Thursday, December 31, 2009

A Tribute to Filipino Bloggers and eCommerce Sites

eCommerce sites and the Internet, in general, have been around for like almost two decades (?) now and there are a lot of such sites in the online world. However, for us Filipinos, we are still playing catch up on the virtual world. I would think in terms of the number of blogs and eCommerce sites, we are still behind those of our Western counterparts.

But that doesn't mean that we aren't catching up fast. In fact, Filipino sites are sprouting up everywhere, from blogs about travel, food, life (in general), motherhood and fatherhood to eCommerce sites on Filipino products, delicacies, clothes, etc., we already have these and more. In fact, the Filipinos are starting to have a major presence in a certain networking site (where we can also find a lot of Filipino entrepreneurs), multiply.com. Filipino users of this site are so many and so active that when we had a holiday, multiply.com's management reported a major drop in the number of its users for the day! Talk about major!

To pay tribute to the Filipinos' ever growing presence in the online world, I have written two hubs. The first one is about the Top 10 Emerging Influential Filipino Blogs for 2009, which is based on a survey conducted last August 2009. The topics written by these bloggers are quite varied - from Filipino food to Filipino travel, to motherhood, fatherhood, to pictures and blogs about these pictures and to life in general.

The second hub features some Filipino eCommerce sites that are making waves in the online world. You have here a site about the Barong Tagalog (the formal attire for Filipino men), a site selling Filipino delicacies (the FilVeggie Online Store), a site modeled after the most famous shopping area in the country (Divisoria.com) and a site selling music, movies, books, personal care and beauty products that are proudly Pinoy (Kabayan Central.com).

So, if you are a Filipino reading this blog, why not go ahead and visit these hubs? If you're not a Filipino, you are also more than welcome to visit and read my hubs. Thank you very much and a Happy New Year to you.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Accounting in My HubPages

Being an Accountant is not an easy job, but after having this career for the last 12 years, I can honestly say that I like what I'm doing. So how else will I show this appreciation but by writing hubs about Accounting.

Let's start with the basics. Why do we need to learn basic accounting? I've seen a lot of people, even businessmen, who prefer to leave the accounting work to their Accountants and do not even bother understanding what is written in their financial statements. But, personally (and not because I am in the profession), I think this is a big mistake. Those who are in business, even if they are not accountants, should take time to learn and understand their numbers. And I mean learn and understand. It's not only merely reading the numbers but actual comprehension of what these numbers mean. If you're a businessman, is not an Accounting graduate, but can read your financial statements, then congratulations! You're definitely reaping the advantages of knowing the basics of accounting.

Or how about a hub of the most busy time of the year for us Accountants? The busy a.k.a. tax season. This is the time when we Accountants work overtime, work during the week-ends and even, sometimes, work overnight.
Sleepless nights, pressure from work, restless energy, quick tempers - these are just some of the things you might see when an Accountant is neck deep in doing the taxes of his or her clients. You will find the descriptions of these things and more when you read the above hub.

As an Accountant, there are really some things that I can't do without. This may be my trusted 5-year old calculator, or my computer or my Excel spreadsheet, or my pencil and ball pen. These are the things that I often use in my profession and the things I can't do without.

Lastly, let's get a little bit serious here. Accounting is a good career, don't get me wrong about this. But then again, there are really things that tend to bring down my profession. I'm talking about scandals, those that rocked the accounting world. In my hub, I outline 10 such scandals (major ones at that) and what the issues really were. These scandals are more than enough to put one on alert and definitely will make one think twice on whether or not this is a good career to be. I'd still say, it is, we (the Accountants) just have to be careful
to ensure that we use our profession in the proper manner. Thanks for reading!


Friday, December 11, 2009

My Christmas Wish List and New Year's Resolutions


Well, it's Christmas time again. This is my favorite holiday of all. For one, Christmas here in my country lasts not only for one month but for more than 3 months. The festive mood actually starts as early as September, which we call the 'ber' months. This makes us one of the few countries (if not the only country) in the world with the longest ever celebration of Christmas. First, we start out with the Christmas songs being played on the radio stations. Then by October, Christmas decors start popping up in a few places. By November, Christmas decorations are all over the place plus people are already starting to do their Christmas shopping. December, well, of course, this is the busiest month of them all with all the parties, food, gifts, etc.

For my Christmas hubs, I wanted these to be something personal (other than those I wrote for 'commercial' purposes). So I made my Personal Christmas Wish List. And when I say personal, they are really personal like getting to attend my family's reunion in another place, setting up my own blog, a new office with new clients, new laptop, new printer, new wheels and a new business. Then there's the 12 things that I love about Christmas which basically lists those things that I really cherish during this season - from my wedding anniversary, to one of my niece's birthday, to the parties, the food, the gifts, and just about everything else.

Of course, when you think about Christmas, you can't avoid but think about New Year celebrations too. So in keeping with the traditions, I also wrote about My New Year's Resolutions. But these are not just resolutions, they're my resolutions related to my online writing. So you will find there all my resolutions about HubPages, academic writing, blogging and online earnings.

Hope you enjoy reading the above hubs as much as I loved writing them. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

A 2-Part Hub on 10 Things I Hate While Driving


Don't you just hate it when you drive anywhere and you get to encounter drivers with bad attitudes or pedestrians that do not really know how to cross the streets or people who are just uncaring that they are on the side of a busy street and still carry on like they own the whole sidewalk? Well I do. In fact, whenever my husband and I go out for a drive (short or long-distances), we end up ranting against bad drivers, bad traffic situations and bad pedestrians. In fact, some of those situations that we rant about can actually cause serious injuries (or even death) to us and the other people.

To get matters off my chest, I wrote a hub on the 10 Things I Hate while Driving. The top thing in the list? Text - or call - addicts who drive while texting or calling using their cellular phones! When I see a driver texting or calling while driving at the same time, I immediately tell my husband (who's driving by the way, not me) to avoid that vehicle as the driver is not 100% focused on his / her driving. When I published this hub, the comments just kept pouring in. Turned out that a lot of people actually have a lot of peeves when they are driving. Other things that I hate include - pedestrians who cross the streets and act like they're walking on the moon, people who treat the sidewalks as extensions of their living rooms, drivers who overtake even when they are turning a blind curve (we have a really scary experience on this one), slowpokes, intersection maniacs, those who do not want to be overtaken (at all cost) and not-so-early warning devices.

Needless to say, after receiving all those comments, I decided to compile a few more in the list then published the second part of the hub (entitled 10 Things I Hate While Driving...Part II). This hub basically adds to the top 10 things I wrote in my first hub plus inputs from the various commenters from my first hub. The next 10 top things I hate while driving include the following: drivers who stop in the middle of the road, drivers who shop for open lanes, 'race car' drivers, cutting through drivers, butt and side stickers and a personal account of a 'moonwalker'.

If you want to read more, just click on the links to my hubs. Happy reading and hope you leave your comment on what p@sses you off when you are out driving. Cheers!