For the Greater Good

You will come to a phase in your life that a burning desire to help others who need it the most will constantly be in your mind. You will talk to yourself more but don't worry you are not losing sanity. It means you are tapping into the spirit realm which is the way in which God is effectively talking to you. During this time you will realize how you will be able to perform your mission in life, along it will come negatives and positives. Focus on the positives for you to proceed. Don't fear failures while in the journey. Failure is success in the making. God bless my friends!

Would be very happy to see your support by a simple like on AquaponicsPhilippines FB page.

I Cannot Give What I Do Not Have

Was very fortunate to have attended "The Ancient Paths" seminar last weekend. To impart to you the blessings me and my husband received, would like to share with you the highlights we learned. The two day seminar reinforced our faith and helped us answer the questions: Who am I? (identity) and Why am I here? (destiny). It opened our mind to understanding the spirit realm, where everyone can be used as a channel of God's blessings or the opposite. We learned that impartation of blessing or cursing happens in the entirety our life's journey - from conception, pregnancy, birth, infancy, puberty, marriage to older age. What's critical is that our choices in life whether it is a blessing or cursing affects up to ten generations of our offspring. So today, we commit to be a blessing not only for our family, but for the next generations as well.

The True Millionaire’s Prayer

by Bo Sanchez

Today, I ask You to bless me so that I may become a blessing.

Lord, I commit myself to enrich others.

But because I cannot give what I do not have,

I commit myself to become rich.

I commit myself to serve You and to serve the poor with my wealth.

Today, I open myself to the abundance of Your universe.

Use me as Your channel of love.

Give me the ability to create wealth that will bless the world..

Increase my financial wisdom and expand my territories.

I place my life in your hands, Amen.

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May God prosper the work of our hands so we could help others more! Be blessed and a blessing to others.

Anymeeting Tutorial for Participants

1.) A sample e-mail below will be sent to the participants when the presentor creates an invite.

2.) The participants must click on the “Please click here to join this meeting” to join, then the screen below will be opened in another window after clicking join.  Enter full name, enter e-mail, then click join meeting.

3.) Messages will appear on a new screen, like connecting, testing your upload speed, testing your download speed. Until it displays click  here to continue.

4.) After clicking continue, this screen will show up. Then Click use my computer.

5.) Below screen will show up. Click got it, thanks.

6.) You will be brought into this screen where you can already view what's the presentor will be sharing.

Note that the participant will only see CAM, MIC(presentor can have this muted or unmuted) and My Mood, the participant can use this to raise hand, say yes or no. The presentor can also see these three buttons plus an added button of SHARE)

7.) Once the presentor started to share, the participants will already see the application (word doc, pdf, etc..) being shared by the presentor. Below is an example.

The participant can click the MAXIMIZE to see a bigger screen (without the CHAT ), then can click on the MINIMIZE to bring the CHAT back on the left portion of the screen.

8.) Screen below will be displayed to participants screen when the presentor ends the meeting.

Anymeeting Tutorial for Presentor

A webinar presentor needs a MIC, a webcam and a fast internet connection (1MBPS or higher).

1.) Go to anymeeting.com site:

2.) Scroll down to see the free sign in portion, where you can use either gmail or FB account to start a webinar.Click on the 200 attendees FREE sign up button to see the next screen below, where you can use your gmail or FB account to sign up.

  
3.)  Use your Gmail account to signup and display below screen. Then click on the terms of service for initial entry and click Sign-up now.

4.) This will be the next screen that you will see. This screen is an example of signing up in anymeeting using gmail account.

5.) You can start a meeting immediately or schedule a meeting. This is an example of screen after clicking Start a meeting now. The presentor entered the title, email address of participants invited, and a message. When the start meeting is clicked, anymeeting will send a notification email to the participants. (For the participants tutorial, click this link for steps and screens that will be displayed if you are participating in the webinar) 

6.) Below is the presentor's screen. Following Share functions can be used when presentation is started:
6.1.) share things directly from computer screen
6.2.) share youtube videos
6.3.) share pdf/powerpoint docs by uploading them in the meeting for anyone to see
6.4.) run a poll for the audience.

