Untwisted Vortexrelatives

Today, the 25th of January, is my 25th Wedding Anniversary

RT Cunningham — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:55:58 +0000

Yes, today is the 25th wedding anniversary for me and my wife and it happens to occur on our wedding anniversary, the 25th of January. Things didn't turn out the way we planned because she stayed in the US too long and we paid more in medical bills and other things that we didn't count on.

A Dinner for Two?

We still have a few hours to think about it, but we will probably go out for dinner and that will almost be the end of our silver wedding anniversary celebration. We just don't have cash on hand for much of anything else (and we have NO credit cards).

What else can I say? Shiitake happens.

In my defense…

I really didn't want to have go through the process required for us to renew our wedding vows and I didn't make any plans for it. In this case, not making plans was a good idea.

A sister-in-law decided to get married in December and the wedding reception was held in my back yard. I paid for the reception.

A week later, one of my wife's aunts arrived from the US for vacation (and she's still here) and yes, there are always added costs when relatives stay in your home. A couple of weeks later, the aunt's son and grandson (different parents) arrived and they're still here also. They all spent a week in Cebu City and that was the only break I've had.

A couple of last items…

What the heck is a mid-life crisis? I know what it's supposed to be, but I'm at mid-life and I'm not having any problems at all. In fact, I'm probably feeling the exact opposite way than what is expected.

Our silver wedding anniversary will be finalized by a night of wild and passionate sex. That is, if I don't run out of energy before we begin.

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Balikbayan Boxes and Shipping Freight to the Philippines

RT Cunningham — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:28:49 +0000

Unless you're a Filipino or have close ties to Filipinos, you probably don't have a clue what I'm talking about when I mention anything about a balikbayan box. The word "balikbayan" is actually a combination word coined in the 1970s. "Balik" means to go back and "bayan" means home town or home country. So "balikbayan" is someone going back to their home country, but it only pertains to people going back to the Philippines.

Since I'm an American living in the Philippines, I become a balikbayan when I return after a trip to the US.

Balikbayan Boxes

Balikbayans normally bring pasalubong (gifts) to friends and relatives on return flights, but the term "balikbayan box" also refers to boxes shipped via cargo containers.

With the recent 50 pound limitation introduced by most airlines (to reduce fuel costs), bringing balikbayan boxes back with the airlines becomes less and less attractive. If your box is a single pound over the limit, you can be charged $50 (in US dollars) or more. This happened to my wife when she came back for her Philippines vacation.

Shipping Freight

Shipping freight via well-known cargo companies is becoming more and more attractive as time progresses. The cost of shipping each box can range from $100 to $125 (in US dollars). The advantage, however, is that there isn't a weight limit. You say you have a box that weighs 500 pounds? If they can get it on the truck that goes to the port, it isn't a problem. I'm exaggerating of course, but it's common to see boxes that weigh more than 100 pounds each headed to the ships.

In California, there are a lot of cargo companies. In Phoenix, there is only a handful. That handful includes Forex Cargo and Manila Forwarders. Some popular companies in southern California include those as well as LBC and Alpha Cargo. We prefer to use Forex Cargo.

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Charity Begins But Does Not End At Home

RT Cunningham — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:22:51 +0000

God only knows, God makes his plan.
The information's unavailable to the mortal man.
…Slip Slidin' Away

About a year ago, I mentioned how I was giving until it hurts by supporting one brother-in-law and his family here in the Philippines. Soon after that, I started supporting ANOTHER brother-in-law and his family. Charity never ends.

Just this week, my wife decided to help her cousin and her cousin's husband by buying them a house. Che and Gani will be responsible for making the house payments. Now that I have all the details from my wife and the realtor, I realize she didn't make a bad decision. After you read what I have to say about it, please continue to read and see what I have to say about another person who needs some help.

Their Problem

Che and Gani have extremely bad credit. While I don't know all the details, I know they can't even get a credit card. Despite the fact that Che's income alone is more than me and my wife's combined income, they can't qualify to buy a house.

