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Treat Your Family To A New Dining Table With Your Tax Return

This time of the year, most people get excited about their upcoming tax returns, taking advantage of a variety of credits and claimable expenses that put money back into your pocket. Vacations, new cars, and electronics are often popular options for spending that unexpected money, and often people can’t even recall what they spent their windfall on. This year, why not get something that will bring you joy for many years to come, something beautiful that will brighten your home and bring a smile to your face every time you see it. A solid wood, custom made dining room table is the kind of purchase that will last for years, longer than a new car; in fact, you will probably keep it with you longer than your home.

Handcrafted wood furniture will not only reflect your personal taste and style, but will allow you to pass it down from generation to generation. A solidly made piece of craftsmanship can be repaired and refinished, restoring it either to its good-as-new beauty or giving it a contemporary face lift years down the road with a new coat of paint. There are some refinishers in the Toronto area like Woodcraft who can even re-stain a piece of wood furniture in a lighter color than the original, and you can save considerably compared to purchasing a new piece.

A dining room table is not just a piece of furniture, it’s a kind of living memory: the stories of the times you and your family spent around it will pass along with it as it becomes an heirloom. Caring for your custom dining room table is not difficult, either, and when you purchase true quality, it shows. Simply dusting your table with a very soft cloth on a regular basis will keep it glowing. Just follow the grain when it needs to be cleaned and use a damp cloth; dry it immediately with your soft cloth and lightly buff the wood. 

There are many beautiful woods to make your choice, and a great furniture maker will make their models fully customizable. For example, Toronto locals Woodcraft offer rich cherry, maple and wormy maple, oak and pine, which all have the potential to become the dining room table that pulls the entire room together. The size and shape, the type of wood and the finish all come together to reflect your personal taste and match your home’s interior design. Go with a company that’s been making elegant, handcrafted furniture for decades and practices traditional craftsmanship instead of turning to a big box store, and your new wood dining room table will be exactly what you want. 

Once you’ve decided on the materials and colors, it’s time to make sure you know how to get it delivered safely and conveniently to your home. Always get home delivery, including home set up, and the delivery crew will take your new furniture right to the room where you want it and set it up for you. You can injure yourself or damage the furniture when you try to move it yourself, so it’s best to leave it to the professionals.All deliveries from a reputable company will be insured and guaranteed, so all you need to worry about is who you’re going to invite for your first dinner party once it’s ready to go.

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The Artists We Lost In 2016

Now that we made it into the New Year, we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief. We survived 2016, the year when #worstyearever was trending and memes were asking, “Y U No end soon”. Between acts of terrorism, bizarre political coups, and civil rights violations in 2016, 2017 doesn’t have to try very hard to earn a better reputation than its predecessor. All it could do is cut down on the number of musicians who die within its months, and we’d be happy.

We said goodbye to an astonishingly long list of artists in 2016, which made the year even harder for fans of music to tolerate. Some, like Leonard Cohen, didn’t come as a huge surprise, while others, like the announcements of Prince’s passing, blindsided most of the world. Whether or not we expected their deaths, the loss of the following artists was a devastating addition to the year.

Leonard Cohen — After an illustrious career that spanned the better part of 50 years, the Canadian poet, singer-songwriter, and painter passed away. To many of his fans, news of his passing wasn’t totally unexpected. The previous June saw the passing of his lover and muse, Marianne Ihlen. Just before she died he wrote to her that he would, “follow [her] very soon”. Tribute concerts were held in Toronto and his hometown of Montreal, as well as all over the world.

David Bowie — The world said goodbye to the Starman on the 10th of January after he lost his battle with liver cancer, just two days after the release of Blackstar, his final album. All over the world, fans celebrated his body of work with explosive parades and tribute concerts. In New Orleans, Arcade Fire led a musical procession down Bourbon Street, while fans organized a block party in Bowie’s hometown of Brixton. His death also inspired millions of budding musicians to take up music lessons.

Phife Dawg — One of the original members of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, MC Phife Dawg (né Malik Izaak Taylor) passed away in March of 2016 due to complications to diabetes. He and the rest of Tribe are considered the smartest rap band to come out of the 80s and have been attributed with inspiring such popular acts as Kanye West, The Roots, and Common. His “self-deprecating swagger”, due partly to his 5’3” frame, helped Tribe dispel the toxic masculinity inherent in a lot of late 80s rap.

