I have a facebook account. I don't do much with it. It's really just a placeholder so that people can contact me if they know enough to find me. I don't make it easy for people who don't know my secret nick (i.e., the one I'm posting this under on blogger) since my real name doesn't appear there at all.
So facebook isn't important. I'm resisting posting pictures there mainly because I'm comfortable with photobucket and blogger, and partly because I don't care enough to figure out how to do things on facebook.
Today though, I'm trying to add a friend and comment on a picture of me that someone else posted, and it's taking forever. Well, it's been thirty minutes and the facebook tab is still going.
Likely it's some batch job running around now (noon New Zealand time). Of course facebook is optimized for read (with some massive caching). And writes are going to be many times slower than reads anyway. But there must be some batch updates running. There's no reason adding a friend or commenting on a pic would take more than an hour to complete :-). Well, it's been 30 minutes so far. If it's not done in an hour I'll give up and maybe try again another time. If I remember.
(Hola mylene, *of*course* i'll remember :-).
2009-02-22
2009-02-11
John Laughing
John Christian is growing very quickly. He sleeps really well at night as well as in the daytime. He eats a lot, and he's very alert and observant now.
He's also very ticklish. Got it from me, I think.
He's also very ticklish. Got it from me, I think.
2009-01-30
Tummy bug
Timmy started daycare on Monday. He loves it there. On Wednesday night though he didn't have a good appetite, he had liquid diarrhea and vomited out both his dinner and his bedtime milk. Since these were different occasions, he had four baths and changes of pajamas that night (the first one was the regular bath and change for bedtime).
I've taken Thursday and Friday off to stay home with Timmy. I take care of Timmy and Sol takes care of John. We don't swap because we want to have Timmy get rid of whatever the bug was and we want to avoid having John get the bug. So there'll be no cross-kissing or hugging until at least tomorrow (Saturday). Timmy will go back to daycare on Monday.
Timmy is slowly recovering. He hasn't had any further diarrhea or vomiting, but he's not as active as usual. Some of that is because he's eating less and avoiding his milk. We convince him to have some milk anyway, but he's down to about a third of his normal milk intake. Some of that is just him avoiding the milk because he associates it with the vomiting. A few more days of lower milk intake with no vomiting should see him let go of the association.
As it happens, Sol's mother and sister were due to leave for Manila on Thursday morning. So the vomiting and diarrhea came at just the wrogn time for them, when they were already working through the idea of missing Timmy and John. There was no slack in their visas though, since both visas were to expire today.
We hope to see Sol's sister back in a month or two, and perhaps her mother in 9 months or so.
Hmmm, my stomach is a bit unstable too. Not to the point of diarrhea or vomiting though, so I might have a touch of what Timmy has, but my body is fighting it off.
I've taken Thursday and Friday off to stay home with Timmy. I take care of Timmy and Sol takes care of John. We don't swap because we want to have Timmy get rid of whatever the bug was and we want to avoid having John get the bug. So there'll be no cross-kissing or hugging until at least tomorrow (Saturday). Timmy will go back to daycare on Monday.
Timmy is slowly recovering. He hasn't had any further diarrhea or vomiting, but he's not as active as usual. Some of that is because he's eating less and avoiding his milk. We convince him to have some milk anyway, but he's down to about a third of his normal milk intake. Some of that is just him avoiding the milk because he associates it with the vomiting. A few more days of lower milk intake with no vomiting should see him let go of the association.
As it happens, Sol's mother and sister were due to leave for Manila on Thursday morning. So the vomiting and diarrhea came at just the wrogn time for them, when they were already working through the idea of missing Timmy and John. There was no slack in their visas though, since both visas were to expire today.
We hope to see Sol's sister back in a month or two, and perhaps her mother in 9 months or so.
Hmmm, my stomach is a bit unstable too. Not to the point of diarrhea or vomiting though, so I might have a touch of what Timmy has, but my body is fighting it off.
2009-01-22
John Christian Quimpo
I have videos of John Christian, and a particularly great clip of Timmy with John, but I don't have the time to edit the videos into shape just yet. It doesn't help that kino on Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid) is ridiculously unstable (and PulseAudio makes it worse).
I just got around to selecting a bunch of John Christian's pictures, from when he was born to just a few days ago. I've pushed those up to Photobucket and now here they are:
In the operating room
In the maternity ward, waiting to go home. Sol and John had to stay an extra two days because John had jaundice and had to have ultraviolet light treatment
And finally home. He still had a little jaundice, so we had him in the sun for ten minutes or so every day. Fortunately, unlike at Sta Mesa, we have sun right in the bedroom and in the living room.