Note that you need to install some java plugins for the share functions to run. You will be notified to install this during the initial run of being a presentor. The next time you won’t anymore worry for a missing java plugins in your computer.

7.) After clicking Listen Only Mode, a new screen will be displayed. Select an application to share

8.) Screen sharing starts. How fast you can share depends on the speed of your internet connection. The presentor then can go to the application (ex. word document) and scroll through the document while explaining it with the audience. The same document will then be visible to all participants. Presentor should ensure that MIC is on while talking. He can get the participants response by letting them press the YES button on their screen to ensure they all hear/see what the presentor is saying/ sharing.

9.) To end the meeting, CLICK on the End Meeting button on the top right most part of the screen. And then clicking Yes, end the meeting now.

Why Aquaponics?

The past two months of spreading the word about the benefits of aquaponics via our free seminar and Aquaponics 101, our team gained invaluable experiences in the process. We've heard stories of an aquaponic setup in a university that initially came to life and died eventually, a new system conceptualized and brought to life by three young filipinos who's vision is to help alleviate poverty, a nun who would like to start a system in the province to help a poor community, a couple who is actually looking for good people who's advocacy is to setup an aquaponic system to help, a person who is really interested on building a commercial scale aquaponic system for profit. These are the people who all believe in the benefits of aquaponic farming technology.

Pondering on another story that may break you heart is the story shared to us by a nun from Samar. She lives in a community of fishermen. Years ago they had lots of fish in the area. According to her schools of fish exist just steps from the shore. But sadly, due to blast fishing, nowadays she no longer see those fishes. The folks there are so poor that to access food, others resorted to stealing, while one couple sold their baby to a wealthier family for a thousand pesos.

Another thing that hit me is the impact of global warming in our country. This topic was opened by a couple from Hawaii while asking the elevation of the aquaponic system that we plan to setup. They brought the idea that when people in the low lying areas migrate to upper grounds due to the rising sea water level, some maybe displaced to live in a barren soil or rocky areas.

Teaching these people how to grow food via aquaponics will help them have a sustainable life and a better future. We are committed in spreading the word about aquaponics, create value and make the greatest impact to help. Would you like to help us out? Please visit my site.

How to rename .blogspot to a new domain name

Maybe after a year of having www.myown.blogspot.com and publishing many useful contents through Blogger, you finally decided to setup your own domain name - www.myown.com. You don't need to move all your contents in another platform because Blogger allows you to register for a domain name of your choice. Take note though that you will have to buy a domain name amounting to $10 per year through a Blogger affiliate.

Here are the steps:
1. Login to your blogger account
2. click SETTINGS
3. click BASIC
4. click Add a custom domain
5. click Check availability
6. click SIGNUP
7. click SETUP

That's just seven easy steps to finally having your own domain name through Blogger. Hope this is useful to your online journey. Have a nice day!

How to Add Follow Me Icon to my Blog

I would like to share to you a quick video tutorial for adding a follow me icon in your blog that worked for me. I will be updating this post when I found one for Blogger.

Sample website with Facebook and Twitter Follow Me Icon

Video tutorial for adding Follow Me Icon to Wordpress.

Watch the video below:

It Is Darkest Just Before Dawn

It maybe due to the coffee I drank late in the afternoon that I am still widely awake now at midnight. My conscious mind has been talking to my subconscious and superconscious. I would like to add that I am not hallucinating, nor nearing mental retardation. I figure the oneness of the three divinity - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I guess you have to as well read The Game Of Life to understand what I am saying.

                                                from www.freedigitalphotos.net

My story starts when I was a two year old toddler. No, it will not take you ten years to finish reading this post :) …. In the second floor of my grandparent’s house, in a long chair beside a widely open window, I remember my mother sitting and holding me while I peek in the window. Below I see a carved stone used for grinding rice, a concrete post and my grandfather sitting in a bench looking at me while I reach away from the window to see children playing. I guess after that it was complete darkness.

