myUSA Mailbox

have you heard of myUSA mailbox (http://www.myusamailbox.com.ph/)?

you found some really cool or pretty stuff from an online shop and you wanted it so badly that you immediately added it to your shopping cart.

upon checking out, you found out that they don't ship to the philippines or elsewhere. argh. that sucks, right?

well, myUSA mailbox claims that upon completing registration, you can have any items you shopped for shipped to the USA mailbox address that they're going to give you. that's going to save you money for shipping and won't have to worry about the online shop not shipping to your country.

of course, typical policies apply. it will still go through customs here. so if your item is prohibited from being shipped here, you might have to talk to customs or they'll hold your package. we encountered this last June but we were lucky that the PhilPost guy gave us our package.

anyway, if i only knew about this website, i could've been using my own The L Word commuter mug. too bad Showtime doesn't carry the mug anymore. i'm not sure why. but hopefully, they'll have it available again this year.

myUSA mailbox for the Philippines coordinated with LBC. on the main page, you'll see instructions on how to complete the registration. you need to fill up a form and mail it to LBC's office in Pasay City.

if you have tried myUSA mailbox, please leave me a comment. i'm still having doubts if this website is legit but by the looks of it, i think it's valid.

we're off to sm north instead of greenhills coz it's raining. i just hope it will stop raining later when we go to balsa for my despedida with friends.

Heartless Bitches International

have you heard of Heartless Bitches International (http://www.heartless-bitches.com)?

don't get their name wrong. they are an organization of strong, smart women who won't take shit from anyone. yeah, just take a look at their intro or "The Heartless Manifesto".

i've been a fan of their website because of different stories from their members. they talk about how they survive situations wherein they were being abused and what action they took to gain back their dignity and self-respect.

they also give tips and red flags that both women and men should take note of.

also, i read some really funny application write-ups of HBI wannabes. some were really lame and they also post it with their comments as to why the application was rejected.

i've been a bitch all my life. bitch meaning i have survived A LOT and i have too much self-respect not to let anyone abuse me in any way. i always stand up for what i believe in. i'm not afraid to admit when i'm wrong and hurtful. i am independent. and i follow the golden rule.

i haven't submitted my application yet to HBI because i don't think i'm that heartless. although i did say YES to everything on their Heartless Manifesto, i believe i still have some kind of tolerance by just ignoring stupid, egotistic people.

go check and browse their website. some of you might find them inspirational. don't get them wrong. they're not man-haters. they even have male members! here's a quote from their main page:

"Despite the statements of some of our more Bitter Heartless Bitches, Heartless Bitches International is NOT about Man-Hating. We don't discriminate against stupidity, arrogance, irresponsibility, bloated egos, or immaturity on the basis of gender."

i like reading about strong women's life experiences. and i'm happy with how i've become. i'm thankful for all my experiences, good or bad, because they all contributed to how emotionally strong i am now and i will never take anyone's shit for anything.

i've always been a bitch... and i'm proud of it.

so, are you?!

Blogger Unleashed & Griz's Blog on Making Money for Beginners

starting today, i will be posting all the interesting websites/blogs i've discovered and will continue reading. i've been doing this since last week because i want to start on my way to earning money online or establishing my blogging identity.

Blogger Unleashed (http://bloggerunleashed.com/) - the author aims to help out people like me who are beginners in making money online through blogging. i'm not yet done reading all his articles but from what i've read, he has really good tips about how to earn through blogging. he's been successful with his online business so i know i can get much needed tips from him.

i actually like reading his articles. he doesn't seem to sugarcoat things. he is also a vlogger so you can just watch and listen to his tips.

Griz's Blog - Make Money for Beginners (http://makemoneyforbeginners.blogspot.com/) - he is an Adsense expert. i found his website through Blogger Unleashed. again, i'm not reading through his articles but i bet he's got great tips for me that will be useful when i start AdSense on my blog.

i'll add both to my blog & website roll. i added some other websites that i haven't started reading through yet so i'll get back to them when i have the time.

