Too bright? Use blinds!

When my dad was here in Europe, he complained about the long brightness which affects his sleeping patterns.  Well, it was summer so the days were longer.  Even when it was already 8 or 9 in the evening, it’s still very bright outside.  When we went to Finland, it was even worse coz it never seems to get dark there.  We usually tend to sleep very late sometimes even past midnight and wake up late in the morning coz of that.  Even my small nephew refuse to sleep at 7 or 8 PM coz he argues that its still morning.  We can’t blame the little boy coz we ourselves are having a hard time sleeping.



The solution to this problem is putting Blinds on the windows.  Window Blinds can shield the interiors from the brightness outside thus making the room dark.  When it’s too bright, you gotta put blinds!

Choosing your web host

With the growing number of websites created each day, the demand for web hosting has dramatically increased too.  Web hosting companies have to make their plans more attractive because of the tough competition.   They can do this by offering quality service, lower price rates, free setup, unlimited email and many others. 
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Where is home?

I have come to love our life in this flat in Cz, with my hubby and little girl. But in my heart I still am dreaming that someday we can transfer to a house we can call our own home and that would be in PH. But there are many lovely residential houses here in Prague as well that are suitable for raising a family.  Anyway, when my parents were here on a holiday last month, we passed by a quiet residential area. Dad jokingly told us that he wanted to buy a house in that area coz the houses in that area look so nice.

But life can be unpredictable. Like my big sis who moved in to Finland coz of her hubby’s new job. Sometimes I can’t help thinking what if hubby’s workplace changes. Although the possibility is zero, but what about if he suddenly got a job in New Jersey and we have to move there for good? Then we need to search for a place to stay in New Jersey. Searching online for Real Estate New Jersey would be a good starting point for us since we are here in another continent. An online site like realestate.com would be helpful in our search. I have browsed thru their website and got a great deal of information. But I hope we won’t be moving there coz even though New Jersey is the wealthiest state in the U.S, it is a densely populated state.

Could have been

Even before we went to Finland, my sister and I were talking about the possibility of cruising to Stockholm, Sweden. Stockholm is just a boat away from Turku, a city in Western Finland. They were there months before and she already knows what ship to take and the hotel to stay in.

Prior to their trip to Stockholm, she was already scouring the net for cheap hotels. Well it wasn’t really cheap as there isn’t anything cheap in Europe, but compared to other hotels, it was the most affordable she can find which is clean and located just within the city center. She also offered to take care of my little one when we take the trip.

Unfortunately, when we were already there in Finland, my sister got sick and had to stay in the hospital for a week. Our travel plans were cancelled since we couldn’t leave her kids alone by themselves in the house without any adults to watch over them.

Anyway to make up for that loss, we decided to visit other cities instead and so far we’ve been to Vienna and Berlin already. It would be nice if we can also go to Spain; maybe in Barcelona or Madrid. Cheap Madrid hotels can be searched with the help of destinia.com, a Spanish online travel agency that’s has recently launched an English website. They have many listings of different hotels in any destinations actually, not just Spain. We’ll see what happens to our travel plans as the days come.

SOS update

I checked my inbox last Sunday and I finally got a reply from “her”. Her is the daughter of mom’s friend  who’s asking for monetary help.

I almost choked when I saw the amount she needed. It’s more than $500! Well it’s actually the tuition fee for one semester which she probably wants me to shoulder. I thought she was asking help only for the midterm fees, but to my utter surprise it seems she expects me to help her with the whole tuition fee. Hehehe  Just because I’m living in CZ doesn’t mean money flows easily like the waterfalls here. I think I’ll just give her some options to solve her problem.

I hope her husband can find a job the soonest!

On my sister’s Prague vacation

Time indeed is running by so fast.  It seemed only a few days ago when my sis and I were talking how much time she has to tour around Czech Republic and look! She has less than 3 weeks left of her Europe vacation!

