Sony Ericsson’s Spread the Smile

I received a SMS from the University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA), encouraging everyone to smile for the benefit of United Nation’s Children Emergency Fund (Unicef) Philippine Chapter. Here’s the complete text:

Please donate your smile for the benefit of Unicef. Upload your and your kin’s smiling pics to www.sonyericsson.com/spreadthesmiles. For every smile posted, Sony Ericsson will donate PhP1.00 to Unicef. The goal is to collect one million smiles by June 30, 2009. Pics will be posted in a giant smile wall to be unveiled in SM North Edsa Sky Garden on July 11, 2009.

I searched the Internet to check whether this is real or not. After all, I’ve read so many hoax emails telling me that I should pass this to X number of friends to have a chance to win a laptop, phone or whatever high-tech gadget.

Fortunately, this turns out to be true. This article from Philippine Star documents that indeed, this is a real and honest-to-goodness project.

So, get your camera phones ready and give it your best smile!

Cebu Pacific offers 3-day sale

I received this from my email and thought of sharing this. This is especially great for people who love to travel on a budget.

Cebu Pacific launches a 3-day seat sale starting May 26 until May 29, 2009 with fares as low as P588 for domestic and P1,388 for international flights valid for travel from July 1 to August 31, 2009. We’re allocating more than 200,000 seats for this seat sale.

A one-way ‘Go Lite’ fare of P1,388 is yours to fly from Clark to Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, and Bangkok; Manila to Bangkok, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Shanghai, Singapore, and Taipei; Cebu to Hong Kong and Singapore.

We’re also offering a P2,288 one-way ‘Go Lite’ fare for our Manila to Incheon (Seoul) and Cebu to Incheon, Busan, and Jakarta services.

For domestic flights, CEB’s one-way ‘Go Lite’ fare only charges P1,388 all-in for Manila to General Santos, Davao, Cotabato, Zamboanga, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, and Dipolog; Cebu to Clark and Davao to Iloilo.

All other local destinations carry a one-way fare of P588 all-in.

Domestic fares are all-inclusive; international fares are exclusive of government taxes. Promo fares are non-refundable.

‘Go Lite’ fares are for passengers traveling with no check-in baggage. Passengers with check-in bags just have to add P200 to the fare.

Hurry, book your seats now at www.cebupacificair.com.

Event: Money Matters for Women

I just received this in my email and if anyone’s interested, drop by SM City Taytay’s Event Center for a seminar on “Money Matters for Women” on May 16, Saturday, from 4 PM to 6 PM. The event is facilitated by author Francisco Colayco.

For more information, contact (632) 637-3731, 637-3741 or email info@colaycofoundation.com. You can also visit the www.colaycofoundation.com. I assume this seminar is free so drop by and you may learn something.

Shop for Mother’s Day gifts and enjoy rebates

Get 5% cash rebate at any Metro Gaisano Department Store and 3% cash rebate at any Metro Gaisano Supermarket when you use your BPI Express Credit card.

Rebates may be applied on purchases at the Home, Watches and Jewelry departments. Available at Metro Market! Market!, Metro Gaisano Ayala, Metro Gaisano Colon, Metro Gaisano Legaspi, Metro Gaisano Lucena, and Super Metro Mandaue.

Promo period is from April 1 to June 30, 2009.

Expect more chow time with mom!

Shop anywhere using your BPI Express Credit and get these for free:

* Free siomai (beef or pork) or free regular siopao for a single-receipt transaction of at least PhP1,000 at any merchant or in cash advance.

* Free Halo-Halo petite with 1 scoop ice cream, free meatballs congee, or free beef chao fan for a single-receipt transaction of at least PhP2,000 at any merchant or in cash advance

* Free breaded pork lauriat, free crispy fish lauriat or free braised beef rice toppings plus regular Del Monte Pineapple Juice for a single-receipt transaction of at least PhP3,000 at any merchant or cash advance.

Simply present your BPI Express Credit and submit your original charge slip at any Chowking outlet nationwide! Promo period is from May 1, 2009 to July 15, 2009. Redemption is until Sept. 15, 2009.

Sharing my blocked eBay bidders

eBay sellers are familiar with the situation. Seller lists an item, bidder places a bid. Bidder wins the item and seller gives the invoice. After seven days, seller still doesn’t hear from the winning bidder. Seller then files for an Unpaid Item Dispute.

In my part-time gig as eBay seller, I’ve had my fair share of joybidders. Joybidder is an eBay term that describes an eBay member who bids on item for sheer fun (or malice). Although eBay provided a facility for members to block a joybidder from bidding again, eBay does not allow eBay members to post the joybidder’s eBay user name in eBay’s discussion board. The same policy holds true for eBay user names of scammers, or those disgusting members who cheat other eBayers of their hard-earned money.

This has become a source of frustration to almost all eBay members. After all, how can they warn other eBay members of joybidders and scammers?

I’m sharing my list of blocked bidders to you (click to download). I didn’t encounter all of them but another eBay member was gracious enough to share his blocked bidders’ list. Over my three years in eBay, I have added quite a few to that list. You can download the Word file and just copy/paste the names in your own eBay blocked bidders’ list.

Side Topic: Notes about A(H1N1)

Again, I’ve been remiss in updating Pinay and Money. The recent issue about swine flu, officially known as Influenza A(H1N1) has left me monitoring the web for updates. As you can observe from my previous posts, not only am I interested in money matters but I’m also a health advocate.

Previously, I blogged that we should be extremely careful in looking for information about the disease. I listed several credible sources, where you can find the latest news and updates about A(H1N1). In the same line, CNN has also released an advisory, warning the public against taking non-conventional medicines that claim to cure A(H1N1) (see story here).

I chanced upon WHO’s Swine Flu Frequently Asked Questions. Please feel free to download the pdf file and share it to your friends (download here).