I just heard from the news that Metro Manila of The Republic of the Philippines were on a state of calamity over the weekend until Monday due to the typhoon Ondoy. The typhoon’s rainfall for that period was so high that the amount of rainfall over those two days was equivalent to a month of normal rainfall in the country.

A lot of areas in Metro Manila were flooded and many people were severely affected with it; that includes one of my aunts and her family residing there. Houses of a lot of people were submerged in the flood rendering some inhabitable. Even the cars were submerged. With the large number of people, houses, and cars that were affected (up to now, some are still unrescued and are sleeping on their rooftop), I have a feeling getting a house insurance, motorhome insurance, and the likes are in demand right now.

Anyway, we also heard from the news that 2 more typhoon, 1 is Parma, will be approaching Philippines as well. I hope there won’t be too much damage unlike the last one.

Oxidized water, mineral water, distilled water, ionized water, etc. I am a little confused on the different types of potable water available in the market. So I did a little research. I did learn something that we don’t usually know…

Mineral water used to come from spring water. These springs are found in mountains or volcanoes. Mineral water contain trace elements like magnesium, zinc, silver, etc. which when taken can boost our immune system. Although today, mineral water is does not anymore come from springs. Manufacturers are just using concentrated mineral drops to add minerals to plain tap water.

Distilled water in the other hand is plain tap water, which is passed through distillation and filtration process. This kind of water is regarded as “dead” water by some, because it contains nothing but water. The filtration process removed any minerals from it.

Oxidized and ionized water is also filtered water. Water is just passed through a process of oxidation and ionization then through water filters. Suppliers claim that this process makes water easier to absorb by the body, although some scientists contest the idea.

While surfing the net, I came across this diet pill reviews site and was amazed at how many different diet products are available. I myself am interested in some diet pill that my friend suggested to me but I still need to consult my doctor before I decide. Anyhow I am trying to do a research about this pill first.

I am not against artificial diet pills, but I prefer natural types. Natural pills are safer and have other benefits aside from just losing weight. But sometimes, the term natural is misleading for some manufacturers do not really use “organic” ingredients. I have also heard about cranberry diet, which is very interesting too although I may have a hard time sticking to fruit diet because of my sweet tooth to chocolates and pastries.

Don’t we just love to take pictures? May it be weddings, birthdays, or just simple everyday hangouts with friends, pictures make it possible to preserve the good memories for a lifetime. Today’s digital cameras allow us to take unlimited number of pictures unlike the film cameras of the 90’s. However, we often save the files in our PC without organizing, leaving our hard drives cluttered with files.

I spent the whole evening trying to organize my picture files from my old PC. The problem is I have tons of pictures that have no labels whatsoever. Even so, some pics are duplicated making the problem worse. What I did was manually view the pictures before I store them in a separate directory.

In summary, here are tips (I learned the hard way) for organizing your picture files:

Most important: always set your camera’s date settings correctly – this will make the whole process easier. With this, you will be able to arrange the files by date so there’s no worry about missing any pictures.

Label your directories – be creative. Don’t just label the directory using the date, otherwise it’s just useless. Give it a brief description and make it unique.

Use a temp directory for new files – don’t paste your new files right away. Whenever you filled up your camera’s memory card, copy its contents to a temporary directory. When you have spare time, copy the files to their new directory and delete them from temp. This way, you make sure that all files are backed up and nothing is lost or duplicated.

Lastly, do backups – backing up files are very important, because you’ll never know when your PC will break down. I personally do multiple backups of my important files. You can save your data in hard portable hard drives or burn them in DVD. Alternatively, you can upload them in online backup sites in the net (just make sure that your files are password encrypted.

Last weekend I was able to attend Bikram yoga class and the instructors gave a brief explanation about correct exercise. My friend asked me to come with her because it was her first time. She is taking diet pills prescribed by her doctor and she’s doing yoga to accelerate weight loss. Anyhow, According to instructors, correct exercise includes working out the body as a whole. Not just the abs or the bicepts, but every muscle, every joint, and every nerve in the body. Their explanation somewhat criticized body builders who carry weight to make their muscles bigger. The truth they say is that carrying weight will make your muscles big but stiff - which must not be the reason for exercise. Also, sports activities like tennis or football might be good for ones heart, but is bad for the joints and tendons.

Correct exercise (the Yogis explained) includes proper posture and breathing to distribute blood and oxygen to all parts of the body. It must also include stretching of muscles and flexing of joints without damaging the tendons and ligments. In summary, the truth about exercise is to make the body stronger and more flexible in order to have more endurance.

It’s amazing how people can be so creative regarding their businesses. I was in the mall yesterday and saw a lot of new stalls that cater for children. One of the stalls offer five minute rides for children in a chariot-like cart pulled by robots for about a dollar and a half. Another allows a child to get inside a large rubber bubble and float around a big pool for two bucks per fifteen minutes.

The coolest stall I saw had this huge balloon shaped like a house. I think they call it a bounce house. For ten dollars an hour, you can let your child play with other children without worrying about him crashing on any hard surface. They even sell some mini versions of bounce houses that can be placed on the backyard.

Anyhow, this only shows that even simple creative ideas can be made into great businesses. I considered starting my own business for additional income yet I always hesitate to begin. Hmm… I wonder if I can think of a cool business too… how about a baby sitting station for thirty bucks per hour? Nah.

For anyone who has an extra LCD monitor and an external hard drive at home, read on…
I bought a new WDTV media player (google it) just recently as suggested by a friend of mine. What is it? Well, it basically turns your LCD and external hard drive into a high-definition movie player. Just attach a USB drive then plug it to your LCD’s HDMI port then voila! That is, assuming you have movies stored in your drive of course.

For just 99 usd, this gadget is a bang for the buck. It has a very elegant menu and user-friendly interface. Plus it’s under warranty for 2 years (excellent customer support too). It not only plays movies, it also does slideshow of pictures while playing your favourite music files. Don’t get me wrong, this is no gadget review. This post is for bragging. Wahahaha. I really love this product.