We’ve been out almost every day last week and since our return from Germany on Sunday night, we’re still too lazy to go out and resume our Prague tour.  There are still sooo many sights to see even in Prague alone.  We haven’t gone yet to Karlstejn Castle, Petrin Hill and the tower, the Prague TV Tower, National Museum, National Gallery, etc. etc.  That’s a handful already.  Even just the Prague Hotels alone merit one’s attention as they’re really great works of architecture among the other hotels in the world. And my sis also wants to go back to the places we have visited before such as the Prague Castle and Vysehrad.  Geez!  We’re really running out of time! Then I plan to take her out of Prague too for other noteworthy places of interest to see such as the Cesky Krumlov.  Enough talk for now so we can plan our upcoming itineraries for the following days to come.

All talk, no pictures

Any blogger must know how tasking it is to put pictures in the blog.  First you have to pick which ones would like to share, then resize, upload to your photo gallery, then add to blog, place caption, etc.  All that takes a lot of time!  That’s why I seldom add pics here.  But lately I’ve been talking about our tours and trips and you might ask, “where are the pics?”  So okay, if you want to see SOME of them, they’re posted in rainydazeee. So go there!

The Pragma Systems

I doubt if you know this already but let me tell you that some of these companies (they might even be your favorite brands!) Target, Dell, Sony, Coca Cola and Bank of America have one thing in common.  And what’s that?  They count on Pragma Systems for their Telnet solutions, window servers and other technical services.  Pragma is actually a favorite among the majority of Fortune 500 companies in the USA and worldwide too. They rely on Pragma because of its secure system which allows them to connect to computers within their local area networks safely.  If your company is in need of the remote access, you too can trust Pragma’s software and be confident in the knowledge that all your company’s important information are safe. 

Who said so?

I told myself I’ll be sleeping early tonight.  But no!  It’s past midnight and I’m still up.  What’s keeping me busy?  Well, I’ve got maaaannnyyyyy things to do which has been put off for some time coz my schedule kinda hectic.  Then earlier the little girl was “pestering” me so I wasn’t able to finish everything.  Now that she’s asleep, I’m taking advantage of the quiet and free moment. No sleep for me yet!

A different kind of head turner

Aside from pretty and voluptuous babes in the streets, what else makes a man’s head turn? Recently when we were walking in the streets in Berlin, hubby stopped and took out the camera to take a shot of a sleek and black top down Jaguar. Yes dear, it’s not only us girls who stop and stare at cool cars we see (then glance quickly at the man behind the wheel if he’s as handsome as his car). If you see a Jaguar XFR wheezing through the streets I bet you’d admire its beauty too. It’s not yet out in the market but according to the Cool Super Cars blog, this new sports car will debut next year on January in Detroit Auto Show. That’s something to look forward for auto fanatics of course. Well Jaguar XFR, see you in the streets next year!

The day after…

I’m still feeling groggy from yesterday’s trip to Germany.  We woke up early in the morning, drove almost 4 hours, walked on foot most of the time around Berlin which lasted until night at almost 10pm.  We left the city at 11 and we were back on the road to Prague for another 4 hours.  Hubby had to stop in a rest area for a short nap. He said an hour would be enough but he slept so well that it took two hours in all.  If I didn’t wake him up, we could have been there till brightness came.  Anyway, we arrived Prague at about 5am.  You can imagine how tiring our Sunday was, most especially for hubby who still has to work. Weeeee!

Bid for a mac and help the charities

I seldom buy things that are necessary especially if they’re expensive.  Many times my hubby asked me if I wanted a new mobile phone or a new notebook but I always tell him that I don’t care if my gadgets are not the latest as long as they function perfectly. 

But if the price is really good such as the macbookair that’s being auctioned off at Auctions 4 a Cause, I might waver in to the offer.  They are auctioning off a brand new apple macbookair and other electronic products at 80-90% off the retail price.  The bid item will be awarded through the highest unique bid auction process. And the best thing of all is that they give 25% of the proceeds to charity.  There’s a possibility of paying for only $10 for that notebook.  What do you think?

If you want to know how to join and how it’s done, simply log in for auctions4acause.comIt’s a different kind of shopping coz you will be doubly happy; first reason would be: you’re happy that you have a nice new notebook and second would be that you have helped charities with your purchase.  Registration is for free and you will automatically receive a FREE auction bid credit.  Give it a try!

SOS

When I was in Finland, the song SOS by The Jonas Brothers was played excessively on Disney Channel.  My little nephew caught the SOS bug; the song eventually became his favorite.  He likes to sing it all the time, even if he doesn’t know the lyrics fully well.

