I arrived the other morning to find that work had begun facing the last section of wall with a skim of concrete. But was a bit dubious to the use of scaffolding. It seems sturdy enough but wouldn’t climb it myself. A discussion about it came to the solution that there was a lack of timber so “making do”. Also by the time I arrived it was nearly finished so it was  just as easy to let them carry on. But it is something I am looking to include in further budgets some kind of scaffolding. Preferably aluminium due to the problems and speed of rust here. Most of the building we will be doing in  the future won’t be above second level. Although I am seriously considering designing the lot that we want in the future on a 4 floor design but likely to be built in phases similar to the apartment you see in the photo where the netcafe was finished and the roof was the solid slab of concrete floor from the apartment above. Which didn’t leak even in heavy rain.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I will let you decide what type of day I had today. It initially started with a quiet morning waking up to “showtime” Cebu which had a competing team from Minglanilla and then headed off to double check our Smart Bro share it connection. Quick speed test and it came back at 0.04 (should be 1.00+) well I know it should reach 2mb with the two connections so to say its poor is an understatement. A quick phone call and the same excuses later. “we have put it to our technical support and they will contact you within 24hrs”. Its been a month and not once have they called back in the number of times we have called them. They are simply doing nothing but stalling. So enough is enough packed up the crappy routers and took them back to the agent at PLDT who quickly passed the buck to the SM branch as they cant process it at the PLDT branch. Yet they were quick enough selling it to us from there? Well no point arguing I needed a desk to stick them on so I can stop paying for the damn things. 20 minutes later I was in SM North wing at Smart Bro another wait on a ticket system and finally I can deal with someone who can actually do something. First issue was “im not the client” as my wife ordered the units. But I had already drafted a letter before I left the house that April signed. Next was I needed ID what do I need ID for im returning units? ? Do they ask the same question for couriers? After a discussion I dumped one of the routers there and kept one to keep the net connection going until we get the canopy service. A lot of people may say the canopy service is bad but we already have the service nearby which is running at 750kbs the internet cafe was managing on 400kbs at best and still managing to get customers so reducing our costs by P1,000 a month and getting a reliable stable connection is all we really need then hopefully it will stop a lot of the errors im also getting on software. I think the updates are being corrupted due to poor connection causing data loss. Left all relevant paperwork and complaints processed as well as the long log of calls that were made to Smart about the service.

It was about now life got interesting. SM is very busy at the moment by the way the overspill car park has some sort of stage going up so be warned parking is busy. Anyway the SRP has been a bit congested after 3pm lately so I decided to cut through the city to save time. Good or bad is hard to say as I ended up breaking down near Mango square. Who helped push the jeepy out of the middle lane of the road? was it fellow motorists.. you can bet for sure they wouldnt! their idea of helping is beeping horns as that seems to fix most things?? anyway luckily 3 of the tubig (water) sellers helped get it to the side of the road. Radiator was out of water so refilled and we managed to bump start it. I gave the guys P200 for helping some of you may think that is too much but to be honest I would rather overpay and have them help me again if I need it than be left stranded. A good investment as I started heading home I began to wonder what is causing the problems with the engine as it overheated the other day aswell which was very unusual. Knowing from previous experiences of when I first started driving I came to the conclusion it must be alternator trouble which was proven right about 5 minutes later as my lights started to dim. Now driving home in the dark with no lights tucking in tight behind vehicles to avoid being picked up for not having lights by the police I drifted through 4 intersections with traffic police. Luck was on my side and I managed to make it home. I had switched off the lights to conserve power also the engine began to stall with them on as it was beginning to kill the engine which is why it eventually stopped right under the Mango tree with the light at Aprils parents place. I quick check of the engine found that the fan belt had come off and jammed behind the fan. A quick repair tomorrow and back on the road. One of the main reasons we bought the jeepy in the first place is there is very little to go wrong. The engine is a 1997 Toyota Engine out of a Corolla it has the extra pulley for the air conditioning or power steering neither really needed on our open Jeepy. But the rock solid chassis and engine will no doubt keep us on the road for years to come.

