Richardson Chan

Dead Apples Day

2010-07-26T18:06:00.003+08:00

A few minutes of rainwater leaking from my room's ceiling was all it took to put down the drain around 90k worth of gadgets. On a lazy Sunday afternoon, when I decided I needed to shower while heavy rain was pouring down, my MacBook also decided to take a bath. For good measure, he even took with him my iPod touch to keep him company. As we all know, water + electronics don't go well together. Not even my supposed "investment" in an AppleCare Protection Plan could save me (financially) from my MacBook's eventual demise.

Of all the unfortunate events that ever happened in my life, this has to be at the top 5. After handing over my Mac to the peeps at Digital Hub service center, I was wandering around V-Mall thinking of the options that I have, and the consequences of those options:

Buy a new MacBook + iPod touch. around 63.5k or 5.3k per month (12 months)
Buy a MacBook Pro. forget the ipod. around 62k or 5,165 per month (12 months)
Buy a Mac Mini + 32" LCD TV + X-Box 360. 78k (more or less)

I'm leaning toward buying the Mac Mini + LCD TV + X-Box 360 because of the ability to do more with a mini and a console, despite the lack of portability. But then again, all those options involve the word "Buy", which I hope I could avoid until after our wedding.

Today is Dead Apples Day #1. I hope after day #7, when I return to V-Mall, my MacBook would have been resurrected so I won't have to buy a new one...

POLL: Best RKO Ever?

2010-07-20T15:43:00.003+08:00

WWE Superstar Randy Orton is currently topping the Twitter Trending Topics. Why don't we celebrate this milestone by having a poll? What do you think was his best RKO ever?

A. Carlito

B. Rey Mysterio

C. Evan Bourne

For me, I think it's letter C. Drop some comments below and let me know what do you think is Randy Orton's best RKO ever.

Three Is Better Than One

2010-07-19T04:01:00.000+08:00

Don't you love it when things you don't expect to work hand in hand seem to get the job done perfectly? Well, this was what I experienced a few days ago with the major Telcos. As you can see in the picture below, I was using Globe Tattoo's Mobile Partner app on my MacBook. Try to look closely and you'll realize that I was actually connecting to Smart 3G. Look down a little bit and you'll see that the modem I'm using is from Sun Broadband. Ain't it nice to see them working together?

Personal Goals 2010 Updates

2010-07-18T01:49:00.000+08:00

I wrote these personal goals (in my Mac's Stickies app) back in January. Every time a goal is accomplished, I would cross them out. I finally got the time to publish them so here's how they look 6 months later:

~~Join a table tennis tournament. Making it to the top 8 would be a bonus.~~ I was able to play for my project's table tennis team. And we ended up 5th place. Not bad. Until you learn how many teams competed in the tournament.
Run in a charity event (SuperBods). Jersy and I finished the 3K run in less than 30 minutes. Not bad for first timers.. I'm gonna try the 5K run next time.
Travel more often (once or twice a year is a definite improvement over zero trips). Visited Cagayan de Oro for the holy week. Took another hellacious bus ride to Cagayan Valley for my bro's wedding. Cebu-bound in November.
~~Swipe less often~~ - No more monthly installments. Yey!
~~Cook more often than eat out~~ [CANCELLED] Since I'm using an electric stove at home, and Meralco's rate hike, this is not as feasible as I thought
Create my own iPod touch app [NOT STARTED] Still don't have the creative juice to do this.

Since most of the goals above were already crossed out, I'm adding a few more goals to accomplish before the end of the year:

Score at least 10 points in one of our remaining ABL games. [side note: The last time I scored in double figures in an ABL game was way back in 2006]
Resist my gadget lust (iPhone 4, Mac mini, etc.)
Decide the final date of the wedding
Make sure our Cebu vacation doesn't end up like the one we had in Baguio 2 years ago

Will have another update soon... In the meantime, I have to catch up with some techie posts. =)

iOS 4.0 Download Links

2010-06-22T02:04:00.006+08:00

Hey guys! Here are the download links for the most awaited iOS 4.0 (formerly known as iPhone OS 4.0):

I just finished downloading the iOS 4.0 from iTunes (update to iTunes 9.2 is required to install iOS 4.0) and I'm currently updating my iPod. That's it for now. Enjoy! =)

I read somewhere that multitasking can be enabled on iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2G via jailbreak. Very tempting.