While I was staying with them back in March, I found out the bank was foreclosing on the house they were renting. I seem to remember the foreclosure was to be completed around May 20th. Why they waited until almost the last minute to do anything about it is beyond me.

Our Housing History

The house that I and Josie sold in 2006 was the first house we owned. We lived in it for almost 12 years. When we sold it, we paid off everything and still ended up with over $100,000 in profit due to the inflated housing boom. My wife says I'm a genius because I foresaw the housing slump, and the economy downturn as a result of it, and made the decision to sell when we did.

Because of my foresight, we now own our house in the Philippines and are making no payments of any kind. Even though our combined income is low, in my opinion, we qualify for a house up to $140,000 in Phoenix. A house that two years ago probably sold for over $200,000.

The House

The paperwork for the house is at the title company and they're waiting for a $1,000 whatever payment. There's no down payment required because the house is being bought from another foreclosure. Josie will be making the payment this coming Monday.

The title company has to mail me a power of attorney, via FedEx, which I have to sign in front of a notary recognized by the US and send it back to them. It looks like I'll be making a round-trip to Manila pretty soon. Once the sale is complete, Josie will get the $1,000 back from the title company.

I don't know where the house is, what it looks like, or any of the details. Do you want to know something? I don't even care.

Besides the money required for the FedEx mailings, the round-trip to Manila and the notary fee, there isn't any real risk. If Che and Gani fail to make the monthly payments, and the house goes into foreclosure, that small amount of money is the only thing we'll really lose in the process. Josie and I have no intention of owning property in the US again, so the massive black mark of credit caused by a foreclosure doesn't bother us in the least.

Another Blogger In Need

Charitable acts for family and relatives are all well and good, but I'm always looking outwards to people who are strangers to me. I recently found that Lisa of "Got No Dough" is in serious need of help.

Their 1991 Nissan pickup truck was stolen about a week ago, with her husband's guitar inside. The guitar was her husband's means of income because he's a music instructor. When Lisa wrote that she needed a miracle, I suggested she put up a PayPal donation button and a Scratchback widget. She did and then wrote about her attempt at making a miracle happen. I was, of course, the first person to test both of them out.

I submitted her latest post to BloggingZoom, Digg and I stumbled it. Here's hoping it does some good!

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It Isn't Christmas In November

RT Cunningham — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:40:54 +0000

My long awaited cargo packages arrived yesterday morning. These were four huge boxes containing computer hardware, clothing, china, skillets, and other things. The contents were worth somewhere between $2000 and $4000. My wife sent them the first week of September, they arrived at the Manila port on November 8th, and they were delivered here on November 14th.

As the boxes were placed in the living room area, all of my in-laws and assorted relatives followed them in. They were like vultures waiting for their supper to die so they could swoop down and eat it. As soon as a box was opened, hands and fingers were digging where they didn't belong. They were extremely disappointed when I started kicking them out of the house.

My desktop system now includes a new webcam, a new boom microphone, a new 750 GB external hard drive, and a new 2 GB flash drive. Counting the internal hard drive, I now have over 1 TB or storage space. As soon as I transfer all the extraneous software and files to the external hard drive, I'll be setting up the automated backup system. Everything has been tested — I just finished a video chat session with the wife.

I haven't finished going through and putting everything away. There are some things there that are destined to be given to the relatives, but they're going to have to wait until I can go through everything. If I hadn't stopped them when I did, I'm absolutely positive they would have walked away with things that weren't intended for them. Damn vultures!

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Where Did My Weekend Go?

RT Cunningham — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 22:48:09 +0000

Shortly after my previous post, we started to have power outages again. First it was for only 15 minutes. The power was back on for an hour and then off again for three and a half hours. All of this was at night, except for the tail end of the last one that ended about a half hour after daybreak.

