May

17

Blog Therapy

Filed Under Blogs & Blogging, Family & Friends, Humor, YouTube | 13 Comments


A friend from graduate school and I had a good talk on Skype yesterday.

“What are you doing? Why do you have this blog? I don’t get it. What is it for?” she asked in her usual blunt way punctuated with charm (with her high EQ, she can get away with almost anything).

“Um, it’s my creative outlet. You should try it yourself. Come up with an expat blog. It is therapeutic.” (She’s now in Brazil with her family, after living in China, then Finland, for many years.) I wasn’t sure if she got my point.

This Skype talk on blogging has made me think. Blogging has its pros and cons.

Among its advantages are these: it affords you to express yourself in a fun way, it lets you exchange ideas and insights with your readers (electric “fans” and critics alike), and it makes you practice your writing skills. Why, even multi-awarded Broadway star and singer Lea Salonga has a blog. So there must be something about blogging that stirs up even celebrities and mainstream media people to give it a try.

As far as expanding your social circle goes, blogging can prove to be a fruitful activity. Some bloggers, who immensely enjoy meeting up with other bloggers for networking purposes (not really my style since I blog anonymously), have blogged about the joy of having lots of online friends who eventually become offline pals as well. Career-wise, a number of bloggers are already reaping the financial benefits of being into what they popularly call “problogging” (professional blogging), which basically means you get paid for blogging.

Meanwhile, the downside in blogging is — well, as far as personal blogs are concerned, that is — it exposes your inner self to strangers who can either be your friend or your enemy. Information is power, as the cliche goes, and if given to the wrong person (e.g. a malicious soul out to get you), the result can be quite harmful. Besides, everything is “Googable” in this day and age. And if, for instance, a surfing pervert stumbles upon your cute pic showing you in a skimpy bikini complemented with texts that give away so much info, well, online stalking is not far behind.

And then, there are the negative comments. Comments that don’t edify. Comments that give unsolicited advice that doesn’t really help. Comments meant to pull you down in the presence of all the other blog readers. Comments that take your blog entries out of context. Comments that are simply soaked in arrogance, intended to say “I know things much better than you do.” Honestly now, who wants/needs such poisonous words when you are just enjoying your favorite pastime? Life is less complicated without negativity in all forms. (BTW, I publish all blog comments, positive or negative. But I just have to delete all those spam comments, offering products for the enlargement of a sex organ I don’t even have.)

So, one blogs at his/her own risk. When you create and maintain a personal blog, you somehow agree to be vulnerable in a public place like the online community. People can and will find you. Having said that, one can still control the level of personal info-sharing in his/her blogging. This is, of course, recommended if you value your privacy. However, doing so can stifle your writing sometimes.

At the end of the day, you can only blame yourself for giving too much unnecessary blog details for both good and bad people to feast on. Think before you post, implores this YouTube video.

“Perhaps, your readers have finally discovered you’re neurotic!” my friend exclaimed on Skype, her echoing voice drawing me to admit that, perhaps, I am indeed neurotic. (Well, I’ve always believed all human beings suffer from some form of neurosis but in varying degrees.)

“Maybe. All the more I need this blog therapy. You should really try it,” I bantered back.

Have I already mentioned that a number of therapists in Switzerland are already fully booked?

(Note: Some blog posts here are not meant to be taken seriously. This is not CNN.com.)

*****

FIVE THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT:

1.) The therapeutic element in blogging
2.) WordPress
3.) Blogger
4.) Google AdSense
5.) Having fun talk on Skype

May

15

Mother’s Day

Filed Under Business & Finance, Consumer Concerns, Family & Friends | 6 Comments


Mom called me today. When she heard me answer the phone, she greeted me in a cheerful tone. “Happy Mother’s Day!”

Mom has a weird sense of humor sometimes (you see, I don’t have any children). So now you know that genetics has something to do with some of the blog posts here.

Anyway, Mom called to thank us for sending her a Mother’s Day gift: a lovely boquet of roses as well as a box of Swiss chocolates and a mango cake. “You two are very thoughtful,” Mom said in Taglish. Thank you. But…”

“Yes?”

“The chocolates are old. They taste so bad that I didn’t even give your Dad some. I phoned the company and filed my complaint.”

“Oh.”

We had paid USD54.45 (PHP2,555.00) to this online company called ManilaGift.com to surprise my Mom and make her happy on her special day. Instead, what she got was a box of Castleberry Swiss chocolates (why is it that the website picture shows a Ferrero Rocher box of chocolates and not the Castleberry Swiss Chocolates?) that could have well been stored and sold even though they were already way past their expiry date!