Seven years later my mother told me the next chapter.  Before the complete darkness, I fell from the window, fortunately landed not in the carved stone and not in the concrete post, but in between them where a soft sandy soil that envelope my bloody face. My grandfather who ran to me without his slippers on and money in his pocket, urgently brought me to the nearest clinic where I miraculously recovered. My mother believed that my angel saved me. From that moment, impressed in my subconscious is that God loves me very much and he sent someone to take care and watch over me.

Growing up I overhear my parents tell my good qualities and that God saved me because I must have greater things in life in store for me. That started me to believe in myself. The third person who I think affected my self belief was my teacher in the third grade. She showed appreciation of what I am capable of and influenced me to love studying, learning and reading. The morals? Let your kids overhear you speak of their good qualities to make them believe in themselves.

Materially we were poor, but my greatest consolation is that I am well loved by my family. There was an occasion I remember both my parents were away for weeks to look for hard earned money in the city to support us.  I was twelve and my brother ten years old then. We were left alone at home to cook for our food and tend for our daily needs. That encouraged me to study harder. I clearly know the direction I would like to take, to finish studying, land a good job in a big company so I can give my parents a comfortable life and build them a house of their own. During that time I had already drawn a dream house for them.  Fast forward more years after, my dream came true, it was not exactly the house I imagined when I was young, but I was able to build them a house of their own. It pays to dream big from the start, because your actions will lead you to it. The end result may be bigger or smaller than what you imagined, but the good thing is that you can make it happen.

When I started earning and being able to provide, I was empowered. When everything I dreamed of as a kid are all coming true, I thought God must really love me. As I age, when alone I talk to myself more often. There are also glimpses and flashes of things to good to be true being impressed in my mind that I find myself in tears and developed a burning desire in my heart to make a difference, inspire and help people who are in poverty for the longest time in their life. It's like a voice urging me to share the formula I learned – Dream, Hope, Love, Family, Believing in oneself and Faith in the Almighty - mindset that will lead you to act according to your heart’s desire which will bring true happiness in life.  

Fast forward to year 2012, it maybe the darkest hour before the greatest manifestation, my beloved mother developed diabetic neuropathy where nerves that bring nutrients and medicines to her feet had blockages. For three months suffered a wound in her right foot that never heals and it started to rot. It was a very traumatic event in my life to see my mother suffer in agonizing pain. On the third month she passed away. My mother and I really have a very close resemblance, so every time I look in the mirror I remember my mother. This I think is the biggest reason why it took me very long time to recover from depression. Now I am accepting the fact that death is not the end, but a doorway.

It is now 2013. For the past few months I have met and got acquainted with website founders and good people with clear advocacy in life who I believe will help me make a difference by becoming a Social Entrepreneur. I am a believer of teaching people how to fish than giving fish.  Now I started to gain momentum, humbled and with a better perspective in life, I continue my quest for the greatest manifestation. 

Kabalikat Sa Kabuhayan

Every time I see greens, mountains, seas, farmlands and the scenic beauty that it brings, my day immediately brightens up. I am drawn to God's magnificence through connecting with nature and by seeing the humble people that plows our land - the Farmers. Maybe because my grandfather was a farmer and I lived in a house with rice patties in front and a healthy river in our backyard when growing up. Today, that's gone, the farm has been converted to residences, while the former healthy river has been transformed to a polluted waterway with wastes from piggeries, factories and residences. I hope the next generations can still experience the days I cherish from my memories, not anymore from my childhood place but from other places in the country that still boast of nature's beauty.

Other things that brighten my day are inspirational down-to-earth people and institutions that make a difference by contributing to the welfare of our farmers. One of these are the collaborative efforts of SM foundation and Harbest Agribusiness of Toto Barcelona - called the KSK or Kabalikat Sa Kabuhayan.

Ceremonial transplanting to launch the 48TH KSK batch at Mongkayo, Compostela Valley. Farmers training program of SM Foundation implemented with HARBEST, DA and DSWD. 