What Kind of Blogger Are You?

i just got back to the "blogging scene" recently. from the last time i blogged in 2006, there have been a lot of changes around here. i wish i can keep up!

the blogging population has boomed for the past years. mostly because it's one way of sharing your thoughts to the world. another reason is they want to earn money through blogging.

and this scares me. i don't know what kind of blogger i am yet. i haven't established my blogger identity that would make people want to read my blogs.

because of the huge amount of existing blogs today, one can only dream to be as successful as our kababayan blogger Abe Olandres, author of Yugatech.com. he writes reviews and news about latest technologies.

i've been browsing a lot of blogs recently. i envy some of them because they have "real" followers or readers of their blog. they have posted a lot of really interesting blogs that would keep everyone subscribed to their updates.

now, my only worry is getting people to read my blog. hahaha. but this isn't really my problem. i just like typing away to release stress. it makes me feel better. but, of course, it will feel much better if someone else is reading your thoughts and reacting to it.

hmmm... i know i can't be a review writer. i'm not good with that. i tend to blabber away.

i can't talk about the latest technologies. i can't afford to buy most of them. and i don't like gadgets.

i just hope i can keep up and discover my own blogger identity. for now, i just want to post anything i want to and maybe, just maybe, through this random blogging, i would realize what kind of blogger i am.

i'm off to blog hopping once again... but before i end...

tell me... What kind of blogger are you?

The Search for an Anti-Virus Software

we've been having problems with this PC ever since we started playing Ragnarok Online again. we've tried everything we can - scanned for viruses and spyware, reformatted all drives. so, we concluded that the problem might be with the memory or motherboard.

since we don't want to buy anything new for this PC, we just sucked it in and we've been pretending that we can ignore the problem until we leave on the 24th.




last night, after watching The Scorpion King (yes, the first movie. mai hasn't watched it yet so we did yesterday), mai tried to play Ragnarok. but the PC acted up again and we had to restart it.

i had to re-install Trend Micro's PC-Cillin Internet Security 2007 to check if there's any virus or spyware lurking, causing this PC to hang. installation didn't finish because problem started again. argh, this is killing me. so i rebooted.

HALA. it won't restart completely. we didn't want any anxiety before going to bed so we just turned off the PC and wait 'til the morning to fix it.

and that i did. i uninstalled pc-cillin through safe mode. i knew it was causing the problem. had to clean up my registry, too. and now PC's working okay.

now... i'm really contemplating on changing the anti-virus software we use. i've read PC World's Top Antivirus Software article and other reviews but i still can't decide on anything.

i've read some really good stuff about Kaspersky Anti-Virus but i'm not sure if it is suited for this PC.

Trend Micro's PC-Cillinhas been my choice for years. it's easy to update and i believe it really does the job. however, it really takes time to load.

you see, we need an anti-virus that won't take up too many resources/memory, like trend micro's pc-cillin. i have NOD32 installed but i won't let it run automatically because it still slows down the boot-up.

hmmm... i hope i can get any suggestions. if not, i'll just stick to NOD32 and continue not having it run in the background automatically.

Can you tell me about your experience, bad or good, with your anti-virus software?

argh. technology is causing me unnecessary stress. sheesh.

A Very Special Love - Review

me and mai watched "A Very Special Love" at Gateway Mall last friday. she wanted to watch it because she saw the trailer. nakakakilig daw so i agreed. i watched the trailer first and was convinced.

i don't really like watching tagalog movies because they seem to always have the same cheesy storylines. but since this is a new pairing, i watched it with mai.

and, surprisingly, i wasn't disappointed. they were a cute couple. Sarah Geronimo suited the role of Laida Magdalas very much because of her wholesome image. Laida was so into Miggy Montenegro, played by John Lloyd Cruz, who was always uptight with everyone.

of course, eventually, Miggy fell for Laida's sweet and funny ways of dealing with everyone around her. she was a very responsible girl, supporting her family financially.

well, the film has a typical Filipino love story. poor girl gets rich, uptight boy. but it really had its very kilig moments. everyone in the theater was screaming everytime Miggy and Laida stole glances lovingly at each other. even the guy beside mai was having his own goosebumps because of how cute the couple was.

and i did too. i just got distracted with all the screaming people in the theater. that's why mai said that we're better off watching at home because we get distracted a lot by the people watching with us.

everything in the trailer, you'll see on the first half of the movie. so i was waiting for what would happen. the story was really predictable but i enjoyed it... really.

when sarah geronimo did the sundance, i laughed even after i saw it more than once in the trailer (see below). it was pretty cute and funny. but i just wished they didn't overdo it in the end. john lloyd's version was better and cuter for me, though. (oops, spoiler? hehehe)

i'm just glad john lloyd was paired up with someone who suits him better. i like their team-up. they're both makulit in real life so they look good together. i don't like bea alonzo.

if you haven't seen the movie yet, go ahead and see it! all the laugh and kilig moments you'll get from watching A Very Special Love makes it all worth it!

