Swept Away.

Today, you are restrained from opening your Facebook.

Hmmm, okay you are allowed to open it and read your friends’ status updates but absolutely NO opening of Typing Maniac, Bejeweled Blitz and Waka-Waka applications!

You have a handful of tasks to finish that are more rewarding and fruitful compared to the satisfaction of seeing your name on top of the scoreboard. Remember, those apps do not make the “ca-ching ca-ching” sound on your paypal wallet.

And if that’s not enough to motivate you, I bet this picture will:

Snagged from Freshome.

Mcdonald’s archrival.

My internet connection acted up on me last night but since the sleep fairy didn’t visit me early, I just watched the late night news and public affairs show KALYE. One of their featured stories was about call centers and how the agents’ lives are like. Over the years, a lot of foreign companies have invested in putting up contact centers here in our country where the general cost of putting up a business is less expensive than having it in their countries. Offshore Company Incorporation may sound complex but there are companies such as APGI, S.A., that offers assistance in offshore activities. Further, Filipinos are the best candidates for its manpower because of our exceptional English communication skills. No wonder call centers have sprouted like mushrooms not only in Manila but also in key cities nationwide. Many, mostly fresh graduates, are attracted to apply as agents because of its enticing compensation and incentives. The usual starting salary of call center agents, is about Php 16,000-20,000. Way above the regular starting salary in most of the other industries which is only about Php 8,000-10,000. To an ailing economy, call centers are indeed helpful with the investments that it brings and jobs that they create. While many companies have retrenched and laid off employees earlier this year, the call center industry remains strong as some even continuously expand their businesses like in the case of Convergys.

We avoided my brother’s flu virus in Makati that’s why we sheltered temporarily here at my in laws for one week. We wouldn’t want to expose Asher to the virus especially with all the paranoia that the pandemic influenza scare is causing. However, as we avoided the flu virus, who would’ve thought that Asher will battle another kind of virus while we stay here in Frisco.

Last Tuesday, his Yayay noticed that Asher’s temperature was shooting up around lunch time. I shrugged it off and concluded that it was the just the afternoon heat that’s causing it since it’s only the head that’s a bit warmer. His body temperature felt just normal. He napped and that’s the time when I felt his body was getting warmer too. I right away took his temp and the thermometer yielded a 38++ (point something) degrees. Got him to take paracetamol right away. He began to lose his appetite that evening and became sluggish. He was so clingy to either his yayay or to me. His temperature shoots up and down every four hours. I was already worried…A(H1N1) is out because he doesn’t have colds or cough…is it dengue, a more deadly one…or just an ordinary “lagnat laki” as they call it.

The next day, he still refuses to eat, so pale and so clingy. Fever was still on and off. His temperature even went up to 39.8 degrees that we almost rushed to the ER at that instant. But I remained calmed and psyched myself that he’ll be okay. Minutes later, he cooled down a bit. Paul and I decided that we’ll take him to the hospital the next day (3rd day) if he wouldn’t get better, as advised by parenting books. Also, taking him to the ER right away would only expose him to even more viruses so we opted to wait the 3-day fever time frame.

On the third day, we went to his Pedia and while waiting for his turn (lots of sick babies on queue), he started to show improvement. He was all over the place even almost knocking down the standees and the waffle stand along the corridor. He showed his antics much to our entertainment..nawala boredom namin sa paghintay. The Pedia initially diagnosed that it’s viral infection as she saw that Asher’s tonsil and throat were all red. She gave him antibiotics to take.

We bathed him on the fourth day. His temperature has tremendously got better too as well as his moods and activity. I noticed in the afternoon that pink spots or rashes started to appear on his forehead. I phoned his Pedia and assured that it was not allergy caused by the meds. As I’ve heard about Roseola before, she also confirmed that it could be the culprit. She told me to continue the medication she gave.

The next day (5th day), I have to call off the Twitter meet up I was supposed to join at Greenbelt because we brought Asher back to his Pedia. His face and body was all so red with rashes that we want to be assured of the doctor’s diagnosis. And upon seeing Asher, they ruled that it was indeed Roseola or “tigdas hangin” in our vernacular. The doctor confirmed that there’s nothing to worry about this as it’s just benign and it’s very common to babies 6 months old to 2 yrs old. In fact, as I tweeted yesterday, most of my online friends’ babies went through the same sickness when they were Asher’s age. No medication was given because it will eventually go away. So far, Asher’s recovering well..save for the overly pinkish face and body, he’s all active and malikot na ulit. His appetite is back as well and no more fever in the past 72 hours.

So the Lolo, Lolas, Tito, Tita and Cousin Leela reading this blog from abroad, don’t worry of Asher na.

