Suspend-It

It may seem uncomfortable to many, but getting your parents a life insurance is really a great investment. Others may think that getting insurance for their parents is like expecting them to die or something. Well… we all die and that’s reality and all of us must be open to that idea. Getting insurance will really be of great help for the other family members.

As a proof of this, my cousins are able to continue their education from the insurance benefits of their father. Their dad passed away two years ago but at least my cousins can still go on with their life without financial problems. My parents heard about this and asked me to get life insurance quotes from the internet.

Parents should always consider getting life insurance because life is very fragile. You’ll never know what will happen in the future. It’s always good to know that the family especially the children will still be financially secured even after death. This is just my opinion anyway.

Men nowadays tend to become more conscious about their figure more than their health. Due to medical advancements, men can perform better at the gym when taking muscle builders or stimulants. Before steroids were popular with the body builders. Now there is a new trend… human growth hormone.

Human growth hormones as explained by wiki are protein based hormones that stimulate the growth and reproduction of cells. Because muscles are torn down when lifting weights, there is a need for fast regeneration of muscle cells. The HGH takes care of that.

Though the FDA approves certain brands of HGH, it is still advised to consult your doctor first before taking any drugs. This is because there are counterfeit products available in the market today.

My company produces a quarterly newsletter. We were supposed to send out the newsletter to clients before the year ends last December, but had some problems with the printing team – they were out of Anilox roll cleaner. Since it’s almost the holidays at that time, we decided to just send it to the clients through email blast in PDF format.

Frankly, newsletter printing is a waste especially since the numbers of trees nowadays are diminishing. If there’s something you can do paperless, then why bother with the hard copy right? After all, sooner or later, majority of those printed papers will end up being thrown away anyway; very few of them will end up recycled.

My friend recently moved to an apartment and asked me to help her list down appliances and furniture she need to invest on. Aside from refrigerator and gas stove, I told her it’s very important to buy a Salt Free Water Softener. This is because it will help her save money in the long run.

You see, salt free water softeners greatly reduce hard water scale formation on appliances and will reduce the amount of soap needed for showering and doing laundry. It’s sort of an investment you can never go wrong with. To cap it off, having a salt free water softener is a virtually maintenance free alternative to conventional softening.

I am not really an avid environment-friendly supporter, but I do promote and go for eco-friendly alternatives whenever there are options. This is exactly what I did when I helped my brother and his girlfriend pick out a sofa for their room.

Though there are lots of stylish modern sofas available in the market, durable eco-friendly sofas that are stylish are definitely a rare encounter. Which is why, my brother, his girlfriend, and I, immediately fell in love with the Timucuan Sofa. What made it green? It used sustainably harvested hardwoods, soy-based cushions and recycled steel springs and covered in microfiber that is Oeko-Tex 100 certified. Cool, right? ^_^

It is true that many environmentally friendly options are still a bit higher in price and scarcity. Then again, knowing that, “Some statistics say that more than 90 percent of all furniture manufactured is made with materials known to cause global warming, respiratory problems, breast cancer and leukemia over extended periods of time.” will definitely make you lean towards eco-friendly sofas.

During a lunch buffet gathering of my department in celebration of the September birthday celebrants last September 25, I overheard one of them say, “Let’s go Green shopping!”

I was at a loss. Green shopping?! Huh?

Thanks to Google, I soon found that “Green shopping” actually refers to “shopping online”. The phrase originated from the result of the study conducted by the Green Design Institute of Carnegie Mellon University.

As you know, individual consumers generally drive by or commute via car from their homes to the nearest retail store to pick up the product and then return home. The Institute made a test wherein they discovered that you can decrease your impact on the environment by shopping online. In fact, “shopping online consumes less energy and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 35 percent compared to shopping at traditional retail stores.” A good example of this is Buy.com wherein, “Buy.com’s model fared better in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption with fewer steps in getting products from manufacturers’ warehouses to consumers’ homes.”

Amazing isn’t it? So next time you need to buy something, I suggest you opt for Green shopping!

I was doing some shopping last weekend when I saw this water purity test stuff in a store. It’s a portable test kit. Dip it in a glass of water you are testing and it will show if the water is pure or contaminated.

When I tested it at home, I tested the tap water in the kitchen and it turned out to be positive for contamination. I was skeptical at first but I remembered having diarrhea often when I drink tap water at home.

I asked help from a friend of mine who was an expert in water filtration. He gave me some ideas on how to set up a water filtering system for the kitchen. I was also advised to change the faucet (which was the cause of bacterial contamination). He advised me to use better quality faucets like the Grohe faucet which by the way is very stylish. I’ll probably but the filtration system next week. So much for that.

I have been drooling over the new model netbooks for a while now but because of the different models to choose from, it is very difficult to decide. netbooks are very portable PC’s which are tailored for the net. They offer fast connection, long battery hours, and light weight for the people on the go. These small PC’s, though not as powerful as the laptops, can be used for everyday computing such as typing, photo editing, surfing, and blogging.

All the netbooks I have seen seem to have the same processing power, same graphics, and same screen size. They only differ in physical appearance and nothing more. This makes it harder to choose because the branded ones cost a lot higher than the not so branded models. But with the same specs, I guess I’ll just go for the better looking model.

I’ve seen, heard, and read about colon cleansing and its advantages and disadvantages. Several products, such as Colonix, which claims to produce this effect, are out in the market nowadays. Then again, is it necessary?

Just so you know, Colon cleansing or colon therapy, according to Wikipedia, “encompasses a number of alternative medical therapies intended to remove fecal waste and unidentified toxins from the colon and intestinal tract.”

I browsed over some readings and the usual claim is that colon cleansing, also known as colonic irrigation, removes toxins that can cause a variety of health problems, such as arthritis, allergies and asthma. Consequently, it promotes healthy intestinal bacteria, boosting your energy and enhancing your immune system.

Then again, up to now, there is little scientific evidence to support or refute the benefits of colon cleansing. In fact, the bowel itself is not dirty and cleans itself naturally without need for assistance. Also, frequent colon cleansing may interfere with the proper functioning of the colon and can lead to dependence on laxatives or enemas to defecate. To cap it off, the FDA has issued several letters warning manufacturers and suppliers of colon hydrotherapy equipment about making false claims of effectiveness, safety issues and quality control violations.

Do take note that doctors prescribe colon cleansing as preparation for medical procedures such as colonoscopy. However, most don’t recommend it for detoxification. It’s generally unnecessary and at times may even be harmful.

Before having your colon cleansed, consult your doctor first.

Oftentimes when we get up late at night to go to the bathroom, we turn on the lights and experience pain in our eyes. As a reflex, the eyelids close or squint to reduce the light coming into the eyes.

The eyes use different sets of optical nerves – the cones and rods. During the day, or in any well lighted room, the cones are used to see colors on bright light. On dim lighted environments however, the rods are used. The rods are very sensitive to light but not very much to color; this is why we still see dim lights but less color during the night. Hence, they can be damaged by exposure to very bright light. Ophthalmologists discourage abrupt exposure to bright light when coming from dark settings. They suggest using lights with adjustable brightness for the eyes to get warmed up for bight lighting.

I personally agree with using dim lights during the night. In my bathroom I had a Murray Feiss adjustable lamp installed for this purpose. Healthy eyes are a great investment, so spending for some expensive lamps will certainly pay off in the future.