 30 Bonifacio day. To borrow the line of Cinderella's maid of honor "It simply isn't done."

Fast forward to 500pm, just minutes before day break, the government troops stormed the five star hotel along Ayala Ave via the front door using a tank and made mince meat of the entrance. Next step was to smoke the bandits with tear gas. That seem to be the perfect formula to extricate the rebels from the temporary lair. It was all over by 800pm with the government winning this battle again. This 10 hour siege maybe an entry in the record books as the fastest coup de etat resolved.

Senator Trillanes must have swept his own feet off the ground. He banked on the thought that over 11 million voted for him to a senate seat in last May's polls. He may not have realized that he was no sweet talker nor a charismatic leader reason why his lines sounded more like a plead for support from a college student who recently got a ‘C’ in communication. I voted for him last election, the first guy in the list. Like half of the populace, I’m starting to think that I made the wrong move. I hope the honorable Senator proves me wrong.

Mother's Know Best

My two EXes are past president of their school dance club. As a company manager, we get to present during functions and it's usually a dance number. I love to listen to songs with danceable tunes. All these suggest that I am a good dancer - NOT!

I was once invited to join a dance competition in our town during my teenage years. My mother did not allow me then and I felt bad. I didn't know if I was a good dancer but my partner would be a high school crush so back then, it was all that matters.

Two decades after that incident, it's crystal clear to me what my mother's intention was - that she wants to protect her son from imminent humiliation. I don't need any further proof and embrace the fact that I'm not cut off for dancing. I've realized that more than 10 years ago.

Three's a crowd

It nearly happened this last week of November 2007, a historic and potentially destructive three simultaneous typhoons in our country.

Typhoon Lando seem to have forgotten something from his visit late last week and made a 180 degree turn back to the Philippines. This while typhoon Mina is threatening to wreak havoc in our country within the next 12 hours and typhoon Nonoy within striking distance.

The result: a sunny Wednesday morning. We now have more reasons to believe that our weather forecast system badly need an upgrade.