Ruby Tuesday: Jollibee!
Mcdonald’s archrival.
The Battle With Roseola.
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. 
Lovin’ Google Reader.
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.
Filed under Blogging Life. | Comment (0)House Hunt Updates.
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.
Filed under Home | Comment (0)Where We Were on Father’s Day.
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.
Filed under Celebration | Comment (1)