Internet Sharing On Mac

2010-06-03T19:20:00.000+08:00

Ever since I got my Sun Broadband Wireless account, I have been trying to find a way to share my internet connection thru WiFi. Being a MacBook user, I am able to easily share my internet connection thru AirPort (Apple's wifi card). With Internet Sharing enabled, WiFi-enabled devices such as the iPhone, iPod touch, PSP, etc. can connect to my MacBook and access the internet as if they were in a WiFi hotspot.

Here is a step by step instruction to enable internet sharing on the Mac:

Turn AirPort On
Create a Computer-to-Computer wifi network
Go to System Preferences, then select Sharing. Tick on the Internet Sharing check box. Click Start from the pop-up confirmation window. Choose which connection to share from the drop down list. Then tick on the AirPort check box to share your internet thru AirPort.
Once Internet Sharing has been enabled, the AirPort icon in the menu bar would have an up arrow inside.

Sharing your internet connection on a Mac is so easy. Tested devices include iPhone 3G, iPod touch 2nd gen, PSP 1000, PSP 2000, HTC Touch, and any WiFi-enabled PC/laptop/Mac.

Unlock Huawei E160 3G Modem FREE

2010-06-03T17:47:00.001+08:00

**This is a repost of an article on my other blog.**

As of this writing, I am connected to the net using my honey's Globe Broadband Tattoo-provided Huawei E160 3G Modem on Sun Broadband Wireless. She got the modem as a freebie when she got her new Asus F80Q laptop. The Huawei E160 was previously locked to Globe Broadband Tattoo. But thanks to a very generous PExer, I, and other Huawei E160 users are now able to use the 3G modem with any network we want. I made this post to spread the good deed that deywet has done for me and many others. And if you also want your Huawei E160 3G modem to be unlocked, all you need to do is post your Huawei modem's IMEI on this link --> THREAD <-- and the unlock code will be posted shortly. This charitable act will help you save around Php200.

Disclaimer: Huawei E220 is not supported. However, a guide to unlocking the E220 is already posted here. DO NOT post your IMEI here because I don't have the unlocking software. If you are not a member of PinoyExchange.com, signing up is free. Happy browsing with your unlocked Huawei 3G Modem. :)

Below is the list of supported models (all Huawei): E156,E160,E166,E169,ETS668,T128,T156,T158,T160,T161,T201,T208,U120,U3300,U7300.

3G Internet Connection Sharing Over WiFi On Windows XP

2010-06-03T17:03:00.001+08:00

**This is a repost of an article on my other blog.**

I am going to share with you today a step by step procedure on how to share your 3G internet connection over WiFi using the Internet Connection Sharing feature on Windows XP SP2.

Update:
I will come up with a similar guide for Vista and Win7 users soon. In the meantime, I hope you find this post helpful. Here it goes.

Hardware Requirements:

Laptop or Desktop with WiFi card. Most laptops and netbooks already have WiFi built-in. This PC will act as the host PC that will share its 3G internet connection.
3G modem connected on your PC's USB port. For this article, I used Huawei E220 on Sun Broadband Wireless.
Another laptop, WiFi-enabled desktop, or any other wifi-enabled device such as the iPhone, PSP, or iPod touch. In my previous experiments, my MacBook was able to successfully connect to my honey's ad hoc network.

Now that you have the hardware ready, it's time to get your hands dirty (well, not really. It is as easy as 1-2-3):

Enable Internet Connection Sharing. To do that, go to Network Connections and locate your 3G internet connection's dialer. Right click and select properties. From the properties window, select the Advanced tab. Tick the check box for to enable Internet Connection Sharing. Select Wireless Network Connection to enable sharing via WiFi.
Create a wireless computer-to-computer network (also known as ad-hoc network). At the taskbar, right click on your the Wireless Network Connection icon. A window opens to let you choose a wireless network. On the left side of the window, click on the "Change advanced settings" link. You will be directed to the Wireless Network Connection Properties window. On this window, click the Wireless Network tab. Click the Add button to create a new wireless network. Make sure you tick the check box at the lower left side of the window to make your new wireless network an ad hoc (computer-to-computer) network. Adding network security protocols are optional but recommended.
And that's it! Now go get another PC, Mac, PSP, iPhone, iPod touch, or whatever, and connect to the new ad hoc network you just created. On Windows XP, you'll know you have successfully connected when you see something like this:

There you have it. Everytime you connect to your Smart Bro, Globe Broadband Tattoo (formerly Globe Visibility), or Sun Broadband Wireless, any device that accesses your ad hoc network will have access to the internet as well. Happy Internet Sharing! :)

If you won a million dollars what would you do with it?

