transposable element

i’ve held on long enough and i can’t put up with this crappy one for much longer. i want a new washing machine. a front load one with temperature settings. i’d like to be able to wash towels and underwear at 60 degrees. i want my whites to remain bright and i don’t want always have roll lint off my coloreds. i don’t want nor have the time to handwash delicates. i want a washing machine that simply works, and not this crap that our landlord provided which just swirls our clothes around.

darn, will there ever be an end to this litany of expenses? can someone beam me up to one of those vegas rooms where i can win some extra dosh?

how good is your english vocabulary? what if for every word you know, you could donate a spoonful of rice to feed a hungry person in a poverty-stricken country somewhere in asia or africa?

test and improve your english vocabulary online. for every word you get right, freerice will donate 20 grains of rice through the UN world food program to help end hunger. about freerice:

FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com.

FreeRice has two goals:

1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.

Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself.

Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide.

i’ve so far donated about 2 thousand grains. is that even enough for a meal?

this is not a paid post.

i went yesterday for my routine prenatal check and as i expected, the consultation was less than 5 minutes. everything’s a-ok, the doc said. but as he took measurements, he said the words i’ve been dreading to hear:

it looks like this is going to be a big one.

if there’s one thing i’m scared of, it’s being in debt. when i was still single, i had a visa card, and though i found it very convenient to use for shopping cash-free particularly when i traveled, i always made sure i paid the bills in full when the payment was due. i never needed more than one credit card, and i never fell into the lure of spending more than what i could pay.

fast forward many years, and nothing has changed as i happened to have married someone equally nervous with liquidity. we’re not rich, but we can proudly say we’re debt-free.

however, if there’s one thing that would make me overcome this stance, it’s the prospect of possibly owning a place to call home. if one considers the amount we pay each month in rent, money that could have already been used to pay mortgage on a property instead, it simply makes sense.

it’s a scary step, though. where? how? how much? when? what if we buy a property at the wrong time? is there a possibility for a mortgage refinance? it’s a complicated financial strategy, one i’m not well-versed myself, but as i understood it, in home mortgage refinance, one takes a second loan to pay off the old debt in full, and then save some money in paying off the second loan which, presumably offers better mortgage rates. this refinance home mortgage website, for example, offers information on how it works in several states in the US, and a free quote, depending on the location and type of property you want to refinance, and your credit rating.

i wish such possibilities were open to us. i wish we already know where we want to settle down for keeps. i wish we would have the courage to take such a big financial move. i wish.

or should i maybe just wish that i’d win the lotto?

yes, much as i hate to admit it, it’s scientifically established that women’s brains shrink during late pregnancy, and this is believed to be the reason why pregnant women tend to be more forgetful, more scatterbrained and less coordinated than usual. according to wisegeek:

Pregnancy brain is a condition that affects expectant mothers, usually during the first and third trimesters. Sometimes known as placenta brain or baby brain drain, the condition is usually characterized by short-term memory loss or forgetfulness. Some medical experts say that pregnancy brain is a myth, but evidence shows that many women have experienced this condition.

The effects of pregnancy brain vary greatly among women. They can be as simple as forgetting phone numbers that one has dialed for years or placing toilet paper in the fridge. One mother-to-be drove home only to find she had arrived at a previous home she had not lived in for six years.

not that my memory or organizational skills have been stellar in the first place, but i find that it’s gotten worse the last couple of weeks. unless i write something down, it’s like pouring water through a sieve. i also noticed it would take much more effort to understand instructions, manuscripts and some vocabulary. a website asked me to upload an avatar, and i thought “huh? isn’t that where wayward wizards are imprisoned?…or was that akavar?”

idiocy at its finest. oh well, at least i’ve an excuse. what’s yours? hehe.

dang, just as i wrap my head around the idea of finally getting an asus eee pc, comes the news that everex is launching a similarly sized laptop called cloudbook. same portability, same price, but with 30GB hard disk space (asus eee pc has 4G). but, stocks are running out in the US, and who knows if and when it gets launched here in singa? otherwise i could have ordered one online, have it delivered to someone i know from the US and then have it shipped over here. should be pretty easy, no need for a new york moving company to do that, although it might turn out more expensive, with duties and shipment fees slapped on it.

or should i rather wait for the 2nd generation asus eee pc also due to be launched in a couple of months?

now i am totally, utterly confused.

left: CloudBook, right: Eee PC 4G Surf

image and review: linux and open source blog

the last few days, hubby has been doing the grocery run. jan has been staying home due to an asthma bout and though we reassured him on the third day that it was ok to go to school, he insisted on staying home because he was worried he might pass it on to his classmates. no matter how many times we tried to explain that asthma isn’t contagious, he still didn’t want to go and we didn’t really insist. i still can remember how embarrassing it can be to be constantly barking through lectures, particularly if it’s the pumpuputok type of cough, haha!

so when jan finally went back to school yesterday, i did the grocery run myself. just the essentials, as i had to make sure i won’t be carrying a heavy load on the walk home. unfortunately, unlike data, you can’t transmit grocery through fiber optic cables. 5 minutes walk with just about 5 kg or so of stuff. too close to take a cab, but too much for a heavily pregnant one, apparently.