We bought John a bassinet. Sol has since removed a lot of the cushions and other material since they might contribute to SIDS, so now it's just the cane bassinet and the main oval cushion and a flannel sheet. That second picture is a huge favorite of mine.
Timmy loves playing with John. He's just lent John his small bear
John, of course, is oblivious. All he wants to do his eat, sleep and poop. All of which he does A LOT.
John has gained a lot of weight by Christmas. He's a bit less than 1.5 months here and he laughs when mamang babbles at him.
A week or two later he's almost twice his birth weight and he pretty much completely fills his bassinet. We have a swing/rocker for him, and he definitely fills that up completely too. We thought he'd use that swing for six months.
I expect toria will appreciate the way those toes have personalities of their own.
He laughs when tickled, and (in the bottom pictures), he loves his bath, so he feels really good and laughs from pure pleasure after a bath. At the bottom there, Timmy loves his baths too, but for some reason he chose to look cute and pensive in his monkey bathrobe.
I just got around to selecting a bunch of John Christian's pictures, from when he was born to just a few days ago. I've pushed those up to Photobucket and now here they are:
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I expect toria will appreciate the way those toes have personalities of their own.
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2009-01-20
Timmy games
Timmy is 26 months old and he loves copying what sol and I (and my mother-in-law, and my sister-in-law) do. The ladies all love watching cooking shows on Food TV, so Timmy also loves to "cook". He plays pretend cooking in the walk-in cupboard, where the pots and pans are kept (as are flour, salt, cookies, canned goods, honey and spices, all kept on shelves he can't reach).
Since I'm always on the computer when at home (either just reading, or working remote, he also likes sitting at a computer and typing. He's not content just to play with his Fisher-Price Laughtop now (although he really loved to play with it a few months ago and learned his alphabet with it).
When I (or sol, or my sister-in-law) am at the computer, he'll walk over and force his head under my arm. Once he's got his head in the door, so to speak, he'll then climb up on the chair and eventually onto my lap.
Usually I can dissuade him when I'm working, but when it's time for a pause, or when it's time for a cuddle we play some flash games. Before I thought of flash games, I'd just click on a folder of family pictures and videos and either set the pictures to display in slideshow mode, or have the videos play one after another. That still works, but now he wants to interact with the computer more, so we play flash games.
He really likes the Fisher-Price ABC Zoo game. He sings along to the alphabet song intro and then likes pressing keys and having the corresponding animals come up and make their signature sounds. I think he'll tire of it soon though since there's only one set of animals, so pressing a letter always results in the same animal coming up.
Fisher-Price also have the Animal Sounds game. The URL is bogus though, it's only accessible via javascript from: here. Oh, I could probably read the source of that page and figure out how to get to the game directly, but I don't care enough to do that. I'll just say it's a stupidity to have games or other resources that are accessibly only through javascript. Timmy doesn't like this game as much as the alphabet zoo. But maybe he'll grow into it.
Orisinal has some incredibly pretty flash games for kids. But Timmy can't play any of them yet since they're all mouse oriented and I bought a full size mouse. I should have bought a mini-size mouse (they were discounted at Dick Smith's Electronics when I bought the full size mouse at a second hand store, so I didn't save much on the mouse), so that it would be easier for Timmy to hold. Well, my old laptop is sitting idle right now since I've switched to an oler but faster widescreen desktop-replacement laptop. If I can find a reasonable place to put it, maybe I'll let timmy use the old one with an external keyboard and mouse so he doesn't touch the laptop directly.
Timmy will enjoy playing the Orisinal games when he learns how to use a mouse and gains some more manual dexterity, focus and attention-span. That's probably another two years away.
The Jackson Pollock flash app is probably just right for him now though, and he'll enjoy playing it since it doesn't take any skill at all, just moving the mouse and random clicking. That'll get him to learn how to control the mouse a bit, which may make playing Orisinal come around earlier than I think :-).
Having him sitting on my lap pressing letter keys to have the letters and corresponding animals come up is very restful and enjoyable. He's not hard to distract away from the games for now. I hope that continues. I doubt it though. I'm sure it'll get more and more difficult to pry him away from a computer as he grows older :-).
Since I'm always on the computer when at home (either just reading, or working remote, he also likes sitting at a computer and typing. He's not content just to play with his Fisher-Price Laughtop now (although he really loved to play with it a few months ago and learned his alphabet with it).
