me versus the dmv

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! i absolutely hate going to the dmv! it's the worst government office in the whole wide world!!!!!

meron kaming bulok na kotse...first car namin dito. natakbo pa naman pero di na komportable, walang aircon at kung ano ano pa. after namin ma-fully paid yung kotse, the dealership never sent us a pink slip (parang titulo ng sasakyan), tapos sarado na sila and wala na dun sa dati nilang location. 2 years after we bought the car, i went to dmv para sabihin na ganon ang scenario. sabi sa akin, 'you have to find the dealer and get the pink slip from them.' e pano ko nga hahanapin?! wala naman silang inoffer na suggestion. so procrastinate ako another 6 years... bulok na nga si kotse, nakakuha na ng kapalit and we want to get rid of this car. bibigay nalang namin sa kaibigang mekaniko para pwede nya gawing pangharabas. e matalino na ako ngayon, tawag muna ako sa dmv para itanong kung ano dapat kong gawin.

dmv: "you have to write them a letter and mail the letter to the dealership using the address that we have on file. that address is also on your car's registration. when the letter comes back, bring the letter to the dmv office and we can give you a copy of the pink slip."

e hindi ako nasiyahan doon. sinaliksik ko ang internet para malaman kung tama ang sinabi sa akin. tama nga pero kulang. may form pa akong kailangang dalin sa kanila pag pumunta ako. so to make the long story short, minail ko si letter at bumalik na sa akin achoo chooo chooo. punta ako dmv kanina, armado ng mga papel na kailangan nila. wais na ata ako ngayon!

so i sit there and wait for about 15 minutes for my number to be called. sa isip ko, 'haaay salamat! matatapos na ang car dilemma na ito!'

ako: "my car is fully paid but the dealer never sent me a pink slip. i sent them a letter and letter came back. i saw online that i needed to fill out these forms..."

dmv: kinuha ang sulat na pinadala ko at sinabing..."you also need to get a vehicle bond..."

ako: jaw dropping to the floor (naisihan parin ako!?)... "what is that? where can i find that?"

dmv: "you can look in the yellow pages for vehicle bonds. they will investigate if the dealership is really closed or if they moved. if they're closed, they'll give you a notarized letter and you bring that letter back to us..."

gusto ko sya awayin! gusto ko sya sabunutan kahit kalbo sya!!!! akala ko nautakan ko na sila! hindi parin pala! i left the dmv office, red-faced in anger! grabe talaga!

so kanina google naman ako nitong vehicle bond eklat na to and it's different from what he explained at naguguluhan parin ako kung ano talaga sya. so bukas, tatawag nanaman ako sa dmv para itanong ang mga bagay na di ko natanong dahil sa sobrang galit ko. makatarungan ba ito?!?!?! kapag matrabaho to at kailangan ko pang gumastos para lang makuha yung hinihingi nila, suko na ako. i-tow nalang ang kotseng yan! kainis!!!!

i was so furious, i wanted to pull my hair out! but instead i went and got a hair cut....

vangz

contemplating on a new hairstyle

parang gusto ko yung hairstyle ni kc dati na medyo long yung bangs tapos layered yung straight hair nya. nabobore na kasi ako sa one length ko na hair e pero i still want to keep it long. medyo nagmumukha ako gurangski lalo.

ito yung gusto ko...

bagay kaya sa akin?

how i wish...

i was on vacation right now!

the battle of the bulge!

Meron na ba akong masisisi sa kawalan ng resulta ng aking pagpapapayat?!?!?!?!

nung Monday, tinest ang dugo ko for all the standard precautionary tests like glucose, cholesterol, etc. last week, when I saw my doctor, sinabi ko sa kanya na I’ve been exercising every other day (which is true) and watching what I eat (medyo true) for about a month na. but I haven’t seen any results! Not even 1 lb lost after all my attempts! So she also ordered a TSH test to see if there is something wrong with my thyroid which leads to extra weight and a few other bad stuff. Syempre, dahil ako ay semi-obsessed sa pagpapapayat, yun talaga ang goal ko.

A few days later, I was able to view my lab results online. Below is the result of my test.

Component - TSH

Your Value - 3.5

Standard Range - 0.2 0 5.5 uIU/mL

Di ba mukhang normal? Pero syempre ayoko pumayag! There must be something wrong dahil yung ibang tao (and yes I mean chel! Hehehe), isang linggo lang mag workout, naglolose na kagad ng 5 lbs! fair ba yun? May mali e! so dahil lagi naman akong may duda sa serbisyo ng mga HMO, I did my own research and look what I found!!!