Anyway, on a different note but still on SOS,  I got an email from long-time neighbor.  She was asking financial help for her daughter’s tuition. With a husband who lost his job last month and many kids to spend for, they can’t afford to pay for the midterm fees. Part of her letter says:

Want to play superwoman with me? Email me for your donation! hehehe

On e-commerce

Many opportunities are in the internet these high-tech days, with technology development at a very fast pace. We have observed that various innovations are coming up beaconing people to do more business with ecommerce technology.

There was a time when my siblings and I had thought to put up an online store, especially as we are here in the internet most of the time. However, so many things bugged us down. Many problems cropped up, even as were yet studying and planning it.

Just lately, I’ve come across a software on ecommerce technology which sounds like it may answer many of our questions. This Storesonline Ecommerce Opportunity may still entice us back to the shelved plan. We’ll see. Their website says the software incorporates many features to help entrepreneurs, like in customer relationship management, integrated online credit card processing, and so on. We have, however, to check with the online support which they have, 24 hours a day, 7 day a week chat, and e-mail customer support.

They also offer live training after the initial customer purchase in customers’ local areas. This would be a welcome customer after-sales support. Another feature of the software purchase is a customer service feedback and rating system to make it easy for the entrepreneur to evaluate each customer service interaction.

An add-on is a step-by-step CD and DVD training and an on-line Help System to assist customers with the navigation of the software.

Friday at home

Heh!  Everybody knows we’re supposed to go on a trip today.  But this morning hubby woke up late and told us he’s tired.  So our trip was cancelled.   We shouldn’t have gone out yesterday I guess coz he just got back home from his African trip that morning and then we pulled him out for a tour (hehehe, poor hubby).  I don’t know when we’ll reschedule it but for sure it won’t be this weekend as we’ve already filled up the days.

Holistic health retreat in Europe

A different kind of holiday is getting popular with fitness buffs.  Ever heard of fitness holiday?  You take a holiday in a special place where you’d be focusing on healthy lifestyle.  You will be given an exercise and nutrition program catered to your own needs with the main goal of incorporating six core values that includes stress management techniques, effective hydration and detoxification and high quality, organic nutritional diet ( to name some)  that will altogether become part of your healthy and active lifestyle. 

Want to know more about it?  Log in to Purescapes and find out about their fitness retreats in Europe designed to improve your well-being.

Shopping time!

We’ve been shopping today in a mall and were pleased that most shops were having a sale. You’d expect lots of people flocking to the mall to take advantage of the low prices but there were only few shoppers around.  Goody!   It was hard to resist the cheap prices beckoning us, so we heeded the call!  I don’t shop often anyway and it’s rare shopping in Europe with my sister who came all the way from Asia. So shop we did until we don’t have anymore money to spend and hands to carry our loot!  

Comfort and style

Dressing up in comfort is my top priority.  When I’m comfortable with what I’m wearing, it  brings out my confidence. That’s why whenever I shop for clothes I chose easy-to-wear styles yet fashionable too.  I admire women who can very well carry different kinds of outfit.  They look good no matter what kind of style they wear; even western clothing looks nice on them.

If you want to dress in comfort and style, do so with Cavenders!  They specialize in western clothing of all kinds. 

Wordless wednesday: city toilette in Berlin

A high-tech toilet in Berlin.  I forgot how much it needs to operate it, maybe half euro or 1 euro.  Anyway, it’s quite a relief having these city toilets around especially for travelers.

How it works:
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Tradeshows and exhibits

Back in my college years, my classmates and I enjoyed going to construction shows and trade show displays.  Aside from the different innovative products that are being displayed, it was also entertaining to watch the creative designs of the exhibit booths.  Exhibitors made sure that they attract the guests’ attention, so as much as possible they present their products in unique displays too.

The last product exhibit I’ve been to was two years ago presenting local products of Czech artists and they only used those simple exhibit counters and table top displays; nothing spectacular at all, but the products exhibited were excellent.  I bought several pieces of ceramic products which I brought home as gifts for my relatives.  Product prices at exhibits are usually lower compared when they’re already sold in stores, so it’s advisable to buy souvenirs there.

Anyway, if you want to see stunning trade show exhibits displays, visit godfreygroup.com for their variety of tradeshow products.