I am not unique when it comes to Americans living in the Philippines, even if my particular set of circumstances is unique. There are other Americans here and they're here for a variety of reasons.

Dual Citizens

Whether you regard them as Americans or not is really not an issue – dual citizens as discussed here are legal citizens of both the Philippines and the US. There are three ways that I know of in which Filipinos are also Americans, as dual citizens.

The first and most common now are the Filipinos who've emigrated to the US, gone through the process of alien residency and naturalization, lived in the US for a while and have moved back to the Philippines. Many of the people in this category move back to the Philippines after retirement, but not always due to retirement.

The second are the natural born children of Filipinos, who haven't yet become citizens of the US, born on American soil. American soil is defined as any of the states of the US, its territories and its possessions. Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands are a few of these places. The children are Filipinos by birth, due to having unnaturalized Filipino parents, and American citizens by birth, due to being born on American soil.

The third are those that became American citizens before the Philippine Repatriation Act of 2003 was enacted and lost their Philippine citizenship. The only requirement to becoming a dual citizen is to swear in as a Philippine citizen at one of the Philippine Consulates or at the Philippine Bureau of Immigration.

There are many dual citizens living in the Philippines as retirees and a lot of those are US military retirees. Again, not all of the dual citizens are retirees. One of my neighbors, for example, is a disabled American veteran with a wife and children all being dual citizens. One of his daughters is my younger son's nursing school classmate.

Other Retired Americans

In my situation, Philippine law allows me to be a permanent resident of the Philippines because I'm married to a Filipina (the female gender equivalent to Filipino). I am retired from the US military and I live in Olongapo, next to the former US naval station which is now the Subic Bay Freeport Zone (colloquially called SBMA). My older son, who is living in the US with his own family now, is not a dual citizen because he hasn't completed the steps in the third case above for dual citizenship (he's my adopted stepson whose real father was Filipino). My wife and my younger son are both dual citizens. I could become a dual citizen as well, but the Philippine immigration conditions are stricter than those of the US and I don't want to play that game.

There are other Americans, retired from the US military, living here as permanent residents just like me. I don't know any of them and that may be for the best. I'm too much of an introvert to seek out casual relationships with people outside of my own relatives.

There are also other Americans, retired from the US military, who aren't living here as permanent residents. They play the visa game because they're not married to Filipinas. They have US passports and come into the country for the initial periods which don't require visas. I don't remember offhand what that length of time is, but it used to be 21 days. Regardless, they can pay fees to the local bureau of immigration offices and extend the visas for the better part of a year. They are then required to leave the country for at least 24 hours before they can start the same process all over again.

Some Americans living here are merely US social security retirees and my mother-in-law is one of them. You can't live on US social security payments alone in the US and it's difficult to live on them alone even in the Philippines, but at least it can be done.

Other Americans

There are Americans living here who are not retirees at all, but are permanent residents or in the process of becoming permanent residents. They either work for American companies with locations in the Philippines or are using their life savings to attempt lives here based on the local economy. Yes, if you have the money to invest in something that produces an income, you can live on the local economy just like everyone else.

Finally, there are Americans living in the Philippines as illegal aliens, with expired visas. As long as no one reports them to one of the bureau of immigration offices, they can get away with it. If you think tracking and finding illegal aliens is hard in the US, imagine how hard it is to do the same thing in the Philippines. Filipinos and Americans in the Philippines are not required to have social security numbers (except for certain jobs, especially government jobs) and a lot of people have the same names. One of my nephews, for example, had a difficult time getting an NBI clearance for his passport because he has the same name as one of his uncles (both birth certificates exclude the middle names) and that uncle has a criminal record.

Questions

I'm sure there are Americans living in the Philippines who don't fall under any of the conditions I've mentioned. Of course, that depends on the definition of "living".

Regardless of how or why an American is living in the Philippines, it does no good at all to make assumptions (which is something my wife likes to do quite often). Unless you know exactly "how and why", your assumptions are nothing more than guesses. There are those who will take offense if you lump them in with the wrong group of people and I know this because I've read about it on open forums. Luckily, I've never been in a position where I wanted to make an assumption – I've been told up front the "how and why" of a particular situation and usually through e-mail.