When I (or sol, or my sister-in-law) am at the computer, he'll walk over and force his head under my arm. Once he's got his head in the door, so to speak, he'll then climb up on the chair and eventually onto my lap.
Usually I can dissuade him when I'm working, but when it's time for a pause, or when it's time for a cuddle we play some flash games. Before I thought of flash games, I'd just click on a folder of family pictures and videos and either set the pictures to display in slideshow mode, or have the videos play one after another. That still works, but now he wants to interact with the computer more, so we play flash games.
He really likes the Fisher-Price ABC Zoo game. He sings along to the alphabet song intro and then likes pressing keys and having the corresponding animals come up and make their signature sounds. I think he'll tire of it soon though since there's only one set of animals, so pressing a letter always results in the same animal coming up.
Fisher-Price also have the Animal Sounds game. The URL is bogus though, it's only accessible via javascript from: here. Oh, I could probably read the source of that page and figure out how to get to the game directly, but I don't care enough to do that. I'll just say it's a stupidity to have games or other resources that are accessibly only through javascript. Timmy doesn't like this game as much as the alphabet zoo. But maybe he'll grow into it.
Orisinal has some incredibly pretty flash games for kids. But Timmy can't play any of them yet since they're all mouse oriented and I bought a full size mouse. I should have bought a mini-size mouse (they were discounted at Dick Smith's Electronics when I bought the full size mouse at a second hand store, so I didn't save much on the mouse), so that it would be easier for Timmy to hold. Well, my old laptop is sitting idle right now since I've switched to an oler but faster widescreen desktop-replacement laptop. If I can find a reasonable place to put it, maybe I'll let timmy use the old one with an external keyboard and mouse so he doesn't touch the laptop directly.
Timmy will enjoy playing the Orisinal games when he learns how to use a mouse and gains some more manual dexterity, focus and attention-span. That's probably another two years away.
The Jackson Pollock flash app is probably just right for him now though, and he'll enjoy playing it since it doesn't take any skill at all, just moving the mouse and random clicking. That'll get him to learn how to control the mouse a bit, which may make playing Orisinal come around earlier than I think :-).
Having him sitting on my lap pressing letter keys to have the letters and corresponding animals come up is very restful and enjoyable. He's not hard to distract away from the games for now. I hope that continues. I doubt it though. I'm sure it'll get more and more difficult to pry him away from a computer as he grows older :-).
2008-12-28
Christmas cheesecake
Much of this was Christmas dinner. Sol made strawberry cheesecake, there was a lovely pork roast and more cheesecake. The previous day we had lunch with friends, barbecue, blueberry cheesecake and paella with scallops.
At the end, that's timmy singing Jingle bells, except only the lyrics he knows, which is pretty much two words. And "Hey!" So... three words. In the scene just before Jingle bells, Timmy had grabbed mamang's cheesecake, so it was very good of him to share some of it with her :-).
Today we ran out of cheesecake and went to the grocery to buy the makings. Tomorrow, there'll be more cheesecake, but probably no more cheesecake videos.
2008-11-29
Timmy dancing
At around 1:34 he's saying "guitar". It took me a while to figure out what he was saying. It became clear one bedtime when he went through his list of musical instruments while pretending to be playing them. Drawing a finger across his hand is "guitar" :-)
2008-11-04
One birthday, and another
It was Timmy's birthday last Sunday, 2 Nov. Last year we had his birthday in Manila.
This year, we're in Wellington. It was a merienda birthday, and we had it in the house, which is pretty small, so we didn't invite a lot of people. We were also sufficiently busy having fun that we forgot to take more pictures and videos :-).
There's a video of the important part though.
Sol worked very hard on Saturday and Sunday, cooking and preparing everything. I did what I could to help, but it was trivial compared to how much work she and her mother put into the birthday.
I think all that standing and cooking precipitated the start of her labor, at around 2:30AM on Monday. We called Julius and he, very graciously, drove us to the hospital at 4:30AM. Sol wanted to try for a natural birth, and that's the preference of NZ doctors too, so despite Sol's previous caesarian section with Timmy, we spend 24 hours trying for the natural birth. After everything being tried, and with sol pushing heroically but not enough progress being made, a c-section was finally performed and John Christian was born at 4:48AM on Tuesday, the 4th.
Sol's mother suggests that we should celebrate the birthdays of the two boys together, on the 3rd of November :-).
