Repair Sense

Last Saturday evening, there was a heavy downpour in our area and the temperature outside was freezing. I turned on our heater and started preparing dinner when my cell phone rang. When I picked it up, my wife was on the other end of the line and she sounded a little shaken. She told me that she was driving on a busy street in the city of Rowland Heights when she came to an intersection whose traffic light just turned red. She stepped on her brakes but nothing happened! She lost her brakes! She frantically kept on pressing the brakes but her van just kept on going! She went through the red light but fortunately, (by the power of God) she did not collide with the other vehicles. What gave me the fright was my young daughter was with my wife during that time. I was thankful to our Lord for being there at that intersection on that rainy evening.

I immediately drove to where my wife and daughter were at. Along the way, I passed a vehicular accident that looked really bad because the highway patrol blocked one side of the freeway. When I got to where my wife was at, I told her to use my car and bring our kids home. I got on her van and when I stepped on the brake pedal, the pedal went all the way down to the floor. One thing I learned about brakes is whenever a car loses the function of its foot brake, the other option to stop the vehicle is to use its hand brake. I slowly drove our van home that rainy evening using its hand brake to stop the vehicle.

When I got home, my wife urgently told me that we need to buy a new car because her van is (in her own words) “falling apart”. I told her, “Dear, don't you think that is kind of ludicrous? How could it be falling apart when the only problem is its’ brakes?! We cannot afford to replace your car every time something malfunctions in it. Besides, it would be insane to buy a new car during this crumbling economy!". I assured her that I will try to find out what went wrong with her van. AHHHH, WOMEN!!!!!

The following day, I went through the brake system of our van to find out why it malfunctioned. Whenever I do repairs on our cars, I would always get my son involved reminding him that the skill that he will learn will help him when he reaches adulthood. When I checked on the brake fluid reservoir (A little plastic tank that holds brake fluid) I noticed that it was empty. This tells me that there could be a leak somewhere in the system. I refilled the brake fluid reservoir and told my son to pump the brakes. I looked underneath the car and saw that one of the brake lines (An aluminum tube where the fluid travels through to get to the brake) has sprang a leak.

After my son took off the brake line, I called different auto part stores to find out the cost of a new brake line. I found that a pre-bended Toyota brake line costs $27 while a generic brand (unbend) at a local parts store cost only $7. Since every penny counts on our family budget, I opted to buy the cheaper brand and bend the brake line myself to match the Toyota brand. After installing the brake line, I test drove our van and its brakes worked just fine.

Here are some repair sense:

1. Don’t give up on your vehicle even though it breaks down on you often.


2. Don’t take your car to a dealership when doing repairs. Car dealerships are like greedy cookie monsters that bites off a big chunk off your checkbook every time they look under your hood. You don’t believe me? Try visiting one and have your car go through their 100,000-mile check up. The service fee will run you between $400 to $600. Their technician will tell you that you need to replace “a worn part” or they found “a leak that is about to happen in some hard-to-reach place in your engine” that needs immediate repair.


3. Are you being enticed by the dealers to go through those 60,000, 100,000-mile or so 100-point inspection promos? Here is my personal money saving rule—If a car passes a smog check then it means that its engine is running efficiently. There is no need to adjust the valve clearances and other expensive engine adjustments! A great example is our Toyota 1991 Previa van. Its odometer reading is 236,000 miles, which is almost the same distance between earth and moon. It has never failed a smog check in its 19 years of existence. Its last smog check was 4 ½ months ago. I have never had its valve clearance adjusted.


4. Save yourself unnecessary expenditure by using this simple mechanical common sense: If it ain’t broke, why fix it?!


5. Buy a repair manual and attempt to do the repairs yourself.


6. Do not be intimidated by the seemingly complex design of your car. Most of the time the parts that are hard to fix are often the ones that does not break down easily.


7. Repair manuals have easy to understand trouble shooting sections. Read them and you will be surprise that you will be able to track down and repair the problem in your car yourself.


