My son is turning six in two days. I can’t believe the days passed by too quickly.I can still remember in full colors and vivid detail how our boy, a miracle of life, came about. I have always  said I hope he would not grow up so I can always hold him in my arms and shelter him from world’s harm.
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Popularity: 11% [?]

My morning ritual always includes watching morning show like Unang Hirit while eating breakfast. One of the segment I found in yesterday’s show that interested me was about microchips for pets. This technology has been available in other countries for quite some time now but it was only introduced in the Philippines not so long ago.

Pet lovers would muse at how small these microchips are — just the size of a small grain of rice. These chips will be injected through an almost regular size syringe so it will be placed under the skin of your pet.

What’s the use of the microchip? Primarily, for identification purposes. It is normal for pets to stray and when they do, the owner is lost in thought where it’s gone, how to find it, and if found, how to identify and convince others it is indeed her/his pet.Pet registration are good measures to claim pet ownership but many pet owners does not register their pets for different reasons. While pet tags are god measures to name you pet and proclaim to the neighborhood he or she is yours, these tags are often lost or misplaced. When these pets ran, chase or play, durability of pet tags are put to test and usually break.

The microchip comes with a remote-control-size scanner that reveals the barcode number of a pet that is microchipped. Some microchips have GPS capability which means you can track the location of your pet while others would even reveal the name, age, breed and other information of the scanned pet.
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Popularity: 13% [?]

It’s already Thursday and I can’t help but feel excited for the coming of the weekend. I had a very tiring week and I am looking forward to spending a relaxing and enjoyable weekend  with my family. We actually had plans for the remaining two days of the week.

It’s my mother in-laws birthday party this coming Saturday and we had an eventful day planned for her. There will be a PowerPoint  presentation too designed by me of course! I’m excited how my husband’s relatives would react to the presentation, it’s one of the most beautiful one I’ve ever done so far. Specially made to make Mommy Emy happy.
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Popularity: 12% [?]

Chess lover? Try playing withe the giant chessboard of Marikina’s Pan De Amerikana.

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Popularity: 15% [?]

The other week, while strolling at the new SM Marikina Appliance Store, my husband said, “let’s look for a nice model of a digital camera.” In 2002, we bought our very first 2 megapixel Kodak Digital Camera for 10,000 pesos. The memory was bit low and my boss bought me a memory card as a Christmas gift. I was quite happy with it eventhough it does not work in dim areas but a year after, the mechanism of the battery enclosure was broken and was never repaired.

Today, that camera is sitting in our drawer and useless.  Since both our cell phones have cameras, we never thought we’ll have the need to buy a digi cam. Now that our son is in pre-school and is doing great academically, we feel its time to buy a new one with a good resolution and memory to record all our son’s life’s milestones.

If you’re planning on buying a new digital camera too just like me, these are good tips on finding the best digital camera to store our special moments:

• The higher the megapixels, the better the resolution of your picture. A megapizel is actually a million pixels and a resoultion of an image is based on its pixel property. If you are planning to blow-up your picture real big, you should take it with a high resolution camera.

• Consider the size of the LCD. Having a big enough LCD helps in framing a subject and in reviewing pictures taken. If you can afford a digi cam with a 2.5-inch or higher LC, go for it.
• With zoom functionality. My phone cam now has 3 megapixel resolution but it does not have a zoom functionality so it’s not useful for macro or long shots. A tip: a good cam has a higher optical zoom than a higher digital zoom.
• Buy one which uses a memory card that is easy to find and not too expensive. There are different types of memory cards: xD, SD (mini and regular), flash card, etc. Although you may memory cards from outlets like CD-R King at incredibly low prices, you have to make sure that the generic MC card you bought is compatible with your cam.
• What kind of battery does it use? New digital camera models already uses USB plug charger instead of the ever expensive digital rechargeable batteries usually comes in +AA or +AAA.

Whatever camera you choose would in the end depend on your lifestyle and most specially, your budget.

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Popularity: 11% [?]

