Gifts for this Christmas Season

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. From the songs, to the food, to the decors, to the festive atmosphere all around, this is surely one holiday season I will not miss.

One of my favorite activity during the Christmas season is gift-giving. I don't think I've seen any other time when gifts are so in abundance, whether these are in kind or in cash. I love this activity so much that I've already written a blog for toys for Christmas.

Other hubs I have written about gifts and gift giving are giving Christmas gift baskets (bought from Amazon.com). Or if you are stumped with what to give to your boss during this Christmas (just your luck that you got your boss to be your gift-partner in the exchanging gifts activity in your office), why not consider my hub in the top 10 Christmas gifts for your boss? It will give you an easier time in choosing the right gift for your boss.

Another alternative is to give the gift of music during this wonderful season. Amazon.com listed a great list of music CDs that were in their top ten (as of the writing of my hub). From Michael Jackson's latest CD, to famous Christmas carols revived by Bob Dylan and Andrea Boccelli, to new albums from Susan Boyle and Adam Lambert, you can find the music that you are looking for here. Check out this list here.

But if you are really, really, really stumped for what to give, why not just give the gift of your time and love this Christmas? Make it a point to be there for your family or to volunteer for work. Or you can always cook for your family. Whatever you decide to give, if it's from the heart, your intended recipient will surely appreciate it. Merry Christmas to you!

Note: Just to give you a heads-up on the contents of my hubs, here are some of the gifts I recommended in my hubs.

My Political Hubs

Another reason why I like Hubpages is the fact that I can write about what I feel and what I think without fear of getting edited or sniped. One of the things I write are related to the politics here in my country. There's this hub that I wrote as a tribute to the first ever lady president of my country, Ms. Cory Aquino, who died in August 2009. She was mourned by hundreds of thousands of Filipinos as we all remembered her contribution to the restoration of democracy in our country.

Then there's the hub on the effects of the financial recession in the Philippines. The effects may not be as bad as those in the U. S. and in the other countries, but we also felt (and are still feeling) its negative effects. As of the time of the writing of this blog, little by little we are seeing some improvements in terms of the slow increase in the stock market, the appreciation of our peso versus the dollar and the continuous generation of new jobs within the country.

Or how about the upcoming Philippine elections, which will happen on May 10, 2010. This is a very hot topic right now with various politicians declaring their intent to run for various positions in the government. The most interesting thing is that we're seeing a presidential candidate who is the son of our former lady president and who's vice-presidential candidate is a grandson of another former president of the country. I sincerely hope that next year's election will be peaceful and whoever will win really deserve to win.

My Travel Hubs

One of the things I'm really interested in is traveling, to other places both here and abroad. I would love to travel to other cities here in the Philippines such as Zamboanga, Davao, Tagaytay, Baguio, etc. In fact, I wrote about the my top 10 preferred cities in the Philippines.

Of course, if I hub about other cities in my country, I also hub about my own city, Butuan. This is definitely home for me.

And let's not forget my favorite resort in my country. Personally, I don't think any other resort in the whole world will be able to compare with it. I'm talking about Amanpulo. I consider myself lucky because I was able to go to this island resort not once, not twice, but three times! And all for free (uhm, not because I'm rich but because they used to be my client). Every time I go there, I have to catch my breath because of the sheer beauty of this island. For me, nothing really beats this paradise on earth.

But my most favorite city of them all - Davao City! A very progressive city with lots to offer in terms of sights, sounds and people. It is a fast rising city here in my country. I love this city so much that I often visit it. In fact, the second hub I wrote about this city is all about my latest visit to Davao City. In fact, the picture on this blog was taken during our visit in the Philippine Eagle Park found in this city.

So those are my hubs about my country. What about other countries? Well, I wrote just one hub but I included my top ten cities that I want to visit before I die.  Located in various countries in the world, these are the cities that I dream of visiting someday (if I ever get enough money, that is). I don't know if this is a dream that I will not be able to achieve, but at least, researching and writing this hub made me see beautiful sights here on the Internet.

Well those are my travel hubs. Hope you click on these links to view these hubs and leave me a comment. Bye.

Telling It Straight in Hubpages

One of the things I like about Hubpages is that it lets me write anything I want (within reason of course). I write in Hubpages things about my country (mostly about places, sights to see and the food), the latest news here (the recent typhoons or the upcoming 2010 elections), my favorite cities in the world (Athens, Greece and Sydney, Australia are just some of them) and other stuff.

But what I really love the most is that I can write what we call 'ranting' hubs. These are basically hubs that show our pet peeves, our complaints, etc. How about this - a hub which lists the 10 things that I hate while driving. I thought what I wrote was already very bad. Turned out that they are pretty mild for some people as evidenced by  the comments I received.