In the past, I've offered to answer questions and help people who are thinking of moving to the Philippines. I don't make the offers anymore because it eats up a lot of time and I usually end up giving out outdated information.

There are websites that specialize in the kind of information sought and searching for "living in the Philippines" as well as "RAO Subic" will bring you to them. Of course, this website will probably appear, but I don't have the information most people require.

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Most news travels by word of mouth in Olongapo, despite it having a huge population. I didn't hear about the new Olongapo pedestrian overpass when it was announce. None of my relatives have said anything at all.

Under Construction

Manila has quite a few pedestrian overpasses in place already, yet this is the first one in Olongapo and it's way overdue. Just shy of a couple of weeks ago, when I was headed to the bank and my wife was driving, I noticed the overpass under construction for the first time. It was the first time either of us had seen it.

It's no wonder. We only travel in the northern part of the city when we're going to the Philippine National Bank and we only do that once a month. I'm sure we were distracted by other things in the roadway on previous trips.

Location

If I was asked for an exact location, I wouldn't be able to tell you anything other than it's on Rizal Avenue near the Olongapo City Elementary School. Yes, around 4000 students cross the road in that particular area on every school day and yes, the traffic is always controlled by crossing guards. What compounds this problem is the amount of vehicles that run on this particular stretch. It's unreal and traffic jams are commonplace. You can appreciate why we avoid that part of the city.

I know this is the first one and I hope it won't be the only one. There are several areas in the city which could become a lot safer for pedestrians overnight once pedestrian overpasses are put in place.

Pedestrian Accidents

Will having this overpass in place reduce pedestrian accidents and pedestrian injuries? Obviously it will, but it will not eliminate them, not even in that particular area. The reason is simple. A lot of the residents will be too lazy to use it. Okay, go ahead and ask me how I know that.

I'm a good observer. On one of my many trips to Manila, in the places where pedestrian overpasses exist, there are still people who refuse to use them. I can't count how many times I saw people weaving and bobbing to get across one of the large thoroughfares. It's easy to change conditions. It's hard to change human behavior.

We rarely hear of pedestrian car accidents in Olongapo. Again, it's because most of the news travels by word of mouth. The city has four times as many residents as it had 25 years ago (currently around 200,000) and probably about ten times the amount of traffic. I'm surprised that there isn't even a local newspaper in Olongapo.

Disclaimer: Since almost all of the news comes by word of mouth, certain things I write about could be utterly wrong. I invite anyone who wants to take the time to correct me to do so.

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I've talked to people in the US (before moving and after) about barber shops in Olongapo. Oddly, they assumed the local barber shops are different than their counterparts in the US. I'm not talking about full-featured "hair salons", but the places where simple male grooming is a specialty. The local barber shops are exactly like the barber shops I grew up with in the US, something you don't see much of in the US anymore (in favor of the modern "hair salons"). When was the last time you visited a barber shop that was just a barber shop?

A Shave and a Haircut – Two Bits!

Haircuts are not quite that cheap here, but I wouldn't doubt that they ARE that cheap in some countries. In case you're too young to remember, two bits was equivalent to 25 cents (USD) at one time. I'm old enough to know the reference, but it was before my time as well.

The current price for a standard haircut is 50 pesos (a little over a single US dollar). Can you still get a haircut in the US for that price, anywhere? I got a haircut yesterday, paid the 50 pesos and tipped the barber an additional 100 pesos. I still spent less than the cost of haircut in the US, without a tip (about $3.25 at the current foreign currency exchange rate). By the way, yesterday was the first time I ever had to have my eyebrows trimmed.

People who try to save money on haircuts.

One thing I've learned over the years is to leave the process of cutting hair to those who have been trained to do so, regardless of the cost. In both the US and locally, I've known people to buy the grooming supplies (like hair clippers, scissors, brushes, etc.) in attempts to save money over the long run by having someone cut their hair for them. It usually turned out disastrous.

