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Leap Year and February 29

Here are some interesting facts about the leap year:

People

Famous people born on February 29 include*:

• 1468 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
• 1792 – Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer (William Tell, The Barber of Seville) (d. 1868)
• 1896 – Morarji Desai, former Indian prime minister (d. 1995)
• 1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer (d. 1994)
• 1924 – Al Rosen, American baseball player
• 1924 – Carlos Humberto Romero, former president of El Salvador
• 1960 – Richard Ramirez, American serial killer
• 1960 – Anthony (Tony) Robbins, American motivational speaker
• 1964 – Lyndon Byers, Canadian hockey player
• 1972 – Antonio Sabàto Jr, Italian-born actor
• 1976 – Ja Rule, American rapper and actor
• 1980 – Chris Conley, American musician and songwriter/composer

Events

Events that took place on February 29 in history include*:

• 1692 – First accusations began during the Salem witch trials. The trials occurred in Massachusetts in the United States, where more than 150 people were arrested and at least 25 people died by hanging, torture or during their prison stay.
• 1848 – Neufchatel declares the independence of Switzerland.
• 1940 – Hattie McDaniel was the first African American actress to win an Oscar. She won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role as “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind. The movie won eight Oscars.
• 1944 – The invasion of the Admiralty Islands began as United States General Douglas MacArthur led his forces in "Operation Brewer". Troops surged onto Los Negros, following a month of Allied advances in the Pacific. This event was one of the highlights of World War II.
• 1952 – The first “Walk/Don't Walk” signs were installed in New York City.
• 1964 – Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser received her 36th world record. She was timed at 58.9 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle in Sydney, Australia. She was the first female swimmer to win gold medals in three consecutive Olympic Games (1956, 1960 and 1964).
• 1972 – The Carpenters received a gold record for the hit single Hurting Each Other. The Carpenters were a vocal and instrumental duo of siblings, Karen and Richard, who produced a softer style of music in an era when loud rock was in demand. They were one of the best-selling music artists in the 1970s.

I do not know any of the famous people though and I am only familiar with the Carpenters in the events.

Here are some myths and folklore for February 29:

Leap Year has been the traditional time that women can propose marriage. In many of today's cultures, it is okay for a woman to propose marriage to a man. Society doesn't look down on such women. However, that hasn't always been the case. When the rules of courtship were stricter, women were only allowed to pop the question on one day every four years. That day was February 29th. It is believed this tradition was started in 5th century Ireland when St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick about women having to wait for so long for a man to propose. According to legend, St. Patrick said the yearning females could propose on this one day in February during the leap year.

CALLING ALL SINGLE LADIES, THIS IS YOUR YEAR TO PROPOSE!

There is a Greek superstition that claims couples have bad luck if they marry during a leap year. Apparently one in five engaged couples in Greece will avoid planning their wedding during a leap year.

Avent Feeding Bottles

My first purchase for my baby was bought with my internet money from blogging. Isn't it nice? Some site accepts paypal money but they do not deliver at a non-US address like Drugstore.com, I can't edit the account so I tried to look for another site and found www.allaboardtoys.com.

On the day that I purchased this online, another internet money came through my paypal account and it was too late because I should have used all my money to avail of the free shipping.

All in all, I earned a total of $70.00 in blogging since I started in October. I've been looking for other opportunities but it seems that there are limited opportunities and I am quite busy these days.

Birthday Gift from Kiyo

Got a late birthday gift from one of my online student in Japan, Kiyo. He usually buys his things online and just maybe this is his first time to shop at a regular store. Sanrio pa, funny isn't it?
He gave me a calendar book, a cellphone chain and an ecological bag which is very popular in Japan. In Japan they will charge you for every plastic bag that you purchase so you better use an ecological bag, similar to the green bag at Hypermart and at Rustan's. They discourage the use of plastic bags because it is harmful to the environment. I wonder when are we going to adapt these measures?

Ramiele Malubay on American Idol

• Age: 20
• Hometown: Miramar, FL
• Favorite Quote: "If you're hated, you're doing something right."
• Audition City: Miami
• Musical Influences: My musical influences would be Aretha Franklin, Jackson 5, Mariah Carey, Lani Misalocha, and Regine Velasquez.

Another Filipina makes it to the American Idol but I think she is not that good because she sounds like any other female singer ( Sarah, Rachel, Karylle, etc) here in the Philippines. I may be desensitized with all the songs I've been hearing from the radio. Especially when she sang "You Don't Have to Love Me", reminds me of Lani Misalucha without knowing that she really likes Lani.
I have to agree that she has an outstanding performance. Now I am wondering what will be the next song that she is going to sing? What voice range? Can she do pop? Is she a versatile singer or can she sing a Christina Aguilera song? How about fast song? She needs to practice and not confine herself with the songs she is familiar with.

