Teleconferencing has become more accepted and acknowledged by big companies and organizations these days. Aside from savings in finances, business meetings via teleconferencing means no more travel, thus saving employees’ time and effort. For environmentalists out there, this means reduced carbon emissions.

Most employees would prefer not leaving their workplace, they feel that traveling for business reasons is just added stress, and more work is piled up after few days of being away from the office. Some employees though feel the opposite. They like to be assigned outside the office and meet colleagues from other branches or get together with clients and suppliers. I guess this type of employees are the travel bugs who don’t mind being in airplanes regularly as long as they have their netbooks or apple ipods with them during their trip.

• 0 Comments

If your bathroom has a small area, try these simple design tips:
1. Choose a footed or free-standing tub rather than the built-in type, it makes the bathroom look more spacious as more floor area is visible. Footed tubs come in different designs thus the right choice can provide a unique look to the bathroom.
2. Installing mirrors on the right places can expand the bathroom space as well.
3. Place plants or blooms on top of the bathroom shelves to provide a refreshing sight.
4. Use light colors for the bathroom tiles.
5. Maximize storage spaces to control bathroom clutter.

• 0 Comments

Have you ever encountered an alert or warning that your computer is infected and you are given a link to an antivirus software to download? Don’t fall for this trick, it’s a malicious program known as a “scareware”. It’s another kind of phishing attack (or bait) that’s designed to hook you into thinking it’s coming from a valid source.

If you see some unfamiliar popups, which look different from your antivirus software alerts, telling you to download this or that software, don’t click the link or you could be installing some program that could do harm to your data. It’s best to install an anti-malware program on your computer as well. Just like wireless security systems that keep our homes and offices safe, it’s important to keep your computer protected with the latest security software.

• 0 Comments

I’ve always had long hair since my college days, and until now. For me, it’s easier to maintain than having short hair or shoulder length hair as I can easily tie up my long hair in a bun or just let it down. I also don’t need conditioner or hair gel as my hair is naturally shiny. *wink* Usually, I have no bangs since I find them difficult to maintain and trim often.

And here are photos of Heroes star Hayden Panettiere with and without bangs.

Well, most celebrities would look good even with all sorts of hairstyling, right? But it makes me wonder if they also rely on top fat burners for maintaining their sexy figures.

I’d say Hayden looks cuter without the bangs. How about you, which look do you think suits her face best? Personally, would you prefer having bangs or do you find them bothersome?

Photos from shine.yahoo.com

• 0 Comments

Almost everybody uses the computer nowadays, right? And if your job requires you to stay glued to your desktop most of the time, then here’s an eye care tip: BLINK more often when looking at the screen. Why blink? According to eye experts, blinking gives your eyes a break, and keeps them from getting dry which is the usual cause for computer-related vision problems.

Most people using the computer are not aware about their blinking habits especially if they’re so engrossed with doing their research on diets that work or gobbling up the latest Hollywood rumor. Well, I myself often forget about my eyes when I am so much focused on working with the computer. Maybe there should be a frequent reminder popping out on the screen that says, “It’s blink time!”

• 0 Comments

If your answer is yes, then you’d be surprised to know that there really is no big difference at all. This topic was tackled on a health article of Manila Bulletin’s Medical Notes section based on a question from one of the readers. According to the health article, decaf has most of its caffeine removed, usually about 97%, and the removal process use solvents to extract the caffeine.

As the article says, “There are several ways by which coffee is decaffeinated. Some of these methods utilize solvents such as formaldehyde, methylene chloride or ethyl acetate in extracting the caffeine from coffee beans.” Weee…I was shocked to see that formaldehyde (used for embalming, right?) can also be utilized in the extraction process, we really don’t know what solvents the coffee companies use anyway.

Most of us would drink decaf thinking that we are avoiding the effects of caffeine such as increase in heart rate and blood pressure but these are just temporary. Studies actually show that these adverse effects also occur to both decaf and regular coffee drinkers. This might be because caffeine is not the main cause of these adverse effects, as this stimulating drink contains about 400 chemicals and the other ingredients present in coffee were not extracted during decaffeination.

My sis who used to be a coffee addict has long given up drinking coffee as it triggers hyperacidity and migraines for her. Thus, the effects of coffee vary among individuals. While others consider it a stimulant, something that keeps them alert at work, I know somebody who feels sleepy after few sips of coffee! IMO, if drinking coffee has no harmful side effects for you, such as migraines or increase in heart rate or blood pressure, then better go for the regular rather than the decaf version.

Incidentally, the decaffeination process leaves chemical residue which could trigger side effects such as allergies to the solvents used. Decaffeination could also dilute the health benefits of coffee especially its being a good source of antioxidants. While coffee is not known to be one of those weight loss supplements, studies have shown that those who drink more cups of coffee are less prone to develop diabetes.