Harbest has been training farmers for 14 years. The KSK is on its 6th year now and on its 47th batch of the season long training module, graduating 5,000+ farmers and agricultural technicians from LGUs. Trainees come from communities in provinces where there are SM Malls. They are learning to produce high quality vegetables with SM Supermarkets as a ready market. The farmer trainees are scholars and don't pay anything.

Third training session taken in Lux Mundi Farm in Murcia, Negros Occidental. Transplanting of melon, watermelon and squash seedlings on properly prepared plots.

 

The 130 trainees coming from Lux Mundi Farm are grouped into 5. Each group has around 25-30 members under a group leader. Each has specific plots to take care and the members support each other to learn the lessons.


The training modules lasts for three months with a weekly session. Trainees attend lectures and hands-on practice on the various stages of vegetable production. On the third month when crops are ready for harvesting a Harvest Festival is enjoyed by the KSK participants. This kind of endeavor is truly fitting for "share for the greater good" qualities. More power KSK!

Further the dreams of the young and talented

Guess who I am with this morning? Yasmin Kurdi. Yes, I just met a celebrity today. For more than a month now, I started a daily regimen of at least 30 minutes exercise to control my blood sugar and prevent the dangers of insulin resistance. Fortunately today, I went to the gym a bit early and chanced upon Yasmin who was so gracious to answer my nosy questions. We were gasping for dear breath (it was obvious in me because i'm quite not so young) while at the treadmill running and talking, but it was a nice conversation.

Now, why was the title? Told her I've known her through the StarStruck reality TV competition, she continued she actually started showbiz very young as a model, then joined various competitions of which she did not win. In my thought she made it through from a very young age. She added she got her mother and grandmother supporting her while still struggling to be known in Philippine show business. I sensed she has a good heart when in passing she expressed she gave her Mother and Lola a house where they can live.

I would like to share with  you another story of a young and talented child. In our province, I met a family of seven blessed with intelligent youngest child. He is now on his third year high-school and struggling to finish school due to financial difficulties. By the way, I am not bragging, but I started financing his yearly tuition fee (amount is not that big) when he started high-school. During that time, he just graduated from elementary and received a second place award. I guess when I told his family that I will help, he was motivated to excel even more. From then, I learned he is always top of his class.

The feeling of seeing people succeed in life is truly awesome. Who you like to help and inspire today, may well be the one helping others tomorrow. God bless!

Jobs for Talented Filipino Virtual Assistants

My heart's desire is to help my fellow Filipinos learn the opportunities that the internet revolution offers. In the Philippines we have lots of unemployed honest, industrious, talented and good people who like their family get a better life and later on contribute to their community specially in the provinces with lots of people who for the longest time have been experiencing hardships. I am together with you in that quest that is why I started researching on various ways to help, one of which is through blogging to share what I learned.

In October 2012, one blogpost here about Virtual Assistant (VA)  provided several sites where you can create an account. Today, I would like to share with you another website (www.onlinejobs.ph) looking to hire Filipino VAs (full-time or part-time work) for their partners in the US, Australia, Singapore, Canada, UK and other English speaking companies. Basic requirement is a good command of english, a computer and an internet connection as you will be required to work online. Filipino jobseekers will not be leaving the Philippines to work abroad, but instead will be working from home (or possibly from an internet cafe) doing online tasks for foreign companies. Common tasks include writing articles, blogs, forum posts, and other content. You might be updating websites or blogs. You might be doing some link building. Maybe programming (if that's a skill you have). You might be doing customer support through email or chat. Maybe you'll be designing web pages or building web sites. Doing research and gathering data is a common task. The tasks vary widely. You'll be matched up with a company looking for your skill set. You'll also likely be asked to learn new things and to grow!

