​Many people are living an unhappy life because they refuse to appreciate the experiences given by the present moment.

They would rather cling on to the failures and heartaches of the past, or torture their minds by the thoughts of what may or may not happen in the future.

Let us all remember that only the PRESENT is real. The past and future doesn't really exist. Unless we are in a life threatening situation, we can always handle the present.
Whatever our situation be it good or bad, learn to appreciate it now. It's all we've got anyway.

​Have you ever experienced trying hard to find your eyeglasses, and later realize that you’re already wearing it at the top your head?

Or being in the brink of a mental breakdown trying to solve a financial problem all to no avail. Then suddenly finds the answer while being half asleep in the middle of the night; or while taking a shower, or while doing your thing in the toilet.

That’s because when we're naturally relaxed, our brain opens up to creative ideas that may not occur when our mind is busy.
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So when all things seem hopeless, take a pause, be still, better yet, pray.

If you have people working for you, should you train them well, and risk being their competitor?

I’ve seen many business owners crippled by this fear which obviously prevents them from growing. Yun pangamba nila na magtuturo ka ng mga tao, then aalis din sa huli, worst is when the people you train become your competitor.

The dilemma is that when you don't train them enough, productivity suffer, and so your business.

People management is a very special skill and a delicate balancing act. Better not go into business kung wala tayo nito.
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So how do successful people handle such challenging situation? Here's a tip from business magnate Richard Branson

​We often admire successful people. Some maybe eager and excited to be in their shoes.

But do you know that almost all them have faced much bigger problems and challenges than what we can ever imagine.

Yet with all their failures and disappointments, they never give up...that's why they're successful.

Here's the BIG picture:

​What set us apart from other creatures is that we were given the wonderful power of choice;

We can choose to be happy or choose to be sad,

We can choose to be good or choose be bad.

Di lang alam ng marami na we can choose to be rich or choose to be poor.

Most importantly, we can choose to have a choice or not to have any choice at all!

Every morning, we can decide on what we want to be.
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"We create our lives tru our choices".

​"Premium or Unleaded" is an erroneous classification because these two gasoline types are both unleaded gasoline. The correct term should be Premium or Regular (which are both unleaded).

Most of us are still saying premium or unleaded to distinguish between these two types of gasoline. But take note that all gasoline types are now unleaded so it's misleading to call it that way.

So what's the difference? Premium has higher octane, and Regular gas has lower octane. Again, both are unleaded.

But here's another wrong notion. Many believe that fuel with higher octane gives more  power than those with low octane rating.

FACT: Octane rating is not for POWER. It is formulated to match the compression ratio of certain engine type. Regular vehicles has low compression ratio and therefore doesn't need high octane fuel. These engines are designed to use Regular gasoline. 

While sports cars have high performance engines and the compression ratio of this engines are very high. Using regular gas for these engines will cause pre-ignition and will surely damage it.

So what does octane really does in the fuel? It's just a retarding agent to prevent pre-ignition caused by high compression in sports engines. That is why high performance engines should only use premium gas (which we wrongly call "leaded").

To summarize:
     -Low octane gas is for low compression engines.
     -High octane gas is for High compression engines. 

If your vehicle is not a sports car, don't use premium gas because it has no effect on the power whatsoever and you only end up wasting money for something you don't need.

And if your vehicle is a sportscar with a high performance engine, don't use regular or you will damage  it.

On more thing: Because all gasoline fuel are now unleaded, don't say Premium or Unleaded. Say premium or regular. 

It’s interesting to note that successful people are not always brilliant, educated or unique, but simply have a grasp of how things work.

They know that they can reach any goal by trying-making mistakes-getting off course-correcting-getting off course-correcting. Ships do it, and so do missiles and planes.
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Lesson: When we try to do something new... it's normal to make mistakes!

How many times do good ideas pop-up from our mind? How long does it take us to actually put it in action?
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Whenever we've decided to do something worthwhile, better do it immediately, for one law says:
"The LONGER we wait to do something we SHOULD do now, the greater the chance that we will NEVER actually do it"!

Do you know that we can get most of what we want by simply asking? Most people aren’t mind readers.
Often, our success depends on us asking for things. For small things like: Can you help me find the way? Will u go out w/ me on a date? And for big things like; Can I work for you? Will you be my business partner? Will you marry me?

Points to consider:
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1. If you ask, you’ll often get.
2. If someone says “no”, don’t take it personally. Ask someone else.

Your aircon's efficiency heavily depends on the space it will cool. Getting a bigger or smaller aircon is not necessarily better. An aircon unit that's too big for the size of you room is likely to turn on and off more frequently and in effect consume more energy in the process. 
On the other hand, an aircon that's too small for the size of your room never stops running as it will continuously work to reach your desired temperature level. However, it won't have the enough power to do this. 

As a consequence, an aircon that's not right size for your room can significantly increase your electricity consumption per month.

​Below is a guide to finding the right aircon size for your room.

With the high cost of electricity today, it pays to know how much power do common household appliances consumes and how it affects our monthly electricity bill.

We can significantly lower our consumption if we become aware of how energy is used, where it's wasted, and how it can be used more effectively and efficiently in everyday life.

The following are the computation of the electricity consumed by most home appliances based on the Meralco Appliance Calculator (MAC). ​

​​A 10kg automatic washing machine used twice a week for 6 hours cost P528.89 in electricity bill a month.

​A regular 16 inch desk fan used for 20 hours a day, 7 days a week will have an electricity cost of  P476.94 a month.

​A regular 1.0 H.P airconditioner used for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week will have an electricity cost of P1,890.97 a month, while the inverter type equivalent will have an electricity cost of P1,009.75

​A vacuum cleaner used for 1 hour a day, 7 days a week will have an electricity cost of ​P238.47 a month.

