Living Solo: Spare Change All Over the Place

from the Bachelor Living notes of Renzie Baluyut.

If you’ve been living on your own for a while, you’ve probably developed this knack of keeping all your spare change in a little container- or in my case, several.

You'll be surprised how much cash you have just lying around the house.

It’s almost like clockwork: everytime I come home, I empty my pockets of pretty much everything in it- keys, my wallet, loose bills, handkerchiefs, receipts, etc.  And yes, all the spare change as well.

Not before long, you’d actually end up with a whole lot of spare change- if you gather them all up, you’ll be surprised you actually have a lot of cash lying around the house.

It helps to gather all that spare change in small trays.  And if you have enough, it might actually be worth sorting them out according to denominations, then arranging them in little bags (I used ziplock sandwich bags), then taking all those coins to the bank for depositing.

After spending an entire afternoon sorting and bagging, it turns out that I have several hundred pesos worth of change just lying around- that’s enough cash to get laundry done and do some groceries, with maybe enough left over for a quick snack at KFC or some place.

Sort out your spare change according to denomination. Bag and tag them to get them ready for depositing or spending.

Cheers, everyone.

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Globe Pisses Me Off Once Again

Renzie rants about terrible service.

For those of you who have been following this blog regularly, you might remember a time a few months back when I had a really bad experience with Globe.  You can read that story here, just so you have an idea what I’m talking about.

To give you a quick recap: shortly after flying backfrom LA last July, I come home to an internet-less and landline-less apartment– even as I’ve been diligently paying Globe the whole time I was gone.

It took Globe at least 2 weeks to get my connections restored, and that was with lots of bitching over their customer service hotline and service centers.

No, I think switching to PLDT would be an even greater hassle (plus they have their own customer service issues as well- worse that Globe’s), and I don’t think BayanTel serves our area.  So I really have no choice but to stick to Globe’s crappy service.  Lesser of two evils, indeed.

So anyway, Globe is at it again:  since last week, I’ve had no landline nor broadband at home.  The call center running their customer service group is hardly any help- all they do is give you the usual spiels of “systems upgrading” or some other crap like that.  We’ve really heard that all before, haven’t we?  Stupid answers like that only serve to piss off paying customers like me.

At least the tech team has been mildly helpful:  they advised me that something is wrong with a cabinet in the area, but then they’re really just taking their sweet time getting my connections fixed.  And that really just pisses me off.

So here I am doing my blogging, email and Facebook from a nearby internet cafe.  Ack.

What’s wrong with these assholes at Globe?

That’s it.  I’m terminating their services as soon as I visit the service center at Greenbelt next week.

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Bring Your Own Entertainment

from the Travel and Leisure notes of Renzie Baluyut.

My girlfriend, Cristina had recently left for Los Angeles to start a new chapter in her life.  She’s finally joining her mom and her sister as her immigration papers have finally pushed through, right on time for Thanksgiving.

I’m actually following her to LA next week, as I got plans to set up a couple of business ventures and explore opportunities as a new media mercenary and all-around entrepreneur.  And yes, we do have plans of settling down in the US as well.

Cristina and the Chloe

Anyway, Cristina took Philippine Airlines for her flight to LA and was pretty much dissing their options for in-flight entertainment, which was something more like an In-Focus screen put up right in the center of the cabin, unlike other airlines which provide personal screens where you can access your choice of viewing, listening or gaming from your own seat.

Note to self: avoid taking Philippine Airlines.  At least until they beef up their in-flight entertainment options, and I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.

Our personal choice of digital media player is Creative's Zen Vision M. Holds 30 gigs worth of music, video and pics. Real handy for those long trips.

Fortunately, she was thankful she packed her media player- a Creative Zen Vision M- which allowed her to listen to New Wave and Grey’s Anatomy music, as well as watch her shows- Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, the pilot episode of Frisky Dingo, a few episodes of Fear Itself, among others.

Which is a lesson for us all, particularly so when you’re doing quite a bit of travelling: always bring your own entertainment.  Or at least something to keep you busy on those long trips or layovers in-between flights.

Personally, when I travel, I bring…

1.  The aforementioned Creative Vision M, which is loaded with at the very least, a whole crapload of songs meticulously arranged in playlists- new wave, classic rock, coffeehouse music, soundtrack music, etc.

It also has at least a couple of movies, or a few episodes of TV shows I feel like catching up on.

My Creative Vision M also has podcasts, videos, pics and nice little clips from The Soup or Attack of the Show loaded on it.

Incidentally, I also have an iPod, which I load up with newer (circa 2008) songs.

2.  A couple of books.  I use long flights to catch up on my reading.  The last time, I packed myself Jay Conrad Levinson’s Guerilla Marketing, and my ever-trusty copy of Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power.  Never gets old for me.

3.  Sometimes, I bring me a couple of magazines.  For some light reading.  I have my own personal favorites- Blender, Wired, and Real Simple.  Great for catching up on what’s current without having to go online.

4.  A laptop.  A nice, lightweight, compact number like my Asus EEE PC is great for travelers.  I take it out on long layovers and just suck on the free wi-fi- like the time I had to hang out at the Taipei or Narita airport for a couple of hours.  Great for checking e-mail, blogging, or just plain surfing while you wait for your connecting flight.

5.  I’m seriously considering getting myself a Sony PSP or a Nintendo DS Lite.  I remember all the Japanese on this one particular Japan Airlines flight I took whip out some handheld gaming system as soon as the all-clear sign lit up.

6.  You know what would also be cool to have?  I’m thinking of getting me one of those nice little tablets which lets you read pdf files and e-books.  Should look into that as soon as I get to LA.