It was good that the roses were beautiful (whew) and that the Red Ribbon mango cake was tasty (heard my Dad liked it). Otherwise, the whole package could have well been an expensive bundle of disappointment.

“So what happens now?” I asked my Mom.

“Well, I told Mr. Anderson that they should replace the chocolates. I even said that they can take back the ones they delivered to us. To see for themselves how bad they taste,” she replied. “I just thought I’d let you know.”

This news was disappointing. We had expected something good from ManilaGift.com. In December 2005, we ordered a roasted pig for my Mom’s birthday party. All went well then; everybody loved the lechon baboy. So what happened last Sunday?

Customers outside the Philippines pay so much for Philippine items advertised online which are otherwise not that expensive when bought locally. The whole thing could have been worth only USD20.00 (PHP938.00) or a little bit more. But we, the online shoppers, willingly agree to pay more — for the service (packing and delivery) and, maybe, even for the ’surprise element’ (on the side of the gift recipient). And when you hear that the products you purchase online are sub-standard and, therefore, unacceptable, you feel shortchanged…cheated.

It’s not all about the money, people. Customers always deserve their money’s worth. Remember that. And if clients get cross, word spreads fast. Who wants negative publicity?

When I was 11, during the summer of ‘82, I sold chocolate packs and ice candies of different flavors in our neighborhood. People kept coming back because my products were of good quality — that is, always fresh and good-tasting. While I had wanted to make some profit from this small enterprise, which is normal in any business, my main target was to make my customers happy with all the products I was selling. Fortunately, I didn’t disappoint any of them with my edible wares.

If you own a business, there’s a word you should not forget: INTEGRITY. If you practice good ethics in your transactions, you don’t even have to pay for positive word-of-mouth advertising. It will just happen.

Amid this consumer disappointment, I wish to salute all the mothers, who read this blog, for their fortitude. Hope you enjoyed last Sunday’s celebration of motherhood.

MAY 27, 2007 UPDATE: Mom called this afternoon and mentioned to me the good news: ManilaGift.com replaced last Thursday the old Castleberry Swiss Chocolates with not just one box of new chocolates, but two! The Ferrero Rocher Swiss choco delights were delivered to my parents’ residence last Friday. Customers, it pays to ‘complain’ when you know you’re right.

*****

FIVE THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT:

1.) Good mothers
2.) Proverbs 31
3.) Receiving a package from an online shop
4.) Business people who treat their customers right
5.) Creamy Swiss chocolates

May

10

Spring Gardening

Filed Under Home Management, Life & Leisure, The Philippines | 9 Comments


I know I have black fingers that kill plants almost instantaneously upon contact, but I just had to buy this lovely container tree (Citrus Mitis) at Jumbo. Looking at it makes me happy. Maybe because it somehow reminds me of home.

While I’m not too hopeful that I would be able to take care of this citrus tree well enough for it to survive another season, I do bank on my husband with green fingers to do the job for me (oh, I do water the plants every now and then).

We were part of the giddy plant-buying group that crowded the Jumbo garden section three weeks ago. Despite the fact that we don’t own a plot of land here in Switzerland where we can indulge in stylish gardening, we had decided to spruce up our dull-looking balcony which was badly in need of spring decoration (for lack of a better term). We figured it was a great way to celebrate spring.

Inspired by the ‘mass hysteria’ at the garden centers we visited (i.e. Jumbo and Coop), we bought a lot of gardening tools (plant pots, flower boxes, a fertilizer bottle spray, a watering can, a trowel) and way too much soil and plants (flowers, herbs, fruit-bearing container plants) that hardly fit our tiny balcony now. Perhaps we got carried away; the other shoppers were hauling loads of potted plants, big and small, into their carts, prompting me to do the same (it was contagious, I tell you). Surely, those people have big gardens. So what was I thinking?

Although our ‘balcony garden’ now lacks that visual harmony you usually see on BBC Prime’s gardening shows, we can say we are contented with what we have at the moment. The balcony is full of life now, unlike before. The birds seem to share our joy, too, since they visit our balcony often to eat away some seedlngs — much to the disconcernment of my gardener-husband (we bought nets later on to protect the plants from future bird attacks).

But still, we long to see the day when we can enjoy our own garden, or even our own farmland, somewhere in Tagaytay (think retirement). There is so much freedom in having your own land. You can do almost anything with a property you can call your own.

More than 60 percent of the residents in Switzerland are apartment dwellers. It’s very expensive to own a house here, so most people just rent apartments. And we’re one of them.

Oh, I miss our family’s big garden back home. The nipa hut. The tree house. And the mango trees.

*****

FIVE THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT:

1.) Therapeutic gardening
2.) Fruit-bearing trees
3.) Flower boxes
4.) A farm in Tagaytay
5.) Gardening tips

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