General

Passport Renewal

By on Saturday, March 12, 2011

My passport was due to expire mid-year so at the start of the year, I applied for renewal at the DFA’s vaunted online system. I found that I can only schedule an appointment by the end of March. I learned later that there’s a 3-month lag time in appointments. No problem. I’ve no travel plans in the next few months so I set my appointment.

Wrong! Two weeks ago, I learned I’ll be heading off to Vietnam courtesy of the company! I estimated the delivery of the passport given my appointment and there was no way my new passport will be available by the travel date. Not good! Fortunately, the company has good travel agents. They were able to schedule me to an interview this morning (how, I don’t know). So there I was at DFA at 7AM on a weekend morning.

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General

AIR (aka SALN for Private Individuals)

By on Thursday, March 10, 2011

In a bid to mask their inadequacy in meeting collection objectives and rationalize a bigger budget, BIR is requiring all private individuals earning over half a million to submit so-called Annual Information Return (AIR) which is essentially a Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) which is required from public officials and government employees. Apparently, BIR is wondering why the top Filipinos in the Forbes’ Richest List are not on their list of top individual taxpayers. Hence, this new scheme.

Duh! If you’re that rich, you’re probably very smart. And if you’re very smart, you’re probably drawing only a minimal taxable salary and instead own whole companies. For example, Carlos Slim, who at $74B is on top of the Forbes list, travels in a Chevy Suburban (but armored, no doubt) and limits his monthly salary to $24,000 dollars. Tax that!

Aside from the warped logic, there’s the further intrusion to privacy of private individuals, the dubious effectiveness of the measure, and the timing. They originally want this AIR submitted by April 15! Good think they got some sense left  and will require it only by next year so no need to worry about it this year.

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General

Potty Training

By on Thursday, March 10, 2011

Inspired by the early potty training of Jeanne’s cousin, Viela, who’s about the same age, we have been sort of potty training Jeanne since the start of the year. Last night, Michelle was telling Jeanne to prepare for washing but Jeanne wouldn’t budge. Michelle asked me to talk to Jeanne, so I went over and asked Jeanne if she’s done. She said no and soon enough she let go of a few. Only after that did she let Michelle was her. Progress!

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General

Escape from Jaws of Steel

By on Thursday, March 10, 2011

Earlier, I got into a lift from the basement parking. It went up a floor then opened and a lady got it. But the doors wouldn’t close. We decided it’s out of order so we got out. But as soon as we got off, the doors started closing. Figuring it’s not broken after all, I extended my trusty Starbucks bottle between the closing doors to reopen them. They didn’t stop and caught my poor bottle in a tight grip! I twisted and turned for what seemed like an eternity until I was finally able to pull it out. The door then closed and the evil elevator went up on its merry way.

UPDATE: I figured, it’s the reflective finish of the bottle that confused the sensors of the elevator doors.

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General

Smartphone Market Share

By on Tuesday, March 8, 2011
image Credit: Nielsen

Nielsen released data on smartphone market share as of Nov 2010 to Jan 2011. From an OS perspective, definitely it shows the Android juggernaut’s seemingly unstoppable rise to the top. From a hardware perspective, it’s interesting to note how Apple and Blackberry(!) still hold a huge chunk of the market. But HTC is waiting on the wings.

It seems that at this point, focusing on iOS development is still a good strategy. Noting, of course that the other iOS devices, iPad and iPad 2, are the leaders in the tablet space. But investing in Android development should already be in the pipeline.

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