John Christian making his first appearance
John Christian with Sol
And... resting
This year, we're in Wellington. It was a merienda birthday, and we had it in the house, which is pretty small, so we didn't invite a lot of people. We were also sufficiently busy having fun that we forgot to take more pictures and videos :-).
There's a video of the important part though.
Sol worked very hard on Saturday and Sunday, cooking and preparing everything. I did what I could to help, but it was trivial compared to how much work she and her mother put into the birthday.
I think all that standing and cooking precipitated the start of her labor, at around 2:30AM on Monday. We called Julius and he, very graciously, drove us to the hospital at 4:30AM. Sol wanted to try for a natural birth, and that's the preference of NZ doctors too, so despite Sol's previous caesarian section with Timmy, we spend 24 hours trying for the natural birth. After everything being tried, and with sol pushing heroically but not enough progress being made, a c-section was finally performed and John Christian was born at 4:48AM on Tuesday, the 4th.
Sol's mother suggests that we should celebrate the birthdays of the two boys together, on the 3rd of November :-).
John Christian making his first appearance
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John Christian with Sol
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And... resting
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2008-10-22
2008-10-07
Oh, No! Little Einsteins on DVD
After publishing First Amazon Purchase, I realized that Timmy's favorite TV shows are probably available on DVD too. So I searched for "Little Einsteins DVD" on Amazon. Unfortunately, all the DVDs there are Region 1 only. Searching on .co.nz sites finds the same DVDs. I won't buy any yet. He gets a healthy twice daily dose (once in the morning, and once in the afternoon, fortunately, neither conflicts with naptime) of Little Einsteins now, over SkyTV.
He does love that show though, he now says "Oh no!" incessantly, because of it, he sings the theme song when the show is on, and repeats much else that he hears there (Oh, no! it's too high!). We may buy the DVDs at some point. But not soon. Maybe a year or a year and a half after John Christian comes into the world.
He does love that show though, he now says "Oh no!" incessantly, because of it, he sings the theme song when the show is on, and repeats much else that he hears there (Oh, no! it's too high!). We may buy the DVDs at some point. But not soon. Maybe a year or a year and a half after John Christian comes into the world.
First amazon purchase
I ordered a few books and a CD from Amazon today. That's the first Amazon order I've ever made. Likely it won't be the last. For technical books, particularly, not everything is connyveniently available in New Zealand, and even with shipping, Amazon is often still less expensive than buying locally.
The reason I ordered from Amazon is because we borrowed a book from the library that Timmy really likes. It's mainly because of that book (Jo Moon's "Making Letters") that, at 23 months, Timmy has now memorized all of the alphabet. Well, we've shown him lots of letter books, so he's been learning the alphabet for months now. And certainly he learned a lot of the letters from playing with his Laughtop. But "Making Letters" completed the process, and he loves reading it every night.
It was time to return the book to the library, so we needed our own copy.
We also bought other books in the series (Making Numbers and Making Shapes).
Since I was ordering from Amazon already, I went ahead and ordered a Spring book, and sol wanted a CD by Mary-Kathryn. There were several available at Amazon (and in fact, Perfect Gift wasn't in stock), but I didn't want to grab them all. So I selected one, and if Sol likes it, we'll grab the others.
The reason I ordered from Amazon is because we borrowed a book from the library that Timmy really likes. It's mainly because of that book (Jo Moon's "Making Letters") that, at 23 months, Timmy has now memorized all of the alphabet. Well, we've shown him lots of letter books, so he's been learning the alphabet for months now. And certainly he learned a lot of the letters from playing with his Laughtop. But "Making Letters" completed the process, and he loves reading it every night.
It was time to return the book to the library, so we needed our own copy.
We also bought other books in the series (Making Numbers and Making Shapes).
Since I was ordering from Amazon already, I went ahead and ordered a Spring book, and sol wanted a CD by Mary-Kathryn. There were several available at Amazon (and in fact, Perfect Gift wasn't in stock), but I didn't want to grab them all. So I selected one, and if Sol likes it, we'll grab the others.
2008-09-05
sick today
I was cold and shivering last night, up to around 10AM. I thought I'd let it take its course, and get to the office in the afternoon. I can't though since I've got some mild vertigo.
Last night was probably due to walking up the hill in the cold (it was raining too, but just mild showers and I bought a small umbrella that, surprisingly, didn't break or blow away in the Wellington wind :-). And then, when I got home, well, I have a bug at work that's taken forever to figure out because the test cycle is just so long. So I worked on that til around 2:30AM. It seems to be an alfresco+lucene bug, and my various workarounds are not working. So when I went to bed it was unresolved, and I was cold and exhausted.
