Mommy on the Go!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

SAVING is WISE-SPENDING: OTTO Waterless Urinal

Economic crisis, famine, incurable diseases, food and water shortage...all of these we're just a "few" of what the whole world is facing. In our country, it even gets worst as time passes by. This is a call for a CHANGE, little actions that begins within ourselves. It doesn't have to be big, it can really be simple. Before we know it, that one becomes two, that two becomes four.....and then before we know it, problem has been almost solved.

That's the reason why lately, I have been a GREEN ADVOCATE (see my other blog posts) for I knew that it will be a help to save our Mother earth. Being a user of earth-friendly things is indeed wise, for it could save all of us.

Now as prices are getting higher, all the commodities, I need to tighten my belt and look for alternatives, without causing harm to anybody. Saving doesn't mean you need to buy "SUB-STANDARD" items, things or appliances, but instead, SAVING means "WISE-SPENDING."

What is WISE-SPENDING? It is simply SAVING. You spend what you really need without sacrificing the things you want. In these times of crisis, as electricity and water shortage is at hand, we need to spend wisely to save. So instead of buying those old models of analog TVs for a lower cost (but emits radiations and adds carbon prints to the environment), why not buy a TV with energy-saving features? It may sound a bit "costly" but the long-term effect makes the difference.

So timely I saw this OTTO Waterless Urinal - by Arrow Home Improvement Facebook Fan page and I learned that they are supporting a GREENER environment that can really help me save! Established by Mr. Jerry Ong, Arrow Home Improvement was a company dedicated to personal service and fair prices. On a country who is experiencing limited water for these past few years, having such an eco-mind & innovation is great. First in the Philippines, this European technology developed and shared selflessly can save not only me, but these can save a lot of people!

Now, getting back to the issue, water problem is one of the major dilemma here and abroad. Like a cancer that seems to be incurable, it varies from the following:
-water shortage
-water supply bills
-unclean/unsafe drinking water
-leaking water pipes
-flood

This year, water shortage in the country is believed to worsen:

Photo courtesy of ThePhilippines.ph

San Miguel Corporation President Mr. Ang said on an interview with The Philippine Daily Inquirer, "We may run out of water in the near future. All it takes is for one earthquake to damage Angat Dam" (Source: http://www.pinoysoundingboard.com/2010/09/power-and-water-crisis-in-summer-201-are-we-ready/). For a country surrounded by water, it is quite ironic for the Philippines to be threatened by water scarcity. Scary huh?!?

Water is the most precious natural resource on Earth. Therefore, it is then a moral imperative to preserve it for our future survival. On the contrary, this precious resource seems to be carelessly used by a lot of people in the urban. People tends to contribute without really being aware of it. Imagine how many people uses toilet flush a day...this is the most frequent activity done inside a comfort room. Every flush consumes 5 to 7.5 gallons of water! (depends on the type of toilet bowl, for older types uses more). That's nearly 40% of water consumed a day! Come to think of it, a lot of Filipinos in the rural and remote areas we're having water scarcity.

(Source of data: http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/drainproj/personalwaterusechart.html)

On my case, using the comfort room is the very first thing I do every morning and my last stopover before going to bed. I frequently pee, around 8 to 10 times a day. That's a lot of flushing! (which is proven an epic fail in terms of SAVING)

Hubby and I decided to do something about it. We tried innovating our toilet bowl by putting a plastic bottle filled with water (preferably 1.5 liter soda bottles). In this way, we can save 1.5 liters per flush activity, for toilets only need 4 gallons at most to get a good, clean flush.

Cistern photo courtesy of Squidoo

Photo courtesy of Green School Resources

(Hippo Bag as a water-saving device as a part of their campaign: http://www.greenschoolsresources.org/resources/Rainbow_Bottlesxx.pdf)

But on our home, sad to say, that's not enough because of some existing problems on the cistern. I hate foul and stinky toilets, so I am left with no choice but to use a flush every time I pee.