2010-05-13T01:28:00.001+08:00

put it away at an investment that earns at least 5% a year.

Ask me anything

Practical Financial Planning...

2010-03-22T23:26:00.002+08:00

...brought to us by a kid. I was moved when I saw this video. I hope you will be too. Now who says financial planning ain't easy?

Elijah Offering Video from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

6 Questions To Get To Know Each Other Financially

2010-02-15T01:04:00.001+08:00

I was on my usual PF-Bloghopping when I saw this article by Single Guy Money and How I Save Money and wondered, how would this post look like if I were the one answering the questions? Wonder no more because I did write my own version of 6 Questions To Get To Know Each Other Financially. Here it goes:

How do you spend: cash, debit or credit? For my daily expenses, cash. I use credit cards for our weekly groceries. I rarely use debit because they don't offer any benefits other than the convenience of a cashless transaction.
Do you bank online? How about use a financial aggregator (Mint, Wesabe, Yodlee, etc.)? Yes to online banking. I do most of my banking transactions via online banks. Services like that of Mint.com don't work with the local banks here in the Philippines.
What recurring bills do you have set on autopay? Cellphone bills (Smart & Sun), Internet bill (Sun) are on auto-charge to my credit card.
How are your finances automated? answer #3. Plus our condo payments are on post-dated checks. Transfers from my main account to my checking account are already pre-scheduled. The same is true for my insurance premiums. Also, 10% of my gross monthly salary is kept away automatically as a contribution to our company's Staff Provident Fund.
Do you write checks? If so, how often? Very rarely. That's after writing 60+ post-dated checks for the condo's down payment and VUL premiums
Where do you stash your short-term savings? A savings account with an ATM. Sometimes, I do some short term trading in the stock market for a little profit once in a while.

How about you? Feel free to answer the 6 questions in the comments below and let's get to know each other better. :-)

My January 2010 In Review

2010-01-31T23:59:00.000+08:00

After months of salivating over Apple's Magic Mouse, and a 1TB external hard drive, I finally put my gadget lust to a temporary rest, by buying a 1TB Seagate Expansion external hard drive. And then there's the iPad. Thank you Apple for coming up with a product that I don't wanna buy. At least I can save a few bucks for more important things.

A few days before purchasing the Seagate Expansion, I was lucky enough to book 2 round trip tickets to Cagayan de Oro, which means, I'll be spending the Holy Week at my honey's hometown. Hopefully, there won't be any storms or flash floods this time around. :D

And oh, did I forget to tell you that we got new phones too? And some more stuff. What does this mean? I'm f'n BROKE. That's not a good way to start the year. I won't justify my purchases. But they are serving their purposes. Unfortunately, I have no choice but to report a decrease in net worth, and an increase in credit card debt (note: I still and always pay my bills in full).

I am so broke that I had to skip on my planned monthly investment in mutual funds. Fortunately, I still have my forced savings program going. So despite the shortage in cash, I know my emergency fund is getting bigger and bigger every month. Updates on our financial goals are posted here.

Despite all these "mishaps", I will still declare that we’ll have a super-blessed year in 2010! I claim a year of amazing abundance for our lives. This year, we shall receive more love and give more love. We shall experience more joy, greater generosity, dreams fulfilled, financial increase, open doors, new opportunities, divine connections, supernatural appointments, great miracles, answered prayers, and exponential growth. Amen! (Thanks to Fina & Sir Bo for this line. It keeps me inspired.)

What else? Ah yes, my brother got married. And we're expecting a new family member by May. That means we'll have 3 family members who were born in the month of May. My sister & I were arguing whether "Jet" should be born on the 17th (my sister's bday) or 25th (my beerday). I'm still contemplating how Jet should call me. Should it be "Uncle Sonn" or "Tito Sonn"? What do you think sounds better?

That's all for now. Til next time. :)

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

2009-12-31T02:14:00.000+08:00

First of all, belated Merry Christmas to everyone. And of course, may everyone have a prosperous New Year.

Another year has ended and a new one shall start. For most of us, 2009 was a very challenging year, especially at work. Because of the global economic crisis, some bonuses were not paid out. Yearly salary increase was not given. Heck, even those who deserved a promotion didn't get one. I, for one, was badly affected by the scrapped bonuses and salary non-increase. To add insult to injury, my employer now requires me to work 45 hours per week. WTF???

