I have always thought that birthday gifts somehow express how important you are to a person. Take cheap gifts, for example. I don’t think anyone would ever consider giving a cheap gift that one could get anywhere for a person that is dear to them.

I know I wouldn’t. This is why I rarely ever buy people presents. Call me horrid, but I dislike disguises and pretending that I like one person when in fact I don’t, so I resort to avoiding people.

Even if this avoiding scheme makes me look like an awful person, I am very loyal to all of my friends. I stand up for them when they need me, and I tell the truth if they ask me a question.

It will be one of my friends’ birthday this weekend, and I want to get her something very special. I don’t have enough financial resources to get her what I really want to give her, so I’ll work hard on a gift that I made myself instead.

What kind of presents do you give to the people that are dear to you? How do you decide on what to give them?

When it comes to answering the question “where do I invest my money”, the usual answer is, it really depends. Others buy stocks or invest in a mutual fund. Others venture into sales business. Some even buy gold bars and just keep them in the safe. Personally, whenever I am asked on where to put my money, I definitely answer “somewhere less risky”. We all know that investments all have risks but you must weigh the risks. Think about the risks if it can be easily managed or not. Profitability follows after that. The faster the return of investment, the better. Also, I always make it a point to invest on something that could be easily liquidated. For example in sales business, if ever you think that you want to get all your investments to use the money on something better, you just do a price drop.  Making your investments liquid is very helpful especially in rough times.

In IT companies who deal with foreign clients, collaboration software and web conferencing are essential. These two tools allow multiple entities to unite and work on projects more efficiently. With this, online meetings have been a common thing among employees in our company. However there are times when I really think that personal meet ups are still better.

Take for example our new project. It is a Web Portal where five web server technologies meet. Obviously with a project like this, a great deal of planning is needed, hence long hours of chit chat and conferencing. However in conferences, you only hear the person’s voice. In some instances you see him on webcam yet conferences tend to lack something – involvement. Being present in a meeting personally obliges you to listen to what others are saying. This allows you to contribute more. Also, you can never multitask in a personal meeting unlike when in conference calls you tend to do something else while listening to the speaker. My point is, if it is possible to meet up, then by all means do meet up. It will really speed up your planning time.

It has been said that certain scents – especially very distinct ones – can evoke powerful memories. It can be the perfume of a loved one, the smell of Christmas dinner during family reunions, the sweet smell of cigars that linger in the air which some children associate with their grandfathers.

Unlike words which still needs a considerable amount of brain processing, smell is said to go directly to the heart. Especially when that scent is so strongly associated with a loved one.

Some people I know start reminiscing fondly about their loved ones when they smell something which reminds them of those particular persons. One person I remember keeps thinking about her close uncle when she catches a whiff of cigar smoke. Cigars, I know, can smell quite strongly and sweetly.

The connection between scents and memories is just natural. For me, it is just one of the amazing things in this world.

Who ever said old dogs cannot learn new tricks? For me, patience is the key to make your dog do new tricks. Earlier my 10 year old dog was returned to me by my neighbor after borrowing him for a week. They wanted him to mate with their female dog so they let my dog stay at their house.

First thing I noticed when they returned him was he was very silent. He sat up proud and never made a sound. I asked my neigbors what was wrong with him and my neighbor only smiled at me saying that my dog has been trained.

It seemed like my neighbor’s dog training tricks were very effective. My dog has suddenly been converted to a silent type, lassy like dog. When I say sit, he actually does. Unlike before of course. I was so thankful to my neighbors because they had the patience to train my old dog. Anyway, I am glad that he is fine and he might be an expectant father already.

Information Technology has a very large demand for talents nowadays. This is the reason why more students choose IT as their course in college. Earlier, I was at a career development seminar. I was invited by a friend of mine to be a speaker and share some of my thoughts in the IT world. In the question-and-answer part of the talk, one of the students asked me if IT is the best course to choose over the other courses.

I answered, IT is perhaps the worst course to get for college. Based from my personal experience, IT is all about automation and enhancement. In any field, may it be accounting, engineering, medicine, and even advertising, IT is just there to make things easier. To be a successful in IT, one must be able to be familiar with the field. For instance, if you are creating an application for a bank, you must understand the requirements. To add to my answer, I believe that IT should be taken as a post-graduate course rather than a college course.

Personally, I took marketing as my college course. I just learned how to create web applications after I graduated. That is, after taking an information technology degree on top of my work. I was able to easily create applications suitable to marketing because of my expertise in the field. I know some IT graduates have their insights too. This is only my opinion anyhow.

Whenever I travel and arrive at a particular accommodation – be it a five-star hotel or a simple bed and breakfast – the first thing I always check is the bathroom. I am very particular with that area of the accommodation. I find it quite alarming whenever I’m not comfortable with the bathroom. In fact, it’s more often than not a make or break deal with me in picking accommodations.

This is exactly why I was ecstatic to find that the place I rented for my 3-day getaway last weekend has a spacious bathroom with Saniflo toilet! I was so happy I spent at least two hours each day of my 3-day weekend enjoying my hot shower and lounging in the bathtub. It’s a good thing my friends are used to my long hot shower and bath habits. During the getaway, they generally just left me alone to hog the bathroom whenever it’s my turn.