braxton hicks galore followed, that by the time i was fixing dinner, i could barely stand anymore. immediately after dinner i had to lie down, and at 3 am this morning, i was up and about, breathing through contractions. my thoughts were running along the lines of “dang, how many weeks along am i exactly? can this be it?!?”

well, apparently not. as i’m still here blogging.

i used roll my eyes with pregnant women who complain and whine about every little discomfort they feel, as if pregnancy has rendered them partially disabled. a huge part of it is because particularly during my first pregnancy, i never really had a difficult time so i was convinced that in many cases, it’s just psychosomatic. another of those woe is me syndromes. boy, have i been wrong.

during our recent vaca in manila, we were able to peek into some of the newer malls (well, new to us). on the day we arrived, we had lunch at trinoma, a supposedly rather upscale mall in quezon city just across sm north edsa’s the block. the shops and restos are probably a bit more upscale, but the mall itself didn’t look classy particularly with its tile flooring. hubby and i both thought we still prefer the feel of glorietta… until we saw glorietta again. man, has that mall aged. granted, it has just been bombed recently, but it has lost its glamour, its sparkle, its vibe. i’ve been very fond of glorietta in its early years, and i was saddened to see it’s a has-been in so many ways.

tiendesitas has been there for so many years already, but this month was my and hubby’s first time to be there. i love it there. from the quaint furniture and antique stalls, to the variety of pinoy food and delicacies on offer. a perfect hang out place for balikbayans. we also checked out the fun ranch, and indoor place for kids just beside tiendesitas, but we didn’t stay long as jan wasn’t with us anyway.

we also got to see the mall of asia for the first time, the mall famed to be the largest in the country. i love, love, love the location of this mall, especially that of the restos that affords you a spectacular view of manila bay. here’s a videoclip:

and lastly, on our last evening in manila, we were able to check out serendra’s retail promenade. now that’s what i call posh. really classy storefronts, subtle ambiance, no loud digital signages and advertisements. really tastefully made. we had dinner al fresco at duo– great steaks, impeccable service! i think serendra could easily be a favorite hang-out among the balikbayans and expat communities.

manila. malls. you can’t have one without the other.

perambulator (short: pram) is apparently the british english term for a stroller/buggy/pushchair. i’ve met only one person who ever used that word, though.

well, whatever you want to call it, i need one. i’ve disposed of all of jan’s “baby vehicles” (yes he had more than 1) when we relocated so i’m now scouting for a new one for baby#2. as lazy as i am, i’m letting my fingers do the clickin’ to see what’s in the market out there. and boy, is the range of offerings huge!

i need something light, compact, and easy to fold/unfold as i use the public transport a lot, and the majority of public buses here aren’t really buggy-friendly. most buses don’t have ramps that allow you to push baby-and-buggy into the bus. in other words, you’d have to remove baby from the buggy, fold buggy up, carry baby and buggy into the bus, pay your fare, and find a seat and settle down before the driver steps on the gas. which might just be manageable, if you don’t have a diaper bag and a million other stuff to carry as well, plus a sugar-powered preschooler tagging along.

therefore, because i just have two hands, i need something as light and easy as possible. i love, love, love the sleek looks of quinny and smartbuggy, but they aren’t suitable for newborns as the backrest cannot be fully reclined. i thought of using a baby sling for the first few months, but considering how oppressive the heat can sometimes be over here, i’m not so sure i can stand wearing the baby for long periods.

i did find good options while surfing the web, based on the descriptions and customer reviews, at least. but like certain items, such as shoes/apparel, furniture, door hardware and fixtures, there are stuff you just need to see ‘live’ before buying. with strollers, i need how to see how easy it is to drive it, how to fold/unfold it, etc. kailangang kapa-kapain, pisil-pisilin, at amuy-amuyin, hehe. so in the next couple of weeks, i’d have to haul my butt to the shops and baby stores and test drive perambulators.

for those moms in the US or locations where amazon delivers, take advantage of Amazon’s Save a Bundle Sale! unfortunately, amazon does not deliver to singapore, aside from books, cds, and dvds.

much as i wish i could already give birth soon, i can’t:

1. i just started my third trimester. too early.
2. we just halfway shopping for baby stuff - still need a stroller, a sling, a changing table and a myriad other bits and bobs
3. we haven’t decided on names yet. we do have 2 weeks following birth to register the baby, but what do you call the baby within those 2 weeks?!
4. we haven’t gone for a hospital tour yet. and they just do it once a month, so we just have 2 chances.
5. i don’t have a birth plan yet. i haven’t even discussed the birth with my doc yet. i think this time, i want an epidural the first minute i can get it.
6. i still have to come to terms with the cost of giving birth here. in germany, i never even saw the bills; everything is paid for by the insurance.
7. i still have to decide on a push present, hehe. apparently gold chains are popular choices, but i’m not into jewelry. so….. an asus? hehe
8. gotta tidy up the apartment; need to buy more bookshelves.
9. gotta tick off work projects, and plan a feasible work-at-home schedule when baby is there.
10. gotta stock up on sleep.