Food Stop # 3: Sinbad (San Agustin Street, Makati)

After several months of stopping our food stops, we finally got the chance to continue the food tasting and food hunting trip. This food stop is not that far from the office and can be visited on normal circumstances, but i wouldn’t dare to, the prices are a bit high for Mediterranean food. I would still vote for Mr. Kebab in West Ave corner Quezon Ave in QC. Hmm yum yum. What added to the fun were the new food trip friends who finally decided to eat out with us. Welcome guys!

I ordered Sinbad’s specialty, beef kebab. The meat was tender and juicy enough but nothing spectacular about it. The sauce was relatively just the same as other persian restaurants but i guess i expected so much and used the cheap and satisfying Mr. Kebab combo of kebab and yogurt shake as the rule.

It wasn’t too bad though, i was full and would come back if i had extra bucks on my pockets. I am now wordless, it’s not the best kebab food stop for me i suppose. I attached a copy nung sinbad.

Text Tax

Every transaction we make we pay taxes. The more we purchase and avail from the market the more we shell out money for taxes. The question is, do we feel that the taxes we are paying has been put to good use and for the betterment of all? For me, it’s a big NO.

Our country is still among the most corrupt in the world, and where do these corrupt people get their funds? From us. Yes, from you, me and every single tax payer. And now they are proposing TEXT TAX for the government to raise enough money to help subsidize the cost of importing crude oil from the global market. Grrr. We gave in to request of E-VAT in the hopes that more funds will eb available to pay our debts and for use for government subsidies and now they are trying to take another centavo from us by putting taxes on the Short Message Service (SMS). It is true that more than a  million messages are being sent and received by filipinos thru the SMS but is this reason enough to put taxes on texting?

 Some law makers even classified SMS as a sin/vice and should be subject to SIN TAXES applied to liquors and cigarettes. They have neglected the fact that due to technological advancement keeping in touch and sending SMS are not luxurious in nature and has been a need.

 My contention here is that, if additional taxes will be imposed upon the usage of SMS will the products of Oil go down? and eventually for the other goods? I don’t think so. The pool that will be created by this additional tax would be another fund source to be corrupted. 

Before imposing new taxes on the consumers, the government mus t make sure that they are also increasing tax collection, allocation and audit of the funds. Our government has yet to prove to us that they have exhausted all means to collect uncollected taxes and that no more funds are available for oil importation subsidy because if not, then we are just contributing to the corruption. We are giving them more funds to use for their personal gain, while we, the average filipinos and consumers take the burden.

Other news says that due to the negative reaction from filipinos for the new tax to be imposed for SMS, they are now considering to lessen the pork barrel of congressmen to have funds for oil subsidy. This is a better option but will this action alleviate the burden of high costs of products and services?

P.S. 

I have political issues. Haha, bitter lang siguro ako dahil sa nangyari sa akin, haha, o well. trying to be fine and be back on track here.

Period

Every good thing has its end and for me my DM world ended last Jan. 8. Surprising as it may seem, we wanted different things and now we live separate ways. Just like in a sentence, it usually ends with a period. DM wrote our period already. All i have is the hope that after a period in a paragraph a new sentence will start a new. I’ll miss my baby DM. Period.

2008

After weeks of settling in and making the necessary adjustments, i finally had time to revisit my blog. Lots of things has transpired in less than a month since i got back. My most loved ex-lover made his way to find me, meet up with me and spend some time together. No, there were no reconciliations or whatever. Too bad, he doesn’t want to continue our friendship and was gone again in just an instant. DM is still around, i dunno if what we have and share is better now than before. I don’t have the proper gauge to know the difference.  All i know is that, i miss him badly and still love him. As part of my new year’s resolution, i decided to stop smoking. From Jan. 1-3, i didn’t smoke. Today, jan 4, at about 300pm i puffed and felt that i really don’t want to smoke anymore. Good bye to West Ice and Marlboro Lights. Another change would be the ardent desire to save some and budget my cash flows the best way i can. I have created by cash in and out balances to see the patterns of spending and how can i possibly mitigate expenses, increase savings and have enough money for the big purchases this year. For those who are interested to see some of my pictures during my US trip, feel free to browse my multiply site, http://khentutz.multiply.com. This is it for now. I miss DM.