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Well did y’all miss me? I’ll bet that no one even knew I wasn’t online for a day and a half. I had computer problems again. It all started when I decided to try to make my DVD drive work. I went in and changed the cables on the CD drive to the DVD drive and tested it. It worked. Cool, I guess the cables are just bad and need to be replaced. I put the computer back together, stood it up, started it up and the DVD drive did not work now. What? It just worked like 1 minute ago. So I turned it off and moved the cables back to the way they were and now neither the DVD or the CD drive worked. Great! So one more time I turned it off, made sure the connections were secure, turned it back on and as far as it got loading was “checking for IDE drives”. No matter what I did after that, I couldn’t make it change from that. More on this later in this post.
Titing, Lita and I were talking about solar power and how much it would cost. No one knew the price, but Titing suggested that we take all the little solar panels off calculator and we could use those. He said that we would probably only need about 1 million of them. I told him I already had one calculator and he said he had 3, so now we only needed 999,996 more. Of course all this was said in jest, but I wonder if that would actually work? Probably not.
I have now put Calbayog City Facebook and Calbayog Tourism Facebook in my daily check folder. I have been missing out on too many things happening around here. I would not have known about Charter Day here unless Rick said something to me. I would not have known about the Mocha Girls entertaining at the Ciriaco and I’m right across the street, even though there are signs on the hotel, without the Facebook and Rick again. I think Rick must check these Facebook accounts on a regular basis. But as it turns out I’m kind of glad I didn’t go see the Mocha Girls at the Ciriaco Hotel last night. I would probably either be divorced, in jail or both. You should click on the following link to the Calbayog Tourism Facebook. They have several good pictures of the event and maybe you will see why I might have been better off not going. It might have cheered me up though because my computer was out and I had nothing much else to do. There is also a disco coming up at the Ciriaco on October 27th. It is called Shindig – Halloween Disco for a Cause. That is also on the Calbayog Tourism Facebook page.
Other things I have been missing out on are the 2 new pizza places coming to town and the McDonald’s. One pizza place called Pizza Palace is suppose to be open sometime next week, close to Christ the King College. The other pizza place, Calda’s, is still in talks, but is suppose to be built on Rosales. The Mikey D’s is suppose to be built across from the Philippine National Bank right across the bridge from the downtown area. There are other events also, so if you are interested in the goings on in the Calbayog area, these 2 websites are good ones to keep you up to date, Calbayog City Facebook and Calbayog Tourism Facebook.
Back to the computer problem for a bit. I was going to bring it downtown, but Grace said she has a classmate that is a teacher and has a side business of computer repair. So I decided to give him a chance. He showed up here about 1:30pm today and went straight to work. As it turns out he didn’t have to do much, but he did get it running. As I suspected, my motherboard is getting old. I have had the same board for almost 7 years. That’s ancient in computer years. Plus it survived an international trip from Texas to here. The problem turned out to be that when it was booting, it got as far as the CD drive and couldn’t find it. Now I know that it was plugged back in correctly and secure, but it seems that the connection on the motherboard is bad now. Just another reason to upgrade things. Now I have no DVD, no CD, no speakers and the sound is still no good. Things are falling apart faster now. Lita says she hopes it will stay together until February and maybe we can afford to upgrade it all. According to the guy that came by, I could get a new motherboard, processor and memory for around P6,000-P7,000 ($150-$175). Of course I would still need a working DVD drive then. I’m sure with a new upgrade, neither of my very old ones would be compatible. That would probably mean another P2,000-P3000. So I figure, overall and to get a good up to date computer, it would cost no more than P10,000 ($250) and as little as P8,000 ($200). I hope that something happens so I can get it sooner and the computer doesn’t fall completely apart before I can afford to get that accomplished.
One of our electric fans petered out on us again. It seems that one of them goes out every other month or so. This time it was one of the ones in the computer room. It smells like the motor burned out on it. We plan to let our fan guy take care of it, just as soon as he makes his rounds here. He comes by every now and then. I don’t understand why people here don’t just get a phone number to call him when we need him. Unless he doesn’t have a phone. Business is conducted strangely here in the Philippines, as far as I can tell. They get it done, usually in a not so timely manner, but it gets done sooner or later.
