Over the weekend, Tropical Storm Washi (known locally as Sendong) hit CDO and Iligan badly. As I see the news all over social network sites and local news sites, I can’t help but remember September 2009. This is when Ondoy hit Metro Manila and neighboring provinces hard. I remembered the hours I spent in my car, trying to find the safest place where I know flood will not reach me. I was scared to even sleep in my car because of the fear that flood waters might reach me and who knows what will happen next. I know what I went through was nothing compared to the others but I am still thankful that I was spared. I went home the next day at around 5am and as I drove past SLEX, I can see abandoned cars. Its an eerie feeling and seemed like one of the scenes from the movie, I Am Legend. As soon as I got home, the first thing I did was check the Internet to see how much damage did Ondoy leave. I couldn’t help but cry upon seeing all those people who lost their lives. Without any hesitations, I quickly donated to Red Cross via Globe. I knew that my donation no matter how small can help rebuild the lives & dreams that was washed away by Ondoy.

Its sad that while most of us were out partying (guilty! Our company’s Christmas party was last Saturday) or out buying Christmas presents our fellow countrymen down south is struggling to save their lives. A colleague from our office sent us an e-mail this morning saying that in Cagayan De Oro alone, the recovered bodies have almost reached 500 and there are over 500 more people missing. The death toll will most probably be more than Peping and Ondoy’s toll combined. That is just heartbreaking and to think that its only 6 days before Christmas. With that being said, I hope that people find it in their hearts to help in any way they can. Here are a number of ways on how to help:

1. Donate through Red Cross
1. Thru Credit Card
2. Thru Online Banking
3. Thru SMS & G-Cash
• SMS: Text REDAMOUNT to 2899 (Globe) or 4143 (Smart)
• G-Cash: Text DONATEAMOUNT4-digit M-PINREDCROSS to 2882
• You can donate the following denominations:
  Globe: 5, 25, 100, 300, 500 or 1000
  Smart: 10, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500 or 1000
2. Donate through One For Iligan
3. Donate through LBC
1. Hotline: (632) 8585 – 999
2. LBC will deliver your donated goods for free
3. Find your nearest LBC branch here

There are 25 million Filipinos on Facebook. If each one donates 5 pesos to Red Cross we could raise 125 million for Sendong victims. Let’s do this!

First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who joined my first giveaway. I had gone thru all entries and double checked each to ensure that points are still valid. So without further ado… I’d like to say congratulations to Merry Jane for winning out of the 241 raffle entries. I will be sending an e-mail shortly, so please check your e-mail (used to subscribe to my feed).

Thanks again to everyone and please be on the look out for my next giveaway. I’m still waiting for the raffle prizes to arrive

I received this e-mail a few days ago and thought it would be worthwhile to share to my “readers”. Since it’s that time of the year of gift giving or should I say gift buying?

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is now offering a virtual credit card which you could use this when purchasing online locally or internationally as long as the merchant accepts payments via MasterCard. Their e-mail and banner says “100% approval”, so I assume that anyone can apply and will be approved easily. What I do know is that applying for a normal BPI credit card isn’t easy as they do background checks to ensure that the applicant has the financial capacity to own a credit card. Annual Fee is free for life and you could also avail of up to 6 supplementary cards. I’m thinking of getting one since I’ve been using my main credit card for online purchases which until now I don’t feel very secure of using even though I’ve been doing it for a couple of years already.

BPI also started a groupon site, Deal Mania – exclusively for BPI Cardholders. Too bad I missed the Starbucks GC deal but personally, I don’t like the idea of groupon sites where a certain number of people should avail of the offer before the deal becomes available to all. If you browse through the deals on Deal Mania, you can see that there are a lot of offers but only a few has been purchased. Probably because a) people have different tastes, not all were enticed to get the same deal or b) people are hesitant to purchase because if the number of people to avail is not met then the buyer would have to pay for the original price or c) the selling price are quite expensive. I prefer group buying sites like CashCashPinoy, where they offer coupons in discounted prices for everyone. There’s no need for a deal to reach a certain number of purchase before you can avail of the deal price. So far I’ve only purchased once from CCP, its a voucher for a bartending/cocktail mixing 101 course. Unfortunately, I still haven’t used the voucher due to scheduling conflicts. I was really hoping that I could have attended the course by this time, just in time for the “party” season. I just hope that by January next year I have finally attended the course.

Inspired by Yugatech‘s entry, I’m doing my Christmas Gadget Wish List.

1) Your Magnet mobile accessory. I was browsing for cable organizers and saw this unique and cute item! It’s not only a cable organizer but it can also be used as a stand for your mobile devices. And because it uses a suction plate it can also be attached on any clean surface and use it to hang small items.

2) Cupcases. I love multi-purpose items and this is just one of them. It is an iPhone leather case with a pocket in front so you can store cash and credit cards. This would be perfect for me since it’s a hassle bringing my phone and wallet with me everytime I go for lunch breaks. Usually, I just bring my wallet and leave my phone in my bag. This brings me to my next wish…

3) iPhone 4S. I’ve finally made up my mind on what phone to get and will replace my Nokia E51. If only I can afford to get one. :| Both Smart & Globe are now accepting reservations for the iPhone 4S but they still haven’t release any price yet.

4) Universal USB Charger. This is perfect for traveling. One charger for all your gadgets. I love that it also comes in orange! Yay! UPDATE: Unfortunately, Quirks will no longer be carrying the Universal USB Charger

5) Pocket Wifi. If in case I don’t get an iPhone 4S then I can use this to keep my iPod Touch always connected. Sun, Globe & Smart provide this kind of service but I’m still checking out which has the better deal.

Numbers 1 & 2 may not be considered as gadgets but I still added them to the list since they are FOR gadgets