I hope you find this article helpful to your success. If you would like to learn blogging, website creation, Wordpress, Joomla and others that I already learned from the internet, please join me in my FB page where I will share with you events that you can join, training materials, tips and online learnings that helped me through my online journey. Please also start paying forward by sharing this article with your Filipino friends, and relatives who you think might be interested to becoming a Virtual Assistant. 

iPhone apps for farming

Farm Manager

It is an app designed by a farmer for farmers. It allows farmers to record cropping, livestock, and machinery procedures, and access this information with ease. This app gives you all the information you need, right in the palm of your hand.

Features include:
- Record full history of crops from when they are sown through to harvested
- Record chemical and fertilizer use, including type, rate, and date applied
- Keep track of livestock, with full details of stock including ear tag numbers, bloodlines, breed, and year born
- Record shearing and crutching dates, plus all drenching, dipping, and jetting details
- Keep track of machinery maintenance, including engine oil and filter changes, transmission oil and filter changes, and hydro oil changes
- Take photos of your Crops, Livestock, Paddocks and Machinery, and link them to your data

Farm Contractor

It is designed to help agricultural contractors record client and job details. It allows contractors to record full details of their procedures and email them back to the home or office to be invoiced. With more than 25 job types including Baling, Equipment Hire, Harvesting, Mulching, Mustering, Shearing, Spraying and Windrowing.This app allows you to throw away your pen and paper and reach for your iPhone.




Both apps are created by Stringybark Software in collaboration between Gareth Mizzeni, a farmer, and Scott Goldie, a developer. Together, they aim to provide simple and easy to use software products for farmers that will help them track farm information at a cheap cost. Farm Manager $16.99, Farm contractor $9.99 as of published date on this blog.

What is aquaponics?

Aquaponics is one of the most productive and sustainable gardening in existence. It combines -
[1.] hydroponics (soil-less and water based plants propagation using grow beds) and
[2.] aquaculture  (raising of fish or crawfish using tanks)
where plants and fish are grown together in a symbiotic environment.

Here's a sample backyard aquaponics setup:

                                                   pechay and mustasa grow bed

                                                              tilapia fish tank

                                                         Aquaponics diagram

Why should I start aquaponics gardening and what are the benefits ?

- Aquaponics gardening is fun and rewarding

- Provides you with a renewable organic food source

- Great savings on your food bills

- Eat healthier and fresh food

- Handy supplies of organic herbs, vegetables and fish

- Minimizes greenhouse gases and decreases your environmental footprint 

- You can produce more with less space

This new technology or method of growing food is gaining popularity worldwide. If you want to learn more about aquaponics, please visit Aquaponics Philippines website.

Profitable eCommerce

Today I came across a good resource about eCommerce (www.ecommercefuel.com). If you are interested to learn more, Andrew Youderian, the owner of the web site, has written an e-book which you can download for free. Please see e-book link here.

Hope you also find the e-book and the web site helpful to your success my friend. Good luck!

How Can I Get People Visit my Site?

Setting up and designing a website takes time and lots of effort. So how can you make that effort not put to waste and bring in plenty of visitors? You may want to consider the following tips:

1. Keep your site simple.
Web surfers like web sites that are easy to read and navigate. Don't publish an article that increases the chance of your reader to having CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome) or eye problem. If an article is long, you may break it up into parts. You may also want to add a nice looking picture to each of your article, for a nicer look. A picture says a thousand words, so make sure that it tells something about your article. The image below is just nice, but really not providing relevance to the context of this article :)

                                         image source www.facebook.com/Farmculture

2. For new web site, skip the web counters.
You can monitor how many people are visiting your website, but its better if you can keep it on your own at first. If a visitor is only the 10th reader ever, he may never visit again. However, if you already accumulated many visitor count, it's good advertising to put counter to your website.

3. Tell your visitor what your site offers.
To entice viewers to visit your site, you need more than a table of content. Give a brief information of your pages in your site to encourage more visitors.

4. Add new content.
People go back to your site because they are updated regularly. You may want to consider adding a blog to your site, to get people to return. Readers want new information.

5. If you can, remove the dates.
Most of the CMS (Content Management System) like Wordpress, Joomla, Typepad and others include "last updated" tags. Unless the site is being updated frequently, the date tags can be a turnoff. Visitors may think a web site that has not been updated in months cannot possibly provide relevant information.