I got a haircut the other day and I have got a lot of strange looks for it. I don’t think it’s so bad, but Titing says it make me look like Fernando Poe Jr. What do you think of it?
On another personal note, I’ve been playing Text Twist 2 and I finally got a score over 1 million on the Untimed game. My first time over 1 million was 1,000,990, just barely over. My very next game turned out to be over a million also 1, 543,350. I finally got tired of trying to guess that stupid word. I’ll play again later to try to beat that score also. Think any of y’all out there can beat that score?
I have added some more websites to Philippine Websites, but I’m going to put off describing them because I have 3 more I want to add and I’ll just talk about all of them at once. I may even just put it all in a separate post instead of taking up room on this regular post.
I still do not have any pictures, because I haven’t been out much recently, but I’m pretty sure I have some that y’all have not seen, so I’ll put those in today.
Salamat Y’all
When I sing, I feel like when you’re first in love. It’s more than sex. It’s that point two people can get to they call love, when you really touch someone for the first time, but it’s gigantic, multiplied by the whole audience. I feel chills.
Janis Joplin
Mark, I thought that was probably what you did and you are right. It made it all the way to the US from Asia packaged like that so there is no reason why it can’t make it back. I have seen it done by others. Several years ago, when I arrived at NAIA, I saw a woman with a 37″ Sony in the “Nothing to Declare” line when exiting the airport. The customs agent pointed at the tv and sent her over to the duty station. I had to laugh. I have snuck a computer monitor into my suitcase and got by with no problems. The 55″ is a great bargain but not worth the effort. I would have to transport it to Manila first and then transport it a second time to Calbayog.
Jen and I had our bed made for us when we first set up house back in 2007. I wish I could remember the price but I don’t think it cost much. It’s a great bed and should last forever. Jen went with a friend’s Pinay wife to get the work done because of the skin tax.
Mark, I think the prices for electronics are so high there because of the import duties. I have bought several HDTVs in Calbayog and Angeles City and am amazed at the price they want. Maybe I should do what you did. The Target here has a 55″ Vizio LED for $499. I just think it would be too cumbersome to bring it with me next month.
Gary I actually checked it in as baggage. It was so well packaged I figured it made to the US from Asia why wouldn’t it make it back Ok, lol. The agent was a bit incredulous at the time but he did a nice job of wrapping it in plastic and putting some “handle with care” tape around it. A 55″ may be a bit big for that though!
This is just a flat out question that maybe you can help me with.
Am arriving in the PI 12/1/12. My girl friend and I plan to rent a
house. I am a died in the wool king size bed guy and will buy one there I believe. However, I still own a gorgeous solid mahogony king
size bed here in Dallas. I am wondering if I would be better off shipping my bed to the Ph rather than buying one there,
Anything you can tell me about import duies, taxes, freight forwarders, etc. will be most appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions you can throw my way. Send any comments directly to me email address. Thanks again, Tom Kidd
Okay, I sent you a response. I hope it is an sufficient answer. In the meantime, if anyone else reading this knows about such things, please chime in and let us know.
With what it would cost to ship vs. what it would cost for your girlfriend to get one made (notice I said your girlfriend, undoubtedly your price would be higher) I’d get one made to your liking here. The labor is cheap, the workmanship is fine and mahogany comes from the Philippines.
That’s what I told him Mark. Except I left out the part about the “skin tax”. I didn’t think about that. Also I told him that I never had to deal with import tax, so I wasn’t sure, but gave him my best guess and a few websites to check out. That’s why I wanted some of the other readers to say something that maybe know something about all this.
I brought over a tv that I got for $249 on closeout (27″ LCD with internal DVD). I had to declare it and they wanted p3000 for import duty, which I ‘negotiated’ down to p2000, lol. I imagine the cost of shipping the bed and any duty may be more than getting one made. The tv was still a good deal as far as I’m concerned because I carried it over and it was a name brand not some cheap off brand selling for top dollar or should I say top peso? Having recently bought a tv there I think you know what I mean. I don’t understand why electronics are so pricey there.
