linky love tag

Rules:

Cut and paste the following starting here. I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog. You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!)It’s real easy! Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially! The benefits of Viral Linking:- One of the fastest ways to see your technorati authority explode!- Increase your Google PageRank fast- Attract large volume of new traffic to your site- Build your community- Make new friends!

The Strategist Notebook, Link Addiction, Ardour of the Heart, When Life Becomes a Book, The Malaysian Life, Yogatta.com, What goes under the sun,Roshidan’s Cyber Station, Sasha says, Arts of Physics, And the legend lives, My View, My Life, A Simple Life, Juliana RW, The Callalily Space, Petra Summer in Blue, Confessions of an Army Wife Bless’ Sanctuary Happy Life, Living @ Evergreen State, La Place de Cherie, Chez Francine, Le bric a brac de Cherie, Little Peanut, Pea in a Pod, The Creative In Me, Me and Mine, Pinay Mommy, Expressions from the Heart, TeacherJulie, Sweetbites by Bang, Paul, Toni and Lance – Bridging the Distance, Our Growing Family, The Uncensored life of me, My Untamed World, Something Purple, A Detour, Something Purple, Wifespeaks, Changing Lanes,Bits and Pieces , "http://gwenmarisalvilla.com/2008/03/07/gwen-en-marisalvilla102905.blogspot.com">Life Together Starts , A Housewife’s Journal, jenn’s corner, crazy mama

I’d prefer not to tag anyone, if you want it then go! :)

an overheating problem

One of our car’s usual problem is overheating. The cause of the problem is usually the radiator or the fan attached to it. I remember a relative who had the same problems before. His car kept on overheating despite numerous attempts to have the radiator fixed. It was finally solved when he decided to just buy a new Honda Radiator. Since then, his car hasn’t overheated yet. Ramil and I are thinking of doing the same thing. Maybe it would save us more in the end if we just replace our car’s old radiator with a new one. We couldn’t afford to have a constantly overheating car now that Mateo often rides it too. Though we are actually wishing for a new car instead. Hehe!


What Your Handwriting Says About You


You are a fairly energetic person. You know how do pace yourself, and you deal well with stress.

You are very extroverted and outgoing. You are loving, friendly, and supportive. However, you are also manipulative and controlling at times.

You are extravagant, over the top, and indulgent. You set trends and influence people.

You need a lot of space in your life, and it’s easy for you to feel stifled. You avoid commitment and responsibility whenever you can.

You are somewhat traditional, but you are also open to change. You listen to your head and your heart.

You are a decent communicator. You eventually get your point across, but sometimes you leave things a bit ambiguous.

Boracay trip (part 2)

Unfortunately, it took me more than a week to write the follow-up to our Boracay trip last March 2 to 4. If you haven’t read part 1, you may read it here.

Allow me to backtrack a little because I saw a picture amidst our Boracay pictures that I really liked. Upon arriving at the Kalibo airport, we arranged for a van to take us to the Caticlan jetty port. While my sister was having a bathroom break, we saw an ati-atihan character with holes for its head. We couldn’t resist taking a picture. And of course, who else would be our model but the one who couldn’t make any protest, LOL.

the cutest ati-atihan character

the cutest ati-atihan character

Ok, so back to my story… Upon arriving at the White House Beach Resort in Station 1, we unloaded our stuff inside the bedroom. Since the sun was blazing outside, my sister and brother decided to take a nap first. Mateo likewise decided to continue his nap that was interrupted several times. Since we have a kitchen, my mama proceeded to borrow a lot of things from the staff – cooking pots and pans, plates, utensils, glasses, even a knife. The staff obliged at no extra cost. The service was excellent all throughout our stay – from the receptionist, to the pool bar’s bartenders, to the young ladies who would clean our room everyday.

After requesting for all those things, my mom dragged me to the talipapa to buy food for us. She planned to cook the meals since we have our own kitchen. We bought a lot and I have sore hands by the time we were finished buying. Upon getting back to the resort, she proceeded to prepare our dinner. We found my dad already swimming with my sister trying to contain Mateo because he’s been struggling to get himself inside the pool too! When Mateo was handed over to me, he was a wet, sandy baby. I hurriedly changed him into his swimsuit so he can have his fun in the water.

As expected, Mateo got scared of the waves. I knew we were going to have this problem based on how he reacted during our boat ride. Also, he refused to walk on the sand. Haha! Nevertheless, we got him in the water. I carried him while swimming near the beach and he was okay for as long as he’s being carried. He also got excited when we  pointed out some fishes swimming with us.

After the brief swim in the sea, we decided to let him try the pool instead where we know he’ll enjoy more. We were right. Just like his dada and mama, he prefers swimming in the calmer waters of the pool.