​A 3.0L rice cooker used for a total of 1 hour a day, 7 days a week will have an electricity cost of P298.09 a month.

​A microwave oven used for a total 45 minutes a day, 7 days a week will have an electricity cost of P268.28 a month.

​A 32" to 42" LED TV used for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week will have an electricity cost of  around P429.25 a month.

A desktop computer set used for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week will have an electricity cost of P536.56 a month.
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A 20 Watts Flourescent lamp used for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week will have an electricity cost of P95.40 a month.
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A 10 watts CFL lamp used for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week will have an electricity cost of P P29.81 a month.
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​A 5 watts LED lamp used for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week will have an electricity cost of P P14.90 a month.
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A flat iron used for 1 hour a day 5 days a week will have an electricity cost of  P212.92 a month.
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​This Estimated Cost to Operate are based on Meralco Power Lab tests using typical and/or normal usage conditions of the appliance. Note: The following chart came from meralco.com.ph orange tag page. For more information, visit https://residential.meralco.com.ph/products-services-and-programs/orange-tag

​A common mistake in kitchen cabinet design is installing the upper cabinets too high. This often necessitates the use of a step stool just to be able to reach upper shelves.

So how high should upper kitchen cabinets be installed? Answer: It should be within 15 to 18 inches from the countertop. With this height, average user will be able to reach all shelves without a using a step stool.

Some exceptions to these standards are the upper cabinets that is above a refrigerator and the cabinet above a cooktop,

​​A range hood is actually one of the most important appliances in the kitchen. It consists of a canopy and a blower to extract the air pollution caused by cooking. By capturing and eliminating the contaminated air right at the source, the range hood maintains the air quality in the kitchen and makes cleaning much easier.

​In​stalling the rangehood too far form the cooktop makes it ineffective while positioning it too close makes it a fire hazard so careful planning must be followed.

In general, most installations require a distance of 24 inches between the bottom of the hood and the cooking surface. 

Over a gas range, this distance should be between 24" and 30", unless otherwise specified.

This is a general guideline. It is always best to refer to the installation manual for your specific rangehood model.

​Success has a very CLEVER way of "HIDING" itself from people  who don't deserve it.

Not everybody are aware of this fact,  that's why there are only  very few people who truly succeed in business, studies, work or any other endeavor they chose.

The TRICK is to "HOLD ON" a little longer the moment we feel like giving up while on our way to achieve whatever goal we want in life.

What then is the sign that we are almost to succeed? It is when we feel like we want to quit, then we are closer than we think.

​Whenever we sit and wait for the right job, the dream business, perfect partner or anything we want in life, it will usually take a long time to arrive. But most of the time it will never come.

That's because WAITING yields a very different result from SEEKING.
Often, this spells the difference between living a mediocre life vs a fulfilled one.

Also the difference between success and failure.

If this is our case and we want to know why, simply ask ourselves "Am I waiting or am I Finding"?

The idea of giving free housing to everybody; giving regular dole outs; or even sharing one’s wealth as some politicians promises, may sound good, but sadly, will not solve the problem of poverty.

Why? Because in most cases, being poor is often a product of ones mindset rather than a condition. While it’s true that majority of poor people exist because they were born poor (me included), we can also become poor by having bad spending habits, laziness, bad decisions, staying in a dead end job, no effort to improve oneself, and having the entitlement mentality or those who believe that the government or the rich owes him something and therefore should take care of him.

One of the biggest irony is that money doesn’t solve money problem. In fact giving large amounts of money to the poor who are often unprepared to handle it can end up in just making them even poorer. This explains why there were big income earners who are broke now broke; Or the highly paid athlete, celebrity, or the lotto winner who ends up in an even miserable condition than before.

I admire politicians who are aware of these realities and knows that the best way to serve the people is not thru dole-outs, but by teaching them to be self-reliant, empowered and independent from other people.

As a very rich man once said:
"If you take all the money in the world and divide it EQUALLY among everybody, it would soon be back in the SAME pockets where it was before."
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Reason: It is hard to keep that which has not been obtained through personal development.

Have you wondered why in times of desperate need, we can accomplish things that seem otherwise impossible?

A common example is someone who's able to raise huge amount to pay hospital bill even when he has no money from the start; or a daily wage earner able to send 5 kids to college; or an overdue electricity bill paid within the day for fear of losing service, or surviving seven months of pandemic in a tight lock down without a job.

It’s the sense of urgency that can turn anyone of us from zero to hero. Imagine what we can become if we treat success this way everyday, poverty may be gone for good.
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According to John Huntsman:
“If there is silver lining to bad times, it is this: In the face of severe crisis, our mind is normally at its sharpest”.

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Imagine how far we can get ahead in life once we've decided to do something and stay motivated to do it with all our heart everytime we wake up.

Starting can be easy, staying motivated till the end is a different story. That's why it can be the most important formula for success in any endeavor. According to Mr. Zig Ziglar; "Motivation is like taking a bath, if you stop doing it, you begin to stink".

We need to find a good reason kung bakit tayo gigising ng maaga.
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Find our WHY, then find the HOW.
Photo credits to the owner

Singkaban festival in the province of Bulacan is a yearly festival  of arts and culture which showcases the traditional arts of "Balagtasan", folk dances and "kundiman" amidst a display of Singkaban arches. The festival is celebrated every second week of September which is in conjunction with the "Linggo ng Bulakan".

The theme for this years Singkaban Festival is "Patuloy na Pagsikhay patungo sa Tagumpay".

The weeklong celebration in Bulacan starts on Thursday (Sept. 8, 2022). This is the first time that the festival was celebrated face-to-face after two years of restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.