Bad, Bad, BAD Philippine Postal Service

I have heard of stories about how unreliable the Philippine Postal Service or Bureau of Customs is. Stories like how packages with valuable items never get delivered, how post office employees charge the claimants ridiculous fees, and how recipients discover their supposedly-sealed envelopes already opened. I never expected I'd get to write my own TRUE story about it.

About four months ago, I watched an episode of Japanophiles on NHK World and just fell in love with Japanese woodblock prints. So I contacted the featured woodblock print maker Mr. David Bull (Oh my gosh! His woodblock prints are just sugoi! Please check his work.) and ordered a print from him. He was really easy to talk to and he even gave me a payment option that was actually a hassle on his part (I just felt extremely bad after finding out). Anyway, he mailed my print last April 21, 2011.

It's almost August ---that's almost four months and I haven't received it yet. It's just so weird that it's taking this long. My Time of Eve Card and NHK World Calendar were both from Japan and I got them in just a week after they were sent. The thing was they were sent via private courier service.

So basing on this experience, I am going to conclude that Philippine Postal Service is just UNRELIABLE. Whether the Philippine Post Office or Bureau of Customs employees are thieves or not, their system definitely sucks. Helllooo... four freaking months!?! Should I still really expect it?

So if you're from any other country and you want to send something to the Philippines, please-please DO NOT send anything via mail. Your country's postal service might be efficient but our country's is not. It's just too risky. I suggest you take the private courier companies (like UPS or Fedex) instead. Yes, they're more expensive but at least the parcels are trackable and they do arrive in time.

I guess this only proves how beautiful David Bull's wood block print really is. Someone from the post office or customs must have liked it as much as I did. What's sad is that I was supposed to give this to Naldo as a surprise present. I was always getting gifts from Japan and I wanted him to have one too. Hmp!

Bad, Bad, BAD Philippine Postal Service!!! Bad, Bad, BAD Philippine Bureau of Customs!

Cutest Freebies

KITKAT

(this box contains six pack of the two-finger bars and a desk organizer)

We think this Kitkat mini-bench desk organizer is perfect accessory to a chocolate-themed room or any desk. Scissors, markers, pen and post-it not included.

We will be updating this post every time so please feel free to come back and check our latest finds. You may also want to check Foods That Are Too Cute To Eat.

How to change Eee pc desktop wallpaper / background?

Here's a step by step instruction on how to change the wallpaper of an Eee Pc laptop. =D

Step 1: Click on the Dock. (little bar with arrow pointing down on your desktop)

Step 2: Click on Eee tools.

Step 3: Click on System settings. (system setting dialog box will appear, it will take a little bit of

time if it is your first time opening it.)

Step 4: Click on browse and locate the folder of your preferred desktop background then click

OK.

Step 5: Enjoy a new view!

PSP Skin/Cover (Cheaper)

Hello every one! Don't you find it funny when you find things you're not looking for anymore? We do. :-)

I think it was only weeks ago when Naldo and I bought a skin for my PSP. Yesterday, we found one that's not as expensive.

This PSP deco skin is by Caliber. It's only 66 pesos so the quality is not as good as the ones by Ideaskin (refer to previous post here).

But it'll do specially when you're just trying to cover chipped paint. We got this from Japan Home Center - Cash and Carry Mall. Not sure if they have it in all their branches but you can always check. They also have skins for Nintendo DS and I-pod. Hope this post helps. :-) Peace!

Sipahh Straw

I love anything strawberry. So when I came across this strawberry-flavored straw, I was like "EUREKA!".

On the packaging it says, "A great Australian invention." and at the back it says, "Dip a Sipahh into a glass of cold milk, sip and say... Ahh!". I did exactly all those. Lol!

So what happens the moment you sip is that the beads inside the straw give the milk the flavour. Each pack has 5 straws and each straw is used once only. It comes in different flavors. Prices may vary in different stores but this one I got for PhP35ish from SM Hypermarket-Milk Section.

Hope every one finds joy in the simplest of things. Have a great Friday!

PSP Skin

Yay! Today, Naldo and I got a new skin for my PSP. This one is by Ideaskin. We got it from SM Mall of Asia Department Store- toys section. It costs PhP349. They have assorted designs available for both PSP2000 and 3000. Mine is supposed to be 2000 but I didn't like the options. So I got the 3000 instead. The skin fits pretty well except for the (home-select-start) button area where there's just a tiny bit of silver exposed. But it doesn't matter, I really love my PSP's new look. By the way, the skin's use life is 12 months.

Happy gaming everyone but not too much! :-)

p.s. For a less expensive PSP skin, please click here.

DSLR's Factory DEFECTS To Watch Out For

We're in the digital world but not everyone knows 100 percent about DSLRs. Thank goodness for the internet, the numerous blogs and product reviews, we are somehow guided on what brand we ought to get.

Whether it's Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, or whatever brand is out there in the market, we want to have a camera that will work according to our preferences. Choosing which brand to get can be confusing but eventually you'll be able to rest your mind on a particular DSLR.

And once you do, you head out to the store. You have the box opened to make sure nothing inside is broken. You check the body and the lens for scratches. You switch the camera on. Even though there's a lot of buttons you don't understand yet, you easily figure out how to auto-focus. You start clicking and taking photos of this and that. You view your shots on the monitor, and you see how good the photo quality is. To a first timer, the product testing ends there.

