And I Thought I've Been Around The Philippines

My Lakbayan grade is C-!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

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I thought I've been around the Philippines but this just shows I haven't really been around. Mostly the Central Visayas area, a little bit of Luzon and Mindanao. Oh well... maybe in the future I can move around some more.

How about you?

A Good Night's Rest

It was a stormy night last night. The rain was pouring hard while thunders roared. Over the horizon, it was a magnificent diplay of lightning. It would have been fun to run outside last night and enjoy the refreshing rain as it splashed down. But better be safe than sorry. Who knows where lightning would struck.

All in all, I think it rained 8 inches of water last night. That would help bring the lake levels up a bit plus the free soaking the lawn needs. I seem to notice that the grass grows a lot fuller with rain water than tap water. Must be the checmicals. One thing for sure, I know I will have a hard time mowing the lawn this weekend. The grass looks a lot thicker and it's only Wednesday.

Anyway, I decided to retire early to bed last night but didn't really get to sleep until about 11:30. That's early in my book as I usually fall asleep almost around 1:00 am everyday. Don't get me wrong. I think my body has adjused to that routine that whenever I wake up at 6:00 am everyday, I'm pretty much ready to take on the day.

But it was different this morning when I got up. I just feel so refreshed. Maybe it's because it looked so calm and serene outside. I went to take my morning shower and got dressed for work and I was actually anxious to be in the office. It's like I could take on anything today. And that's just what I did.

Hopefully I'd feel the same tomorrow.

You Can't Fix Stupid

Okay, I'm not talking about Ron White's show but I would like to borrow his phrase. And that's because I want to talk about someone I work with in the office. Management decided to hire this guy even though he doesn't seem to reflect the right mentality for what he's suppose to be doing plus the fact that he showed some signs that he's going to be a character to work with.

Being a corporate pawn for some time now in the company, I can't say I'm a model employee but I do try to follow corporate policy and enforce company standards on new hires considering I've always been one of the mentors. But this new guy just seem to not get it. He comes in and wants to start changing the world even going to the extent of wanting the company to purchase some software for him. I say that's just too gutsy.

A few weeks have passed now and he's not showing any sign of trying to fit in but rather wants the whole company to fit to his needs. I'm not sure what the company will do but I hope they do something. Feedbacks from almost everyone on the group regarding this person has been bordering on the bad to worse. Hopefully management see the same things being observed by everyone else.

I have the misfortune of banging heads with this guy and he just doesn't seem to get it when the other person is frustrated. It seemed like he wakes up every morning and decides he wants to be stupid to everyone. And he's doing a great job at it too.

You really can't fix stupid. No matter how hard you try.

Buying and Selling Online

The mere mention of buying and selling items online brings one to think about Ebay. The funny thing though is that Ebay is not the only player in the web right now. There's actually a lot of other websites that allows anyone to sell anything. Among which are Bidville.com, Craigslist.com and some small personal websites not to mention the other product specific buy and sell websites like egghead.com and amazon.com. But Ebay does take a whole lot of the pie considering that it has expanded its services to a lot of other countries, some of which have been successful while others have but a mediocre following.

There's a bunch of nice deals you can see when you visit sites like this and oftentimes, its not just about the price but also the sentiment. Nothing beats the feeling of finding something you have been looking for in a long time. Ebay had done a great job in conveying this message in most of their advertisements. As they say, another man's trash maybe somebody else's treasure.

One has to be careful though and has to exercise good judgment when visiting these sites. Just because an item is in there does not necessarily mean that it's being sold at a good price. Some sellers actually lowball their prices but will hit you in the shipping charges. So one has to be careful when extending an offer to buy. Make sure you ask the seller about the small things like quality, shipping charges and other knick knacks if this information is not clearly defined in the item listing.

If you are selling, make sure you also have the basic information included in your listing. The object of the game is selling and making a profit. You don't want to misled your customers. You want to provide some satisfaction that they are getting a good deal from you which in turn will make them regular patrons who will come back and do more business with you.

So start cleaning out your garage, your attic and your cabinets. Maybe you have what I'm looking for.

Trigger Finger

No, I'm not talking about guns at all. Rather, I'm talking about a health condition. A trigger finger is a common problem that causes pain and catching. Tendons that help bend the fingers and thumb slide through a snug tunnel. The opening of this tunnel could get smaller due to irritations as the tendons slips into the tunnel or the tendons could thicken making it difficult to pass through the tunnel. When one tries to straighten the finger, the tendon becomes momentarily stuck at the mouth of the tunnel and then pops as the tendons slips past the tight areas. This can cause pain and catching as you try to move the affected finger.

Symptoms usually start without an injury but is very common among people between the ages of 40 to 60 years old and to those people who have certain medical conditions such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. One or more fingers could be involved at any given time. If the symptoms are mild, simply resting the affected finger may be enough. Using a splint would be helpful plus over the counter medication like Tylenol can ease the pain. However, the improvements are usually very temporary.

Another option is to have a steroid injection administered by your doctor to the affected finger. Depending on he severity of the problem, a couple of injections may be required. Since this isn't really a serious condition, a third option can also be considered and that is surgery. Usually, this is done as an outpatient procedure. The third option is highly recommended for severe cases like when the finger is stuck in a bent position in order to prevent permanent stiffness.

I would have loved to talk about guns but I'm more concern about health.