Suspend-It

Recently, there has been several reports about diarrhea being caused by our office water supply. A team investigated the issue and found out that the water dispensers themselves were the problem. The filters have already been worn out and they needed to be replaced. This made me wonder, how often do we replace our water filters at home?At home, we have a four year old refrigerator with an built - in water dispenser. Since the ref was purchased, I haven’t really checked if the filter needed to be replaced. I was just too lazy to check. Because of the recent incident in the office, I had my ref checked by a technician. Good thing the refrigerator filter is still in fair condition but I had it replaced anyway just to make sure.Some of us often overlook these things. Small things that can lead to relatively disastrous situations. I learned my lesson and fortunately, I was able to prevent the office incident from happening in our home. So the moral of the story is… Do not be lazy to check your filters.

When shopping online, always check if there is a coupon code input box before checking out your shopping cart. Coupons are discount codes given to some limited people but sometimes you can also find the coupons on the net. For instance, just earlier, I purchase three domain names in Go Daddy and applied the coupon before paying. I just searched Google for “coupon code go daddy” and voila! I just paid two bucks for each! Instant discount! Oh forgot to mention that the regular price of a domain name is 7 bucks each.I think amazon also has these kinds of discounts scattered all over the net. It’s just a matter of “googling” the right keywords. I know lots of people know this already but for some, this will really help a lot.

Mental stress can really wear even an athlete down. Even though you get regular exercise, or if you have an active lifestyle, when you face very tight deadlines, you will surely feel your body getting weaker and weaker. In my case, when I am under a lot of stress, I get skin allergies and rashes, which is not weird by the way. I have seen other people with the same situation too.Anyhow, as my manager says, stress is just a matter of perspective. If you think you are pressured, but you are happy with your work, you certainly wont feel the stress. Which reminds me of something I read in an article called “Music therapy”. The article talks about the benefits of listening to music when stressed out. In summary, music as some positive effects on our brainwaves and bodily rhythm. My boss also agrees with this so he allows us employees to use MP3 players while working. Even I agree to this. Listening is a passive sense and it does not really distract your thinking, provided you do not listen to Justine Beiber. Peace! Hehehe

It’s been a month now since I’ve join my second company. I really love my work right now. I literally get paid for doing something I love.

And my COO, Lee Ann, is the best! She’s the type of boss who thinks it’s very important that her managers do not get burned out with overtime. To her, anything that can be delegated should be delegated. Any tasks that can be improved for it to be accomplished faster should be improved. She wants us to just supervise and do strategic planning. She also ordered us to inform her whenever we feel like we’re drowning or going to be burned out before we drown or burn out.

Of course, there will be times where we will need to do over time. Like what happened to me – I worked for two weeks straight including weekends - first time I did in this lifetime. I can already feel myself getting fat due to lack of exercise that I’m now close to buying apidexin just to keep myself from blowing up.

However, I’m so relieved that Lee Ann’s not in favor of killing her managers with too much work (unlike my CEO in my previous company). During our operations meeting, she said there’s no need to prove ourselves to her because she already knows our capabilities. Thank God! I don’t want to be like the other managers who work 13 hours a day every day. I never really did get that. For me, the more you spend working after your scheduled work hours means the more inefficient you are. You should be able to finish your tasks within work hours.

Now, whenever Lee Ann calls for overtime on a weekend and it’s not really that crucial and I do feel burned out, I can say, without guilt, as my friend Mark had advised, that “I’d love to, but I already have plans for the weekend. I’m willing to work extra hours during work days though.” ^_^

After the storm had passed last week, aside from the usual damages to our trees, the only downside was the blackout in the entire city. It was okay though, because there was no work the next day and I get to have one of those few rare moments where I’m able to hangout on our roof top and enjoy the brilliance of the stars and moon. I call this moon bathing.

Thanks to the blackout, the stars that night were shining more radiantly than usual - literally looking like loose diamonds that you can easily pick out one by one.

I remember in our previous house/condo where I had to share my room with my sisters; during my I-need-space times, I found refuge in the condo’s rooftop at night. It became my place of solitude. Now that I have my own room, basking in the moon and stars glory has been very rare for me. I should do that more often. It’s very uplifting.

On a rainy, almost stormy afternoon, while having lunch with my friend and office mate Wendi at this nice Tempura restaurant, we got into talking about the big flood that damaged several villages last September which buried a lot of houses under water. It turns out that her grandparents’ house was one of those that were affected.

Wendi shared that no one was hurt and most of the damages in their house have now been repaired. The only problem was the fact that all the documents, textbooks, and even their highly valued pictures plus the negatives are now beyond restoration. I guess nowadays, having a digital camera can be handy in preserving those “Kodak moments”.

I remember my friend Mark who doesn’t like taking pictures on the context that he treasures everything with his memory. I agree with him. However, it’s still nice to have mementos to share to your friends, children and grand children someday, don’t you think?

On my way home, while crossing the street from my office, I saw Katherine, a high school classmate. We were both shocked to see each other. It’s been exactly 10 years now since we graduated high school. But she was more so because I looked completely different – like I’ve gone through a major makeover. She literally gushed about my appearance.

You see, I used to be somewhat boyish, plus I had lots of pimples! Katherine’s facial skin is also pimple prone and unfortunately for her, she still hasn’t found the right acne treatment for her skin type even after trying the top 10 - acne products in the market.

We decided to have lunch that day and got into discussing how I achieved my pimple-free, clear, smooth skin. I told her that aside from taking a daily dosage of vitamin C and E, I have a great dermatologist that really looks into my skin type and problem. I ended up referring her to my dermatologist and setting up an appointment for her after our lunch break. Hopefully, her pimple problem will be gone the next time we our roads cross paths again.

Keep this in mind especially when you are tempted to try a new product or a new remedy you read or heard about. If you try anything without doing the least bit of research and knowing the condition of your skin, your skin might just end up worse than before. So, I repeat, not all acne treatments are good!

So, how do you know if it is a good acne treatment? First, if reputable people or websites are saying it, like medical websites or websites of naturopathic doctors. This is one way of assuring yourself that indeed not only are the acne treatments recommended effective but also safe.

Also, know the condition of your skin. Is it sensitive? Do you have allergies? Find out products or home remedies that are good for and not harmful to your skin.

With a little research, you will find the best acne treatment for you from all of the acne treatments you read or hear about.

How do you know the best quick weight loss plan for you? The answer is – it depends. You can know by researching and finding out the plan that best suits your needs and your lifestyle. However, there are some tips that can be considered universal across almost any quick weight loss plan.

One tip is to eat healthy – more natural foods and less processed foods. Processed foods are the ones usually high in fat and calories. Also, they are not good for your body in the long run. Eat foods closest to their natural state, particularly raw vegetables and fruits.

Also, do not starve yourself. Starving yourself can actually slow down your metabolism (and thus, slow down the burning of your fat) and even cause you to binge on that chocolate cake later.

And, remember to exercise! Find out the best exercise for your diet plan. Cardio exercise is usually enough for weight loss, though.

Smoking can be someone that makes or breaks a person.

It’s something that can get you hooked easily, and the sad part is, too much of this activity can get you various illnesses such as cancer of the lungs and some other things. I have heard that moderate smoking actually has its benefits, but I’m not entirely sure.

Smoking can be one great way to meet people. Most smokers share their light to strangers with a smiling face.

I guess it’s safe to say that if a smoke shop exists, then there are many smokers in the area.

Just make sure to remember that too much of anything is bad, so smoke moderately!