RSS 4U

With the help of the Global Positioning System (GPS) it is now possible to track vehicles and heavy equipment whenever or wherever they are moving. This provides important data to companies who need to deliver goods to distant places as well as those that have heavy equipment operating in the fields.

Electronic gadgets mounted on the vehicles coupled with online tracking programs that closely monitor them are readily available in the market. These allow you to monitor the movements, idle hours, and routes of your vehicles. You can readily see if your drivers are faithfully performing their duties. Some even allow you to interrupt the vehicle’s starter unit. You can also keep an eye on the speed at which they are traveling and call your drivers’ attention to it. Since vehicle speed is a factor in fuel consumption, setting speed limits could potentially save fuel costs.

Heavy equipment often cost a bundle to operate that it is necessary to keep a close tab on them even when you are miles away. With tracking equipment, all movements are closely monitored thus minimizing or even eliminating any unauthorized use.

GPS tracking systems are widely available in the market. You can find companies on the Internet such as Track What Matters Tracking System that specialize in this field. Be sure, however, to check out a number of them before committing to purchase their equipment and accompanying applications.

My friend and I met up to watch a movie and I noticed that she had on a new pair of earrings. My friend was a simple, no-nonsense kind of girl, and more of on the casual side so I was surprised that she even had pierced ears. I joked that she was undergoing a transformation and she laughed, and sheepishly said that it was a gift given to her by her new boyfriend.

My friend was a member of the NBSB – no boyfriend since birth club, and my eyes almost jumped out of their sockets and I squealed “Finally!” We were already 25 years old and it was about time she had a boyfriend since a lot of our friends were engaged or already married. All the while, I was pestering her for more details about her new beau.

Then I shifted my attention to her new earrings since I couldn’t help but admire how beautiful and delicate they were. It was a pair of platinum bamboo hoop earrings, intricately designed to resemble bamboo stalks. It was simple but has a lot of character, not to mention expensive since it was made of platinum. I was glad for my friend. That was one of the few times that I saw her so happy.

We almost have to wash and change our kitchen window coverings every week since it always gets stained or accumulates dust. We usually alternate curtains and valances, but changing it every week is actually very tiring since it adds up to the pile of laundry. I have been actually looking for an alternative to curtains or valances for a long time. Recently, I came across a shop that sells bamboo grommet top panels. I haven’t seen one before so I became curious and entered the shop.

Obviously, it is made from bamboo, but created in such a way that looks Zen and natural with a modern twist. I imagined it in our kitchen and I think it would go with the kitchen interiors pretty well. It adds texture and beauty, and lets enough light in without giving away our privacy. What I also liked about it is that it is low maintenance so I don’t have to keep on changing curtains every week. I gave the store owner our kitchen window dimensions and asked if they have enough panels left. Luckily, they have one set left. Without second thoughts, I bought the bamboo panels. Now, our kitchen is revamped with the relaxing and stylish appeal of these new panels.

We used to have a cheap, basket-like clothes hamper in our bathroom. It has no cover, and after every single member of our family has finished taking a bath, the dirty laundry is mountain-piled in the hamper and a lot are already littered on the floor. My mother is a neat freak and a little obsessive-compulsive, and she hits the roof whenever there is a mess in our house. Our beds are made like beds in a hotel – you can drop a coin and it would bounce. That’s how my mom cleans and fixes our house. You can imagine how agitated she is when she enters the bathroom and the clothes are all over the floor. Talk about a disaster.

Luckily, I found a solution to the clothes hamper problem. I saw a Wuchow Triple Tilt-Out Hamper and gave it to my mom as a gift. It has three storage tilt-out compartments, and it has a large storage space which could house every single one of our dirty laundry. We can now say goodbye to the overflow of dirty clothes in our bathroom floor. Plus, as modern bathroom storage furniture, the top part of the hamper can also be used to showcase family pictures, figurines, scented oils and incenses.

With the bathroom mess solved, at least my mother has something else to fuss over about – my own cluttered room.

In our house, we all have a lot of things that we wanted to get rid of. Some are usable items, while some are plain junk. But they all have one thing in common – this stuff is slowly taking up every square inch of our garage. When it came to a point that walking in our garage without stepping or tripping on something became literally impossible, we decided to do something about it. Since there was a lot to do, we even hired a boy looking for odd jobs to help us in our clean up.

We first segregated the things that can still be used or sold from those which that we can already throw away. It made our lives easier since the pile of stuff was slowly getting smaller. We then organized the remaining things into different garage storage products. Our hand tools, power tools, hardware and cleaning materials, and seasonal decorations were arranged neatly inside our heavy-duty storage cabinet. The car tools and gardening paraphernalia are placed in the garage shelving. We had a garage sale and we sold our old clothes, furniture, and old appliances.

We spent the entire day cleaning up and by the end of the day, we were zonked. We celebrated our hard work by using the garage sale money to order pizzas and eat it while watching a movie on cable.

Back in college, we were asked to do an interview about people who had unique hobbies or collections for our Art Studies class. Some interviewed a man who makes pottery, a man who collects Superman memorabilia, and an old lady who collects frog figurines. My groupmates and I interviewed a French diplomat who was also a wine collector.

