Project Room Revival: Mission Accomplished!

Never will I ever let my room be dirty again!

At last, after more than one week of clean-up, clear out, repainting - literally turning my room inside out - my room is again fit for human habitation. Yehey!


What you see in the picture are my magazines (Cosmo, T3, FHM, Fortune, Asiaweek, Time, Newsweek, Mega, etc.) arranged neatly inside color-coordinated boxes. I placed them at the foot of my bed so I can easily reach them when I feel like browsing. Hi from Winnie the Pooh and friends!

Here are my books. :)

Here you see my shoe rack where I keep shoes I frequently use. I've taken pictures of my shoes and printed them on sticker paper so I wouldn't have to open all the boxes when looking for a shoe to wear.

On the right, you can see my study table (the one given to me by my Lolo Pendong with the revolving chair given by my Ninong when I entered law school. To the left is my T.V. which I bought from China. In between is my shoe rack bought from Ace Hardware in SM San Lazaro where I also keep bags which I currently use.

Here's a peek at my blue-tiled bathroom. You should see my toilet seat cover - it has a picture of the Statue of Liberty in the cushion! :) You can also see my other shoes, all in boxes with pictures.


These are my CDs and VCDs plus some DVDs. Other DVDs are kept in a separate box, not too big as I don't have much anyway. I arranged them, separating the soundtracks, the female and the male artists, the groups and the compilations. The movies are arranged based on genre.

You can also see my wardrobe, DVD player, non-functional subwoofer, clock and rattan clothes hamper which was bought from a buffalo-pulled caravan which I don't see anymore.

So there. It took a lot of hardwork but obviously, I'm really proud of the result. Wish me luck so I can keep it that way. :)

Maghuhugas Kamay Ako!

The great news is my room is now good as new - newly painted from ceiling to the walls, and fresh and bright linoleum flat on the floor. My bed is made, cabinets are organized, and yes, my TV set is also newly repaired. (I discovered in the course of moving back my things, after painting, that my TCL 29" TruFlat TV set is busted. The authorized TCL technician arrived the following day and repaired the loose CRT Blue - whatever that is, and did some soldering here and there before replacing the buttons for the controls. All defects were apparently due to wear and tear. I was happy to hear that my TV is one of the best models of TCL - I didn't know of such fact when I bought it.) Had to shed a few bucks though - ouch! This weekend, I will connect the wirings between my TV and DVD player plus speakers/subwoofer and I can now enjoy my favorite movies in my bedroom again!

