Torque Launches the EGO Series Smartphones…

I remember when I had my first ever GSM cellular phone 20 years ago, which the company I worked with issued to me and it was the Nokia 5110. At that time we got the fleet / bulk purchase price for P11,000 each! A heavily discounted rate I should say, considering that a retail of which will cost about P15,000 each. 

The new Torque EGO Series...

Over the years, as the cellular phone technology improved by the minute, and many manufacturers are sprouting up, trying to get a piece of the growing market, the prices of these telco gadgets significantly becomes  lower and lower.  Today, price tags of phones with basic call/text capability will go around P400 to P600 only. Imagine, from P15,000 twenty years ago to P400 today. 

Torque's top of the line, EGO Zoom 4G tagged at P3,499...

PLIA Marks ‘Life Insurance Consciousness Week’ with Financial Literacy Initiatives

Six years ago, my wife and I decided get life insurance policies from Sun Life. From then on, we enthusiastically attended various financial literacy seminars that opened up our consciousness to be wary of the future and manage our meager income so we can secure our family’s well being in the days to come. We’re glad that we are now more conscious about personal finances and know that saving money in banks is the least possible way of growing it. The only regret we had is that we were not able to pursue these kinds of opportunities when we were younger. Thanks to the learning Sun Life events taught us over the years, we are now more confident to invest in various financial tools available and suitable for us.

FALIA-PLIA Partnership...

When our eldest son started working in the BPO industry a year ago, we took notice of his spending habits. Being young and having the novelty of independence, the temptation to buy a lot of stuff for himself during pay days was strong. We called his attention about it and spent time thoroughly discussing it with him.

our eldest son, a working professional at age 22

Thankfully, he came to the realization that he needs to save for his future and was comfortable with our suggestion to put aside a portion of his earnings for a VUL Insurance. Not only that, he even extended his good gesture by getting a policy for his younger brother. The idea is to pay for its premiums until our second son would have the capacity to pay for them himself. Then, it will be a “pay-it-forward” scheme by getting another life insurance policy for another brother, our youngest son.

The FALIA-PLIA Partnership promotes finance and insurance consciousness 
among the young professionals in the BPO industry... (Photo Credit: Inquirer.net)

Buffalo Wild Wings in Twelve Amazingly Wild Sauces...

In the past days, I visited and dined with a couple fine dining restaurants which serve awesome cuisine covering international menus. These are the places where proper dining protocols and etiquette are observed and followed. As much as these events are fun to experiences once in a while, my food cravings are much satisfied on simple food pleasures where you can dig in with your hands and lick the fingers afterwards. Who says you need fork and knife to eat chicken wings? If there is a proper dining "etiquette" in eating wings is the use of your bare hands. 

Visit Buffalo Wild Wings Estancia Mall at Capitol Commons

Pictures of Sports legends...

My wife and I often visit restaurants that offers chicken wing specialties and it never failed to satisfy our appetite. But recently, another Chicken wings hub is getting a lot of attention to many foodies I know and it’s called Buffalo Wild Wings. I got the chance to visit one of their newest branch in Estancia Mall at Capitol Commons, Pasig City and tried to experience their popular rubs and flavors. 

With or without the carrot sticks, the wings are awesome...

Terra Verde: A Diversified Organic Farm and More...

After building an academic empire with more than 12,000 students in 10 campuses all over Cavite and Metro Manila, the Atanacio family already created a legacy that is significantly making a positive impact in society, especially among the underprivileged youth. Mr. Emerson Atanacio, a 2013 TOYM Awardee in the field of education devotes his skills and God given talents in the academic scene. But, little did he know that less time was being spent for his own well-being.

OA Bloggers Coordinator, Ruth Floresca, ATI Region 4A Information Officer III, 
Sir Olan Maningas with Brothers Emer and Erick Atanacio

After being diagnosed with a thyroid condition along with mild depression, Emer's attending physician prescribed him to engage in other endeavors such as farming to relieve himself of the stressful demands of being a school president. With practically zero-background on agriculture, Emer, with the loving support of his brothers Eric and Erwin and the rest of the family, ventured out into a farming project.

Organic Agriculture (OA) Bloggers,  ATI Staff and with the Atanacios...

Starting with a hectare of land they acquired in Maragondon Cavite, the brothers sought the help of other farmers and experts from the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) to teach them about appropriate vegetation for planting. A big part of their awakening in organic farming is an experience with a farmer who grew vegetables where those for human consumption are different from the one he sells commercially. That’s when they learned that majority of the vegetables being sold in the market are drenched with toxic fertilizers and pesticides. From then on, they decided to pursue organic agriculture and called their farm Terra Verde or Green Earth.

