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Kenya AA Eegads Estate

September 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Kenya

OK, one of the coffees that I have promised a review of is Kenya AA Eegads Estate.  This coffee came, obviously from Kenya.  I roasted this coffee to what is called a "Full City+" roast.  This is a fairly dark roast, especially for me, as I tend to prefer a lighter roast on my coffee. When I roasted this, I started drinking after 24 hours rest.  At that time, I had a half cup for sampling.  I liked it.  It has a light fruit flavor.  I enjoy fruity tasting coffees, and this one had what I liked.  I took my second taste after 48 hours of rest post-roast.  This time I made a full cup.  Wow!  It was a fruit BOMB.  It was like this … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coffee, Cupping, Featured Tagged With:

Paypal’s "Expanded Use Program"

August 31, 2011 By 7 Comments
eon

OK, so if you have been following along on this week's series of Paypal articles here on Virtual Earner, you should have already taken the steps of opening a Paypal account, and also obtaining an EON card from Union Bank so that you can get a fully functional Paypal Account here in the Philippines. The next step that you will need to complete is to complete the "Paypal Expanded Use Program."  Basically, the Expanded Use Program allows you to get money out of your Paypal account, and raise the limits on the use of your account.  Your EON card (or other credit/debit card - we are using UnionBank's EON card for this series of articles) is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Paypal

Being more than you think you are

August 30, 2011 By 6 Comments
Always exceed expectations

Do you read many blogs?  I read quite a few.  Some are more special than others are, no doubt.  Some blogs touch you in a place that others don't even come close to.  Know what I mean?  One person who almost always is able to reach me with just the right message is Steve Olson.  I don't know for sure what it is about Steve that imparts meaning to me, but in many ways I find that he and I share some similarities in our lives, and that probably makes his writing meaningful to me. In his most recent article, "Are you an extraordinary person?" Steve writes about his upbringing and how so many external influences pushed the message that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, My Thoughts Tagged With:

Change of plans

August 25, 2011 By 5 Comments
bike

Well, I made a commitment to myself a few days ago that I was going to start walking regularly again.  I got started yesterday, walking about 1 mile.  Today, though, I had to make a change of plans!  It has been pouring down rain, at least moderate rain, since yesterday morning.  No signs of it letting up, either. So, due to the weather, I had to change my plans for walking today.  After I finish writing this, I will ride my stationary bike for a while, tough, in order to continue with increasing my exercise.  I prefer walking to riding an exercise bike, though, so I am looking forward to the storm passing.  I find riding the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Exercise, Featured, General Health, Health Tagged With: ,

Setting up a Paypal Account in the Philippines

August 24, 2011 By 3 Comments
paypal_logo6

Paypal is a wonderful tool that will assist you in accepting payments for money you earn on the Internet.  You can actually use Paypal to accept payments even for non-Internet work.  In my opinion, Paypal is a tool that you certainly want to include in your tool belt.  With so many millions of Paypal accounts in use worldwide, Paypal is one of the most popular options for making and receiving payments over the Internet. Until 2006, Paypal did not accept accounts in the Philippines.  But, in the 4th Quarter of 2006, Paypal opened up the Philippines as an accepted country.  However, there were severe limitations on Paypal Philippine … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Paypal

Quenching the thirst for liberty

August 22, 2011 By 16 Comments
Lemonade

Did you know that this past Saturday, August 20, 2011 was Lemonade Freedom Day?  I didn't know about it until I saw a video on Facebook.  Thank you to my friend Steven Green for posting the video which caught my attention. Basically, on Saturday, a concerned American Citizen, Robert Fernandes and his family, and I presume other followers set up a lemonade stand on public property in Washington DC.  This action follows many incidents of US authorities shutting down childrens' lemonade stands in various locations around the United States. What ever happened to common sense?  Voltaire, a French Philosopher probably said it … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Martin, Featured, My Thoughts Tagged With: , , ,

Are stupid ideas a waste of time?

August 22, 2011 By 4 Comments
stupid_idea

If you think about the title of this article, Are stupid ideas a waste of time?, of course you would say "Yes, they sure are."  But, I would argue that they are not.  Stupid ideas are not a waste of time, in fact, they are very valuable in my opinion! How could it be? Have you ever heard of brainstorming?  Do you know what that is?  For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, brainstorming is a process of thinking of all kinds of ideas.  The best way for a brainstorming session to be conducted is to have a group of people, maybe 6 to 10 people or so.  You agree in advance that all ideas will be considered relevant, nothing is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Entrepreneurism, Featured, Mental Health, My Thoughts Tagged With:

Rwanda Cup of Excellence

August 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Rwanda

OK, the other day, I promised to share my cupping impressions on the variety of coffees that I recently received.  So, I'll start doing that today. Let's start with... Rwanda Cup of Excellence #18 - Nkundiye Innocent - Bufcoffee Nyarusiza For the purposes of the article, from here on out, I will simply call this coffee Rwanda CoE for short.  I roasted these beans to the point where I was just hearing the start of the 2nd crack (an audible popping sound, almost like hearing popcorn pop).  This level of roast to people who know coffee is called Full City+.  Full City+ is about the darkest that I usually enjoy my coffee.  For fruitier … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coffee, Cupping, Featured Tagged With:

Continuing my jeepney adventures

August 17, 2011 By 15 Comments
New Friends

As I mentioned the other day, I've been riding jeepneys lately.  I consider it a further part of my acculturation to the Philippines.  I've already lived here a long time, more than a decade, but I can still learn more about the culture here and make efforts to better fit in culturally.  So, that is what I am doing. As far as I can recall, I don't think I've missed a single day of riding the jeepney somewhere since I started last week.  I've had mostly good adventures on the jeep, but the one bad one that I wrote about a couple days ago.  Today, I need to go to Union Bank for some business that I need to take care of there... so I'll … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Martin, Davao, Exercise, Featured, Language, My Thoughts Tagged With: , ,

A real bad feeling

August 15, 2011 By 61 Comments
Old man in the Philippines

Today, something happened that made me feel really bad.  The truth is, I don't understand what happened, or why it happened, and that is part of the reason why I feel bad. Over the weekend, I got a notice from the Post Office (it's called "PhilPost" here in the Philippines) that I had a package waiting for me, and I needed to claim it at the main Post Office in Davao.  The PhilPost Office is closed on Saturdays, so, since it's Monday morning, I decided to go down and pick up my package first thing this morning.  I had recently ordered something on eBay, and was looking forward to receiving my purchase, which I was sure was the package … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Davao, Featured, Live in the Philippines, My Thoughts Tagged With: ,
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