A Matter of Perspective Chronicles of my married life down under Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 26 5012

Articles from A Matter of Perspective

No Need for Jenny Craig 2007-08-15 19:18:00 Want to lose weight fast? These are the things that I would suggest you to do:Live overseas.Get pregnant and have fussy baby.Make sure to breastfeed, if possible 100% of the time.By fussy baby I mean no decent sleep, continuous for at least six months.Don't forget to do all the household chores as well.It worked for me! :P I am now down to 50 kilos which is even less than my pre-pregnancy weight (I was 54 Kilos when we found out we were expecting Erin.) so I can fit into my old jeans once again. By the way, 50 Kilos was my weight when I was a fresh college graduate. And no matter how much food I eat now, I can't seem to put on any weight back on.The sad part about all this is that my wedding ring keeps falling off from my ring finger especially when my hands are wet. I have to wear it now on my middle finger to keep it from slipping off and eventually losing it. Sometimes, I just leave it to J when I'm about to take a shower for safe-keeping. Occasionally I forget to get the ring ba ...

e-commerce 2007-08-14 00:21:00 A few weeks back, J was asked by a friend if he could create a website for her to sell her cakes. He said yes without batting an eyelash, trying to exude the confidence of an employed IT professional. But deep inside, he knew he should be hitting myself for saying yes. J recalled to me his days as a first year IT student. One of the first big projects they had was to create was an online store. This was to give them an idea of how object oriented programming is used to create software components that mimic a complete e-commerce cycle. He clearly remembered how tedious, complex, and very time-consuming it was because they were coding from scratch and arguing about everything related tp the project. Now, he says, it is like reliving the same nightmare except this time, he's all alone. However, in the midst of his depression, he remembered the first advice their professor told them. Don't reinvent the wheel. Nick others' code.Now that does not sound very creative at all. It even bo ...

Get Paid by Smorty 2007-08-13 00:30:00 Yes, I've gotten approval today from another one of those get-paid-to-blog companies. This time it is from Smorty.com.Just like the rest, you get paid to blog about your opinions of the products and/or services of a variety of advertisers who are also their client. Basically, it's a two-way street between the blogger and advertiser with Smorty as the middle-man.Actually, this blog was initially denied approval when I first submitted it to their site. I admit my blog did not generate enough traffic at that time so it was no surprise to get a rejection from them. But after a couple of weeks since then, I decided to try my luck once more and resubmitted my blog for reconsideration. An hour later, I got their approval. I give them two thumbs up for their quick response to my request! :)I'm liking their blogger's dashboard as well. It's very easy to maneuver around and the layout is simple and quite direct, most definitely user-friendly. Oh, and one more important thing, pay-out is on ...

Just got in 2007-08-12 19:55:00 Look what came in the mail for me today...Well, better late than never. :) I'm not much of an HP fan but this was sold on eBay at a real low price and I couldn't let it get away. Anyway, I don't intend to read it just yet. I need to read a couple more from the series first. The last one I read was Prisoner of Azkaban. I know, that is a lot of catching up to do! Meanwhile, all this HP hoopla has got J very intrigued and curious about it. I think he might give it a go to see what all this madness is about. :) ...

The World at Your Fingertips 2007-08-11 07:15:00 Every time we fly to Manila, we always stop by Sydney for at least an overnight stay so we can have a bit of sightseeing and rest before our long flight of eight hours. Without that, it would more or less translate to eleven hours of travelling from Canberra. I think it's still a lot cheaper than the three of us flying from Canberra.About ten years ago, this meant doing your research using the phone directory. The obvious limitation using the phone directory is that some needed information like their prices, ratings and promos are not readily available. And after doing your research, you have to haggle with hotels to get the best price. On top of that, phone directories of your intended destination require you to go to the town library. Okay, maybe you can use a travel agent to do all that but sometimes it also mean queuing up in the line just to talk to a cranky agent working on a weekend.Internet has changed all that. With a click of a button, you will be provided with choices of th ...

Birthday wishes 2007-08-11 03:56:00 It's the big 3-0 for my brother R. According to my sister, they had a rather grand celebration yesterday because they had catered food for dinner.There was also lechon which I'm sure was flown all the way from Cebu.And for entertainment, they sang the night away with one of those videoke machines which they rented.As usual, we were green with envy. We so wished to be there!25 years agoHappy birthday, Iko! Hugs and kisses from all of us down here. :D ...

Victimized! 2007-08-10 02:58:00 Yes, out of all the people in the entire world, we had to be the chosen one. Allow me to be more specific. Last Wednesday evening, J brought home some bad news. Part of our car's window (that small triangular piece) in the backseat on the right side was broken. It looked like someone intentionally smashed it, with the objective of stealing something within or probably the car itself. J didn't notice it until he was at the petrol station where it's well lighted.We think that the perpetrator/s could have been drug addicts, out to steal whatever they can so that they can afford to get their regular fix of drugs. Or they could have maliciously done it for no apparent reason, maybe just for the fun of it. In other words, napag-tripan lang yung kotse namin. Our car was parked outdoors (therefore no security cams, etc) at that time so there is no way for us to catch the bad guys.And since it is something that we just can't ignore, J had to take the car this morning to have the window repa ...

Shopping for the holidays 2007-08-08 22:34:00 As I have mentioned earlier in a separate post, winter time is coming soon to an end for us people here in the southern hemisphere. Before you know it, it's Spring already! I'm also looking forward to the summer days because of the Christmas season. And you know what I love about it? You guessed it, shopping!But hey, I am not talking about senseless impulsive shopping. It pays to be wise and get value for your money when you've got a massive list of things to buy. Making one's list far in advance is a good example of that because it prevents you from indulging in your impulses when you shop at the last minute. Another way is to collect coupons (like the ones in Couponchief.com) which could offer you huge discounts on several items that you're probably interested in.I have yet to make my own shopping list. I'm not quite sure what items to get for my family this Christmas. Maybe I'll get J one of those books on programming he's been eyeing on at Amazon. As for little Erin, I may ...