Longevity Tips

Aside from the known ways to prolong life such as to stop smoking, regular exercise and proper diet, there are many other. Check out the following tips:

1. Always use your mind. 
Additional 4 years. Use your brain to blunt it. Continue to study even with age. According to the analysis of Rush University Medical Center Chicago, those who are fond of reading, studying and answering crossword puzzles decreases the chance of having an Alzheimer's disease.

2. Choose a room with great views.
Additional 2 years. This is true. When you see beautiful and scenic views, you feel better. According to physician's findings, patients who see beautiful landscapes healed faster.

                                       image source from www.facebook.com/ilikegardening

3. Be active in the community.
Additional 3 years. Helping the community and having many friends makes you live longer. According to the study of 3,617 people by Professor Peggy Thoits of Vanderbilt University, those who help and serve the less fortunate feels happier and as a result they have more self confidence and a healthy body. When we help others, our body creates endorphins, a chemical that make us happy.

4. Avoid excessive noise.
Additional 1 year. According to the World Health Organization, excessive noise can cause heart disease and other illnesses. The noise of cars on the road (about 50 decibels) has bad effects in our health in the long run. Even when sleeping, we hear the noise and it produces stress in our body.

5. Avoid air pollution.
Additional 2 years. According to experts, air pollution such as sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides can cause heart attack. In the study made by Dr. Gerard Hoek of the Netherlands, people living along major roads are prone to having asthma, cough and heart disease. To prevent pollution, plant many trees.

Do Random Acts of Kindness

DoRAK. I initially thought the word is still unique and good for making an acronym for "Do Random Act of Kindness" which is interesting enough to ring a thought about kindness. But amazingly and I am happy to learn that there is already a group in Michigan that used the word exactly as i imagined. See their story in this site.

Every year, since God knows when, I follow basic principle to do something good to my community as a gratitude to the ONE who gave me life and for another blessed year. Not because of receiving back a hundredfold, but because of the ecstatic feeling of seeing a glimpse of heaven through the people that I somehow touch or help. Doing random acts of kindness gives me purpose and depth. I would like you to feel the same and experience meaningful life journeys.

In the Philippines, we have plenty of opportunities to DoRAK using our 3 Ts - Time, Talent or Treasure:
1. Brighten someones day by your smile, friendly hello or a happy note. 
2. Join a community that serves.
    Church. GK. Habitat for Humanity. CFC. SFC. ANAWIM. Foundations. etc.
3. Participate in blood letting activities.
4. Gift giving to the poor.
5. Feeding programs.
6. Teach and share your talent and skills to the less fortunate kids.
7. Dedicate time to talk to an elderly.
8. Donate to charity.
 

The above post is brought to you by Melanie Santiago, who enjoys helping people be healthy. Click here to get to know Melanie Santiago better.

Success Tips for 2013

Successful people are not born but rather made. Success is not measured based on material wealth but greatly on a person's mindset to rise up to the challenge by not compromising his core values. Success is into keeping physical, emotional, social and spiritual realm into balance and up float during journey through life. It is looking beyond what this world can offer. Others may be blinded by the worldly glitters, but surely there will be a stage in everyone's life to finding the true meaning of success. Hope that when you finally find it my friend, that it is not too late to enjoy with your loved ones.

Here are some friendly tips for you to finding success for 2013:
1. Know your passion.
2. Devote time to lifelong learning.
3. Do random act of kindness (DoRAK) and dedicate time to serving others.
4. Build a clear sense of direction.
5. Take care of your health. See this longevity tips.
6. Join a community of diverse people where you can learn and unlearn.
7. Simplify and live abundantly. There is ecstasy in simplicity.
8. Pray for strength.
9. Instead of going for the gold, go for the golden rule.

Have an abundant and blessed 2013 my friend!

The above post is brought to you by Melanie Santiago, who enjoys helping people be healthy. Click here to get to know Melanie Santiago better.