I just made the big switch a couple of days ago and I’m loving it to bits. I never thought that reading feeds won’t get as easy as this. Of course, I’ve been a Bloglines user for months prior to switching and back then I thought bloglines was already the best. However, I get frequent kinks and broken feeds every now and then to some of my subscriptions lately so that’s when I realized to switch.

What I love about the Google Reader:
1. More “powerful” when it comes to URL feed searching and fetching. You don’t have to type in the whole url or you may just enter the blog’s title and it will automatically yield the correct URL feed.
2. Updates feeds almost in real-time. It updates a lot faster than Bloglines. If my timing is correct, it will only take about less than five minutes as compared to Bloglines which updates feeds after an hour or even more.
3. Categorizing into folders is easier. Upon adding the URL, you can right away put it into your preferred folder. For Bloglines, you have to “edit” the subscriptions after fetching the site feed, create a folder then drag the site feed to it.
4. It has the option to automatically mark it as read as you scroll down your mouse or as you read it.
5. The feeds can be presented in either List or Expanded form.
6. One particular feature I like the most is the comprehensive Search function, where you are able to search a particular keyword or topic from among: “all items”, “starred items”, “read items”, “shared items” or from any of your customized folders.

I haven’t fully explored Google Reader and there might be more that I’m missing at the moment, but so far, my verdict is that it’s way better than Bloglines. After all, it’s powered by Google.

By the way, there’s one more thing that Google Reader let me realized. As I was browsing my subscribed feeds (which mostly are that of my blog and twitter friends), I am dismayed how most of OUR (including mine) blogs have become more of “business” blogs already and that the filler posts have become so mundane. No pun intended here and no offense to my blog friends. Where have all the personal updates gone, my dear blog friends? I’m not “nagmamalinis” here as I also resort to filling in tags and memes especially during crunch time. That’s why, I’m thanking Google Reader because it dawned on me, I want to spare my readers (if there still are) from the grueling and tiring task of nonstop scrolling down on a blog sprawled with just tags and memes. Because I don’t want to do that neither.

Actually, I don’t have much to share. In fact, we haven’t even laid out the concrete plans/phases that Paul and I agreed to do so we can see our race progress towards that ultimate finish line. But we’ve started searching online and offline for possible leads. We’ve scouted one in Heroes Hills (just a few blocks away from in-laws) and instantly, we were fascinated by the house, its exterior design, and its strategic location. It’s the middle of a three brand new townhouse units and it’s the only one left unoccupied. We haven’t seen the interiors and the floor plan but instantly, it became our “crush” and every time we passed by, we would call it “our future”. However, we were dismayed upon hearing its cost. It’s double of what we can just afford. So as my twittermate (and cousin-in-law) Joy, who’s been also house hunting, puts it: “Welcome to the world of broken dreams”.

But I’m not hopeless yet. For the mean time, I’ll just continue on what I’ve started…that is, help the husband to save more for the project. Who knows, “future” can indeed be our “future home”. And by saving, it means: search for more work opportunities online, continue to tighten our belts and scrimp on shopping which is one of my therapies. So just imagine how heartbreaking it is for me to browse my friends’ shops at flickr and read on how my online pals yell “SOLD’ on those fabulous watches and bags while I just sigh and leave the sites empty-handed. My email has been getting newsletters about sales everywhere: clothes, baby stuffs and even irresistible tv deals and other electronic gadgets sale alerts. They’re all so tempting however, we have to set our priorities straight. After all, this is for our own good and future. I’ll just wait for my Dad and stepmom next year who frequently give me and my siblings those Coach and Liz Claiborne bags from Saudi as their “pasalubongs” to us. Haha! Nagpaparinig.

More importantly, I have to learn the virtue of temperance…self-control…sobriety…that these material things just bring pleasure…and not necessarily happiness.

Let the pictures do the talking first…

When we set out last Sunday for lunch, we didn’t have any particular resto yet in mind because we were unsure of the choices we have at The Block. And as expected for special occasions like Father’s Day, the restos we have in mind were all jampacked. We passed by Tokyo Cafe at the second level and when we noticed that the waiting line outside was shorter compared the previous we passed by, we settled to eat there. I remembered my twitter bebot friends’ and Litzie’s blog raves about Tokyo Cafe when they tried this during the recent meetup at MOA of which I wasn’t able to join because Asher got sick. Their review was enough for me to convince that we give it a try too. We had Garlic Cream Hamburg, the regular hamburg variant, a spicy chicken dish the name of which I forgot to take note of, blueberry cheesecake and banana chocolate parfait for dessert. Our tummies were overly delighted and our pockets, too. Super busog. Hubby got a new pair of slip on sandals and his fave S’mores Cake from Red Ribbon for merienda as his gifts.

..not us. But my brother.