Teriyaki Boy - Review

me and mai went out yesterday to pick up our backpay check. we were in Cubao so we decided to go to Gateway Mall for lunch afterwards. we couldn't decide where to dine. since we haven't tried Teriyaki Boy yet, there we went.

we don't really like japanese food so we weren't familiar with most of what they have on their menu, except for teriyaki, of course. so we just ordered based on what sounds delighting from how it was described on the menu.

Gyu-Yakiniku Don
 Grilled sliced beef with Teriyaki Boy Sauce and egg topped on rice
 price: PhP 250.00
mai chose this. i had to taste it after she said it was good. the sauce wasn't too sweet. i liked it. mai didn't like the egg, though. she prefers her eggs well-cooked. beef was cooked just right. the sauce complemented it very well. the serving was good enough for 2 people, actually. overall, it was worth paying PhP 250 for it.







Katsudon
Deep-fried breaded pork cutlet with stirred egg topped on rice
price: PhP 160.00
according to Teriyaki Boy's website, this is one of their best-sellers. but i didn't order it because of that. i just ordered something familiar (lolz).

so... what do i think? well, first of all, its aroma reminded me of tikoy. i believe it's because of the egg or something.

it was good though. the slice of pork that i got was 40% fat so i didn't enjoy it that much. it was really appetizing, though. i'm not sure if it's because the breading was sweet. worth the price for me.


Ika Fry
Crispy strips of deep-fried breaded squid
price: PhP 145
we really love calamares. so i ordered this because it sounded delish. we were kinda disappointed. it tasted too much of squid, which should be good because that means it wasn't all breading, but it turned our taste buds off. we barely finished the dish. the sauce that came with it didn't help either. not worth paying PhP 145.

one thing i observed is they love adding egg on almost all their recipes. i'm not sure why but it works. well, at least for me hehe.

the question is will we dine again at Teriyaki Boy? maybe, just to try their other dishes but the meal we had was too heavy for us. i almost wasn't able to finish my katsudon, to think that i was really hungry. their servings really compensate their prices but you have to make sure your stomach's already rumbling before you order one of the higher-priced meals.

we weren't completely disappointed, unlike with Super Bowl of China. so, yes, if you haven't tried dining at Teriyaki Boy, go ahead.

(my first food review. more to come!)

Violence and Irresponsible Officials

do you think your local officials, down to the barangay captain and tanod, are doing something to keep your community safe?

i'm just writing about this because it really pissed me off.

my brother told me he almost got held up by 3 men. well, not just him but everyone else who was riding with him on the jeepney going home. the regular route was unavailable due to flood so they had to pass the squatters area near Starz.

almost halfway, 3 men rode the jeepney. my brother was fortunately riding in front of the jeep, beside the driver and his wife. so he saw everything that was happening thru the rear view mirror.





the men were asking the passengers to give them all their money and possessions. the place was dark, my brother thought of taking off but decided to stay put. thankfully, the holdapers realized that they were nearing the barangay hall and an area that was fairly lit. also, good thing the driver didn't stop the jeep. so these men took off without any loot.

then, they decided to go to the barangay post. they told the barangay tanods that the holdapers took off just a couple of meters away. and what did these tanods do? they didn't even take a motorcycle or even a bicycle to check out the area!! yes, they just walked like nothing happened.

one of the passengers decided to tell the driver to move along because it seemed like nothing's gonna happen. and i hate to admit it but i think he's right.

i hate hearing about things like this. because of someone's negligence, not doing what they are being paid or was assigned to do, people get hurt. and that sucks!!!!

earlier, i was watching the news. there was this 15-year old girl who was brutally murdered by some lunatic in their area. the aunt was hysterical and blamed the people from their barangay hall. she said that there were already complaints against the lunatic but they didn't do anything. they had to wait for someone to get hurt before they took action. seeing her cry was just heart-breaking!!

my gosh... this is really depressing...

mai's still not here but she arrived here in manila safely. she'll be here in a few minutes.

thank you, God, that my brother and mai got home safely.

