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Showing posts from June, 2018

Food, Beverage and Medicine's Shelf Life

How important is an item's shelf life to you? Does it really matter? What if, for some reasons, some bad people changed the expiry dates? I viewed one documentary on some medicines with some men erasing the expiry dates with an acetone and then stamping new dates on the products packaging. Where is their conscience? Are they not thinking that many people can possibly die because of their greed for money? Or perhaps they read Harvard Health Publishing of Harvard Medical School ("Drug Expiration Dates -- Do They Mean Anything?") that " the effectiveness of a drug may decrease over time, but much of the original potency still remains even a decade after the expiration date ". So it is important to check the manufacturing date. Few years back I had a flatmate who was always excited when she purchased processed foods at very much low prices. She always looked for those items with shelf life soon to finish. Maybe it was also one reason she always suffered f...

How to Have More When You Have Nothing

I viewed some financial gurus or life coaches' videos inviting viewers (through sponsored Youtube advertisements) to join their free webinars. As a come-on, they show what they have purchased (big houses, luxuy cars, travels, etc.) by applying time-tested wealth-generation systems, which they say, took them many years to learn so prospects do not have to go on long bloody routes and many trial-and-error cycles. They offer wealth generation courses for a substantial amount of money.  They say --  "Money will not make you happy but lack of it will make you unhappy". Of course participants get very interested because of the very convincing presentation and there are testimonies, too. Mmm. Then some of them say, "OK, mentor me, please, and I will pay you after I generate money from your system. I am poor."  The wealth gurus say, "If you don't have resources, you can be resourceful." A wake-up line? See these people are millionaires or even bi...

Master of Public Health

The degree of Master of Public Health obtained from the leading university in our country, University of the Philippines Manila (College of Public Health) is a new milestone to my youngest daughter who turned 27 last 14 June 2018. It was her graduation this morning. The online website of the said university shows the following subjects as  core courses  in the curriculum for Master in Public Health  --  principles of epidemiology ;  principles of health administration;  practice of health administration; man, health and environment 1 & 2;  field practice;  research methods, and; public health education. I cried in joy and with a grateful heart thanked God for this huge blessing that despite all tall challenges she reached that far in her quest to make a difference in her and our lives as well as others'. How time flies! We can only connect the dots between yesterday and today to understand passion and purpose in life, and where the...

Goal: 'Vulnerable' to 'Stable'

There are many of us who feel vulnerable, silently enduring what life throws us. Life is a choice -- but when other choices are worse than the present situation, you will choose the lesser evil. When you are vulnerable, it's either you stay in the dark or go outside bravely.  Time is the most dominant resource so you lose a lot of opportunities when you stay in the dark day in, day out, on the same status.  If you go out,  you will be exposed to the possibility of being harmed. It is at your weakest or most vulnerable moments that you will be attacked by visible and hidden enemies physically and / or emotionally.  You must be a wise and fierce warrior with undefeated spirit to rise. The highest wastage in life is that time between (from-point) when you are most vulnerable and cannot utilize your talents to the maximum, and (to-point) when you become the person you must become. Unfortunately, time cannot be recycled and can never be carried over to the next d...

Random Thoughts on Creating and Supporting Entrepreneurs in the UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is ranked as 21st top nation on the World Bank's latest Ease of Doing Business report as per an article published in the Gulf News.  With the government announcing some exciting news recently, many people are waiting for more updates. For one, the investors find it very attractive to have a ten-year residency visa which will allow them to grow their businesses in an innovative way. Some of the measures to be taken as announced are replacing the bank guarantee of AED3K / employee with an insurance policy for some entitlements for an amount of AED60 / year only. Others are cut down on red tape, a more 'relaxed' business ownership rules (investor can own 100% of the business), and reduced registration and operating costs, among others. More will be announced later. This ease in doing business in the UAE is one major element in attracting people to self-employment or investing in viable businesses. Creating more businesses will defini...

People of Determination: What is Your Quest Story?

One of my favorite songs is "The Impossible Dream" .  See the lyrics which I memorized when I was in high school as our YDT (Youth Development Training) teacher required us to do. To dream the impossible dream To fight the unbeatable foe To bear with unbearable sorrow To run where the brave dare not go To right the unrightable wrong To love pure and chaste from afar To try when your arms are too weary To reach the unreachable star This is my quest To follow that star No matter how hopeless No matter how far To fight for the right Without question or pause To be willing to march into hell For a heavenly cause. And I know if I'll only be true  To this glorious quest That my heart will lie peaceful and calm When I'm laid to my rest And the world will be better for this That one man, scorned and covered with scars Still strove with his last ounce of courage To reach the unreachable star. When I was in college...

Create Entrepreneurs, Create a Paradise of Peace

How can we have peace? How can we end war and poverty? We are all products of evolution and by now we must have learned a lot from the lessons our ancestors left us. We are all connected without time and distance barriers. The internet offers vast information and serves as a level playing field for all. But again, why many people find it difficult to survive and many people fight against each other? I belong to 'sandwich generation' . After graduation and finding a gainful employment, I did my best for heaven and earth to meet so I could provide support to my sickly parents, brother and children. In our times, in our locality, there was no massive financial literacy program unlike now that young generations have easy access to information and tools to navigate them to that path to create and manage wealth. So my thinking was always to find a good job. But when I got tired working like a horse day and night, almost seven (7) days a week, the enterprising part of m...