We haven’t gone home to our Makati home yet for almost a week now because my younger bro has flu symptoms with a high-grade fever, alarming and worth worrying because of all this pandemic flu scare. Overhyped I must say. We’re temporarily settled here at my in-laws’ place to prevent Asher from catching the virus. My bro was seen at MMC ER the other day and was sent home with findings of ordinary flu. He was advised to rest. Luckily, he isn’t missing his classes because UST has likewise suspended their classes for a week because of reported confirmed A(H1N1) cases and for precautionary measures.

The husband always gets a good surprise from me when there’s an occasion. However, last Father’s day, I guiltily wasn’t able to come up with a unique one because with all honesty, I ran out of ideas. Weeks earlier, I’ve scoured the web for possible gifts. I was even close to getting him cheap airsoft guns to replace his good old pellet gun he still keeps. ZephyrAirsoft.com’s wide array of airsoft gears and supplies are just amazing. They carry the best brands and complete line of Air Soft and Air Guns from spring pistols to high end AEG’s, rechargeable batteries, safety glasses, battery chargers and biodegradable bb’s. Their retailer prices we’re really tempting that I almost hit the checkout button at once. Later I recalled that he’s been wishing for a pair of And 1 or any branded durable slip ons…so that’s what we just bought last Sunday and gave him instead.

The other weekend, Asher was invited again to another birthday party. This time it’s a cousin’s party and was held at Jollibee Manggahan. The whole family trooped to Pasig and joined the fun at Jonax’s Jollitown party. Jollibee is Asher’s newly found best friend. He likes Mcdo but I noticed he’s more keen towards Jollibee’s commercials and pictures. He calls him “dee” most of the time (sounds like bee) or “Ja” sometimes for the first syllable. So just imagine how delighted Asher was and how fast he ran towards the big Jollibee stand by the store’s door. He was so excited to see it that he’s tapping each lower body part so hard - his foot, his belly and his butt - that parts that he can just reach. Asher was his usual over likot self all throughout the party, danced to the music, played with cousin Kylie, and enjoyed eating his spaghetti. We even cheered for his Daddy who joined the games for the adults. Ang galing talaga gumiling ni Daddy, Haha! I was excited on the part when the mascots will enter and entertain the kids. But lo and behold, Asher threw a fit and he was so scared upon seeing the big moving Jollibee mascot coming in! Now I figured, he just wants a still one. He likes looking at him but we have to keep a distance or else, he would really wail so loud. For a while, I thought it was the end of the world when he felt Jollibee touching his head that he let out a very loud shriek, tears flooding his eyes and was tightly clinging to me. So there..instead of “bee happy” naging “bee unhappy” si Asher. LOL.

Got this from Ems.

1. What are your favorite colors?
+ Blue and yellow…our wedding motif.

2. What is your favorite kind of clothing to wear? Why? What’s your least favorite?
+ My favorite is a pair of jeans and baby tee. Least favorite would have to be skirts. I don’t feel comfortable in them.

3. Do you like to take showers or baths? Why/why not?
+ Both.

Honestly, I don’t know much about how stocks turn to maximum profits. We did take up a stock investment course in college but it’s been years and I didn’t pursue my business course in that field. We were armed of the basics but more than that as to the strategies and techniques, I’m clueless. I heard that my cousin in the US has been earning much lately on stocks and that gave me an idea to try it out myself. For a starter, I’ll be needing a tool to help me out explore the world of stock investing. Thanks to PowerOptions, it seems it won’t be as tough as I think especially in choosing the right stock options. It is an online tool that automatically sorts, filters, and analyzes optionable stocks and options online to find the best investments. Truly it seems it’s not as difficult as it sounds.

Remember my victory Yebah! post wherein I blogged about my Cookies and Cream Moment entry winning Lets Go Sago’s Red Ribbon contest last month? The whopping Php 1500 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates are now with me! Actually, a portion of it was even used already for Paul’s Father’s Day Smores Cake. We still have 2/3 worth of the total GCs and we’ve allocated which and when to enjoy our next free cake overdose. Thanks Red Ribbon and Jonel of LetsGoSago again for an exciting contest and for choosing my entry to win first prize.

A not so wordless post. I love how my son says “owwwww” here it’s as if he’s exclaiming “Oh no!”. This was shot while having our Father’s Day lunch at Tokyo Cafe last Sunday. I forgot what his Daddy said that made his expression go like this. He’s such a cutie, don’t you agree?

More Wordless entries here.

I firmly believe that we all should not stop learning. There are various ways and means out there where we can always expand our horizons - especially in these times when everything’s advanced and every way is just an arm reach. Thanks to the internet world and busy people yearning to earn their bachelor’s and graduate degrees can actually do so through online colleges and attain their much coveted degrees without the need to be physically present in the classroom. One of the leading online graduate school for working adults is Capella University. Their latest ‘Inside Online Education’ podcast just proves how effective Capella is and how their state-approved specialization in reading and literacy emerges their graduates on top.

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