Welcome to Marinduque-My Island Paradise

If this is your first time in my site, welcome! If you have been a follower, my heartfelt thanks to you, also. Help me achieve my dream, that someday, Marinduque will become a world tourist destination not only on Easter Week, but also whole year round. You can do this by telling your friends and relatives about this site. The photo above is Mt Malindig in Torrijos. Some of the photos and videos on this site, I do not own. However, I have no intention on the infringement of your copyrights. Cheers!

Marinduque Mainland from Tres Reyes Islands

Marinduque Mainland from Tres Reyes Islands
View of Mainland Marinduque from Tres Reyes Islands-Click on Photo to link to Marinduque Awaits You

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Senior Jokes to Relieve Stress from Dow's Woes



Last Monday the Dow was down about 500 points. It went up 200 points Tuesday and today it went down another 450 points. With my retirement savings losing about 7% in the last three days, I feel so depressed , so to cheer myself, I decided to look at some of the senior jokes that I received recently. The following four jokes are my favorites.

1. Two elderly gentlemen from a retirement center were sitting on a bench and just bullshitting to pass the time. One turn to the other and says " John, I am 83 years old and I am just full of aches and pains. I know you are about my age. How do you feel?.
John answers, I feel like a new born baby.
Really! ? Like a new born baby?
Yep. No hair, no teeth, and I think I just wet my pants.

2. The boss walked into the office one morning not knowing his zipper was down and his fly wide open. His secretary walked up to him and said, This morning when you left your house, did you close your garage door? The boss said yes but was puzzled by the question. Later on, he noticed his fly was open and zipped it up and understood his secretary's question
Later, he headed out for coffee and paused by his secretary desk and ask, When my garage door was open did you see my Hummer parked in there?
She smiled and said No, I did not. All I saw was an old minivan with two flat tires.

3. Three old guys were walking.
First one says, Windy, isn't It?
Second one says, No, its Thursday!
Third one says, So am I, Let go get some beer.
(I am really thirsty).

4. A little old man shuffled into an ice cream parlor and pulled himself slowly, painfully up into a stool. After catching his breath, he ordered a banana split.
The waitress asked kindly, " Crushed nuts?
No, he replied, " Arthritis ".

I hope the above jokes made you laugh a little, in spite of the current economic disaster in Wall Street.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Doing Business in the Philippines


The Makati Skyline, Philippines

I just finished reading a short article that it is not easy to do business in the Philippines. According to the article based on the World Bank survey, Singapore took the top spot in the rankings in the ease of doing business. New Zealand was 2nd and US was 3rd. Hong Kong was 4th, Japan 12th, and China 83rd. Could you guess PI ranking? A pathetic 140th!!

This is not news to me. Grease money runs the country. Unnecessary paper work slows down the growth of small business. For example just getting a permit takes a lot of paper work and grease money. Even in the business of tourism ( which should be encourage by the government), the presence of "grease takers" really frustrates me. There are other specific examples, that I will not mention for fear that it will have a detrimental effect in my small business in the Philippines. To survive, I follow the principle, "If in Rome do what the Romans are doing". Sad but that is the reality of life.

The article concluded that we should not be discourage from doing business in the Philippines. It says there are some rotten eggs in the basket, but the good ones outnumber the bad ones. It also advise us to know the proper way of doing things and stick to it and most of all ditch those greasers. What do you think? Is this a reasonable advice?

Friday, September 12, 2008

Call Center in the Philippines


Recently, I had an occasion to use the help center in the Philippines. I was surprise of how helpful and knowledgeable the employees are. At first, I was not sure if my responder was a filipina, since she did not have a trace of accent. However, after 5 minutes of teaching me how to change my password to log in to my new bank account here in California, I realized I am talking to somebody in the Philippines. I was pretty sure she knows I am filipino, because I still have a slight accent even after living here in the States for more than 40 years. Sometimes, I still can not pronounce the difference of my "P" and my "F". Back to the subject, of help center, I have heard that it is one of the most glamorous jobs every college graduate is seeking, if they have no chance to go abroad. Is this true?

Incidentally, I have also experience getting help from call center in India. I guess both India and the Philippines are competing for out sourcing jobs from the US.

After helping me, I did do a little social talk and she confirms she is from the Philippines and she even gave me her name. Hurrah for the call centers in the Philippines!
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