8. If you are about to give up, step away from your car and give yourself time to relax. When the feeling of frustration has left you, go back to your car and continue where you left off. Remember, it is a machine and it wants you to repair it.


9. Lastly, getting your hands all dirty with grease and oil is a natural part of working with engines. Your nail polish will get ruined!

Eighteen years ago, I was an apprentice at my friend’s auto repair shop located then at the city of West Covina, California. The name of his shop is: “Bicol Auto Repair”. He told me something that inspired me to never give up when repairing my vehicle. He said, “If it is man-made, it can be fixed!”

Though vehicles are machines, they need care and maintenance—like people. You define its value by the quality of care you give it.

If you have a vehicle that was made back in the 1960’s or earlier, try your best to restore it back to its old glory. Do not say, “Ipatansan mo na yan!!”. If you restore it, you will not only bring back memories from the past. You will also have the sense of satisfaction that you brought a tangible piece back to life from a bygone era.

Sorting through tools and time….

Joseph Ivan.

Fishing Lessons

I took the week off last week to spend more time doing repairs around our house and also take my children to the local nature parks and beaches. My children have now reached an age where I can no longer treat them as little children but instead as budding young adults. Because of this, I have to also introduce them to new hobbies that I hope they will become attached to as they reach adulthood.

One early morning last week, I packed up our new fishing gear and headed to Huntington Beach which is about 25 miles south of our house. My daughter protested to me saying that she dislike going to the beach this time of the year because of the cold winter winds. I assured her that the trip will be worth her time. My son was more enthusiastic because he seemed to like being at the beach regardless of the season.

On our way to the beach, I dropped by a sporting goods store to check the artificial baits that they were selling. I did not expect my kids to catch anything and so I decided to purchase baits with the lowest price tag.

When we got to the pier, my kids casted their lines and for an hour did not catch anything. Both of them showed signs of being discouraged because there were people there that were catching fishes with ease. We met a 14 year old kid at the pier who seemed to be an avid fisherman. After my son showed this other kid the bait he was using, the 14-year kid pulled a better looking bait from his bag and told me that he bought that bait at a swap meet (flea market) and recommended that we use it. I gave money to the kid and after my son casted his line using the new bait, his line immediately hooked a fish. For the next two hours, my son was on a roll pulling fish after fish from the ocean. Unfortunately, we did not have any bucket or cooler to store the fishes and so we just gave away the big fishes that we caught and threw the small ones back to the ocean.

We decided to return to the same beach two days later because I wanted to give my daughter a chance to catch her first fish in her life. We went to a fishing supply store the day before and bought baits and also other fishing equipment that we need to make our fishing trip more successful.

When we got to the pier, the sky above us was clear, the sun was hot, winds were kind of chilly and the ocean a little choppy. I felt that catching a fish then would be a challenge. Thirty minutes after we tossed our lines, I saw my daughter reeling up a fish. The fish was big enough to fit a meal. Our excitement was short lived though because the fish was able to break free from the hook and escape. Though the first fish got away, the second one did not. So was the third one and the forth. My son also caught two fishes that day.

My children walked away from the pier that day with smiles on their faces and also a sense of confidence that they were able to perform one of man’s basic survival skill—fishing. It also taught me a couple of things.

1. If you want to be successful in fishing, use the right equipment. They might sometimes be a burden to the pocket but the experience that you get from the trip is priceless.

2. Fishing teaches people the virtue and reward of patience.

3. Fishing is more than just tossing a fish line to the water. It helps to know the behavior of the aquatic creature that you wish to catch so that you can be at the right place at the right time.

4. Fishing is not about catching fishes. It is about catching time with my little ones while I still can.

Did I catch anything? Not even a bite! I was humbled by my own children. What really matters is that they gained valuable knowledge from the trip because this is the beginning of the time when my children will rise above me and sprout their wings of independence. As they do that, I will begin to rescind into their background. My parental role will eventually take a turn where I will have to wait patiently for a chance for my children to ask me for advice and assistances.

Gone fishing for time….

Joseph Ivan

Life's UUUUGGGHHH!!!