Prince — In a tragic turn of events, Prince passed away in April of an accidental drug overdose as he recovered from the flu. It came as a shock to hear of his passing as he was in the middle of a tour supporting his last album, Hit n Run Phase Two. The tour was sold out, with fans anticipating old and new favourites played on some of the world’s best selection of guitars. Known for his wild, outlandish guitars, Prince toured with a number of eye-catching instruments, including his purple guitar custom-made to fit the shape of his symbol. Following his death, there was an outpouring of fan support, including a flower vigil at his home in Minnesota.

These four names make up just a tiny collection of the artists we lost last year. The true number is, quite frankly, too depressing to list, with well-loved musicians spanning every genre leaving us. The important part is that we still have their music. Their careers have inspired millions of budding musicians all over the world to play together and keep their memories alive in their songs. As we keep their songs, we can only hope that the rest of our favorite artists survive 2017.

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Little Known Ways To Save Better

After a year like 2016, we could all stand to spend a little less and save a lot more. As usual, making better household budgets will be a popular New Year’s resolution across the States, but for many Americans, there’s a disconnect between making and following their fiscal ambitions. Most people can’t see their goals through for an entire! If you have big plans to improve your habits in 2017, keep reading to learn some simple methods to save money. They could be the reason why you stay on track this year.

Continue reading “Little Known Ways To Save Better”
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How To Go From A Product Idea To Sales In A Year

How do you turn a product idea into a reality, and how do you go from a napkin sketch to sales within a year?
The first thing is to clarify your idea. Ambiguity can destroy an idea after it’s sketched out on a napkin. Be clear and concrete, not vague and abstract.Once everyone involved is clear about what it is that is being discussed and why it’s valuable, the next phase is to write down all the actionable steps you can take. First, you must complete the dreaming process, then write down your plan, and, finally, execute it.

Dreaming
While a rudimentary sketch might point you in the right direction, the essential action that must happen is the construction of a prototype.
Initially, you’re looking for a minimal viable product (MVP) to clearly express your idea.
The prototype will do more than give you a model you can hold in your hands. It will also give you clues about the manufacturing process that will be necessary to mass produce the product. This, of course, depends on the material. It will be important to set up manufacturing without worrying about it breaking down. If it’s a hard material like metal, then installing wear blocks will help achieve this goal. 

If it’s a softer material like plastic, then using 3-D printing might work for you. In fact, you could even rent a 3-D machine for less than $20 an hour to experiment building your prototype with.

The purpose of dreaming by talking about it, sketching it, and creating a prototype is to have as much clarity as possible about what it is that you intend to build.

Planning
Planning is not just about turning an idea into a product, but also envisioning the business you need to build to deliver the product idea to the marketplace.
Writing things down is an essential part of the planning process. Writing will define your thinking, direct you toward what to research, and help you communicate your business ideas to everyone concerned from investors to manufacturers to distributors.
What should you write down?

  • ·  Write about how the product solves a market problem.
  • ·  Write about all aspects of the opportunity from everyone’s point-of-view.
  • ·  Write about the business model you want to adopt.
  • ·  Write about the markets the product will impact.
  • ·  Write about channels of distribution.
  • ·  Write about the competition and how you can retain a competitive advantage after copycats flood the market.
  • ·  Write about what you don’t know enough about yet. What data do you still need to collect? What are some holes in your thinking?

    • Executing
    When executing, build an advisory team, do market research, and do patent research. If everything works out, then you’re ready to take care of business and launch your big idea.
    Let’s take a look at each of these three steps:

    1. Build an Advisory team
    You will need to work with a variety of people who can provide the knowledge and skills that you need to turn your idea into a reality. Start with creating an Advisory Team, and then work out who you need to talk to, like manufacturers, vendors, lawyers, accountants, and so on.
    2. Market research.
    You could spend a lot of time making a product that’s a great idea but too far ahead of its time. So you must first discern who will buy your product. Since you haven’t created your product yet, find companies that are making products similar to what you’ll be selling.
    If there is something similar, then it will give you an idea of who is buying it and what price it sells well at. Not only will you understand your potential target market, but you will also know how to distinguish yourself from other players in the field.
    If your product is utterly unique, then you can do market research and have focus groups discuss their reaction to your prototype. Ideally, invite people who are interested in the same subject. For instance, if you’ve invented a unique dog jacket that calms your dog when they go to the vet, then your focus group should be dog owners.
    3. Patent research.
    Your design may be unique to you and your Advisory Team, but someone else may have thought of it, too, and you will infringe upon their intellectual property by simply introducing it into the marketplace. If something as esoteric as calculus could have been invented independently by two men at the same time, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz in the mid-17th century, then it’s unlikely but not impossible that someone could have come up with the same product idea as yours, too. 
    You should visit the website of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to research any patents for products like the one you’re working on. If you have any questions, talk to an attorney that specializes in patents. If everything works out in your favor, don’t file a patent right away. Instead file a provisional patent application first. This will give you time to decide if your idea will be profitable.

    In closing, it’s important to remember that you may have to fail your way to success. But fail fast so you can figure out what does work. Remember the story of Thomas Edison and the light bulb?

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    Mostly Everything

    Spiffy’s Grove: The only cider bar in Manila

    UPDATE: Spiffy’s Grove has closed.

    I originally wrote a short blog post about Spiffy’s Grove sans the interview with Gladys and Nick. This new piece was written for Manila Bulletin’s MBLife featuring better photos from my team and an actual interview. Photo by Monica Pantaleon.

    ————–

    “You serve what? Apple cider vinegar?!”

    This is the first reaction that Nick and Gladys get when customers find out they operate a cider bar. It was my first reaction as well. I thought I knew alcohol, but when it comes to hard cider, I’m still a padawan.

    Tucked a wee bit away from the Aguirre Avenue food explosion in BF Homes is a little bar along El Grande called Spiffy’s Grove. From the exteriors, Spiffy’s ticks all the boxes of a typical hole in the wall neighborhood bar – bean bags, long wood tables, chill music — but with one exception: their main attraction is hard cider.

    No not apple cider (with vinegar!). We’re talking about hard cider. For the uninitiated (which includes most of the Philippines), we were culturally not a cider drinking country, as opposed to other countries in Asia that stocks cider as a default menu item — I’m talking about you, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. But the irony is, Filipinos do consume drinks **like cider**. Wine coolers, flavored beers, flavored vodka belong to a similar, although in my opinion less classy niche.

    Hard cider is more similar to wine in terms of production, but instead of grapes, assorted fruits are used. Because of this, ciders can serve as an entry-point into appreciating an alcoholic drink, a place that was once reserved for flavored beer.

    On the menu, we tried the Crushed Apple and Getta Pear from Three Oak Cider Co. At P120.00 per bottle, these were the most affordable ciders available. Both pegged at 5% ABV, the flavors of apples and pears really stood out — and this makes Three Oaks Cider Co. the poster boy “traydor” drink as you won’t feel the buzz until you stand up. There were more complex offerings such as the Zeffer Cider Co. Tea Leaf Infused at P190.00 and is quite similar to drinking spiked iced tea. The zenith, at least for me, was the Crooked Apple which was 500ml of pure green apples at 5.2% ABV. It almost feels like drinking a glass of apple flavored sparkling wine. Half a liter bottle costs P230.00.

    Of course they also have food.

    Spiffy’s Grove sets aside the usual bar chow for two rather unique offerings: dumplings and jaffles.

    Wait, you mean waffles? Nope! Jaffles are a thing in Australia. Historically linked to packing whatever you have left over from dinner and putting it in between two slices of bread, waffles has of late taken an artisanal twist (what hasn’t right?). If you remember Aristocrat’s flying saucer sandwich, it’s close to that, but the grilled bread is filled with mac and cheese, corned beef, or spaghetti!

    Asked about the future of Spiffy’s (they’ve only been open for less than a year), Gladys says that she hopes to become one of the catalysts for cider culture in Manila, in the same way that specialty coffee and craft beer have become rather mainstream in less than a decade.

    Spiffy’s Grove is also one of the few bars that is actually open from lunchtime onwards, so if you’re a freelancer in the south looking for a place to park yourself for hours on end, consider this!

    DETAILS:

    Address
    412 El Grande Avenue, BF Homes
    Parañaque
    Call (02) 501 7765
    Store Hours – 12 noon to midnight