PLDT myDSL & Nuffnang bring you The Avengers!

So I was asked this question:

"What are the things you love to do with a fast Internet connection, and how can the Great Payday Sale help you get you that fast Internet connection?"

Both my husband and I are fulltime online workers. Our lives revolve around the Internet and we spend at least 12 hours a day online, opening our PCs being the first thing that we do as soon as we get up from bed. So to say that we need a fast Internet connection is an understatement. We REALLY REALLY need a fast and reliable Internet connection to do our work efficiently.

There are times when I'm working, that I have to use 3 browsers and open anywhere from 3 to 10 tabs on each. Aside from that, I have online applications running on the background and Skype for when I need to conference with my client. And I can image how I can do all these easier and faster with an Internet connection that can catch up with my work pace.

But aside from work, there are a number of other things that I love to do if our connection is lighting-speed fast.

For one, there's YouTube and the many free videos that I can watch uninterruptedly.

Then there's my blogs. For those who don't know yet, I maintain 4 blogs and in all of them, I always accompany my posts with images. Uploading images, and other multimedia files for that matter, can be a pain sometimes, especially when my Internet connection slows down. But with a fast Internet connection, it will be a bliss.

My husband is also a download freak. He downloads a lot of things from the internet, and I mean A LOT. Not having to wait for hours, sometimes days, would mean more downloads -- more fun stuffs.

In fact, I was already thinking about upgrading our existing Internet connection plan. Currently, we are subscribed to PLDT myDSL, and if I may say -- is the most reliable and fastest ISP that we've tried, and we've tried a few already. But we need more speed than our current plan is offering.

So when I learned about PLDT's Great Payday Sale from Nuffnang, it's like an answered prayer.

Here's a short info that I gathered about this wonderful promo:

1. PLDT myDSL’s Great Payday Sale is happening this summer, April 27-29, 2012, which is the perfect time to enjoy the strongest connections at home.
2. All you and I have to do is register at the nearest PLDT Home booth or malls nationwide on April 27-29, 2012 with 1 valid ID, and NO CASH OUT!
3. We can upgrade our Internet with PLDT myDSL’s biggest Internet sale ever.
4. This one I really like: Freebies like a WiFi+Modem with free installation and 1 month DSL will be given away. That’s as much as P5,000 savings. Exciting!
5. Online application is also available at www.pldtmydsl.com.

The Great Payday Sale will truly be a big help for people like us who live and breathe the Internet and need fast connections at home or anywhere else. Besides the savings and the freebies, I like the idea of being able to inquire and register at one place, and that you know that you're application will be processed immediately. And if it's conveniently located in malls, that's so much better.

So I am definitely going to take advantage of this. Aside from upgrading our current Internet plan, I am also considering getting a WeRoam connection, which according to those who've tried, is the fastest and has the widest coverage wireless Internet connection in the country. This will literally allow me to be online anytime, anywhere. Awesome!

Product: St. Ives Skin Firming Lotion

St. Ives is my brand of choice for body lotion and I have been using it for the more than 10 years now, experimenting on different variants (my favorite is Collagen Elastin). I've seen the packaging, the label and the prices change but the effect on my skin has remained the same. My mom uses this, too and both of us would try another brand every once in a while, just out of curiosity or the desire to try something new, but we always go back to using St. Ives whenever the other brand would fail to live up to our standards of a good moisturizing product.

Our standards are fairly simple -- keep the skin soft, smooth and moisturized. Well, actually I just added another criteria -- that it's free of possible harmful ingredients like Parabens and Phthalates (the more natural the better). Scent and other gimmickry are just secondary and don't really matter most of the time.

After I gave birth, the effect of more than nine months of not applying lotion on my skin was horrible (I just didn't feel like using lotion when I was pregnant). I could see and feel how dry, dull and aged my skin has become and I badly needed a good moisturizer to bring it back to life. 

But for some reasons, I bought a different brand (Avea Naturals Lotion) and wasn't satisfied with the results. So I did what I should've done the first time: bought St. Ives lotion. I choose the Skin Firming variant as I thought my skin needed some toning and firming, aside from lots and lots of moisturizing.

St. Ives Skin Firming Lotion costs a little over P200 and comes in a 532 ml pump bottle. The scent is somewhat neutral and doesn't linger on the skin. The color of the lotion is white and has a thin, spreadable consistency, which I really like because it feels light on the skin, is easily absorbed and leaves a non-sticky, non-greasy feeling. 

It took only a week of daily use for my skin to recover from dehydration and lifelessness. Aside from keeping it soft, smooth and moisturized, it also gives it a visible healthy glow, which is more evident whenever I go outside. And you know the scratch test? It doesn't leave white marks anymore.

It's also quite economical as I only need to apply a thin film (although I think this depends on how dry your skin is) and it's enough to hydrate and moisturize my skin. I also apply it on my feet (I use twice as much) and it helps to improve the appearance of cracked heals.

I'm not sure about the skin firming property, but by just looking at my skin, I could tell that it has improved a lot. And I mean a lot, considering how bad my skin looked before I started using St. Ives Skin Firming Lotion.

After I empty the bottle, I will definitely buy again but I'm planning on trying out another variant. 

Product: Avea Naturals Lotion

One time, when I ran out of lotion, I decided to try a different brand, one that is particularly cheaper than my regular brand. Yes, I was scrimping on a lotion. After scanning two whole shelves of lotions, body oils and other moisturizing products, both local and foreign brands, and being a stickler for natural products, I chose Avea Naturals Lotion.

It didn't strike me as a natural natural product but seeing no parabens in the ingredients list, I thought it passed my requirements. Right off the label, it claimed to be formulated for deep moisturizing. The scent wasn't bad either. But the thing that really got me in was the price -- only P99 for 600ml lotion (33% more). A good buy it seemed.