He told us that he came from Bordeaux, the capital of Aquitaine in France. This city is famous for its world-class wines, dating back to the Roman Empire when it was set up as a colonial trading post. He said that the most popular tourist activity in Bordeaux is wine tasting. A number of wineries in the region welcome visitors with open arms for sampling of their wines, and if you come in October you can watch the grape harvest.

He got his passion for wine collection since his grandfather owns a winery. In France, their wines are kept and aged in cellars. However, since he now lived away from home, he had to settle for a wine refrigerator. Since he grew up with wines stored in cellars, he had to consult various wine cooler reviews first before he purchased one. In the end, he chose the EuroCave Comfort 101 Wine Cellar since he had over a hundred wines in his collection.

Thanks to an outdoor fireplace, outdoors people can continue to enjoy fresh air and the night sky during the cold season or even when the snow has covered the ground. Indeed, it would a real pity if you were trapped inside your house for the duration of the cold months of autumn and winter just because there’s nothing to keep you warm in your patio or backyard. Sipping a hot cup of coffee in the morning and gazing at the moon and the stars late into the night are made possible all year round with a good fireplace burning logs or some form of gas.

There is something decidedly romantic with lounging around a crackling fire watching the dancing flames and the embers floating up into the air and joining the bright stars. Or, if you are not up to cleaning the ashes from the hearth the morning after, you can always opt for gas-fuelled types. Even without the logs, warming yourself to real fire can still be a real comfort.

You do not have to wait for the cold months to enjoy an outdoor fireplace. On summer nights you and your family and friends can enjoy grilling barbeques in your fireplace. The kids can enjoy roasting marshmallows for their s’mores while adults can probably have a couple of cans of beer or glasses of wine while waiting for the meat.

One of my secret fantasies is to be a Bond Girl, like Halle Berry and Olga Kurylenko. Accompanying James Bond with his spy and secret missions, driving Aston Martins, wearing cute outfits, and using high-tech spy gear is definitely a dangerous and exhilarating way of life. Maybe being a Bond girl is as impossible as a crow turning white, but having and using spy gear (and driving Aston Martins) is something attainable.

Spy gear has evolved from the plain, old binoculars to high-tech gadgets that have other important purposes besides spying. Hidden cameras are now installed in inconspicuous objects such as exit signs, books, or teddy bears, to further avoid detection. Rather than to be used for spying, these hidden cameras are now widely used by stores and house owners as protection from burglary. Spy sunglasses are now not just for subtle spying, but some has installed USB devices for data storage. Watches can now play media files, take pictures and videos, and record sounds. There are also amusing spy gears nowadays such as the SpyGear Pretender, which allows you to play various sounds such as the dog barking or a doorbell ringing to allow you to make excuses and put down unwanted calls.

I may not be Bond girl, but I can definitely feel like one with these different gadgets.

When I was pregnant, especially during the third trimester, I’ve never felt so big in my life! I gained 32 pounds, I can’t stop eating, and I feel so unglamorous. I didn’t bother to dress nicely or to even look at myself in the mirror. But deep inside, I was worried that all my clothes would go to waste if I didn’t get my pre-pregnancy body back. After giving birth, I took it slowly and started dieting. After five weeks, I could already fit into my skinny jeans. Fashionable clothes, here I come!

I’m going back to work next week and I feel so excited. I’ve been stuck in the house for three months already and I miss the outside world. In preparation of my return to work, I had a new haircut, and had my nails done. To complete my post-partum make-over, I went to the mall to shop.

I made an inventory of my wardrobe and noticed that I had to buy new tops. Worse, I had to replenish my accessories since most of them were outdated. Almost nine months of wearing flip flops and no jewelry totally depleted my wardrobe. Of course, any woman wouldn’t want to run out of fashionable accessories. For footwear, I bought a new pair of the latest Converse Chuck Taylors for ladies, Steve Madden gladiator heels, and Ipanema gold sandals. To further accessorize my outfits, I bought bib necklaces from Forever 21 and a Philip Stein Fruitz ladies watch.

Who said mothers can’t be cool and stylish?

I have been in love with my best friend for the longest time. Whatever he does I am sure to tag along, just so I could spend time with him. I went rollerblading, played soccer, tennis, and even tried rock climbing. But I highly doubt if my best friend has the slightest idea about what I feel about him. I think I will always be a friend to him, a sister.

But I began to hope when he asked me to join him in his latest adventure—backpacking in Barcelona, Spain. I was so thrilled as this is my chance for him to get to see me in a different light. You know what they say about romance in a strange city. And since we are going in less than two months, I started to prepare for my “all or nothing” trip. I bought the cutest travel backpack possible, since I will be seen with it most of the time. But of course it was also big enough to fit all my stuff. All these excitement was yesterday, before my best friend came over to my house and told me that he met someone and he wanted to ask me if he could invite her to come with us in Barcelona. I said yes naturally, I don’t want him to go alone, because I am definitely not going. I will be home alone mending a broken heart.