Ramil and Mateo swimming in the pool

Ramil and Mateo enjoying the pool

pool

In the picture above, Ramil and Mateo are in the pool while my brother watches them. The veranda behind my brother is the veranda of the room we got. Beyond those sliding doors is the dining and living area. It was like having our very own house in Boracay! We even have a view of the beach from inside if the curtains are drawn back. Aside from the great beach, I fell in love with the resort. Plus the resort had only a few guests during our stay because we stayed from Sunday to Tuesday, not the usual days for vacationers(?) like us.

After our swim, we all took baths and had dinner. We enjoyed our dinner especially prepared by my mom and me. After dinner, Ramil, my sister, and I (with Mateo of course) planned on walking by the beach to explore. While waiting by the cabanas by the beach, some manangs approached us and asked if we’d like a massage. Ramil and I asked my sister to watch over Mateo and then we had an hour-long massage by the beach. Sarap.

After the massage we walked all the way to Jonah’s to try their famous shakes. First sip and we were converts. I love shakes but I fell in love with Jonah’s more. We also ordered a big plate of fries for our little companion which he enjoyed very much. With full stomachs, we then walked backed and decided to call it a night.

To be continued…

on product recalls

Just recently, there was a big recall of baby/children toys which were found to have high lead content. Being a mother, I was naturally alarmed. Even if these toys were recalled, they were already used by babies and children. It means they have already been exposed to the lead content of these toys. I could only pray that no baby or child has been seriously affected by any of the toys so far.

Toys are not the only ones who are subject to product recalls. Just recently, I read about a recall on Medtronic defibrillation leads because of an increased risk of fracture. Patients who might have one of these defibrillator leads should be concerned. First step would be to get in touch with your doctor and then explore your legal options. Instead of dealing with a Medtronic Lawyer directly, it would be wiser to get the legal services of the likes of Mark & Associates, PC. It is a leading personal injury and products liability law firm. They would surely be a big help.

Manila Water: passing the cost of investment to consumers?

The subdivision where we live in has excellent water supply. It is actually one of the things that Ramil and I immediately liked while scouting for a house we can rent. Considering that water in the hills of Antipolo is a common problem, our 24-hour water supply with pressure strong enough to reach up to the third floor of a house, is such a luxury.

A few months ago though, Manila Water started laying pipes along the Ortigas Avenue extension. Some people in the Antipolo area were optimistic because it means the potential for stronger and consistent water supply. Since we have nothing but good words about our current water supply, we were indifferent towards it.

Just this morning though, I attended the subdivision’s homeowners association meeting regarding the project proposal of Manila Water. According to the guy handling the project, there’s an order from National Water Resources Board (NWRB) to stop the operation of deep wells that’s why they are proposing that we get our water from them. However, they would have to do a lot of pipe-laying inside the subdivision and the whole project would cost 4.4 million PhP. There are currently 259 households inside the subdivision out of a total of 600 lots. The 4.4 million will be divided among the 259 households which means each would have to pay a one-time fee of around 17,000 PhP for the pipe-laying. Excuse me? Will they not be earning from putting their pipes inside our subdivision? Will they not have 259 additional consumers? Haven’t they heard of risks of investment?

Everyone was indignant of course. Sun Cable paid around 25,000 PhP to the homeowners association so that they will be allowed to install lines inside the subdivision. GlobeLines paid around the same amount to do the same. But here comes Manila Water telling us to buy water from them and yet we have to shoulder the cost of providing it. Huh? I would wholeheartedly agree if they can prove to me that they have absolutely 0% profit from selling us water. Correct me if I’m wrong but if you’d like to start your own restaurant, you don’t directly pass the expense of constructing and building the restaurant to your future customers. That’s why there’s such a thing as return of investment. What businesses do is to factor in that amount to the cost of the product based on when they plan to get their money back and of course, what’s reasonable to charge to customers. If it’s a very expensive initial investment then it is possible that it would take a lot of years before you get your money back. For a big water company like Manila Water, I’m sure 4.4 million can be easily earned especially since the water they are actually getting from Angat Dam is not that expensive. In other words, they don’t want to wait for several years to start earning money. By passing on the expense of pipe-laying to the consumers, they want to start earning money soon and fast! Considering that they actually have a monopoly of providing water to Metro Manila’s east zone, I’m assuming that they actually earn millions if not billions of pesos.

During the meeting, one of the homeowners asked whether we actually have a choice. The issue of the closure order of deep wells was again brought up. The guy was not very clear on the details of such order but upon arriving home, I searched the internet and I haven’t found anything about it. Based on the meeting, everyone was willing to continue with our current water supply until such time that it would really be closed down. There’s nothing wrong with what we have now anyway.

Now, if the guy we talked to earlier was a salesperson, he can forget about making any sale from us.

happy 8th!