And then, there's my weird predilection for products that have expiration dates. My theory is that if it's really natural, it make sense for it not to last for a long time. Hence, the need and the advantage of having expiration dates.

 But as it is with books, you mustn't judge a product by its label.

The first thing that I noticed when I applied the lotion was the scent. It smelled okay when you sniff it right from the bottle. But once applied on the skin, it didn't smell as nice anymore. Or maybe it's the chemical composition of my skin that altered the scent of the lotion. Either way, I don't like the smell and neither does my husband.

Other not so good points: it's sticky, it feels heavy on the skin and it leaves a shine (not a healthy glow) on the surface, like an oily residue or something.

It does very little in making my skin soft and smooth to touch. I don't have to scratch myself to check that it's moisturized as I could tell by just looking at my skin. But if I do, scratch myself that is, I see white traces -- an indication of a dry skin.

So it wasn't long before I realized that this isn't a good product after all. But not wanting to throw or give it away (and waste the P99 that I bought it with), I decided to use it on my feet instead, thinking that maybe it'll be more suitable there, relieving cracked skin and all. But again, I was wrong. Feet need more moisture than any part of the body, and Avea Naturals Lotion just couldn't deliver what it promised on the label.

I just stopped it using all together and bought myself a trusted brand. A little more expensive, but I get what I paid for.

Food: Classic Savory Beef Noodle Soup

Classic Savory Restaurant is known for their fried chicken, and that's what I usually have whenever we eat here. But that changed when they started serving noodle soup, Beef Noodle Soup in particular.

The first time I tried their beef noodle soup, I thought it was so delicious. The strong beefy flavor of the broth (the kinda of flavor you get from simmering the broth for hours), the thin, firm Hong Kong-style noodles, large and tender beef chunks, green Chinese pechay leaves and hints of familiar herbs and spices -- everything that I want was there. A large bowl costs less than P200, which is large enough to share with 1 or 2 more people, especially if you ordered other items from the menu. But as a single dish, I still think it's more than enough for 1 person.

Since then, I always favored Classic Savory over the other similar restaurants whenever I want my fried chicken to go with a noodle soup. But, a recent visit to the restaurant to satisfy my noodle soup craving confirmed what I have been feeling about my favorite comfort food lately -- that it is no longer as good as before.



I guess I saw it coming as I noted that  the solid contents were becoming fewer. Again, I had to prop up the noodles with the serving spoon, otherwise you would barely see them. The quality of the noodles had changed, too. They were less firm, less enjoyable. Or maybe there was simply not enough for me to enjoy.

The beef chunks became smaller and fewer, although they're still tender but somehow less flavorful. And the soup tasted a bit more artificial, like more flavorings were used instead of the natural flavor of a slow-cooked beef broth.

Actually, Classic Savory's Beef Noodle Soup is more of a sabaw now (a perfect complement to a rice meal) rather than a noodle soup that you can enjoy as a complete dish. It's still good, I guess, when you're dining with the whole family or with a few friends, and you want a soup to accompany the other dishes. But if you're alone and just want a hearty noodle soup for yourself, the amount of broth might overwhelm you.

I find it a little disappointing because I thought I found a go-to place for my noodle soup cravings. Some good things just don't stay the same.

Product: Human Heart Nature Strengthening Shampoo and Conditioner

Normally, I wait until I used up a product before I make a review. But this time, I'm not sure if I'll ever use this product again so I'm writing the review now. I'm talking about Human Heart Nature Strengthening Conditioner (I haven't used the shampoo so I can't comment on it.)

First, a brief background. I was a satisfied user of Human Heart Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner. But when I started having excessive hair fall, I thought these products have something to do with it. Maybe their formulation has changed, or I developed an immunity or a late reaction. I'm not using anything else on my hair, so I really can't put the blame on something else.

Then I found out that I have thyroiditis, and one of the symptoms is falling hair. Human Heart Nature Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner were cleared of the crime I accused them with. But despite that, I decided to switch to another variant, Strengthening Shampoo and Conditioner, as I thought these are more apt for my problem at hand.

The Strengthening conditioner has the same thick, creamy consistency and white color as that of the Moisturizing variant. They smell different though, and I like the scent of the Moisturizing better. The price is also P144 for the conditioner and P139.75 for the shampoo.

I bought both the shampoo and conditioner but have only tried the latter because I still have half-bottle of the moisturizing shampoo left. So I paired the Strengthening conditioner with the Moisturizing shampoo. And the result was catastrophic.

On the first day that I used it, I noticed that it felt sticky and heavy on my hair. After my hair has dried, it went stiff and the strands seemed to clump together, I thought I wasn't able to rinse it thoroughly. The next few days saw the same result so I thought of using the conditioner alone thinking that combining the two variants might not be a good idea. But I still got stiff, sticky, heavy hair. Like something was coating each strand and it's weighing my hair down.

The hair fall wasn't lessened a bit. It even seemed to make it worse. After almost two weeks of waiting for things to turnaround, the fear of going bald and the frustration of dealing with bad hair everyday finally dragged me to buy another set of shampoo and conditioner.

And yes, after the initial use of the new shampoo and conditioner, my hair went back to normal - still a little frizzy but a lot softer, lighter and more manageable than when I was using Human Heart Nature Strengthening Conditioner. So it was clear that the conditioner was the one wreaking havoc on my hair.

I haven't touched the Strengthening shampoo yet and have stopped using the conditioner since. I also have some Moisturizing shampoo left. And I'm not sure if I will use them again. Maybe when my hair stops shedding or when I have grown back the hair that I lost. I just hope that they're not yet expired by then.