Unfortunately, some factory defects are not about scratches or button malfunction. Some defects are almost unnoticeable. An example would be what is called a defective pixel. In layman's term, these are tiny red, green, blue, white or black dots or "+" that appear on the photos. You'll know it's them because they'll be in the same position of all photos you've taken. Sometimes the greater the ISO, the bigger they get and the more of them appear.

The photo was purposely cropped to show the defective pixels. Please click the photos to see a larger view.

To know more about defective pixels, please go to:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defective_pixel (Wikipedia explains it all.)

Another factory defect you have to watch out for is blur or double image. When you check the photos on the camera's monitor, you'll see the pictures are okay. But when you view it on your computer or when you have the photos printed, the photos suddenly appear blurred. You then start to think that maybe you're hands were just shaky the time you took the shots. So you place the camera on a tripod or a table and time a 2 second shot. You check the images and you find the blur is still there.

The example is exaggerated but just to show. :-)

Some people can ignore the defective pixels since they're very tiny and there's always Photoshop to fix it. The blur problem on the other hand is something one can not ignore. If this happens to you, send the camera back asap and get a replacement.

To easily see the mentioned defects, you can check the images you've taken on your computer or just have one photo printed- whichever works for you. Please make sure you do this within the 7 days replacement period. Getting a good brand new camera that really works is still better than free repair.

That's all we can share right now. Thank you and hope we've helped you a bit. Good luck and have fun with your new DSLR!

Smart Bro- good or bad?

Smart Bro (formerly known Smart Wifi) stands for Smart Broadband and is a wireless service offered by Smart Broadband Inc., a subsidiary of Smart Communications.

We won't be complaining here. What we're gonna do is tell you our experience with them. Please take time to read everything. Then you assess for yourself if you want to have Smart Bro or not.

What we have is the "999 unlimited plan". Having the internet connection installed was really easy. It so happened that the building we lived in that time didn't require us anything. We just had to call the Smart hotline and within that week they sent their installers.

Internet-speed-wise, it was okay. It wasn't 2Mbps but it was fast enough for us to watch movies in YouTube and we're not really very patient people. Sometimes it has it's bad days but which company doesn't.

After a year we moved to another building. So we went to their wireless center, applied and paid for relocation. While applying for relocation, we made sure we gave them the following info: that we have already deployed the antenna ourselves, our new address and our preferred days of re-installation. They told us to wait for 7 days which we did and that someone will call.

After a week, no one did. We called their hotline. Smart said they'll forward the issue so we have to wait 24 hours and that someone will call.

After a day, nothing happened. So we called the hotline again. This time Smart said they don't have a record of our application and they can't really solve the issue because they don't have the means and that we have to go to the wireless center about it.

We went to their center again and they said they'll give it priority since we have waited long enough already.

After 3 days, technicians sent us a message asking if we already have permission from the building to have the Smart Bro antenna installed. They also told us via SMS that if we don't they can't.

Our mistake was that we relied on our experience the first time we had it installed wherein no building pass was required. We didn't even bother finding out because the new building is of the same company as the previous one and it's just right across.

When we were applying for relocation, the person we spoke to could have brought that up. We think that's vital information that every customer must know.

Anyway, the building pass was a hassle so we decided not to have Smart Bro anymore. We called their hotline and we were informed that we should do termination on paper.

We weren't able to cancel it right away and Smart continued to bill us. Just to end the nightmare, we paid a month worth of un-installed internet.

During the application for termination, they told us they'll send technicians to get the antenna. We told them that we don't have time during the weekdays so it had to be on a weekend. We also made sure they had our new address. Good thing we did because we saw in their computer they still have the old one. The agent from the wireless center we spoke to said he'll call us.

Two days later, we got a message from Smart customer care saying their installer is scheduled to pullout the smart bro antenna on March 19, 2010 - a Friday!

Today(Friday), while waiting for them we got another message from their installer asking us where our new address is and another message from a Smart agent informing us that their installer came and that the guard from the previous building informed them that we moved out a year ago.

That's our experience. So what do you think is Smart Bro customer service good or bad?

FYI we are now using Globe. Their customer service is great and the internet is way faster. The 3 days worth of download with Smart is only overnight download with Globe. However we think the connection speed varies on location. Our suggestion is for you to try the companies' (Globe, Smart, Sun or what-have-you) prepaid service first for you to check how good the connection is in your area.

Thank you for reading! Have a great day!

How to prevent blisters caused by new shoes

When shopping for ladies shoes, comfort comes before style. I know that. But there's something about new pairs that ALMOST always cause blisters at the back of my ankles.

To prevent that, I get myself these Scholl heel leather liners. I discovered this product like a year ago but the other day I just found out that not everyone knows about it.

This Scholl heel liners are really helpful. It does exactly what it says on the package.

It is made in India (one of the few that's not made in China-lol!). This leather heel liners cost 213 pesos per pack. One pack contains one pair. There's actually a gel version which is definitely more comfy but it's twice the price. Scholl has other kinds of products for shoe comfort that you may need and they're available at any Watson's, Mercury Drugstores and ladies' socks section of SM Dep't stores.

Now if you find this too expensive, you can always use band-aids or gauze strips and improvise. I just wanted to share that there is such product as Scholl just in case you didn't know. Peace!

This post by: Shirl

Naldo never had any problem with his shoes. I don't think men ever do, now... do they?