Yesterday, I gave a heads up regarding business options that are done online. To be fair, it is time to do the same for the bricks and mortar stores.

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your stance, commerce in the USA has shifted to those small plastic cards called debit, credit or gift cards. Each person has their own collection or has managed to stay away from them. If you have stayed away from the credit cards, you are one of the few so here is a resounding good job to you.

Additionally, self-checkout lines are starting to pop up with regularity at a number of businesses. My hubby and I continually debate as to whether it is quicker to do the self-checkout or the normal checkout lanes with the POS scanners.

POS scanners and POS products in general stand for Point of Sale. If your mind was in the wrong place, I can assure you they do not mean that. However, there may be times when you conclude that the equipment is a pain in the rear.

That is when companies that offer refurbished point of sale equipment come into play. Machines are machines. They require maintenance and replacement from time to time. You need to keep a business running smoothly so the dollars keep flowing.

Now, I wonder if they make POS products for those running a garage sale.

Anah

Yes, the title is not a spelling error. FAPE stands for what the USA’s public education system is supposed to be which is Free and Appropriate Public Education. However with even more changes, FAPE is down to P.

Let me tackle each letter and how it relates to Health & Wealth. Or let me say how it relates to the nation’s health and the individual’s wealth. It is also really handy to know quite a few people and have a former public teacher for a hubby. (Former educator si hubby ko)

P is for Public. Okay, there is no argument on this. The public education system is paid for by the taxpayers with money coming from local Property taxes and some from the Federal level. There is a problem with this though. They overspent and now do not have the resources to address the needs and requirements of facility maintenance, teaching staff (paid so little the best potential teachers stay in the business sector thereby getting so-so quality), administration and implementing all of the requirements of the Federal level.

All of that brings us to F. F is for Free o Libre. It isn’t free.- hindi po pala libre. The school districts routinely have referendums asking for more money from the taxpayers each year. Often, these are defeated as the schools keep getting further and further into the crazy curriculum. The gas prices have also hit the school districts hard. It doesn’t matter what side of the political aisle you are on when the schools can’t afford to bus the students.

The Washington County area of Wisconsin has come up with an idea. Charge the parents of the students who ride the bus $600 for gas (Sa atin po sa pinas, pwede na makapagtapos ng isang school year for college ang 6 hundred dolyares). That is depending on whom you are and if they feel they should exempt you or not. No, it is not fairly done. Those that send their kids to public school often do because they cannot afford the options. With rising costs of gasoline, food, heating fuel for the upcoming winter and all of the other prices of living here, many will not know how to make it and if they will have enough to pay all the bills. Keeping your tires inflated is not a solution for the pinch hitting many. Kung sa bisaya pa mamaktas nlang ta ani bisag ga snow hehe.

A is for Appropriate. This depends on the opinion of the individual. Our district and many others think promoting the Islamic faith, homosexuality, celebrating the concepts of a torturer and a rapist, denouncing Christianity (bawal ang topic about Christianity sa eskwelahan dito)  and teaching Kindergarten kids about their genitals is a good idea. My husband, many others along with me highly disagree.

E is for Education. This is what they are supposed to be doing right? In the Philippines, we have it  (mostly-opinion ko lang!) right. In the USA, they focus on self-esteem and feeling good. In the Phils, you get a kick in the rear to remind you to learn or starve to death. Civics, your nation’s heritage, sound mathematics, basic logic, science based on facts, history based on facts are all NOT taught. Instead, opinions of those who want to install a different religious view in your children are taught.

The only thing left of FAPE is the P. In most places, you flush the P down the toilet or step behind a tree to let the P go. The school system here already has abandoned the P. In doing so, they have undercut the ability of the USA to compete in the global market. That in turn means they are ensuring the loss of their own job security. Maybe they’ll get back to the basics. I will not hold my breath though. Homeschooling is a much better option. I know my daughter will have a chance to truly make it on her own. Trying my best po!

FYI: My daughter’s homeschooling annual fee with CLASS is cheaper than that $600 to ride the bus to the public school.

Thank you,

Anah

Photo credits from www.thenotebook.org

Drop ship that is. From time to time, I put a highlight on some business opportunities that are out there for an persistent, ambitious person to take advantage of. This is one of them.

This business concept focuses on the changing nature of how the retail world works in the USA. People are transitioning to shopping on the Internet. With the higher gas prices, the ranks of those willing to jump from store to store as they shop until they drop are decreasing. The malls and retail stores that need people to come in and out of them are feeling the pain of the consumer.

But this will not stop consumers from purchasing items they are interested in or have a need or want for. Dropshipping is an option and a term that is becoming more common. If you do not know what drop ship refers to, let me explain it a bit. When you shop online, some companies provide you the option to have your products or purchases packaged and shipped directly to you from the warehouse. This bypasses the normal middlemen and saves you a bundle of money.

How can you get a piece of this financial pie? There are a number of ways but the one I am introducing provides not only the drop ship ability but also the products to sell on Ebay. You can choose to specialize in a niche product area or be diversified.

No matter what direction you choose, this option provides you with an online storefront to assist you in the acquiring business and customers. Educational resources are provided but you must come prepared to work. Nothing in life is a free ride so get ready to work, acquire and serve your customer base if this is an optional path for you.

Anah

If you have been reading my blog lately, my personal life has been filled with the deaths of many. This Sunday, Goryo’s Aunt D received The Call and is now home with Jesus. I spoke of this last Thursday in Releasing the Champion.

My heart goes out to Uncle L has he was by her side as she was released from a painful passing. He now has to strike that balance of releasing the pain from his heart that is from losing his beloved wife of 51 years. With how close they are, both my hubby and I are left thinking of the future when that event will be upon one of us. The pain will be great. The sadness will be extreme and as tough as I try to be, I will crack if my hubby goes.