Well, not so great news is I got sick last week. After arranging my things, non-stop the entire day on Thursday, I took a bath and went to my mom's room to watch our favorite TV shows. Even if I wanted to continue watching John Lloyd's portrayal of U.P. Diliman contemporary Raymund Narag, I felt weak and tired and very very cold. I was surprised to find myself unable to bear the room temperature of the airconditioned room and took another blanket - a thick one, to wrap myself with. Despite that, my teeth were chattering, yes they were, but I was already too tired so I quickly feel asleep. In two hours, at 1 am, I woke to an aching tummy and headed straight to my own comfort room, still feeling cold and weak. I was quite concerned with the signs of LBM and at the same time, I had a feeling I had a fever, not to mention aching joints and muscles. I tried to get my temperature using a thermometer but I was too weak even to shake the mercury down. I decided to go back to bed, and laid down with my stomach flat on the bed. In the morning, I had several trips to the C.R. and had 38.6 degrees celsius temperature on the average the entire day. All along, I thought I was just unlucky to have influenza and LBM at the same time. I was unable to go to work that Friday and also failed to go to Baguio to attend a friend's wedding on Saturday. It was only at 3 am on Saturday when I thought of texting my doctor friend Lisa about my condition. She advised me to go to a hospital and to stop taking analgesics because it would mask the pain and we wouldn't know the symptoms. I also got concerned cause unlike the previous day when I was suffering from flu and was just enduring the frequent trips to the C.R., I began experiencing abdominal pain on Saturday and I was worried what if it was my appendix. I went to the emergency room of St. Luke's Hospital in the morning and had fecalysis and blood tests done. After several hours, I was diagnosed to have acute gastroenteritis which is caused by bacteria I could have eaten. My attending physician, Dr. Paulo Estioko said I could have gotten it from dirty food, water, utensils or dirty hands. It was then that I realized that I wasn't really careful about those things. I've always thought that I had a very resilient stomach and I had the antibodies I need to ward off germs. The bacteria must have been potent for my body to react that way. Dr. Estioko said symptoms could be felt within 6-12 hours from entry of the bacteria into the body. I was given rehydration treatment, which actually made my stomach ache some more. Ironically, after I was given medication (Ciprofloxacin, to be taken at 12-hour interval) and was made to take hydrite (yukk!), my fever went away but the abdominal pain became more severe. Add to that, I experience pain whenever I ingest anything - even just water with hydrite, and in a matter of minutes, what I took in would be expelled out of my body anally. I called the E.R. of St. Luke's on Sunday to report my condition, as instructed in the discharge information, and I was told to return to the hospital to be confined. It's a good thing that for some weird reason, my LBM and abdominal pain stopped after lunch. I took a rest on Monday after I went to Dr. Gerardo Pura for consultation (Dr. Pura, incidentally, sounds like and kinda resembles my friend, Teng Gerochi, pero mas guwapo si Teng). As he instructed, I had my upper abdomen ultrasound and fecalysis in the morning of Tuesday, March 21. I had a follow-up check up with Dr. Pura again on Thursday, March 23 and aside from prescribing OMZ, an antacid, he advised me to lose weight by avoiding fatty and oily foods since my ultrasound shows a fatty liver which could possibly cause inflammation and, God forbid, hepatitis. (Panic!)

And so, for a few days now, I have been avoiding pork and any kind of fried food. I've also been drinking Yakult to make my tummy more resistant to germs. I've been eating a lot of fruits and have generally reduced my food intake. Most importantly, I've been consciously keeping my hands clean by washing with soap and rubbing on alcohol whenever necessary. Mahirap na. Nakakadala magkasakit huh.

Project Room Revival

More updates on my room revival project.

My sister is an angel! I got home Monday night to see that she has gained a lot of headway from where we left off on Sunday. Vinyl tiles have been peeled and my stuff are all outside my room. Good thing we had some free space in the patio! I came home last night to see she has painted the walls baby pink and the ceiling clean white. It's just amazing. My mom also had the old reliable plumber replace the u-shaped sink drain, shower head, and water closet lever. I myself came home from Ace Hardware with my haul of more materials for waterproofing and sealing water seepage from our garden plus the 9x2 yards of linoleum to replace the vinyl. I plan to install ceramic floor tiles later but that's really later so I guess the linoleum would do for now. I was also at Ace Hardware on Friday where I bought squegee, scrub and other cleaning implements. Last night, I moved my humongous wardrobe cabinet with wardrobe length mirror doors with the help of my brother. Ang bigat! Once cleared, I painted the remaining unpainted areas and went on to mix the waterproofing cement and pathed all suspicious gaps which would hopefully prevent any more seepages. Hay! I retired to sleep with an aching body but surely much less than my sister who's done 90% more than I did! I think she continue minor paint finishing work and hopefully later, be able to install the linoleum and move back my things.

I feel like taking a leave tomorrow...

FINALLY!!!

After almost three years, I've finally began cleaning up my bedroom. Yes, shameful it is to admit - this is my dirtiest secret.

For three years now, I have been sleeping in my mom's bedroom. It has been very practical and convenient to stay there where I can wake up my mom in the middle of her nightmares and at the same time enjoy the comfort of an airconditioned room, minimizing on electricity costs since my own aircon has remained shut for the longest time. At one point, our electric bill in the house extension (where my room, my sister's room and a spare kitchen is located) got as low as less than P100.