I woke up this morning after only 4 hours of sleep. Being an 8-hour sleeper, I felt that my body refused to respond to my command to get up and start the day. Doing my morning prayer is even harder because my mind is drawing a blank. I prayed to the Lord to guide me through the day with only half of my energy tank full.

I was about to drive out our driveway when I decided to check the oil level of my car. Pulling the dipstick, I discovered that the oil level is low. I filled it up then started the car. I saw the gas gauge and it showed that I was low on gas.

Heading to the office, I dropped by a cheap gas station and stopped in front of a gas pump. I opened my fuel tank cover then placed it on top of my car. I swiped my credit card on the gas pump and waited for instructions. The small monitor screen on the pump kept on saying “Processing Credit Card”. I waited….and waited…..Still processing. I impatiently looked at my watch and it was then that I know that I could potentially arrive late at work because of this delay. After what seemed to be an unreasonable period of time to process a credit card transaction, I then pressed the “Cancel” button on the gas pump. The transaction was cancelled and I jumped back to my car and drove off. I have driven about 15 meters from the gas station when I realized that I forgot to place back my gas tank cover. I pulled over and got out of the car and found out that the cup is no longer on top of my car. I got inside my car again and I tried to closed the door but the seat belt latch was on the way and it prevented the door from closing. UGH!

By that time I was beginning to become irate. I swung the car and drove back to the gas station to retrieve my gas tank cover. It was not there. I drove back to the road and found it laying on the side of the road. When I picked it up, I saw that it had been ran over by another car and part of it is crushed. UGH!

I checked my watch and I knew that I would be late for work. I then asked the Lord why this string of unfortunate events are occurring so early in the morning. When I arrived at work, my co-worker told me that bad things happen to people to make them stronger individuals. I guess I need to look at it on the positive side.

Should I start calling these events “String of Providential Events” because God allowed them to happen to strengthen our resolve to survive life?

I believe it is.

Spring Season Marvels

March 27, 2009

In my backyard garden, I have a handful of plants and trees that never fail to capture my attention and admiration during the brief moment when Spring season rolls in. The two trees that always becomes the center of my attention at the opening curtain of spring season are my Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida rubra) and also my Eastern Whitebud (Cercis canadensis alba). The branches of these two trees produce astonishingly beautiful flowers and it has become an annual tradition for me to watch the buds of their flowers open up to greet the new season.

I planted both trees in my garden four meters apart about nine years ago. The Eastern Whitebud is able to take full sun exposure and so I planted it on an open plot. The Flowering dogwood, on the other hand, is a type of tree that normally grows in cold climate. Since I live in southern California, our summer sizzling temperatures is sure to toast the dogwood’s leaves and so I decided to plant it on the eastern part of my house where it only receives the rays from the morning sun.

When the weather started to warm up signaling the arrival of spring, I made a daily habit of checking the status of the flower buds of my dogwood and whitebud trees. Last Saturday morning, our area received a light downpour and when I looked outside my dining room window, I was surprise to see that the flower buds of both trees had opened. Minutes after the rain stopped, I hurriedly went outside with my trusty camera and took a few pictures of the flowers on both trees. The following day, the sun shined the whole day and so I decided to take more pictures of the flowers just to capture its beauty.

The show that these two trees bring to my garden is an annual event for me but the spectacle it displays is very brief because the flowers wilt 10 days after they bloom.

This morning while a soft breeze of wind was blowing from the north, I watched the little flowers danced on the branches of the trees. While looking at the swaying flowers, I cannot help but be reminded that my son and daughter are like the flowers on my trees. They will bloom for a short period during their youth. After that brief moment, they will turn into a full grown man and woman wanting to step beyond the boundary of our fence. It made me realize that one day soon, my wife and I will have an “Empty Nest” because our children have grown and flown to the horizon.

