Steep Labor Costs

Last time we had a leaking faucet in the bathroom and it was kinda hard to hire a guy that is good enough to fix it.

No we do not have licensed plumbers here. Oh yeah, I think we have, but we do not hire them. A lot of people here can tinker with plumbing and you can get good results for less value.

But last time it seems pretty hard to do. We kept on looking for a guy who charged us only P350 for the job, but I was told that it was expensive. Gee. Really? But if we hired like a real professional, that would have been steeper.

My wife wants to have a book cabinet done. The materials can be cheap but the labor can be pretty expensive. Oh well, but if they can do a good job like Chicago remodeling, why not?

Car Tint

I think we really need a car tint now. It is summer and the glare is too much. And most especially, the heat is too much inside the car, especially if we park outside on a sunny day.

I am thinking would it be okay to just put tint on the windshield only? haha Wouldn't that look funny? LOL

Anyway, I came across an ad in the local daily about windshield replacement cost and my goodness it is a lot! I wonder about car tints?

Glad to Have Him Back

We are glad to have my brother in law back from a one-year work contract in the United States. He worked there like he was a local, renting a house, leasing a car, and paying taxes. Thankfully, he got a cheap car lease for a year that he shared with his co-workers so at least their expenses are divided.

Now, he is back to working in Manila with local pay rates. But at least, he had the experience and now the savings because of his stint there. Hopefully, he can have another opportunity like that in the near future. That would be really great.

Living Independently

It is nice to live independently. You make your own decisions, you do what you want, go where you want, without having to answer to anyone.

But living independently has its downsides. That means, you get to spend for everything. At least now, we are sharing in my parents' house and the expense. And I am just thankful that my parents do not meddle so much in our affairs and we can still pretty much do whatever we want.

I have never really considered living away from home. I mean there are good pads for rent, such as those apartments odessa - hotel luxury that can be really nice, but I still like the comforts of home. We do not have really much at home and we can live more comfortably, but I like hanging out here. And well, at least now, with my daughter, she can always go bonding with her grandparents.

I don't know until when we will be staying here. But for now, we are still very happy.

Having Cable

I now like having cable TV connection inside our bedroom. At least I can get to watch some new shows on TV. In the past we only get to watch the local channels and whatever they offer us. There is not so much choice.

But with cable TV, there is a wealth of offering that sometimes, I no longer want to move but just watch TV. The crime and emergency room dramas really fascinate me. I also like watching sports channels, even those foreign language channels where they show events like Sepak Bola.

I like how dedicated these Indonesians are towards playing ball. It is no wonder that some Azkals team members are thinking of playing for the professional Indonesian team. Well, what do I say, but go for it!

Cheap Land

It has been awhile that I have been looking for a cheap farm land that is not too far from Bacolod City for my uncle. I have often heard of people who get cheap lands for only a couple hundred thousands pesos for several hectares of land already.

And these are titled lands. My uncle does not want to assume rights of a land because he wants to till it and stay there for his retirement years. He wants to till the soil, feed from it and also earn from it for his daily subsistence.

But so far, I have not found a good place for him.

After securing the land, I did not know that he will have to get an insurance for it, like the State Farm Insurance Seattle. I have not heard about it locally. hehe Oh well, I guess that is one maintenance cost that he has to shoulder.

Big Boy

My wife thinks I am a big boy. Yeah, because I am big and I am like a boy at heart. But thankfully, she loves me dearly.

I like toys because I like to play. I guess I never really grew up. If given the chance, I would just continue playing and playing with my collection of toys.

Yep, I have collected action figures, board games, and other kinds of toys. I also have a comic book collection. My wife has considered selling them because she thought that they might be pricey by now, but since they are no longer in mint condition, so I don't think we can sell them. And of course, I don't want to sell them either, at the back of the mind, but I just couldn't bring myself to tell her. I have work hard for them so that I could save up money to buy comic books and I don't want her to sell them. hehe But I couldn't tell it to her. I hope she doesn't read this.

Anyway, that is why I like buying toys for my daughter. After all, I like playing with her. And the baby that is to come. weee I am excited.