Flight Delays

i'm still waiting. mai's flight was delayed for an hour because of typhoon Julian.

tsk tsk. well, she's one of the lucky ones. there were people whose flights were cancelled and delayed for more than 24 hours. i just watched the news! but it's better than to risk travelling with this typhoon and all.

i'm just glad she was able to board the plane and is on her way here. i am praying she'll arrive here safe and sound. they wouldn't push thru with the flight if it wasn't safe yet, right?




mai told me there were people whose flight was supposed to leave at 3:55pm but was cancelled and delayed until 7pm. oohh.. that's harsh. i can't even stand waiting for 15minutes. Cebu Pacific almost always seem to delay flights even on a sunny day.

also, good thing it's not raining that hard anymore. earlier, the winds were really strong and heavy rain was pouring all over the place it was frightening.

i just hope no one was hurt by these typhoons. PAG-ASA said we'll have 2-3 more typhoons coming. ack!

flood here is waist-deep. we really look like venice. my cousin, his kid and wife are staying here for the moment. my nanay calls them "boarders". she didn't really want them to stay this long but where would they go?

the video i posted from a previous blog was to show you what the "normal" flood here looks like. yes, that's still normal for people here. i don't know why they got used to this place. maybe because they have nowhere else to go. i really hope the local government can help the people here.

hayyy... antagal ni mai. i'm waiting for her text na she's here in manila na. gosh.

Miss ko na mahal koh

After being apart for almost 2 weeks, my partner, mahal ko, mai, will fly back to manila later. this is the second time we've been apart since we officially moved in together. and the 2 weeks felt like a year, really.

i miss her sooooooooo much. i really got used to her being around me all the time. at times, yes, we irritate each other, we have petty fights, but we've done our best to stay together no matter what.

i told her this will be the last time we'll be apart this long. i can't take it! i did a bunch of stuff just to not feel so lonely but they didn't really work. i tried avoiding speaking to her thru our mobile phones because i always cry after we talk. so i just text her so she won't feel how down i am over here.




i've mentioned here that we'll be moving permanently to cebu in a few weeks. she went there to prepare our room and to be with her dad, who is staying there for just a couple of weeks before heading back to the sea (seaman po sya).

we bought her ticket online, through cebupacificair.com. i immediately bought her a ticket after i saw how upset she was over the fact that her family will be shopping for a brand new PC without her. i did it without thinking it over first because i know i'm just gonna cry and i won't let her go. i don't wanna see her upset like that.

however, after i bought the ticket, after a few minutes, she had regrets over buying the ticket. i told her it's okay, she can bring some of our stuff to cebu already. we were trying to come up with reasons for her to feel that it's okay to go to cebu for a few days. well, she promised she'll only stay there for a week.

when she was in cebu already, she told me there's a change of plans, that she needs to stay there for a couple more days because of things that her mom needs to take care of. i cried and was pretty upset but i didn't let her know. i just told her it's okay but a 5-day extension would be the last of it. and so... she'll be back in a few hours.

damn, i miss her so much. it's raining hard here and that worries me. i'm praying she'll get here without too much hassle. i pray she won't get wet too much because of the heavy rain. i hope it stops later when she's on her way here. and i hope flood here will subside so she won't have difficulty taking a motorcycle to our place.

if only i can move the hands of time, she'll be here already. sheesh! I MISS HER PA RIN!

sana, 9pm na so she's already here... *sigh*

Cebu, the promised land (?)

my partner MAI and i have been together for almost 3 years (in september). we've been living together for 2+ years and we have decided to permanently move to her hometown in CEBU. yes, i'll be a CEBUANA soon! hehehe

my nanay gave her blessing - i can work from there and she's okay me living a plane away from her and my bro. i was ecstatic! i've been looking for a reason for me to leave my previous work (things i don't wanna discuss further) and i finally got it!

i've been to cebu 5 times (as far as i can remember). i've been around the famous magellan's cross, sto. niño church, etc. but i never really stayed to admire those places because we just passed through them on our way to tabuan (market famous for selling danggit, one of Cebu's pasalubong treats). i just didn't think i needed to tour the place because i went there because i wanted to be with mai.

nakakalungkot, especially now that i know we only have a few weeks left here with my family. i have never been away from my nanay for more than 3 weeks! not that i'm a nanay's girl but she can only depend on me and my brother financially and emotionally (again, i don't wanna discuss the reasons... maybe next time). but what else will i miss?




i will miss our room. all the walls were painted dark blue, just like what mai wanted.
all the clutter here, i'll miss too. nah... we'll sure have that in cebu. we have our own aircon here so we didn't have problems sleeping in the morning.

we got used to our house... we almost know where everything is. however, i won't miss malabon. our area here is always flooded. good thing our house was built on high grounds so we don't suffer from flood. but our allowance for transportation/daily commute is greatly affected. imagine, on a "normal" day, you'll pay 7-10php for a tricycle ride to where you can take a jeep going out of malabon. on a flooded day, you'll pay 20-50php PER PERSON! tsk tsk.