That Forgiving Spirit

A Filipina mother and her three (3) children aged 7, 5 and 2, overstayed in the United Arab Emirates as they were fooled by a person they trusted to renew their visas. Overstaying fines rose to AED714,200 and the load was too heavy to bear. But yes, there is a solution to every problem. There is light at the end of the tunnel. From that amount, it was reduced each to AED4K. Thanks to the 'forgiving spirit of the UAE government' , next to God's grace. Thanks also to the multi-awarded international lawyer, Atty. Barney Almazar , who guided them every step of the way since they sought his legal support. Last Sunday, 10 June 2018, the family boarded on the plane back to the Philippines. They want to come back to Dubai which they consider their second home. It's timely as the article was published in the leading newspaper in the UAE, Gulf News , the day before the 120th Philippine Independence Day, 12 June 2018. It is really a horrible experience to 'live in fe...

How Can We Save Depressed People?

It is alarming that many lives were claimed by depression. Most people think that those who died of suicide were weak because it was their choice -- as if they still had full control of things.  But we cannot tell what really happened to people who committed suicide if few minutes or seconds before total withdrawal they still had that 'choose' choice or nothing at all except total darkness, all black hole.  "It seems wise to avoid judging the self-destructive actions of others," Larry Culliford says in 'Psychology Today'.  " Depression  is a complex combination of genetic, biological, environmental and psychosocial factors -- and is difficult to understand ," according to Markus MacGill, in his article published on Medical News Today. The same article says that depression is 'a loss of joy and interest in doing something' . There is a descriptor -- 'persistent ' -- which means it is continuous for six (6) to eight (8) m...

Investing in Real Estate

Investing in real estate is one of the best ways to create passive income in the future. More millenials, and surprisingly, many women are now interested in buying properties for investment purposes. " Real estate investment provides multi-faceted investment returns ," according to  James Kimmons . Now that for certain job categories of professionals and for investors the UAE will allow 10-year residency visa, many prospective real estate investors may consider buying their own. I passed the real estate brokerage exams in the Philippines and was able to sell some condo units, house and lots, and memorial park lots. In 2007-2008 I managed to pay for a condotel unit in our place for some months from my salaries and commissions but stopped during the crisis. It so happened that the developer also did not continue the construction, and asked me to choose between a unit in the existing hotel or another for a new development plan. I chose to refund it and after many ...

Can We Feed One (1) Billion People?

My son sent me a website URL regarding a contest on ideas about feeding one (1) billion people. Food is man's basic need. Sad to say there are billions of people across the globe who are hungry, starving, malnourished and many of them die. Tony Robbins , an American author, entrepreneur, philanthropist and life coach, has a goal to feed one billion people in eight (8) years . He himself experienced how it was to be hungry so when he reached his financial goals he wanted to pay it forward in terms of feeding programs. For Muslims, being hungry for 11-16 hours or fasting daily during the holy month of Ramadan is one of the pillars of Islam for their spiritual growth. The families eat together to break the fast at night time or early morning. Many of them share foods with relatives, friends and employees, extending to the less fortunate ones through charitable organizations. In the United Arab Emirates you cannot see hungry poor people begging for foods on the streets.  If...

'Art is Life and Life is Short'

We hear the idiom 'art is life and life is short' which means that the life of art is longer than human life.  Phrases rearranged and 'life' is replaced with 'long',  ' life is short; art is long ', known to be the famous saying of Greek medical doctor Hippocrates means 'good work takes a long time to accomplish'. Taken together, 'art is life' and 'art is long', a good artwork (which takes long time to finish) has a life longer than human life. When I was young, my mother always took me to church regularly -- Wednesdays and Sundays. I admired the paintings which symbolized some hidden meanings, on the church ceiling. At an early age, I connected some interpretations in my mind -- and formed stories which the artist wanted to convey to viewers. It was a hugely transforming experience for me -- to live many, many years ago by just looking at the images. Artworks with angels and clouds inspired me to glorify the gift of life. ...

"Wasting of Women's Talents Must Cease"

Here I am in a four-cornered room, thinking of many things that I can do considering my talents, but I cannot utilize to the fullest due to some obstacles which are not just in the mind but real. I am woman -- I know I have a power inside me yet I feel vulnerable. There is an interesting article published in Gulf News, "In the Middle East, Momentum for Women Must Pick Up Speed" written by Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, dated 31 May 2018. Very timely, indeed, that I saw this article few minutes back. I am inspired to read similar write-ups promoting advocacy on importance of empowering women by giving them solid support. Can we quantify wasted women's talents? Maybe we can in terms of lost opportunities. Or can we enumerate wasted women's talents if we cannot quantify them? There are women who are full-time mothers and housewives, either by choice or by tradition or both. We know that being so is indeed a tiring unpaid job for many women. For some they ...