I don't remember which day it was, but Gerry (a relative) came over and jump started my car again. After the outage, I and my son Jon went o the Freeport zone to pick up some stuff we needed, driving through the rain the entire time. Other than cooking and watching a couple of old movies, I don't remember the rest of Saturday. There were more brownouts involved, so one movie took more than eight hours to finish.

Yesterday, my wife called via the IM and wanted to see her relatives as part of the call. So there was like a ton of people crowded around my laptop for a couple of hours. Most were uninvited and tagged along with the invited anyway. Again, watching movies and cooking are about all else I remember along with more brownouts.

I did manage to answer a couple of comments and email messages along the way. I didn't bother to try to write anything for the blog because of all the interruptions and I didn't even mention all of them — I don't even remember all of them.

Except for the ants! The rain of the past few days has been driving the ants indoors and away from the flooding. Well, I remember getting out a can of a local bug spray and spraying all the areas where the ants could come in and especially the baseboard areas in the kitchen. This technique works quite well for awhile. The lemon whatever ingredient repels the ants, so the downstairs part of my house is free of ants right now. I don't like using pesticides and only use them as a last resort, like getting overrun by ants, which is exactly what happened.

Of course, my son is off to school this morning and I'm all alone in the house again. The next 12 hours should provide me with the time to do the things I used to do on a regular basis. I don't think I have completely recovered, mentally, from the things that occurred starting in June. I still suffer from a lower left leg that swells up, goes back down, swells up again, etc. I have no idea what's going on with that, but the injuries are healed (a lot of dead skin is flaking off, so I have to wash the leg frequently).

There are no apologies here. Everyone has off-days, off-weeks, and even off-months. Hopefully, my off-days are either over or will soon be over.

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Next of Kin Relationships in the Philippines

RT Cunningham — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 04:32:14 +0000

My wife is Catholic, Roman Catholic to be exact. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 percent of the population of the Philippines is Roman Catholic. The next of kin relationships are defined here by Roman Catholic as well as Spanish traditions.

Godparents:

Ninong (male) and ninang (female) are the Tagalog language words that mean godfather and godmother. Newly baptized babies are given godparents, selected by the parents. They list either the godfather or the godmother on their paperwork and the other one becomes a godparent automatically. Well, I've been made a godfather automatically more times than I can count.

Godparents have as much authority over children as their parents. It doesn't make sense to me, but who am I?

Niece/Nephew:

The definition in the dictionary as well as common usage in the US is a child of your sibling or a child of your spouse's sibling. That's true here also, but they have something else mixed up in it. The child of your first cousin is your niece or nephew as well. We call those cousins once removed. There's even a chart at Wikipedia that explains the American/English cousin relationships.

One of my wife's cousins has a daughter (a cousin once removed that my wife calls niece) that's my goddaughter. She calls me "Ninong".

Aunt/Uncle:

Just like niece/nephew. My son has been told to call my wife's cousins aunt and uncle because that's what the tradition is here. It's messed up, but I'm not one to tangle with traditions that have been around a lot longer than I have.

Grandfather/Grandmother

The brother of my wife's grandfather is called Lolo (Tagalog for grandfather). Lola is for grandmother. Great uncle/great aunt would be more appropriate, wouldn't it?

What's my point? We can never take anything for granted. Not even something as simple as our understanding of next of kin relationships. The only reason I wrote about this is because I may mention a niece or nephew, aunt or uncle, or something else concerning a next of kin in a future post and that person may not be exactly what you expect.

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Welcome to the Untwisted Vortex in the Philippines

RT Cunningham — Sat, 27 May 2006 10:01:59 +0000

My definition of a vortex is "a place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it". An untwisted vortex is therefore "a place or situation regarded as spreading out that which is at its center".

Over time, I intend to share the wealth of knowledge and experience I have with my friends and relatives in the Philippines as well as the readers from other countries. I used to live in the US, but now I live in Olongapo City, Philippines.

If you want to know a little more about the personal me, please read my "About RT" page.

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