Planning My Next US Visit

Well, it’s confirmed- my flight to LA is on May 30.  That means I have roughly just a little over a month to get ready for it.  This time, I’ll be staying for about a month, then I’ll be flying back with Mom, my sister and maybe a couple more aunts to meet up with the rest of my relatives to attend my brother’s wedding in July.

A month is still quite a bit of time.  And yes, I do have a plan to work out.  The ultimate goal, really, is to prepare for our eventual move to the US- for Cristina and myself.  I’m more like the advance party, to figure out our options and to get some business done.

First of all, I gotta get me a social security number.  I’ll need this to get me a bank account, and get my credit going.

Next, I’ll need to get a license, and hopefully, a car.  I’m thinking of a Honda.  Just a preference, really.  Have you heard? Honda launches VCM 643-  supposedly it’s great on fuel economy.

Then I gotta work on my business prospects- hopefully close a few new accounts, attend a few trade shows, build up a new network of suppliers, contacts and clients.

Lastly, I gotta start considering getting some real estate.  No idea how the market is right now, but I know I’ll have a better feel for it once I’m there.

Definitely there’s lots of stuff going on in-between.  Need to get me a new PC, the DSLR I’ve had my eyes on for so long, a new digital handycam, meet up with some old friends, spend some time with mom and my sister, and just basically have a good time.

Wish me luck

Cheers, everyone!

Finding a Place of Your Own: Starting Out

One of the most daunting challenges of anyone who’s out to live independently is finding a place to stay. I’ve been living on my own since 18- and I’d like to think that I’ve tried out all kinds of living arrangements. Enough to pass on some wisdom to people who’s seriously considering the bachelor lifestyle.

Your options in terms of living arrangements totally depends on your incoming cash flow. A typical 9-to-5 white collar job in Metro Manila is barely enough. At Php10,000-15,000 a month for someone starting out in 2008, it does present itself as a challenge, even if you are single and without any dependents.

Let’s assume that you are making that much, and let’s assume you’re single, and you have no one else to worry about but yourself for now- don’t go blowing away your whole monthly salary on rent. Yes, you control your own cash now, but you’ll need to set aside some for your…

• Daily expenditures. This includes transportation, food, and even a modest allowance.
• Monthly bills. Electric and water. Also, your mobile phone/s, landline, cable TV and internet.
• Weekend money. You do need to spend some on yourself, you know.
• Savings.

So that leaves you with about 20 to 30% of your monthly income just on rent alone. What are your options?

If you have about Php2,000 to Php4,500 a month allotted for your own place, you may consider a couple of things:

1. You can rent a bedspace. A number of people rent out these modest-sized rooms which you actually share with 3 or more people, depending on the arrangements. Renting bedspace is not more than that: you have your own bed, some closet space for your stuff, maybe even a desk- not unlike dormitory conditions back in college.

Pros: it’s cheap. It’s available just about anywhere- particularly near business and commercial districts and schools/universities. Cons: you get what you pay for; so there’s not much in the way of privacy, you’re sharing a bathroom with everybody else on the floor, and if you’re unfortunate enough, you end up with roommates that go through your stuff.

2. You can rent a room. If you’re lucky enough, you might actually be able to find yourself a house that’s willing to rent out a room for your own. Sure you have your own privacy, and your stuff’s a lot more secure, but it might be a stretch to have your own bathroom. In any case, it’s a step up from #1.

Pros: Improved privacy and security. Cons: Just a little more expensive, and chances are, you’re probably still sharing a bathroom with others.

3. Get some friends together and rent an apartment. Sure Php2,000 to Php4,500 isn’t much, but if there are three or four of you, and if you pool your money together, you might actually get yourself a fairly good deal.

Pros: At least you get to pick who you’re staying with. Shared resources. Shared bills. Even better if you and your homies all get along. Cons: Gotta come down hard if someone’s late with rent or the monthly bills. Sometimes, you find out after a while that you don’t get along with some of your homies.

Remember, it takes some sacrifices at first. But as you climb up the ranks at work, or at least find other sources of income or improved livelihood, then your living conditions can improve as well. It’s all part of building character: you get to appreciate where your hard-earned money goes, and you get better at spotting opportunities and better deals for yourself.

Cheers, everyone!

This Is What I Dig About Saturdays…

I woke up not more than 30 minutes ago- and here I am hunkered down in front of my PC blogging away while I got Creative Media Player cranking out some of my favorite tunes.  At this very moment, Josh Verdes is singing “Home”.  There’s something Mayer-esque about his style, and this song in particular reminds me of “Your Body Is A Wonderland”.

I find Saturday mornings as a perfect time to catch up on my blogging.  As you all know, I probably have at least 5 active blogs going on right now, all on a particular topic.  I realized that, looking through the  ‘Manage Posts’ tab, it turns out that I tend to amass quite a number of unfinished drafts.  This blog alone has five entries that need some finishing.  So it seems I have my work cut out for me today :).

