blood work

i had some blood work done a couple of weeks ago and i just got the results today.

its mostly within normal levels except for my cholesterol - 232 (max range is 200), triglycerides - 185 (max range is 150) and ldl - 161 (max range is 150). my hdl is low - 34 (min range is 40).

i really should bike regularly now. i've started already every sunday mornings for two sundays now and i'm not pushing it yet because i feel like i'm restarting. later on i'll probably do more frequent rides.

i'm not really worried because i don't really eat fatty foods that often although i should cut down on the sweety stuff.

ugh.

riding and rain

in my case, those two doesn't mix well. i have a steel bike and its been raining. there's two "tropical cyclones" — if you will, that's flanking the country. screenshot came from pagasa.


i want to ride for a bit but can't.

so what do i do? work is always a good aternative. and then play around with what i can change with kikay (my bike).

the most immediate would be changing the brakes. my current ones have been loose mostly because of use and age. the brake set is as old as the frame so i'm looking at last year's ultegra as a replacement.

the other stuff that i thought of was upgrading the drivetrain from seven to 10 speed. yeah. late in the game and all. but the plan is to still use downtube shifters but in the 10-speed incarnation and just change the rear hub and derailleurs to 10-speed. this way, i bypass the weight penalties of sti.

or i could just replace the chain.

another is plan is to convert the thing to a fixie. but that's for another post. besides, i can't find any parts here in the pinas.

sunsets

this is along roxas boulevard. we (robin, cherry and i) were walking and robin was on his bike. pinoys like sunsets.

full day

i've had a full day today.

kiara sunning after a bath

i biked around the neighborhood trying to get familiar with the surroundings. i encountered the corner of oroquieta and tayuman -- street names i remember hearing from my mom. i cleaned and waxed kikay (the bike) after a late breakfast. the cleaning included making the spokes a little shinier. har har. i also cleaned cherry's mountain bike. now its all shiny fuzzy all over. i even tested it around the yard. man those tires grip like crazy. also cleaned the turtle's bowl -- the water was turning green already. had a late lunch. gave the kiara (the cat) a much needed bath. she didn't like it of course but i only got one claw mark out of the whole encounter. now she's all white. that's her on the photo sunning herself in the afternoon sun.

kicked a little soccer in ust with robin and then went to mass.

the day's not finished yet.

dining table

the dining table. leaning on the wall is cherry's mountain bike.

week long weekend

its starting to feel like the week is a long weekend. which is bad because it just started -- robin goes back to school tomorrow. and i have some work to finish. i feel so tamad (lazy).

i had a physical exam today. it seems like the blood pressure is slightly up. i have to get some more exercise. the results from the blood work will come in seven days so i'll know for sure if the ldls, hdls and sugars are good. or bad.


robin at rsun.

we're ok

we're ok. nothing happened to us. although cherry was in makati during the bombing. robin was in school and i was in fti just finishing up lunch when someone sent us a text message saying there was a bombing in glorietta. i called up cherry and apparently they didn't know about it yet.

i went to pick up cherry in makati and bring her home. traffic was understandably bad but everyone was patient and there were a lot of regular and traffic police in every corner in makati. i saw an ambulance speeding away at the corner of ayala and makati avenue headed towards makati med i suppose.

so, long story short, we're ok. we're not happy about the situation but we're ok.

sunday morning staple

it seems that anywhere i go tom jones' delilah is a staple on sunday mornings. anywhere.

so...

saturday rain

yesterday, we were suppose to go to the the baptism of max -- robin's cousin. the skies had other plans though. it rained hard in the morning and we got flooded in. the strange thing for me was that right after the rain it was all sunny and i could see blue clouds but it was already to late to go.

the trouble with this neighborhood is that when it rains hard for a few hours there will be flood. this problem had been there six years ago. its still there. it appears the the people in power doesn't even care. a pity really.

wrong grammar

while i was helping robin with his math assignment i encountered the following in a book:

It costed P 7.00 to develop each picture.

what the ... ?!?!?

"costed"?!?!?!

wrong grammar! "costed"?!?!

duh. i can probably let this pass if it was on the internet where words change in less than a second but this thing is in a published book. its printed on paper.

lousy editing.

okay. the sentence should read:

It cost P 7.00 to develop each picture.

that is the grammatically correct way. and i told robin that fact. the book is wrong.

the book i am referring to is:

discovering math for global learners (4)
published & distributed by rex book store
page 136

duck

its a sad morning. duck haven't been feeling well for the past few days. sayang. he was a good cat. my girlfriend liked him. he was just quiet, more "diciplined" than the other younger cat.

it was a surprise when we got him. he just popped out from nowhere. we fed him and he stayed.

prayers for rain

robin and i just finished our before-sleeping prayers.

he prayed for more rain. i asked why.