As I go along on Arrow Home Improvement Website, I started to see these pictures with the slogan "Waterless is more." At that very moment, I am really troubled on our own toilet bowl...I wonder what will our dog think when she saw our toilet bowl for she thinks it's kinda drinking water station (because it's water is free-flowing every time the flush is used incorrectly).

As you can see, these are the common problems of a toilet bowl...damaged stopper that causes the water flow continuously.

Arrow did it well! They have these ARROW WATER SAVER (The Economical Model) that uses the technology of 4/2 Dual flushing system. It has the following amazing features:

It comes in 4 Toilet in a box package.

For sure our water bill will be half lower than before if we are going to use it. That's a lot of savings!

Another product that stands out is the WATERLESS URINAL.

An Earth friendly Urinal
(Market selling price: P8200.00 complete with all the fittings , rubber bushings, key, bracket and 250 ml OTTO lock sealant)

OTTO waterless urinals have been specifically engineered to function without water. The European design of the urinal is very simple and efficient. Unlike other urinals, OTTO waterless urinal does not require expensive and proprietary cartridges, bladders, inserts, siphons, mechanical parts, microbial blocks or deodorizing tablets. It delivers the lowest long term cost of ownership and value for money.

High quality finish and modern clean European design, this urinal is ceramic made and white in color. It is best and suitable for commercial offices, restaurants, hotels, pubs & clubs.

The urinal’s cartridge is made cheaper and Re-usable (unlike the one used in hotels & restaurants which are disposable). That will really save our money for good. Imagine, 45,000 gallons of water per year can be saved...plus no need to buy those disposable cartridges. And ever wonder if it will stink?

Nah. it comes with an OTTOLOCK: it is a biodegradable odor locking fluid poured into the water trap that floats on the surface of the urine which creates a perfect seal. No more stinky & foul urine & waste sewers' odors.

Photo courtesy of My Very Worst Roommate

That's what I am pointing out before. SAVING means SPENDING WISELY on the things needed, like urinals for public places and even on your very own home. And mind you, not all waterless urinals are the same. Always look for a Proudly Pinoy made waterless urinal: OTTO. Teehee!

Spending on these WATERLESS URINALS is worth trying:

Features:

-waterless

-re-usable cartridge technology

-Biodegradable blocking fluid

-touch-free

-cylinder housing

-optimized interior design

Benefits:

-odorless

-hygienic

-easy to clean

-no flush bulb repairs

-economical

What more can I ask for? This is really genius!

Oh sorry for that. I was wrong when I said it. There is still one thing that I needed to ask more: our government should spend on these kind of technologies and put up waterless urinals on public toilets all over the country. That's 150,000 liters of water per year!!! Now that is WISE SPENDING of the national's budget that can surely ease water shortage and save millions. ^_^

So, it's time to:

their Fan Page

be a WISE-SPENDER!

Come and help me do this

	pread the good news! Let these
	wesome and
	afrous
	nnovation from ARROW HOME IMPROVEMENT help everyone
	urture and save our earth from Water Shortage by being an advocate of living in a
	reener way!

-xoxo-

Join the discussion by commenting on this post or by LIKING their fan page.

Now this is your chance to win too!!!

You have 2 options:

Join the blog contest: for a chance to win exciting prizes:->
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=120852254669212&set=a.120837838003987.32664.118377984916639&type=1&ref=nf (Until July 29, 12 noon)

Join the raffle contest: for a chance to win P1,500 worth Gift Certificate from Arrow Home

Improvement:-> http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a?.120281821392922.32382.118377984916639#!?/photo.php?fbid=120310758056695&set=a.12?0281821392922.32382.118377984916639&type ?=1&theater (Until July 20)

Just need to hit the LIKE BUTTON on this Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/OTTO-Waterless-Urinal-by-Arrow-Home-Improvement/118377984916639

For more products and information on ARROW HOME IMPROVEMENT Inc., visit: http://www.arrowhomeinc.com/index.php.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

BURGER industry: Does SIZE really MATTER?