Some people get pretty good at it and then charge other people to cut hair, without even the convenience of a barber chair. They sometimes charge as much as professional barber, but not very often. I don't know about you, but I prefer using the services of a professional barber in an actual barber shop. The straight razors are disinfected before use, the hair clippers are kept clean and things just generally happen the way they should.

You want fries with that?

I'm kidding, of course. There is one thing that annoys me about Asian barbers (yes, they do this in Japan and other places as well). As soon as your haircut is complete, they decide to give you some form of massage. It's different with every barber, but it can include forehead, temple and neck massages as well as getting your neck cracked.

I try to stop them before they start. I prefer not to get any kind of massage after a haircut, but sometimes the barber will keep on going regardless of what I indicate.

What kind of haircut?

When I ask for a haircut, I tell the barber I want a military haircut and "two fingers" (which is the distance above the ears where the hair will be a bit longer than below). What I end up getting is what would be considered a "crew cut" in the US. The funny thing is, though, that I could never get a proper crew cut from a barber in the US by asking for one specifically.

The problem, as I see it, is that people are trained to be "hairdressers" in the US nowadays and no one is trained to be "just a barber". There are hairdressers here as well, but quite a few barbers exist as holdovers from when the US military bases were active (prior to 1993), with new, younger barbers being trained to replace them. For this I am thankful.

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Back in April, my king-size bed (complete with headboard and foot board) collapsed on me and the mattress ended up on the floor, with me still on it. It was a narra wood bed with cheap support planks underneath. It was repaired and I replaced some planks. A few days ago, my wife complained of how it sounded like it was going to collapse (the remaining original planks were breaking). After a couple of more days of that, we decided enough was enough.

A King-Size Mattress without a Bed

Rather than repair the bed once again, we decided we would be better off on the floor, if only until we buy another bed. So now, the mattress is lying on the floor, covered in bed sheets, topped with pillows, and I can barely stand to sleep on it.

Is mattress comfort important to you? Mattress comfort shouldn't be important to me, considering I spent many nights in the military sleeping on the ground without anything for padding. I must be getting older faster than I thought.

My wife, on the other hand, sleeps like a rock and I'm confused. When she was calling me from the US every night (her night, not mine, and via Skype), she complained about not being able to sleep. Now that she's here with me, I can't keep her awake once she lies down. Twenty minutes is the most I've been able to keep her awake (while watching TV) and then it's off to la-la land.

What kind of bed will we get?

That's a good question. Just prior to the arrival of my wife's aunt, my wife put up some ugly window curtains on some uncovered windows. It's temporary, but I like the idea. Anyway, my wife also bought a bed at a furniture store. It wasn't expensive at about 7000 pesos (or about $150 US) and the reason is because of the design.

The bed is a full-size boxed-spring foundation and mattress set with six legs screwed into the bottom of the boxed springs. That's it. The funny thing is that my wife's aunt actually likes it like that. My wife is much pickier. She's indicating she wants a king-sized box-spring foundation and mattress set, but with an actual frame and at least a headboard. I'm guessing the price will probably be twice as much as the other bed (or more).

King-Size?

In my opinion, a king-size bed should be big enough. In practice, however, no size seems to be big enough — by morning, my wife inevitably ends up in the middle, forcing me onto the edge. A "Grand King" (80×98 inches, but only sold as an air bed by Select Comfort) would be more to my liking because my "edge" would be as big as a twin/single mattress.

Oh well, my wife will probably smack me (again) for mentioning one of her sleeping habits, but I think I'll survive. That is, if I can survive sleeping on a mattress that's lying on a ceramic-tiled cement floor.

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There are a whole lot of four-letter words I can describe the past few days with and not all of them are bad words (censorship is not required). Of course, there are several variations of some really bad four-letter words I used as well. To get an understanding of what I'm talking about, follow along as I explain the sequence of events since the last time I wrote.