It’s our 8th year anniversary as bf-gf! My darling husband forgot about it this morning though and we only got to greet each other at around 2:30 pm, when I arrived in school. Since we’ve gotten over the mushy, lovey-dovey kind of celebrations, I was still happy we had some kind of celebration. And what a better way to celebrate it than to do something that we always do when we were just boyfriend-girlfriend, walking around the mall with arms around each other or holding hands with each other.

We went to the nearby mall, ate at Pizza Hut (our fave eating place as bf-gf), and bought ourselves this:

dulce de leche

No extravagant celebrations for us but it was perfect for us. We had some much-needed couple time and we got to reminisce on our carefree days. Haha! Our small mall trip took only around two hours but at the end of it, we were eager to come home to our little boy. It was sweet seeing his smiling face when we got home and everything that happened in the past eight years glared back at me. It’s definitely the most wonderful eight years of my life and I will never regret saying ‘yes’ to Ramil on March 7, 2000.

our Bora trip (part 1)

We’re back! We stayed in Boracay for three days and two nights only. How we wish it was longer. The whole vacation was really cheap for us since we have sponsors but any amount is still painful for an empty pocket. Haha! Nevertheless, despite the travel and our much emptier wallets, it was worth it.

My dad and mom fetched us from our house in Antipolo as early as Saturday afternoon. Instead of us driving over to Novaliches on early Sunday morning, I requested that they come get us. Ramil and I wanted to save on gas and we didn’t want to put too much stress on our beloved red car by traveling that far. Before heading back to my parents’ house in Novaliches, we met up with my sister in Trinoma where Mateo got his very first pair of Crocs (a gift from my sister). We walked around, and got home at around 7 pm. Since we all wanted to have enough sleep before our early flight, we all went to our respective rooms at around 9 pm. Everyone except Mateo. He’s so excited not being in his house that all he wanted to do was to explore and play with everyone. Good thing he got tired out after a few minutes.

trinoma

Mateo loved the fountains. He kept saying ‘teh teh’ (for water).

happy in trinoma

Mateo loves malls now

The next day, my parents plan to leave as early as 6 am for our 9:25 am flight. They plan to leave the Revo in ParkNFly and we wanted to check-in early so that we can still have the first row in the plane. I wanted as much space as I can get because we don’t know how Mateo will be inside the aircraft. We reached the NAIA Terminal 2 at around 8 am and we were able to get the first two rows. We passed time walking around the airport and eating some snacks. Mateo was a happy baby, excitedly walking around and almost bumping into people. He’s in that stage when any wide open spaces makes him excited to run around.

airport walk

walking like he knows where he’s going

 

Since we have an infant, Mateo and I were allowed to board ahead of everyone else. It was a good thing because he had time to get used to the airplane before it got full of strangers.

inside the plane

exploring the insides of the plane

 

Unfortunately, he got cranky while the plane was getting ready for take-off. He was getting noisy and my solution was to give him my breast. Before the plane even took off, he was sound asleep. He was asleep during the whole 1-hour plane ride and woke up only when I stood up to get off the plane.

 

sleeping in the plane

sound asleep

 

Of course, since it was Mateo’s first plane ride we didn’t forget to take pictures after getting off the plane.

 

in Kalibo

me and a still sleepy Mateo

 

While waiting for our bags, I made arrangements with one of the vans going to Caticlan. It was an uneventful 1 1/2 hours van ride for us. Since Mateo was still sleepy, he resumed sleeping a few minutes into the ride. We reached the Caticlan Jetty Port at around 12:30 in the afternoon. We all decided to eat there first before heading for Boracay island.

 

If the plane and van ride were relatively uneventful because Mateo slept most of the time, the boat ride was a different matter. Upon settling ourselves near the window, he excitedly looked out and enjoyed the seawater splashing on the sides of the boat. However, once the boat started its engine and the splashing became stronger because of the boat’s movement, his hold around me got tighter and his eyes got bigger. My baby had his first scare of the trip. He was nervous the whole time, he’d try to go to Ramil, or my mom, or my sister. He was desperate to go anywhere because he was scared. We tried to console him by distracting him with songs. He’d clap along with us despite the nervous look on his face. Good thing the boat ride was a mere 15-minute ride.

 

Upon reaching Cagban Port, we took a tricycle that would bring us to White House resort. Although we still had to wait a few minutes while the room was being readied, we didn’t mind because we were upgraded to the best room in the resort. Instead of our original booking of the resort’s 2nd floor family room, we stayed at the ground floor. The ground floor was perfect for us, it has a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, and a very spacious bedroom. It was right beside the pool and you could see the beach even from the kitchen. Really perfect.

 

To be continued…

all the way from Bora

bora

Yup, we’re in Bora and I’m blogging. LOL. We arrived yesterday afternoon and Ramil and I brought one of our laptops in the hopes of grabbing some opps while having fun here. We were not disappointed, hehe! Most of the resorts here offer wifi internet on the beach. Of course, we did some swimming and lounging around the beach too ;) More photos and kwento when I get another chance to post :D