My refugee status in my mom's bedroom wasn't really economically driven. Truth is an incident left me severely depressed around June 2003 that I couldn't bear to stay in my bedroom alone. Having been able to recover a bit around February 2004, I started to sleep in my room again. What drove me out again were tons of paper and other trinkets I brought home from my room in the law firm which I resigned from. I think I stayed in my room for two months until the hanging bookshelves were installed in my entire west-facing wall which left inches of concrete dust lying around and permeating my decaying bed. Sigh. It was a mess, and even after I cleared out extra paper and threw out some stuff, my bedroom was still unhabitable. Add to that, I had another emotional blow which drove me to my mom's bedroom again. By then, I was already very much aware that the state of my room reflects me - how I keep a lot of things inside and how I refuse to let go of trash. Another change of employer added a bit more stuff in my bedroom and more reasons to move out. Occasionally, I would use my room to view DVDs but a recent incident of a baby scorpion crawling on my thigh left me frantic and so I resolved to clear out my room of clutter and trash once and for all.

I initially had very ambitious plans to renovate my room such as repainting, replacement of bathroom fixtures and lighting as well as installation of tiles to replace chipping vinyl. However, budget contrains made me temporarily shelve my plans.

The possibility of friends having to sleep over for our Baguio trip finally drove me to do the long delayed clean up. With the help of my sister Luchie and Jojit, we were able to accomplish sorting out paper ready for trash or the bote, garapa, diyaryo. Basically, I threw out everything I will no longer be able to read, and that includes photocopies of cases used in law school and during bar review. Note that I took the bar in 2001. We also sorted wedding, birthday and events invitation into a nice clean box, arranged magazines, CDs (I didn't realized how much I had), DVDs and books which are all neatly arranged on my shelves. Shoes were cleaned and boxed, clothes were sorted, and bags arranged. I'm planning to take pictures of my shoes, print it via laser printer and pasted the pics on the shoe box so I wouldn't have to open all the boxes when looking for shoes. I was surprised to find a few unused bags which actually looked nice so I wondered why I never got to use them. Come Sunday, we were able to clear out all the clutter on top of my bed and the monoblock table which I used for bar review. All extra toiletries collected from hotel stays were packed ready for donation. All souvenir shirts from bar ops and other clothes with sentimental value (such as the sweater which my bestfriend Monette sent me from Sun Valley, CA way back in 1994 and a basketball team jacket from my crush) were packed, sealed and stored in my cabinet. We weren't able to start with the clean up but we are almost done with the clearing up. Hopefully today, the plummer will fix the sink elbow, water closet and shower head, and fresh linoleum will be bought from stores. I might buy a new TV/video rack tonight and proceed with the clean up. My sister promised to take out the mattress and pound away dirt and dust. I might be able to sew the cover for the bed and do the rearranging tomorrow. So far, the project is on track and hopefully, I will have a bedroom suitable for habitation by Wednesday.

Whew!

Save us from the Dementors

Riddikulus! or rather, Expecto Patronum!

From February 24, 2006 to March 3, 2006, I put to halt any plans to go out with friends and have fun. Why? The President has declared a State of Emergency that's why, and whatever thoughts I might have on the plausibility and probabilities of the stories afloat during that time, I did not take a chance at exposing myself to harm. There was danger indeed but the possible danger is not only from what the government had identified as dangerous. The danger is from dangerous minds.

Towards the end of last year, I posted Table 25 about my thoughts on what to do with Gloria. Essentially, I said nothing. Nothing should be done about Gloria. Something had to be done with ourselves. That post was overtaken by recent events last week. Let me clearly state on the outset that I am not pro-Gloria. In fact, I abhor her. Nonetheless, I do not want her ousted through a military coup but I will certainly not hate military coup plotters if they succeed in doing so, especially if their reasons are out of sheer frustration due to the ignominy of being in complicity with election rigging that she has inflicted on them.