With regards to finances, I missed a lot of opportunities because I traded for short term gains instead of investing for the long term. In addition to that, I missed my goal of building a Php100,000 emergency fund. But as they say, "experience is the best teacher." So I'll just take those lessons and look forward to a better 2010.

To sum it up, 2009 was a sucky year for me professionally and financially. Despite the challenging times, I still have a lot to be thankful for this year. There's my fiancee, Jersy, who loves me so much and will become my wife; my mom, who is a living proof of the power of prayer; my aunt, who gave me a huge discount when we bought our dog, Bullet; and of course, our Creator, who gave us life. What are you thankful for this 2009?

How To Spend A Million Pesos

2009-12-22T04:19:00.000+08:00

Last week, I wrote about my Real Christmas Wishlist, and in that post, I mentioned that I hope Santa would grant my wish of having Php240,000,000 in cold cash. Many of you may wonder, what's with the 240 million? Why not a billion? Or a hundred billion?

Well, the wishful thinker in me would have said, "the more, the merrier." But realistically speaking, nobody in their right mind would give away a billion pesos for nothing. Heck, not even a million. So why did I wish for Php240 million? It's because at an assumed 5% net return per annum, the Php240M principal would earn Php12 million per year, or Php1 million per month.

With a million pesos coming in every month, I could probably stop working and just retire. But every time I tell a friend about this wish of mine, I almost always get suggestions on how to spend it. One friend even suggested to change cars every year. But ideally, this is how I would spend a million pesos monthly:

100,000 - Charity
100,000 - Tithe
250,000 - Investments (Real Estate, Stocks, Mutual Funds, UITFs, Bonds, Insurance, etc)
50,000 - Future children's educational fund
100,000 - Medical expenses for longevity
200,000 - Living expenses (Food, Clothing, Shelter, Utilities)
100,000 - Fun money (doodads)
100,000 - Parents' retirement

That's it. Now I gotta find ways to earn Php1,000,000 monthly. How about you? How would you spend a million pesos? Let me know by leaving a comment below. Thanks!

My Real Christmas Wish List

2009-12-08T01:18:00.007+08:00

I know these things cost quite a fortune. But that's why it's called a wish list, isn't it? Hopefully, Santa grants my wish and gives me any of these items:

1. iPhone 3GS 32GB for me and Jersy
2. Samsung LED TV 55"
3. Nintendo Wii
4. Sony PS3
5. Trip for 2 to Hong Kong (with accommodation at HK Disneyland)
6. Apple TV
7. Apple Magic Mouse
8. Honda Hybrid car
9. Twilight Saga books for Jersy
10. Vampire Diaries books for Jersy
11. Female Lhasa Apso puppy (mate for Bullet)
12. Php240,000,000 in cash!!!

Why Php240M and not a billion? Read here.

Merry Christmas everyone!!! =)

My Christmas WishList

2009-12-08T01:15:00.003+08:00

I just learned that I already earned $8 from PayPal's Facebook App called "PayPal Wishlist". The list of items you may choose as part of your wish list are limited. However they are still worth wishing for. As for me, I'm wishing for an iPhone 3GS, an LCD TV, iPod Speakers, and vacations at Hong Kong and Thailand.

If we include other gadgets and stuff, it might take a day or two before I'm finished. So why not take advantage of this little tool instead, and earn $1 in the process? Share your PayPal WishList to your Facebook friends and earn $1 more (up to $100) for every friend who creates his own PayPal WishList. Now let's proceed to My Real Christmas Wish List

Financial Goals

2009-12-06T02:26:00.012+08:00

Welcome to RichardsonChan.com's Financial Goals page. Moving forward, this page will be a living document that contains details of our (Jersy and me) financial goals. I like publishing our goals because it serves as a reminder of what we should be doing or what we should stop doing, so that our dreams could become reality. For starters, let me show you what we intend to achieve by the end of 2010.

2010:

As of December 21, 2009
Emergency Fund Php0 Php120,000 Get a progress bar at DollarTimes.com		Our emergency fund is funded via a forced savings program with our employer. Every payday, our salary is deducted by a certain percentage of our gross salary. This is by far the easiest way to save money because it is automatic, it will never go through our hands (eliminating the possibility of spending it), and it earns better than a regular savings account.
PalmTree Villas Down Payment Php0 Php380,000 Get a progress bar at DollarTimes.com		Our condo unit at the PalmTree Villas Phase 1 in Newport City is our first major real estate investment as a couple. Turnover is still a long ways to go (4 years to be exact), so our focus is on paying the monthly installment for the unit's downpayment. By the end of 2010, we are expected to have paid Php380,000.