Regular coffee, especially brewed, tastes much better than decaf anyway. So, which would you choose, regular or decaf?

Read more about the article here: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/236884/coffee-regular-vs-decaf

• 0 Comments

I’m fond of books and during my spare time, I would love to flip through the pages of a good book, lost in another story or earnestly absorbing a new learning. Like most book lovers, I’m used to reading a real book, not the electronic version or the e-book.

But here comes the e-book readers like Amazon’s Kindle, which was met with positive acceptance in the market. According to Wikipedia, “Amazon’s first offering of Kindle in November 2007 sold out in five and a half hours and the device remained out of stock for five months until late April 2008.” Nowadays, you can see a lot of e-book readers by different manufacturers.

So, I’m not disregarding an e-book reader from my list of gadgets to buy especially with the coming out of the Asus DR-570 Color E-Book Reader. This device comes with 5.7-inch OLED (organic light emitting diode) screen, with a high resolution of 768×1024 and a refresh rate of 0.03 which is faster than most e-book readers. With its 512MB SDRAM and 4GB flash memory, you can store a lot of books and articles inside.

So imagine reading up on the latest bestseller about business, getting lost on a romantic novel or learning about diets and fat burners on your e-book. The possibilities are endless; it’s like carrying a portable library with you. These e-book readers have screen that simulates a real page of a book so readers won’t really mind that what they’re holding is an electronic device.

• 0 Comments

With our desire to be healthy and fit, we tend to put restrictions on what to put on our plates. Isn’t it that after reading an article or two from food and diet experts, we’re very much determined to follow their advice? The need to eat healthy is good, but we also have to be careful about our attitude when it comes to “righteous eating” or we may be overdoing it and this becomes an eating disorder termed as orthorexia nervosa. Aside from the anorexics and bulimics, who obsess about the quantity of food, orthorexics obsess about the food quality and get anxious or depressed if they consume foods they label as “forbidden”.

According to an article by Joan Sumpio of the Manila Bulletin,

“Orthorexics believe that certain foods are impure, and obsessively avoid foods which may contain artificial colours, flavours, preservatives, pesticide residues, herbicides, genetically modified ingredients, unhealthy fats, foods containing too much salt or too much sugar, and other components. The way of preparation, kitchenware, and other tools used are also part of the obsessive ritual. The more restrictive and complicated the diet, the more an orthorexic is attracted to it.”

Thus, orthorexics are obsessively choosy about buying healthy food products that are low fat, low sugar, low carb, those that lower bad cholesterol, or any food that meets their “quality standards”.

It’s good to stick to our diet plans and exercise a lot of self-discipline when it comes to healthy eating, but don’t let this affect us excessively and emotionally. Life is to be enjoyed, sometimes we also have to be flexible about our goals, and that includes our eating habits, right?

• 0 Comments

I’ve seen a TV ad for a multivitamins about a mom going back to school, armed with books in hand, walking in the direction of a big modern university building with many students along the halls. Well, I can actually tell her to make her life a lot simpler by going to an online university, right? If you’re a busy mom with kids to take care of, and some domestic chores to attend to, getting an online degree is the best option. After all, you can study at your own pace, anytime and any place as long as there’s an Internet connection. You can even do your reports in a favorite coffee shop that offers free WiFi.
+ READ MORE

• 0 Comments

I love plants and spending time in the garden. Just like all plant-lovers, there’s something about the garden that makes me happy as I watch my plants grow, from seeds to small cuttings, to beautiful blooms and shrubs. If the best weight loss pills can do wonders to an overweight person, gardening for me is a therapy to the soul and I can spend hours just caring for our plants. I also make it a point to get to know some of the plants we have.

One of the attractive flowers we have in the garden is the Bangkok Kalachuchi. Its scientific name is Adenium obesum from the family of popular flowering plant Apocynaceae. Other names of this plant are the Sabi Star, Kudu or Desert-Rose. You can never miss the pretty dark pink colors of the plant’s flower petals as they greet you along the way. Here’s a photo of our Bangkok Kalachuchi at home:

According to a Manila Bulletin article (http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/238217/how-make-bangkok-kalachuchi-bloom), making the Bangkok Kalachuchi bloom requires the following:
1. Light - put the plant in a sunny location
2. Watering regularly - at least once every three days
3. Potting technique - use heavy clay pots and use potting mix of 1:1:1 garden soil, river sand and compost; potting mix should freely drain water to avoid root rot
4. Fertilization
5. Controlling pests and diseases
6. Propagation - by seed or stem cuttings

• 0 Comments