Gloria Arroyo's acts and the acts of her minions the past week was taken by me as, borrowing from Teddy Te's words, a personal insult and an insult to the legal institution to which I belong. I hate the way she harassed and has been harassing the media, specifically ABS-CBN (the nerve of Mike Defensor to ask Henry Omaga Diaz to stop covering the Marines standoff), and I hate the way she, and once indefinitely suspended from the practice of law (in)Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez refers to party list solons as subversive, as if being subversive was a crime when in fact, it is no longer a crime as the anti-subversion law has been repealed. I hate the greed and thirst for power I see in her eyes. I did not like what happened last week.

But let me stop there. Last week's events elicited not only feelings of contempt and one sleepless, dreamful night (Sunday night, it was); it also elicited amusement and yes, I'd say some were outright hilarious. These are a few notable comic reliefs from last week's brouhaha:


1. Martial Law na ba?

AFP Chief of Staff Generoso Senga, on several occasions during interview, referred to Presidential Proclamation No. 1017 as "Proclamation 1081".

Now that's what you call an honest to goodness slip of the tongue.


2. "Madame President, you're a second rate, trying hard copy cat!" - Imee Marcos

As in, "Whhat?!" I never thought I'd live the day to hear Imee Marcos say something like that. Considering her known antogonism towards GMA and her declaration of State of Emergency, saying GMA is a copy cat of her dad, in whatever way she meant that (if indeed she had actually put some thought before saying it) , is outright laughable. Well, truth is GMA seems to be "Marcosian" these days and the word Marcosian has been used by so many people before Imee blurted her "copy cat" line but the impact is just so different, the words coming from her.

All I can say is, napanood nya din ang Bituing Walang Ningning?!


3. Ang mga Langaw - BOW!
(Subtitled, Ang Queribin na Walang Langit)

My Sunday habit of watching The Buzz was interrupted just as Boy Abunda was interviewing Ruffa Gutierrez-Bektas to give way to Ricky Carandang's live report from the Marines Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio where Col. Arnel Querubin with a batallion of in full battle gear Marines accompanied by Simbas and other military vehicles that those who cannot distinguish generically call "tanks". Col. Querubin was obviously upset about his commandant's being relieved but it was also clear that he was annoyed at the swarm of, not flies, but reporters hounding him wherever he goes. At one point he asked them to clear because he was supposed to give orders to his men who were in formation. Expectedly, none of the reporters heeded his plea, as if falling on deaf ears. And so Querubin turned to the left and his entourage of reporters moved along with him. Para talaga silang mga bangaw! I say, GMA should thank the media for if not for them, Querubin could have commaned them to aim their guns at her and fire away.


4. Mikee and the coup-plotters

When my friend Oli first told me about it, I thought it was a joke but indeed, in a matter of hours, it seems everyone else is talking about the alleged coup-plotting.

In a Time Magazine article by Brian Walsh dated February 24, 2006, he narrates the account of Nelly Sindayen, Time Magazine correspondent since 1971, who claims to be have been present at the house of Peping Cojuangco who was plotting to overthrow the government along with Boy Saycon, both of which Sindayen heard conversing with Capt. Danny Lim and a U.S. Embassy Official. The story was so detailed as to mention that chicken sandwiches were served by none other than Peping's daughter Mikee. I do not know which is more ridiculous, the thought of a Time Magazine reported concocting a story to implicate the Cojuangcos and Saycon (both camps have strongly denied the veracity of Sindayen's story) or the idea that coup plotters actually invited a reporter to witness their plotting. Either way, truth is indeed stranger than fiction.