We also have long term goals that we would like to keep track. These are goals that may take more than one year to achieve.

Long Term Goals:
Net Worth Php0 Php1,000,000 Get a progress bar at DollarTimes.com		Everybody dreams of becoming a millionaire someday. But as they always say, getting the first million will always be the hardest. So we're giving ourselves a little more time to accomplish this goal. We hope to reach this goal by the end of 2011. To do this, we have to continue paying off the DP on our condo, start investing for the long term, and avoid incurring unnecessary expenses. The other two action items are very vague but I promise to make detailed posts about them soon.
Wedding Fund Php0 Php500,000 Get a progress bar at DollarTimes.com		There isn't exactly a set amount for our wedding. But a wedding with this kind of budget shouldn't be so bad. Since our wedding is still a few years away, we're banking on medium to long term investments such as Mutual Funds and UITFs to fund our dream wedding. The initial plan is to invest a yet-to-be-determined amount every month into a diversified portfolio of equity and balanced mutual funds.

There you have it, you now know our financial goals. How about you? Let me know by dropping a comment. Thanks!

On Dreams and Deadlines

2009-12-03T02:48:00.000+08:00

Before anything else, I would like to apologize to sir Randell Tiongson for borrowing this post title without his permission. I figured maybe I could share how a dream's deadline kinda messed up my financial goals for this year, but somehow I feel grateful that it did. So what the hell am I talking about?

Well, ever since I started blogging, I made it a point to have a goal or purpose for what I do. That way, I am able to see how I achieved a certain goal, or how I came up short. Let me refer to those goals as "dreams". Most of the time I set those goals but did not have a concrete action plan, much less a deadline. And of course, you all know what happens to those dreams; they remain to be just f'n dreams. Last year, I set an ambitious goal of saving Php100,000 as my emergency fund. During the first 5 months of the year, I thought I was on track. And I was, until I got a call from my aunt asking me to attend this open house at Newport City. And so Jersy and I attended the open house, which served a delicious lunch buffet. Full stomachs and a few hours later, we got ourselves a brand new condo unit. So much for the emergency fund, we're gonna be having a place we can call ours. No more renting. No more landlords.

The bottom line is: reading Sir Randell's article made me realize that dreams really have deadlines. And although buying a home meant postponing my other "dream", it's all worth it.

And now, back to the drawing boards, and regroup on how to make the other dreams a reality...

Internet Sharing On Snow Leopard

2009-09-21T22:35:00.000+08:00

Finally, after almost 5 days of tweaking and configuring, only to fail, I was able make Internet Sharing work on Snow Leopard 10.6.1. I also created a screen recording while configuring Internet Sharing and it will be available very soon. In the meantime, I hope you could easily follow the steps on this simple guide to Internet Sharing On Snow Leopard. Cheers! :)

Assumptions:

Your Mac is running on Snow Leopard 10.6.1
You are connected to the internet. (I am connected to Sun Broadband using a Huawei E220 HSDPA modem)
AirPort works on your Mac.
Internet Sharing is initially turned off.

How to share your internet connection via AirPort on Snow Leopard 10.6.1:

Go to System Preferences. Select Network. Take note of the IP address of your internet connection.
From the list of network interfaces, select AirPort. Click the Advanced button. Click on the TCP/IP tab.
Configure your IPv4 by selecting "Using DHCP with manual address" from the dropdown list.
Input an IP address similar to your internet connection's IP address. example: If your ISP's IP is 10.150.0.1, you can input 10.150.254.254 in the IPv4 address field. Then click OK. Click Apply.
Return to System Preferences. Click Sharing. From the available services, select Internet Sharing.
Select the internet connection you want to share, then click on the check box near AirPort. After selecting AirPort, turn on your internet sharing by clicking the check box near Internet Sharing. Click Start.

That's it. Your internet connection can now be shared with any WiFi-enabled device. While configuring this, I was able to check my exchange e-mail on my iPod touch. I also fired up TwitterFon from my iPod and posted the Internet Sharing via AirPort on Snow Leopard is working again. I hope you find this helpful. :D