Car problem: engine is cranking but won't start

   When your car fails to start but the starter motor is cranking, one of the common culprit is your battery which forms part of the ignition system. Consider checking first whether your battery is dead or weak. One way to find out whether the battery is what's causing the starting failure is by removing your battery and then using other car's battery and if it still does not work then it may be safe to say that the battery is not the one causing the failure. Try also checking the alternator and starter motor.

   After ruling out the battery, another probable cause may be the fuel. But first make sure that your car has a fuel on it. Do not rely on the fuel gauge on the dashboard because it may have malfunctioned and could have misled you like what happened to my car wherein the fuel indicator says that the fuel tank still has some fuel in it but after removing the air filter and checking the carburetor, it was very dry which means that there was no fuel reaching it. The fuel filter may have been dirty and could have been blocking the fuel from properly passing through, but to make sure I tried filling the fuel tank with a liter of fuel and then tried starting the car and then the car started fine. Thus, it is always better to make sure first that the fuel tank is not empty before calling a mechanic as the fuel indicator may have just malfunctioned. Other things which may be inspected and tested are the spark plugs.

Beware: Pickpockets at MRT/LRT

     Thieves are everywhere even on places where we think we are secure because of presence of security guards. This includes the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) system. It happened to me sometime in 2009 when I tried to push myself inside a packed train, along with other passengers some pushing me behind. As soon as managed to get in, I reached for my wallet supposedly tucked in the back purse of my pants but its gone. 

        I was so aware of the rampant incidents of picking pockets in Metro Manila that is why I was so careful with my things that I even usually transfers my wallet from behind to my front purse in order not to attract prying eyes of thieves. Yet, when on a single occasion of failing to protect my wallet, a thief spotted with ease the opportunity.

How to Recover Lost SIM Card

I lost my phone to a thief last Dec 21, 2012. I was so devastated--not because of the cell phone unit but mainly because of the sim card. I learned from a friend that you can retrieve your cellular phone number from your carrier and so I went to a Smart  Store at Gateway Mall, Araneta Center (my lost sim card is a Smart prepaid sim). I brought the following requirements (see below) but I was told that my Smart Money card had expired a few months ago and further, that it was not linked to my lost cell phone number. I asked for any other remedy or solution but the customer service representative cannot provide one.

Unperturbed, I went to another Smart Store located at Ali Mall, Cubao, Quezon City. This time, I gained hope. While they likewise reiterated that my Smart Money was not linked to my number, they nevertheless asked for other proof of ownership. Take note that Smart's website says that "any" proof of ownership will do. I was told that an LBC receipt or similar kind may be accommodated.

I tried to find one at home but I think I threw them away. Anyway, to my surprise I stumbled upon my old sim card ownership certificate (half a paper's size) issued way back year 2000. Back then, such certificates are being issued for every puchase of sim cards. 

Of course, this was more than enough proof that I own the cell phone number. In short, they issued to me a new sim card bearing my old cell phone number.

Requirements:

For lost or stolen Smart SIM card, submit the following documents/requirements to any SMART Store.

1. Duly notarized Affidavit of Loss
2. Two (2) valid Proof of Identification
3. Any proof of ownership of the lost/stolen SIM card (PUK slip, SIM casing, personalized Smart Money card linked to the lost/stolen SIM card)
4. SIM replacement fee for P40 (SMART Prepaid) and P30 (Talk 'N Text).

Globe likewise issues new sim cards for lost or stolen sim cards with generally the same requirements.

Tips for easy recovery of your sim card:

1. keep your PUK slip or SIM casing.
2. link your Smart Money to your cell phone number.
3. keep other proof of ownership such as digitally printed receipts bearing your number
4. try other branches if a carrier's store doesn't seem to be accommodating.
5. try to produce first requirements 2 and 3 above before procuring an affidavit of loss because such document would be useless if you can not prove your ownership.

Source: http://www1.smart.com.ph/help/prepaid/article/2011/11/12/replace-prepaid-sim-card-(retaining-same-number)

Benefits of Life Insurance: Living Benefits

This article is supposed to provide some information and hopefully encourage the reader to buy some life insurance for his own benefit. But rather than giving informative details such as those which the insurance agents provide or say in their efforts to convince one to buy, this article merely gives some advantages of having an insurance based on the author's personal experience with respect to his own personal life insurance.