Until November 2002, doctors had relied on a normal TSH level ranging from 0.5 to 5.0 to diagnose and treat patients with a thyroid disorder who tested outside the boundaries of that range5 . Now AACE encourages doctors to consider treatment for patients who test outside the boundaries of a narrower margin based on a target TSH level of 0.3 to 3.04. AACE believes the new range will result in proper diagnosis for millions of Americans who suffer from a mild thyroid disorder, but have gone untreated until now. (full details found at http://www.aace.com/newsroom/press/2003/index.php?r=20030118)

Ibig sabihin, I have hypothyroidism!? What is hypothyroidism? Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the body lacks sufficient thyroid hormone. Since the main purpose of thyroid hormone is to "run the body's metabolism", it is understandable that people with this condition will have symptoms associated with a slow metabolism. (http://www.endocrineweb.com/hypo1.html)

So nag research pa ako.

Signs and symptoms (http://www.endocrineweb.com/hypo1.html)

The signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism vary widely, depending on the severity of the hormone deficiency. But in general, any problems you do have tend to develop slowly, often over a number of years.

At first, you may barely notice symptoms such as fatigue and sluggishness, or you may simply attribute them to getting older. But as your metabolism continues to slow, you may develop more obvious signs and symptoms, including:

• Increased sensitivity to cold
• Constipation
• Pale, dry skin
• A puffy face
• Hoarse voice
• An elevated blood cholesterol level
• Unexplained weight gain
• Muscle aches, tenderness and stiffness
• Pain, stiffness or swelling in your joints
• Muscle weakness
• Heavier than normal menstrual periods
• Depression

When hypothyroidism isn't treated, signs and symptoms can gradually become more severe. Constant stimulation of your thyroid to release more hormones may lead to an enlarged thyroid (goiter). In addition, you may become more forgetful, your thought processes may slow or you may feel depressed.

Advanced hypothyroidism, known as myxedema, is rare, but when it occurs it can be life-threatening. Signs and symptoms include low blood pressure, decreased breathing, decreased body temperature, unresponsiveness and even coma. In some cases, myxedema can be fatal.

Marami sa symptoms dyan, meron ako. Pero I wouldn’t have associated them with hypothyroidism dahil akala ko, ganon talaga pag tumatanda hehehe. Noon, naghahanap lang ako ng masisisi dahil hindi ako pumapayat. Pero as I continue to read, I became more concerned with the long term consequences if this remains untreated.

So I emailed my doctor and gave her the information I found. We’ll just have to wait and see kung ano ang magiging sagot nya.

So the burning question is, pano na ako papayat ngayon?!?!?!?!?!?!

michelle-isms part 4

some of her latest words are listed below:

ne - snake

hos - horse

putod - pusod

hudas - no! hindi ang nagtatwa kay Jesus! hudas is hugas

may - hugas ng kamay! may is kamay!

imong - ilong

bibi - bibig

bok - buhok

maga - mangga

bubig - tubig

she has her own word for computer e. hindi ko lang maalala. it's another random word like abadada, abadi, and dida. sa totoo lang, i can't keep up with the speed of michelle's growing vocabulary! nakakatuwa kasi i am witnessing this tiny person grow and learn...grabe! galing talaga ng Lord no?

today's milestone is that nabuo nya ang abc hanggang z!!! at sabi ng kanyang ama, she was singing the part na, 'now i know my abcs'...syempre hindi 100% accurate ang pagkanta nya no, pero natutuwa ako at nagagawa nya ito at 18 months! she can count 1 to 10 din as we found out to days ago. yun nga lang alternate kayo ng number. hehehe pero alam nya that 2 comes after one and 4 after 3, and so on.

payo ko sa mga parents, always sing to your children and read books to them if you have time. i don't get to read to michelle that often anymore. tsaka ang attention span nya at this age is only up to about 5 short sentences. but we use picture books to teach her the names of the things around her. it really helps them develop and talk to them all the time kasi they really imitate what you say. sa bahay ngayon, bawal ang negative words, kahit criticisms at kung ano anong pintas. dapat laging positive para positive at encouraging ang maging environment ng bata. at of course! number one! ipag pray nyo ang mga anak nyo. a prayerful mother becomes the best mother!