All the vegetables mentioned in "Bahay Kubo", they have it...

Pepper...Just a few of Terra Verde's Organic produce

Climb Central: A Climbing Facility Fit for Any Fitness Level

Finally, after months of busyness, my wife and I got to visit Climb Central Manila to check out their latest systems in indoor wall climbing. I was first introduced to this sport by a good friend and one of my influences in the sports climbing world back when I used to frequent Power Up Pasig during the late nineties, which he started and operated for several years until it closed.

Climb Central offers various levels of difficulties...

During those times, climbing was my regular workout regimen. When Power Up Pasig was no longer operational, I also became busy with work, which led me to become less active. Thankfully, that was the time when the running culture was starting to grow. So I started running to keep in shape. Eventually, I started to run barefoot and eventually conquered longer distances. By that time, I considered myself a seasoned athlete in the running community.

Me, checking out the auto-belayer device...

Over the years, I acquired a lot of knowledge about the sport and learned about the importance of cross-training and its effect on the overall strength of runners. Although many runners are either in to gyms for weight training or circuit training, in which I also had the opportunity of trying, neither of which made a traction to my preference.

Primo is giving me a refresher course in belaying...

HOOQ Just Hosted the Premier Telecast of Supergirl Season 2

If you are one of the many loyal followers of Supergirl that which debuted its first season last year, then the Philippine viewers will be up for something exciting as Supergirl Season 2 comes to our TV screen this coming October 10, 2016. And for the HOOQ app users, waiting would not be too long, because it will come out just two days after, which is October 12.

the HOOQ Snook...

In the past few years, DC superhero characters have been storming the TV screens with exciting and action packed series which made Warner Bros. channel reach exponential ratings. Shows like Arrow, the Flash, Gotham and of course Supergirl are just among Warner Bros. have instore to its fans. Last year, these TV superhero hits series was also launched on HOOQ, the leading subscription video on-demand mobile app provider today.  And since HOOQ is also owned by Warner Bros., all of these shows are exclusively available only on HOOQ.

HOOQ, the world's leading SVOD app...

A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to be invited to watch the premier telecast of the much a waited season 2 of Supergirl. Honestly, I didn’t had the time to watch all of season one, that is why I had a lot of time grasping some of the connection of the characters. Good thing my wife was with me to entertain all my questions.

Clark and Kara as the mild mannered news reporters of Daily Planet and CatcCo respectively...

Money for Life: Good Debt vs. Bad Debt

What is DEBT?

According to Aya Laraya, Sun Life personal finance consultant, defines it simply as "using other people’s money." It may sound simple but, in reality, debts we often engage into can pull us down to deep financial burden if we fail to pay them back when they're due. 

For a novice business practitioner, any form of debt is not ideal. However, when it comes to personal and commercial purchases, it seems that many could not resist the temptation of a seemingly very attractive deal or discounts on the latest edition of your favorite smartphone brand in the market, even if the existing one still works perfectly well. That is what you call a “bad debt”.

Mr. Aya Laraya, Sun Life Financial Consultant

However, bad debts may not be all that bad such as in the case of expenses needed for medical emergencies. Unfortunately, in these urgent situations, people are sometimes forced to take out loans with high interest rates just to pay hospital bills. What's frustrating is that many Filipinos suck up to loan sharks just to get quick loans. That is why it is very important to learn about financial tools that could help us prepare, or at least can provide some buffer, for unforeseen expenses like these that may happen in the future.

And while there are bad debts that we should veer away from as much as possible, there are also good debts worth considering. A good example of putting debts to good use are people who have successfully made it big in their chosen industries because they see the positive sides of borrowing money. Good debts are loans that allow the purchase of assets like vehicles or additional capitalization that may improve our business or livelihood. These debts, if used the right way, can actually work in our favor and further increase our wealth. 

But, before we jump to filling up those application loans or pulling credit cards out of our pockets, we need to settle some pressing issues on why we need to borrow money in the first place. We should also entertain the thought of considering other options apart from placing ourselves into debt. If these issues are settled first and you have concluded that borrowing money is the most favorable option, the next step is to establish the right amount of money that you need to borrow.

Not lesser and not more than what is needed can increase your capacity to optimize these financial tools for your benefit. It is also important to create a financial plan on when you can you pay back your debts and the best possible ways to pay them. Know how much you really owe and how much fees and interests are there in your loan that you need to cover.

