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10 Surprisingly Easy Ways to Cut Down Your Electricity Bill

The constant “lights on/lights off” battle between my parents has always been a source of great amusement to me.  My dad is a creature of darkness (and low electricity bills).  My mom thinks she owns Meralco.  I’ll leave the regular conflicts to your imagination.

When I got married, however, I found the “Battle of the Blaze” had crept undetected into my suitcases and followed me into my own home. As I observed, with growing horror, the disturbingly familiar way my husband would follow my trail of blazing light bulbs, turning off switches and calling me “Imelda Marcos,” I realized the need for a quick battle plan.

It turns out (to my light-loving delight) that my blazing bulbs are merely minor players in the making of a massive electric bill. The main culprits in this nasty scenario are air conditioners, refrigerators/freezers, pool and water pumps (if you have them) and clothes dryers – although all home appliances (big and small) share in the blame.  So here are a few easy tips to lessen the damage all around, and cut your energy costs significantly:  

1. Unplug whatever is not in use at the time.   

Many household appliances (answering machines, TV’s, computers, etc) use about 3 to 4 watts of electricity even when they are “off.”  The energy used up by each appliance by itself may seem minor, but all together, the costs do add up. 

Tip: Chargers are particularly deceiving.  Many people have the tendency to leave cell phone (and other) chargers plugged in 24/7 – not realizing that a charger continues to eat up electricity even when it isn’t actually attached to its “chargee.”
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15 Crucial Baby Care Tips for the Clueless

My sister in law is coming to visit with her new baby next week, and she terrified me a bit the other day by saying “Be prepared to babysit.”

Now here’s the thing… I’m great with kids and teenagers. Newborn babies, not so much.  If you’re anything like me, these hilarious instructions should be helpful.

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Chris Martin & Conan’s Christmas Duet

Christmas 2009 is officially over (phew), so I thought I’d send it off with one of my favorite Christmas videos ever. I love this. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays from the Desktop Diva (and ok, her Hubby too)

It’s Christmas day, and there’s no better time to say Thank You!!! for including the Desktop Diva in your web wandering.

Wishing you a Happy Holiday Season and a New Year full of good health, happiness and prosperity. 

Huge holiday hugs to you all!

10 Hilarious Holiday Cards

OMG it’s Christmas tomorrow, and I still have so much to do!!! While I’m off attending to some last-minute Christmas preps, enjoy these hilarious holiday cards I found on Buzzfeed.  Happy Holidays, everyone!

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10 Creative Christmas Cakes

I was sorely tempted to abandon all thoughts of weight loss last night and buy an ENTIRE chocolate cake (to devour all by myself, of course) from Shell Magallanes, but luckily good sense and some dire predictions from the hubby saved the day — and uumm… the hips.

To appease (or torment?) my sweet tooth, I just drooled over some Christmas cakes on Flickr instead. Here are some of the most creative ones I found. Pretty cool!

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The Most OMGWTF Christmas Song EVER

I’ve been ranting the past couple of weeks about how every single Christmas party/program this year has at least one group performing that “Nobody Nobody BATCHOOO” song by the Wonder Girls. I swear if I have to see it one more time, I may just stab myself to end my misery.

Well misery does love company, so I was trying to find a Youtube vid of the even more annoying Christmas version of that hateful song (remixed to medley with “Jingle Bells” GAAAAH!) to post here. Couldn’t find it, but here’s what I found instead… Jingle Bells, Bollywood Style. :)

Try performing THAT at your next Christmas party .. haha!

All We Want for Christmas: Wishlists from Women around the World

About a week before I was swallowed whole and spat out in exhausted shreds by the crazy Manila holiday season, I started a little project — collecting Christmas wishlists from my women friends around the world.

Well, I FINALLY got to it — and here’s the Twitter edition.  Let’s hope Santa reads my blog.

 @eternallycharmd
Amanda | Los Angeles, CA
I want the Barnes & Noble Nook, movies on blu-ray, and Demi Moore’s new perfume “Wanted”

  @piastrom
Pia | Trondheim, Norway
I need a massage, manicure & pedicure! Digital camera or Laptop would also be good

@Kim
Kim | USA
☮ p e a c e

 @FijiLomalagi
Collin | Fiji
My personal Christmas wish is for rain in Fiji - we’re unseasonably dry & I’m worried. World wish is NO MORE WAR.