'monthly' happy family

happy family nanaman kami.

umuwi kasi ang asawa kong nag a-abroad.

to those who don't know, my husband works for intel in hillsboro, oregon (just outside portland). at dahil mabigat sa bulsa ang pamasehe, hindi namin maafford na every week sya umuwi dito sa san francisco. so he comes home every month or sooner pag kailangan namin sya dito like when my parents went to the philippines in feb.

michelle is always happy when her dad is here. iba ang bonding ng mag amang to. siguro kasi magkamukha sila. kanina nga, when we went to the beach para mag bird feed, inupo ni paul si michelle sa may leeg nya habang naglalakad, narinig ko yung nakasalubong namin sabi sa mga friends nya,

'oh! the little girl's so cute!'

so syempre, proud nanay naman ako! and then the girl spoke again and said,

'yeah! she looks exactly like her dad!'

haaaay! kung wala ako sa delivery room noong ipinanganak tong batang to, hindi ako maniniwalang anak ko to!

michelle-isms part 3 (the song edition)

here are some of the songs that michelle loves to sing. kuhang kuha nya yung tono, but the lyrics are all her own!

kagat labi:

na na na na nana na nana na nananana (naka hawak sa ulo symepre, tapos biglang sasabihin nya...) babe! (labi!)

i love you, you love me from barney:

the real song goes: 'i love you, you love me. we're a happy family...."

michelle's version goes: 'a ba boo. uhm ba bee. uhm mommy. uhm daddy."

bahay kubo:

the real song goes: 'bahay kubo, kahit munti'

michelle's version goes: 'bahay bubo, ahit tuti'

the abc song:

the real song goes: 'a, b, c, d, e, f g. h, i, j, k...'

michelle's version goes: 'a, b, c, d, e, h, i, j, k'

nagbibilang na rin sya. most of the time she can count 1 to 5 ng walang mintis. pero paminsan minsan nawawala ang 1 at sa 2 na sya nagsisimula. ang 4 at 5 laging present.

tingnan natin kung ano naman ang susunod na sasabihin ng batang to. until the next installment of michelle-isms!

*i hope you are having as much fun reading the michelle-ism series as much as i have fun writing them. pagkatapos ko isulat, and i read back on what i wrote, it doesn't fail to crack me up dahil naaalala ko ang mga sinasabi ng anak ko. haaaay! ka in lab!*

restuarant review: farmer brown

a somewhat unpleasant smell greeted me as soon as i walked into farmer brown. it reminded me of the few clubs i've been in here in san francisco and it was the very smell that repelled me from the clubs (even though i love to dance).

i said to myself, 'almira, first impressions don't always last' so i kept an open mind and proceeded to the bar, pretended like i wasn't uncomfortable being alone in a new place. well, it's not really new to me since i used to work at the hotel right next door. i spent the summer of 2001 working there as a front desk agent. this place was a different restaurant then. it has changed several times before it was occupied by farmer brown. the location, (it's in the tenderloin) was a turn off to many so businesses there don't seem to really take off. the hotel is still there so maybe this was an exception; maybe farmer brown is, too.

i ordered a kumquat cocktail and waited for jevon and suzette to arrive. the restaurant looked like a warehouse and fit perfectly at it's location.

we were seated soon after jevon and suzette arrived. we ordered the crab puffs and sweet potato fries as our appetizer. the crab puffs were ok (crab stuffed puff pastry). all puff and not enough crab. the fries were good. i like the seasoning the put on the fries. since they're steak fries, they didn't really get the crunch that the pacific catch fries had. so pacific catch's sweet potato fries are still number one for me.

for our entree, all of us ordered the fried chicken with mac and cheese. i think i forgot to mention that this restaurant served soul food. the entree came with 3 pieces of chicken (leg, wing, breast), a serving of mac and cheese, and some greens. they're not the best i've had but there's just something about comfort food that hits the spot. i was satisfied with my meal, although i could have used another half a serving of the mac n cheese.

for dessert, suzette and i shared the chocolate cake and chocolate fritters. the fritters are like bignets with chocolate in the center. i didn't like it. the cake was just so so. jevon really enjoyed his pecan pie which i didn't try. i'm not a fan of pecan pie because it's too sweet and sugary. maybe i'll try it next time, if i go back.

parking is $10 at the valet right by the restaurant. let them know you're going to farmer brown, otherwise, it's $12.

over all, i give this restaurant a 2 out of 5 spoons. i will come back because i don't see a lot of restaurants like these in the city. it's a good place to take friends since it's casual and they play hiphop music throughout (it can get a little loud beginning at 630 so it may be a little difficult to carry a conversation). happy hour is from 4:30 to 7:30 pm, cocktails are $6 and beer is $3. they also have a special after 10 pm which they call 'fried chicken and a pint'. you get fried chicken, mac and cheese and a pint of beer all for $15. jevon paid $99 with tax (tip not yet included). i think that's a good price for 2 apps, 3 entrees and 3 desserts.