November 15th

It was my younger son's 24th birthday, but any kind of celebrating was to be delayed. Since my wife was due to arrive at the Philippine Airlines (PAL) terminal at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at about 6 am on the 16th, I needed to get to sleep earlier than normal. Things did not work out as planned and I ended up getting no sleep at all.

One of our neighbors decided, on a Sunday night and through Monday morning, to hold a marathon outdoor Karaoke session without any regard to anyone else. The rest of the neighbors were on the verge of lynching those people. I shouted a few expletives from my windows a few times and I assure you, they were all four-letter words. They finally stopped 30 minutes before I had to leave.

November 16th

My driver (his name is Edgar) lives down the street from me. I took one of my nephews with me and headed to Edgar's place and let him take over from there. Getting from Olongapo to the airport in Manila should have taken about three hours from Edgar's house since we had to stop and fill up the tank. It took a little over two hours because Edgar doesn't dawdle… ever. He drove at the maximum speed limit and then some on both the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and the Northern Luzon Expressway. In fact, the Monday morning traffic didn't impede us whatsoever.

My wife's flight, which was supposed to have a stop in Guam, didn't stop in Guam. Consequently, the flight arrived two hours early and she was waiting for us instead of the other way around. Unfortunately, her cousin in the US had alerted her own family and they were waiting there as well. I used a few four-letter words under my breath because I knew we had to pay for their trip home.

The trip back to Olongapo took a bit longer because we stopped at the only rest area on that side of the expressway and had breakfast. We ate at a place called "The Pancake House" because there's another store just like it at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and we had never tried the food there. I had hoped it would have some slight similarity to IHOP but I was sadly disappointed. It's another restaurant crossed off of my list of places to try at least once. Once is all that franchise is going to get out of me.

November 17th and Onward

The only four-letter word remaining is "busy". Our plumbing problems turned out to be less severe than I anticipated. The downstairs main drain pipe has been replaced, holes have been filled, cement has been poured, etc. The only thing left for that part is to repair the shower tiles and drain.

The upstairs main drain pipe turned out to be okay, but there was a joint that wasn't sealed properly, so it's not going to be as hard to fix it as I thought either. I need one ceiling panel, a couple of elbows and a coupling (to go with the sealant and epoxy) and a couple of pints of white paint, both flat and semi-gloss. I'm estimating that the plumbing ordeal will be complete by November 20th.

I had two brothers-in-law and two husbands of sisters-in-law, along with two nephews, working at the same time in different areas. All I had to do was feed them. The estimated total cost when all is said and done is still going to be less than US $200.

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I live in a country with abundant natural resources that are not quite so abundant in other places. Bamboo is one of these natural resources. Despite what my Filipino friends think, you don't have to be poor to use bamboo in place of wood for construction. I know what some of you are thinking, but bamboo is not wood. It grows like weeds but it's actually a form of grass.

Bamboo Chicken Coops

I've actually watched relatives and other people building chicken coops out of vertical strips of bamboo. As far as I can remember, it was done with various kinds of wood (mostly plywood) and chicken wire way back when on my grandmother's farm.

The watering trough is placed within the coop while the feed trough is placed just in front of the coop. The bamboo "slats" are spaced far enough apart for the chickens, when full grown, to poke their heads through it and eat the feed. It's very efficient.

Bamboo Fences

The entire property at one of my "down the street" neighbor's places is completely surrounded by a fence made of bamboo poles. The poles are connected with some cheap, thin wire. The only part of the fence that isn't mostly bamboo is the front gate, although it's partly made of it.

That house is now vacant and there's nothing of value in the surrounding yards, which is good because that kind of fencing won't keep the thieves out.

Bamboo Flooring

Although bamboo flooring is ecologically friendly, more so than wood (and can be made to look exactly like wood), people with regular jobs prefer to have cement flooring covered by linoleum. If they make enough money, that linoleum gets replaced by ceramic tile.

One of my wife's aunts lives in the Batangas province — my wife lived there for four or five years when she was going through high school. When my wife lived there, the flooring was made of bamboo but it was not nearly as nice as what can be found being done with it in the US. The flooring in that house is now ceramic-covered cement.

