Scooter Man

When we were having our house built, I didn't expect our family hall would be used for a cornucopia of activities. These activities would include tv-watching, working on the computer, ironing (while tv-watching), etc.


So its logical that Renz would be here often even to play. He discovered that with a broken (no back) computer stool, he could glide across the hall by simply pushing with his feet. He said he could scoot up and down the hall with his "scooter" - and proudly proclaimed himself as the "Scooter Man". =)

DH would have nothing of it, however, especially when Renz goes dangerously close to the top of the stairs. Is she overreacting? Maybe, but I find it funny when Renz simply ignores here and continues to scoot around much to her horror and dismay.

Here's a scene:
(me laughing while Renz continues to scoot and DH looking at him with a frown)
Renz: (wondering) Papa, bakit po kayo tawa nang tawa.
Me: Eh paano, tuwang tuwa kang nakikita mong galit si mama mo!
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First Rainy Season Swim at Metro

It's been a while since I last swam. It think it was at Renz and Sandra's Swim Graduation. Anyway, Violet and I decided to go swim first before going to our July 9 Toastmasters Meeting.

Imagine my surprise when a group of 13 folks "paid" for my entrance fee to the pool! See, when I got there, there was this group of teenagers looking bored and sitting idly outside of the pool premises. Apparently their guardian's becoming frustrated thinking that the pool was closed since there were no attendants. I sort of reassured her and so I went to the pool's ticket booth but it was closed.

I went around asking for confirmation and directions because I called up earlier in the week and was told the pool was open. The lady guardian of the group just followed me around. After some walking around and asking questions, I was told to pay at the ticket booth of the cinema. The lady was relieved to find the pool was indeed open. I was about to pay my Php100 entrance fee when she offered me a free entrance ticket!

I asked where the ticket came from and one teenager volunteered that it's part of prize they received for winning a dance contest in an event last July 4! They had extra tickets and gave one to me. Wow, talk about me getting lucky, huh?

The swim went very well. Violet came pretty late but still managed to give me some interesting feedback, the main one being my almost absent kick. Anyway, I didn't feel any discomfort this time with either of my shoulders. Maybe my shoulder strengthening exercises at home and the long layoff from swimming worked.

Violet was a bit surprised that I've had rehab therapy for both shoulders already. I had six sessions for my left shoulder in 2007 and twelve sessions for my right shoulder in 2008. I also had a back rehab therapy way back in 2004 which basically inspired my swimming and this blog.

Anyway, for this swim, I continued to practice bilateral breathing and:

1. Learned that when breathing on the left, I need to turn the head to inhale AHEAD of recovering the left arm. This I noticed with my right breathing.
2. Needed to relax further when pushing off from walls.
3. Reminded myself to exhale consciously from the nose and not too much from the mouth.
4. Completely forgot to do the 2-beat crossover kick that I did in the past.
5. Forgot to dolphin kick after pushing from wall.

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Toastmasters Slideshow

For a couple of days, I was busy creating a slideshow that was presented at our Toastmasters Club's 5th Anniversary celebration. I thought it'll be a breeze until I discovered that the MovieMaker software I had had some audio filter issues. At playback, audio would be sometimes on or off. Eventually, I found a workaround, but it was tedious to do.

It was also a challenge to capture the pics that will extract the 5-year history of the club. For one, there was sparse photographs available before I came into the club. I suppose nobody bothers to take pictures back then (before 2007). Of course being the "resident photographer" of the club now, there's so many photos to work on. And I had some difficulty choosing the right photos from the big collection that will fit in a three and half minutes of the music. The selected song was "I'm Alive" by Celine Dion from the soundtrack of the movie "Stuart Little 2".

Anyway, here's the end product of it all. Everybody at the club loved it! So turn your speakers on and enjoy.



For more info on our Toastmasters club, catch our blog at http://theactclub.blogspot.com.
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Revisiting My Other Blogs Amidst Feria

There wasn't much that can be done with the intermittent rains of Typhoon Feria. It was too wet outside to do gardening or other chores. And so I decided to revisit the old blogs that I've started last year.

These are the blogs that I started but somehow got pushed to the back burner for quite a while due to other life's priorities. But with a bit more free time nowadays, I'll be writing more entries. Thus far, I've spent time enhancing the blog's theme, reorganizing the entries and updating some. I may be busy continuing this for the next few days. If you've got time, do visit them and you might pick up a pointer or two. The Lucky Cat beckons you to come on over and click on the links below!

Here they are:

Rentalbiz - Tips for landlords (rental property managers) or those who hope to become one.

Secrets On The Grill - Tips on grilling, general cooking and on using the Superkalan (the award-winning Pinoy multi-fuel outdoor stove)

Practical Gardening - Practical (as opposed to theoretical) tips on home gardening.

The Alabang Community Toastmasters Club - Journal for my Toastmasters Club
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School Suspension due to Feria

For two days, Karen, Sandra and Renz have been cooped up inside the house due to Typhoon Feria. The first day (Wednesday) announcement by PAGASA was a surprise. Storm signal #2 was declared late in the previous night and Karen caught it on TV. So DH knew about the suspension of classes already and didn't wake up Sandra and Karen the following morning. There was no need to wake up Che coz it was her day off from college.

When Renz woke up, he was a little curious why all sisters where still asleep when he would normally wake up alone on a weekday. When the sisters were up a little later, they played a joke on Renz saying he better get ready for school. Of corz, he wasn't just buying that as yet and kept asking why everyone was around. Since nobody would tell, he approached me and asked what day it was, probably thinking it was a weekend with everyone around. He's much too young to be sure what day it was. Besides he might have felt disoriented having just awakened. I told him about the suspension and that's how he finally knew.

Later in the evening, I reminded them to stay tuned to the evening news coz the following day might be another suspension. Just the thought that classes MAY be suspended the following day, Thursday, buoyed up Renz' spirits again and kept him in an upbeat mood the WHOLE day. He would sing, dance and play, hopeful for some good news in the evening news. And good news, albeit late, he got! Click here to read more!

Happy Father's Day 2009

Here's a poignant short video clip that I saw and shared in Facebook.



I remember the day I spent with Renz a couple of days ago.
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Karen's Birthday 2009

It's also been a year today since Snoopy died. And Karen remembered it. How time flies. This is Karen's first birthday at the new house.

Karen had the choice for the cake (coz she bought it herself!) and got Rocky Road from Red Ribbon. What else did we have?


Lesee, from the above photo, there's Inihaw na Isaw ng Baboy, Inihaw ng Bitukang Manok, Inihaw ng Tenga ng Baboy (streetfood galore!). The sweet and spicy sarsa with vinegar was very good. We also had the usual Lechong Manok and Billones' Pancit Canton with tansan. :)
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