APAS and Immunophenotyping Cost at PGH

I am an APAS (Anti-phospholipid Antibodies Syndrome) case and I thought of posting the charges and cost at PGH to have your blood tested if you are positive for APAS.

For those who are trying to get pregnant or having difficulty because of miscarriages do not lose hope, there is a way medyo expensive nga lang pero worth it naman. Everything for the baby, right?

Here are the names of the test and the costs:

1. APAS Anti-phospholipid Antibodies
autoimmune problem - treated with aspirin or low does Heparin. I am
positive for Activated Partial Thrombo time so I am taking aspirin. You need to take this test twice to see if the medicine works, if it doesn't work you may need to inject yourself with Heparin? (not sure)

(cost of test at PGH, 4,500)

This test includes:
Lupus Anticoagulants ( values /results)

1.Kaolin Clotting Time
2.Activated Partial Thrombo Time
3.Dilute Russel Viper Venum Time

Anti-Cardiolipin Antibody (ACA)
4.lgG
5.lgM

2. Reproductive Immunophenotyping
auto-immune and can
also detect leukemia, test for natural killer cells also has a role in
promoting cell growth in the placenta, so if ever you have this, there
will be a problem with the cell growth
(costs 4,500)

3. ANA (Anti-nuclear Anti-bodies) If you are positive
with this your placenta has a tendency to weaken and inflamed.
(cost 2,000)

4. ATA (Anti-thyroid Antibodies)
I'm also positive for this so I have to take prednisone, it has been studied that this can be a cause of infertility because it can cause a thickening of the endometrium based from my research not from my Immunologist.

(cost 1,500 - 2,000)

BZ Week

It's the middle of the week and I am already tired, I have a lot of pending write ups for my blog, just so I will not forget it. I will list it down:

1. Sunday event - Something Fishy at Eastwood
2. U-turn slot closed at Eastwood
3. My birthday gift from Kiyo
4. My valentine flowers from Irwin
5. Update on my Pregnancy
6. Esbilac substitute milk for the puppies

OK, so for now, I have to find time to do that, good thing this Monday is a holiday.
I have free time to do all that.

Sibling Rivalry

Pictures From My Cellphone

Chosun Restaurant at The Ledge, Shangrila Mall and Pupung and Friends Retaurant at the Mall of Asia. I never thought I could recover the pictures from my cellphone, Irwin remembered it has a memory card so we just transfered the file via usb. Now I have all my photos saved.

Valentine Prayer

I said a Valentine prayer for you
and asked the Lord above
to fill your heart and bless your soul
With the precious gift of love.

I asked Him for sincere love
The kind that's meant to stay
Just like the generous love
You give to those you touch each day.

I prayed for love from family
And from every cherished friend
Then I asked the Lord to give you
His love that knows no end.

Building Self-Esteem in Children

I attended a seminar last Saturday on building self-esteem and I learned a few things:

1. According to the speaker, self-esteem starts in the womb, if the mother has negative attitude towards the baby, the limbic system of the fetus will not be fully developed. The limbic systems is responsible for emotions like fear, for homestasis or body regular or balance, for memory, etc.

I am teaching Developmental Psychology and according to the book by Hurlock, there is no direct connection or nerve coming from the mother to the child, this is an old book, published in 1982, I do not know if they have proven or there are recent study that a child can really feel if the mother is happy or not.

I was explaining to my students, that if the mother is feeling stressed or happy, the hormones, blood pressure, heart palpitations, is affected. If this is affected it would have a negative or positive effect to the baby's environment in the womb. If the mother is happy, she is at least have an increased level of endorphins that can combat some disease like ordinary colds if the mother is stressed or is worried all the time, it would released hormones or neurotransmitters like serotonin that may have an effect on the environement of the baby. Effects would be in a form of hypertension, increase in blood pressure, sleeplessness or anxiety which can cause maybe overeating or not eating at all.

2. The baby can feel the mother's feeling toward the unborn child, if a child is welcome in the family she/he has a great chance of having a secure and enough self-esteem. If a baby is unwanted maybe due to unwanted pregnancy or finacial crisis, when this baby will be born there is an affect on the relationship between the mother and the child. There is a tendency that the baby will not form attachment to the mother because of the mother's attitude toward the child.

3. Every birthday should be celebrated. Every birthday should be affirmed. It is like telling the whole world every year that "today is my birthday, let us celebrate." There are instances in a child's life where a mother is too busy with work that she forgets to celebrate or even ask the child what he/she wants for her birthday. During maybe the time of our parents, they seldom celebrate birthdays and maybe even during our time we do not celebrate it.

