Hagupit ng Habagat

Hagupit ng Habagat roughly means the violent whip or attack of the Southwest monsoon.

It was even worst than typhoons Jolina (July 2009) and Ondoy (Sept. 2009). We were flooded for 3 to 4 days, almost waist high.

Here are pictures of the flooding inside the house.

My mother, wet look

In the living room,

My mother's floating water bed

Water nearly reached my window

These are pictures taken on Monday evening. The water reached the table Tuesday dawn, higher than what's seen here.

I need to leave this place. Not safe anymore.

Free Consultation with a Chiropactor

Get relief from body and muscle aches brought about by bad posture and other factors. Get a free consultation from a US educated and certified chiropractor.

The consultation/evaluation is worth P2,500 but he is giving it for free.  This is only available till June 30.

For more information, visit the Alcantara Chiropractic Philippines Facebook fan page.

Sitting is Killing You

Sitting is killing me ever so slowly but surely....

As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, there is one thing nearly all modern Americans have in common: we sit all the time. Though our great shift towards computer-based work has done great things for productivity, it has, unfortunately, done terrible things for our health. From increased risk of heart disease and obesity in the long term, to sharply hampered cholesterol maintenance in the short term, the negative health effects of sitting are starting to weigh heavily against the benefits. Even the medical field – the greatest advocates of reducing sitting time – is plagued by this new health issue. Though doctors and nurses get plenty of walking time, it usually falls to the secretaries, billers, and coders to do all the sitting. And, as we can see, something has to change.

Via: Medical Billing And Coding

5 Reasons to have Sex

a Care2 favorite by Veronica Peterson


1. Sex boosts your immune system.
2. Sex burns calories.
3. Sex relieves pain.
4. Sex decreases aging.
5. Sex is great for depression.

The best kind of sex is the one you do with someone you love. There are more benefits to doing this with a loved one that doing it with a stranger or doing it alone. You know what I mean.

I SUPPORT THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL

Please sign the Declaration of Support for the Immediate Passage of the Reproductive Health Bill 5043 into Law.

Be a part of the Facebook group that supports the Reproductive Health Bill 5043.

Customer Service Everywhere

I went to Manila Central University (MCU) hospital last night because my blood pressure would not normalize and I was not able to get enough sleep the whole day.

I arrived at MCU siguro mga 11 PM na but was attended by the ER doctor around 12:30. He was not a gentle and personable doctor. Another doctor took his place, this doctor was a little gentler but was a bit on the condescending side when she spoke to me. She mentioned about giving me an ECG but because of the commotion inside the ER (may isang patient na talagang serious, his family thought he was dead), nakalimutan na ako ng mga doctors. I was given medication then that was it. No one remembered to take my blood pressure after taking the med.

Syempre nairita ako, I stood up asked the first doctor, "What am I waiting for?" Mukhang wala sya sa sarili nya, he just said "Huh?" Sinalo ng katabi nyang doctor and asked what the problem is. She checked on my chart then told me she will get my BP then decide what will happen next. Mabuti na lang maamo ang mukha nya and she was pleasant. Iba talaga ang nagagawa ng pag ngiti ng isang tao sa overall aura nya. She was not all smiles or grinning from ear to ear, in fact she was not smiling all the time but her eyes were smiling. She was pleasant to talk to, her manner was soothing and she was not condescending at all. Imbes na mairita pa akong lalo, I was glad she was the one who discharged me. I was pleased with her attitude and demeanor.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, I would give her 9. I would give her 10 but then I am not exactly satisfied with the hospital services and utilities, she had to give me information I did not like exactly and her hair was a bit messy but she was still good. Her name is Dr. Javier of the ER. If anyone of you happen to drop by the ER of MCU, silipin nyo si Dr. Javier, one of the student doctors there. She is pretty, slim, long hair and puppy dog eyes. Hehehe.

Kanina I had to go to Mercury Drug to get my med. I went to the branch that was close to MCU, kahilera ng Yellow Cab. Yung clerk na natapatan ko was talking to a customer. He had an Ilonggo accent and kept addressing the customer as nanay or ma'am. I was suprised he did not take my "order" right after taking the nanay's order. Mukhang baguhan sya. Nakakatuwa sya kasi inspite of his slight nervousness he tried his best to be good at what he was doing and probably was following their company's customer facing procedure. Nung ako na kaharap niya, he would check first if the medicine that I asked was available. Kung available, he would proceed to ask me what else I need. Tapos for mefenamic acid, he asked me for a prescription. I said I was never asked for a prescription for mefenamic acid before then he said next time I should have one. He was not stern or condescending, he was nice and pleasant too. Yun lang I feel that he's still wet behind the ears and he did not know which medication were available or not or how they are spelled. Hehehe.

When I gave him my money, he said "I received P100." Parang Jollibee diba? Pati na nung binigay nya change ko, he said "Your change is ..." Aliw ako. Hehehe.

Right before I left the store, I checked if I had my prescription with me. I asked the prescription from him and he immediately looked for it. He returned it to me and was apologetic. I smiled and said it's ok. I was amused.