Dear Avid Readers,

This article was moved to my food blog: http://www.eatandrunchronicles.blogspot.com.

See yah there!

-xoxo-

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

GENIUS SUPERMOM on the making: It's not me, it's LG OPTIMUS

♪♫ ♪♫ I'm not your superwoman...oohh I am only human...♫♪♫♪

Family, friends, work etc.....all at the same time? I am starting to panic.

Time management is one of the things I am having a hard time dealing with until this very moment. Too bad I have to do these things all at the same time:

(Photo courtesy of SunSentinel.com)

How I wish I'm a supermom (literally with wings and superpowers). I want to finish everything, but it can't be 'coz I can't. I am a work at home mom with a very playful and active 2 year old toddler, who keeps on disturbing and following me all the time. With all of these things happening, I started looking for things that could help me to be a good and efficient homemaker.

One day while browsing the net, I have seen these new gadget so called LG OPTIMUS 2X (LG P990) and LG OPTIMUS BLACK (LG P970). (I have been constantly browsing several gadgets for I am planning to buy a high to mid-class phone this year). I was so amazed with the features I got from reading all about these 2 amazing phones...imagine, 1st Dual-Core Smartphone & World's Brightest Nova Display, respectively. In my mind, I am starting to see clearly a bright and promising future for a mom like me haha!

I went into our room and look for my laptop to check my facebook account for a while:

"Yay! I won in a contest"...but I don't know the place...so here comes the magic of GPS... but hey! Look what's here in my pocket! An Optimus 2X from LG? My eyes were open. Is it true? Oh my---Great! (maybe it was hubby's surprise gift for me). At that very moment I noticed that I could browse the map directly on my phone because of its GPS with A-GPS support. Unlike my old phones supported with GPS only, I can't trace a precise and exact location when on a moving car, dense urban areas and inside buildings. On my case, because of my "hectic" schedule, i really don't have the time to figure out the exact place, so I can leave it behind for now. It's cloud-to-device messaging (a genius feature where a web, google map location, etc.) can be pushed unto my phone without doing anything: a perfect timing. My LG OPTIMUS will do the job when I am about to go to the location. :)

Well, it's time for work...gotta open my desktop pc now for I need to log into my Yahoo messenger and check mails when accidentally I saw a YM icon on these LG phone!

Too good that this genius phone has an Android 2.2 Froyo (Frozen Yoghurt)-I can even work right directly from this smartphone!!! Imagine, it's 5X faster than the Android 2.1 version, plus the fact that it speeds up JavaScript execution time by 2 – 3x and is now the fastest mobile browser in the World!
Result?
-Improved speed
-Acts as a router & a modem (I can even use my genius phone to let my laptop, desktop and other devices connect to the internet)
-Enterprise features (wipe the device if it’s ever stolen or lost, device backup, etc. so no worries even if i brought my phone outside 'coz the confidential data stored are safe)
-Load faster apps (I can load the apps used in my home based work here hehe)
-Improved voice recognition
-Supports HTTP streaming and local file playback (that's great for youtube)
-Ability to update all installed apps at once

Well, it only means that I can work and play. :)

At that moment my toddler starts crying and showing his tantrums so I headed outside to see what was happening. Thanks to these phone I can log on time (directly from this LG phone) for my work. ^_^

Finally, I saw his fave gadget and he started to play his games there.

I love capturing candid moments of my toddler just like what I have here:

Now, I don't need to rush all the time to bring out my video camera (every time my toddler solves new puzzles), these Optimus phone will do all the work when it is needed. :) Plus, it has LED flash enabled for the Camcorder (ability to shoot videos in low light). Isn't it awesome?

Few hours has passed. It's time for cooking. I proceeded to our kitchen and I am about to cook a surprise dish for hubby. I kinda forgot some of the measurements so I grabbed my little gadget where I browse recipes but it's low bat!

This is the last moment where my gadget for e-RECIPES has power.

