Online Membership Registration for OFW Pag-ibig Fund POP

Even before the compulsory membership of every OFW to the Pag-ibig POP Fund, I saw the need to invest a small part of my hard-earned money to this one with the goal of being eligible to avail of a housing loan.  That was in 2008 starting with a $15 monthly contribution.  Eventually, the Philippine Government made in a pre-requisite payment for all OFW's before we were issued Overseas Employment Certificates.  Most OFW's are complaining about this.  As for me, a Provident Fund like this forces us to save a part of our income.  The amount is all up to the individual anyway.  So for those who wants to be updated about their contributions, the Home Development Mutual Fund (aka Pag-ibig Fund) has provided a quick way to validate contributions to the Fund.

1. Visit the HDMF official website 
2. Click on e-services.
3. Depending on your status, you can register as a new member, update information using your POP temporary ID Number or Pag-ibig Membership ID (MID).
4. Fill in the required information.  All are required to have a MID.
5. If you dont have a MID, then you have to wait for two days before you get one.  A text message will be sent to your nominated mobile number with a transaction number that you can use to get updates on the status of your MID application.
6. Once you have your MID, you can now access the other e-services available for OFW.

At the moment, I am waiting out the 2-day processing time. More update soon.

Alternative Shopping in the Middle East (Part 1)

The Kingdom is never dearth of shopping malls with stores that carry mechandise from the low end to high end ones. Admittedly, Jeddah and Riyadh can boast of more beautiful shopping malls but Dhahran cannot be far behind. From Mall of Dhahran to Rashid Mall, there's a thriving mall culture this side of the world. With not much options, expatriates' favorite past times here would be shopping and eating out. Anyone from here could attest to the joys of end of season sale when merchandises are almost given away during that period.

But there's another shopping sub-culture making their mark not only in Saudi Arabia but for the rest of the countries here in the Middle East...ONLINE SHOPPING.

The proliferation of these online shopping websites that offer by-invitation only membership to these exclusive shopping clubs is a proof of the popularity of shopping online.



MarkaVIP


MarkaVIP is an exclusive online shopping community. You need to be invited to be a member though (Click here for your invite). Sale campaigns for specific brands are only available for a brief period of time. Stocks of merchandise are limited as well. The company carries well-known brands (Emporio Armani, CK, D&G, Addidas, Polo ...) and some interesting ones (mostly from Turkey. The collection are not limited to apparel but also accessories, home decor and even electronics. The company headquarters are located in Amman, Jordan but they also have an office in Istanbul, Turkey.

Pros:
--- sale discounts as high as 80% on branded stuff
--- wide selection of merchandise
--- only SR19 shipping fees to Saudi Arabia
--- authentic goods guaranteed
--- requires iqama registration (for me is a good thing)
--- $10 referral bonus
--- deliveries via Aramex
--- weekly campaigns

Cons:
--- delivery time could take a month depending on the merchandise bought
--- additional hassle of sending credit card details via fax or email if card is issued outside of the Middle East

Items Purchased
--- Brand O'Clock Ladybug Wall Clock
--- Classic Gentlemen's Converse
--- Bomann Travel Hair Dryer

4 out of 5 stars

Sukar



From their website
Sukar.com is the first online private shopping club in the Middle East.
Launched in April 2010, Sukar.com offers exclusive access to unrivalled deals to a rapidly growing member base, boasting a premium selection of over 700 of the worlds top designer fashion and lifestyle brands in the women’s, men’s, children’s, beauty, gadgets, and home fashion categories at up to 90% off retail prices.

Sukar.com is an invitation-only club operating across nine countries, including the GCC, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. A team of over 100 employees (and growing) in the UAE, KSA, US, Europe and Turkey strive to source the best offers, with discounts of up to 90 per cent on retail prices. Based on the concept limited time period campaigns of two to three days only, products are offered on a first-come-first-served basis.

I have never tried their services but they are essentially similar to MarkaVIP in terms of their business model.

iSwap Faces

iSwap Face is a fantastic photo editing software developed by Black Frog Industries for use in the iPhone and iPad. It specializes on digitally swapping faces to hilarious results. It has the ability to precisely capture the face using the screen provided. A Lite version is available but the resulting image has a watermark and cannot be saved. The full version includes the ability to save the images, a post editor for lighting and skin tone and a feature that can swap faces between two different photographs.

The face swap can be done in three steps: load a photo, position the face screen, swap! I have made a lot of these face swapping with the photos of friends...they will either laugh or loathe you but it is fun just the same. The software is available for download in iTunes for $1.99.

Putting Special Characters in Facebook Comments

Would it be fun if we could put special characters into our Facebook comments? It is easier to make those lovely yellow spherical creatures in chat but unfortunately that is not possible in Facebook comments at the mean time. The comments use plain text to save some memory. If it uses the basic plain text, then we can put those special characters in the old fashioned way by using the "Alt + Number". They may be black and very simple but that would nevertheless add a little spice and emotion into our shout outs.

Each special character has a corresponding number code. Press the "Alt" key while typing the number code in the numeric key pad of your computer. The characters with codes from 1 to 25 are listed below but you can find the others by randomly selecting a number while pressing the "Alt" key. Enjoy!

1. ☺
2. ☻
3. ♥
4. ♦
5. ♣
6. ♠
7. •
8. ◘
9. ○
10. ◙
11. ♂
12. ♀
13. ♪
14. ♫
15. ☼
16. ►
17. ◄
18. ↕
19. ‼
20. ¶
21. §
22. ▬
23. ↨
24. ↑
25. ↓