Does Bamboo mean Cheap?

The Filipinos surrounding me in this area seem to the think that only poor people use bamboo. This is probably true, but it's the wrong way of thinking. When something is available in abundance, which grows as fast as bamboo does and doesn't cost much (if anything — and it depends where you get it from), it makes a lot of sense to use it instead of spending a small fortune on other building materials.

I told my wife I wanted to make a bed frame, headboard and foot board out of bamboo and she said didn't want something so cheap in our house. I'm confused. The mattress (or mattress set) wouldn't be bamboo and neither would any of the bed coverings or pillows. I could make it super strong, unlike the bed frame for the bed in my bedroom, which collapsed after two years. She wouldn't hear of it. Perhaps she's afraid it would look cheap. I assure you, I would have someone else, who works with bamboo on a regular basis, do it for me — it would just be made to my specifications.

The support slats for my bed are in a state of repair, which need to be repaired again before they collapse again. If I need to replace the bed, I'd rather replace it with something a bit more durable, like bamboo.

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Typhoons are tropical cyclones which do as much damage to the Pacific islands as hurricanes do to the coasts of the continents. If you think the damage and loss of life from hurricanes in the coastal areas of the US (like Florida and Louisiana) is horrifying, you haven't seen the results of the typhoons to the islands in the Pacific.

Typhoon Ondoy

Recently, Typhoon Ondoy (internationally known as Typhoon Ketsana) touched down on the island of Luzon (the island I live on) and left hundreds of thousands of people homeless and hundreds of people dead in its wake. Metro Manila suffered immensely, but many small villages ended up being drowned by the flooding.

The weather in the Philippines isn't always hospitable. Just a couple of weeks prior to this particular storm, the downtown areas in my neck of the woods (Olongapo), were heavily flooded and there wasn't even a typhoon involved. It was nothing more than concentrated rain from the yearly monsoon.

Americans that Care

I'm not the only American living in the Philippines who cares what happens to the people here. I received a message from Rick Upshaw, the administrator of "Philippines Typhoon | Philippines Flood". He works as a call center consultant and donated the site to help raise awareness about the plight of the Filipinos affected by typhoons every year.

Rick asked me if I would like to contribute an article to the site, but I have to decline because I don't know enough about the topics to write anything resembling educated information, otherwise you'd see more articles like this on my own website. Anyway, I think Rick has done a fine job all by himself. If you have anything to contribute, just contact him via the contact form on his site.

Ignore the Misconceptions

Many people believe that residents of places where it rains all the time should be prepared for something like a typhoon, or any tropical storm, whenever they occur. While drainage systems and other measures can be put into place, nothing can stop Mother Nature when she decides to drop more rain in a specific location than can be handled in such a short time period.

Stormy weather is unpredictable, regardless of where it may occur. No amount of preparation and measures put into place can stop them from killing people and causing immense damage to property. Even the people of places where it's happened over and over again, in much more developed countries, can't stop them.

The Filipinos living in the Philippines are no different.

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I think I'm gonna be glad,
But it's not today, oh.
The girl that's driving me mad
is coming to stay.

She's got a ticket to ride,
She's got a ticket to ride…

Okay, so sue me for my lame attempt to rip off The Beatles. I'm ecstatic and I don't care.

Yes, I finally bought a ticket for my wife to return to the Philippines (via United and Philippine Airlines) and this time it's for good. Unfortunately, and mostly due to circumstances beyond our control, our 25th anniversary wedding renewal vows will have to be postponed.

If my wife had been able to return three months ago, we could have worked out all the financial details with having our vows renewed on the actual day of our 25th wedding anniversary. As it stands now, we'll have to delay the event for at least three months, perhaps longer. We may have to schedule it for a different anniversary — the day we met or dated for the first time (I remember the date, not exactly what happened). Heck, we may even end up scheduling it to happen on her next birthday. If push comes to shove, we'll have it on our 26th anniversary.