There are times when I would ask myself if I am spending enough time with my children. Is our annual trip to the mountains of Yosemite and Mammoth lakes too short? Should we walk on longer trails during our long hikes in the surrounding mountains of Big Bear lake? Should I just throw our strict budget out the window and take more family trips to places like Niagara falls, Canadian mountains and Alaskan wilderness? The sands of time seemed to be sipping through the spaces between my fingers and there is no pause button to hold everything from moving on. I guess I just need to hug my children more and to crack jokes with them as much as I can while the worries of the world has not engulf their attention to the cruel realities of life.

It astonishes me to discover that my garden plants and trees provide not only beauty to my family’s eyes but they also provide lasting lessons to my soul. As an avid gardener, I have realized that my work in my garden will never be finished. There will always be seeds to sow, weeds to pull, plants to water, compost to pile, trees to trim and leaves to rake. It is pretty much like being a father to a family—the role will never cease. My wife will always depend on me to do repairs around the house, to fix our backyard, to keep our cars mechanically sound, to cook the daily meals and to give a guiding advice to my children when they are walking on a shaky path. But one of the most important duty that I believe I have as a father is to remind my children that in times of extreme hardship, they can always come home to our humble house where the meals are always hot, the beds are always warm and the garden will always bloom during spring season.

Sniffing the fresh air of spring and fatherhood.

Ivan

March 20, 2009
11:36AM

Dear Batch mates:

Did you guys know that it has been 10,590 days now since we had our high school graduation back in March 22, 1980? If you want a more exact time count, from the time our graduation ceremony started at 5PM on March 22, 1980 until the first minute I started writing this letter, the time that had lapsed is 15,250,176 minutes.

Time is perceived by many in different ways. Some consider time as an opportunity to earn green bucks thus creating the belief that “Time is Money”. To avid historians, time should be Marked/Tagged with a title, painstakingly recorded in great detail and fervently studied so that the knowledge extracted from it can be passed on to the next generation. To the God fearing, time is owned by our Creator and these men and women chose to devote their lives towards the worship of the Almighty and the service of mankind. To an Atenean from ADNU, time should be devoted towards blindly following the all familiar university motto of “Premum Regnum Dei”. What does time mean to you?

Twenty nine years is a lengthy period that was given to us by our Maker to chisel our path through life. I do not doubt that all of us fought wild winds and stormy seas during our journey. Like the stock market, we encountered profits and losses in our lives. But to some, their life’s debits out weighed their life’s credits. I continue to pray for our batch mates who are currently weighed down by misfortunes (Debits). May the Almighty someday provide them a grace of life’s credits that would relieve them from their anguish.

Though debits exist in our batch’s balance sheets, we also have notable credits. Did you guys know that our batch is populated with members that had taken a career in government service? Some held government jobs but has moved on to the private sector due to one reason or another. Below are the batch mates whom I know hold/held a career with a government agency/institution:

Porfirio Bragais – Philippine Law Enforcement Agency (Ret), San Fernando , Cam . Sur.
Joseph Abante – Municipal Court, Tinambac, Cam Sur
Arnel Abrigo – Naga City Prosecutors office, Naga City
Jerry Adolfo – Magarao Sheriff Department
Leoncio Badiong Jr. – Land Bank, Bulacan
Tomas Carino – Central Bank, Naga City
Perfecto Perfecto – Works for Land Bank, Naga in addition to having a private law practice(?)
Eduardo San Buenaventura – Dept of Agriculture, ATI-RTC, Guinobatan, Albay
Alexander Sayson – Provincial Assessors Office, Capitol, Cam . Sur.
Chito Torres – RTC office, Capitol, Cam . Sur
Jerry Borja – U.S. Navy (Served), City of San Diego , Department of Engineering, California .
Gabby Del Puerto – U.S. Navy (Served), Department of Transportation, California .
Mike Wyland – U.S. Navy (Retired)
Kenneth Pavilando – U.S. Army (Retired)
Decio Turiano – U.S. Navy (Served)
Glicerio Valenciano – U.S. Navy (Active)
Jesse Crescini – U.S. Navy (Served)
Enrique Besenio – Boy Scout of the Philippines
Noel Rabe – Department of Water District ( ? ) Naga City
Noel Motos - Department of Water District (?) Naga City
Cesar Concon – City of Cebu (?)
Sem Cordial – Philippine Department of Agriculture (?)
Ramon Estipona – Casureco
Johannes De Hitta – Central Bank of the Philippines
Engracio Imperial – Land Bank of the Philippines
Edwin Luntok – Naga City Court
Roy Ragrario – Philippine Department of Interior (?)
Reginald Reclusado – Philippine Army Engineering Corps (?)
Leandro Rellosa – Philippine Postal Service
Arecio Rendor – Councilor, Oas, Albay
Gene Sambo – Philippine Department of Interior
Clarito Santos – Philippine Army (Served)
Harry Samuel De Los Santos – Albay Regional Hospital , Physician (late 1980’s)
Alex Sarmiento – Philippine Law Enforcement Agency, Cebu (?)
Loreto Tan – City Hall, Naga City
Nelson Tuico – Personnel of U.S. peace keeping force, Iraq
Albert Villafuerte – City Hall, Naga City
Ivan Yuboco – Social Services Agency , California
Gerard Zantua – PAGIBIG funds, Legaspi City .
Rufo Burgada – Kagawad, Tinambac, Cam . Sur.

