Where To, The Working Mom?

I'm afraid this particular blog of mine has suffered a PR beating. It's my fault really. I have been quite remiss in doing personal, non-earning posts. But I guess I have benefited from it, so I'm not really complaining (not that much, anyway!).

I'm thinking of migrating to my own domain, but I'm having a lot of second thoughts. I've thought of this several times in the past but I've always been hesitant. That's because this blog has been so much a part of my life for the past few years. Also, I haven't determined whether to stick with blogger or to shift to wordpress. And, of course, since the PR then was good, I am aware that moving would actually put me back in PR zero status. The last reason is now moot, so I'm actually seriously giving a lot of thought to this.

I have another blog in wordpress and I like the platform, but, honestly, it does cost just a little bit more since I do need to pay for the webhosting aside from the domain name. Fortunately, the search for the best host is now quite easy, as sites like webhostinggeeks give a comparative side-by-side analysis of the different web hosts available. Comparisons are made for their performance as well as their price. As I am on a budget, I am leaning towards the lower-priced services, although I have to make sure that they perform just as well, if not better, than the higher priced ones.

I really do need time to think about it.

Time To Invest

The recent events, both good (giving birth, christening, big boy going to school and applying to big school) and bad (the flood brought by Typhoon Ondoy, kids getting sick) have almost wiped out our savings. Unfortunately, this is also the time of the year when the number of patients start to dwindle.

Now, more than ever, we are feeling the need to put aside money in investments. Since we do not have a very big amount to invest and to risk, we are better off putting our small extra cash in gold coins by a reputable coin dealer like Monaco Rare Coin. After all, precious metals usually appreciate in value. They may depreciate once in a while but usually it goes up over the long term. It's also easier to store. And if, heaven forbid, it gets flooded, it does not lose its value at all and you can still sell it at market price (except, of course, if you lose it).

My father used to give me gold coins as gifts for my birthdays. I think I will do the same for my kids when they are older and know the value of such.

But the reason why I want a tried-and-tested dealer is that, as with everything, there are scammers out there who will leach your hard earned money. In such cases, instead of earning or at least saving your money, you lose it.

I'm Still Here

The past few weeks have been a roller coaster of sorts, hence the absence of updates in this blog. I have not really found the time to "seriously" blog on both this blog and Joey M.D., but I've had a few short posts on Tsinay and Practical Tips and More.

Several things have happened, both good and bad. I will try to give more details in future blog topics, if and when I get the time.

First, the good:
1. My son celebrated his 4th birthday! He had a school celebration for that.
2. My daughter got baptized.
3. I ventured into a diaper selling.

The bad:
1. Typhoon Ondoy. Enuf' said.
2. My son got sick.
3. My daughter got sick.
4. This blog got a page rank beating. Sigh...

I am attempting to get the mindframe to do more posts. And, oh, more time to do posts...in between 2 children who need my attention and my work, both online and offline.

Wish me luck!

Early Christmas Shopping

The past few months have been a blur of spending -- not on wants and luxuries but on definite needs. While it hasn't been easy, we're grateful that we were able to go through this difficult time, at least on the financial front.

This means, however, that we do not have a lot of money left in savings. We're taking it one day at a time. But since it's less than 100 days till Christmas, we do need to look for a way to save AND for affordable gifts for people on our (very) long Christmas list.

I found some online coupons that could be used to purchase some great gifts online, at a discount, of course. There are plenty of choices online. I'd love to get my son some Lego toys (which could be had for 50% off with coupons) since they encourage creativity. My daughter...hmmm, perhaps Stuffed Animals would be appreciated? I'm still looking around for the best choices and the best deals, not just for my kids, but also for my husband and the rest of my family. And our inaanaks too. Quality gifts at great deals, that would be such a treat for me!

Checking Our Credit Score

My husband and I always dream of getting our own place someday, but we've realized that it would be close to impossible to actually be "saving up" to get a house. We'd probably be saving all our lives and in the end not get any house because by then the prices would have been way, way higher than they are right now.

So we're trying to see if it would be possible for us to get a housing loan and if we could afford to pay the installments. We're checking if our credit score would entitle us to get a big enough loan for the house that we want. It's a pretty new concept for me -- credit score, that is. What is a credit score? That is what I am studying right now. What I basically know for now is that if you do not have a good payment history, your credit score goes down. Also, having no credit at all is not necessarily good because lending companies do not know anything about your paying capacity and how good you are with your payments. And, that there are ways to improve your credit score so that you will have a better chance of getting the loan that you want.