The renewal is important to her, but not so much for me. If she insists on a Catholic wedding, then I may have to go through some seminars and it's not something I look forward to doing.

Plumbing Problems

My wife will be arriving on November 16th and there will be much rejoicing and carrying on (especially from me). There may even be some inebriation involved (by both of us and perhaps others). This will last at least 24 hours and maybe a bit longer if you count the sleep hours.

After things settle down, we have to get some in-laws started on fixing our plumbing problems. The downstairs drains can only be accessed from outside, under a cement flooring. That will all have to be dug up and pipes will have to be replaced (and installed the right way this time).

Once that part is completed, we'll be using the downstairs bathroom for everything while the upstairs drains are fixed. At least four ceiling panels will have to be removed and replaced, along with a few pipes. Again, everything will be installed the right way this time. I'll be right there supervising it.

Dental Work

I can't be a part of a ceremony where I have to smile, even once. That's how bad my teeth my teeth look. Every filling I ever had has fallen out and it's not the missing fillings that make them look bad; it's the stuff that was put on under the fillings. It reacted with air and turned pitch black, virtually overnight (each time a filling fell out).

I've seen the x-rays. There aren't enough good parts of my teeth left to justify an attempt to salvage them. 20 years of cleanings and fillings couldn't prevent undiagnosed acid reflux disease from destroying them. Just last month, and I didn't mention this to anyone, one of my molars broke completely off at the gum line. The dentist is going to love working on getting that one out.

So… I'm going to be stuck with dentures for the rest of my life — shiitake happens. Anyway, I have to wait for my wife to return in order to start the process of having all my remaining teeth pulled. She's the only one I trust to take care of my eating problems during the process, not to mention driving me back and forth from the dentist, which is kind of hard while bleeding profusely. I did that when I had three molars removed and it was a driving nightmare (and quite painful).

The Dirty Kitchen and Laundry Room

This isn't a really a priority but my wife thinks it is. She wants to be able to do her own laundry in an American-style washer and dry it in an American-style dryer. These old Japanese-style washing machines, made in Korea or wherever, just won't do the trick for her. Hanging clothing out to dry isn't something she wants to do either because it rains a lot.

I've been having an in-law doing me and my son's laundry for the last two plus years and I'm pretty tired of it myself. I could mention a few things, but I'll leave it at that.

Deep Vein Thrombosis

I think I have deep vein thrombosis in my lower left leg as a result of too many injuries. I've done a lot of research and I'm just waiting for my wife to return before getting examined again. The lower leg swells whenever I'm in any position except horizontal, like when I'm sleeping. I wear compression socks to prevent it from swelling too much and I've been doing this for more than two years.

I'm almost positive that clotting in the veins, much like the clots in my wife's artery in her neck, is the cause of it. You can call me crazy for waiting, but I have my reasons. I know what the treatment is and I'm doing half of it already. I always hesitate as long as possible when drugs are involved, even over-the-counter drugs. I guess you could say I don't consider it a priority yet.

The Problem is Money

We just don't have enough money to take care of the priorities and do what we need to do in order to meet the deadlines we've set. I wish I could tell my wife it's possible, but it isn't.

I've only mentioned the things I know about. This is September and our anniversary is in January. Who knows what else will happen in the meantime? I certainly don't and with both me and my wife being middle-aged, with a son going to college and with in-laws that do strange things on a regular basis, I won't even try to predict what stage we'll be at in January. Heck, I won't even try to predict what stage we'll be at when she gets back.

Well, at least we live in Olongapo and pay a fraction of what our US-based counterparts have to pay and we don't have to use credit cards for any of it.

Despite my list of priorities and my general capacity for complaining, I'm truly ecstatic my wife's returning home for good. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. If my heart was any fonder, it wouldn't fit in my chest cavity.

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Is it too much to ask of myself? I know I'm on a tight budget, but I really want a real office desk instead of this crappy computer desk I'm using. I don't want something as fancy or heavy as President Obama's "Resolute Desk" in the oval office of the White House, but I want something just as big.

