it always hurts

check out rafa’s foot, man. i used to be a dancer in my high school days and in our rehearsals and training sessions, often went barefoot. not all the powder and tape in the world could prevent the inevitable cracked callouses and blisters, and when these happened, it was living hell.

it always hurt. those callouses coming open, i mean, and those danged watery blisters. ouch.

whenever rafa loses, big tournament (read: wimbledon 2007 — ack, i named the dreaded tournament!; USO 2007; AO 2007; indian wells 2008; miami 2008; rome 2008) or not (read: rotterdam 2008), it always hurts.

when people never try to find out your side of the story and are quick to form judgements en masse, thereby excluding you from future events/gatherings/etc, it always hurts. no matter how old i become, it will always hurt.

when my own siblings turned their back on me aided by the perception that i am the papa’s girl or that i’ve always had it too good while they had to scrabble for scraps, it always hurts.

when people i thought were my friends cannot be there in times of need, oh it always hurts.

when an ex-boyfriend (or two. or three. or more.) will never relinquish any old thoughts of how bitchy i was in the past and never ceases to let me know about it, it always hurts.

oh it’s that time of the month, believe me. rafa losing yesterday to juan carlos ferrero was bad timing in svelte rogue’s myopic world. novak is my only hope now.

 

 

blog review: seo wacko

It’s smart, informative, succinct, clear, and easy on the eyes. A blog that specialises in search engine optimization, it offers readers tips on how to best capitalise on internet resources. Aiming to increase page rank, to optimise search engine results towards your blog, to seek ways to monetise your blog? Seo wacky provides all you need to know about these matters. Personally, he wrote entries that i found useful for my own blogging needs, such as addressing page rank issues and finding the right programs for monetising my blog. What i definitely like about this blog is that it is easy on granny eyes like mine, making it quite a treat to be reading his informative entries. Definitely a boon to the blogosphere.

america here we come

a few months ago i nearly got scammed into blowing away some 1000€ to fly my family from belgium to florida, where one of the come-ons was a yacht cruise and a visit to the Miami Seaquarium. it was a good thing that i caught onto the bogus enticements after too many minutes, and i must admit that this was so because of all the cities i have been in the united states, miami has eluded my lucky stars thus far.

happening orlando

i know next to nothing about medicine although i have my fair share of friends who are in the medical profession. i would imagine that doctors and other medical professionals interested in urological health issues would be in the know about the upcoming 2008 American Urological Association Annual Meeting (or AUA) in orlando of which the orlando vista hotel is the perfect choice to stay at while attending the event in the city. there a host of hotels near disney world but this easily boasts of superior features and facilities such as the following:

police hot

a close friend and sensei in aikido training has finally achieved one of his lifetime dreams: to become a policeman. when i gave him a lift from the sportoase to the train station some weeks ago, he was gleefully telling me that he could not wait to get home and play with his set of riot gear, given to them during training that day. i told him jokingly, “i can’t wait to see you in your snazzy new police outfit, sensei, especially the BDU Pants!” what i could not tell him, though, was that he would look infinitely better without anything on.

viva mexico!

the closest i’ve come to an ideal holiday by the sea is christmas 2006 when i forced my husband to go to oostende for two days.  it was the first time i have experienced wintertime by the sea.  the north sea off the coast of belgium is not known for its warm and welcoming waters (just ask titanic survivors) but it was an okay holiday nevertheless.  the kids did get to visit marine world in blankenberge and i got to teach my older son to ice skate, so all in all, it was a success.

but you’ve never been on a proper beach holiday unless you’ve been to the perfect beach.  the philippines is known for its miles and miles of beautiful shoreline, which propted an italian woman to ask me two years ago, when i was at levanto in the italian mediterranean for the summer holidays, “why are you here?  your country has the best beaches, why are you here???”  sometimes people just don’t understand that you can’t be some place owing to economic and logistic reasons. 

for people who are lucky enough to live in southern united states, particularly nearer the west coast (think arizona, new mexico, california), you only need to drive a few miles south past the border into mexico until you hit the sea of cortez.  the best way to enjoy the beach?  not in expensive hotels, for one.  how about affordable Rocky Point vacation rentals for a change? 

rocky point has real estate including vacation rental homes, luxury homes and condos with beach front views . you also enjoy fully equipped kitchens and satellite tv.  nothing could possibly be better, my friends. hit the beach and have some sun this spring already!

bayantel days remembered

one of the cool things of setting up the LEC (local exchange) business of bayantel in the mid-90s was the fact that we could string our telephone lines off meralco posts with no extra cost to the company as both bayantel and meralco were owned by the lopez family.  granted, globe opted for a better long term strategy by putting their fiber optic cables underground but for short to medium-term planning, it is of utmost importance to have telephone poles of the highest quality.

the pacific wood preserving companies offer a variety of treated wood products and wood preservatives to meet your requirements. from transmission poles, distribution poles, agricultural treated wood products and Pac-Bor treated sill plate, you can find the treated wood products that you need.  against wind, snow, and rain, these wooden poles will not crack or soften.  i’d say this is perfect for manila, which still has thousands of telephone poles all over the city.  it will be many years, i believe, before we wise up and put everything out of sight.  i hope it happens in my lifetime.

all is not lost for your bad credit

one of my former boyfriends would put bad credit loans historians to shame: long before he had his first serious job, he had racked up loans that would take years to pay off. it wasn’t any different when he snared his first high-paying corporate job at an IT firm; citibank was only too glad to give him a high credit limit which he proceeded to max out with impunity. he had a stupendous debt after six months. like i said, he would take the bad out of bad credit cards official lists. now that he’s living in the states, he has to be on guard against bad credit as america is primarily a credit-only society. good credit history is everything.

bad credit is a reality for millions of americans, making it difficult for these consumers to build the future they envision for themselves and their families. fortunately, there are lenders who are willing to give those with bad credit a second chance.

BadCreditOffers.com is a leading comparison website for people with bad credit — featuring credit cards, home loans, auto loans, personal loans, and much more. consumers can apply for the offer that’s right for them, and by making payments on time they can start down the road toward rebuilding their credit and, perhaps, their financial future.

*my former boyfriend and i remain very good friends to this day

attention: hardcore computer users

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SOS: heart attack!

one thing i am when it comes to crisis moments is panicky.  or you can put it the other way and say that the one thing i’m not when matters of life or death are at hand is calm.  i did vow, though, when i became pregnant with my first son, that i would try my hardest to come through in critical situations with a calm and collected demeanor, the female bruce wayne who smoothly solves the problems of gotham city.  

if someone i know collapses in front of me and am begged to do something quick, i would probably put my ear to his chest. if, however, i hear an irregular heartbeat, i would not know what to do henceforth. 

enter:  a site that can bail out freeze panickers like me.  the objective of InsideCardiacArrest.com is to provide you with information on Sudden Cardiac Arrest so that you can better understand its potential dangers to you, your family and your friends.  it could spell the crucial difference between life and despair.