Tom, unless you are married and your spouse can claim returning or balikbayan privileges, you would have to pay customs a tariff or value tax on importing goods. In your case, like Marks says, it may make more sense to have one made for you there to your specs. Otherwise you will pay for that mahogany bed many times over what it is worth.
UJ,
Just buy a new pooter. Mine was sooo friggin old that when I tried to install a Tax program on it to do my taxes, the Tax program told me in so many words that my pooter and programs were so damn old that microsoft didn’t even support it anymore, so the cheap skate in me broke down and finally bought e new pooter.
Yea ok maybe windows 95 was a little outdated, and I’m pooter challenged but what the hell, I don’t have facbook, friendbook, dummybook and don’t have a clue what twitter is and barely check my e-mail. Yea, i like the more face to face communications and rotary dial phones, much easier. But as times change guess I’ll have to eventually. My nieces in cavite are super high tech savy, and get a total kick out of helping there tech dummy uncle learn the in’s and out’s of learning the high tech world. I appreciate those moments just watching them laugh at my expense as I fat finger my way into their high tech world. Now give me back my rotary phone and life will be good again. Loved your popcorn storey, busted out laughing. Now imagine the reverse, took the wife to have BBQ in Temple in the early 70’s, needless to say Texas BBQ doesn’t come on a stick…hahahaha
John I would be happy to buy a new “pooter”, I know I need one, but I just can’t afford to do that at this time. My wife claims that we will be able to in January or February, but I know that unless I save a little on the side, it will not happen, unless I get a lot more people on this website and a lot of them start clicking on ads and/or send donations. I think that one way or another, I’m going to at least have some new major parts by February.
I’m not as old fashioned as you are, I have a Facebook account and I know what Twitter is, but if all I had was a rotary phone, that would be okay with me. I myself prefer talking to people face to face whenever possible too.
So where did you take her in Temple, Mikeska’s? They are still in the same location on 57th St, but they are now larger. They have also opened up a branch in Belton in Oak Village Shopping Center on North Main. Or maybe it was Al’s BBQ Barn on Ave M and 25th St? That’s the 2 most popular ones in Temple.
I think it would be cool to have someone there that has never been to the US before. If you would like to write a story about all that happened with your wife at her first Texas BBQ, then I would be happy to post it here. If fact if you, or anyone on this site, wants to send in a story that has anything to do with the Philippines, Texas or a Filipino, just send it to me. I’ll do a grammar and spelling check on it and post it on the site. I’ll be sure to leave your name attached to it, unless you tell me otherwise.
I just told Lita about re-posting the popcorn story and she started laughing all over again. The part she likes the best was her cousin saying, “Ouch” each time one of those hot kernels of corn hit her. I sure wish we would of had a video camera for that.
I found out when building my house or doing up grades it is cheaper to by equipment in states and ship door to door and pay import taxes is cheaper then buying local. I saved $6000.00 dollars when installing A/C in my house after getting 3 bids in the Philippines. I guess it is the Kano price when buying in the Philippines. I noticed Generators are cheaper in States then Philippines even if they are still made in China.
Wow, really? It doesn’t seem like it could be cheaper that way. I’m not saying you are wrong because I’ve never checked. So are you talking about going to the States, buying it and shipping it to yourself or ordering it in a catalog and having it shipped to you, either or neither?
My brother-in-law and I priced out whole house solar for the house on the island. To put a complete solar system in that would run the house and several appliances would be about $10,000 US. Needless to say that will have to wait for another day (life?) The cost of solar there is about the same as the US even though the panels and some of the equipment are either manufactured in the Philippines or right next door.
I’m not even sure we have a popcorn maker here. We had an air popper back in Texas, but I never cared for the popcorn from that very much.
$10,000 is a bit much for us also at this time and probably anytime. How big of a house are you talking about Mark? Maybe I should check into wind power instead?