Non-Moving Stocks

Will anyone be a dear and get me Postcard Fusion so that I can market and also sell every single thing here in the store?

It is just that there are so many old stuff here that needs to be disposed. My parents do not want to set them up on sale. But these are old stocks and money is just sleeping with these old stocks that do no move. I wonder what can really convince them to hold a sale and also advertise it?

They do not believe in advertising because they do not appreciate its value. Sigh... Sometimes I really get frustrated.

What do I do with these non-moving stocks?

February Events

So many things happened this month of February.

End of January, we traveled to Manila and came back the first week of February, in time for the Chinese New Year Celebrations back home. My wife had to work on the Chinese New Year weekend because of an event that she handled. I was also there with her because she needed assistance and therefore hired me to do the job.

Then there was Valentine's Day and we had orders for gifts. We also had a Valentine's gathering in church. We are also planning a couple's gathering by the end of the week and then we will be spending the weekend over at my in-law's house. Then we will be attending a kiddie birthday party and it will also be the birthday of my Mama and my sister. We also attended a couple of parties last week.

Imagine that. We are trying to squeeze in all of these with all the orders that we have at the store. Haha To God be the glory.

Right now, I am just thinking of new activities that we can have with our darling daughter, Dindin. I am checking out the art supplies uk from windsor and newton to see if I can find some new products that we could use.

Dindin likes all these activities as long as her mother and I perform them with her. I guess the case is the same with other kids. They need their parents to be always with them doing stuff.

Asking Around

I don't mind asking around for information that I need. Although I ultimately make decisions for myself, I just think that other people's inputs could be useful especially if they know more about the subject than I do.

Take for example the time when we bought our TV. We read the online HDTV reviews that are just free and we had a good idea of the products available around.

But since there are limited units and brands here in our city, we also asked other people about their opinion on such brands. After all, this is our first TV ever as a family. So we wanted it to be of good quality but that is not very expensive. We really could not afford expensive stuff yet--we just need a good TV for our daughter's videos. And that will also serve as the LCD of my laptop.

I think we got a good buy at SM Supermarket. Yeah, we got our LCDTV at their hypermart.

I am just thankful for this unit. And it is working well. Love the colors, too. Worth the money we spent for it.

My eyes are getting really tired. I better get some shut-eye. hehe

Gold in Scraps

They say that there is great money wastes. In fact, many people consider garbage as their dirty gold. It is because the waste materials of other people may be sold and recycled and there are people who earn a lot from them.

I can truly attest to this because one time, my mother in law decided to clean up one room in the store so that we can make room for an extra office where a new machine will be installed.

That room mostly contained old electric fans, radios, cassette players, TVs, computers, and other electronics equipment that were either owned by the family or were left there by customers who thought that their things are beyond repair or that they would not want to pay for repairs. Some of these things have been in this room for more than 10 years. My parents in law just kept them because the owners might come back for them. But after all these years, none of them claimed the items and everything just stacked.

And so one day, Mama just thought of calling someone from an electronics recycling company. The guy just sorted out everything and all in all, Mama sold more than P20,000 worth of scraps. Imagine the amount. And to think that the buyer will be able to sell it at a higher amount to the recycling plant. Wow! There is just so much money in garbage!

Coming Home

We just got home from a 5-day vacation. My family and I had great fun going around as well as in eating different kinds of food. We had a gastronomic adventure to the max.

It was just too bad that on the third day my wife had an indigestion and had to stay home for the whole day. Oh well, at least she got to rest and sleep at home. She does not have a lot it here in Bacolod City because of work. At least during our vacation, she did not think about work.

When we got home, I got several marketing postcards like those sent by Postcard Fusion. They were cool actually. They get my attention because of their colorful designs. I am not about to buy anything that they pitch in but at least I got to learn of new products and services. Cool way to advertise stuff!

I really think that we should also do that for our store's sake. Tsk tsk.

Anyway, I am back to reality now and work is piling up on my desk. I need to get to work now and fast. Well, I am just thankful that I have work to do. hehe

And thank God, we are back safely home.