I would have to study more about it. I'm actually wary of getting into debt but sometimes debt is good -- if we can afford to pay it off.

I Love Scrubs, But....

I used to be so proud when I finally got to wear my first set of hospital scrubs. It's standard uniform inside the operating room, the delivery room, the nursery and all the other places that required a very clean environment. Changing into scrubs (from street clothes) is a precaution against bringing in microbes that would infect the patients that are particularly susceptible. Now only people who are already given the go signal to enter those areas that were considered off limits to many get to wear scrubs. So just imagine how I felt wearing scrubs and entering those "hallowed" areas.

Our scrubs used to be boring -- just one color, with a generic design. My first pair of scrubs was white, because it was the required color for medical clerks (4th year of medical school). Later on, though, some enterprising individuals made scrubs out of printed fabric. With more designs to choose from, it became sort of like a fashion statement. I remember that I bought quite a few.

I don't know when the trend started, but when cheap nursing scrubs with cartoon characters became available, some mommies snapped them up as uniforms for their kids' nannies. Protest is futile. They will never understand what those scrubs meant to us. It's like uniforms for soldiers. Or even uniforms for students in a certain school. Nobody else gets to wear them except those who earn it by being qualified.

Now I only wear the hospital issued, boring scrubs inside the operating room. Never outside the OR. While I still love the designs (and prices) of the discount nursing scrubs now widely found, I am aware that people no longer associate them with my profession, but instead think of them as uniforms for nannies.

But there's hope, I've found that there are actually more elegant versions of this hospital staple. I just don't know if the hospitals here would accept a design like this, for example...

Hmmmm.....I'd probably get something like that for myself!

New York, New York

Although I've been to the United States, I've never been to New York yet. I'd like to go there someday as it's one of the cities that I've heard so much of. I have a cousin who lives there and works there as a private tutor. I haven't seen her in a long time, maybe more than a decade already. Her job entails her to go to her tutees' homes. I don't even know if she commutes or drives. I'm guessing she drives (if so, she needs new york car insurance for her vehicle -- one can never be too careful!)

New York also a place where a lot of Pinoy MD's go to for further training. My friend told me that when she was just starting to apply for training in New York, she had absolutely no idea on how to get around and was getting around in taxis! I didn't ask her for details but I'm guessing that she soon got a car with ny auto insurance when she got accepted and eventually spent a few years of her life there.

New York also has Broadway, which I (and maybe most people on the planet) have only heard about. It also has the Empire State Building. It used to have the World Trade Center before that infamous event almost 1 year ago. There's also the Statue of Liberty among others. One thing I'm sure of...I won't run out of things to see if I go there.

Vicks -- An Awww... Moment

I have to blog about this!

Background: Our son considers Vicks Vaporub as his cure-all for minor booboos. When he gets bumped, a swipe of Vicks and the pain is magically gone :).

Last night, my little boy E was sitting on lap when he noticed that I had a small wound on my thigh. He said "sugat mommy" (mommy's wound). He stood up and looked for Vicks. When he found it, he opened the cap, put a little on his index finger, came back to me and rubbed it on my wound. It was pure magic for me--a loving gesture from my small son which warmed my heart and made me so happy. :)

Blog SEO?

Everybody and his mother has a blog nowadays, some more than 1 blog. Heck, I have FOUR active blogs! That's because not only has blogging been an avenue for sharing one's thoughts and emotions with the entire world, it's also a way to make some extra money, mainly through selling adspace or promoting products through the web. However, it's no secret that the higher ranked blogs and the blogs which get the most traffic get the most opportunities. That's where Search Engine Optimization comes in. In a nutshell, it simply means that you try to make your website or blog more search engine friendly, hence making your site appear whenever people use certain search terms. For example, if your blog's topic is about cosmetics, you'd want your site to come up when people search on Google or Yahoo for "cosmetics" or "make-up".

For the life of me, I do not really know how to really do that myself. Maybe I should consult an SEO Firm to improve my site's rankings? I'm thinking about it, actually. As a blogger, I want my blog to be popular (who doesn't) but I do not really have the time to learn SEO myself. All I want to do with my blogs is to write content.

Just testing...