I am thinking of my own family where we do not celebrate birthday every year, we do not even have a debut. We are four girls in the family and only my eldest sister had a celebration. Of course when I turned 18 I dreamed of having a debut I was envious of my classmates but I understand my parents, we lack financial resources, we all struggled through school. Now during that seminar, I remember all those missed birthdays, it never occurred to me that it should be celebrated. Do I hate my parents for it? Not really. Was my self-esteem affected. Hmm, let me think. For a while, I wanted to cry during the seminar because somehow it brought out forgotten memories.
I also remembered my recent birthday last January and my in-laws forgot my birthday. My sister-in-law remembered it and brought home a cake and some pasta. I am now a member of a family who always celebrate birthdays. Irwin's family always invite friends and relatives over for birthday and the food is always catered, that is how they spend on their birthdays. I've also done that once, I invited their relatives and my relatives and some of my friends. They went to my party but without the invitation, without the food some people really do forget birthdays. Even my high school friends forgot my birthday. WAAAA! I am insignificant! Pathetic naman. Some people avoid telling their birthday kasi ayaw manlibre. hahaha. In Korea, the birthday celebrant doesn't pay for their birthday but their friends have the celebration for them. Baliktad dito sa atin. Birthday mo, manlibre ka.

I remember giving my students free ice cream because it was my birthday but I told them it was Cassie's birhday. Iwas talaga sa libre. But I did ordered spaghetti for my co-teachers on my birthday because they remembered it.

4. It is the adult who foster low or high self-esteem to a child. Rivalry in children will not happen if not for the parent, relatives or guardian. If there are no favoritism or if they treat their children fairly, there will be no rivalry. One example given by the speaker is this classic scenario:

Older child is expecting a new sibling.
Adult: "Ay hindi ka na love ng mommy at daddy mo, yung bagong baby na ang love nila"

What do you think will happen?

Instead:

Adult: " Wow, ate/kuya ka na, alagaan mo si baby ha, protect your little brother/sister, love mo si baby ha, love natin lahat si baby kagaya mo love din namin lahat.

Another scenario:

The baby already arrives, and everybody's attention is on the baby

Adult: "ang cute naman ni baby, ang ganda, ang puti, etc"

Instead:

Adult: " Ang ganda naman ni baby, kamukha ni ate/kuya, pereho silang maganda!"


So to summarize, self-esteem is how you treat yourself, if you care and feel you are important. Self-confidence is different, feeling secure is also not the same, they are not related to one another, meaning if you are confident, it does not mean that you have self-esteem or if you feel a high self-esteem you can be secure.

Blog Readability Test

Oh well, what I like about surfing other people's blog is finding new things or ideas that I can use in my own blog. Got this from http://renderingsilence.blogspot.com so I borrowed it. My readability level is College Undergrad. Hahaha! Want to try it out?

Pet Grooming Review: Pet Span, K-9 Couture and Heavenly Blue

K-9 Couture
I have a Shih Tzu named Cassie and we often would bring her to K-9 Couture for grooming, sometimes if it full and they cannot accommodate her anymore so we would try the other grooming shop. K-9 Couture offers the cheapest grooming service before. We only pay for 300 pesos for Cassie's full grooming. They increased their price to 450 and everybody else's price was 500 but it did not include styling and dematting so it is a little expensive it would cost around 800 for Cassie. That is a cost for a very large dog and Cassie is a princess-type Shih Tzu.
The grooming person is efficient and Cassie always turned out adorable after every grooming.



Pet Span Grooming Shop
So We tried Pet Span, they had a discount of 50 pesos from 550 so you only pay 500 including toothbrushing service for the dogs. They had a very good service. They expanded to another section so they have two shops. We tried the new one because the old was fully booked. It was a clean cut for Cassie but after a few days we've seen a razor cut in her belly. She was itchy for days. The next time we brought her there she had an ear infection that also becomes an eye infection. Her ears were dry after the grooming but when we arrived home, her ears were watery so she developed an otitis media. She was sick for several days we have to give her an antibiotic, an ear drop and an eye drop. I tried calling the Manager informing him of the condition but he just ignored my call. We never go there again.
Heavenly Blue Pet Shop

When the vet discovered the razor cut from Cassie and inquired where we had her groomed, he recommended the Heavenly Blue Shop. So after Cassie gave birth, we brought her there to have a hair cut. We do not like it, she look so poor and thin coupled with sagging breast. She doesn't look cute at all. The cut was not even, I even complained to the person who groomed Cassie. We are not satisfied with the 500 pesos that we paid them. Cassie looked better when we had her groomed at Pet Span. Well, we will try other shop then or maybe Irwin will just groom Cassie himself.