Please notify me if I made an error in noting the branch of the government agency that you served under so that I could make corrections in my records. If you guys wish to add a batch mate’s name on the list, kindly email me his name and branch of service.

Our batch also holds a noticeable marker in the historical books of ADEN ’s prefect of discipline. It was during our last year in high school that the KKK was formed by LG-20, headed by KKK supremo, Decio Turiano.

KKK is still active in ADENU high school but the identity of its members are now hidden from the prying eyes of OPSA. When I went to the new campus of ADNU high school back in February 2008, I spotted Jovie De Los Trino and we had a short but lively chat. When I asked Jovie where I can meet with any KKK members, Jovie’s eyes widened with alarm. He immediately chuckled a little bit and told me in a friendly tone, “Ivan, medyo bawal na ang kikiks ngonyan digdi.”. While Jovie and I were talking, Greg Abonal came by and was surprised to see me. After a few minutes of chatting with sir Greg, I told him about the book I was writing that contained memoirs of the members of batch 1980. Then sir Greg’s mood suddenly changed to a sour one and said, “Kamo baga idtong nagpuon kaidtong kikiks!” When I tried to respond to what sir Greg just said, Sir Greg immediately walked away with his head trailing a little smoke (Nag high blood si sir Greg pagkadangog lang kang pangaran na KKK). That was a clear indicator that our batch has marked a place in ADEN high school’s history.

Chris Canlas is right when he mentioned that our batch has a lot of thank about. Though we have chosen different careers and relocated to far away lands/countries, we are forever marked as Ateneans that belonged to an active batch called mighty 80.

Tomorrow evening, I will prepare a decent Filipino meal for my wife and kids. (Ivan cooks? Yes I do. Not as good as some of you but I can handle myself in the kitchen). During dinner, I will tell my children stories about my high school days. My children (specially my 11 year old daughter) always enjoy hearing my stories about the time when I was their age. Hopefully they do the same when their time comes to keep their memories alive.

Gentlemen, happy 29th anniversary

Ivan.

My Life In The Trail

March 16, 2009

Last weekend, I drove early in the morning to my favorite running trail to do my usual Saturday morning run. I jog every Saturday to continue the tradition that my old mentor, Nick Acosta, started a few decades ago back in Ateneo De Naga. Back then, Sir Nick constantly encouraged Ateneo high school students to challenge their bodies by running the distance between the Ateneo pillars and the Calabanga church thus adding a merit badge to themselves as a conqueror of the road that connects to both landmarks.

The running trail that I was at has three groups of users: Runners, Bikers and horse riders. The trail snakes through large trees, up hills and cuts across small residential streets. There are short sections in the path that is covered with wood chippings which gives runners a cushiony feeling while running on it. The whole area where the trail is located is mostly in an upscale neighborhood and so it is relatively quiet and safe.

When I arrived at the running trail, there was a thick overcast and the temperature was about 40 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit. I put on an extra shirt to protect myself from the cold and decided to immediately hit the path before my mind can challenge my yearning to run.