Triple P! 2007-08-08 20:34:00 After days of agonizing whether my blog will get their approval or not, I finally got just today THE email to put all my misery to an end. Yes, Pay Per Post has given me their approval to write entries for them. In other words, I actually get paid to blog! Can you believe it? I am pinching myself to this moment because I still can't believe that it has finally happened. I guess all those prayers worked! :)You may be wondering why I am so excited about all of this. I have seen quite a number of my fellow bloggers get into the PPP trend so I got curious about it. After studying the pro's and con's, I have to admit there is nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain when you are being paid to write about the things that you love in life. The decision to sign up with Pay Per Post was a no brainer.I have been honest about my decision to turn this into a money-making blog so expect to see some blog ads from time to time. These days, it is good if you get to earn a little cash on the side to ...

Back to basics 2007-08-07 18:42:00 I got this in my inbox today:DVDs to help babies learn 'may hinder skills'Researchers at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute found that for every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and video - which often feature disconnected images and scarce dialogue - infants understood an average of six to eight fewer words than infants who did not watch them. Baby DVDs and videos were found to have no effect on the vocabularies of children aged 17 to 24 months. Frederick Zimmerman, lead author of the study and an associate professor of health services at the university, said of the paper, published today in the Journal of Pediatrics: "There is no clear evidence of a benefit from baby DVDs and videos and there is some suggestion of harm. The more a child watches baby DVDs and videos, the bigger the effect. The amount of viewing does matter." A spokesman for the Educational Institute of Scotland said: "While we would not wish to comment on the suitab ...

Time to spread some love! 2007-08-05 23:17:00 Muchos gracias to Jean for naming me as one of her picks for...I've never gotten a title that's blog-related before so to get this is really cool. :)Ok, here's a little summary to my blogging history: I started blogging in late 2004, when I started documenting our wedding preps online for friends and family to read. It was (and still is) a trend among brides-to-be from a support group called WeddingsatWork. Prior to this, I have been keeping a journal since I was 10. This wedding blog of ours has underwent several facelifts as well because I got interested in html and template designing. It soon developed into a more comprehensive site. I then transferred to bloxster after I got my visa to migrate to Australia. Unfortunately, they provided terrible service to their bloggers (I lost dozens of entries there). That's why I migrated to WP. Like the rest, I am also trying my hand at making a little money with blogging. I've put up a separate blogsite for this. Alright enough blabberin ...

Just one of those days/nights 2007-08-05 21:38:00 I'm tired. As in, dead tired. If you have been reading my previous posts, you'll know why. Being a new mom to a young little baby does not actually mean I'm all blissed out by it. Since not all babies are the same (as with us adults), not all families get to sleep peacefully at night. And we are one them.It's been almost five months now since I've had a decent sleep. By this I mean at least 8 hours of uninterrupted shut-eye. I've learned to be more awake instead because of Erin's erratic sleep pattern. During those rare instances when she does sleep well, I find myself wide awake, my entire body tense with absolutely random thoughts racing in my head. Maybe I am too tired to even sleep!I have to give credit to J though. J can be quite a lifesaver when we're having another sleepless night episode. He takes charge of Erin and orders me to get some rest. He has gone from the clueless father who can barely hold her daughter because he is afraid he'll squish her tiny body to the da ...

Random blurbs 2007-08-02 22:23:00 Oh boy, it's the last month before the "-ber" months start to kick in. I can hardly believe winter is already over in another four weeks, which, by the way, is getting to be more obvious because of the less cooler temps these past few days. In no time, I can say goodbye to my fleece and wool outfits (and hopefully to Erin's eczema as well!) and welcome good old cotton back into the wardrobe. It's no secret the cold has not been a good friend to the family so I am just giddy at the thought of Spring in the not so distant future. :)-o-With Erin getting bigger by the day, she is quickly turning into a Daddy's girl with all her cute antics. J is so smitten with the little girl (not that he wasn't before. it's more pronounced now!) that he vehemently expressed that he cannot go on without her for three months. You see, we have been slowly planning our loooong holiday next year after Erin turns one. The original plan was to go home to the Philippines in April 2008, with J staying for t ...

On Being Responsible 2007-08-01 22:48:00 Our niece, C, just got her provisional driver's license last week. This was perfectly in time for her 18th birthday. I think it was the icing on her cake. At 18, she now has her own car (which she purchased months ago) and the license to drive it around town without any supervision. That is pretty cool when you're just a teen! I hope she got herself one of those auto insurance plans. You never know when accidents may happen and it helps a lot if you got your car covered. Being a young adult, I'm sure she can get value for her money by doing some research on the internet and get several insurance quotes online. Who knows she might even find a teen driver's auto policy at a special rate. Now that she's an adult, she better ready herself for all the responsibilities that lie ahead. Knowing her, I think there won't be a problem. ...

Seek and you shall find! 2007-07-30 20:45:00 These days, for some reason, you cannot really fully give your trust to people you are not so close to. This especially applies when you have to deal with people in a business transaction. I honestly think that it pays to do a little research on the other party so that you know more or less what you're getting into.With internet access, this makes researching a whole lot easier. There are so many search engines that could help you out in this task but if you're into finding out a specific company's profile and are interested in the products and/or services they offer, you might want to check out Masterseek.Masterseek is a global search engine that can provide you access to profiles of over 45 million companies in 75 countries. And the best part about it is it's free! Not only that, if you're a business owner, you can also submit your company's profile for no charge at all if you list it manually. Now this is taking globalization a notch higher. ...