Being a trainor, I’m always on the lookout for strategies on making my presentations more interesting and with high impact. I find the use of visual aids very helpful and this presentation tool actually has an interesting evolution, thanks to technology.

Even when I was younger, I already had that certain leadership quality. I often lead groups and even tried going into politics once by running in a local barangay election. During those time, I only use manila papers and chalkboard to entice my audience whenever I present. Today, my preferred visual medium for my presentations is PowerPoint. These types of digital signage is very effective because you can make you presentations very creative and visually appealing. This type of presentation though requires certain equipment which includes a PC or laptop and a multimedia or LCD projector which are both expensive.

However, compare to its price in the past, these equipment are already affordable. For instance, there are now laptops — called netbooks,  available for 13,000 pesos. In 2002, our first purchase of an LCD projector cost almost 200,000 pesos. Today, with  just 50,000 pesos, you can already get one for your company.

If you’re looking for a cheap alternative, you may simply get an overhead projector which price definitely much much less than the multimedia. No need for a laptop also during your presentations, just printed acetates.

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Popularity: 11% [?]

As a mother, among my challenges is to be domesticated. This is so because I grew up quite pampered being the youngest in the family and sort of a “favorite.”My father told (or scared) my husband (then fiance) that I am quite lazy and he would end up doing all the household chores. My husband still married me and although he said I have improved in the household department, there are still things I am not capable of doing well like cooking.

I love food and my husband and my mother cooks very well.  I am truly lucky for having them.  Seafood dishes are on top of my favorite list. My son shares the same fancy and my husband learned cooking what I believe is the best shrimp dish in the Philippines. His buttered shrimp in sweet corn and cheese is totally hot!

In my friend’s blog, I read about this great American Seafood cook off. This naturally took my attention and I immediately went to  www.GreatAmericanSeafoodCookOff.com and learned about the cook off challenge participated by the best chefs in America. I felt sad I wasn’t able to win the contest and win the trip to Orleans but I’m happy the recipes performed by the chefs are still available for downloads.
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Popularity: 25% [?]

For three days now, SM Marikina has been the favorite hangout for Marikenians and those from nearby towns and cities. It’s been jampacked with people and I can understand why. SM is one of the biggest thing that came to this city since the first (small) mall opened a decade ago.

SM would be a haven for techies since at the first floor, you’ll find different stores selling cellular phones, iPods, and laptops. My friend even shrieked when she first saw the Power Mac Center for Apple lovers. Now, would that change my mind a bit about my loyalty to Windows? Hmmm…

I also love SM’s appliance center. We drooled over the showcase of LCD TVs and DVD and music players. I can just imagine those lying perfectly in our living room… Dream on!

Going to SM made me happy today even if I wasn’t able to shop. I certainly plan to come back. One piece of advice though to women who would want to come and see it — using the CR is a nightmare, you would have to wait on long lines just to pee. This situation would probably occur until after the SM excitement subsides.

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Popularity: 26% [?]

As a mother, shopping for groceries is a regular chore that I enjoy doing. I especially enjoy this when I do this together with my husband and my son. There’s one hitch though when grocery shopping is done with your child, your grocery cart becomes full with items that is not included in your list. Mostly, with junk foods and chocolates that are not healthy.

These days where living a healthy lifestyle is the trend, especially if you have teenagers who bugs you about getting slimmer or pester you about acne cure, a mother should be more concerned on making her grocery list and her trip to the grocery healthy. these tips will help you accomplish these tasks:
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Popularity: 34% [?]

Our family have attended a birthday party of a kumpare’s child. Since I was busy the week before the birthday, we rushed to the mall to buy a gift for the celebrator before going to McDonalds Marikina, the party venue.

All along, I was thinking the celebrator is a boy so I bought “him” a really cute red spongebob cap. When we reached the party, I was surprised that the theme was Disney Princess and the celebrator is actually a girl! Before I had the chance to run to the mall to buy another gift, I saw my son already handed it to the mother.

I really felt embarrassed d about my boo-boo and the next day, I went to the department store and picked a cute pink dress for the birthday girl. My lesson — ask, do not assume.

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Popularity: 33% [?]