Days like these are great for reading other people’s blogs too.  Thanks to PageFlakes (and thanks to Andrian Lee of AsiaPay for so recommending it), it’s so much easier to keep track of all my favorite blogs.  I can be really all too focused on work on weekdays that I tend to miss out on some noteworthy events that may have transpired over the week- and a quick review of blogs serves as a good way to bring myself up to speed.

For instance, while I’ve been busy at the radio station, there seems to be some activity on Multiply on a post of mine on Yahoo’s 10 Top Recommended Restaurants in Metro Manila.  I like it when friends of mine and friends of friends take time to drop in and give me their two cents’ worth.  And from the discussion on that post, it seems I’ll go try out a couple new restos this weekend- Sala in J. Nakpil is probably worth checking out, and maybe this Chocolat in SM Mall of Asia, or Conti’s in Serendra.

So I’ll probably end up working on my backlogs for a couple hours before heading out to the gym and get some chores done.  Oh the usual- groceries, pet supplies, laundry- nothing too exciting.  Cristina and I have ourselves the rest of the afternoon/evening to go visit a spa, watch a movie and have a leisurely dinner.  Then I’ll meet up with my friends much later in the evening to just hang out.

And yeah, I’ll most likely write about those too.  So check you all out soon.

Cheers, everyone.

Heading Out To Singapore?

It was almost exactly one year ago when my girlfriend, Cristina, and I took a trip to Singapore. It was a charming little vacation we had- and if anything at all, it made me realize two things- one: I need to go traveling some more, and two: I wouldn’t mind working in a place like Singapore.

I was seriously considering moving there for a while- at least until things started happening for me here. Still, the prospect of moving to SG isn’t unlikely.

In fact, I have a number of friends there who are doing quite nicely. And good for them, I say. Singapore is a land full of opportunities, especially if you’re relatively young, skilled, have better-than-average English, and wouldn’t mind being away from family for a rather extended while.

One of the first things to consider when planning a move to Singapore is getting a place to stay. The HDB, or Housing Development Board of Singapore- is largely responsible for maintaining the country’s public residential real estate- which are mostly high-rise buildings housing a lot of flats or apartments.

There’s an online property search tool found in the Singapore Property site, which you can use to find great deals (or even investments, if you’re into it) on a comprehensive listing of available Singaporean property.

Just to give you an idea- some former radio colleagues of mine told me that it would be cool if you landed a job that paid you at least SGD2500/month. That amount of cash is more than enough to get you a decent place to stay, take care of your day-to-day expenses, allow you to buy some stuff and go out once in a while, maybe even have some left over for savings.

At least you have a general idea how much cash you’d be playing around with.

Let me know how your plans moving to Singapore are working out for you.

Cheers!

Fixing and Re-positioning This Blog.

To be completely honest, I may have neglected this blog a bit- it’s been weeks since I last posted anything here. Mainly because I’ve been working on a few other projects these past couple of months.

The good thing is that is has given me a sort of clarity- an understanding of what this blog is supposed to be in the grand order of things.

I was just reading Aaron Wall’s SEO Book the other day (which is a highly recommended read, if you haven’t checked it out yet), and it sorta gave me an idea of how to go about fixing up my site.

Simply put, I have to consider three very basic things:

1. Who’s my target audience? Or more like, who would I want my blog to appeal to?

2. What do I plan to offer? Exactly what kind of content do I plan to put in “The Life and Times of The Renzie Man?”

3. What makes this blog different from all the millions of other blogs out there?

Those things considered, lemme go ahead and figure out what this blog really is all about. Here we go…

My Intended Target Market.

Who do I want to talk to? I want to reach out to an online audience who’d like to know how it is to live in the Philippines, from the point of a 30-something dude. That means reaching out to all kinds of travellers, locals interested in the bachelor lifestyle, my fellow Filipinos abroad who’d like to have a glimpse of home, and pretty much anyone genuinely interested in me- though I can’t imagine who, and exactly what kind of people those would be :).

What Kind of Content Would Be in this Blog?

This blog is a personal blog masquerading as a lifestyle-oriented piece of work. So while it is definitely something for shameless self-promotion, it aims to share useful tips, articles and opinions along the lines of…

• Bachelor Living in Metro Manila.
• Living Life Easier - Work-life Balance Tips and other useful bits of info to get the most out of our 24 hours a day.
• Workplace Woes and Worries- Don’t quit your day job- but don’t let your life revolve around work either.
• A Healthier Lifestyle- my attempt at losing the extra weight at least.
• Fun in Metro Manila- where to dine out, great spas to visit, local destinations, etc.
• My current projects
• Making money online- a little extra cash is always good, wouldn’t you agree?
• What I’m into- again, it’s all about me.

My Unique Selling Proposition.

The truth is, the blog is all about me, and therefore, I am selling me. This blog represents one of my first efforts in blogging. It is a true online journal of me and my little misadventures, not some blog meant positioned towards a particular niche. Of course I will come up with a concept blog from time to time, or pursue some online project- yeah, I’ll be linking it up here, so anyone who’s also interested can also check it out.

Now that I’ve pretty much figured it out, let’s get back to blogging now, shall we?