Mile 1: The first half a mile was a bit uncomfortable because it felt like my face and body was cutting through what seemed to be a thick wall of freezing air. I continued to push on in spite of the fact that my mind is whispering a suggestion that I wait until the sun rays penetrate through the thick mist above. The slope of the path has moved up from 10 degrees to 20 degrees making running just slightly challenging. Half a mile later, I spotted a shapely figure of a female runner running about 150 meters ahead of me. She was wearing those high-tech anatomically engineered tights that provides warmth during cold weather and but also gives a ventilated feeling to the runner during warm weather. I judged her as being a college student and so I decided to make her as my point of reference to encourage me to continue running. Since the path has numerous curves, I was not able to determine how well I was doing towards narrowing the gap between this girl and myself. I increased my pace with the hopes of catching up to her. To my surprise I found myself 25 meters behind her after 1 mile. She is Caucasian with a height about 5 feet 4 inches and was wearing a neatly combed pony tail. I started thinking to myself, “How in the world did I catch up to her? Did she slow down or did I run a faster pace than I normally do? Hmmm, Did she allow me to catch up? Naaahh, I don’t think she would do that”.

Mile 2: A group of bikers passed seven meters on my right kicking dirt and dust as they zoomed through their path. I noticed that the girl I was following 25 meters ahead made a quick back glance over her shoulder to check who was behind her. All of a sudden the girl’s running pace increased upon discovering that I was following her. This caused me to keep paced with this girl and the race was on. The road narrowed and there were 20-meter stretches where the road turns to a 45 degree climb. Sweat the size of pebbles were beginning to drip down my neck. “Darn! This girl is good! What in the world was I thinking running against a well fit person more than half my age!”

Mile 3: The girl decided to maintain a constant speed upon finding out that she can’t seemed to widen the gap between herself and the stranger (yours truly) who was behind her. We are now at a wide path with a row of eucalyptus trees standing on our left. The path is covered with wood chippings and so this offered some comfort to the bottom of my feet. After half a mile, the path cut across an asphalt road then continued again but this time the path turned into a mixture of dirt and sand.

Mile 4: The dirt trail ran through rows of thin 50-footer trees and I noticed that the trail ended on a major street and continued on the other side near a bridge. As I was focusing my mind to continue this miniature race, the girl all of a sudden made a short 180 degree turn and started running on the same path opposite my direction. When she came to about 5 meters away, I was surprised to discover that this female whom I had been racing with for the past 4 miles turned out to be a woman on her mid-50’s! I was stunned! “Boy, she is in good shape at her age!”, I said to myself. Fifty meters later, I too decided to turn back because the trail ended at the major street and I decided to run another mile before calling it quits.

The running trail seemed to always offer interesting situations for me. Its winding path is decorated with wild beautiful flowers during spring season. The trees provide shade during the summer. The birds, bees and other creatures from the insect world entices children’s curiosity, specially the mischievous ones that carry a magnifying glass just itching to fry any unfortunate bugs that they happen to spot. For the grieving hearts, the gentle arms of the trail offer peace and solitude that seemed to keep at bay the problems of this world. And for those who want to tone down their bodies or challenge their endurance, the trail offers a variety of paths that will test one’s ability to handle physical pain while forcing their bodies to break a sweat.

Please support the preservation of your local wilderness trails because the benefits it offers to human kind is priceless.

My favorite word--Free

Times are getting tougher and people are turning into penny pinchers. In times when business budgets are tightening, profits narrowing, supplies dwindling and savings evaporating; a lonely question sticks out of my mind—“Is there anything out there that is still free?” If you scour the whole country, you will be surprise to find free items just waiting for takers.