I would give Boyet, the Mecury clerk, 8. Apparently, he still need to get into the flow of things. His wants to give personalized service but this slows him down and some customers do not appreciate this. I like his style. He tried to cover all his bases and he was sincerely apologetic with his minor kapalpakan. I do not get to see his kind of customer servicing style from the other Mercury Drug clerks all over the Philippines. Not that I'm saying these clerks are bad, I think the clerks are ok naman, well some are ok and not all. It is kinda refreshing to see smiling and sincere clerks once in a while. Boyet is one of them. This is just my opinion.

Bad sleeping 'doubles heart risk'

I saw this news bit on BBC News. I says there that people who have too much or too little or disrupted sleep are linked a to doubled risk of a fatal cardiovascular disease.

Hmmm... No wonder my health has gotten worse lately.

The news article said:

Researcher Professor Francesco Cappuccio said: "Fewer hours sleep and greater levels of sleep disturbance have become widespread in industrialised societies.

"This change, largely the result of sleep curtailment to create more time for leisure and shift-work, has meant that reports of fatigue, tiredness and excessive daytime sleepiness are more common than a few decades ago.

"Sleep represents the daily process of physiological restitution and recovery, and lack of sleep has far-reaching effects."

Curiously, the researchers also found that those individuals who increased their sleep to eight hours or more a night were more than twice as likely to die during the period of the study as those who had not changed their habit.

Professor Cappuccio said lack of sleep had been linked to an increased risk of weight gain, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

However, he said the link between too much sleep and poor health was less clear, although he suggested that staying in bed for prolonged periods could be a sign of depression, or, in some cases, cancer-related fatigue.

"Our findings indicate that consistently sleeping around seven hours per night is optimal for health and a sustained reduction may predispose to ill-health."

This news article is interesting to me because of what I have gone through lately and still going through somehow. I knew that my blood pressure problem is related to my sleep problem. I also had a feeling that my weight gain is due to stress, which is also affecting my sleep.

People in the call center industry should be strongly aware of this. There are certain centers that change schedules as often as every week. They should re-consider fixing schedules. These centers will someday be in serious trouble if they don't.

ARGH!

I am so stressed and confused that I have nodules in/around my neck that would not go away! I have had this sore throat that bothers me on and off.

Ayaw ko na mag call center. I would rather be a janitress and clean an entire building right now. It's not that working for a call center is bad or not good enough for me, it's just that I would rather do manual labor right now and not use my brain anymore, or what's left of it. Hehehe.

Haayyy...

It's Over

A few days ago, I really felt so stressed that I finally quit my job.

Nanghihinayang ako.

I would have stayed on if the account hadn't been pulled out from the company. I would have stayed on if I was prepared to tackle software/email issues. I would have stayed on if I didn't need to take care of my health. I would have stayed on if I didn't have to need to fix my papers so I could "leave" ASAP.

Nanghihinayang ako.

Sayang ang 5 months ko sa company. Sayang yung pagiwan ko sa mga kasamahan ko sa trabaho, napaka babait nila. Sayang ang relations ko with the manangers (team and operations), mabait din sila, lahat sila. We were given some leeway on the floor due to the nature of our work. We were allowed to have a snack while working because we could not take our breaks on time when were have a lot of emails to work on. We were allowed to work on our own, they did not monitor us all the time. They trusted us, they knew we were responsible enough to do our work without supervision and we did just that.

I was touched by 2 people's gestures when I finally decided to quit. They talked to me and tried to talk me out of quitting. I didn't think they would even bother to talk to me but they did. Unfortunately, some things were out of their hands, they could not change some of the rules/policies to accomodate me. Ok lang, I am happy knowing my presence meant something to them.

I got an email from my former big boss. I was touched by his words. He is cool. He is just misunderstood at times.

Ssayang talaga... I feel like Claire Dela Fuente singing that song... Next song would be Diana Ross's Do you know where you're going to...

Haaayyy....

Update

Salamat sa pag dalaw kuya Pepe, Mec, Char, Buge.

Ok naman test results ko. I'm still under observation, something to do with my heart.

Masamang damo matagal mamatay. Hehehe.

Medical Tests

I had a couple of medical tests done. I flunked. Hehehe.

My ECG didn't look normal. Arrhythmia. I'll know Wednesday.

I'll get my lipid profile, FBS, churkiess, etc tomorrow.

Good luck to me. Whew!

Right Place

I find this video interesting because I come from a "line" of OCs. I have relatives who are neat freaks, they come from the Lising side. I'm their exact opposite, SB.

Wikipedia defines obssesive-compulsive disorder as "is a psychiatric disorder most commonly characterized by a subject's obsessive, distressing, intrusive thoughts and related compulsions (tasks or "rituals") which attempt to neutralize the obsessions. Thus it is an anxiety disorder.



Right Place
Uploaded by firat


This Japanese short film titled Right Place is quite interesting. It shows obsessive-compulsive behaviour in a funny, slightly surreal light.
The TV series Monk is a about a detective who had OCD.
Monica of the series Friends had OCD.
In the movie Mommie Dearest, Joan Crawford was depicted to have some OCD behavior. There was a movie on Howard Hughes that showed he was OCD.