Your Own Home, Your Own Rules

The advantage of living with parents or in-laws even after getting married and having children (which is a common practice with some Asian nationalities like Chinese (which I am, by ancestry), is that you have a built in support system to take care of your kids when you are busy with work. It's also more practical, money-wise, as you only need to purchase, say, 1 washing machine, 1 sofa set...you get my drift.

The problem of this arrangement is not having your own rules. Since you are living with the senior members of the family and the house is theirs, it's a given that they set the rules and you have to follow them.

I guess most couples dream of setting their rules and their way of doing things when they have their own families, but this is limited in a setting wherein there are more senior members of the family. We are not exceptions. We dream of the day when we can afford to have a place on our own, look into some home plans, and generally envision life as we want it to be, with our own rules.

As early as now, we are looking over some house plans even if our dream seems to be far from foreseeable at the present. While luxury dream home plans like those found in www.HousePlansandMore.com of HDA, Inc. seem to be too out of reach for us, it's fun to look over them and see what we really, really like about them. After all, a dream home is a composite of all the things that you want in your home, and it usually is not found in just one plan.

Money For Emergencies

Money should be the least of problems, right? However, the reality is that you need money for practically everything. It becomes more glaring when you're trying to raise a family. Everything your kids need, you have to provide -- material and non-material. The material needs, including the basics like food, need money. Vaccinations, hospitalizations, tuition, diapers, milk, clothes...the list goes on and on.

While my husband and I are both working, we are categorized as self-employed, meaning we don't work for a certain company and get a fixed amount every month. It has a lot of advantages, however, the chief disadvantage is that there are really times when you are not sure if you have money coming in. What if some emergency arises and we are caught without money? Believe me, it has happened, and not just once.

I am not very happy having debts, but I have to admit that sometimes payday loans come in handy during the times that money is tight. In such cases though, you need a loan that will be approved quickly, that doesn't charge a high interest, and easy to access. This particular company seems to be promising, as I've found some testimonials on how easy it is to get a loan from them.

Should Go Into Sports

I am very happy to note that I'm only about 6 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight, as of today! That's without exercising and without any true diet. What I'm doing right now is breastfeeding my baby and trying to make my rice portion a little smaller -- just enough to make me feel satisfied without being too full.

My OB has given me the go ahead to do some exercises at 2 months post CS. I'm thinking of starting to do some crunches, as my problem area is (and always was) my abdomen, since the muscles there are quite lax, especially now, after 2 pregnancies. I know, however, that I need to do more cardio exercises.

I wish I were more of a sporty person so that exercising would not be such a chore. Golf is such a hit among other ophthalmologists, but I've never gotten into that. My husband and some of his friends also used to play tennis. Me? Nothing really. Do you think it's too late for me to start a sport at this age, any sport? I certainly hope not. But if I do start on any program, I'd research via shopwiki.com so that I can buy the most appropriate equipment right off the bat.

Searching Rapishare

Technology really makes things easier. Before, the only way you can share files with somebody else was physically giving a copy of the file (xerox even came later). Then there came the fax machine, where you can send a copy through the phone line. Then email, where you can attach virtual files, although there is a limit to the file size you can send this way. You can still send files the old ways, or you can send files through the net.

Sharing files are easy nowadays with Rapidshare and similar file sharing services. If you want or need a certain file, chances are that somebody has already uploaded it -- you just have to look for it. The only problem is that it may be difficult to search for it. That's the rationale why some people came up with a Rapidshare Search Engine. This attempts to make searching for files uploaded to rapidshare easier for users.

What Will He Be This Year?

Last year, he was an angel (and won a cutest award!). In 2007, he donned overalls and brought along his tools as Bob the Builder. In 2006, he was Kobe Bryant--eaten by a shark.

It was a lot of fun dressing up our little boy as different characters for Halloween. Now, we have a small girl who's joining in the fun. Costumes for Halloween have become more and more creative and imaginative. Now, they're not limited to the strictly scary ones, which is a good thing because some kids do get scared of them. And they're now available online in incostume.com. So whether our kids would go as superheroes, scary creatures, Winnie the Pooh & Piglet or whatever, we can be sure we can find the costume we want.

Keep A Baby Picture In Your Wallet

Here's something interesting -- apparently there's a higher chance of having your lost wallet returned if you keep your baby's picture inside.

Click here for the link.

Hmmmm, I don't put pictures of my loved ones in my wallet (I don't even like posting pictures of my family online because of privacy issues) because I really don't want my family's pictures falling into the wrong hands, but maybe I have the wrong idea. :)