Sometime in 2002 (I was just 22 years old then), I was engaged in a multi level marketing business which deals with alternative medicine or should I say food supplements  and in the course of my undertaking such business, I met a woman---a mother who later became my downline---was in need of our products because of her ailing mother. Incidentally, she is a insurance agent. And naturally, being part of nature of the business, she asked me to purchase a life insurance from her. I agreed an ex deal was made.

For around a few years, I religiously paid my annual dues until a time when my finances cannot anymore afford to continue paying my bills. After my due date, I receive a receipt showing that my account was converted to a semi-annual mode of payment and that the first half of the year has been paid after applying as payment my accumulated dividends (I am not aware that this was the option my agent indicated in my application form). That was amazing because at least I was bailed out for this year.

But what was very pleasing for me with regard to insurance is about the living benefits. From what I understand, the nice thing about this one is that it is a loanable amount. After a minimum of three years of payment, you can actually borrow this amount from the insurance company. I remember my agent saying before that you can take this out as a loan and not bother paying it. The loan will just be deducted from your family's living benefits. So, life insurance can also be used as a credit source.

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How to Deal with Urinary Tract Infection

When I was still in college (not too long ago ;), I remember a female classmate of mine who had a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). That is the first time I came to know about it, and I thought all along that only women may contract such infection. Until one day, I felt some pain when I was urinating. It became so persistent that I finally decided to visit a doctor (I have an HMO anyway).

After being required to submit a urine sample, the doctor declared that it was indeed due to a UTI. I was surprised. How can a man have UTI? Anyway, an antibiotic was prescribed to be taken for 14 days -- this means my infection is severe.

After presenting the prescription with a local pharmacy, a learned that each pill costs P17. That is too pricey for me and knowing that might be other equally potent drugs out there, I inquired about other drugs with the same generic name (thanks to a law which compels all doctors to indicate the generic name of drugs in their prescriptions) and the pharmacist gave me generic drug which costs just P1.60. I bought 21 pcs and after 2 weeks of taking all of it, the result of my urinalysis showed a very substantial improvement.

With this experience, I have learned that generic medicines are as equally as effective as those popular brands. Prices are just inflated because of advertising expenses.

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How to Deal with Carbuncle

My father had a large wound as big as tennis ball on his back. We had him checked by a doctor and it was diagnosed as a carbuncle. Carbuncle is similar to a boil only that the former has multiple eyes while the latter has only one.

The doctor's recommendation was to do a series of surgical operation but since the wound was so huge, the operation has to be done around four times dividing the wound into four quadrants. But before starting with the first one, he has to make sure that my dad has no diabetes or that his blood sugar is stable otherwise the healing process would take long. The initial result of the blood sugar test gave a result of around 180 so we were advised to return after a few days and see if the blood sugar goes down.

We did not know how to lower down his blood sugar other than cutting his intake of sweet foods and rice. We gave him oat meal instead of rice and wheat bread instead of ordinary bread. Also, we had him drink green barley after learning that it helps in lowering blood sugar. After 3 days, the doctor was surprised to learn that the blood sugar of my dad went down to around 114. After another 3 days of drinking green barley, the blood sugar reading showed 40 and so the operation finally pushed through.

The doctor was very amazed by the fast improvement of the wound every time he conducted the operations considering that my father is 79 years old which means regeneration of cells would be very slow. We did not tell him that my dad is taking green barley because some doctors are not a fan of alternative medicine.

After around a month of taking green barley, my dad's back has no trace of any scar from the wound. That is very amazing, to think that the doctor said that a deep scar would definitely occur.

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2013 Schedule of Civil Service Examination

This is for the Paper and Pencil Test (PPT). The examination is scheduled on April 14 and October 13, 2013.

For the Computer Assisted Test (CAT), please regularly check Civil Service Commission's website for announcements http://excell.csc.gov.ph/cscweb/exannounce.html

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