Today is such a nice day! No boss to deal with, to tasks to do, just a free day to waste time and bandwidth on Youtube and Facebook. Anyhow, I’m not very fond of Facebook, and I hate wasting time. I’d rather do something useful on this free day like catch up on the newsletters and SEO trends. But then I remembered that I was supposed to tend to employees request for additional insurance benefits so I guess I’ll work on that one for today.

Good thing it is now very easy to get a full term life insurance quote online unlike before. A few years ago, even though the web was already available, insurance companies never utilized it for service. They preferred one-on-one conversations with clients. Now it’s just type your email and send! it’s that easy.

Anyhow, I won’t be doing that for the whole day. I guess I’ll just read the newsletters then. For now, it’s time for lunch. Later then!

It’s been a while since I last saw my credit card statements with zero balance due. Last month I settled all my debts to have a clean slate for the coming year. The problem is, the zero balance on my statement just made me even more eager to buy things!

So I thought, since I am debt free right now, I must be wiser in purchasing stuff. I have lots of things that I want to buy this Christmas but I listed down only the things that I really need.

On the top of my list is a netbook. I have been wanting to buy this one for a while because I had a hard time bringing my laptop everyday to work. Currently, I have a 17 inch HP laptop which weighs about 5 kilograms with the adaptor (talk about weight-lifting huh). A friend of mine suggested getting a 12 inch netbook - not too small, and not to big either. He recommended two brands, Acer Aspire or MSi. Both have basically the same price and specs, although Acer offers pretty good discounts and includes lots of freebies. I’m planning to compare the two brands tomorrow if I get a chance to go out early from work. I’ll keep you guys posted.

Again, my shop-a-holic instincts were uncontrollable. I can’t believe I already spent half of my midyear bonus after only two days! Last Friday I was looking for new tiles for my kitchen when I saw this beautiful kitchen set on discount. I was planning to get my kitchen renovated but since I instantly fell in love with the displayed kitchen set, I decided to buy it. Yeah, just like that.

It was a good buy actually; I got it for a much lower price than the discounted price (begged for a bigger discount). What I liked about the kitchen is that it is so simple yet easy to maintain and fully functional. The cabinets are made of aluminum instead of the traditional pest breeding plywood. Also, Instead of those hard to clean tiles and grout, it had metal tiles and a stainless steel backsplash. Now I won’t have to worry of staining the kitchen or even burning it. Hmm… I guess I’ll call my friends for a bragging party now!

After more than four years of working in the same company (It’s the first and only company I’ve been affiliated to since I graduated college.), our CEO finally partnered with a renowned HMO and gave all the employees a great medicard coverage.

Thank God. I’m actually VERY health conscious so I go to the doctor with the slightest symptom. Each visit to the doctor, as you know, costs a lot. This is why it’s a great relief to finally have that card in my grasp.

Now I no longer have to go over those cheap insurance companies just to avail of the medical benefits. To cap it off, the company’s paying for the entire medicard coverage! This means aside from the health-related peace of mind that I get, I can also use the rest of my money to just pay for my credit card bills. Hehehe…

Flowers are becoming stylish and are no longer just associated with courting and boy-girl relationships. It can represent all types of affection – a thank you from granddaughter to grandmother, appreciation of a student to his/her favorite teacher, a happy birthday of one girl friend to another, etc.

Unfortunately, and as always, the delicate and striking flowers such as Casablanca Lily, Hydrangea, Holland Tulips, Stephanotis, and the exotic Blue Roses are pretty expensive. For something ephemeral, I often think more than twice before buying flowers for someone (unless the recipient prefers Everlasting, of course). Then again, with discounts like Interflora’s voucher code, you will definitely see my family, relatives, and friends (perhaps even my colleagues) carrying a bouquet of flowers every now and then – from me!

For those interested, Interflora’s voucher code is “web123″ which is worth $4.99 off your order. Do take note that there is a minimum spend of $19.99 to be able to avail of the discount, and the promo period will last until October 31. The good thing about the $4.99 discount is that you can convert it as ”free delivery” or ”free chocolates”. Although chocolates are nice add-ons, I would go for the free delivery if I were you. It’s more practical.

I’m flabbergasted. There’s actually an international point system vacation club - Buena Viva Exeter. That is, all you have to do is buy points depending on the number of years you expect to be traveling, the nights you generally spend in a hotel, how much you spend per night in each hotel, the number of people you generally travel with and voila – you’ll get to avail of the widest possible range of holidays in five different continents! They even have a Holiday Calculator to help you answer those questions. Amazing.

Their services pretty much includes anything else you will need when traveling - from efficient bookings and travel insurance, to flights, ferry crossings, car hire, airport parking and even cruises. To cap it off, you not only get to unwind in top class international resorts, your points will even be re-allocated to you each year until 2047!

Dang. I ought to be saving up for cool packages and memberships like this and save myself from the hassle of worrying over my next destination for the next X years.

When travelling, whether out of town or just somewhere near, one of my biggest worries is packing my things. Generally, I carry at least two bags and one paper bag, plus several unused plastics for my dirty clothes.

Then I discovered the Tote Bags by port authority clothing. For less than 4 USD, I was able to buy a hyacinth colored, durable, polyester tote bag! Its compact size is simply perfect for carrying all my essentials, plus some. The tote bag is actually becoming one of my favorites. Nowadays, I get to go to places without having my hands full, literally, with bags.