Which is not to say that I didn't enjoy myself during the bug hunt, but I still need to solve the problem. I'll probably be working on that around 4 hours a day over the weekend. But not today or tonight. Need to rest up.
Last night was probably due to walking up the hill in the cold (it was raining too, but just mild showers and I bought a small umbrella that, surprisingly, didn't break or blow away in the Wellington wind :-). And then, when I got home, well, I have a bug at work that's taken forever to figure out because the test cycle is just so long. So I worked on that til around 2:30AM. It seems to be an alfresco+lucene bug, and my various workarounds are not working. So when I went to bed it was unresolved, and I was cold and exhausted.
Which is not to say that I didn't enjoy myself during the bug hunt, but I still need to solve the problem. I'll probably be working on that around 4 hours a day over the weekend. But not today or tonight. Need to rest up.
2008-08-19
Well, don't do that then
Well, don't go there then.
I certainly won't, anyway. Of those who do go anyway, likely only a few will experience this. But they did make the choice to go to the U.S. of Atrocity. I wonder whether they'll learn how bad an idea that was, or just decide it was all a mistake.
I certainly won't, anyway. Of those who do go anyway, likely only a few will experience this. But they did make the choice to go to the U.S. of Atrocity. I wonder whether they'll learn how bad an idea that was, or just decide it was all a mistake.
2008-08-18
Timmy nighttime ritual
We read to timmy at night, before he has his milk and goes to sleep. And we always play his nighttime music. This time, he was excited by the camera and we didn't get to read as much as we usually do since he kept playing to the camera.
The music is from Rita Baloche's, Bless My Little Boy. It's great lullaby music. Some songs have christian themes, others don't. Overall, a great gift to mothers of sons, highly recommended.
Well, if the sons are boys. I don't think it would have the desired effect if the sons are teenagers or older :-).
The music is from Rita Baloche's, Bless My Little Boy. It's great lullaby music. Some songs have christian themes, others don't. Overall, a great gift to mothers of sons, highly recommended.
Well, if the sons are boys. I don't think it would have the desired effect if the sons are teenagers or older :-).
Timmy slide
One of those days was sunny, and the other, uhhh, haily. On the sunny day (Saturday, I think), we went down to the mall. Along the way we passed by the playground and, among other things, timmy went on the slide.
Timmy icecream
Timmy had ice cream that weekend. With bananas. Bananas are his favorite food, and now ice cream is too.
Hail
We had hail and sort-of-snow two weeks ago. I forget which day it was, but it was either the 9th or the 10th of August. I think it was the 10th, Sunday.
Sol, Mamang and Timmy were very excited since it was their first experience with snow. Timmy didn't really know what the big deal was, but he was excited because the rest of us were.
Sol, Mamang and Timmy were very excited since it was their first experience with snow. Timmy didn't really know what the big deal was, but he was excited because the rest of us were.
2008-08-14
As if I needed another reason
Yet another reason to never visit the United States of Assholes. Sick of cancer, spine fractured, allowed to die in pain because he couldn't stand in line for painkillers. And no one will be punished, because this is policy now, practically, in U.S. immigration..
Shining city upon a hill. A beacon of arrogance, and selfishness. Torturing and killing civilians. And proud of it.
Shining city upon a hill. A beacon of arrogance, and selfishness. Torturing and killing civilians. And proud of it.
2008-08-12
No direct debit
I received quite the shocking bill today. The telco bill for landline and broadband arrived and it was for NZ$285. That's about 3 months of bills plus late charges. I *knew* that I'd set up direct debit with the telco. And when I looked at my bank statements (online), there were payments to the telco for two months, April and May (which were for March and April respectively). No payments in Jun or July though.
I called the telco and they have no record of direct debit authorization though. Now, I have direct debit with the power company, and with the satellite TV company, but not with the telco, apparently. I think they lost my direct debit authorization. I know I've sent it to them. But it's a big company. Things get lost. I don't care too much about it. I've just paid the bill and will now remember to pay the bill every month :-).
In case I forget, I've got a repeating reminder that'll email me of the payment schedule :-).
I called the telco and they have no record of direct debit authorization though. Now, I have direct debit with the power company, and with the satellite TV company, but not with the telco, apparently. I think they lost my direct debit authorization. I know I've sent it to them. But it's a big company. Things get lost. I don't care too much about it. I've just paid the bill and will now remember to pay the bill every month :-).
In case I forget, I've got a repeating reminder that'll email me of the payment schedule :-).
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