So internet will hopefully be sorted within a week, made it home and repairs to the jeepy are 30 minutes in the morning was it a good day, bad day or a Smart Bro day?

Either way tomorrow is another day and im just looking forward to getting things sorted so I can get on with something that generates more income.

Popularity: 44% [?]

Today was a bit of an odd day as we decided to stay at home and look at getting the apartment built on top of the internet cafe. This year we have decided to look at buying two homes to rent out if we can get find the right properties. After scouring the net and being in realtor hell for a few hours it has become very apparent I need to put my shoes on and go and look myself. There are also private sellers and crazy prices online as they are always trying to rip people off for a profit and where better than online.

So I came across a couple of small deca houses which are small to say the least with a price of P600,000 and loan available through PagIbig so I thought great as we could transfer the loans over could be easier than trying to get a direct mortgage as well as the fact we could actually pay P300,000 up front giving us P300,000 to pay. So started doing the maths….

Ok something seriously wrong here they actually want you to GIVE THEM P600,000 for the 5 years they have lived at the property and take on the remaining 25 years of the loan. I sat and done the maths on what they are asking :-

P600,000 up front

Monthly loan of 4,625.00 for 25 yrs = P1.387m

Total = P1.987m just shy of P2m for a house that is worth P750,000

So for them having the property for 5yrs they have paid P277,500 and want a P322,500 golden handshake and I get dumped with their debt of a loan. I really cant understand the logic behind this although speaking to April she said they expect to make a profit for having a property.. Im still scratching my head.

Popularity: 57% [?]

Why do women look for Western Men?

I was watching a TV documentary regarding Russian women and Western men who were meeting for the first time. The majority of men had high expectations but very few had looked at how they lived themselves. The problem with that is that about a decade ago Russian women were looking to escape Russia and poverty but these days they have money, nice jobs and independent. What they do struggle for though is reliable men. Drug and alcohol addiction mixed with wars has left a shortage of good men. The expectations of the women have risen and it shined through on the TV documentary as most women decided not to have a match even though they had Western men who were interested in commitment. The tide had changed.

In Asia its a bit different though but catching up fast there has been a severe change of attitude in China for example with its one child policy which is causing a reduction in females in a big way. For those of you who don’t know Chinese culture when a couple marries the bride becomes part of the grooms family and in turn responsible for his parents in old age. Leaving the brides parents to struggle alone. Couple that with the fact of western ideals sweeping into China women are often seeking Western men over locals and city dwellers over provincial husbands. This is starting to cause a shortage in the provinces which has resulted in kidnappings of women for marriage within China.

Thailand like the Philippines has experienced something different which has seen the rise of wealth by someone marrying a foreign. I watched a documentary on Thailand and the fact that most women in the sex industry were hoping that someday a foreigner would marry them and take them from the life they were stuck in. But that is only part of the story as like China the educated women in the Philippines and Thailand are also seeking foreign husbands for other reasons. In many instances its assumed its all financial benefit for the women that they choose a foreigner but its not. In Asian culture it is still a very male dominated society women want to be treated as an equal and with respect and its something they assume a western husband can bring to the table. As well as stability and commitment.

What are my personal thoughts?

Personally I think that a mixed marriage brings balance it does in our marriage. But our personalities and pretty much most things are a good match as we are happy to just spend time together even if doing nothing. We find that with my natural drive with ideas and Aprils ability to be level headed and supportive we get through life in a positive way and manage to stay content and happy. Could I find this in a Western woman? I don’t think I could find it in any other woman. April is my April and a happiness that I doubt I could find again anywhere else.

Popularity: 100% [?]

