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Insurance in the Philippines

September 6, 2010 By MindanaoBob
insurance

I’ve talked a little about insurance in the past on this site, but mostly those articles have been related to health insurance, and medical issues.  The other day, somebody left a comment here on LiP asking about insurance, but instead of health insurance, he was asking about other types of insurance.  He specifically mentioned flood insurance, basic contents insurance and such. I have had some personal experiences with insurance here, and I thought that this would probably be a good time to share my experiences along these lines. The person who asked about such insurance is PaulB.  Paul left the following comment on my recent article … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob, Bob Martin, Business, Daily Life, Expats, Live in the Philippines, Living in The Philippines Tagged With: Philippines

Is anybody minding the store?

September 3, 2010 By MindanaoBob
labeling

Imagine this situation, if you would.  Your brother just died in a foreign country, far away from his home.  You are mourning deeply for his loss, quite sad.  When your brother died, it was under unfortunate circumstances which caused an uproar, only making your loss more painful. Your brother’s body is shipped back home from the foreign land where he died.  You and your family have made all of the arrangements for a nice funeral and you are hoping to get over it and hopefully get back to a normal life as time passes.  After the body is repatriated, though, you and the family open the coffin and the body inside is not your brother after … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob, Bob Martin, Daily Life, Expats, Live in the Philippines, Living in The Philippines Tagged With: Philippines

Major, major results

September 1, 2010 By MindanaoBob
venus

For those of you who don’t know, Miss Philippines scored a big result last week when she placed 5th place in the Miss Universe pageant.  I don’t normally follow beauty pageants, but I am very happy for Miss Maria Venus Raj, the 4th Runner Up in the Miss Universe contest last week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Venus is quite a beauty, I must say.  I first saw her a couple of weeks ago when Feyma told me about her.  Feyma told me that Venus Raj, the contender for Miss Universe was half Indian.  It’s true, Venus was born in 1988, the daughter of a Filipina mother and an Indian father.  Shortly after Feyma told me about her, I saw her … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob, Bob Martin, Daily Life, Live in the Philippines, Living in The Philippines Tagged With: Philippines

Be a Professional

August 31, 2010 By MindanaoBob
amateur

Today, one of my favorite writers had an article on his blog entitled Professionals, amateurs and the great unwashed.  Seth Godin is really a master at writing only a few words but getting a strong point through to the reader. Seth was talking about people and how they work.  Seth said that a professional is somebody who is expensive, but worth more than you pay because of the quality of the work that they do.  An amateur is somebody who is cheap, even free, because they are not doing it for the money, but for their love of what they are doing.  The “great unwashed” are people who are only doing it because it is a job. Professionals? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: My Thoughts Tagged With: Habits for Smart People

The Manila Massacre

August 30, 2010 By MindanaoBob
bus

Last year, we had the Maguindanao Massacre, where the Ampatuan family allegedly murdered around 60 people, mostly from the Mangudadutu clan in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao Province.  The legal part of that massacre is still unresolved, but now we have another massacre to talk about, the Manila Massacre.  I’m talking about last week’s hostage situation in Manila where a bus load of tourists were taken hostage, and many ended up dead by the time that the whole scenario was played out. Oh, people are not calling this the Manila Massacre, that’s my name for it.  I mean why not, I think it’s fitting. I am sure that almost all … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob, Bob Martin, Live in the Philippines, Living in The Philippines Tagged With: Philippines

I passed the test! With new Podcast!

August 27, 2010 By MindanaoBob
test

Today, I’ll be sharing a new podcast with you, but that will have to wait until the end of the story. It’s been a while since I did a podcast, so it feels good to put one up again. Over the past 3 weeks, I have been having examinations as part of my Bisaya Class.  For new readers who don’t know, Bisaya (or Cebuano) is the main language used in the Central and Southern parts of the Philippines. As the name implies, Cebuano originated in Cebu, but much of the Visayas and Mindanao speak this language, or a variation of it.  For the past 3 years I have been taking Cebuano classes and learning to speak the language. The textbook … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob, Bob Martin, Daily Life, Expats, Language, Live in the Philippines, Living in The Philippines Tagged With: Philippines

Updated: Warranties in the Philippines

August 25, 2010 By MindanaoBob
warranty

When buying a major item like a car, a new PC or an appliance, most of us always consider what kind of warranty is being offered.  The longer the warranty, the more likely we are to consider buying the item if it meets our needs. In my time living in the Philippines, more than a decade already, I can recall dealing with warranty issues three different times. My first warranty experience in the Philippines involved the warranty on my automobile, a 2000 Mitsubishi Adventure AUV (Asian Utility Vehicle).  Anytime you purchase an new automobile, invariably there will be things that need adjustments, or parts that may fail within the warranty period.  … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob, Bob Martin, Business, Daily Life, Davao, Expats, Live in the Philippines, Living in The Philippines Tagged With: Philippines

The Mieles and the Martins

August 23, 2010 By MindanaoBob
Miele_Martin

This weekend was a great LiP get together!  One of our popular LiP writers, John Miele, and his family came to Davao for the weekend.  John was accompanied by his wife, Rebecca and their son Juanito. John came to Davao to sort of enjoy a get-away from the city, and all that is associated with it.  John and Rebecca chose a great time to visit Davao, because this past weekend was the climax of the famous Davao Kadayawan Festival!  John and Rebecca, along with Juanito were able to watch the Kadayawan Street Dancing festivities right from their hotel, and from everything John said, I think they enjoyed it!  I am not going to get into details … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob, Bob Martin, Daily Life, Davao, Expats, Food, Live in the Philippines, Living in The Philippines, Relationships, Travel Tagged With: Philippines

It’s on the Coconut Telegraph

August 20, 2010 By MindanaoBob
coconut-telegraph

I admit it.  I’m a Parrothead.  Big time. Oh wait… some of you are asking… what the heck is a “parrothead?” Well, a Parrothead is a fan of Jimmy Buffett.  For the uninitiated, Jimmy Buffet is an American Singer.  His music is hard to categorize.  It is not quite rock.  It’s not quite country.  It’s somewhere in between the two.  Jimmy Buffett primarily sings island style music.  He is a man who loves the tropics.  He sails boats.  He flies a sea plane.  He parties a lot, or used to when he was younger.  A lot of Jimmy’s songs really sound a lot like the life that I lead here in the Philippines.  … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob, Bob Martin, Daily Life, Expats, Live in the Philippines, Living in The Philippines, Travel Tagged With: Philippines

Bang!

August 18, 2010 By MindanaoBob
canter

As you may recall, last week, on Feyma and my 20th Wedding Anniversary, we took a trip to Samal Island for the day.  It was a nice day, as I told about in my article last week. Something unexpected happened, though, on the way home. When we arrived at the Ferry terminal for the boat ride back to the City, there were a lot of cars waiting.  I told Feyma that we would be lucky if we were to make it on to the next Ferry, and that we would likely have to wait until the following Ferry, because the first one would likely be full.  Sure enough, I was correct in my assessment.  We almost made it, but when the Ferry was full there was us and one other … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob, Bob Martin, Live in the Philippines, Living in The Philippines, Travel Tagged With: Philippines
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