Yesterday, the largest free meal promotion I have ever known in my life was offered by Denny’s restaurant, which is one of the largest full-service restaurant chain in the U.S. The free meal promo was an instant hit because it did not have any strings attached to it. It was offered for just one day and the free meal was served from six in the morning until two in the afternoon. Fortunately, yesterday was my day off and so I drove to Denny’s after dropping my kids at their school. My wife was not able to go with me because she had to report to her work early in the morning. As I was parking my car at the Denny’s restaurant, I saw people rushing to get to the restaurant. There was already a lengthy line of people waiting outside the restaurant when I arrived in front of the place. At the door of the restaurant was a waitress who was writing down the names of people who wants to receive the free meal. After I gave this waitress my name, she made an announcement to everybody that there will be a 20 to 40-minute wait.

There are a lot of unhappy lines in this recession, but this line I was in was not one of them. Nobody complained while we stood in line in spite of the cold. One guy said, “A free meal in an economy like this? Man, this is sweet heaven!”

To my surprise, after waiting for just a few minutes, my name was called by the waitress. I immediately saw the faces of the people who were ahead of me in line change to an unfriendly stare as if I cut in ahead of them. I quickly zoomed into the restaurant to avoid their stares and was directed to a long table counter and sat on a fixed stool. I was told by the lady next to me that I was called ahead of everybody because I came alone and most of the people in line came in groups.

The free meal that is a breakfast special called, “Grand Slam” which is normally priced at $5.99. It contains two eggs, two sausages, two bacons, two pancakes crowned with a scoop of creamy butter and a cup of maple syrup for dipping. Anything that is extra like coffee or hash browns cost extra. After I was told that coffee costs $1.99, I decided to just get ice cold water. When the waiter gave me my free meal, I ate it down to the last crumb because it would be shameful to waste a free meal. The waiter seemed to be a hard working man and was mindful of the needs of the patrons whom he was serving. Because of this, I decided to leave him a tip.

You guys must be wondering what other free things that people can find out there during this recession period. Below are some of the things that I found that are still truly free without a catch in spite of the terrible times.

1. Freebie ads still shows up in online classifieds and weekly publications like Recycler.com, Craig’s list, Penny Savers, etc.


2. Tuition is free in public schools.
   
3. Free meals for students whose parents are enrolled in a low-income program.


4. Libraries are free.


5. Regular T.V. and radio programs are free to watch.


6. Certain cities offer free water-efficient toilet seats and shady trees to help its residents reduce their water consumption and cooling costs.


7. Free tax-filing assistance by Internal Revenue Service.


8. Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm amusement park offers free admission to birthday celebrants.


9. Food and lodging are free if you are a prisoner in jail.


10. Free food samples offered in Costco, Sam’s club and other large supermarkets.


11. Want a free fish? Oceans and rivers are full of them. Just throw a fish line.


12. Children gets the best deal around because they get everything for free from their folks...until they turn 18.

Though a number of free items still exist in this world, let us not forget that the things obtained through honest labor always have a greater value.

Are you really poor?

In the midst of this stormy economy, we should ask ourselves, “Am I poor?” A lot of people declare themselves as poor because they cannot afford the things that they desire in life. Are we really poor or are we just pouring onto ourselves an artificial goo of humbleness?

Do you consider yourself poor because you do not have adequate supply of a variety of material things? Do you say that you are poor because you do not want to come across as somebody who is immodest? It is my personal observation that people do not really know the real meaning of the word “poor”.

Different people with varied economic and intellectual status would have their own definition of the word “Poor”. But unless you are really poor, you will never know the real meaning of the word. Below are the indicators that would say if a person is really poor.

You know that you are really poor when:

1. The possibility of eating your next meal is uncertain.
2. The first thing that comes into your mind when you wake up is food.
3. Ice cold water tastes sweet.
4. Edibles can still be found in trash.
5. Selling your blood would enable you to buy food.
6. A cardboard box can turn into a warm shelter.
7. Your main source of income is sorting through trash in the city dump.
8. Sleeping on solid floor does not bother your back.
9. Potato leaves that grow along the road side can turn into a meal.
10. Any living thing whose back faces the sky is considered food.
11. You cry because you can’t feed yourself.
12. You stalk the tables of open-air restaurant to grab food left by its patrons.
13. Eating 1 meal a day is normal.
14. Food does not have to be clean for you to eat it.

