Insurance cancelled

I tried doing some housekeeping today when I found my dusty insurance papers - including two others (family insurance) I got for Mom and Dad. I had them cancelled a month ago and I thought I should verify if no billing was indeed reflected in my credit card.

I had to go over my bill envelopes and gladly, the prompt cancellation went well. Talking about insurance plan pros and cons, I wouldn't argue that pre-need policies provide benefits. I thought the plan offered to me was good enough. It was mainly a typographical error that prompted me to cancel it.

Having cancelled my policy, I lost my employee benefit package. I lost my paid days for events of hospitalization. Well, no regrets. Think about the hassle of having those typos addressed.

Nonetheless, I still commend my former insurance provider for the good customer service.

Blogsvertise

Blog + advertise and earn bucks!

I already had advertisements in mind when I started this blog. I wanted to write advertising articles -- to promote things I like. I know there are ways to monetize all this. Blogsvertise is one.

Their website writes:

Our Advertisers want YOU to mention and talk about their websites products and services in your blogs and journals. They want the publicity, the exposure, the Buzz! that online bloggers and internet journals can generate for their web site products and services. In exchange blogsvertise pays YOU in paypal per task/blog entry, for writing / talking about / mentioning their website in your blog!

No scams. Not bad. I know of someone who's already making some money with Blogsvertise so I thought of giving it a try.

eBuddy

This tool/service's instant-messaging-on-the-mobile-platform capability is what makes it outstanding.

eBuddy is a web and mobile messenger which supports various instant messaging services including MSN Messenger, Yahoo! , AIM, Google Talk and MySpace IM. A competitor to Meebo and Koolim, eBuddy offers tab mode setting to differentiate chat windows - a feature similar to tabbed browsing. It supports multiple IM networks in one interface but loses to Meebo in its inability to log into multiple accounts at once.

The absence of file transfer, webcam interface, QQ protocol, and skinning features are banes to eBuddy since other similar tools offer them. Meebo, for example, supports file transfers. It even stores chat logs.

It's still great though given its speed, user-friendly interface, and outstanding performance on the mobile web platform.

Manila isn't entirely what you read in abs-cbnnews.com or inquirer.net, Try Manilamail.com

This one's for every Filipino.

Online Philippine news easily equates to inquirer.net or abs-cbnnews.com. That's saying news about Filipinos and for Filipinos usually mean something negative (when it comes to politics and governmental affairs). I'm advertising here a good read. Visit Manilamail.com.

The site provides this description:

A reference point for understanding the Philippines and Filipinos. The site carries news and features, materials culled from Manila media and Postscript, a popular column of Federico D. Pascual Jr. in the Philippine STAR, the No.1 paper in the country.

The description smacks of conceit but I can let that pass. I've been reading it for months now and I can say it's worth the bandwidth. If you're tired of hearing so much negativity about Philippine government, Mr. Pascual offers alternative insights and perspectives. I still read (the generally negative and most often overly biased) abs-cbnnews.com and inquirer.net and I can say having Manilamail.com as an additional read somehow neutralizes things...or keeps sanity on board.

Philippine media today generally looks, sounds, and feels appalling. People like Che-che Lazaro and Dong Puno should be back on the helm or should be exerting greater leadership. Well, thanks to the Internet we always have access to resources like Manilamail.com.

Adios Netscape Navigator

The world's first commercial Web browser and arguably the launch pad of the Internet boom, will be leaving the web after a 13-year long run.

Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, Netscape's current keeper, said it decided to kill further development and technical support to focus on growing the company as an advertising business.

Here's how an MSNBC.com report writes: AOL pulls plug on Netscape Web browser.

Netscape faded away from the competition as Microsoft's Internet Explorer and the freeware Mozilla Firefox dominated the web browser market. I'm sure MSNBC's sounding like a victor learning about and reporting this. MSNBC.com is a joint Microsoft - NBC Universal venture.;)

New year, new jeers, new steers, new peers...

May the new year be great to one and all.