As the talks go on in Copenhagen and to be honest I think its nothing more than another pile of bull that is going to take money from tax payers and not actually do anything constructive. Sound a bit harsh? I’m looking it from the perspective of throwing Billions of cash into countries that are riddled with corruption that already receive Aid and the scandals that go with them and now we are giving more on something else? We are struggling in all countries to keep governments traceable with tax payers money and its just about to get worse. How can we save money in a sensible way as its easy to say others are wrong right?

Firstly we need to look at restructuring the way in which many of us travel and work encouraging more home working and if giving companies penalties for not meeting targets why not aswell bonuses for those that are beating them?

Reduction in consumer buying as we pretty much live in the West to excess then preach to everyone else. A car if the figure stands true is built for 11 years so why is it most people change in 3-5 which I was one of these culprits previously but I have realised that the fuel economy that is sold to us as the reason for buying a car isn’t a real figure unless your doing a lot of miles. An eight year old car is already manufactured and running it may not be as reliable but generally are easy to fix at home (yourself!) than a new car which needs to go into a garage just to have the service light switched off and also has a high Co2 count when it comes to manufacturing costs. So in theory an eight year old car that you can use for several years until it fails its M.O.T. for £900 will have a fuel economy roughly around 35mpg over a new car that will cost £5,000+ which has expensive repair parts and servicing aswell as an average fuel efficiency. I know which I go for. Reality bites but its pretty much time to abandon the consumerism way of life and replace it with the ability to save and buy what we need. Moving the UK away from debit and into credit.

There is also the fact of the hidden and new technologies which are being either suppressed or ignored. Things like the sea water farming which has been working in Mexico for over 20 years proving it works and with high yield crops aswell as the ability to reduce Co2 and rising seawater levels if expanded to worldwide developments. Literally the ability to turn deserts green. With also one other major factor of creating employment in some of the poorest countries in the world which the question from me is why it isn’t rolling out elsewhere?

So am I an environmentalist? To be honest I have given up on politics and the media as it has become such a circus of useless information and I have never been a tree hugger. My sustainability is about the future of my family and the people around me. There is profit in it but the way governments are handling it all I can hear is a gravy train pulling into the E.U. station as they discuss the top jobs for politicians and contracts for associated friends. The reason I am reacting now is simply we are seeing a huge change in the way of life for the average human. Poorer countries are seeing price hikes on rice and other food resources which are the difference of life and death for many. But for the West its an increase on rice we don’t notice to much due to it not being our main diet. We notice the fuel hike though right due to the issue of supply and demand? Which is really just controlled by the oil industry that can move it up or down ok its not an endless resource but they can increase supply if needed but fix the number of barrels.

Only real way forward is looking to make yourself more self sufficient for the future. Like I have stated before in the Philippines if retiring here you should build at least ventures that match a profit of 30% of your total pension as a buffer zone if things go wrong (Like the collapse of the Dollar or Sterling). Its not as difficult as it seems there is lots of opportunities out there by changing habits. E.g. a rice field in the Philippines should also have ducks and fish in there to increase the profit margin. Squeeze as much money out of every square metre as possible and start to build part of your diet round things you can grow yourself where possible. I’m preparing for the changes that are going to cripple the UK for a long time to come and a lot of the hardship should have been prevented if Politicians hadn’t looked after themselves and done the job they were put in power to do. They were elected as a servant of the people and its about time they acted like it.

So I’m wondering what to do next as I have lots of ideas but sustainable projects are all new to me so I think its something that’s going to involve a lot of networking up for the next year to make a lot of things possible. But either way all I see coming out of Copenhagen is a bunch of politicians with more of my money and a lot of fake promises.

Popularity: 83% [?]

Dont worry we are still here ! you need to head over to Tropicalpenpals.com/blog

The reason being this is a new development for those of you who want a blog of your own. You can simply register and create this will generate you a Wordpress blog www.BLOGNAME.Tropicalpenpals.com I have already included over 100 templates to get you started aswell as will add more plugins as we go.

Popularity: 60% [?]