OPTIMUS 2X saves my day. It was awesome to see that I can easily browse the recipes I wanted here because of full support for Flash (ver 10.1) & it's user-interface tweaks! Tadaaa here's the dish I have made! (One proud mommy)

If not with this phone, I am surely serving a dish that might ruin my reputation. :p

Again, I headed into our room, but what the heck!!! I almost forgot. We're overdue in our bills.

*sigh* I always forgot to pay on time.

"Hmmnn can I use this phone in paying bills online?" I am tired of my slow laptop and it is getting annoying when I am loading a site. Then I just decided, why not use my genius phone at hand?

Just a few moment, I have already payed them all. I can even put an alarm on the phone reminding me to do these things. :) Whew!

Now here comes my other phone that keeps on beeping and ringing.

I checked it, saw my friend's reminder that it was our photo shoot today at Sunken Garden! I grabbed my SLR, my props, etc..and need to bring Gav that day (and all of my toddler's things). That's a lot of things huh?!?

But wait a minute.....look what I got! LG OPTIMUS 2X has 8MP autofocus camera w/ LED Flash & 1.3MP secondary front-facing camera....no need to bring my bulky SLR, especially on times like these. ^_^ That's too good for a camera phone! Not to mention, my baby enjoyed playing games on my phone while waiting for them because my genius smartphone has 4.0 display, 480×800 pixels, ARM Cortex A9 1.0GHz dual-core processor (Tegra 2) with 512 RAM, plus improved graphics capabilities (OpenGL ES 2.0)...enough for him to enjoy the 3D ones...no need to bring his bulky & heavy gadget. :p

It was already evening when we arrived at home.

"What a fulfilling day!", I said to myself while getting ready to pamper my baby. I played some music from this LG phone to make my baby sleepy. And guess what? I have saved thousands of music files (my fave and Gav's fave songs) on this genius phone! Yes, you heard it right. It is possible because it has 32GB memory capacity via its microSD. Teehee! More playlists to come hahaha! Thanks to its HDMI port, this phone acts as my USB too. Yeah!

It was almost nearly nine in the evening and hubby wasn't still home. I decided to read my fave "MANGA" episodes while waiting for him.

Oh, then suddenly I just realized why not try to browse these on my new phone? I can read while lying on bed hehe. Thanks to its WiFi (802.11 b/g/n) which supports wide array of bandwidths (even the latest, fastest maximum speed & best signal range that uses MIMO technology, usually costs higher). I can connect to our router or most probably, to any other unprotected WiFi signals around the vicinity lolz (just joking, I'm a good mom ;p).

Now, photo shoots, cooking, paying bills, work (and a whole lot more) while taking care of my toddler are all done. Still, this genius phone is alive (I mean, it has power) because of its light-weight 1500mAh Li-Ion battery that lasts longer. I am a certified SUPERMOM this time.

Finally hubby is here! I graciously kiss and hug him while saying "Thank you bhe for the LG OPTIMUS 2X phone! I soooo love it!"

He stared at me smiling, shook my shoulder and said, "What are you talking about bhe?"

Everything stopped. Even my heartbeat. I can't believe this...this isn't happening...no, it can't be. I opened my eyes and that's it! It was all a dream. :/ Still, I'm not a certified GENIUS 'coz I didn't figured out that the things happening to me were all a product of my imagination.

That whole night I couldn't sleep. How I wish I have one. At that very moment I kept on drooling over these 2 phones for I know that it is indeed a great help for a busy mom like me. Even for an LG OPTIMUS BLACK will do (because of budget constraints). With this I will still enjoy multitasking, all of the features are the same, except that it has single-core processor (instead of dual-core), 2GB (instead of 8GB) expandable memory and a 5 MP (instead of an 8 MP) camera. Not bad for its price. :)

I believe that things are all possible with this 2 awesome phones!

I can raise a smart child, capture every precious moment, be a good wife, friend, employee and not just a SMART homemaker but a GENIUS one, while enjoying the things in life with ease & comfort---all in one gadget. :)