My Computer Desk

I don't know about other people, but I don't like computer desks. This one came free with my desktop computer, which I bought in October of 2007. The computer, monitor and everything I attached to them are still humming along. The only thing that doesn't work anymore is the power switch on the front of the computer and I hotwire it (just two wires touching together, really).

The desk really is a pile of manure, but it's the only desk I have. The chair that came with it broke within two weeks. It couldn't handle my weight, although I didn't have a problem with an identical-appearing one in the US and I'm not even as heavy now as I was then (I use an old, rebuilt metal chair now). The plastic plugs in the hollow support beams won't stay in place and the surface on top is already marred beyond belief and I really don't put anything on it besides a coffee cup.

I have difficulty doing anything that isn't computer-related on the computer desk. I usually end up walking downstairs and sit at the kitchen table. I now consider this unacceptable.

I think I'm spoiled, or at least I used to be. I always had a massive double-pedestal desk when I was in the military and at least a single-pedestal desk everywhere I worked since then, except for my current home office (my huge master bedroom).

Plans for a Real Office Desk

I learned basic drafting in elementary school – the eighth grade. I learned basic blueprinting in high school and I think it was in my sophomore year (10th grade) and only for one semester. I know enough to be dangerous.

My plan is to supervise the construction of a huge office desk. It doesn't need to be made of narra or any heavy wood — pine would be fine — and I would settle for some good half-inch plywood. With the right stain and varnish, it would look the part of the heavier, more expensive varieties of wood.

Office desks are usually made at the height of 29 or 30 inches (don't ask me to use metric, my head hurts). For my height, 29 inches is the perfect height for me to use a computer keyboard. You see, I learned to type on a manual typewriter on a desk at that height when I was a freshman in high school. Anything lower isn't comfortable and I'm constantly hitting the keys too hard.

The length and depth of the desk should make it resemble a table top. The length of 72 inches comes to mind and that may be too long, but maybe not. I have room for it at that length and with a depth of more than two feet. It will have three drawers on each pedestal.

I want the table top to be smooth. I want to be able to use furniture polish to clean it and make it shine. I want it large enough for my computer tower, my LCD monitor and anything else I need to have handy. I want to be able to pull out my MSI Wind netbook and use it on the desktop without having it hit something else.

It Won't Happen Soon Enough

I have too many other things I need to take care of before I indulge myself. Things like my plumbing problems, re-painting the exterior and interior of my house, finishing the dirty kitchen and laundry room extension to the house and much more.

You could say that I have a veritable laundry list of things to get done. Making my desired office desk is at the bottom of the list, unfortunately, unless some of my "other" plans bear fruit.

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Former President Corazon Aquino died in her sleep at approximately 3:18 am today (August 1), Philippines local time. She had been suffering from colon cancer since March of last year. Corazon Aquino, the plain housewife of a deceased politician who was assassinated in 1983, rose to presidency in 1986 as a result of the first People Power Revolution. She was named "Woman of the Year" by Time Magazine in 1986.

Personal Observations

I was stationed aboard the Marine Corps air station in Yuma, Arizona when the People Power Revolution took place. My wife and I watched CNN Headlines News from the time it was announced that former (now deceased) President Marcos was holed up at Malacañang Palace to the time that Corazon Aquino was put into power as the new president.

President Aquino's death has significant meaning for many people, including me. Because of this, the Philippines has declared 10 days of national mourning. President Arroyo is cutting her trip in the US short in order to be with the people of the Philippines during this period.

President Aquino was only two months older than my mother (76), who is still living. Coincidentally, Aquino was diagnosed with colon cancer within days of my mother being hospitalized for acute pancreatitis. Aquino's suffering has ended while my mother still requires dialysis treatments three times a week.

More Information

Information about Cory's life can be found on the Wikipedia page for Corazon Aquino. You can also find information on Ferdinand Marcos and the People Power Revolution.

President Aquino is survived by five children, including Senator Benigno Aquino III and Filipino television and movie personality Kris Aquino.

If nothing else, their stories make for interesting reading about some significant periods in the recent history of the Philippines.

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