Beware: the “Zero-Interest” signs for credit card users can be very attractive and tempting. But it pays to know that these credit card companies will never allow you to use their services for free and there is always a financial obligation that comes with it. Always remember that the amount you thought you saved for the zero-interest deal is actually tucked-in with all the necessary fees that comes with the commodity.

If your transaction is done with a financial institution or a bank, learn how to negotiate on comfortable and flexible ways to pay your debt. Most often, banks will find ways on how you can pay off the loan while also maintaining a very good relationship with you as their valued client. Bank officers normally allow loan schemes to be recalibrated and may set additional allowances as long as you can provide post-dated checks as a guarantee of your earnest gesture to pay.

Good debts are often beneficial while bad debts are avoidable. But, whether debts are bad or good, the most important thing to do is to settle them at the soonest possible time. Otherwise, as Mr. Laraya warns, “Debts are immortal and can outlive you.” If that happens, your family members would suffer and nobody wants that to happen.

So pay attention from this day forward how you borrow and spend your money. They will definitely make a big impact on your and your loved ones' futures. 

Mall of Kitchens (MOK): The Business of Kitchens in one mall

Whether for home kitchen use or for a full industrial culinary set up, the Mall of Kitchens or simply MOK, has all the equipment you need and more. Under the Technolux brand of service, Mall of Kitchens offers not only quality culinary and kitchen wares and equipment, but also features business venture proposal that a new or an existing food business can grow into.

 Recently, I had the opportunity to view the new Mall of Kitchen along Kamagong Street in Makati that underwent a major refurbishing to cater the ever changing needs of the food industry. Now, a part of the huge aisles with tall shelves of pots and pans, a guest will be received by a very comfortable dining ambiance. 

A whole warehouse of all the kitchen equipment...

The mall features various modules for different business formats such as a full coffee shop set up and bar-tending equipment for those who wish to set up a café or a snooker bar. It also has a gelato set up for existing restos who wish expand the business by offering gelato products with their state of the art machines. MOK offers a multi-gelato machine maker that can produce multi-flavors to a table-top single-flavor machine. Another highlight is the Baking and pastry module that features state of the art baking equipment from oven to large volume dough mixers and a whole lot more. 

Comprital Gelato machine. Made in Italy....

A part of the equipment and formats that is being offered are the free-training that comes with the set up. Whenever there is a customer who wish to set up a coffee shop, MOK has well trained baristas that can conduct barista training. Same goes also for the kitchen equipment where a French chef can demonstrate various international cuisine using the brands MOK is carrying.  

Coffee shop and bar-tending module format in one...

 For those people who are already in the business, you can be confident that MOK carries high quality brands of Kitchen equipment such as; Convotherm Combi Oven, Manitowok Ice Machine, Frymaster deep fryers, Taylor Soft Serve Machine, Vittore Coffee Machines, Lincoln Conveyor Ovens, True Refrigeration Equipment, Vitamix Blenders, Winterhalter Dishwashers, Turbo Air Reach Chillers and Freezers, Manumaster Microwave ovens, William wine chillers and Kolb Deck ovens, which are the top choices of hotel chefs, fastfood service restaurants. 

MOK's resident-chef, Chef Mathew Amet...he's French

Mall of Kitchens offers a wide variety of small wares from home kitchen pots and pans to industrial size cauldrons. They also showcase various set up of dinning models from cutleries, furniture in different types of Tiffany table and chairs. Their well-trained consultants would even offer a free demos on dining set up complete with lighting moods and ambiance that will best fit to the restaurant concept you always wanted to put up. The small wares division of MOK supplies some of the top five-star hotels and restaurants all over the country. 

Ms. Jenny Carlos, Vice-President MOK Small Wares Division...

This year, the Technolux Business Series (TBS) will pursue to deliver and provide business opportunities for existing enterprises and budding entrepreneurs. With the new Mall layout and design, MOK is even more passionate in pursuing its objectives of bringing more products and enhance services to the local market. 

Pots and Pans in all shapes and sizes...

The Mall of Kitchens is open from 9:00am to 6:00pm, Mondays to Fridays. It is located at 9703 Kamagong Street corner Larawan Street San Antonio Village, Makati City. Ample parking is available. For inquiries, call 890-6758 / 552-3587. Also visit website www.technolux.net and follow us in Facebook at Mall of kitchens – Philippines.