"... so that i don't have school tomorrow. goodnight"


har har

tipsy and blogging

there is something to be said about waking up from a nap to the sound of surf in the city. the problem is i am about 2 kilometers away from manila bay. floods can be good or bad depending on one's state of mind.

i don't like to wake up early tomorrow. but then again most people don't want to.

after "chedeng" there's "dodong" (names of tropical storms in the philippine area of responsibility). we prayed from rain. and someone said, "sure." we got plenty. but its all for the good, i think.

all this while cruel summer of bananarama is wafting in the background.

goodnight. and have a nice life.

new old house

it always surprises and amazes me how moving to another house can alter the day to day rhythm of life. we recently moved to another house although i did live here several years ago when i was lonely and single. but this time around i have a family.

these days, i wake up a bit earlier than usual but i still try to sleep by 10:30. there is more to do because we don't have any help. there's more to clean. ugh. there's lesser plants around but we have started greening up the place -- a couple of young palm trees; several white angel plants - potted by us and placed along the window lines; a handful of celias (hanging plants) in the windows; a garlic vine; a red leafy, grassy 'thing' -- well, its growing like crazy; along the stairs there's a trio of potted san franciscos with strange colors, certainly not the usual colors; a dama de noche in a really large pot and i just planted a handful of climbing ivy along the base of the walls behind the house.

its a bit tough on the finances and more hard work than usual but all in all, we are, i am, happy.

pictures later.

netless part 2

i'll be netless (without direct access to the internet for the nits) for the next few days.

we're moving house and i just applied for a new tel/dsl line.

let's see if bayantel can install it within the week — they did say "in 3 to 5 days".

i hope the next entry will be posted from the new old house.

march 2007 updates

aye, i've been remiss. march was too busy for me. this is a record, of sorts, so i can keep track of what's left of my sanity.

the 12th to the 14th should have been robin's finals but he was a participant in a school play so he was excused so he can attend rehersals the whole week with the show on the 16th. the thing was the schedule for fetching him was a bit topsy turvy.

the finals for the particpants was reset to the 19th to 21st and then there's more activities on the 22nd and 23rd. the 23rd was particularly weird because he received certificates on stage for participating in the school play and for him being enthusiastic about learning basketball. and robin and i didn't know about it until we got to school. we had to go back and get dressed properly — robin was in his pe uniform and i was in shorts! ugh.

the 24th is his birthday and we spent in the mall with his friends and cousins — all in all, cherry and i were taking care of eight kids. its not exactly what i want to do but it turned out really fun! and most importantly, robin enjoyed it!

on the 25th, we had to meet with my parents, my brother and his wife in makati. its a celebration of sorts because on the 28th was my dad's 70th. 70 years on earth. wow!

i can't remember much of what happened for the rest of march though... see? leaking sanity.

been riding

i know. no new stuff again.

well, there is. actually.

i've been out. riding. on my bicycle. meeting new people. having coffeee with friends. its been great so far. i'll write the stories down in a bit. its holy week and the summer vacation is here so i should have more time to write.

50% off on utilities ?

i just read this tidbit from the 24 february 2007 edition of the philippine star:

senior citizens also enjoy ... 50 percent discount on bills and utilities such as water, electricity and telephone, and other services.

is this friggin' true? i know several families will benefit greatly from this. i will have to make calls next week.

50% off on utilities is a large amount of money.

baby ruth

my bro just mailed me that our dog — baby ruth — just died. she was around 9 years old which is really up there in dog years. the last time i saw her she looked really tired already.

she's half (or was it a fourth) japanese spitz and local dog; furry crazy; could jump/climb over a five-foot fence; barks loud; playful and malambing.

i'll try to find pictures and post them somewhere.

makes me sad.

privacy

yesterday while robin and i were heading home from school, we were called by a couple of his classmates — lawrence and janet — to hitch with them. after a few seconds of goading, we agreed. it was a short trip since we only live a few minutes from school.

this morning robin said, "dad, don't pick me up today okay?".

i gave my fatherly perplexed look and robin said, "i want to ride home with lawrence and janet today."

me, not really sure if he made arrangements already, said, "okay, you can hitch a ride with la (lawrence) but i will have to be there."

and robin indignantly said, "dad, i want my privacy."

and he's just eight.