Jan 1, 2008 dawned and I witnessed the most (in numbers) and longest New Year fireworks display in our neighborhood.

The skies were so colorful (and smoky) and the city festive and rowdy. Awesome! Made me think everybody indeed got richer to afford beautiful fireworks in celebrating the coming of 2008. Progress and prosperity is in the air. It's time for a new year...for new cheers, new fears, new tears, new beers, new steers, and all the rest that rhyme and don't.

I noticed I haven't been promoting a lot of things here. I should be writing more adticles. So to start 2008 with a renewed focus on adticle blogging, let me share some of my favorite items.

Piccolo: great firecracker

This small, approximately two-inch long slimly-cylindrical firecracker blows loud enough to be called a firecracker but not strong enough to make you lose an arm or a finger. Cheap and omnipresent, it's one of the things I look forward to come year-ends. You see, I just realized I fear losing any of my fingers. These fingers mean my work and income.

Google

I just love Google. It promptly crawls my blogs.

Webnode

I'll be building a new website using this tool later today or tomorrow. This great website making tool brags a wide range of features. I hope I can come up with a great site using it very soon.

Coffee

I'm an addict of instant coffee. I prefer Nescafe's particularly its Protect coffee variety. Nescafe Protect claims to offer more antioxidants and health benefits.

Firefox

My blogs look their best with Firefox. I work with Firefox. I mail with Firefox...Youtube with Firefox...Google with Firefox...blog with Firefox.... I can't imagine the Internet without Firefox.

Freeware PC protection

Never did my PC crash having Avast, AVG, PC Tools Firewall Plus, and Lavasoft Ad Aware on guard. My PC also gets refreshed through regular cleanups with CCleaner, AdAware, and Eusing Registry Cleaner.

Digg, StumbleUpon

Get to discover a lot of new stuff on the Internet with these guys. Meet new friends and peers too.

Watching Fireworks

I think this is the best way to celebrate New Year. It's fun and spiritually (I'm sorry I couldn't think of any better term) gratifying. Try diverting all your partying and food budget to fireworks and be surprised how you don't get any fatter the way others do during the holidays.

Blogger

Push-button publishing...what you need when simplicity and content matter more.

Gmail

I'm obviously a Google fan. It's fast. It offers gigs and gigs of storage space. It has a powerful search feature.

eBuddy.com

Access multiple instant messaging accounts through a web-based interface. Similar to meebo.com, eBuddy allows you to have Y!M or MSN login via a web browser. The plus: it has a mobile device optimized version that I really love. I easily access my IM accounts through my 3G phone's web browser. It's web-based so no software needs to be installed.

Sleep trouble causes diabetes?

Now this one's bringing me worries.

Not getting a good night's sleep is a possible risk factor for diabetes according to a University of Chicago research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In a small study, nine (healthy) young adults volunteered to test the theory. They were prevented from sleeping or getting the deepest and most restorative type of sleep for three nights.

Researchers monitored volunteers' brain waves. As soon as volunteers started to enter deep "slow-wave" sleep, researchers sounded acoustic tones. If that didn't rouse volunteers, researchers spoke their names over the intercom or gently nudged them. Sleep was disrupted 250 to 300 times a night.

It was found that the volunteers' bodies did not use insulin as well as before: they needed more insulin to dispose of the same amount of a sugar solution. This reduced insulin sensitivity was comparable to the effect of gaining 20 or 30 pounds.

There had already been previous studies that concluded that sleep deprivation can increase the risk of obesity and diabetes but the University of Chicago study is the first to suggest that not getting the right kind of sleep could also increase diabetes risk.

The volunteers in study were aged 20 to 31. During the three-day test though, they slept like they were at their 60's or 70's. People in their 20's typically get 80 to 100 minutes of slow-wave sleep, while those over age 60 get less than 20 minutes. They related that they only remembered a few of the induced disturbances but they woke up feeling tired and cranky.

The researchers said that obesity and aging are two major diabetes risk factors. Obesity and aging also reduce sleep quality, thereby increasing the risk of diabetes.
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