Pregnancy Update

Short of 3 days before my 18th week of pregnancy, I visited my OB and Immunologist. According to my OB I have to watch out for my blood pressure and I have to take another glucose exam on week 24. I also have to take a Doppler Meter to check the blood vessels from the umbilical cord of the baby to my placenta. When I told this to my immunologist, she readily gave me the request for that test. The test, I am sure cost a lot again. Well, anything for my baby, I am willing to do it.

I was able to talk to one of the patient in my Immunologist clinic, we have the same condition except that she has to inject herself everyday for blood thinning and they went there to have her husband's blood transferred to her, to check if they are compatible. It is another cause of anti-bodies working against the body. She too had a miscarriage and this is her second pregnancy.
She is also taking aspirin and steroid just like me.

We have to have my ultrasound done at the Medical City because it should include description of the placenta. My baby is growing bigger and bigger everyday, in two weeks I can be able to feel the baby's movement. I can't wait. We were able to see the baby's toes, and fingers and hand and the face is noticeable.

I have to agree with Claudine Baretto, " I can die or kill for my children", guess being a mother brings out the lioness or tiger-like protection for the offspring. I too am willing to die or kill for them. It is a different perspective now, now that I am approaching motherhood in less than 5 months.

I can't wait but I have to.

e-governance and anything politics

Because I do not watch the television or read the newspaper, I am so lost and speechless with the discussion in our masteral class this evening. I was even reporting on e-governance and I was only listening to them argue.

I didn't know JDV was ousted. I didn't know the accusations against Mike Arroyo. I didn't know anything about the 4 million bribe. I didn't know anything. SAD, and I call myself a Filipino.

So there they were discussing about the recent news, on Mike Arroyo's "gahaman" ways of corruption. They said they believed everything Joey DV says. I want to agree with them. Yes, I agree with them. They even said that FG has 10 million every month from PAGCOR. That is 120 million in a year. My oh my, really, bad people die last.

So Mikey and Datu Arroyo were the first to raise their hands against JDV. They do not act like Congressmen, they act like their father's son.

In spite of the growing peso, I still cannot feel any improvement. We need a change.

Go JDV!!! Expose everything you know about the President. Expose their corruption!!!

Biggest Heart Award

Yipeee! Got this award from Cheryll now I am also sharing this to my new blog friends. I am sharing this award to
Joy
Zhoe
Nadia
Bless
Jeanne
Andrea

Used To Be by Stevie Wonder and Charlene Duncan

This song reminded me of a friend from SVI, Ruby who sang it in one of our Videoke Challenge at the office. This song has a good lyrics although it showed the situation in the 80's or 70's I guess? Still, you can feel the discontentment around even in our time.

I particularly like the last stanza,

"We fed them all our indecisions
We wrecked their minds with television
But what the hell, they're too young to feel pain
But I believe that love can save tomorrow
Believe the truth can make us free
Someone tried to say it, then we nailed Him to a cross
I guess it's still the way it used to be"

now that I am beginning to feel like a mother,
I have this fear of raising kids in a very unsure world,
and I am not sure if I can protect them.
Guess, getting old is getting at me.
Gone are the days when I only think of myself.
Now, we are starting a family and it is a very big challenge.
I salute all the parents for raising their children, especially my parents.
To all the mommy bloggers, reading your posts teaches me a lot.





Lyrics
Superman was killed in Dallas
There's no love left in the palace
Someone took the Beatles' lead guitar
Have another Chivas Regal
You're 12 years old and sex is legal
Your parents don't know where or who you are

Used to be the hero of the ballgame
Took the time to shake the loser's hand
Used to be that failure only meant you didn't try
In a world where people gave a damn

Great big wars in little places
Look at all those frightened faces
But don't come here, we just don't have the room
Love thy neighbours wife and daughter
Cleanse your life with Holy water
We don't need to bathe, we've got perfume

Used to be a knight in shining armour
Didn't have to own a shiny car
Dignity and courage were the measure of a man
Not the drugs he needs to hide the scar

Can your teacher read, does your preacher pray
Does your president have soul
Have you heard a real good ethnic joke today
Mama took to speed and daddy ran away
But you mustn't lose control
Let's cut the class, I got some grass
The kids are wild we just can't tame 'em
Do we have the right to blame them

We fed them all our indecisions
We wrecked their minds with television
But what the hell, they're too young to feel pain
But I believe that love can save tomorrow
Believe the truth can make us free
Someone tried to say it, then we nailed Him to a cross
I guess it's still the way it used to be