5. The Starbucks lightning rallies

A few days before March 3, 2006, I got in touch with friends and acquaintances from alternative law groups to obtain a copy of the petition filed by them in the Supreme Court challenging the validity of Presidential Proclamation 1017. Naturally, aside from forwarding me the petitons, I also received emails regarding the planned rally by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines in Edsa Shrine. I also got emails from the mailing list of my undergrad org about the BlackFridayProtest movement which plans to hold lightning railles beginning on Friday, the same day as the IBP rally. The BlackFridayProtest is organized by the Black and White Movement which turns out to be the led by Enteng Romano, the e-mandirigma who led email info drive against Erap from the time of the scandals which started surfacing mid-2000, the impeachment which began November 2000, until it culminated in Edsa Dos in January 2001. Being part of the e-mandirigma mailing list of Enteng before, I decided to subscribe to the BlackFridayProtest mailing list which promised to give update where and when these lightning protests are.

Come Thursday, I got an email from the BlackFridayProtest mailing list. Lightning protests for Friday are to be held at any Starbucks cafe near you. Hmnn... my impression is this:

Gosh, it's so coño!

In fairness to them, who has access to email and would be ready to heed the call of an e-mandirigma? The yuppies of course. And what is the favorite hang-out of yuppies? Starbucks of course. Nothing wrong I suppose, it's just that they are indirectly enriching the Tantocos in the process (okay lang guwapo naman si Donnie) as the instructions were to order coffee in a straight line and linger for 30 minutes. Take note that Starbucks goers usually do not stay in Starbucks for just 30 minutes. I wonder if they ran out of coffee beans for the day?

Okay, okay! To silence critics, next time sa Jollibee dapat mag lightning protest ang BlackFridayProtest movement. Tapos sa palengke, at lahat sila bibili ng tig-iisang tingi na itlog... tapos ibabato nila sa picture ni GMA. Oops! Baka sabihin inciting to sedition ito. I better stop here.

6. GMA for GMA

I do not know what the hell she was thinking, having a one-on-one interview with Mike Enriquez and praising his ugly face, saying that GMA's credibility and veering away from seditious reporting is what makes them number one and far ahead of the number two. Nakakasuka. GMA better think twice before embracing GMA's praise lest they diminish the piercing effect of their walang kinikilingan, walang pinoprotektahan, walang kasinungalingan, serbisyong totoo lamang spiel. Well, maybe they can even lend it to her and maybe that will make her number one too.

Ang pikon ay laging talo.

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Endnotes:

Bituing Walang Ningning was shown in theaters in 1985, so Imee must have sneaked away from her dad's presidential campaign just to see the movie.

The BlackFridayProtest movement should have required protesters to order black coffee only. Afterall, it's lent.

Tingting Cojuangco claimed that what Mikee actually served were tuna sandwiches and not chicken and they were not in abundance as they were China's left overs. Geesh. They serve leftovers to guests?!

The Snaparazzi's* Back!

Yes friends, the snaparazzi's back. I have a camera again!

A few months back, I posted Techie Gadgets Gone Awry about my defective Canon camera which I brought to Canon for repair on December 19, 2005. As the service acknowledgement receipt said the repair period is fourteen (14) working days, I didn't make any follow up with Canon within the period - makes a lot of sense, right? And even if January 11 is the 14th working day, I didn't make a follow up until the following week.

It was only then when I realized how difficult it was to get through their customer service hotline. Wow, it was like calling a radio station two decades ago. (Okay, okay. Yes, I called radio stations and once, even won four premier screening tickets of The Freshman starring Matthew Broderick and Marlon Brando. On another occasion, I even won a cassette of a Barbie's Cradle album. Okay, enough digression.)

Going back to Canon, it was sooo difficult to get through the line. Still, I was very patient with them the entire January. It was only when February came and I realized I have an upcoming event, a wedding, and I needed a camera. Then came many unfulfilled promises from Canon customer service reps, that they would call me if the replacement part arrives, once the loan unit shipment arrives, etc. Not once did they make good on their promise to call back and so I had to endure wasting valuable time dialling their incessantly unavailable line. It was so tiring and frustrating.