(view the youtube video i posted - "venice in the philippines")

mai has been far away from her family since 2006 because she moved in with me. she said it's okay if i wanna stay here, because there was this one time i was crying, thinking about how much i will miss my nanay and my bro. i told her, i'll be okay. i just wish that not one of us has to live away from her family just so we will be together. *sigh*

anyway, my topic is about cebu. this is how i am when i write. all sorts of thoughts and ideas come and i have to just type away and then i'll edit later.

alright, back to CEBU. so far, i love the place! not too polluted yet. small province so commute isn't hard. we're gonna have our own transpo, mai will be driving. almost everything is cheaper there!

i love the fresh air. i love the convenience of commuting/transportation. you'll hardly experience traffic there.

i've never been to any of their beaches yet but i'm looking forward to that! but i can't swim, though. sirena ako dati so i'll grow scales (literally, well... y'know) all over.

however, the language gap - or, in this case, dialect - is what frustrates me. yes, i can understand A LITTLE cebuano/bisaya. but i can't speak the language yet. maybe coz mai keeps on teasing me whenever i try hehehe. but i have to always speak in tagalog. good thing everyone knows tagalog and if ever i have a hard time doing so, mai will translate for me or i'll just speak in english! hehehe.

i just hope we can get new jobs there ASAP. we're still having second thoughts about this but we have to push through.

we'll give it a year at least. i hope everything works out. i'll just post our cebu adventures here. wish us luck!

a "short" introduction

this is my first decent post here in blogger. after days of figuring out how to design the layout, i'm done and i'm going into writing my first blog here.

first, let me introduce myself. i'm michelle but i prefer people calling me mhel, online or offline.

i'm not a gurly-gurly girl, if you know what i mean. (i edited this post because i had to change the template & the look of this blog coz of my bro's reaction) but i'm using pink here because it's the only template here that i think is cute and it will let me play around with it easily than the last one i used. (i removed the layout i made because after 2 days, i got sick of the flowers)

i am a freelance graphics and front-end web designer. at least i think i am. i've only done a couple of websites where i got paid. most of my work were FREE. my friend said, that's why you're a FREElancer, because you do most jobs for free. hahaha. well... he's kinda right. i've done 2 major websites for free, but they're on an intranet so i can't show them to you. i've done 1 website where i was paid after a couple of gruelling weeks with that fricking client (i have a copyright thing to blog about in the next weeks, something to do with that client). my own place on the web hasn't been conceptualized yet so i hope i'll have more time for that in the future.




i have been working for call centers here in the philippines for the longest time. i have been a rep, a quality specialist/analyst and a team leader. however, my job as a QA and team leader also entailed training people, updating our online cheat sheets, coaching people, coming up with incentive programs, submitting reports, workforce-like monitoring of the queue, and all that jazz. so, you see, i've done almost everything! i was even next in line for the operations manager post but i really had to leave.

i love to read blogs but i easily get bored so most of the time, i just read what i want to read. you don't really have to put everything here on your blog anyway. just really exciting or important things that happen in your life. that's my number one rule.

i've been a blogger for years. i first started at cubeblog.com. however, they took down that site WITHOUT even informing us first. so we weren't able to export all our past blogs so we can transfer them properly on another server. no, they just wiped everything out! we were all frustrated. so that's why i stopped for a couple of months.

then, i started at multiply. i don't want to blog in friendster because i don't want EVERYONE to see my blog. just a chosen few who'll stumble upon this blog spot of mine. but i hate multiply because it loads very slowly here on our PC. wait, should i hate multiply or our PC? hehehe. that's another reason why i stopped blogging.

the major reason is because i was too damn busy at work that when we arrive home, i don't wanna do anything else but to rest! and, also, i don't want my partner MAI to bore herself while i'm doing my blogging.

then, a couple of days ago, i saw my friend saji's blog in friendster. and i asked MAI (you'll be reading a lot about her!), to read saji's blogs. then she mentioned that i used to love blogging. and she apologized because i can't do that anymore because she's always with me. i told her it wasn't because of her. it was my decision.

i realized how much i loved blogging, and that's what made me blog again. i was deciding on wordpress or blogger but i can fully customize almost everything here without paying a cent. so i'm here! my own place will be on wordpress though.

hmmm... let's see if this will stick. 'nuff said!