What kind of entertainment do you pack for yourself when you travel?

Cheers everyone?

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Cooking With Renzie: Chicken and Pork Adobo

from the personal cookbook of Renzie Baluyut.

Adobo is a staple Filipino dish, which is very simple and easy to prepare: you have chicken or pork (or both) stewed in vinegar, garlic and spices.  It is usually eaten with steamed rice, and can be prepared in a number of ways.

Adobo is an easy-to-prepare Philippine dish known for its long shelf-life and delicious flavor.

For the bachelor living solo, adobo makes for great food: not only is it easy to cook, it also doesn’t spoil easily.  Which means you can cook up a large batch and refrigerate the rest for weeks- though good adobo won’t have to sit in the fridge for that  long, since it gets eaten up fairly quickly.

To cook your own batch of adobo, you will need the following ingredients:

- 1/2 kilo pork, chopped into cubes
- 1 chicken, chopped in serving-sized pieces
- 1 cup cane vinegar
- 1 cup water
- soy sauce, 3 tbsps
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 pieces bay leaf
- peppercorn, or freshly ground pepper
- canola oil

Toss the chicken, pork, garlic, bay leaves and pepper into a pot.  Pour in the water, soy sauce and vinegar into the pot as well, but don’t stir it.

Bring everything to a boil.  Lower heat and let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until chicken and pork is cooked.

Separate the chicken and pork from the rest of the sauce.  Drain.

In another pan, heat up the oil.  Once hot, fry the pork and chicken in it for 5 minutes, or until nice and toasty.

Take the chicken and pork out, then pour in some sauce into the oil, according to how much sauce you want on your adobo.  Bring to a boil, reduce to your desired thickness, then pour onto your chicken and pork.

Enjoy!

Alternately…

1.  You can go with adobo that’s all chicken, or all pork.
2.  If you want to make adobong puti, skip the soy sauce, and throw in some salt in its place- just a dash or two.
3.  You can make adobo sa gata as well.  Instead of using water, pour in your thin coconut milk.  Once your adobo is boiling, pour in the thick coconut milk.
4.  You can skip the frying part, if you feel like it, particularly if you’re trying to do away with less oils in your diet.  The adobo can be perfectly fine without it.

To store the rest of your adobo- separate the meat from the sauce.  Do the frying/reheating bit only on the portion you’re about to eat, and keep the rest in the fridge.

Cheers, everyone.

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The Philippine Culture of Dependence

Here’s what I think: the reason why we have so many poor people in the Philippines is that our society has a pervasive culture of dependence and patronage.

It is uncommon for Filipinos, I believe, to take an active part in challenging the status quo, and be more involved in carving out a fortune for themselves- to be the master of their own fates, to be the architects of their own success.

It all starts at home: children don’t make an effort to leave the comforts of the household at age 18 to find work and carry their own weight.  In fact, the opposite is true- children will try to stay with their parents for as long as they can, even if they have their own family, and start to have their own kids.  On the flipside, elder adults don’t always plan for their retirement, and so many count on their kids to take care of them once they’ve grown old.

The concept of work for a regular Pinoy is hoping to find a company that would employ them for the rest of their lives- depending on a monthly, regular salary, which really is hardly enough for a comfortable lifestyle, and hoping that they also get all kinds of benefits and allowances, and that all their hard work would pay off- and lead to a lifelong stint with their employer.

Many Filipinos even depend on richer, more financially capable- often political- families to take care of them- which is why you have so many poor families sucking up to politicians to spring for anything from burial expenses to baptismal favors.

And it’s that twisted kind of mutally beneficial arrangement that forms the basis of Philippine politics, society and culture:  a patronage system where the rich and powerful keep the loyalty and support of the poor, who continually work for them, and the cycle just goes on and on.

It’s like the poor expect the rich- the ones with power and influence- to take care of their needs and provide for them

I believe it is precisely that kind of mindset that keeps 85% of Filipinos poor- the way of thinking that comes from a pervasive culture of dependence and patronage.

The same way of thinking that makes noontime variety shows so popular among the masses.  The exact same way of thinking that bloats up the Philippine bureaucracy.  The very same way of thinking that makes people think they can get away with breaking laws and simple ordinances.  The mindset that some higher power has their back, and that same higher power will take care of them.

It’s what this blog is all about- a life of self-reliance, and breaking free from a pervasive Philippine culture of patronage and dependence.

How else can we change our country and make things better?

1.  Make your own money.  Getting a job will serve that purpose for now, but your ultimate goal will be to come up with multiple income streams so you don’t have to be too dependent on any one source of cash.

2.  Live on your own.  Teach yourself to manage your own life and make your own decisions.  Break away from depending on your family.

3.  Get a life.  Remember there is life outside work.  Don’t allow your work to consume you.  Spend time with friends and loved ones.  Do the things you want to do.  Have some personal time.

4.  Expect no special treatment.  Show you’re a better person by not calling on your influential family connections.  Do things the right way.  Avoid getting yourself into trouble so you don’t get the temptation to call in favors.

5.  Build up your market value.  Keep learning new skills so you can secure yourself a more lucrative career.  Invest in books.  Network.  Turn your hobbies into money-making ventures.

Remember: change starts with us.  We have to take charge of our own lives and stop depending on others. We can make it our choice to break free from the Philippine culture of dependence and patronage.

And as we take care of our own needs, we shall then teach others to be just as self-reliant and independent.  It’s gonna take a while, I know.  So let’s get to it.

Cheers, everyone.

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