But my faith and his faith are solid. We look to the future when that day comes when my hubby will no longer be slowly losing his ability to walk and my aches and pains will cease to be. It is a day I wish we will meet at the same time because neither of us can bear the thought of being apart from each other. That is in only 5 years of marriage. How much more difficult will it be after 50?

I think of a future where I can be with my sister when she is free from the burden she acquired from a nurse’s needle. I look forward to a future with my hubby dancing together in joy of being together for eternity. In a future post, I will speak a little as to why our faith is solid.

But for now, I Can Only Imagine.

Thank you,

Anah

In the past year, I have been on both sides of this topic. I have both given interviews and been given interviews.

The art of giving an interview is in the nature of the delivery. Questions that are much blunter and delivered with an honest tone of voice are better received than the more mechanical interviews. If you are a human being to them, they will drop their guard and be a human with you. That gives you an insight to their personality and ability to tell the truth. If they will lie to your face, they may have lied on the resume. That isn’t a person for a company spot.

Now in receiving an interview, I have learned the first key is to relax and again be human. Honesty is the best policy and sucking up to get a job is easily seen through. If you do not get the job because of your honesty, then that wasn’t a good place to work as office politics would be too strong. It also helps to know some people in the HR department or recruiting who have all of the proper answers, questions and methods for taking an interview.

If you are in one of the two categories, you have a chance at some cash or an iPod if you Click here to take the survey. But remember you can do so only if you did either of the two above in the last 12 months.

Have fun and good luck!!

Anah

Did You Know….

In yet another obscure detail in this world, Wisconsin and the stomachs of everyone around the world are connected.

No, we are not all connected together with Cheese Heads. We are not connected together with the squeaky cheese called cheese curds from Rudolph, WI. Instead, we are connected by our stomachs with a physician that lived in Wisconsin from 1826-1832 AD.

Dr. William Beaumont is known as the “Father of Gastric Physiology” or he started the bulk of the information on how the digestive process works. The manner in which he did this might make you feel like you just got punched in the gut though. We can definitely have sympathy for his subject who was Alexis St. Martin.

Mr. Martin has the great misfortune of getting shot point blank or 3 feet or 1 meter away with a musket filled with duck shot. It would be the equivalent of a shotgun now. It blew a hole in Mr. Martin’s side that damaged the lung and stomach on the right hand side. Dr. Beaumont was able to save his life but the wound did not heal correctly. There was a 2 ½ inch hole from the outside to directly into his stomach that remained.

Through this hole into his stomach, Dr. Beaumont did several experiments by dropping various foods tied to a thread ranging from 12 raw oysters to boiled chicken and many other things then fishing it back out a few hours later. So thanks to Dr. Beaumont’s observations and notes and Mr. Martin’s hole in his stomach, Wisconsin got to be the testing grounds for a different kind of fishing.

We should keep something in perspective though. Back then if you sustained a significant injury to your leg or arm, they cut it off. If you received a head injury, they would drill holes in your skull to relieve the pressure. Chemical analysis was very basic and not well advanced. So Mr. Martin living through his injuries was a minor miracle by itself. Pharmaceutical drugs consisted of getting drunk on whiskey so you wouldn’t feel the pain of the saw as much.

This is part of the reason why I’m not sold on pharmaceutical drugs. They haven’t been around that long and with the side effects few are really worth taking. You can often do better without them by using the other methods used for the 4800 years prior to them coming out. No, I’m not recommending getting drunk and hacking off your leg.

I will end this interesting piece of information with something for you to remember. The next time you eat a raw oyster or have some other meat slide down your throat, give thanks to the two guys in Wisconsin who fished that food back out to study it. Want to feel his pain? Tie your oyster to a thread, swallow it, and then pull it back up. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Thank you,

Anah

In politics, the above title is something the citizens of the Philippines know well. You cannot trust the government to do the right thing. It is upon the people to keep their government restricted to the Constitution of the country and hold the elected representatives responsible. That is done but putting pressure, more pressure, and more pressure on them.

The USA is at the point where the people need to wake up and get back to the basics on Civics and hammer their representatives back into being their representatives and staying within the Constitution. What is said in the six minute video below is something I agree with. Now I’m not some nut in the USA.

I am a legal immigrant who is proud of my Philippine heritage and enjoying living in the USA. I do take calls from those demanding Spanish and it got me to thinking. When my bana traveled to the Phils, he knew he had to follow the culture and customs of the Philippines. He couldn’t speak the language but he knew he’d need to learn it if he wanted to stay for long. When I came to the USA, I knew I would have to improve my English skills and learn the culture and customs of the USA. That doesn’t mean I give up my values but I have to learn how people live life here.

Am I a Filipino? Yes, I am a Filipino citizen legally. I’m on my way to dual citizenship so I truly will be a Filipino citizen and a citizen of the USA. But I do not expect the USA to change for me. That would be incredibly conceited and arrogant.

A photo ID should be a photo that you can compare with the person to positively identify them. If you choose to obscure your face, then you do not get to drive or vote. I would be fine with that.

As a legal immigrant who had to follow all of the laws, I fully agree with enforcing all of the laws on those who broke them. Stop those who are coming here illegally and trying a guilt trip and emotional plea as to why those of us legal immigrants should be penalized for following the law. That is arguing for chaos. Ahhh, I’ll just let the guy talk.

I fully agree. You pressure those who took and oath of office to uphold and defend the Constitution of the USA to fulfill their oath or get thrown out. If they are a liar on the most fundamental part of their oath, they cannot be trusted to do anything for the people. Throw the bums out.

Thank you,

Anah