And so the wedding proceeded with me, camera-less. I decided I would have to see the end of this and started getting pushy, dropping my friendly, understanding disposition whenever I'm relating to Canon. And so on March 1, Ash Wednesday, I started making effort to call Canon at 8:45 am. After minutes of frustration, I decided I need to take this matter to the appropriate authorities. I dug up my Consumer Act and implementing rules materials and reviewed the procedure for filing a complaint with the Department of Trade and Industry. After reading the rules, I realizd how cumbersome the process will be so I thought of another way. Why not give Canon another chance?

Thus, I clicked on my browser and looked for their webpage. It turns out that the Canon Marketing Philippines website has an online inquiry corner. And so, I wrote an assertive and strongly worded email, making a litany of all the inconveniences inflicted on my and the inefficiency of their personnel as well as their system in handling customer service matters. I ended my email with the line, "if you do not immediately attend to my concern, I will bring this matter to the appropriate administrative agencies and let others know of your inefficiency."

Within the same day I sent my email, I got a call from them telling me that I can pick up my replacement unit anytime. The following morning, at 8 am, I claimed my new Canon Ixus i zoom - a 5.0 megapixel camera with superior features as my old Ixus II. The procedure to claim was not without glitch as there was an initial confusion as to whether the unit was a mere loan unit or a replacement but the confusion was sorted out. Before leaving, I thanked the customer service representative and apologized for losing my cool at some point. She said she perfectly understands my predicament.

And so, I am writing this blog to bring resolution to my earlier post, Techie Gadgets Gone Awry, not to let others know of Canon's inefficiency but to share my experience about this consumer rights-related incident. These are the things I've learned from this incident:

1. When something goes wrong with your gadget, always consult the manual first to do some troubleshooting. In case the manual doesn't give you a solution, look at the warranty card to find out the authorized service centers or check the phone directory or the web for the contact info of the gadget's manufacturers. Since most gadgets are not locally manufacured, it is not wise to go back to the seller as they may not always acquainted with information on how to have your gadget repaired.

My uncle actually got into trouble because he gave his defective camera to the seller who did not inform him that Canon is actualy doing replacement of the defective CCDs for free. The seller is now asking him to pay service fees and it is possible that warraties may be void if the gadget is "touched" by an unauthorized repairmen.

2. Find out as much information on the problem so you understand what is exactly wrong with your gadget. This way, you will be able to take the necessary precautions so as to prevent thet same thing happening again.

In my case, the problem was really what you call a "factory defect" since there was a defective part which caused the product recall of many camera models sold within a specified period. In fairness to Canon, the defective CCDs were manufactured by Sony and sold not only to Canon but also to other camera manufacturers. My complaint against Canon was really for the inefficient way of handling clients since they could have foreseen the influx of customers wanting their camera fixed. The least they could have done is properly train their customer service representatives and upgrade their phones to accommodate many callers since these are the only things they can have control of. I perfectly understand that they do not have control when the shipment for the replacement parts or units will arrive as for sure, they are also relying on the promises of the REAL culprit - the manufacturer of the defective CCD - on when they can make good on their efforts to remedy the situation. At the end of the day, the whole thing is really a hazard of technology. These gadget manufacturers put so much of their reputation at risk by releasing a product in the market while consumers like me are putting their money at stake by buying these expensive gadgets. Well, the nightmare is over for me, and probably, it is beginning to end in case of Canon with the arrival, I heard, of replacement parts or units. Lesson learned for them, I hope. At the end of the day and despite the strongly worded email, I would still give them a passing mark for handling this incident (at least in my case) - at least they did not turn their backs on the consumers and left them holding the bag. Though not perfect, they attended to the customers by offerring to replace defective cameras. Overall, I'd say they are good at damage control and yes, they have convinced me to trust them again.

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* I just like the word snaparazzi, but no, I don't take pictures of celerities. :)