@Annie_Gr
Annie | Athens
First good health for all people and secondly solidarity. Can I say a 3rd one?Awareness for the environment.

@leezyw
Lauren | Scotland
joshua jackson please!

 
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Why Men Shouldn’t Write Advice Columns

This. is. classic.

Source: The High Definite

16 Awesome Anagrams

An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. Since I’m big old word nerd, anagrams are naturally right up my alley. 

If you try to make an anagram of say, your name, you’ll probably get a couple of good words and some leftover letters — but sometimes, you can get lucky and come up with something really funny. Here are some clever examples for your enjoyment.

Mother-in-law = Woman Hitler

Frito Lay = Oily Fart

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The 9 Types of Crappy Handshakes

The Oatmeal really rocks.

Here’s another of their hilarious comics — this time illustrating the 9 different types of crappy handshakes. My faves below…

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Men’s Guide to Holiday Gift-Giving

MEN. Really.  Check out Holy Taco’s “Who You Should Buy a Gift For” chart to see why Christmas lists (and shopping) are best left to women.

5 Things You Shouldn’t Do While on the Subway in Japan

Oh Japan, I love you. First you give us Engrish, and now this. 

Have a look at some of the posters for Japan’s new Subway Etiquette campaign, which are really quite adorable, if you ask me…  well, except for the creepy iris-less observers.

1. No gymnastics, you @#%* showoff!

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Site to See: When In Manila

I did an interview with the great guys from WhenInManila.com last weekend, and mainly because I was terrified about how fat I’d look, I’ve been sneaking peeks at their site over the past couple of days. 

Well, the interview isn’t out yet (phew) but it turns out there are lots of reasons to keep visiting this extremely entertaining and info-laden website anyway.

WhenInManila.com is the first and only online travel & lifestyle video blog from the Philippines, highlighting the wonderful people, places and events from Manila and around the entire archipelago. My favorite feature? Their fake news! Check out the sample below (hilarious!):

See the Site

or Follow @WhenInManila on Twitter

The Punctuation Cheat Sheet

Am I the only one who’s noticed that all the grammar and punctuation rules I learned in school are being blatantly abandoned in this Age of the Internet?  Yes? Ok, never mind.

Here’s a hilarious guide to offline and online punctuation from Cracked to prove my point.

Thanks, @karlmageddon for the link that led to it!

Help Continue Typhoon Relief Efforts by Giving OndoyCards This Christmas!

Ondoycards are a great gift option for those of you who’d like to give simple, meaningful gifts this Christmas. The card  designed by Gene Tamesis  shows a family that is looking at lifesaver-parols (or Christmas lanterns) with gratefulness and hope for what 2010 will bring.

There are 3 types of cards available:

1. The PhP100 ($2) card goes toward a meal for a typhoon victim. It has an insert that says “The giver of this card has donated in your name a Christmas meal to a victim of Typhoon Ondoy.”

2. The PhP200 ($4) card goes toward a baby relief pack. The insert for this card says “ ______has donated in your name a Baby Relief Pack composed of vitamins, clean water, powdered milk, bottles and diapers to a baby displaced by the flood.”

3. The PhP500 ($10) card provides a family with a noche buena (Christmas dinner) pack. Insert says “_____ has donated in your name a Noche Buena Pack composed of ham, fruit, spaghetti and cheese to a family displaced by the flood.”

Ondoycards (and the relief efforts they fund) are a project of happy2help — a non-profit, non-political group of friends that runs soup kitchens and packages relief goods and relocation kits for victims of Typhoon Ondoy and Typhoon Pepeng.

3 Literal Version Videos That’ll Make You LOL

Ever wish songs just sang what was happening in the music video? My friend Troy introduced me to these literal version videos a while back, and I swear they kill me.  There are a lot them on YouTube, but these ones really take the cake. Enjoy!

Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler)

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167 Gift Ideas for the Clueless Christmas Shopper

HA! It’s December — a.k.a. PANIC TIME for you delinquent Christmas planners. If you’ve completely ignored all the Christmas prep nagging I’ve been doing since September, well… let me say “I told you so” just once (please?) before I rush to your rescue.

Here you go, kiddos — 167 ideas from previous Desktop Diva posts for your panicky shopping pleasure…

10 Great Beer Gadgets for the Lush of Your Life

10 Killer Kitchen Items for the Not-So-Happy Homemaker

 
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