Or how about my rant on being a boss? You can find here just what it is I hate in being my own boss and handling my own people. Believe me, when I wrote this hub, steam was literally rising from my ears. Good thing I have hubpages. If not, I would very well blow my top.

Lastly, I wrote a 'ranting' hub about making up  my mind. I'm almost in my mid-30s and yet, I find it hard to make up my mind on what I really want. I'm not bragging when I say I have a few pretty good choices and these are what makes me crazy in deciding for my future.

So there you have it. My 'ranting' hubs (with a little mention on the side about my other hubs). Believe me, it really feels good when I just write what I want and just let everything flow. Thank you for reading my 'rants' errrr hubs. Till next time, ciao!

Toys for Christmas

It's that time of the year again when my nephews, nieces, godchildren line up in front of me to receive their gifts (locally called "aginaldo"). In the past few years, I've been kind of lazy (and kind of busy), I just end up giving them money (around $5 to $6 each child). But now I'm kind of thinking, why not just give them toys? They're still too young to appreciate the value of money. But toys, they will appreciate. On the other hand, they so appreciate toys that the toys end up being scattered or damaged a few hours after receiving them! Oh well, those are kids!

So, this year, I'm trying to come up with a Christmas list of toys I will give to the children in December. The list is found in my hub on The Top 10 Children's Toys in My Christmas List. The number one in the list? Dolls, or more precisely, the world-famous Barbie Dolls. So why not click on these links to read my hubs? Whatever your age is, you will surely enjoy looking at these toys. Thanks and advance Merry Christmas!

Here are some of the toys featured in my two hubs:

I Love Food!

I can't help it, I really love to eat. I love food - local ones, chocolates, desserts, Chinese food, Italian food (especially pasta), seafoods, chicken, and my favorite of them all, sashimi! In fact, my weight, not to mention my waistline, are all proof of my love for food.

In honor of the foods that I love =), I wrote some hubs for them.

The first hub is about Filipino desserts. It gives a brief description of 8 desserts prepared and served in my country. You can see the related pictures for these desserts plus several videos on how to prepare some of them.

The second hub is about sashimi. Obviously, I'm a big fan of this food (sushi as well) and can eat a whole plateful of sashimi in one sitting. No kidding. If my siblings and I go to a buffet restaurant serving sashimi and sushi, we tend to consume lots of these (hope management did not mind). Buffet restaurants can charge a high rate but believe me, the price is well worth it to eat all these food.

The third hub is all about unique foods from the Philippines. It describes 10 kinds of food unique to my country, plus delicious pictures to get your mouth watering. Don't forget to click on the pictures!

Lastly, I wrote about the ways to cook goat meat. Okay, don't give me that 'eeeewwww' look. Goat meat is actually delicious and more tender than beef. Just make sure you cook it slow and at low temperaturs and you're good to go.

By the way, the picture above is not from any of these hub. This is a picture of cooked crocodile meat with Dragonfruit shake :). But the picture below is seen in one of my hubs.

Okay that's it. More hubs about food to come out in the future. Hope you like these food hubs. Cheers!

Why I Love Hubpages

I've started in Hubpages about four months ago and I can honestly I've enjoyed every minute of my time there. This site has a great platform and system for writers, both new and old. You get to read (and comment) on hubs written by Hubpages' resident 'experts'. It has a forum where writers can (1) unwind and talk about anything under the sun, (2) ask for help / comments on their hubs (Hubpages' term for articles) or (3) get tips, advices, etc. Plus (and this is a big draw for a lot of people) you get to earn on the site through Google Adsense, eBay or Amazon affiliates. However, please note that this site will not make you instant millionaires or will not give you instant earnings. As most things in life, you have to sweat it and stick it out to see the earnings. Some get their first adsense payout after six months, some shorter than that and some receive theirs after a year. The key, according to some long-time hubbers, is to write more hubs (quality ones at that), promote the hubs and research, research, research on how to monetize their hubs.

If you want to know more, visit my profile below:

http://hubpages.com/profile/emievil

You can also view my hubs that I wrote in celebration of my first, second and third months (respectively) in Hubpages:

A hub on my first month in Hubpages

Why I love Hubpages

My Hubpages Resolution

Or you can visit my latest hub on the 8 things I have learned from and learned to appreciate in HubPages. This one features a lot of my hubs (though I can't include all of them because this is actually my 90th hub) plus a lot of the hubbers who I am 'following'.
Hope you enjoy the above and leave a comment or two either here in my blog or in the hub itself. Thanks and enjoy!

What This Blog is About

Hi everyone. This new blog of mine is solely dedicated to my hubpages hubs. Please note that these are my own hubs and thus, they are copyrighted to my name. You are free to promote these hubs in your own sites (provided you email me in advance about your intentions) but do not copy them nor paste them without my prior knowledge. Thank you and happy reading!