When the air becomes cold and winter is coming, it is good to check the furnace or other heaters to know if your house is ready for long winter. In order to save on utility bills, make sure that your furnace filters are clean and not plugged with dirt. Dirty filters make the appliance work harder and consume more energy with less output. To be sure that your appliances are on tip top shape, maintain these properly and inspect them regularly.
Nowadays, being a vacation spot means having different attractions. Gone were the days when hitting the beach means lying in the sand and soaking the sun or taking a deep in the sea. Now, people want something more. They want clubs for drinking and dancing at night and bazaars around the area to buy not just souvenirs but clothes and accessories too. Planners in Branson, a popular vacation destination in Missouri, realized this early on. A Branson vacation means variety. Not only is it considered the “Live Music Capital of the World” because of world-class and home grown musicians performing live on stage but there are also other kinds of performances like magic, comedy, drama, dance and acrobatics. Furthermore, children can enjoy visiting the different theme parks around the area. There are also museums, caves and caverns, golf courses and shopping centers. This is the place to go for family vacations because it offers attractions for both parents and children. What more could you ask for?
Our officemate who provides us with transportation to and from the office had an emergency surgery last Monday. The surgery was to remove his gall bladder because it had stones and puss. The first question somebody asked was, “Does he have Medicare plan? We know how expensive hospital bills are. Having a health plan helps defray expenses and if you are lucky, your plan can cover everything. When we went to visit him last Tuesday, Alvin looked very weak. Others were kidding him that he looked like a woman who just underwent a C section. Since it was a surgery and not just laparoscopy as we originally thought, then we have to assume he won’t be back to driving us soon. I have been commuting for the past few days and all I can wish is that he will get well very, very soon.
It seemed like out of nowhere she burst into the music scene with her extravagant costumes and over the top music videos. Lady Gaga has created a niche for herself in an already overpopulated world. Her songs Poker Face and Bad Romance are certainly airwave favourites. I first heard about her from my roommate. She is a fan and I’m sure she’d love to see Lady Gaga in concert. I wouldn’t mind receiving free lady gaga tickets myself. I’m sure her concerts would be more spectacular than her music videos.
This was a lucky day. I’m trying to save money because I had to pay some credit card bills. However, it seemed I would have to spend because I received a text message last night that Kuya Alvin, our service, was in the hospital, so I had to commute. Arnie, one of my service mates, texted me if I wanted to share a cab with her the next day. I replied affirmative because commuting is really tiresome. So I thought I’d be spending money that I should be saving instead. Then this morning when we met at our usual meeting place, her husband was there and volunteered to take us all the way to the office instead of just to the high way where we can get taxi. I volunteered to pay my part for the gasoline but she waived it away. Instead of paying more than my usual fare, I paid even less. I thought that was the blessing for the day but it turned out I was going to blessed going home also. I was able to catch a ride with the office transportation service to Katipunan but it turned out that it was bringing some equipment to Greenpark, which was just one ride away from our house. So instead of having to commute twice, I only had to do it once. I can say that I was very blessed today. God always finds a way to help.
For me, running out of money while travelling constitutes as a travel emergency. It is especially scary when you are in a foreign country with no friends or family who can help you. This happened to us in Beijing because our friend underestimated his expenses and borrowed from us but since we only brought enough we all ended up with no money. He was forced to withdraw from his credit card, which he did not want to do because interest and exchange rate fees were high. Unfortunately, the first time he tried to withdraw, no money came out although his bank sent him a text message regarding the withdrawal. We had to go back to the bank the next day to report it. After plenty of explanations and discussions, an agreement was reached then we went to another bank to make an over the counter withdrawal successfully. All’s well that ends well.
Technology is really great. I remember when I was a kid my grandmother used to constantly admonish us minimize opening and closing the refrigerator door. Of course, when you’re a child and you come in hot and thirsty from playing outside, the first thing you do is open the fridge to get cold water. When I was in high school, I saw for the first time in a cousin’s house a refrigerator where water can be dispensed without opening the door. How cool was that? I did not think about how the water got there, I assumed they filled it up with water every time the container inside ran out. It seems that I was working from a wrong perception. Now I realized that it similar to how a washing machine gets filled with water. A tube connects your water supply to your refrigerator. However, refrigerator filter is essential to remove contaminants from the water before you can drink it. You can have automatic supply of cold filtered water without having to fill up water containers and putting it in the fridge. Maybe this is also a cheaper alternative to buying a separate water dispenser and constantly buying gallons of distilled water.