Do you still consider yourself poor? Think again, my friend.

What's in your wallet?

What’s in your wallet? Is it over due bills or dollar bills? That is the common question being asked during these economic woes.

This morning I was checking the news and one of the headlines indicated that several very big industry names were doing massive job cuts, slashing off thousands of workers from their payroll. Some of my friends work for some of these companies and I could just imagine the cold feeling of fear and uncertainty that they must be experiencing this very moment.

I like watching the news everyday just so that I could be aware of what is happening around the world. Lately I noticed that bad news is plastered on every headlines both TV and newspaper. A special TV report last night showed common Americans going through the painful experience of hardship. The report showed the different stages of the worker’s sad fate: Being given a pink slip, working the last days of their employment, sorting through their bills, lining up at the unemployment office and finally facing the reality of life with so much uncertainty. Got Job?

It is hard for me to find people who are not affected by the economic debacle. Yours truly is going through some hard times too because the budget of the government agency I work for was drastically slashed. During the last quarter of 2008, all members of the agency were informed that cutbacks were eminent and we should brace ourselves for the inevitable. Last December, a long line of government programs were either trimmed down or just outright terminated. Several office buildings that were being leased by our agency were cancelled and the employees moved to smaller facilities. Then the most painful cutback came—layoff. On the 3rd week of January 2009, 213 employees of our agency were laid off. Almost all of them were employees who had not finished their probationary period. One of those who were laid off was my Japanese friend who was scheduled to get married this year to her fiancé. She felt really bad because she had only one month more to go before her probationary period ended. I am praying that she return back to her position once the economy recovers and the agency starts calling back the ex-employees that were laid off.

The board of directors of our agency is trying their best to save workers because it is a common belief that the best asset of any organization is its people. Instead of setting up a second wave of layoffs, the directors opted to have furloughs. A plan was drawn up stating that all employees of social services should have a total of 80 hours of furlough starting this coming February until the end of June, which is the end of our fiscal year. Everybody grimaced upon hearing the news but felt relieved a little bit because all of us felt that it is better to get a smaller pay check than a pink slip.

I told my wife, Joan, regarding the bad news. She gave a sad sigh but later on smiled telling me that we can still handle our family budget in spite of my smaller paycheck. All we need to do is to cut down on things that we deem are not really necessary.

The cold weather is creating a small havoc on our budget because I have to keep our gas heater on during freezing mornings and evenings. To control our consumption, I would just turn on our heater whenever my children start to call to my attention the freezing temperature. To my surprised, this is the first winter season that my children had not been hit hard by the flu bug. I am guessing that the hot beef soup and stew that I often cook for dinner has kept my family warm especially during the times when the temperature falls below 40 degrees Fahrenheit (About 4 degrees Celsius).

My good friends Peter Guballa (Seattle Washington) and Ramon Cervantes (New York, New York) are probably laughing right now upon hearing that I consider 40 degrees as being cold. The winter temperature at the place where Peter and Ramon live ranges between 0 to 18 degrees Fahrenheit. These two guys walk around in summer shorts and t-shirts on days when the temperature is 40 F degrees.

The weather has become kind of strange lately. There would be days when the sun would be blazing hot. After a couple of days of clear weather, heavy clouds would invade the open skies and rain would pour on us for 2-3 days. The mountains located about 50 miles away from us would turn into a winter wonderland every time it rains in our area. For weeks now my wife and kids had been bugging me to drive them to the mountains so that we can do some snow boarding. The rental price of snow boarding equipment seemed to be reasonable. But because we are a family of four, the total rental cost adds up to a hefty amount. This weekend seemed to be an ideal opportunity for us to drive to the mountains. I am debating with myself if I should stand along the side and just watch my children have fun riding their snowboard or embarrass myself doing thousands of crazy mishaps while trying to ride my snow board down the snow slope. Decisions, decisions.....I think I will do the latter. I figured that it is not always every day that I embarrass myself. Might as well do it in the icy slopes. Hopefully nobody recognize me up there.